The Schenectady Chiefs were a professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

team in

Schenectady, New York Schenectady ( ) is a City (New York), city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the United States Census 2020, 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-most populo ...

. They were a member of the

Atlantic Coast Hockey League The Atlantic Coast Hockey League (ACHL) was a minor league hockey organization that operated between 1981 and 1987. The league was founded by Bill Coffey. The Bob Payne Trophy was awarded to the team who won the league playoff championship. Acco ...

from 1981 to 1982. They played their home games in the Center City Ice Rink. Center City was unique in the sense that the arena was situated in an indoor open area of a sparsely used office building, had no PA system and had bleachers on only one side of the ice.

Prior History

The Chiefs were initially a member of the newly organized Intercontinental Major Hockey League (IMHL), a league founded by Lou Bodnar, a local mutual funds broker, and Bob Critelli, a local businessman. The IMHL was to consist of five teams, but with the unnamed Pittsfield team unready to field a team, this forced Bodnar and Critelli to suspend operations of the league.

ACHL

The Chiefs were admitted into the newly created seven team

in September 1981. With the IMHL now indefinitely suspended, Critelli focused being the owner of the Chiefs and hired Pete Crawford as the team's coach and general manager. The Chiefs would play the first game in ACHL history, defeating the Cape Cod Buccaneers 5-2 on October 24, 1981 in front of a small crowd of 650 fans. The team was relatively successful on the ice, going 4–4 in their first eight games. However, Critelli had financial problems with the team. He could not produce the $15,000 performance bond, which was required by the league prior to the start of the season. The team suspended play and the league subsidized the Chiefs, primarily to help Critelli sell the team. After an 8–2 loss against the Salem Raiders in front of 350 fans, officials decided to suspend the franchise again on November 11, 1981. The league attempted to move the franchise to

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

without success. After no local buyers were willing to take over the team, the league held a meeting on November 15, 1981 in which they voted to terminate the Chiefs effective on the 16th. With six of their nine games being played at the Schenectady Civic Center, the Chiefs averaged less than 400 fans a game.

Season-by-season results

References

Defunct ice hockey teams in the United States Schenectady, New York Sports in Schenectady County, New York Defunct ice hockey teams in New York (state) 1981 establishments in New York (state) Ice hockey clubs established in 1981 1981 disestablishments in New York (state) Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 1981 {{US-icehockey-team-stub