Jersey Brewers

Jersey Brewers / Bergen Brewers History

Who were the Jersey Brewers

The history of the Brewers, as told by coach and GM Tom Granelli: 

The Jersey Brewers came to be beginning in the 1971-72 season. We became the Brewers after moving from the Jersey Shore where we were the Edison Redwings in the Jersey State Hockey League (JSHL) a senior hockey league. As the Redwings, we won the league championship, and the Hagestrom Cup for the 1970 -71 season. 

We had the opportunity to move to a brand new arena in Newark, NJ for the 71-72 season. We took up the name Brewers due to several major beer brands being located in Newark including Budweiser. We were able to attract ownership from Canada. John Thompson & Gary Ross, owners of Sundridge Hockey camps were our owners. We began to upgrade our roster with college graduates and some junior league grads. The 1st two years I coached the team but when our roster got to the elite status I was able to hire the perfect coach to complement the roster. Our coach in 73-74 was Jack LeClair, a member of the 1956 Stanley Cup Champions Montreal Canadiens!

During our time together we barnstormed around the US playing some college teams, minor pro affiliates and elite senior teams. By 73-74 we were pretty much an all college graduate roster. One of our top players was Terry Jordan from RPI. In 1973-74, we were 25-3. While our record was elite unfortunately our arena we moved for year three in Paramus, NJ did not support our financial needs even though we sold out the 1,200 seats. At that point, I left to work in the Southern Hockey League with the Hampton Aces and the Brewers became defunct.