1975-76 Minnesota Fighting Saints
Record: 30-25-4, 64 pts
Finish: Disbanded, February 27, 1976
Playoffs: -
Coach: Harry Neale
Jack McCartan filled in as coach on February 17 as Neale was absent.
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Preview, 1975-76 • Pro Hockey 1975-76 WHA • by Dan Proudfoot
The largest crowd ever to watch a World Hockey Association game — 17,312 — jammed the St. Paul Civic Center for an important game April 4, 1975, against the Phoenix Roadrunners. The Minnesota Fighting Saints lost that night, 2-1, but team president Wayne Belisle and everyone involved in the financial structure of the team went home smiling in spite of the score. Saints compete not only with other WHA teams for points, but with the Minnesota North Stars of the National Hockey League for the attention and affection of the twin cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul. Anywhere the WHA and the NHL have met head on, as in New York, Chicago, Detroit and Los Angeles, the WHA has lost the fight for popularity. The new franchise holders haven't had the resources to promote long enough and hard enough to win over fans who are used to the established NHL names. Now, only two cities have both NHL and WHA teams. In Toronto, the Toros rent Maple Leaf Gardens on nights when the NHL Leafs aren't playing. In St. Paul, the Saints are the No. 1 occupants of the beautiful St. Paul Civic Center, built only two years ago, while the North Stars play at another highly-attractive building, the Metropolitan Center at Bloomington. For the longest while, the Saints seemed to be losing. North Stars had been filling their building for years, consistently attracting 15,184 a game. Twin City sports fans loved them whether they played dull; defensive hockey or not. The Saints, however, had trouble holding owners, let alone fans. A crowd of 11,701 did turn out for the opening of the St. Paul arena in 1973, but attendance grew only slowly. There were stories of the team moving or growing broke. Then, the breaks began turning to the WHA team. The North Stars, a contender in 1972-73, suddenly turned laughably inept. All along the North Star style had been dull, but at least it had been effective. Now it wasn't even worth considering, except by insomniacs. The North Stars were seventh in the NHL's eight-team West division in 1973-74. In 1974-75 North Stars finished fourth in a five-team division, losing more than twice as many games as they won. What's more, the NHL team had money problems of its own and traded away many of its best players to reduce the payroll. Under the circumstances, it's been easy for the Fighting Saints to convince Minnesota hockey fans to consider them as an alternative. Saints play an exciting, although admittedly wildly inconsistent, style which, win or lose, is usually entertaining. "The North Stars' problems haven't hurt us at all, needless to say," Saints' manager Glen Sonmor allows, "but I wish them luck. In my opinion there are enough hockey fans in Minnesota for both teams." Saints had the best attendance of any American WHA team in 1974-75, averaging 8,410 fans for each game. To break even financially, they'll have to average 11,000 or more, but at least Sonmor and coach Harry Neale know the team has the financial backing to last until that figure is attained. Sonmor signed David Keon from Toronto Maple Leafs, Bruce Boudreau, a junior with the scoring touch, and Henry Boucha, a Minnesota-born center-winger with four years of NHL experience, in a major campaign to keep the attendance figures growing. And where did Sonmor get Boucha? From across town, of course, from the North Stars, meaning yet another important victory in one of the last frontiers of league-against-league warfare. The NHL had to take Saints seriously then, when Sonmor and Belisle commenced negotiations with hockey's biggest name, Bobby Orr, in August. |
Game Log ... (@ away game, * overtime)
Player Scoring
Goaltending
Transactions
• Henry Boucha signed to contract, May 1975
Splits versus opposing teams, home and away, and by month
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no.
Date
Opponent
Score
w-l-t
pts
gf-ga
no.
Date
Opponent
Score
w-l-t
pts
gf-ga
1. Oct 10 @ Edmonton 4-1 W 1-0-0 2 4-1 31. Dec 28 San Diego 1-2 L 16-13-2 34 101-105
2. Oct 12 @ Calgary 2-0 W 2-0-0 4 6-1 32. Dec 30 Quebec 4-4 T 16-13-3 35 105-109
3. Oct 15 Cleveland 4-8 L 2-1-0 4 10-9 33. Jan 3 Indianapolis 3-1 W 17-13-3 37 108-110
4. Oct 18 Edmonton 1-3 L 2-2-0 4 11-12 34. Jan 4 Ottawa 2-5 L 17-14-3 37 110-115
5. Oct 21 @ Indianapolis 2-1 W 3-2-0 6 13-13 35. Jan 7 Phoenix *7-6 W 18-14-3 39 117-121
6. Oct 23 @ San Diego 4-4 T 3-2-1 7 17-17 36. Jan 10 Houston 1-4 L 18-15-3 39 118-125
7. Oct 25 @ San Diego 1-6 L 3-3-1 7 18-23 37. Jan 11 @ Cincinnati 7-4 W 19-15-3 41 125-129
8. Oct 29 Cincinnati 4-6 L 3-4-1 7 22-29 38. Jan 15 @ San Diego *4-5 L 19-16-3 41 129-134
9. Nov 1 Phoenix 3-2 W 4-4-1 9 25-31 39. Jan 16 @ Phoenix 1-3 L 19-17-3 41 130-137
10. Nov 5 @ Houston 4-6 L 4-5-1 9 29-37 40. Jan 17 @ Phoenix 4-2 W 20-17-3 43 134-139
11. Nov 8 Toronto 4-3 W 5-5-1 11 33-40 41. Jan 21 San Diego 6-5 W 21-17-3 45 140-144
12. Nov 11 @ Quebec 6-8 L 5-6-1 11 39-48 42. Jan 23 San Diego 1-7 L 21-18-3 45 141-151
13. Nov 15 Indianapolis 9-7 W 6-6-1 13 48-55 43. Jan 25 Toronto 5-2 W 22-18-3 47 146-153
14. Nov 16 @ Cincinnati 3-2 W 7-6-1 15 51-57 44. Jan 28 Winnipeg 6-2 W 23-18-3 49 152-155
15. Nov 19 @ Cleveland *3-4 L 7-7-1 15 54-61 45. Jan 29 @ Indianapolis 6-5 W 24-18-3 51 158-160
16. Nov 20 @ New England 2-0 W 8-7-1 17 56-61 46. Jan 31 Houston 4-1 W 25-18-3 53 162-161
17. Nov 22 Calgary 4-6 L 8-8-1 17 60-67 47. Feb 1 Cleveland 5-6 L 25-19-3 53 167-167
18. Nov 25 New England 3-2 W 9-8-1 19 63-69 48. Feb 3 @ Houston 4-8 L 25-20-3 53 171-175
19. Nov 27 Cincinnati 5-3 W 10-8-1 21 68-72 49. Feb 4 @ San Diego 1-4 L 25-21-3 53 172-179
20. Nov 30 @ Winnipeg 3-5 L 10-9-1 21 71-77 50. Feb 7 @ Phoenix 2-4 L 25-22-3 53 174-183
21. Dec 5 Denver 4-3 W 11-9-1 23 75-80 51. Feb 8 @ Phoenix 3-3 T 25-22-4 54 177-186
22. Dec 9 @ Toronto 5-3 W 12-9-1 25 80-83 52. Feb 10 San Diego 6-3 W 26-22-4 56 183-189
23. Dec 10 @ New England 2-3 L 12-10-1 25 82-86 53. Feb 11 @ San Diego 4-2 W 27-22-4 58 187-191
24. Dec 12 @ Cleveland 0-1 L 12-11-1 25 82-87 54. Feb 12 Quebec 6-4 W 28-22-4 60 193-195
25. Dec 13 Houston 4-3 W 13-11-1 27 86-90 55. Feb 14 Phoenix 2-5 L 28-23-4 60 195-200
26. Dec 17 New England 0-0 T 13-11-2 28 86-90 56. Feb 17 @ Toronto 6-3 W 29-23-4 62 201-203
27. Dec 20 Winnipeg 6-3 W 14-11-2 30 92-93 57. Feb 20 @ Calgary 6-3 W 30-23-4 64 207-206
28. Dec 21 @ Winnipeg 3-1 W 15-11-2 32 95-94 58. Feb 22 @ Edmonton 3-4 L 30-24-4 64 210-210
29. Dec 23 @ Denver 5-4 W 16-11-2 34 100-98 59. Feb 25 San Diego *1-2 L 30-25-4 64 211-212
30. Dec 27 @ Houston 0-5 L 16-12-2 34 100-103
pos.
Player
C Antonovich, Mike
D Arbour, John
C Boucha, Henry
C Boudreau, Bruce
RW Brackenbury, Curt
RW Busniuk, Ron
D Butters, Bill
LW Carlson, Jack
RW Carlson, Jeff
C Carlson, Steve
RW Connelly, Wayne
G Curran, Mike
C Gambucci, Gary
G Garrett, John
C Hampson, Ted
RW Holmgren, Paul
C Huck, Fran
C Keon, Dave
G Levasseur, Louis
RW McKenzie, John
D Miller, Perry
D Odrowski, Gerry
D Ouimet, Francois
RW Sarner, Craig
D Smith, Rick
C Tetreault, Jean
C Walton, Mike
D Westrum, Pat
D Zrymiak, Jerry
Goaltender
Curran, Mike
Garrett, John
Levasseur, Louis
• Rights to Paul Holmgren purchased from Edmonton, Jul 1975
• Dave Keon signed to contract, Aug 1975
• John McKenzie acquired from Calgary for George Morrison, Wally Olds, Don Tannahill and Joe Micheletti, Sep 1976
• John Arbour traded to Denver for draft pick, Oct 1975, subsequently resigned as free agent from defunct Ottawa, Feb 1976
• Gerry Odrowski traded to Winnipeg for Perry Miller, Jan 1976
• Remaining players declared free agents, Mar 1976
opponent
overall
gf-ga
home
gf-ga
away
gf-ga
Calgary 2-1-0 12-9 0-1-0 4-6 2-0-0 8-3
Cincinnati 3-1-0 19-15 1-1-0 9-9 2-0-0 10-6
Cleveland 0-4-0 12-19 0-2-0 9-14 0-2-0 3-5
Denver-Ottawa 2-1-0 11-12 1-1-0 6-8 1-0-0 5-4
Edmonton 1-2-0 8-8 0-1-0 1-3 1-1-0 7-5
Houston 2-4-0 17-27 2-1-0 9-8 0-3-0 8-19
Indianapolis 4-0-0 20-14 2-0-0 12-8 2-0-0 8-6
New England 2-1-1 7-5 1-0-1 3-2 1-1-0 4-3
Phoenix 3-3-1 22-25 2-1-0 12-13 1-2-1 10-12
Quebec 1-1-1 16-16 1-0-1 10-8 0-1-0 6-8
San Diego 3-6-1 29-40 2-3-0 15-19 1-3-1 14-21
Toronto 4-0-0 20-11 2-0-0 9-5 2-0-0 11-6
Winnipeg 3-1-0 18-11 2-0-0 12-5 1-1-0 8-6
October 3-4-1 22-29 0-3-0 9-17 3-1-1 13-12
November 7-5-0 49-48 5-1-0 28-23 2-4-0 21-25
December 6-4-2 34-32 3-1-2 19-15 3-3-0 15-17
January 9-5-0 57-52 6-3-0 35-33 3-2-0 22-19
February 5-7-1 49-51 2-3-0 20-20 3-4-1 29-31
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