The following contains a mix of first-hand and second-hand speculation.
Depending on the source, either November or December marks the 50th anniversary of what some may consider the first big-time hockey team in the state of New Jersey. They didn't play there for long.
In the fall of 1973, the New York Golden Blades, who had once hoped to play in the Nassau Coliseum before the Islanders blocked their hopes of doing so, were still enduring a sub-optimal run at Madison Square Garden. The team suffered from mismanagement to the point that, for the second time, the World Hockey Association took over its New York franchise.
Going by the figure of 24 games as the Golden Blades, this team became the Jersey Knights for its Dec. 5 road game against the Houston Aeros, then started playing at the arena in Cherry Hill, in the part of the Garden State near Philadelphia, the next day. The first of 26 home games was a 3-2 win over the Cleveland Crusaders.
Andre Lacroix, brought in over the summer of '73, was a star for the Blades and Knights, leading the league in assists for the season and being placed between Bobby Hull and Gordie Howe on the all-WHA starting line at the end of it all. Future Hall of Famer Harry Howell, in his early forties, was a player-coach.
The Knights finished last in the East with a record of 32-42-4, and unlike the fifth-place Quebec Nordiques, they didn't even come close to making the playoffs.
Their 4-2 loss to the Crusaders on the last day of March turned out to be the last game in New Jersey, and the team once valued as the one that would establish a foothold for the WHA in New York relocated to San Diego. The Mariners won their first four home games in October 1974.
Full post on hockey coming next Friday.
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