Michigan Stags

Baltimore Blades
Baltimore Blades
	Baltimore Civic Center
Colors	Orange, black & white
Media	WMAR-TV; WCBM
Franchise history
1972	Los Angeles Aces; (changed name before first game)
1972–1974	Los Angeles Sharks
1974–1975; (to 18 January)	Michigan Stags
1975; (remainder of season)	Baltimore Blades

Michigan Stags
Michigan Stags
	Cobo Arena
Colors	Red, black, gold;
Media	WXON-TV; WWJ
Franchise history
1972–1974	Los Angeles Sharks
1974–1975; (to 18 January)	Michigan Stags
1975; (remainder of season)	Baltimore Blades

The Michigan Stags were a professional

Baltimore Civic Center

.

Michigan Stags

Having made their fortunes in industrial chemicals, Detroiters Charles Nolton and Peter Shagena bought the

Dennis Murphy and relocated the club to Detroit as the Michigan Stags. Coached by former Red Wings player and coach Johnny Wilson, the Stags began play in the 1974–75 season. The owners believed the Stags could be an alternative to the NHL's Detroit Red Wings

, who had not been a factor in the league for most of the decade.

However, the Stags were even less successful than the Red Wings. The team was composed of journeymen, with the exceptions of star left winger

Pierre Guite, Michel Rouleau and famed minor league sniper Alain Caron

.

The Stags hoped they could at least draw fans for the highly anticipated return of Gordie Howe to Detroit, but Howe's Houston Aeros were not scheduled to play at Cobo until February 2. The Aeros did come to town to play two exhibition games: the first, across the river in Windsor on October 8; the other, two days later at Cobo Arena. (Howe and his sons missed the first game, as they were in Czechoslovakia with Team Canada; Gordie scored twice in the second contest, before a crowd of 5,536.)^[1] As it turned out, Howe and company would never meet Michigan in regular-season contest in Detroit, as the Stags had folded before then.

The WHA club were one of three new pro franchises that burst upon the Detroit sports scene in 1974, along with the

World Team Tennis (who also played at Cobo) and the Detroit Wheels of the newly minted World Football League (who played in distant Ypsilanti, Michigan). Within a three-month span, though, they were all gone: the hapless (1-13) Wheels folded October 10; the Loves (after drawing just 2,213 fans per match and losing $300,000) shifted to Indianapolis on November 18; and, just into 1975, the Stags disappeared as well. Their 5–4, overtime win over Winnipeg

on January 9 in front of 3,125 fans at Cobo would turn out to be their last game in Detroit. Two weeks later, on January 23, the WHA finally announced that the club was shifting to Baltimore.

Baltimore Blades

The Baltimore Blades were created out of the remains of the Stags (retaining coach Johnny Wilson, although he was unenthusiastic about the shift) and were operated by the league; the move caused the

Baltimore Civic Center on February 2 (coincidentally against the Howe-led club from Houston) in front of 9,023 fans. Attendance went flat soon thereafter, however, as the Blades averaged only 3,568 for 17 home dates (which was actually an improvement over Detroit, even though the Blades were an awful 3-13-1 in Baltimore.) At season's end, the league contemplated moving the franchise to Seattle (which would have marked the franchise's fourth home in less than a year), but instead the club was terminated. Players from the Michigan/Baltimore team, along with those of the defunct Chicago Cougars, were put into a dispersal draft

to be claimed by other WHA teams.

The team's final record was 21-53-4, the second-worst in the WHA and far out of a playoff spot. Veneruzzo was the leading scorer for the team with a 33-27-60 mark, nearly twice as much as anyone else save for

1986-87 NHL season

.

Media coverage

The Stags' radio station was WWJ 950. Gary Morrel was play-by-play announcer while Norm Plummer handled color commentary. (At least one broadcast had only two sponsors mentioned: Nolwood Chemical, a company owned by the Stags' owners, and the Stags themselves.)

Michigan played just one game on local television: the season opener against the

play-by-play and former Red Wing Marty Pavelich was the color commentator. The Stags won the game, 4–2, but few saw it; the Stags were up against game five of the 1974 World Series

. Eight other games were scheduled to be televised but money became a problem by mid-November, especially after Michigan lost 11 of their next 12 following their season-opening win.

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
1974–75	78	21	53	4	46	205	341	1104	5th, Western	Did not qualify

External links

Remembering the Woeful Michigan Stags hockey team Archived 2013-12-27 at the Wayback Machine

References

^ "Stags Beaten, 5-4; Gordie Scores 2", Detroit Free Press, October 11, 1974, p. 1D

[1] "Stags Beaten, 5-4; Gordie Scores 2", Detroit Free Press, October 11, 1974, p. 1D

[1]

v t e World Hockey Association
Teams	Alberta Oilers Baltimore Blades Birmingham Bulls Calgary Broncos Calgary Cowboys Chicago Cougars Cincinnati Stingers Cleveland Crusaders Dayton Aeros Denver Spurs Edmonton Oilers Houston Aeros Indianapolis Racers Los Angeles Sharks Miami Screaming Eagles Michigan Stags Minnesota Fighting Saints New England Whalers Jersey Knights New York Raiders/Golden Blades Ottawa Civics Ottawa Nationals Philadelphia Blazers Phoenix Roadrunners Quebec Nordiques San Diego Mariners San Francisco Sharks Toronto Toros Vancouver Blazers Winnipeg Jets
Trophies and awards	Avco World Trophy Gary L. Davidson Award / Gordie Howe Trophy Bill Hunter Trophy Lou Kaplan Trophy Ben Hatskin Trophy Dennis A. Murphy Trophy Paul Deneau Trophy Howard Baldwin Trophy / Robert Schmertz Memorial Trophy WHA Playoff MVP
Related articles: List of WHA seasons List of WHA players WHA Amateur Draft NHL–WHA merger North American Hockey League Broadcasters