Your favorite defunct team (for whatever reason)?

[mbhhofr]

George was from St. Paul. He's in Mancini's Char House sports hall of fame.

 

[Killion]

George was from St. Paul. He's in Mancini's Char House sports hall of fame.

..... looks like a nice spot mbh, and been around since 1948.
thats really somethin for a restaurant/lounge... www.mancinis.com

 

[Pantokrator]

1) Nordiques / Whalers
2) Seals / Flames
3) Scouts / Rockies

This really is difficult. I always liked Hartford - their jersey was the first one I ever bought. I loved them with Sylvain Turgeon and Francis and Ulf. I pulled so hard for them in the 1987 playoffs. I hated the Nords back then, but loved their rivalry with Montreal, who I hated more.

I always loved the Seals because as a kid, I had a sticker book, and their colors stood out to me.

So my list would be:
Hartford
Quebec
Seals

 

[Pantokrator]

I know the OP mentioned jerseys - I don't know why, but I also like these teams' jerseys. I guess it is the fact they are no longer around makes me like them more, but many of these jerseys are beautiful.

 

[Killion]

This really is difficult. I always liked Hartford - their jersey was the first one I ever bought. I loved them with Sylvain Turgeon and Francis and Ulf. I pulled so hard for them in the 1987 playoffs. I hated the Nords back then, but loved their rivalry with Montreal, who I hated more.

I always loved the Seals because as a kid, I had a sticker book, and their colors stood out to me.

So my list would be:
Hartford
Quebec
Seals

... while I liked the Whalers revised politically correct jerseys.... actually preferred the WHA "Harpoon" version. I'd also completely overlooked the Minnesota North Stars, with the Wild & the NHL's return to Minnesota likely many do, and their jerseys I always loved as was the case with the Seals... I like green..... green doesnt get enough love... automotive manufacturers... clothing.... they all go light when producing anything green as its just not a hot seller as the primary color like blue, red, browns & yellows and so on..... How did you like the Birmingham Bulls color scheme, logo?... Miss them?

 

[Peiskos]

I'm going to go with the Hamilton Tigers, competed in the National Hockey League from 1920 to 1925.

Hamilton Tigers - Wikipedia

 

[Killion]

^^^ Yep. Insofar as colors & logo's, design, thats an absolute
beauty. Both of them though I prefer the tiger, bottom..........

 

[DowntownBooster]

The Fighting Saints logo was designed by George Karn who was an on ice official that I had worked with. My wife worked for the Fighting Saints.

I'll assume that you are referring to this logo:

If that's the case, would you happen to know who designed the original Fighting Saints logo that was used during the early part of the inaugural WHA season of 1972-73? I always thought it was a pretty good looking logo as well (see below).

 

[mbhhofr]

George designed both. He also designed the North Star logo.

Class of 2011

 

[WildGopher]

..... looks like a nice spot mbh, and been around since 1948.
thats really somethin for a restaurant/lounge... www.mancinis.com

For reference, K, Mancini's is about 1/2 way between the Xcel Center, home of the the Wild, and nearby Fountain Cave, where Pig's Eye Parrant bootlegged his booze and beer before soldiers at the nearby fort shooed him away for squatting on military reservation land.

I thought that would geolocate things for you. Not sure if Mancini's serves the modern Pig's Eye Beer, though.

(See how I got that reference to the Wild in there - Xcel Center built on the former site of the defunct Fighting Saints' home games, no less - to keep this right on-topic?).

 

[DowntownBooster]

George designed both. He also designed the North Star logo.

Class of 2011

Both designs were well done (as well as the North Stars). I've always wondered why the Fighting Saints changed from the original 'S' logo and checked Wikipedia to find out that the logo change coincided with the team's move from the St. Paul Auditorium to the new St. Paul Civic Center on January 1, 1973.

 

[WildGopher]

Cool.

George designed both. He also designed the North Star logo.

Class of 2011

Thanks for the info. Any other trivia bits? I know they were first owned by a Kaplan of Kaplan Box Company in St. Paul. The guy invested a lot in making it a go. Very entertaining product that sometimes outdrew the then-popular North Stars.

 

[WildGopher]

Both designs were well done (as well as the North Stars). I've always wondered why the Fighting Saints changed from the original 'S' logo and checked Wikipedia to find out that the logo change coincided with the team's move from the St. Paul Auditorium to the new St. Paul Civic Center on January 1, 1973.

Maybe the most anticipated regular-season game in Saints history occurred just a few days later in the new building against your Jets. CBS had contracted to air WHA games, while NBC, I believe, had the U.S. NHL rights. It was just the Saints' second or third game in the Civic Center, and how they played on national TV was seen as key not only to their place in the standings, but also to whether local viewers would take to the new team and boost attendance.

This was CBS' inaugural WHA game of the week, but unfortunately for the locals, they didn't take advantage of the exposure, as Bobby Hull got a couple of goals in a dominating Jets win, 6-2, I believe. The Saints rebounded the next year and got some sell-outs of 17,000+, but such was the fragility of the early WHA that teams really needed to pounce on every opportunity they had, or risk big losses, and even folding.

 

[Boxscore]

I'm going to go with the Hamilton Tigers, competed in the National Hockey League from 1920 to 1925.

Hamilton Tigers - Wikipedia

View attachment 112049 View attachment 112051

View attachment 112053

Talk about vintage!!

 

[mbhhofr]

Thanks for the info. Any other trivia bits?

I have a blue puck with the Fighting Saints logo on it. My wife has two Fighting Saints T-Shirts. The WHA used the blue pucks for the first month of the inaugural season, but they didn't freeze good so they went back to the black puck.

 

[Boxscore]

Here's some good footage from 72 between Atlanta and Buffalo...

 

[DowntownBooster]

Maybe tg


Maybe the most anticipated regular-season game in Saints history occurred just a few days later in the new building against your Jets. CBS had contracted to air WHA games, while NBC, I believe, had the U.S. NHL rights. It was just the Saints' second or third game in the Civic Center, and how they played on national TV was seen as key not only to their place in the standings, but also to whether local viewers would take to the new team and boost attendance.

This was CBS' inaugural WHA game of the week, but unfortunately for the locals, they didn't take advantage of the exposure, as Bobby Hull got a couple of goals in a dominating Jets win, 6-2, I believe. The Saints rebounded the next year and got some sell-outs of 17,000+, but such was the fragility of the early WHA that teams really needed to pounce on every opportunity they had, or risk big losses, and even folding.

I was disappointed when the Fighting Saints folded both times - the original team after 59 games into the 1975-76 season and the relocated Cleveland Crusaders after 42 games into the 1976-77 season. I know Minnesota fans love their hockey but I guess having 2 teams (Fighting Saints and North Stars) to support was a bit too much to ask of them. As you point out, the Fighting Saints did attract some large crowds at times and things looked pretty good for a while there. I guess having an established NHL team in the market was hard to overcome. I will always remember the Fighting Saints as having one of the better looking uniforms (both the original blue and as well as the red) and the coolest arena with the see-through plexiglass boards. When Minnesota was awarded an expansion franchise for the 2000-01 NHL season, in some ways it's too bad they didn't name them the Fighting Saints since the North Stars name couldn't be used as the original franchise kept the 'Stars' part of the name when the team moved to Dallas. The name 'Wild' that was chosen is also a good name and I know a lot of the younger fans there like it so no offense is intended against their preference. I guess it's just the good memories of the Fighting Saints from many years ago that makes me wish the name had been revived.

 

[Killion]

George designed both. He also designed the North Star logo.

Class of 2011

Great site, hitting that link you provided..... For those seriously interested in not only the North Stars jerseys but all of them, Pro, Minor Pro, Amateur in Minnesota, along with the history of the game in The Hockey State, excellent resource. Highly entertaining.

 

[WildGopher]

I was disappointed when the Fighting Saints folded both times - the original team after 59 games into the 1975-76 season and the relocated Cleveland Crusaders after 42 games into the 1976-77 season. I know Minnesota fans love their hockey but I guess having 2 teams (Fighting Saints and North Stars) to support was a bit too much to ask of them. As you point out, the Fighting Saints did attract some large crowds at times and things looked pretty good for a while there. I guess having an established NHL team in the market was hard to overcome. I will always remember the Fighting Saints as having one of the better looking uniforms (both the original blue and as well as the red) and the coolest arena with the see-through plexiglass boards. When Minnesota was awarded an expansion franchise for the 2000-01 NHL season, in some ways it's too bad they didn't name them the Fighting Saints since the North Stars name couldn't be used as the original franchise kept the 'Stars' part of the name when the team moved to Dallas. The name 'Wild' that was chosen is also a good name and I know a lot of the younger fans there like it so no offense is intended against their preference. I guess it's just the good memories of the Fighting Saints from many years ago that makes me wish the name had been revived.

Of course, you would know the Jets 2.0 almost went the same route in choosing a name. Unfortunately, two terrible owners had left Minnesotans with a love-hate relationship with the old North Stars franchise: they loved the team, but hated the management. Cynicism set in, so the new franchise thought they needed a complete new start with their branding, going so far as to adopt a nickname that was singular (Wild), as opposed to a tradtional name like Saints or North Stars. In retrospect that probably wasn't necessary, as long as the new owners earned the respect of the fans.

But with the Wild's huge attendance success compared to the later years of the North Stars, it seems Marc Chipman in Winnipeg wanted to emulate that idea of a complete departure from the branding of the old team, wanting to call the relocated Thrashers the Manitoba Polar Ice, with a cartoon logo of a polar bear, if I remember right. Fortunately, Jets fans spoke up and insisted on the heritage of their old team name, and now it seems a foregone conclusion that Quebec will be called the Nordiques when they get a team. Hopefully, there are 2.0 Aeros and Tigers and Whalers (or at least Whale, as Howard Balwin wants) in the future when those cities get teams, too.

 

[Killion]

...When Minnesota was awarded an expansion franchise for the 2000-01 NHL season, in some ways it's too bad they didn't name them the Fighting Saints since the North Stars name couldn't be used as the original franchise kept the 'Stars' part of the name when the team moved to Dallas. The name 'Wild' that was chosen is also a good name and I know a lot of the younger fans there like it so no offense is intended against their preference. I guess it's just the good memories of the Fighting Saints from many years ago that makes me wish the name had been revived.

Yes, agreed. I also find it extremely off-putting to visit wiki's & other sites team pages, say the Dallas Stars or Arizona Coyotes, Carolina Hurricanes or Colorado Avalanche... list of HHOF members & so on, seeing names like Gilles Meloche, Bobby Hull & so on absolutely jumping right off the page at you as in the clubs previous incarnation, Minny, Winnipeg & so on these players obviously members and it just seems so wrong.... on every level.

That history belongs to the city, to the fans. No one in Dallas, Glendale, Raleigh or Denver gives a Frig. What have you done for me lately, what are you doing for me right now, and what are you planning to do next shift, next game, next month next year? Why if I live in Denver or wherever would I care about Bo Berglund or Mario Marois? Fine if your an eccentric amateur historian like most of us here but c'mon. Idiotic legal construct to say the least.

Casual fans & observers, newly minted fans of the Avalanche, Hurricanes.... their gonna make history that matters to me, to my city. And of course they did, have & continue to do so. Once a team is moved thats that. The history stays with the city, the fans. Its not transferable. Serious Pet Peeve of mine, plenty of others. Full name change should be mandatory to boot. Neither Calgary nor Dallas permitted to carry over Flames, Stars.

 

[Andy6]

There was a Morris Mott fan club started by Ranger fans but I didn't join because I thought it was too contrived, sort of making fun of him. I saw him score against the Islanders at the Coliseum.

He was a history professor at the University of Manitoba by the time I got there as a student in the early 1980s.

 

[WildGopher]

He was a history professor at the University of Manitoba by the time I got there as a student in the early 1980s.

That's very cool. Multi-faceted guy. He should be posting here on the History of Hockey!

 

[Killion]

He was a history professor at the University of Manitoba by the time I got there as a student in the early 1980s.

............... interesting... did a quick search on him.... lots of
published works.... much of it sports related... hockey, curling etc.

 

[BlueBull]

I love the idea of a team in Kansas City existing for 2 years. It was a bust, of course, but it's very interesting.
The team won only 26 games in their time in Kansas with next to no talent, yet it's super intriguing to think of a team being in kansas. Kansas, just Kansas. Also imagine being drafted to a team in Kansas, it would be so weird yet so awesome at the same time. The fact that they are in Kansas are the only reason they are my favourite defunct team.

 

[WildGopher]

I love the idea of a team in Kansas City existing for 2 years. It was a bust, of course, but it's very interesting.
The team won only 26 games in their time in Kansas with next to no talent, yet it's super intriguing to think of a team being in kansas. Kansas, just Kansas. Also imagine being drafted to a team in Kansas, it would be so weird yet so awesome at the same time. The fact that they are in Kansas are the only reason they are my favourite defunct team.

Kemper Arena, where they played, was in Kansas City, Missouri, the larger of the two adjacent Kansas Cities. But didn't matter much, as Kansas City, Kansas is almost literally just over the hill to the west of the arena. Border between the two states runs on a north-south line there, then follows the Missouri River for a bit. The new Sprint Center is in downtown Kansas City, Missouri.