WHA Hockey.TV: A Tribute to the Legends of the World Hockey Association by Mark Willand

Video: Paul Shmyr 1977 WHA All Star Game Interview

San Diego Mariner Paul Shmyr interviewed at 1977 WHA All Star Game by Bob Lamey.

Ex-Cowboy Oiler Ron Chipperfield Profiled

Profile by Jim Atheson, Edmomton Sun

 

Thirty years ago, Ron Chipperfield was the first NHL captain of the Edmonton Oilers. And while he lives in Vancouver now and runs a hugely successful European hockey agency, the former centre still has a connection to the Oilers.

"(Associate coach) Tom Renney is renting my house in Glenora this year," said Chipperfield in a recent interview.

Chipperfield, who wore the C until he was traded to the Quebec Nordiques on March 11, 1980, for goalie Ron Low, runs the Optima World Sports agency along with another ex-Oiler, winger Brett Callighen, and Gary Seigo. They find European teams for North American players and coaches who've been in the NHL or American Hockey League. Optima has landed one-time Oiler defenceman Don Jackson a coaching gig in Berlin for Los Angeles Kings billionaire owner Philip Anschutz, among others.

Chipperfield would rather not say how many players they funnel to European clubs, but they're the largest provider of players overseas and have been for the last 15 years. They don't seek out clients; NHL agents call them with players who want to try Europe.

"We have deals with probably 15 or 20 NHL agents. Took a while but it works pretty well," said Chipperfield, who attends to clubs in Italy (he was a coach and manager over there, working in Milan and Bolzano) and Austria and parts of Germany while Callighen is heavily involved with Swiss teams, along with Germany.

Video: Winnipeg Jets Top Quebec 12-3, 1977 Playoffs

Winnipeg Jets Beat Quebec 12-3 in game 6 of 1977 playoffs

Profile: Gerry Cheevers, Cleveland Crusaders

A very entertaining article by Greg Popelka at the ClevelandFan.com

It’s one of the rich images of baseball: a ten-year-old, listening to games on a transistor radio, during times when he should not be doing so. For example, during the school day, or in bed after lights-out. I was that youngster, back in the day. Only, during winter, I was just as likely to be hiding the radio under the pillow while listening to the call of noted announcer Steve Albert (brother of Marv and Kenny) of the Cleveland Crusaders.

As with much of the late 20th century sports landscape in Cleveland, the Crusaders were the product of the vision and effort of noted local sports tycoon, Nick Mileti. Mileti has been hailed as a local hero, receiving credit for helping to keep the Cleveland Indians from moving to a market such as New Orleans in the 1970s. He built the Coliseum in Richfield, a very nice venue for concerts and sporting events, and which emphasized the quality of individual seats vs. the corporate loges.  The “Big House on the Prairie”, as it was known, was in the middle of a, uh, prairie, south of Cleveland and accessible to Akron and Columbus as well. 

Mileti owned the Cleveland Barons, which had had decades of International Hockey League success during the days of the “original six” NHL teams: the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins, New York Rangers, and the Chicago Blackhawks. Not exactly the original teams or team names, but these were the traditional NHL franchises. They formed the backbone of the league into the 1970s.

Bullish Over the Birmingham "Baby Bulls" SI Feature

April 09, 1979 Bullish Over Baby Bulls Now that the pro hockey leagues are definitely going to merge, NHL teams are drooling over all the young stars of the soon-to-be-defunct Birmingham Bulls ... EM Swift

Last summer John Bassett, owner of the hockey team now known as the Birmingham Bulls but soon to be known as defunct, was in a pickle. He had been prepared to fold his club as soon as the World Hockey Association merged with the National Hockey League, and expected to collect several million dollars as an indemnity. Then the merger fell through. In the meantime, Bassett had lost 2,000 season-ticket holders and had sold off $1 million worth of players, including Ken Linseman, Mark Napier and All-Star Goalie John Garrett. Now he needed half a dozen players—quickly and cheaply—in order to scrape through another year. Bassett's solution was to stage a raid on the teen-agers of Canada's junior hockey leagues—amateur players who had not reached the NHL draft age of 20. He signed seven of them for $50,000 each and thus was born the Baby Bulls.

Many underage juniors had been signed to pro contracts during the long WHA-NHL war (among those who succeeded as teen-agers were Bryan Trottier, Pierre Larouche and Mark Howe), but the idea of seven on a single team was preposterous. As it was, six of the seven made the team, and not only have they contributed, they have been the heart of the Bulls. Four of the team's top six scorers and its leading goaltender all started as teen-agers—and now they are battling Cincinnati for the last WHA playoff spot in the last WHA year.

Video: Bobby Hull 1974 Team Canada Feature

Bobby Hull Discusses his farm, the new Swedes and Team Canada.

Toros vs. Leafs -- The Battle of Toronto

The Toronto Star 1975 Article on the box office battle between the WHA Toros and NHL Leafs, who both played at Leaf Gardens in 1974-75 and 1975-76.   Of course, the Leafs prevailed and the Toros moved to Birmingham in 1976.

From Wikipedia:

The Toros moved to the Gardens for the 1974–75 season. However, by this time Harold Ballard had regained control of the Gardens. Ballard was a violent opponent of the WHA; he never forgave the upstart league for nearly decimating the Leafs' roster in the early 1970s. He deliberately made the Toros' lease terms at the Gardens as onerous as possible.

The Toros' lease with Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. called for them to pay $15,000 per game. However, much to Bassett's outrage, the arena was dim for the first game. It was then that Ballard demanded $3,500 for use of the lights. Ballard also denied the Toros access to the Leafs' locker room, forcing them to build their own at a cost of $55,000.

He also removed the cushions from the home bench for Toros' games (he told an arena worker, "Let 'em buy their own cushions!"). It was obvious that Ballard was angered at the WHA being literally in his backyard, and took his frustration on the renegade league out on the Toros.

Video: Marc Tardif Profile

 

Marc Tardif was hockey's top left wing in the 1970s and one of the WHA's top 2-3 all-time players.

Tardif began his professional hockey career in the standard way. He was drafted second overall by Montreal in 1969, the last year the Canadiens could draft the first two French-Canadians available, and then he played for the Junior Canadiens in the OHL. He played most of his first four pro years with the Montreal Canadiens from 1969 to 1973, developing into a true goal-scorer Habs fans were starting to admire.

But in June 1973 he stunned the team by signing a three-year, $350,000 contract with the Los Angeles Sharks of the two-year-old World Hockey Association. This represented an enormous increase over the $40,000 he had made with Montreal the previous season.

It was in the WHA that he played the prime six years of his life, joining the Quebec Nordiques midway through the following season and becoming a provincial hero for all French-Canadians in Quebec. In 1975-76 he signed an unprecedented 10-year contract with the Nordiques, then went out and led the league in goals, assists and points. But in the playoffs he suffered a horrific injury in a game against the Calgary Cowboys. He was charged from behind by Rick Jodzio, who hammered Tardif in the chest and head area with his stick. Tardif fell to the ice unconscious, but Jodzio jumped on top of him and continued to punch him violently.

Video: Marc Tardif and Bobby Hull Interview 1977 Avco Cup Finals

Bobby Hull (Winnipeg) and Marc Tardif (Quebec) prior to Avco Playoff Final game #7

Video: Houston Aeros vs. Winnipeg Jets, Jan. 26,1978

The Aeros top the Jets in overtime.