CrashingTheGoalie

by Ron Spence

The Vancouver Blazers were only a two year blink in B.C.’s hockey history. And, their successor didn’t last much longer in Calgary.

It was fitting that Vancouver should have an outlaw WHA team, as hockey’s previous outlaw circuit had been centered in British Columbia.

The WHA’s franchise was initially allocated to Miami, and was to be called the Screaming Eagles. Their master plan was to sign a few franchise players, to draw fans to the southern Florida games. They first signed Maple Leafs’ goalie Bernie Parent, but then encountered a small problem. They didn’t have a rink.

This forced the franchise to relocate to Philadelphia, where they played in the limited 8,000 seat Civic Centre. The Philly Blazers next signed Derek ‘the Turk’ Sanderson to a $2.6 million contract, which briefly made him the World’s highest paid athlete.

The Blazers didn’t blaze, however and started the WHA’s inaugural 1972-73 campaign with only four wins in twenty games. They improved dramatically, however and finished the season with a 38-40-0 record.

In July of 1973, Vancouver’s Jimmy Pattison purchased the Blazers and moved them to the Pacific Coliseum. They shared the Renfrew St. rink with the Canucks, who were then starting their fourth NHL season.

Unfortunately for Pattison, he lost his scoring star Andre Lacroix, who had led the WHA with 124 points (Lacroix’s contract had stated that he didn’t have to play in Canada.). The Blazers still had the talented Danny Lawson, but couldn’t reach the playoffs in either the 1974 or 1975 seasons.

The always pragmatic Pattison, quickly realized that Vancouver couldn’t support two big league teams, and relocated the Blazers to hockey-starved Calgary.

The Flames had yet to arrive from Atlanta, and the newly-named Cowboys played in the 8,945 seat Calgary Stampede Corral. Their first season in southern Alberta, the Cowboys improved to a 41-35-4 record. This was largely the result of Danny Lawson’s 44 goals and Ron Chipperfield’s 42 tallies.

They went on to beat Quebec in a brawl-filled series, and then played the Winnipeg Jets, but were only able to draw 5,000 fans for their playoff games.

Their good play didn’t continue, however, and the 1976-77 season the Cowboys played brilliant at home, but brutal on the road. The 4,500 ticket holders witnessed a 26-12-2 record. On the road the cowboys stumbled out of the chute to a 6-31-5 record.

Next, the franchise considered moving to its fifth city, Ottawa, but decided to remain in southern Alberta.

By this time the Calgary fans were fed up, and only purchased 2,000 season tickets, so the team went up in flames.

The Screaming Eagles/Blazers/Cowboys reflected the W.H.A.’s declining fortunes. Two other teams shut down the same summer as the Cowboys, and two more a year later.

Finally, the league ceased operations, and four WHA teams –Hartford [now Carolina], Quebec [now Colorado], Winnipeg [now Phoenix] and Edmonton joined the National Hockey League, for the 1979-80 season.

Jimmy Pattison had tried to keep the Cowboys afloat so that he could be allotted an NHL franchise for Calgary. But, the league didn’t like the tiny Corral, and Pattison took his money, and ran back to Vancouver.

Ironically, Calgary would get its NHL team three years later. The Atlanta Flames relocated to Calgary the 1980-81 season, and played in the Corral until the Saddledome was completed.

When it opened on October 15, 1983, it was known as the Olympic Saddledome, as it would host the indoor ice events for the 1988 Winter Olympics.