Long Island Cougars

North American Hockey League (1973-1975)

Tombstone

Born: 1973 – NAHL founding franchise
Moved: May 12, 1975 (Erie Blades)

First Game:
Last Game: April 13, 1975 (L 7-5 @ Broome Dusters)

Lockhart Cup Championships: None

Arena

Long Island Arena (4,000)

Branding

Team Colors: Green & Gold

Ownership

Owner: Benjamin Kasper

Background

The Long Island Cougars were a short-lived minor league hockey team that played out of the old Long Island Arena in Commack, New York. The Cougars replaced the long-running Long Island Ducks operation (1959-1973) who had folded earlier in 1973, along with the rest of the Eastern Hockey League.

Several refugees from the defunct EHL formed the North American Hockey League during the summer of 1973. Long Island was offered a new franchise to stand in for the Ducks. The NAHL clubs quickly formed affiliation agreements to serve as farm clubs for teams in the upstart World Hockey Association (1972-1979) which was challenging the NHL for top talent and expansion markets during the 1970’s. Long Island took both their Cougars nickname and their green & gold color scheme from their parent club, the Chicago Cougars of the WHA.

During the NAHL’s first season, the Cougars advanced to the Lockhart Cup championship series. Minor league hockey legend John Brophy, a longtime Ducks star and the Eastern League’s all-time penalty minutes leader, was the Cougars’ head coach. They lost in the finals to the Syracuse Blazers.

Move To Pennsylvania

The Cougars played one final season on Long Island in the winter of 1974-75, making the playoffs against despite a 29-40-5 record under new coach Ron Racette. In the spring of 1975 the Chicago Cougars of the WHA went out of business. In May of that year, Cougars owned Ben Kasper moved the team to Erie, Pennsylvania. The franchise played on as the Erie Blades into the 1980’s. The rest of the NAHL folded in the fall of 1977.