New Hampshire Freedoms

The New Hampshire Freedoms were the first professional hockey team in the state of New Hampshire, playing in the NEHL for the 1978-79 season. The NEHL was created from the ashes of the NAHL, with former NAHL teams including the Baltimore Clippers and Erie Blades as well as traditional NAHL cities such as Syracuse, Utica, and Johnstown. Later on, the NEHL would be renamed the EHL trying to take on the legacy of the former EHL that lasted for decades and eventually turned into the NAHL.

The Freedoms nor the NEHL would last long. The Freedoms split their games between the Everett Arena in Concord and the JFK Coliseum in Manchester. In both cities, they didn't fare well attendance wise with average crowds around 500. Only a few months into their tenure, they picked up and moved to Cape Cod in December 1978 an became the Cape Cod Freedoms. They would finish the season in the Cape before moving to Richmond, VA, and becoming the Rifles. The Freedoms finished their only season 33-36-1. The NEHL would fold following the 1980-81 season.