Chicago Cougars
Chicago Cougars | |
---|---|
City | Chicago, Illinois |
League | World Hockey Association |
Operated | 1972–1975 |
Home arena | International Amphitheatre Randhurst Ice Arena |
Colors | Gold, Green |
Media | WSNS-TV WCFL |
The Chicago Cougars were a franchise in the
Just prior to their third season, the team was sold to Cougars players
They were placed in the Western Division for their first season (1972–73) and transferred to the Eastern Division for their final two seasons (1973–74 and 1974–75) when the Philadelphia Blazers moved to Vancouver.
The Cougars were the first North American major professional hockey team to feature player numbers on the front of their jersey in the upper right corner. The next professional team to adopt this feature was the NHL's
) features similar front number treatments at points between 2007 and 2015.Franchise history
1972–73 season
The Cougars finished last in the WHA's Western Division during the season with 54 points. Team defense finished 8th overall with 295 goals against and dead last in team offense with 245 goals. The one bright spot for Chicago was Bob Sicinski finishing 5th in the league with 63 assists.
1973–74 season
The Cougars finished fourth in the Eastern Division with 81 points. They were seventh overall in goals for with 271 and sixth overall in goals against with 273. Pat Stapleton finished ninth in the league with 52 assists and Ralph Backstrom followed in tenth with 50.
1974–75 season
The Cougars finished third in the Eastern Division and twelfth overall with 61 points. They were tenth overall in goals for with 261 and twelfth overall in goals against with 261. Larry Mavety finished tenth in the league again with 150 penalty minutes but was traded to Toronto after playing 57 games with Chicago. Following the season, the Cougars franchise folded after the player-owners were unable to attract more financing. (With the death of the Cougars, the WHA had departed all of the three biggest markets in the United States: the New York Golden Blades shifted to south Jersey early in the 1973-74 season, while the Los Angeles Sharks moved to Detroit in 1974.) In the dispersal draft that followed, most of the players ended up with the expansion Denver Spurs, and the Spurs are sometimes considered as a continuation of the Cougars.
The last active Chicago Cougars player in North American major professional hockey was
Peter Pan Incident
The Cougars made the playoffs only once, in 1974. The initial series versus New England passed without incident, but the next two series would be difficult in more ways than one. The International Amphitheatre was unavailable for the second round because it had booked a production of Peter Pan, featuring former Olympic gymnast Cathy Rigby in the title role. Though the team did negotiate for use of Chicago Stadium, the home of the rival Chicago Black Hawks of the NHL and the National Basketball Association's Chicago Bulls, it too was unavailable because both those teams were playing in their own playoffs. The team briefly considered playing the matches at the Cleveland Arena before deciding to go to stay in Illinois at a public skating rink, the Randhurst Twin Ice Arena, adjacent to Mount Prospect's Randhurst Mall. Though the arena could only hold 2000 spectators, the team played its three home matches of the series in Randhurst.
When the Cougars won their series versus Toronto, the Peter Pan show had moved on, and the Amphitheatre should have been available. However, the Amphitheatre had a portable ice surface. For reasons that were never stated, the Amphitheatre staff decided the hockey season was over, so they uncovered and dismantled the copper pipes used to chill the ice. The Cougars had no choice but to return to Randhurst for the finals. The Cougars never quite recovered from the public relations disaster; one sports reporter had quipped, "The Cougars were beaten by the greatest lightweight of them all — Peter Pan."
Season-by-season record
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes
Season | GP | W | L | T | Pts | GF | GA | PIM | Finish | Playoffs |
1972–73 | 78 | 26 | 50 | 2 | 54 | 245 | 295 | 811 | 6th, Western | Did not qualify |
1973–74 | 78 | 38 | 35 | 5 | 81 | 271 | 273 | 1041 | 4th, Eastern | Won Quarter-final () |
1974–75 | 78 | 30 | 47 | 1 | 61 | 261 | 312 | 1086 | 3rd, Eastern | Did not qualify |
Totals | 234 | 94 | 132 | 8 | 196 | 777 | 880 | 2938 |
See also
References
- ISBN 1-894974-21-2.
- Chicago Cougars at the Internet Hockey Database
- World Hockey Association standings
- Chicago Cougars at WHAhockey.com