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    The Philadelphia Arrows were the first professional hockey team in the Philly area. They played 8 seasons in the CAHL before being replaced by the New York Rangers affiliate Philadelphia Ramblers. 
    In their first season they were 13-25-2, and Earl Robinson led the team in both goals (18) and assists (7). They had thier best season in 1932-33 when they went 29-12-7 and lost in the finals. Overall they were 131-165-40. 
    They played in the Philadelphia Arena and were coached by Herb Gardiner who was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1958.

    Philadelphia's first entry in the National Hockey League only lasted one season. Philadelphia joined the Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Falcons, Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Maroons, New York Americans, New York Rangers, Ottawa Senators, and the Toronto Maple Leafs for the 1930-31 season after what was supposed to be a temporary move while the Pittsburgh franchise built a new arena. Former boxing great Benny Leonard owned the team, and when he was unable to get a new arena the team suspended operations in September 1931 after a dismal 4-36-4 record.
    The Quakers played in the Philadelphia Arena which was home to the first NHL game in Philadelphia. The Quakers hosted the New York Rangers on November 11, 1930 losing 3-0.
    Captain Hib Milks led the team with 17 goals and Gerry Lowrey led the team in points with 27. Syd Howe was in his second season in the NHL and would go on to play 12 seasons with the Detroit Red Wings. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1965.
    The team officially folded in 1936.
    

    The new tennant in the Philadelphia Arena was the Philadelphia Comets. The Comets played in the newly formed Tri-State Hockey League, along with the Atlantic City Seagulls, Baltimore Orioles, and the Hershey B'Ars. 
    They would play teams in the New York Amateur Hockey League along with their league play. The Comets would finish 0-16-0 in league play and quietly fold along with the league. The Seagulls, B'Ars, and Orioles would survive joining the Eastern Amateur Hockey League.
    Frenchy Mathieu would lead the team with 8 goals.

    The Philadelphia Arrows were renamed the Ramblers when they became the primary minor league affiliate of the NHL's New York Rangers. After the 35-36 season the CAHL merged into the IAHL, and in 1940-41 the Ramblers played in the inaugural season of the American Hockey League. 
    The Ramblers won the cities first title in 1935-36 winning the Frank Fontaine Cup. The Ramblers were led that season by future Ranger stars Neil Colville, Alex Shibicky, Walter "Babe" Pratt, and Phil Watson. 
    The Ramblers continued thier success the following season with the best record in the new IAHL, being led by Bryan Hextall Jr., the grand-father of the Flyers Ron Hextall, and by the future Hall of Famer Clint Smith. But they lost in the finals to Syracuse.
    The Rangers dropped its affiliation after the 40-41 season, and the team changed its name to the Rockets who played one season then dissolved.

    The Ramblers changed their name to the Rockets for play in the 41-42 season. But after a 11-41-4 season the team folded.  

The Philadelphia Falcons of the EAHL came to the Philadelphia Arena in 1942. They played 4 seasons before disbanding. In the 4 seasons they went 83-92-16.
     They were coached by Redvers MacKenzie the first 3 seasons.  Herb Gardiner returned to coach in Philadelphia for the teams final season. He and several Falcons players would make the jump to the AHL in 46-47 to the reformed Philadelphia Rockets. 
    In all Herb Gardiner would coach 12 seasons in Philadelphia for the Arrows, Ramblers, Falcons, and Rockets.

    The Montreal Maroons were founded in 1924. They played 14 seasons in the NHL winning 2 Stanley Cup Championships before suspending operations after the 1937-38 season.
    In 1946 Len Peto, an executive with the Montreal Canadiens, obtained the franchise and transferred the team to Philadelphia. Herb Gardiner would be named the teams General Manager.
    There was opposition to the team coming to Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Arena filed suit in US District Court in February 1946 to stop the team from coming.
    Since there was no adequate building in Philadelphia to house the franchise Peto tried to get a new state of the art building built on the site of the Phillies former home the Baker Bowl.
    The team officially folded in 1947 when they were unable to get an arena built.

    The Rockets return to the Philadelphia Arena and the AHL for 3 seasons starting in 1946-47.
    Herb Gardiner started the season as the head coach, but was replaced mid-season by player coach Phil Hergesheimer. The change made no difference as the team posted on of the worst seasons in pro hockey going 5-52-7. Amazingly enough Hergesheimer recorded 48 goals, 44 assists for a league leading 92 points.
    The team would play 2 more seasons before folding after the 1948-49 season.

    The EAHL Falcons returned to the Philadelphia Arena in 1951-52, but only made it to December. With little fan support the team folded playing its last game on December 15, 1951.

    After a 4 year absence hockey returned to Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Ramblers would play for 9 seasons in the EHL before moving across the river to Cherry Hill, NJ in 1964.
    The Ramblers only had 3 seasons in which they were above .500. Their best season being 56-57 when they went 34-27-3, but they lost in the finals.
    Notable players that played for the Ramblers included John Brophy, Ross Brooks, and Ted Harris who would also play on the Flyers 1974-75 Stanley Cup winning team. 
    Art Dorrington was the first black player to sign an NHL contract when he signed with the Rangers in 1950. Dorrington played a couple seasons with the Ramblers, but never made it to the NHL. In 1998 Dorrington founded "The Art Dorrington Ice Hockey Foundation" in Atlantic City. The foundation brings hockey to the youth of the community. 
    

    Hockey came to the Philly suburb of Haddonfield in 1960. The Jersey Larks playing in the EHL took up residence in the Haddonfield Ice House for the 1960-61 season. It would be short lived as the team unable to make payroll moved to Knoxville the following season.
    The Haddonfield Ice House built in 1959 woiuld be renamed the Cherry Hill Arena in 1964 and would be home to the Jersey Devils and later the Jersey Knights of the WHA.
    The Larks went 24-39-1 in their only season. Gerry Stringle led the team in goals with 25.
    Noel Picard who played for the Larks is probably best known for his role in what is arguably the most famous hockey photograph. Picard tripped Bobby Orr after he scored his Stanley Cup game-winning goal in 1970. Picard can be seen behind Orr in the photo.

    The Philadelphia Ramblers relocated across the river to the Cherry Hill Arena in 1964. They were renamed the Jersey Devils. The Devils would play 9 seasons in the EHL until the league folded after the 1972-73 season.    
    The Devils only were able to put together 1 winning season in 1966-67 with a recoed of 39-30-3.
    Notable players to play for the Devils included Bobby Taylor, Rosaire Paiement, Dick Sarazin, and Rick Foley all who would play for the Philadelphia Flyers. Other notables included John Brophy, and Larry Pleau.
    

    Ice hockey was first played at the University of Pennsylvania in the winter of 1898. The Intercollegiate Hockey League was a four-team club league consisting of Penn, Yale, Brown, and Columbia.
    Club teams continued at Penn on and off through the century. In 1966 Penn joined the ECAC and Division I hockey. They played till 1978 when budget restraints forced the team to disband. 
    The Class of 1923 Arena was built in 1972.    
    Notable players to play for the Quakers included Larry Bader, who played on the 1972 Silver Medal Olympic team. Peter Cahill played for the Philadelphia Firebirds. Sam Gellard played for the Philadelphia Blazers. Paul Stewart played 1 season at Penn and went on to play 21 games in the NHL and was the first american born referee to work over 1000 games in the NHL.
    

    The Philadelphia Flyers were part of the 1967 expansion in the NHL adding six new franchises to double the size of the league. This was the first change in the league since the Brooklyn Americans folded in 1942. The Original Six was no more, a new era of the NHL was born. Philadelphia was joined by Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, California, and St. Louis.
    The Flyers play in South Philadelphia on Broad Street. They first played at the Spectrum from 1967 to 1996. In 1996 the Wells Fargo Center was built formerly the CoreStates Center, First Union Center and Wachovia Center, where the team plays today. The stadium was built accross the parking lot from the Spectrum on the site of the old JFK Stadium formerly Municipal Stadium. 
    The Flyers have won 2 Stanley Cup Championships in 1973-74 and 1974-75.         
    The Flyers have retired 5 numbers in thier history. 1 (Bernie Parent), 2 (Mark Howe), 4 (Barry Ashbee), 7 (Bill Barber), and 16 (Bobby Clarke).
    Hockey Hall of Fame members include Bobby Clarke, Bernie Parent, Bill Barber, Keith Allen, Ed Snider, Mark Howe, and Gene Hart who was awarded the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for broadcasters.
    Other notable players include Dave Schultz, Reggie Leach, Paul Holmgren, Brian Propp, Dave Poulin, Rick Tocchet, Ron Hextall, Rod Brind'Amour, Mark Recchi, John LeClair, Eric Lindros, Jeremy Roenick, Keith Primeau, Simon Gagne, and Mike Richards.
    

    The Rebel League would come to Philly in 1972-73. The team was originally set to play in the inaugural season of the WHA as the Miami Screaming Eagles. They had signed Bernie Parent, but due to financial issues and getting a suitable arena the franchise was forced to relocate to Philadelphia. The team was renamed the Blazers and would play in West Philadelphia at Convention Hall.
  The team only lasted that one season in Philly before moving to Vancouver for the 73-74 season.
    Notable players included Bernie Parent, Derek Sanderson, and John MacKenzie.  Danny Lawson would become the first WHA player to score 50 goals, he finished with 61. Andre Lacroix would win the scoring title with 124 points. Lacroix would go on and become the leagues all-time leading scorer. 
    The WHA folded in 1979, with 4 teams moving to the NHL, Winnipeg, Hartford, Edmonton, and Quebec. Only Edmonton remains today. Players such as Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Kenny Linseman, Rob Ramage, Rick Vaive, Mark Howe, and Mike Gartner got thier start in the WHA, along with others like Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull, Jacque Plante, Harry Howell and Gerry Cheevers.

    The area got its second look at the WHA during the 1973-74 season.
    The New York Raiders played in the leagues first season were sold and renamed the New York Golden Blades for the 1973-74 season. The Golden Blades acquired former Flyer and Blazer Andre Lacroix to lead the team, but after 24 games the team ran out of money and was taken over by the league. The team was relocated to the Cherry Hill Arena and renamed the Jersey Knights. They would play out the rest of the season in Cherry Hill, and after the season the team was sold and moved to San Diego.

    The Philadelphia Firebirds came into town in 1974. They would play 5 season in Philly. Three in the NAHL, made famous by the movie Slapshot, and two in the AHL. In 1977-78 they were the AHL affiliate of the Detroit Red Wings, and in 78-79 of the Colorado Rockies. They relocated to Syracuse for the 1979-80 season but folded after that season
    The team would play at Convention Hall and would win the Lockhart Cup in 1976 as the NAHL champions.
    Notable players to play for the Firebirds were Mike Eruzione, who would go on an score the greatest goal in US hockey history in Lake Placid. Terry Murray, who would coach the Flyers to the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals. Steve Coates, a broadcasting fixture with the Flyers, Mark Bousquet, who played Poodel in the movie Slapshot. Gordie Brooks who was the teams leading scorer.

    The Jersey Aces of the NEHL would start play at The Centrum formerly the Cherry Hill Arena in 1978.
     Mike Schmidt of the Phillies was part owner and President. His team was short lived as they relocated to Hampton Virginia midway through the season.

    With the Flyers moving across the parking lot to a new building in 1996, the organization needed a new tennant for the Spectrum. The team purchased an expansion team in the AHL for thier minor league affiliate. They named the team the Philadelphia Phantoms. They would start play in 1996 at the Spectrum. When plans were made to demolish the Spectrum for a retail/entertainment center the Phantoms were sold in 2009. The new owners relocated them to Glens Falls, NY and renamed them the Adirondack Phantoms, for the 2009-10 season.
    The Philadelphia Phantoms would win 2 Calder Cup titles while in Philly. They would play 13 seasons in all with a record of, 537-371-65.
    The Phantoms Hall of Fame included Bill Barber, Bobby Clarke, Frank Bialowas, Neil Little, John Stevens, Frank Miceli, and Peter White.