75 Years of Hockey Tradition in New Haven
By Jerry Deno
Monday, February 10, 2003
In the world of minor league hockey teams come and go. Even cities that have teams come and go. But no city that I know of can boast 75 years of hockey tradition like New Haven, Connecticut. That is until September 2002 when the shortsighted Mayor of New Haven closed the New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
The Coliseum (as the locals affectionately know it) was built in 1972 and was home to 4 minor pro teams. The New Haven Nighthawks, New Haven Senators, the Beast of New Haven (all from the American Hockey League), and most recently the New Haven Knights of the United Hockey League. The Knights were forced to withdraw from the UHL when Mayor John DeStefano Jr. refused to grant a 5-year lease to the new owner of the team and then closed the building. This closure also left the New Haven Ninjas of the AFL2 without a home with no plans to reopen the coliseum, or build a new one. The Mayor has effectively killed a piece of New Haven history that dates back to 1926.
That year the New Haven Eagles of the Canadian-American Hockey League came into existence. The Eagles stayed in the CAHL until the 1935-36 season. Then for the 1936-37 season hockey history was made and New Haven was part of it. That year the owner of the Eagles, Nate Podoloff, got together with 7 other arena owners and came up with a plan to "never have a dark night at their arenas." Their plan was the to start their own league. Mr. Podoloff, along with owners in Providence, Philadelphia, Springfield, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Buffalo, started the American Hockey League. The Eagles stayed in the AHL until 1950. In 1946 they changed their name to the New Haven Ramblers. The Ramblers had some future Hall of Fame players on that team. Lynn Patrick, Fred Shero, Emile (the cat) Francis and Lorne "Gump" Worsley all played in New Haven. It should also be noted that for the 1945-46 and 46-47 season hockey great Eddie Shore owned the team.
In 1951 New Haven left the AHL and entered the Eastern Hockey League. This is the league that many say the movie Slap Shot was modeled after. There were 3 EHL teams in the city - the Tomahawks 1951-52, Nutmegs 1952-53, and Blades 1954-72. The Blades were, of course, the longest running EHL team and had some very fine players on those teams, most of which were drafted by the New York Rangers. There were many local favorites that played for the Blades such as Claude Boileau, John Brophy, and future coach of the New Haven Nighthawks and Los Angles Kings, Don Perry.
In 1972 the AHL returned to the city in the new state of the art Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The first game played in the Coliseum was an exhibition game between the Nighthawks and the Minnesota North Stars. It was a dismal first season for the AHL affiliate of the expansion New York Islanders ending with a record of 16-40-20 for 52 points. Even future NHL stars like Bobby Nystrom, Garry Howatt, Glen "chico" Resch and NHL experienced players like Willie O’Ree couldn’t help. But as always the die hard New Haven fans embraced their team and over the next 20 years the Nighthawks posted a record of 693-702-169.
The 1992-93 season brought the Senators to the city. This was to be the development team for the NHL Ottawa Senators. However, after only one year, they were moved and New Haven was without hockey for the first time in 67 years.
The absence was to be short lived. In 1997, David Gregory and Paragon Sports brought the AHL back in the form of the Beast of New Haven. This too, however, was not to last. The Beast operated a team for the 1997-98 season and 1998-99 season but as the last season was coming to an end, problems started to arise. The Beast had a joint affiliation with both the Florida Panthers and the Carolina Hurricanes. In January the Panthers announced that they would pull out at the end of the season. Also, Paragon Sports did not own the franchise, they just leased it. Carolina picked up the franchise as part of the agreement to move the Hartford Whalers to the Greensboro Coliseum, which displaced the Greensboro Monarchs (AHL). With the Hurricanes moving to their new home in Raleigh, they had to either put the franchise back in Greensboro or buy it from the owners. Negotiations started but by Memorial Day things went downhill. The Hurricanes had lost $50 million in there first 2 years and couldn’t take a chance of assuming more debt so they broke off negotiations in early June. At this point Mr. Gregory started speaking to Detroit, Ottawa, and the New York Islanders, but with only 1 week to go it was impossible to purchase an AHL expansion franchise and secure a NHL affiliation. Once again New Haven said goodbye to hockey.
Then in 2000, like the Phoenix rising from the flame, hockey returned to New Haven. This time it was the United Hockey League. The New Haven Knights played for 2 seasons from 2000-2002. The owner of the team was looking for a buyer and an agreement was in place to sell the team to a local businessman. The new owner had an aggressive marketing plan for the team and was willing to commit to a 5-year lease with the city to play in the Coliseum. This is where it all fell apart. Mayor John DeStefano Jr. stated that he would not sign a lease for the team and that his plan was to tear down the Veterans Memorial Coliseum. With no plans to replace the coliseum this left New Haven without a facility for a team to play.
It’s hard to believe that after 75 years there will be no hockey in our great city. Nostalgia does none of us any good here, and memories of the superstars like Emile Francis, Gump Worsley, and Bobby Nystrom, or even the local heroes like Dave Hainsworth, Tom Colley, Steve West, or Chris Cerrella can’t fill the void that has been left here. The joy of growing up watching these future stars play here is no longer an option for our children and that’s the saddest point of all. I was very fortunate to be a part of the last team to call New Haven home (the Knights), and after the last game in the 2001-02 season (we didn’t know it was the last game ever) I spoke to all the players in the locker room. They all had the same thing to say, "New Haven is a great city to play in. The fans are the best and I want to play here again next year." What more could a hockey fan ask for. Will hockey ever return? I hope so, but right now the future looks forsaken. But the building is still standing, and as a famous person once said "it's not over till it’s over."
Oh and by the way, the fat lady hasn’t sung yet either.
Webmaster's Note: Jerry Deno is a life long New Haven hockey fan. He has the dubious honor of attending the first ever hockey at the New Haven Coliseum (September 27, 1972 - Nighthawks vs. North Stars) and its last ever game (March 30, 2002 - Knights vs. Elmira). Jerry is currently the head of off ice officials for the UHL's Danbury Trashers
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