Atlantic Coast Hockey League (1985-1986)
Tombstone
Born: 1985 – ACHL expansion franchise
Folded: November 18, 1986
First Game:
Last Game:
ACHL Championships: None
Arenas
1985-86: Travel Team
1986-87: Houston Field House
Branding
Team Colors:
Ownership
Owner: Rudy Slucker
Background
The New York Slapshots were a threadbare minor league hockey effort in the low-budget Atlantic Coast Hockey League (1981-1987). The club debuted in the winter of 1985 with the intent of playing at the Phil Esposito Sports Center, a newly constructed 5,000-seat arena on Staten Island. Slapshots owner Rudy Slucker hired former Philadelphia Flyers star Dave Schultz as the Slapshots’ first Head Coach and General Manager in September 1985.
The Slapshots immediately ran into problems when construction was delayed on the Esposito Center, leaving the team with no place to play. They became a travel team, playing all of their games on the road. Late in the season the Slapshots found a temporary “home ice” in Virginia, where they finished out the 1985-86 season with a last place record of 21-38.
Move To RPI & Collapse
For the 1986-87 season, Slucker moved the team to Troy, New York and the Houston Field House at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Badly under-funded and with little fan or corporate support, the re-named Troy Slapshots lasted only six games into the 1986-87 season. The ACHL expelled the near-bankrupt team from the league on November 18, 1986 and merged the player roster with the league’s Mohawk Valley Comets franchise.
Albany writer Chuck Miller has an entertaining write-up of the Slapshots brief and bumpy 1986 ride in Troy here.
Links
Atlantic Coast Hockey League Programs
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2 Responses
I tried out for the Slapshots
I played for the Slapshots. We did have a hone rink across the bridge in Newark NJ Ironbound. We also had a talented team. Beat Carolina, Virginia and Mohawk Valley when I played.