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26-574: Coached by Camille Henry , the New York Raiders had the second overall pick in the first WHA Draft in 1972, selecting Al Sims , who signed with the Boston Bruins instead. The team was initially slated to play in the brand-new Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Long Island . However, Nassau County officials did not consider the WHA to be a major league, and wanted nothing to do with

52-826: A member of the Eastern Hockey League , relocated to Cherry Hill at the end of the 1963–64 season. The Devils played in the Cherry Hill Arena until 1973, when the team folded along with the Eastern Hockey League (EHL). The Devils had several notable players and also won the highest scoring game in EHL history, a 16–15 win over the Syracuse Blazers on February 24, 1968, at the Cherry Hill Arena before 4,583 fans. The EHL split into two fairly short-lived leagues. The Northern teams became

78-543: The American Hockey League in 1983. Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes Camille Henry Joseph Wilfred Camille " The Eel " Henry (January 31, 1933 – September 11, 1997) was a Canadian professional Canadian ice hockey left winger / centre who played for the New York Rangers ,

104-691: The American Hockey League . He was then loaned to the Quebec Aces in the Quebec Hockey League . Henry would return with the Reds in 1955-56 , and he led the AHL in goals with 50. Henry would also lead the Reds to a Calder Cup championship and in the process, he scored 10 goals in 9 games to lead all players in playoff scoring. In 1956-57 , Henry returned to the Rangers. He split his time with

130-803: The Chicago Black Hawks and the St. Louis Blues in the National Hockey League . Born in Quebec City , Henry, nicknamed 'The Eel' played in the Quebec Junior Hockey League with the Quebec Citadelles during his junior career. Henry led the league in goals in 1951-52 with 52 goals and in 1952-53 with 46 goals. He also led the league in point scoring in 1951-52 with 114 points and was selected to

156-888: The New York Raiders of the World Hockey Association but he never duplicated his early success. He coached the New Jersey Rockets semi-pro hockey club that played at Ice World in Totowa, NJ in the mid/late 1970s. Henry eventually ran the twin rinks in Totowa, New Jersey and Branchbrook Park in Newark . Henry was married and divorced from Dominique Michel , famed Quebec chanteuse and comedienne. After his retirement Henry lived in Quebec City and held security jobs, eventually becoming essentially destitute. He

182-661: The St. Louis Blues in 1968-69 where he went to the Stanley Cup finals in 1969. He would play 2 seasons with the Blues before retiring. On November 1, 1959 when Jacques Plante first wore a mask for protection in a game, Camille was the only player to score on him in that game. On December 12, 1963 Camille participated in an NHL record when the Montreal Canadiens and the New York Rangers combined for

208-630: The Blazers move to Vancouver after only one season. WHA trustee Howard Baldwin was quoted as saying "Hopefully, we will be back in New York next season with a strong owner to compete in that market." Despite this, the WHA would never return to New York, getting no closer than the New England Whalers in 1975, when that team moved from Boston to Hartford, Connecticut . Having been locked out of Madison Square Garden just prior to their move,

234-708: The Coliseum. The Raiders were thus forced to play at the Garden as tenants of the Rangers; no other arena in the metropolitan area was suitable even for temporary use. The situation rapidly became untenable, with an onerous lease and low attendance. During the season the Raiders averaged 5,868 spectators per game, which was far less than the NHL's Rangers (17,494) and the Islanders (11,996). The three original owners defaulted, and

260-602: The Eastern Division. Within five weeks of the move, though, reports had already begun to state that the franchise would not stay in New Jersey beyond the end of the season, as it was clear Cherry Hill Arena was inadequate even for temporary use. Moreover, what little local interest existed in the WHA team disappeared with the nearby Philadelphia Flyers en route to their first of two consecutive Stanley Cup championships. Baltimore businessman Joe Schwartz purchased

286-665: The Golden Blades after being released from the Los Angeles Kings , was elevated to player-coach , and ordered the team's white skates painted black. Realizing that the New York area was not large enough for three hockey teams, the WHA moved the team to Cherry Hill, New Jersey , and renamed it the Jersey Knights . The move marked a return of sorts to the Delaware Valley for the WHA, which had seen

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312-541: The NHL at the time and suffered numerous injuries throughout his career. He was known for his ability to swat the puck out of mid air to score goals. He won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the National Hockey League rookie of the year beating out Jean Béliveau of the Montreal Canadiens . After playing 21 games with the Rangers the following season , Henry was traded to the Providence Reds of

338-476: The QJHL First All-Star Team in 1951-52 and in 1952-53. Henry also made an appearance in the 1953 Memorial Cup playoffs posting 21 points in 8 games. Henry made his National Hockey League debut with the New York Rangers in 1953-54 . He had his greatest success wearing number 21 for the New York Rangers . At 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) and 150 lb (68 kg), he was the smallest man in

364-461: The Raiders. County officials retained William Shea , who had spearheaded the effort to return National League baseball to New York, to get an NHL team to play in the new building. The next step was to convince Madison Square Garden , owner of the New York Rangers , to allow another NHL team to share the New York area. Rangers president Bill Jennings was skeptical at first. However, Shea and NHL president Clarence Campbell convinced Jennings that

390-511: The Rangers and the Reds that season, before playing for 7 straight seasons with only the Rangers. Camille was selected as an NHL Second All-Star Team left winger in 1957-58 , the year he also won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for best sportsmanship combined with production. In 1964-65 , he was named Captain of the New York Rangers. He also played in the 1958 , 1963 and 1964 NHL All-Star Games . In 1964-65 , Henry

416-471: The Rangers would at least get compensation from another New York NHL team. On the other hand, the Garden would not see a penny from a New York WHA team unless it was included in a potential NHL–WHA merger. Jennings relented, and the NHL granted an expansion franchise to Long Island, the New York Islanders . The terms of the Islanders' lease with Nassau County effectively locked non-NHL teams out of

442-644: The fastest three goals by two teams in NHL history. Dave Balon and Gilles Tremblay scored for Montreal and Camille Henry scored for the Rangers, all within 18 seconds. The record stood until Feb. 10, 1983. Camille scored the first ever hat trick for the St. Louis Blues. Henry coached the Kansas City Blues of the Central Professional Hockey LeagueCentral Hockey League in 1969-70 and then coached

468-586: The league ended up taking control of the team midway through the season. Following the season, New York real estate mogul Ralph Brent bought the team and renamed it the New York Golden Blades . While they managed to acquire Andre Lacroix from the Philadelphia Blazers , he was essentially all the franchise had going for it. The team replaced their original orange and blue uniforms with purple and gold uniforms, and to coincide with

494-446: The new identity, the team started the season wearing white skates with gold-colored blades. The situation improved very little from the previous season; at times, the Golden Blades played before crowds of only 500 people (in an 18,000-seat arena). Sinking in debt, Brent returned the team to the league in late November, just twenty games into the season, with a 6-12-2 record. Veteran player Harry Howell , who had been recently picked up by

520-440: The players were unable to take their Blades jerseys with them. The team reverted to the previous Raiders uniforms, with the original crest replaced with the new Knights logo. The newly minted Knights soon discovered their new home, Cherry Hill Arena , had a slope in the ice surface, which forced visiting teams to skate uphill two out of three periods. One drawback was that pucks would sometimes shoot upwards unexpectedly; one Knight

546-752: The radio voice of the Edmonton Oilers for 37 years, ending in 2011, is quoted as saying of the Arena, "The press box in Cherry Hill, N.J. (across the bridge from Philadelphia) was so small that you couldn't stand up. The roof was only four feet high and you were all hunched over. When somebody shut the door, they cut off one whole end of the rink." Despite the questionable facilities, the Knights played over-.500 hockey and were in playoff contention before losing their last six games to finish 32–42–4, last in

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572-732: The team in January, fueling speculation the team might move to there, or perhaps be re-incarnated as an expansion franchise in Cincinnati or Indianapolis . Instead, at the end of the 1974 season, Schwartz moved the Knights to San Diego, California , and renamed them the San Diego Mariners . The last active player from the Raiders/Golden Blades/Knights was Bobby Sheehan who last played in 1981–82 NHL season and played his final professional season in

598-406: Was also closely cramped, with players not having adequate changing and dressing facilities; visiting teams had to dress at their hotel. In addition, there was no plexiglass around the playing surface. The boards in the area from face-off circle to face-off circle at each end of the ice was bordered with chicken-wire as protection. The rest of the arena had no protection above the boards. Rod Philips,

624-487: Was knocked cold when a would-be pass jumped up and nailed him between the eyes. Years later Ab McDonald said, "[The ice] was so high in the middle, the short guys almost couldn’t see the other end of the ice." The arena in Cherry Hill was available because the previous pro hockey tenant, the Jersey Devils , had folded when the Eastern Hockey League went out of business at the end of the previous season. The arena

650-665: Was traded to the Chicago Black Hawks for Paul Shmyr . Henry played 22 games with the Black Hawks posting 8 points. During that season, Henry also made his first ever trip to the Stanley Cup Finals . The Black Hawks ended up losing in 7 games to the Montreal Canadiens. He would return to New York in 1967–68 , where he would split his time with the Buffalo Bisons in the AHL. Henry was traded to

676-539: Was widely considered to have an alcohol consumption problem which was complicated by diabetes . He died shortly after receiving his first reimbursement for the players' pension fund which was awarded by the courts. Jersey Devils The Jersey Devils were an American professional ice hockey team based in Cherry Hill, New Jersey . The Devils were formed when the Philadelphia Ramblers ,

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