: ''For the 1990s semi-professional ice hockey league, see

Pacific Hockey League (1994) : ''For the late 1970s ice hockey league, see Pacific Hockey League.'' The Pacific Hockey League (PHL) was a short lived semi-professional ice hockey league in the western United States in the 1990s. The league was formed by a merger of two previo ...

.'' The Pacific Hockey League was a low-level minor professional hockey league that existed for two seasons in 1977–78, and 1978–79. Its member teams from

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

states, replaced the void left by defunct

World Hockey Association The World Hockey Association (french: Association mondiale de hockey) was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (NHL) ...

franchises, with some teams sharing the names of their predecessors. The idea for the league emerged in the 1977 WHA All-Star Game, as WHA co-founder

Dennis Murphy Dennis Murphy may refer to: *Dennis Murphy (Canadian politician) (1842–1917), Canadian businessman and political figure from Ontario *Dennis Murphy (equestrian) (born 1944), American Olympic equestrian *Dennis Murphy (journalist) (born 1946 or 19 ...

and

Indianapolis Racers The Indianapolis Racers were a major league hockey team in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1974 to 1978. They competed in four full seasons before folding 25 games into the 1978–79 season. They played at Market Square Arena. They are ...

founder Walt Marlow discussed putting a minor league in the West Coast akin to the recently defunct

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior h ...

. As the WHA's

San Diego Mariners The San Diego Mariners were an ice hockey team based in San Diego that played in the World Hockey Association from 1974 to 1977 at the San Diego Sports Arena. Previous to being in San Diego, the team was known as the New York Raiders, New York ...

disbanded following that season,

San Diego Sports Arena Pechanga Arena (historically known as the San Diego Sports Arena) is an indoor arena built in 1966 and located in the Midway area of San Diego, California. The arena seats 12,000 for indoor football, 12,920 for ice hockey, indoor soccer and ...

operator Peter Murphy decided to join Murphy and Morrow to push for said league along with WHA alum James Browitt. Marlow became commissioner, while the other three partners became owners or partners of teams - another Mariners for Browitt, the Long Beach Sharks for Browitt and Murphy with the San Francisco Shamrocks, owned by the Harlem Globetrotters' Jerry Saperstein. A fourth franchise came with the Phoenix Roadrunners, that just been expelled from the WHA. The inaugural season had each team playing 42 times, and afterwards a final where the Shamrocks beat the Roadrunners 2-1. The success lead to the arrival of three other franchises, the

Los Angeles Blades The Los Angeles Blades were a professional inline hockey team based in Los Angeles, California. The Blades played in Roller Hockey International from 1993–1997 and played their home games at the Great Western Forum. Two other franchises have us ...

, Spokane Flyers and

Tucson Rustlers The Tucson Rustlers are a defunct professional ice hockey team which played in the Pacific Hockey League during the 1978–79 season. Based in Tucson, Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwe ...

the following year. However, the second season was plagued with financial problems, with the Los Angeles and San Francisco franchises even folding halfway through, leading to the cancellation of the playoffs (the Roadrunners were named champions for their regular season performance) and the outright folding of the league.The Story of the Pacific Hockey League
/ref>

Teams

Champions

* 1978: San Francisco Shamrocks *

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

: Phoenix Roadrunners

References

External links

Teams & standings
Defunct ice hockey leagues in the United States 1977–78 in American ice hockey by league 1978–79 in American ice hockey by league {{icehockey-league-stub