History Of Ice Hockey in Philadelphia - Part 3

Well folks, sorry for the delay, I've been lazy, and meant to post 3 posts last week, but never got around too it. Anyway I've posted part 3 below. Enjoy the read!

Comets (1932-1933)

The Philadelphia Comets where a Tri-State Hockey League team, and Philadelphia's third establish hockey club. Based around the 3 surrounding states of Pennsylvania,Maryland and place st="on">New Jersey, the TSHL, which became the forerunner of the Eastern Amateur Hockey League, had just four teams and operated for one season. The teams included the Atlantic City Seagulls, Baltimore Orioles, and Hershey B'ars

While the league also played a few games against teams of the New York Amateur Hockey League, each team had a schedule of 18 games, 6 meetings with each of the other three T-SHL clubs which the Comets began when they took on Hershey at the Arena on December 10, 1932. Not only did the not-so-talented Comets lose that night, but they also dropped every game after that. At the end of the season they had a 0-16-0 record in league play, the Comets never earned a point in the T-SHL Standings! While the Comets managed to score only 25 goals in their 16 games, they gave up an amazing 119 goals for an overall team Goals Against Average of 7.44. Atlantic City (15-1-2) and Baltimore (12-5-1) dominated the loop while Philadelphia (0-16-0) and Hershey (6-11-1) where the bottom feeders. (All 6 Hershey wins most likely came over the Comets)

To make matters worse, the Comets never had the city of Philadelphia behind them. Coupled with their loosing performance, and the first place Arrows in the C-AHL, the Comets drew a sparse crowd, even with the dirt cheap prices of 50 cents to $1.00.

With the Comets folding after just one season, the remaining three teams joined forces with four New York based Amateur teams (New York Athletic Club, Bronx Tigers, St. Nick's Hockey Club, and Crescent-Hamilton Athletic Club) forming the EAHL. In 1954, the league was renamed the EHL, where Philly would eventually come back into the picture, with the second Ramblers team.

After another 19 seasons, with 3 divisions and 12 teams, the EHL split up into 2 independent leagues (Southern Hockey League, and North-American Hockey League). This lasted from 1972 to 1977. For more on the EHL, SHL, and the NAHL, visit hockeydb.com for years of operation and stats.

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***Credits for the information gathered on thus blog goes to hockeydb.com, and hockeyscoop.net. All information was collected for recreational use only. This is NOT an attempt to claim this information gathered as my own. All information belongs to the respected owners.***

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