New York Raiders 1972-73
New York Golden Blades 1973 (partial)
Jersey Knights 1973-74 (partial)
San Diego Mariners 1974-75 to 1976-77

Owners

Dick Wood

Seymour Siegel

Joseph Schwartz

Ray Kroc

Rinks

Madison Square Garden 1972 to 1973

Cherry Hill Arena 1973 to 1974

San Diego Sports Arena 1974 to 1977

Seasons & Leaders

1972-73 New York Record 33-43-2, 68 pts Coach Camille Henry Ian Wilkie (one game) Goals 51, Ron Ward 37, Gene Peacosh 37, Wayne Rivers Assists 67, Ron Ward 53, Ken Block 53, Bobby Sheehan Points 118, Ron Ward 88, Bobby Sheehan Penalty Min. 159, Hal Willis 127, Craig Reichmuth Wins 22, Peter Donnelly Goals Against 3.57, Peter Donnelly Shutouts 2, Peter Donnelly

1973-74 New York-Jersey Record 32-42-4, 68 pts Coach Camille Henry Harry Howell Goals 31, Andre Lacroix 30, Wayne Rivers Assists 80, Andre Lacroix 43, Ken Block 43, Kevin Morrison Points 111, Andre Lacroix 67, Kevin Morrison Penalty Min. 132, Kevin Morrison 114, Craig Reichmuth Wins 21, Joe Junkin Goals Against 3.79, Joe Junkin Shutouts 1, Joe Junkin

1974-75 San Diego Record 43-31-4, 90 pts Coach Harry Howell (player-coach) Ron Ingram (bench) Goals 54, Wayne Rivers 44, Dick Sentes Assists 106, Andre Lacroix 61, Kevin Morrison Points 147, Andre Lacroix 107, Wayne Rivers Penalty Min. 143, Kevin Morrison 96, Jamie Bateman Wins 20, Ernie Wakely Goals Against 3.29, Joe Junkin Shutouts 2, Ernie Wakely

1975-76 San Diego Record 36-38-6, 78 pts Coach Ron Ingram Goals 37, Norm Ferguson 37, Gene Peacosh Assists 72, Andre Lacroix 67, Ray Adduono Points 101, Andre Lacroix 90, Ray Adduono Penalty Min. 102, Kevin Devine 63, Brent Hughes Wins 35, Ernie Wakely Goals Against 3.26, Ernie Wakely Shutouts 3, Ernie Wakely

1976-77 San Diego Record 40-37-4, 84 pts Coach Ron Ingram Goals 39, Norm Ferguson 35, Joe Noris Assists 82, Andre Lacroix 57, Joe Noris Points 114, Andre Lacroix 92, Joe Noris Penalty Min. 114, Kevin Devine 103, Paul Shmyr Wins 22, Ernie Wakely Goals Against 3.09, Ernie Wakely Shutouts 3, Ernie Wakely

Complete Roster & Regular Season Scoring Totals

Player (G: Goaltender)	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	Penalty Min.
Lacroix, Andre	317	133	340	473	238
Rivers, Wayne	357	158	176	334	183
Ferguson, Norm	365	155	163	318	43
Peacosh, Gene	292	138	135	273	99
Morrison, Kevin	311	74	177	251	399
Adduono, Ray	171	40	131	171	50
Noris, Joe	153	63	97	160	54
Ward, Ron	77	51	67	118	28
Block, Ken	188	9	107	116	78
Devine, Kevin	207	55	58	113	264
Morenz, Brian	225	53	57	110	165
Sheehan, Bobby	125	47	61	108	25
Sentes, Dick	98	54	52	106	68
Bradley, Brian	180	41	61	102	38
French, John	120	39	60	99	22
Laughton, Mike	203	44	47	91	100
Jones, Bob	134	28	40	68	44
Burgess, Don	150	34	33	67	43
Perry, Brian	145	33	31	64	49
Hughes, Brent	140	11	41	52	111
Shmyr, Paul	81	13	37	50	103
Plumb, Ron	78	10	38	48	56
Reichmuth, Craig	173	25	23	48	299
Falkenberg, Bob	221	5	37	42	107
Howell, Harry	139	7	33	40	52
Herriman, Don	44	11	21	32	59
Wall, Bob	101	1	29	30	47
Speer, Bill	135	4	26	30	70
Dobek, Bob	72	10	18	28	19
Tidey, Alex	74	16	11	27	46
Veneruzzo, Gary	40	14	11	25	18
Cassolato, Tony	43	13	12	25	26
Willis, Hal	74	3	21	24	159
Brown, Bob	76	7	17	24	44
Rhiness, Brad	58	9	14	23	14
Hargreaves, Jim	84	9	11	20	71
Pinder, Gerry	44	6	13	19	36
Douglas, Kent	60	3	15	18	74
Peters, Garry	57	4	12	16	42
McMahon, Mike	69	2	12	14	38
McNamee, Pete	92	5	9	14	65
Scharf, Ted	159	9	5	14	273
Hornung, Larry	58	4	9	13	8
Winograd, Bob	60	1	12	13	23
Olds, Wally	61	5	7	12	4
Rouleau, Michel	27	5	6	11	42
Kennedy, Jamie	52	4	6	10	11
Legge, Randy	69	1	9	10	69
Bredin, Gary	50	4	5	9	10
Boylan, Dean	64	1	5	6	122
Hardy, Joe	12	2	3	5	22
White, Alton	13	1	4	5	2
Chartre, Claude	17	2	3	5	0
Bateman, Jamie	31	1	3	4	100
O'Connell, Tim	16	0	3	3	4
Walter, Dave	16	1	2	3	6
Boddy, Greg	18	1	2	3	19
Cournoyer, Norm	19	1	2	3	8
Krupicka, Jarda	30	1	2	3	4
Gauthier, Jean	31	2	1	3	21
Inglis, Lee	10	0	2	2	0
Trevelyn, Tom	20	0	2	2	4
Kurt, Gary (G)	56	0	2	2	2
Junkin, Joe (G)	69	0	2	2	9
Volmar, Doug	10	0	1	1	4
Goldthorpe, Bill	14	1	0	1	30
Larose, Ray	18	0	1	1	20
Gillow, Russ (G)	53	0	1	1	4
Bye, Brian	1	0	0	0	0
Jacquith, Gary	2	0	0	0	0
Krezanski, Reg	2	0	0	0	2
Lalonde, Rick	2	0	0	0	0
Rydman, Blaine	2	0	0	0	4
Barber, Butch	3	0	0	0	2
Blanchet, Bob (G)	4	0	0	0	0
Wilkie, Ian (G)	5	0	0	0	0
McLeod, Jim (G)	10	0	0	0	2
Lockett, Ken (G)	45	0	0	0	0
Donnelly, Pete (G)	47	0	0	0	2
Wakely, Ernie (G)	148	0	0	0	0

Complete Playoff Scoring Totals

Player (G: Goaltender)	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	Penalty Min.
Adduono, Ray	28	12	18	30	38
Lacroix, Andre	28	8	21	29	12
Ferguson, Norm	21	10	9	19	9
Morrison, Kevin	28	2	15	17	22
French, John	18	6	10	16	2
Peacosh, Gene	21	9	6	15	25
Rivers, Wayne	23	8	6	14	14
Burgess, Don	18	3	9	12	4
Hughes, Brent	17	1	9	10	6
Tidey, Alex	11	3	6	9	10
Noris, Joe	18	4	5	9	12
Devine, Kevin	28	5	4	9	64
Wall, Bob	21	1	6	7	6
Sentes, Dick	15	4	2	6	12
Morenz, Brian	21	2	4	6	17
Laughton, Mike	10	4	1	5	0
Plumb, Ron	10	2	3	5	11
Falkenberg, Bob	23	1	3	4	10
Perry, Brian	6	1	2	3	6
Dobek, Bob	16	1	2	3	4
Shmyr, Paul	7	0	2	2	8
Howell, Harry	5	1	0	1	10
Rhiness, Brad	5	0	1	1	0
Bradley, Brian	6	0	1	1	2
McMahon, Mike	9	0	1	1	2
McNamee, Pete	13	0	1	1	30
Hargreaves, Jim	15	1	0	1	8
Cassolato, Tony	3	0	0	0	4
Gillow, Russ (G)	3	0	0	0	0
Lockett, Ken (G)	5	0	0	0	0
Hornung, Larry	6	0	0	0	0
Veneruzzo, Gary	7	0	0	0	0
Legge, Randy	7	0	0	0	18
Wakely, Ernie (G)	24	0	0	0	0

Complete Regular Season Goaltending

Goaltender	Games	Minutes	Goals	Shutouts	Record	Average
Wakely, Ernie	148	8392	452	8	77-57-9	3.23
Junkin, Joe	69	3961	243	2	27-32-4	3.68
Donnelly, Peter	47	2606	155	2	22-19-2	3.57
Kurt, Gary	56	2970	225	0	18-31-0	4.55
Lockett, Ken	45	2397	148	1	18-19-1	3.71
Gillow, Russ	53	2690	168	1	16-21-4	3.75
McLeod, Jim	10	517	36	0	3-7-0	4.18
Blanchet, Bob	4	211	11	1	2-2-0	3.13
Wilkie, Ian	5	253	27	0	1-3-0	6.40

Complete Playoff Goaltending

Goaltender	Games	Minutes	Goals	Shutouts	Record	Average
Wakely, Ernie	24	1320	87	0	11-13	3.95
Lockett, Ken	5	260	19	0	1-3	4.38
Gillow, Russ	4	99	5	0	0-0	3.03

History

New York, whether it needed one or not, was going to receive a franchise in the World Hockey Association. The city's sheer size and importance to all things media meant it could not be ignored. The city was home to the Rangers, who played at the downtown Madison Square Garden. The Rangers were a long-established franchise with a strong fan base. Battling head-to-head with the Rangers was a recipe for failure. During this period, a new arena was being built in suburban Nassau on Long Island. As of late 1971, it did not yet have a hockey tenant. The thinking was that New York is so big, that two hockey teams might work — the Rangers keep the core city New Yorkers, while the eastern suburbs can follow whatever team lands in the Nassau Coliseum. Naturally, the WHA wanted that team to be its team. The Nassau Coliseum directors weren't as enthusiastic about having a team from a league that was, for the moment, just a lot of talk. They hired William Shea (famous for his involvement in bringing Major League Baseball's New York Mets to Flushing Meadows and for whom its stadium was named) to act on their behalf, and lobby the NHL for an expansion franchise, to be housed at the Nassau Coliseum. The NHL obliged and hastily granted two new franchises in early 1972 to begin play that Fall, one being what would be first known as the Long Island Islanders, then quickly, the New York Islanders. The original franchise rights to New York's WHA team had gone to Neal Shayne, a New York-based lawyer. When the NHL shut the WHA (and him) off from the Nassau Coliseum, Shayne quickly bailed, and sold the team to Seymour (Sy) Siegel and Richard Wood, attorneys based in Trenton, New Jersey. The two new owners tried to pivot the WHA's New York team to become a de-facto New Jersey team. Team offices stayed in New Jersey, most of its players would settle in New Jersey, practice facilities were in New Jersey, and New Jersey media gave the team coverage. But there was no arena in New Jersey that could house the team. As such, the new Raiders had little choice but to work out a deal with the Madison Square Garden. It was an uphill battle for the New York Raiders, as they were named. The new Islanders had outsold season tickets by a 4-1 margin over the Raiders. The Madison Square Garden management was all to happy to gouge a USD$15,000 per-game fee to use the facility (by comparison, the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston charged the Aeros USD$1,000 per game). Two teams in New York proper might work, three almost certainly would not. The team itself was starting to take shape. Camille Henry, a scorer for the Rangers in the 1950s-60s, became the team's coach. Many of the players were old NHL veterans, whose best days were years ago. There was no "marquee" player of note to draw in the fans. The brutal financial deal with the Garden forced the Raiders into insolvency within weeks. Siegel and Wood were out, and the league assumed the costs to run the Raiders. The team's star in 1972-73 was a two-goal scorer from the previous season, a penalty-killer with Vancouver named Ron Ward. Put on the team's first line, he burst for 51 goals, including a 5-goal game in early January against Ottawa. Minor-leaguer Gene Peacosh showed up and scored 37 goals, as did Wayne Rivers, a fringe NHLer from years past. Bobby Sheehan, with the long flowing hair and speed to burn, was second on the team with 88 points. The Raiders had no trouble scoring goals, but preventing them was another matter. They became the first team ever to score and allow over 300 goals in a season. As a result, the Raiders finished last in the Eastern Division, out of the playoffs. New York remained an important piece of the WHA's long-term plan for success. They shopped the team and found new buyers, a group headed by Lee Mattison and Ralf Brent, who, on paper, looked financially solid. The team was rebranded the Golden Blades. They were required to wear white skates, and the worst-looking uniforms in WHA history. Purportedly, part of the budget was squandered on a team song. Despite the window dressing, the owners and the league still had to contend with the draconian arrangement with Madison Square Garden. The new owners missed the first payroll, forfeiting the franchise back to the league. A mere six weeks into existence, the Golden Blades ceased to be. After a week in limbo, a new replacement team — the Jersey Knights — was created, to be housed at a minor-league rink in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, down by Philadelphia. New Jersey finally had its WHA team. The Cherry Hill Arena was completely unsuitable for major-league hockey. It had bleacher seating, no room for all the players on the benches, an uneven ice surface, undependable plumbing, where visiting teams dressed at their hotel and were bussed to the Arena in full gear for its games. This arrangement was part of a plan by a man named Jack Maxwell, who owned the arena and was seeking a tenant to attract interest and leverage. The surrounding city of Mount Laurel was entertaining the idea of building major-league sporting venues to house the Philadelphia-based teams. He essentially made the WHA an offer it couldn't refuse. The Jersey Knights had about as much success as the Raiders from a year ago, scoring a lot of goals, giving up a lot, and missing the playoffs. The team's big star was Andre Lacroix, who had played the previous year with Philadelphia. The team was coached by the venerable Harry Howell, the long-time Ranger defenseman. Howell also played, while Ron Ingram was his assistant, who stayed behind the bench. But the Knights' tenure was never meant to go past the one season. With no real hope of competing fairly in and around New York, the WHA acceded and sought a buyer for the team, who could locate it wherever he pleased. The team went to Joseph Schwartz, a Baltimore-based businessman, who moved the team as far from New York as possible, planting the team in San Diego, California. San Diego had a history with the Gulls of the Western Hockey League, and there was a solid core of fans, enough so that the Gulls often lead the league in attendance. Owner Bob Breitbard had applied for one of the 1974 expansion franchises being granted by the NHL, but was denied. The San Diego Sports Arena, owned and managed by Vancouver-based Peter Graham, had worked a deal on his own to bring the former Raiders/Golden Blades/Knights to San Diego. Fans in the city were put off by these turn of events, their local favorite, Breitbard and the Gulls, being pushed aside while two "outsiders" assumed control of the hockey market. The new team was named the Mariners. At the start of the 1974-75 season, the new Mariners, now coached full-time by Ron Ingram, played average hockey at first, winning and losing equally often. Fans were slow to warm to the team. After acquiring goaltender Ernie Wakely midway through the season, the team caught fire. Andre Lacroix had 106 assists and 147 points, Wayne Rivers 54 goals, and Gene Peacosh and Rick Sentes over 40 apiece. Winning has a way of attracting interest and the San Diego fans slowly came around to embrace the team, if not very tightly. The team was still in a precarious financial state, but not as severe as back in New York. In their first playoffs, the Mariners defeated Toronto in the first round before being swept by eventual champs Houston. The Mariners slipped to 36 wins in 1975-76. Lacroix collected 101 points and Ernie Wakely accounted for 35 of the team's 36 wins. Wayne Rivers dropped to 19 goals, but Ray Adduono picked up the slack with a 90-point season. By now, the financial situation had reached a breaking point. Schwartz left in March, effectively folding the team. The players chose to play without pay. Should the Mariners make the playoffs, the players could recoup some salary since the league covered playoff payments. There was also the hope that a local owner could be found. The Mariners did in fact make the 1976 playoffs and even lasted two rounds. In June 1976, Ray Kroc, owner of the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball and of the McDonalds fast-food chain, stepped in to assume control of the team. The Mariners would live to play for 1976-77. His patronage was appreciated, but it was clear this was a short-term deal: Kroc was not going to prop up the team indefinitely. The 1976-77 season would be the team's last. The team played well for the first two-thirds of the season, but then endured a 14-game winless streak at the worst possible time. Although the Mariners made the playoffs, it was clear the team had simply run out of steam in San Diego. Andre Lacroix and Ernie Wakely were the team's big stars. Joe Noris came from nowhere to post 92 points. The Mariners fought valiantly to the end, pushing Winnipeg to seven games in its playoff round. But the team's future in San Diego was finished. Ray Kroc wanted out, and on May 1, 1977, sold the team to Jerry Saperstein (fronting a group of over a dozen investors), who planned to move the team to Hollywood, Florida. By this time, the WHA and NHL were into negotiations for merger, and neither league felt having a team in Florida was wise. The WHA would not approve the franchise shift; it was then returned to the league, which disbanded it. The San Diego Mariners were finished. That summer of 1977, two other WHA teams also disbanded (Phoenix and Calgary). But a shell of the San Diego Mariners lived on in two forms. Ron Ingram had assumed the coaching duties in Indianapolis and brought over a half-dozen of his players to the Racers for the 1977-78 season. Meanwhile, in December 1977, a new version of the San Diego Mariners, lead by Peter Graham, was formed in the Pacific Hockey League, featuring a number of out-of-work WHA players. That team lasted a season, then morphed into the San Diego Hawks for the 1978-79 season, coached by Ron Ingram, which lasted just that single season. There was no professional hockey in San Diego until 1990, when the Gulls were resurrected as part of the International Hockey League. Since that time, various versions of the Gulls have come and gone, but no team since 1978 has used the Mariners nickname

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Reviews, Podcasts and Media

• Article: Color of Hockey: Alton White (The Hockey News), by William Douglas — March 8, 2020
• Review: US Sports History, by Rick Macales — Feb 6, 2021
• Podcast: Good Seats Still Available, by Tim Hanlon — Feb 28, 2021
• Podcast: Digital to Dice (Youtube), by Dave Gardner — July 3, 2022

WHA Fact Book, 2nd ed Book Details

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(c) Scott Surgent