I was always under the belief that Hy was related to Hy Bueller of Knickerbocker Village, but a recent conversation with Hy's son Bruce debunked that belief. Still somewhere in my memory is a conversation that I heard between my father and Hy's (Bueller) good friend Moe Griper that it was true. Hy Buller's family came from Canada, but who knows they could have been related from the "old country." Also Hy Bueller and his brothers and Bruce, Hy's son, were (are) excellent athletes. I think there is a bit of a facial resemblance as well. Here's the fascinating story of Hy Buller:
Defenseman Buller made all-star as a rookie
By CHUCK O'DONNELL When Hy Buller patrolled the blue line at Madison Square Garden in the early 1950s, he wasn't representing just the New York Rangers. When he lined up to check the likes of Gordie Howe or Jean Beliveau or any of the other Original Six stars, he was representing every Jew who ever wished he was NHL material.
The Rangers' large Jewish following felt naches when Buller stepped on the ice. Being Jewish meant Buller would be an automatic hero to a large part of the Rangers' fan base. With the fans behind him, Buller was an NHL second-team All-Star as a rookie, making him one of the top four defencemen in the world.
Being a Jew also meant he was more likely to become a target on the ice, though it is nearly impossible to prove that anti-Semitism motivated the attacks. Did Maple Leafs' forward Gus Mortson swing his stick and kick Buller because he was a Jew? Did Ted Lindsay viciously wield his stick twice at Buller's head because he was a Jew? Was the mild-mannered Buller forced into so many altercations as a rookie - he led the team in penalty minutes - because he was a Jew?
Maybe, maybe not. But this is known. Just two years after his amazing rookie year, Buller abruptly quit the game while still in his prime. Some say the incident with Lindsay was the catalyst. He went from one of the best hockey players in the world to selling ball bearings in Cleveland.
"We were surprised to hear he was retiring," said former Ranger goalie great Chuck Rayner, who grew up in Saskatoon, the Buller family's hometown. "He was one of the best defencemen in the league. He could really rush the puck. He was steady, almost under-rated. He was a real smooth skater, a good stickhandler and a real good playmaker."
Buller was born in Montreal on March 15, 1926, but his family moved to Saskatoon when he was three. He played peewee hockey when he was 10 but he also excelled in track, football, softball and swimming. At 15 he was a defenceman with the Saskatoon Quakers, a junior club. When he wasn't busy with sports, he had his share of fights with other kids, who would pick on him because he was a Jew.
Buller started his pro career with the Rangers' farm team, the New York Rovers, when he was 16. He was sold to the Detroit Red Wings the next season. He played eight years in the American Hockey League, which at the time was just a half rung lower than the NHL in talent and pay. His time in the minors was interrupted by two short stints with the Red Wings. He played seven games as a 17-year-old rookie in the 1943-44 season. The next year, he played just two games with Detroit.
He was sold to Hershey, where he played for three years. From Hershey, he was traded to the Cleveland Barons for two former Rangers, Babe Pratt and Joe Cooper. In Cleveland, Buller's career really took off. He was a perennial All-Star. In his fourth year, Buller posted 16 goals and 57 points. Toronto Maple Leafs' owner Conn Smythe said: "I'd rate him right up with the top 10 defencemen in all hockey today."
Several teams dangled players in front of Barons' boss Jim Hendy, but Hendy didn't want to part with Buller. And Buller didn't want to leave. He had a nice off-season job selling sporting equipment.
Finally, in 1951 the Rangers pried Buller and Wally Hergesheimer away from Cleveland for six players and a wad of cash.
Buller was worth every penny. In his first
season with the Rangers, 1951-52, only Red Kelly (47 points) scored more than Buller (35 points) among defencemen. Those 35 points tied a team record. His second year was much the same. Buller finished tied for fourth in team scoring with 25 points and he played in the All-Star Game.
"If you had to compare him to a contemporary player, he was a lot like Bruce Driver in his prime," said veteran hockey writer Stan Fischler. "He was about the same size. He had a good shot. He was really smart with the puck. Buller used his body a little more than Driver. He was more muscular. His puckrushing I would compare to Ken Morrow...He was a complete defenceman."
Rangers Hall of Famer Edgar Laprade said "He arrived from Cleveland with quite a reputation as a good player. He was really good on the point. Some people would get rattled when they got the puck and the point, but he was very cool and he took his time. He never let a wild shot go at the net."
Jewish Rangers fans identified with him. Buller took his family to weekly services, refused to play on Yom Kippur and was active in the B'nai Brith organization.
"I remember tagging along with with him one day when some of his Jewish fans invited him to attend the opening of a deli," said Laprade. "The Jewish people really supported him. He was getting invited all over town."
But there were tough times for Buller as well. Rarely physical and not one to pick a fight, the brown-eyed, dark-haired Buller led the team in penalty minutes in his first two years because he was challenged so often. In his rookie year, Buller was involved in a stick-swinging and kicking incident with Mortson. The league held a hearing, but Mortson was spared suspension because Buller testified he didn't think Mortson tried to deliberately hurt him.
In his third and final year with the Rangers, Buller clashed with Lindsay. In a game in Detroit, Buller checked Lindsay cleanly into the boards. "Terrible Ted" made a beeline for Buller and took a vicious baseball swing above Buller's head with his stick. Buller continued to skate. Lindsay did it again, coming a little closer to Buller's head. Buller skated away without retaliating.
When reached at his home in Michigan, Lindsay said he did not remember the incident. He did remember Buller, calling him "a very good defenceman." When told some people believed he went after Buller because of the Ranger's religion, Lindsay disagreed. "That's not true," he said. "I hated everyone." Fischler and others believe Buller was never the same after the incident. In fact, in Fischler's book, Slapshot, another Jewish player takes umbrage with Buller for not fighting back. Larry Zeidel, who ran into plenty of anti-Semitism on the ice, spent years bouncing around the minors before sticking with the expansion Philadelphia Flyers in 1967.
Zeidel said "If Buller had belted those guys when they belted him, he'd have been a real star for years. He had a lot of finesse, a lot of ability, but he always acted like a gentleman. You can't do that in this game."
Unfortunately, we can't ask Buller what really happened. He died of cancer at age 42. But the Buller family said Hy never complained of anti-Semitism. They say he didn't retire because of intimidation. Rather, he was losing some of the spring in his stride after 13 pro seasons.
If he'd hung on for one or two years, history might have remembered him differently. Just before he quit the game, he was traded to the Montreal Canadiens but he chose not to report. That legendary Habs team went on to win five consecutive Stanley Cups.
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