New York Slapshots

The New York Slapshots were a professional ice hockey team and a member of the Atlantic Coast Hockey League in the 1985–86 season. Although the team was based on Staten Island, New York, the Slapshots' planned arena in Travis was never built and the team ended up having to play its 'home' games elsewhere, functioning as a traveling team. In May 1986, the franchise relocated to Troy, New York, and was renamed the Troy Slapshots.

On August 28, 1985, a press conference was held to formally announce the establishment of the New York Slapshots, a new team in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League (ACHL) that would begin play in the 1985–86 season at the planned Phil Esposito Sports and Entertainment Center in the Travis neighborhood of Staten Island. The team was the borough's first professional sports franchise since the Staten Island Staples played in the 1930s. The Slapshots were owned by Rudy Slucker, the president of a hardware company in Long Island City, who got the idea to purchase a professional sports franchise from his optician Lee Blowstein; Blowstein and Sportsworld Marketing were the team's minority owners.^[1]

The league had some concerns about the team's name and its relationship to the 1977 film Slap Shot, which depicted a minor league ice hockey team that resorted to violent play to gain popularity. ACHL Commissioner Ray Miron said, "This is not a 'Slapshot' league at all. There's none of that stickwork here." ACHL President Rick Dudley added, "When people see the quality and the speed of the ACHL, they'll see we're not in the same world as 'Slapshot.'"^[1][2] The following month, Dave Schultz, a former NHL veteran who spent the majority of his career with the Philadelphia Flyers during their Broad Street Bullies days, was announced as the team's general manager and coach.^[3] Schultz also served as the Slapshots' bus driver.^[2]

Development of the Phil Esposito Sports and Entertainment Center in Travis had been announced earlier that year,^[4] which was backed by former New York Rangers player Phil Esposito.^[5] The proposed 5,000-seat arena was to be located at 4320 Victory Boulevard on a site near the West Shore Expressway and Courts of Appeal Racquetball and Tennis Club.^[6] A groundbreaking ceremony for the venue was held on April 26, 1985, and the new facility was planned to be opened in October.^[7]

On November 8, 1985, the Slapshots opened their season on the road against the Erie Golden Blades; the team was scheduled to begin the season with eight consecutive road games to allow for completion of the Phil Esposito Sports and Entertainment Center.^[8][9] The Slapshots lost their debut by a score of 8–4 and were thrown off their game by the intimidating play of the Golden Blades in a first period that included 88 minutes in penalties, many of which were for slashing, high sticking and fighting. Schultz said, "Most of the guys here have never played where they get punched in the face or speared and the referee doesn't call anything. If cheap shots win games in this league, we'll go to that. Right now, we have terrific athletes that are skilled hockey players."^[10]

By the time the team was scheduled to open at home on December 7, 1985, construction of the new arena had yet to begin, so the Slapshots postponed their first three home games and announced their intention to play the balance of their home schedule in The Ironbound neighborhood of Newark, New Jersey.^[11] The city of Newark, which goaltender Ward Komonosky called "the dirtiest, dingiest, grungiest city I've ever seen," forced the Slapshots to spend about $20,000 in making improvements to the Ironbound Recreation Center before allowing them to play.^[9] The team's first 'home' game in Newark was held on December 30, 1985, when the Mohawk Valley Comets beat the Slapshots 4–3 in front of an estimated crowd of 400 fans.^[12]

The team experienced attendance problems in Newark—only drawing about 75 to 100 fans per game—and later relocated to Vinton, Virginia to cut its losses, with the intention to return to Staten Island the following season.^[13][14] Schultz elected not make the move to Virginia so he could remain with his family in New Jersey and relinquished his position as head coach to Joe Selenski, who had been serving as the team's assistant general manager.^[13] Schultz kept his position as general manager and ran the team from Staten Island.^[9]

Ironically, the Slapshots' first 'home' game at the LancerLot in Vinton, the home rink of the Virginia Lancers, was scheduled to be played against the Lancers on February 5, 1986.^[13][14] That game had to be postponed because some of the Slapshots' players were stranded at an airport and the bus carrying the team's equipment broke down on its way to Virginia.^[15] When the game was played on February 11, 1986, the Slapshots defeated the Lancers in overtime by a score of 3–2.^[16] One week later, the Slapshots were missing five players due to the flu and ended up dressing head coach Selenski and assistant trainer Paul Litz as players in a 14–2 loss to the Carolina Thunderbirds.^[17][18] The Slapshots failed to qualify for the playoffs and their final 'home' game in Vinton against the Lancers was canceled. Lancers' team owner Henry Brabham remarked, "It was their home game, so we didn't care."^[19]

Bobby Williams of the Slapshots was named the ACHL Rookie of the Year for the 1985–86 season. The center—who was the son of Tommy Williams—scored 42 goals and added 18 assists despite appearing in only 38 games, having missed 22 games due to a wrist injury.^[20] Williams earned a weekly salary of $150, with a $35 bonus for each game the team won. When describing his time spent with the Slapshots, Williams said, "We liked to think of ourselves as a finesse team, because we really didn't have a big, tough team. But Schultz made sure we didn't back away from anything... I remember one game... Schultz took a stick and went out on the ice and banged one of the Carolina guys over the head with it."^[21] The game that Williams was referring to was likely the one played at the Winston-Salem War Memorial Coliseum on January 31, 1986, when Schultz hit Thunderbirds winger Brian Johnson on the head with a hockey stick, resulting in a bench-clearing brawl, with Schultz and three other players being ejected from the game.^[22][23]

The Slapshots were the final landing spot in the professional hockey career of Howie Young, who at 48 years old was the oldest player on the team's roster. The Toronto native played in the National Hockey League from 1960 to 1971 and had hung up his skates in 1979 after several stints with minor league teams. He made a brief comeback in 1985, appearing in four games with Flint Spirits before being released and was offered a job by Schultz. Young played in seven games for the Slapshots before he was cut and stuck around for another week to help drive the team bus for road trips before he left to return home for Christmas.^[24][25][26]

Slucker originally planned to move the Slapshots to the Mennen Sports Arena in Morristown, New Jersey for the 1986–87 season and had even made a deposit to host playoff games at the arena in April 1986, if his team qualified for the playoffs the prior season.^[27] However, in May 1986, the team and league announced that the Slapshots would instead be moving upstate to Troy and playing their games at the Houston Field House, a 5,367-seat arena located on the campus of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. ^[28][29]

The Troy Slapshots ended up folding in November 1986, only six games into the season. "We should have known a team with that name would never make it," said ACHL Commissioner Miron after the team's removal from the league. He added, "If the history of the Slapshots is ever written, it would make a good sequel to the movie of the same name."^[30]