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.

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 15^th 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

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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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