New York Raiders

New York Raiders
founding	1st November 1971
resolution	1977
history	New York Raiders 1972 - 1973 New York Golden Blades 1973 Jersey Knights 1973 - 1974 San Diego Mariners 1974 - 1977
Stadion	Madison Square Garden
Location	New York City , New York
Team colors	gold, blue, red & white 1972–1973 purple, gold, black & white 1973
Avco World Trophies	no
Division title	no

The New York Raiders were an ice hockey team that from 1972 to 1973 under this name, at the beginning of the 1973/74 season as New York Golden Blades and from mid-November 1973 until the end of the season as Jersey Knights in the North American World Hockey Association (WHA ) was active. The team moved to the west coast of the USA at the end of the season and continued to play as the San Diego Mariners .

history

The WHA, as a rising league, naturally wanted to be represented with a team in New York. Hempstead , a suburb on Long Island , had been considered as the location : the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum was a new hall that had not been home to an ice hockey team until then, only the basketball team of the New York Nets played. But the operators of the hall were not thrilled to host a WHA team. Therefore, William Shea , who had brought the New York Mets baseball team to the neighboring stadium in Flushing Meadows in 1962, tried to get an NHL team. The NHL had expanded rapidly in recent years and didn't really want to take on new teams until 1974, but in order not to leave the field to the WHA without a fight, it was decided to expand again and so the New York Islanders became a team in Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum installed.

The Golden Blades logo

The owner Neis Shayne has no choice but to play in direct competition with the New York Rangers in Madison Square Garden . Advance ticket sales were slow and you could only sell a quarter as many season tickets as the Islanders. Shayne soon decided to sell the team to Dick Wood and Sy Siegel. The high rent for Madison Square Garden and the low audience income quickly put the two of them into financial difficulties. In terms of sport, the team was on the offensive with Ron Ward , who scored 51 goals, and Gene Peacosh , Bobby Sheehan and Wayne Rivers, who each scored more than 30 times. But the weak back line made the team the league's whipping boy.

In May 1973 Ralf Brent bought the team and renamed it the New York Golden Blades . In Jerry DeLise, he brought in a new Managing Director. However, the two soon discovered why the previous owners wanted to give up the team. High rental costs for the garden and low attendance numbers also became the new owner's undoing, so the WHA dissolved the team and installed a team in New Jersey for the transition period until the next season. There it played under the name Jersey Knights .

Known players

• André Lacroix