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1978–79 WHA Season
The 1978–79 WHA season was the seventh and final season of the World Hockey Association (WHA). Prior to the start of the season, the Houston Aeros folded leaving seven teams to start the season. Only six would finish however, as the Indianapolis Racers folded after 25 games on December 15, 1978. The remaining six teams each played 80 games, including one game each per team against a Soviet All-Star squad and the Czechoslovak National Team, the second consecutive year for this arrangement. The Soviet team won four of their six games and tied another; the Czechoslovak team only won once and tied once against four losses. In addition, because the Racers had folded after playing an odd number of games, the Edmonton Oilers played the Finnish National Team (with future Oiler Jari Kurri) once at home so as to allow each of the six surviving WHA teams to play 80 regular season games. The Oilers won by a score of 8–4, a result which in itself made no difference by the end of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World Hockey Association
The World Hockey Association () was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972–73 WHA season, 1972 to 1978–79 WHA season, 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (NHL) since the collapse of the Western Canada Hockey League, Western Hockey League in 1926. Although the WHA was not the first league since that time to attempt to challenge the NHL's supremacy, it was by far the most successful in the modern era. The WHA tried to capitalize on the lack of hockey teams in a number of major American cities and mid-level Canadian cities, and also hoped to attract the best players by paying more than NHL owners would. The WHA successfully challenged the NHL's reserve clause, which had bound players to their NHL teams even without a valid contract, allowing players in both leagues greater freedom of movement. Sixty-seven players jumped from the NHL to the WHA in the first year, led by star forward Bobby Hull, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and is considered the premier professional ice hockey league in the world. The Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, is awarded annually to the Stanley Cup playoffs, league playoff champion at the end of each season. The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) views the Stanley Cup as one of the "most important championships available to the sport". The NHL is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. The National Hockey League was organized at the Windsor Hotel (Montreal), Windsor Hotel in Montreal on November 26, 1917, after the suspension of operations of its predecessor organization, the National Hockey Association (NHA), which had been founded in 1909 at Renfrew, Ontario. The NHL immediately took the NHA ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kent Nilsson
Kent Åke Nilsson (born 31 August 1956) is a Swedish former professional ice hockey centre. He played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) for the Winnipeg Jets, and in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Atlanta and Calgary Flames, Minnesota North Stars and Edmonton Oilers, as well as teams across various European leagues. A prolific scorer during his era, Nillson was called "Mr. Magic" and "The Magic Man" during his NHL career, referring to his exceptional puck skills. Wayne Gretzky commented on Nilsson's skills saying "Skills-wise he might have been the most skilled hockey player I ever saw in my entire career". Nilsson has the 10th highest career NHL points-per-game average of any player who scored at least 500 points, the most among any player not inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Nilsson was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2006, the World Hockey Association Hall of Fame in 2010, and the Swedish Hockey Hall of Fame in 2012. Playing career Nilsson began ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mark Howe
Mark Steven Howe (born May 28, 1955) is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman and left winger. From 1973 to 1995, he played six seasons in the World Hockey Association (WHA) and sixteen seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL). Howe is the son of Gordie and Colleen Howe, younger brother of Marty Howe, and nephew of Vic Howe. From 1973 to 1980, Mark played alongside his father Gordie and brother Marty, which resulted in two consecutive Avco World Trophies. Despite the enormous shadow cast by his father and splitting time between two leagues, Howe shone as one of the best two-way NHL defensemen of the 1980s, being a three-time runner-up for the Norris Trophy and making the Stanley Cup finals three times as a player. He is a member of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame, and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011. The Howe family received the Wayne Gretzky International Award in 2000, for major contributions to the growth and advancement of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robbie Ftorek
Robert Brian Ftorek (born January 2, 1952) is an American professional ice hockey coach and former player. He played over 300 games in both the National Hockey League and World Hockey Association. In the 1976-77 season, he scored 46 goals and recorded 71 assists for the Phoenix Roadrunners on his way to winning the Gordie Howe Trophy as the WHA's most valuable player. He was the first American to ever be named the most valuable player of a professional hockey league and the only one for nearly 40 years. In over 700 games as a professional hockey player, Ftorek scored 750 points. After his playing career ended, he became a head coach, where he coached in the minor leagues and the NHL for decades; he won the Calder Cup with Albany in 1995. Ftorek was inducted in the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 1991. Playing career In 1962, 1963 and 1964, Ftorek played in the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournaments with his Boston youth team. He played on the United States O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lou Kaplan Trophy
The Lou Kaplan Trophy was presented annually to the World Hockey Association's (WHA) rookie of the year. Terry Caffery won the first award. History Lou Kaplan was one of the original owners of the Minnesota Fighting Saints of the WHA. On August 10, 1973, the WHA officially named its trophies after the team officials at the WHA's founding meeting in 1972. The rookie-of-the-year trophy was named after Kaplan. Winners *1973 – Terry Caffery, New England Whalers *1974 – Mark Howe, Houston Aeros *1975 – Anders Hedberg, Winnipeg Jets *1976 – Mark Napier, Toronto Toros *1977 – George Lyle, New England Whalers *1978 – Kent Nilsson, Winnipeg Jets *1979 – Wayne Gretzky, Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. Th ... Refere ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Driscoll
Peter Driscoll (born October 27, 1954) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey left wing who played in the World Hockey Association and National Hockey League between 1974 and 1981. He was born in Powassan, Ontario. Selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1974 NHL amateur draft and the Vancouver Blazers in the 1974 WHA Amateur Draft, Driscoll signed with the Blazers, moving to Calgary with them when they relocated. After the Calgary Cowboys folded, he signed as a free agent with the Quebec Nordiques and was later traded to the Indianapolis Racers. A year later, Driscoll was part of the deal that sent Wayne Gretzky to the Edmonton Oilers on November 2, 1978 with Eddie Mio.The Rebel League: The Short and Unruly Life of the World Hockey Association, p.219, McLelland and Stewart, Toronto, ON, Moving to the NHL with the Oilers, he did not see much action and split time between Edmonton and their CHL affiliates, Houston Apollos The Houston Apollos were a minor profess ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eddie Mio
Edward Dario Mio (born January 31, 1954) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) for the Indianapolis Racers and Edmonton Oilers between 1977 and 1979, and in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Oilers, New York Rangers, and Detroit Red Wings between 1979 and 1986. Playing career Mio attended Colorado College from 1972 to 76. During that time, he established himself as a standout, winning first- and second-team all-star awards and making the NCAA West first all-American team two years in a row. In 1974, the National Hockey League's (NHL) Chicago Black Hawks and the World Hockey Association's (WHA) Vancouver Blazers both drafted him. He played for neither club, wending his way instead through the minor leagues with the Tidewater Sharks, Erie Blades, and Hampton Gulls until he surfaced with the Indianapolis Racers of the WHA. With the Racers, Mio's goaltending was rough, but the most meaningful event of h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Pocklington
Peter Hugh Pocklington (born November 18, 1941) is a Canadian entrepreneur. Peter Pocklington was known among North American hockey fans as " Peter Puck", an entrepreneur from oil-rich Alberta who was also the owner of the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Edmonton Oilers from 1976 to 1998, running the team during its dynasty years from 1983 to 1990. He earned the enmity of many Canadians when he traded hockey's greatest player, Wayne Gretzky, to the Los Angeles Kings. A vocal advocate of free-market capitalism, Pocklington had various business interests throughout his career. Outside sports, his best-known venture was his tenure as owner of a meatpacking plant in Edmonton, where he became embroiled in a bitter labour dispute in 1986. Pocklington's life experiences were extensively documented in the 2009 biography, ''I'd Trade Him Again: On Gretzky, Politics and the Pursuit of the Perfect Deal'', written by Terry McConnell and J'lyn Nye. The book's title was inspired by Pocklingto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Douglas Gretzky ( ; born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One", he has been called the greatest ice hockey player ever by the NHL based on surveys of hockey writers, ex-players, general managers and coaches. Gretzky is the leading career Point (ice hockey), point scorer and Assist (ice hockey), assist producer in NHL history and has more assists than any other player has total career points. He is the only NHL player to total over 200 points in one season, a feat he accomplished four times. In addition, Gretzky tallied over 100 points in 15 professional seasons. At the time of his retirement in 1999, he List of career achievements by Wayne Gretzky, held 61 NHL records: 40 regular season records, 15 playoff records, and 6 NHL All-Star Game, All-Star records.For his titles, see * Regarded as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nelson Skalbania
Nelson Mathew Skalbania (born February 12, 1938) is an engineer and businessman from Vancouver, British Columbia, who is best known for signing a then 17-year-old Wayne Gretzky to the Indianapolis Racers of the World Hockey Association, and for his high-profile real estate flipping. Early life and education In 1961, Skalbania earned his Bachelor of Applied Science degree from the University of British Columbia, then received a Professional Engineer (P.Eng.) designation in 1962, followed by a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering, in 1964, from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Career During his career, Skalbania earned notoriety for flipping properties, both real and franchised. Consulting Beginning with the company as a one-third owner in 1964; by 1971, Skalbania attained the position of president and majority owner of McKenzie Snowball & Skalbania, structural, electrical, and mechanical consulting engineers, with over 100 staff in four locations, later d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cincinnati Stingers
The Cincinnati Stingers were an ice hockey team based in Cincinnati that played in the World Hockey Association from 1975 to 1979 and in the Central Hockey League during the 1979–80 season. Their home arena was Riverfront Coliseum. They are the only major league hockey team to have played in Cincinnati. History The Stingers franchise was awarded in 1974 as part of the WHA's ill-conceived attempt at expansion. They entered the league for the 1975–76 WHA season along with the Denver Spurs. Most of the league's existing teams were not financially stable, and franchise relocations were commonplace. The Stingers achieved enough stability that they were the only one of the WHA's five expansion teams that lasted through to the end of the league, but they were left out of the NHL–WHA merger in mid-1979. The WHA insisted on including all three of its surviving Canadian teams, though below-average attendance made it unlikely that the Stingers would have made the cut. The Stingers, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
