Troy Slapshots The Troy Slapshots were a professional ice hockey team based in Troy , NY . They were a member of the Atlantic Coast Hockey League in the 1985 - 86 season . History . The Slapshots were based out of Staten Island during their inaugural season . By the time the 1985 - 86 ACHL season started , an arena had not been built so the Slapshots played all of their games on the road . The Phil Esposito Sports & Entertainment Center , located in Staten Island ' s Travis section , was scheduled to be the home of the Slapshots and was supposed to be operational by their December 7 home opener , but the start of construction was delayed until early November . The arena ended up never being built . Instead , they opened their season in New Jersey and finished their season playing their " home " games primarily in Virginia , competing as a traveling team . The New York Slapshots were coached by Dave Schultz , a former NHL veteran who spent the majority of his career with the Philadelphia Flyers during their Broad Street Bullies days . Schultz would lead the Slapshots to a 21 - 38 - 0 record in his lone season with the Slapshots . 1986 - 87 season . The following year , owner Rudy Slucker announced that the Slapshots would be playing their games at the Houston Field House , a 5 , 367 seat arena located on the campus of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute . The Houston Field House was a familiar site to some , as it was the site of the leaguewide rookie camp and at the time was the largest arena being used in the league The Slapshots opened their season on October 25 , 1986 in front of a crowd of 1312 fans . The Slapshots would beat the Mohawk Valley Comets 8 - 5 . On hand for opening night pregame ceremonies were : Slucker ( who dropped the ceremonial puck ) ; Troy mayor Robert Conway ; Chamber Of Commerce President John O ' Connor ; RPI coach Mike Addesa . The Slapshots would only end up playing four home games before folding . At one point in the Slapshots ' brief season , they played " in front of an estimated 120 people " and with the exception of opening night , never played in front of more than 300 people . They would play their last game on November 15 , 1986 , where they scored a 3 - 2 shootout victory over the Erie Golden Blades Lack of funding and an inexperienced staff ultimately sealed the Slapshots ' fate . An initial report to ACHL Commissioner Ray Miron said that the Slapshots had sold anywhere from 750 to 1000 season tickets prior to the start of the season , when in fact the organization had sold less than 10 % of that . A final report showed that the Slapshots had only sold 66 season tickets . Slucker ' s lack of funding for the team also hurt the team . Considered to be an " absentee owner " by Commissioner Miron , Slucker told league president Bill Coffey that he needed corporate sponsorship to continue to run the franchise . The average operating fees being $ 365 , 000 for a franchise and possibly more as a startup team , Coffey was only able to come up $ 25 , 000 to help keep the team operating . Miron said that the $ 25 , 000 would not keep the team operational for more than two weeks . Removal from league . With the nearby Mohawk Valley Comets also struggling , the ACHL Board Of Governors held an emergency meeting in Utica , New York , NY on November 17 , 1986 . The following decisions resulted from the nine hour meeting : The Comets would announce shortly after the meeting that they fired their coach Bill Horton , and replaced him with former Slapshots ' coach and general manager Joe Selenski . The ACHL would finish the season with four teams : Mohawk Valley , Erie Golden Blades , Virginia Lancers , and Carolina Thunderbirds . The following season , Mohawk Valley would transfer to the AHL and start the AHL season as the Utica Devils , while the Virginia and Carolina teams would join the All - American Hockey League . Season - by - season results . Playoffs . None