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This Day in Hockey History – November 11

Today in hockey history, a city gets in on the NHL action, the first of a certain type of goal is scored, a ridiculous blowout, a player records a pretty impressive feat, and a new franchise decides on its name.

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November 11, 1930 – The city of Philadelphia hosted its first NHL game. Though it wasn’t the Flyers; it was the Philadelphia Quakers, who had relocated from Pittsburgh (not the Penguins, but the Pittsburgh Pirates) the previous year. They were shutout by the Rangers 3-0. And it didn’t get much better from there…the Quakers finished the season with an abysmal 4-36-4 record (.100 winning percentage), and immediately folded at season’s end.

November 11, 1943 – With 48 seconds left in regulation, Chicago’s Clint Smith scored the first empty-net goal in NHL history! Bruins coach Art Ross pulled Bert Gardiner with his team down 5-4, an innovative strategy back in the day. It didn’t work that time, but it was a revolutionary strategy.

November 11, 1981 – Minnesota North Stars’ Bobby Smith scored four goals in a win over the Winnipeg Jets. A 15-2 win. The North Stars scored 15 goals in one game…and let up only three, good for a 13-goal margin of victory. What sport are we playing again?

November 11, 1986 – Minnesota’s Dino Ciccarelli scored twice to reach 20 goals on the year, and it was just his 15th game of the season! The goals set a modern-day record for fastest to 20 from a season’s start (Joe Malone reached 20 in eight games in 1917-18, but games were much different way back then).

November 11, 1997 – The NHL’s new Columbus franchise scheduled to begin play in 2000 announced that the team’s name would be the “Blue Jackets.” Because many people don’t seem to know, a “Blue Jacket” is/was a solider in the Union/North during the American Civil War.

 

Source: Hockey Hall of Fame

Scott Finger
Scott is the former managing editor at Hooked on Hockey Magazine. He loves hockey, writing, and writing about hockey. He graduated from Roger Williams University in 2011 with a useless degree in Media Communications (concentrating in Journalism). Being a New York Rangers fan (and NY Giants and Mets fan) living in Boston is very uncomfortable for him, and it'll be awkward trying to celebrate a Rangers Cup win in the streets when they inevitably win sometime in the next 100 years. He also likes long walks on the beach.
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