Jersey Devils 16 Syracuse Blazers 15 - Highest Scoring EHL Game Ever

On Saturday Night February 24, 1968 at Cherry Hill Arena, the Jersey Devils and Syracuse Blazers combined for an EHL record 31 goals as the Devils beat the Blazers 16-15. Below is more-or-less the Holy Grail of EHL boxscores.

It's possible that 31 goals is a professional hockey record. (Yes, the EHL was technically "amateur", but the players were paid and it was part of the NHL farm system.) I haven't found any larger score in any professional leagues, but minor leagues come and go and records are lost or hard to find. I also believe Tim McCormick's record 12 point night still stands across hockey. It's also possible that Reg Meserve's 4 minor penalties in the third period would at least tie a Devils' team record.

One of the problems of pasting together EHL history is that often hometown newspapers didn't publish on Sunday back then. The Camden Courier-Post, the Jersey Devils home paper was no exception. Since there was usually a Sunday game as well, Saturday's game many times scarcely got a mention and rarely a box score or picture in the Monday paper. In the case of the February 26, 1968 Camden Courier-Post it was also inaccurate as according to the box score, Gordie Stratton had 5 goals and only 1 assist, instead of the 5 goals and 5 asists the article states. Stratton's inaccurate total would have beaten the previous EHL record of 9 points in a game, set by Bill Purcell of the Baltimore Clippers in 1948. Note also that the Devils got shut out by New Haven loaner goalie Roger Wilson 6-0 the next night in spite of 43 shots on goal. Syracuse lost to the Johnstown Jets 11-4 on Sunday.

This game only tied a goal scoring record for Jersey. The Devils also scored 16 goals in a 16-7 victory over Jacksonville on January 19, 1965. The 23 combined goals is the largest previous EHL score I'm aware of.

Here's the scoring breakdown for the 16-15 game...

JERSEY DEVILS	G	A	Pts	PIM
Fred Bassi	3	4	7	0
Gordie Stratton	5	1	6	0
Lorne O'Donnell	2	4	6	0
Reg Meserve	1	5	6	10
Billy Christodal	2	3	5	0
Bobby Boucher	1	2	3	0
Wayne Kitchen	1	2	3	0
Don Rozich	1	1	2	0
Ray Crew	0	2	2	2
Ted Szydlowski	0	2	2	4
Andre Daoust	0	1	1	0
Bob Peters	0	1	1	4
Ron MacPherson	0	0	0	7

SYRACUSE BLAZERS	G	A	Pts	PIM
Tim McCormick	5	7	12	2
Ray Adduono	2	5	7	0
Joe Marich	4	2	6	0
John Chapman	2	2	4	15
Ed Skyhar	1	3	4	0
Wayne Caufield	1	2	3	0
Chris Finnerty	0	1	1	0
Bill Lastic	0	1	1	10

The one thing I've gained from trying to write about this amazing game is the need for centralized minor league hockey records. I personally need to create a Team and League Records page at http://TheEHL.com . This also shows that historical record keeping is not static, but ever changing during a league's run. It's just as important to know what the records are for, in this case, February 23, 1968 as they are for after the league has ended.


Discuss the game further with Syracuse forward (and former Devil) Wayne Caufield and other EHL players and fans at the Eastern Hockey League Facebook Group.

Brian "Butch" MacKay - Greensboro Generals and US National Team

The last few weeks, I've been collecting articles about the 1962 US World Championships. The Canadian team had EHLers Butch Martin (Johnstown), and future EHLer Bobby Brown (Johnstown, Long Island, Jacksonville, Knoxville, Jersey). The US team had EHLers Don Hall & Dick Roberge (Johnstown), Reggie Meserve (Philadelphia), Gord Tottle (Charlotte) and the Greensboro Generals defenseman and captain, Brian "Butch" MacKay. These articles are posted on the EHL Discussion Boards http://theehl.yuku.com/topic/71/EHL-stars-at-the-1962-WORLD-CHAMPIONSHIPS As you read through, you'll see that the EHLers, including MacKay represented the U.S. and Canada well.

Butch MacKay was one of a handful of Troy Bruins (IHL), who stayed with the team when they became the nucleus of the EHL Greensboro Generals in 1959, along with Pat Kelly, Don Carter, and Max Szturm. The first year Kelly was team captain, with MacKay an alternate. The next three years MacKay was team captain, until his retirement after the Generals won the EHL Championship in 1962-63 to work at a meat packing company in Greensboro. MacKay was a high-scoring, yet rugged defenseman, as the article on the right would suggest - and that's before he entered the EHL. He was an EHL 2nd-team All-Star in 1960-61.

The photo below is from a game at Clinton on November 7, 1962. MacKay, #2, has the "C".
The program cover is from the Generals first season, with MacKay wearing the "A".





















Butch MacKay's Obituary from the Greensboro News & Record, May 19, 2011
http://obituaries.news-record.com/obituaries/news-record/obituary.aspx?n=brian-edward-mackay-butch&pid=151134587&fhid=6071

Brian Edward "Butch" MacKay Sr. Visit Guest Book

GREENSBORO — Brian Edward "Butch" MacKay, Sr., 78, passed away on May 17, 2011 at Moses Cone Hospital.
A graveside service will be held on Friday, May 20, 2011 at 2 p.m. at Westminster Gardens Cemetery with Father John Eckert officiating.
A native of Montreal, Canada, Brian was born September 29, 1932 to the late Louis Edward Turner MacKay and Agnus Brady MacKay. He was self-employed and worked in the beverage industry.
Butch MacKay's stats at hockeydb.com:
http://hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=12768