New York Raiders Memories

New York Raiders



1972-73

Founded: November 1, 1971 by Neil Shayne as the New York Raiders of the World Hockey Association

The New York Raiders was suppossed to be the flagship franchise of the World Hockey Association. Itwas believed that the league would get some importance and needed media attentionif they placed a team in New York City. The WHA figured that New York City could support 2 pro-hockey franchises, which was a very true statement. From that point on the team went down hill. Finding an arena did look bright for a while when the brand new Nassau Colisum was vacant and looking to host a hockey team, that is a NHL hockey team. Hearing this news Clarence Campbell (President of the NHL) awarded a NHL team to Long Island to counter the WHA's Raiders. The Long Island franchise later took up residence at the Nassau Coliseum. These happenings forced the WHA Raiders to play out of the Madison Square Garden, which wasalready inhabitanted by the NHL Rangers and the NBA Knicks. This move was very costly since the arena charged the team plenty to lease the arena.

The team had fiancial problems during the half way point of the inaugural season. The original owner Neil Shayne sold portions of the team to wealty Richard Wood and Sy Siegel, but all three found themselves in huge fiancial problems. After all the problems the team had early on the league took control of the team off of the 3 investors for the remainder of the season. The team also encountered two other problems, one was the low attendance and the other was the teams poor defense which resulted in alot of lost games and abundance of headaches for the goalies. Despite the problems the team had several strong points. One was the Raiders offensive talent. Ron Ward who was an ex-defensemen moved forward was the leagues second leading scorer with 118 points. Also Gene Peacosh, Wayne Rivers, and Bobby Sheehan chipped in all 30 goal seasons.

During the off season Ralf Brent purchased the Raiders off the league and re-named the team the New York Golden Blades. 

New York Raiders Year-by-Year
Year      W     L    T     pts.    Finish       Playoffs
1972-73  33    43    2     68      6th Eastern  None

Other Team Facts

Jerseys:Colors: Red, White, Blue, Orange
  • Wayne Rivers in a Raiders Uniform.
  • Ron Ward of the New York Raiders is fighting of a Ottawa National defender.
    Arena Home Rink- Madison Square Garden (17,500)
    Attendance Figures (Avg-Total)
  • 1972-73......5,868.......228,857
    Coaches
  • 1972-73...Camille Henry
    All-Star Representatives
  • 1973..Ken Block,Ron Ward,Norm Ferguson
    Affiliations
  • 1972-73...Long Island Ducks (EHL)
    Player Stats
  • New York Raiders 1972-73

    A 1972-73 New York Raiders Roster and Information Guide

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