Los Angeles Sharks 1972-73 to 1973-74
Michigan Stags 1974-75 (partial)
Baltimore Blades 1975 (partial)

Owners

Arthur Rhoades

Dennis Murphy

Charles Nolton

Peter Shagena

Rinks

Los Angeles Sports Arena 1972 to 1974

Cobo Hall 1974 to 1975

Baltimore Civic Center 1975

Seasons & Leaders

1972-73 Los Angeles Record 37-35-6, 80 pts Coach Terry Slater Goals 43, Gary Veneruzzo 20, Alton White Assists 50, J.P. Leblanc 32, Joe Szura Points 73, Gary Veneruzzo 69, J.P. Leblanc Penalty Min. 191, Tom Gilmore 155, Jim Niekamp Wins 19, George Gardner Goals Against 2.91, Russ Gillow Shutouts 2, Russ Gillow

1973-74 Los Angeles Record 25-53-0, 50 pts Coach Terry Slater Ted McCaskill Goals 40, Marc Tardif 39, Gary Veneruzzo Assists 46, J.P. Leblanc 30, Brian McDonald 30, Marc Tardif Points 70, Marc Tardif 68, Gary Veneruzzo Penalty Min. 182, Steve Sutherland 100, Ron Garwasiuk Wins 11, Ian Wilkie Goals Against 3.91, Ian Wilkie Shutouts 1, Russ Gillow 1, Jim McLeod 1, Ian Wilkie

1974-75 Michigan-Baltimore Record 21-53-4, 46 pts Coach John Wilson Goals 33, Gary Veneruzzo 16, J.P. Leblanc Assists 33, J.P. Leblanc 27, Gary Veneruzzo Points 60, Gary Veneruzzo 49, J.P. Leblanc Penalty Min. 100, J.P. Leblanc 93, Larry Johnston Wins 9, Gerry Desjardins 9, Paul Hoganson Goals Against 4.09, Paul Hoganson Shutouts 2, Paul Hoganson

Complete Roster & Regular Season Scoring Totals

Player (G: Goaltender)	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	Penalty Min.
Veneruzzo, Gary	233	115	86	201	159
LeBlanc, J.P.	233	55	129	184	207
Tardif, Marc	98	52	35	87	56
Serviss, Tom	208	29	58	87	87
White, Alton	132	37	42	79	43
Crashley, Bart	148	22	53	75	26
Odrowski, Gerry	155	10	63	73	147
McDonald, Brian	74	25	35	60	69
Thomas, Reg	127	22	34	56	64
Sutherland, Steve	137	32	23	55	317
Niekamp, Jim	154	9	41	50	250
Szura, Joe	72	13	32	45	25
Heiskala, Earl	94	14	23	37	195
Byers, Mike	56	19	17	36	20
Bredin, Gary	67	15	21	36	29
Gilmore, Tom	70	17	18	35	191
Speck, Fred	76	9	26	35	44
Ward, Ron	40	14	19	33	16
West, Steve	50	15	18	33	4
Young, Bill	66	15	15	30	50
Walters, Ron	71	14	14	28	28
Gruen, Danny	34	10	16	26	73
Richardson, Steve	47	8	18	26	58
MacSweyn, Ralph	91	0	26	26	75
McCaskill, Ted	91	13	13	26	213
Slater, Peter	91	13	13	26	89
Watson, Jim	123	5	21	26	151
Evo, Bill	49	13	9	22	32
Zrymiak, Jerry	77	5	17	22	61
Legge, Barry	36	3	18	21	20
Miszuk, John	66	2	19	21	56
Garwasiuk, Ron	51	6	13	19	100
Curtis, Paul	76	4	15	19	32
Hyndman, Mike	27	8	8	16	11
Legge, Randy	78	1	14	15	69
Whitlock, Bobby	14	4	10	14	4
Gordon, Don	29	8	6	14	24
Caron, Alain	47	8	5	13	4
Hodgson, Ted	23	3	9	12	22
MacNeil, Bernie	42	4	7	11	48
Andrascik, Steve	57	4	7	11	42
Jones, Bob	25	2	8	10	16
Guite, Pierre	13	5	4	9	11
Trottier, Guy	17	5	4	9	2
Fontaine, Len	21	1	8	9	6
Johnston, Larry	49	0	9	9	93
Horton, Bill	60	0	9	9	46
Johnstone, Ed	23	4	4	8	43
Brown, Arnie	50	3	4	7	27
Locas, Jacques	12	1	4	5	4
Rouleau, Michel	7	0	3	3	25
Heggedal, Howie	8	2	1	3	0
Willis, Hal	18	1	2	3	24
Larose, Paul	5	1	1	2	2
Sittler, Gary	5	1	1	2	14
Bowman, Kirk	10	0	2	2	0
Reichmuth, Craig	16	0	2	2	23
Mavety, Larry	2	1	0	1	2
Krupicka, Jarda	6	1	0	1	2
Desjardins, Gerry (G)	41	0	1	1	13
Chartre, Claude	1	0	0	0	0
Derksen, Brian	1	0	0	0	2
Perreault, Bob (G)	1	0	0	0	0
Goldthorpe, Bill	7	0	0	0	26
Jakubo, Mike	7	0	0	0	0
Reed, Bill	11	0	0	0	12
Wilkie, Ian (G)	23	0	0	0	2
McLeod, Jim (G)	33	0	0	0	0
Gardner, George (G)	51	0	0	0	0
Gillow, Russ (G)	56	0	0	0	8
Hoganson, Paul (G)	59	0	0	0	12

Complete Regular Season Goaltending

Goaltender	Games	Minutes	Goals	Shutouts	Record	Average
Gillow, Russ	56	2933	165	3	21-26-2	3.38
Gardner, George	51	2833	162	1	19-24-4	3.43
Hoganson, Paul	59	3084	223	2	15-35-2	4.34
Wilkie, Ian	23	1257	82	1	11-9-0	3.91
Desjardins, Gerry	41	2282	162	0	9-28-1	4.26
McLeod, Jim	33	1663	122	1	7-19-1	4.40
Perreault, Bob	1	60	2	0	1-0-0	2.00

History

The Los Angeles Sharks were an original WHA team, gaining its charter on November 1, 1971. The WHA planned to place teams in Los Angeles and San Francisco, despite the fact that the NHL had already done so and, to this point, without much success. When the San Francisco franchise rights were re-granted to Quebec in February 1972, Los Angeles was left alone in the West, their closest rivals being the Alberta Oilers and the Houston Aeros. In 1972, fans in Los Angeles were still getting used to the idea of one (alleged) major-league hockey team, the Kings, who began play in 1967. After a second-place finish in 1968, the Kings sank to the bottom of the NHL depths, including a record-worst 14-52-10 mark in 1969-70 and a 49-loss season in 1971-72. Typical attendance at Kings games in Inglewood was about 7,000 fans. This was the setting when the Sharks came into existence. Clearly, Los Angeles received a team to give the WHA media leverage, not for its history of supporting major-league hockey. League co-founder Dennis Murphy would run and own a small stake in the team. Dr. Arthur Rhoades, a connection of Murphy's from his ABA days, assumed the larger share of the costs. Terry Slater, formerly coach of Des Moines in the Central League, signed in February to coach the new Sharks. The Sharks played their home games at the Sports Arena, near the Los Angeles Coliseum. The Sharks stocked their squad with journeymen and minor leaguers for the inaugural season. No one on the 1972-73 roster could claim any actual fame as a hockey player, none ever having established any significant numbers in the NHL. However, the no-name Sharks played competitive hockey and drew better than expected. Average attendance settled near the 6,000 mark, with a few games drawing crowds over 10,000, including an unlikely crowd of 12,000 for a Sunday game in March against Ottawa, televised live to Canada, in which the opening face-off took place at 11 a.m. local time. Winger Gary Veneruzzo, formerly of the St. Louis Blues, blossomed into a scorer, leading the team with 43 goals and 73 points. Center J.-P. LeBlanc was second with 69 points. When the team was not scoring goals, they resorted to a tight defense and their fists to keep the opponents away from the net. Five regulars had more than 100 minutes in penalties, led by Tom Gilmore's 191, and the Sharks led the league in team penalty minutes. The Sharks had the distinction of being the only winning hockey team, NHL included, to post a losing home record. Their road record was the best in the league. The Sharks' overall 37-35-6 record gave them third place in the West, but they were bumped after one round in the playoffs by Houston. The Sharks entered their second season with high expectations, but little money, as Rhoades had walked away from the team in early 1973. In his place, Dr. Leonard Bloom of San Diego purchased control of the team, but his motives were mixed. Bloom also owned the San Diego Conquistadors of the ABA and purchased the Sharks as leverage to have a new sports arena built in suburban Chula Vista, the assumption being that the Sharks would relocate to the San Diego area. However, for the time being, the official party line was that the Sharks were staying put in Los Angeles. The Sharks had reason to be excited entering the 1973-74 season. They had posted a better record than the Kings, and signed a legitimate front-line scorer, Marc Tardif, from Montreal. Tardif responded with 40 goals and Veneruzzo added 39 more, but supporting cast was thin, and the Sharks managed just 239 goals for the season, worst in the league. The defense did not hold up, allowing 339 enemy goals, causing the Sharks to stumble to a last-place finish at 25-53-0, losing 24 of their final 29 games. The Sharks were in severe turmoil. Bloom had lost his bid to have community support to build his arena, and he simply wanted out. Murphy had left the team to assume the presidency of the WHA on an interim basis. Coach Slater had assumed the general manager's role, relinquishing the coaching role to Ted McCaskill. In February 1974, Charles Nolton and Pete Shagena, both from the Detroit area, purchased the team, keeping alive the illusion that the team was staying in Los Angeles. But the new owners cut costs, returned Slater to the coaching role, stopped radio broadcasts, and squashed any lingering support the team may have had in Los Angeles. To no one's surprise, Nolton and Shagena announced the transfer of the Sharks to Detroit within a week after the end of the season, and the team was renamed the Michigan Stags. The Stags were intending to compete against the established Red Wings, playing its home games at the Cobo Arena. Coaching the team was John Wilson, a former Red Wing who had won four Stanley Cups with Detroit during the 1950s. There was one new player of note, goaltender Gerry Desjardins, a promising netminder who had the misfortune to play for two of the worst teams in NHL history (Los Angeles, 1969-70, and the New York Islanders, 1972-73) in his brief major-league career. Gary Veneruzzo, Marc Tardif and J.-P. Leblanc would score the goals, and a trio of veteran NHL defenders, Larry Johnston, Arnie Brown and Paul Curtis, would try to keep the other teams from doing the same. The Red Wings had been around for decades, had won numerous Stanley Cups, and had many great players in its storied history, but in recent years had fallen on lean times. Nolton and Shagena hoped that Stags could draw fans away from the Red Wings, but it became clear that no matter how bad the Red Wings may be in any given season, its fans were loyal and not interested in the WHA squad down the road. The Stags were over-extended on player contracts and had little money to promote the team. Its inaugural game (in Indianapolis) was televised -- and they won -- but that would be the only game shown on television. Only 2,500 people attended the home-opener a few nights later, which also happened to be the same night as the Ali-Foreman "Rumble in the Jungle" championship boxing match. The Stags won, but then lost their next home game, with less than 1,500 in attendance. This was the theme for the next three months, crowds too small to support the team financially. Surprisingly, the schedule-maker chose not to book the Houston Aeros, and Gordie Howe, into Detroit until February, by which time the team had left town altogether. By January 1975, the Stags were finished in Detroit. For two weeks the team did not function, except for one game in which the team wore generic sweaters with no name or crest. Folding the team and distributing the players was financially unwise, as few teams were willing to take on these players and their over-sized contracts. Since the WHA was on the hook for the contracts anyway, it was cheaper to play out the schedule (rather than fold) by forming a replacement team in Baltimore, called the Blades. Not surprisingly, the new Blades played as well as they had in Detroit, winning rarely, the team finishing 21-53-4. Even when the Stags-Blades won, it wasn't easy: every one of the team's 21 wins was by one or two goals. The league tried to peddle the franchise, but no substantive offers came forth. The league then formally disbanded the Blades on June 19, 1975. A dispersal draft and auction was held allowing for the remaining WHA teams to claim the former Stags and Blades players.

What's In A Name? by David Klement • Detroit Free Press • July 23, 1974 For once, someone's been practical about naming and bringing out a new product. In this case, the "product" was the Michigan Stags, the new Detroit entry in the World Hockey Association, transferred here from Los Angeles this spring. The Stags' owners have endeared themselves to every sports copy editor in Detroit by picking a name that fits almost any headline format --- even the stingiest one-column. Of course, making life easier for copy editors wasn't the only criterion for picking the name. But that was an indirect result of the reasoning that went into selecting the name, said Larry Evoe, Stags account manager for Anthony M. France Associates, Detroit public relations firm. Franco was given only a few days' notice to come up with a new team name and logo before the franchise move was to be announced, so there wasn't much time for the normal agonizing over the significance of squiggles that usually accompany a logo design. Following a fruitless brainstorming session, all 23 members of Franco's staff were invited to submit suggestions for the team name. From 100 proposals, 15 names were submitted to the team's owners, with a strong recommendation for one: Michigan Stags. Evoe, who admits to being prejudiced about the name since it was his idea, says it's a natural: "It's short, has punch, and is easy to remember; the stag deer is featured in the Michigan flag, and the name lends itself to a strong promotional graphics program." And then there was the matter of the headline writers, said ex-newsman Evoe. "Besides being short, you can't fool around with it too much in headlines, like 'Loves Broil Lobster' in a recent story on the tennis teams." After the name was picked, the next step was graphics. Franco called in an art specialist, George Sepetys & Associates of Southfield, which came back with a complete graphics program within 24 hours, a process that usually takes weeks and even months of deliberation. "It was simply a matter of timing," said Evoe. "We had to come up with something fast, and I think everyone's happy with the results." The logo features a stylized deer super-imposed over a circle, which can represent whatever you want it to, in the team colors of red, white and black. Incidentally, among the proposed names that were tried and discarded were Mallards, Muskies, Glaciers, Marksmen, Trappers and my favorite, MichiGanders.

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Reviews, Podcasts and Media

• Article: Color of Hockey: Alton White (The Hockey News), by William Douglas — March 8, 2020
• Review: US Sports History, by Rick Macales — Feb 6, 2021
• Podcast: Good Seats Still Available, by Tim Hanlon — Feb 28, 2021
• Podcast: Digital to Dice (Youtube), by Dave Gardner — July 3, 2022

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