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| Team: | Long Island Ducks |
| Logosize: | 250px |
| City: | Commack, New York |
| League: | Eastern Hockey League |
| Division: | North Division |
| Operated: | 1959–1973 |
| Arena: | Long Island Arena |
| Colors: | Red, Black, and White |
| Name1: | New York Rovers |
| Dates1: | 1959–1961 |
| Name2: | Long Island Ducks |
| Dates2: | 1961–1973 |
| Championships: | 1965 |
The Long Island Ducks were a minor league hockey team in the Eastern Hockey League owned by Al and Renee Baron that played their home games at the Long Island Arena (usually referred to as Commack Arena). The team played from 1959 until 1973, when the Eastern League folded.
In 1961, the President of the franchise, William H. Linck, held a contest among fans to name the team. The winner was the first entry received, from George Resch of Cambria Heights, Queens, who named the team "Ducks". Aside from naming rights, Resch received two season tickets for winning the contest.[1]
The Ducks are most famously known for player-head coach John Brophy, who is believed to be the role model for Paul Newman's character of Reggie Dunlop in the movie Slap Shot.[2] Brophy encouraged and epitomized "old-time hockey" and brash physical play, retired as the league's career leader in penalty minutes, and was once suspended for half of a season for knocking down a referee.[3] Brophy was quoted as saying, "Once you're a Duck, you're a Duck for the rest of your life," as Ducks General Manager John Muckler traded Brophy six times and got him back seven times.[2]
The Ducks won the Eastern Hockey League North Division in 1964–65 and 1965–66. They were the Eastern Hockey League playoff champions and won the Walker Cup Trophy on April 7, 1965.[4]
The New York Islanders of the National Hockey League, who began play in 1972–73, had originally been widely expected to adopt the Long Island Ducks name. The name was later taken by the Long Island Ducks, an independent baseball team in Central Islip, which began play in 2000.
The Ducks' arena in Commack was also made infamous for several events that took place during the tenure of the Ducks: