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The Los Angeles Blades were a minor league hockey team which played in the Western Hockey League from 1961 to 1967.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(March 2023) |
The Los Angeles Blades were a minor league hockey team which played in the Western Hockey League from 1961 to 1967.
Following the 1960–61 season, Spokane Comets owner Mel Smith informed the WHL that he was considering moving his team to either Los Angeles or San Francisco. At the same time, Los Angeles Sports Arena general manager Bill Nicholas revealed that he intended to affiliate with the WHL if he could not gain an NHL franchise. As a result, the WHL evaluated both the Sports Arena and the Cow Palace near San Francisco to evaluate their readiness for possible expansion.
On April 23, 1961, the WHL approved the transfer of the Victoria Cougars to a Los Angeles–based ownership group headed by James Piggott and Los Angeles Rams owner Dan Reeves. The WHL also approved a conditional expansion franchise on the same day, the San Francisco Seals, creating an all-California rivalry that would begin in October 1961.
After finishing 25-39-6 in their inaugural season, the Blades improved to 35-32-3 in 1962–63, led by coach Jack Bownass and fleet left wing Willie O'Ree, the NHL's first black player. Los Angeles won its playoff opener over San Francisco, only to lose the next two games and the best-of-three series to the Seals.
The Blades' breakout year came in 1963–64, when Alf Pike took over as coach. While Los Angeles finished at .500 (31-31-8), the Blades would make it all the way to the WHL finals, where the San Francisco Seals defeated Los Angeles in six games.
Pike's biggest impact on the Blades came when he shifted O'Ree - who'd lost the vision in his right eye to a puck during his junior hockey days – from left wing to right. O'Ree went on to become one of the WHL's most exciting players and prolific scorers, improving from 17 goals in 1963–64 to 38 in 1964–65 and scoring 30 or more goals in three consecutive seasons in Los Angeles. But the Blades were unable to match O'Ree's artistry, failing to make the playoffs in their final three seasons in the WHL.
On Feb. 9, 1966, the National Hockey League – sensing a possible merger between the WHL and the American Hockey League – awarded expansion franchises to Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and San Francisco for the 1967-68 season. Jack Kent Cooke was awarded the Los Angeles franchise, which would be called the Kings; the Blades played their final game in April 1967.
The Blades name was used again – once for a short-lived franchise in the Pacific Hockey League from 1978–79 and again for a franchise in Roller Hockey International from 1993–97; as well, in 1985, a team called the Los Angeles Blades was organized as the first gay hockey team in the United States. [1] The last link to the Los Angeles Blades is the Saskatoon Blades of the major junior Western Hockey League, founded as a feeder team for Los Angeles in 1964; the Saskatoon club wore hand-me-down Los Angeles Blades uniforms into the 1970s.
The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference, and are owned by San Jose Sports & Entertainment Enterprises. Beginning play in the 1991–92 season, the Sharks initially played their home games at the Cow Palace, before moving to their present home, now named SAP Center at San Jose, in 1993; the SAP Center is known locally as "the Shark Tank". The Sharks are affiliated with the San Jose Barracuda of the American Hockey League (AHL) and the Wichita Thunder of the ECHL.
The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior hockey in Canada, alongside the Ontario Hockey League and Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. Teams play for the Ed Chynoweth Cup, with the winner moving on to play for the Memorial Cup, Canada's national junior championship. WHL teams have won the Memorial Cup 19 times. Many players have been drafted from WHL teams, and have found success at various levels of professional hockey, including the National Hockey League (NHL).
The California Golden Seals were a professional ice hockey club that competed in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1967 to 1976. Based in Oakland, California, they played their home games at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena. The Seals were one of six teams added to the league as part of the 1967 NHL expansion. Initially named the California Seals, the team was renamed the Oakland Seals during the 1967–68 season and then the Bay Area Seals in 1970 before becoming the California Golden Seals the same year.
The Original Six are the teams that comprised the National Hockey League (NHL) between 1942 and 1967. The six teams are the Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, and Toronto Maple Leafs. After serving as the league's only teams for 25 seasons, they were joined by six new franchises in the 1967 NHL expansion.
Orland John Kurtenbach is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and coach. A centre notable for his defensive skill and as one of the toughest fighters in the game, he played for several National Hockey League (NHL) teams during his twenty professional seasons, principally the Vancouver Canucks, with whom he became the NHL franchise's inaugural captain.
William Dickenson Hunter, was a Canadian sports promoter and ice hockey player, coach, manager, and investor. Also known as "Wild Bill", Hunter co-founded the Western Hockey League (WHL), helped to launch the World Hockey Association (WHA), and worked to bring professional hockey to Edmonton and to his hometown of Saskatoon.
The Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL), founded in 1921, was a major professional ice hockey league originally based in the prairies of Canada. It was renamed the Western Hockey League (WHL) in 1925 and disbanded in 1926.
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The Saskatoon Blades are a Canadian major junior ice hockey team based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Founded in 1964, the Blades were a charter team of the then-Western Canada Hockey League, and are the only club that has played every season in the league in its original location. Today, the team plays in the East Division of the Western Hockey League's Eastern Conference, and hosts games at the SaskTel Centre. Despite five appearances in the championship series, the Blades have never won a league title.
The San Francisco Seals were a minor league hockey team which played in the Western Hockey League from 1961 to 1967.
The Western Hockey League (WHL) was a minor professional ice hockey league based in Western Canada that operated from 1952 to 1974. The league was managed for most of its history by Al Leader, and had roots in the Pacific Coast Hockey League and the Western Canada Senior Hockey League. The championship trophy of the WHL was the Lester Patrick Cup.
The Los Angeles Sharks were an ice hockey team that played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972 to 1974. Their primary home arena was the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena but they sometimes played at the Long Beach Sports Arena when the Sports Arena had other contractual obligations. After the 1973–74 season, the franchise moved to Detroit to become the Michigan Stags and again mid-season to Baltimore to become the Baltimore Blades.
The California Hockey League was a professional ice hockey league that existed from 1925 until 1933.
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Todd Andrew McLellan is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former player. He is the current head coach of the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL). He previously served as head coach of the San Jose Sharks (2008–2015) and Edmonton Oilers (2015–2018), and as an assistant coach with the Detroit Red Wings (2005–2008), with whom he won the Stanley Cup in 2008. He was drafted in 1986 by the New York Islanders, but only played five games with the major league club in the 1987–88 season before retiring in the minors the following season due to recurring injury.
The Original Six era of the National Hockey League (NHL) began in 1942 with the demise of the Brooklyn Americans, reducing the league to six teams: Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, and Toronto Maple Leafs. This structure remained stable for a quarter century; the era ended in 1967 when the NHL doubled in size adding six expansion teams.
The Victoria Maple Leafs were a minor professional ice hockey team in the Western Hockey League (WHL) that played three seasons in Victoria, British Columbia, beginning in 1964. They were the farm team of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The previous season the team had played as the Denver Invaders, with the best regular season record in the WHL, and from 1959 to 1963 the team had played as the Spokane Comets. In 1967 they became the Phoenix Roadrunners.
The 1967 National Hockey League (NHL) expansion added six new franchises for the 1967–68 season, doubling the size of the league to 12 teams. It was the largest expansion undertaken at one time by an established major sports league and the first change in the composition of the NHL since 1942, ending the era of the Original Six.
The 1966–67 WHL season was the 15th season of the Western Hockey League. Seven teams played a 72-game schedule, and the Seattle Totems were the Lester Patrick Cup champions, defeating the as Vancouver Canucks four games to three in the final series.
Ice hockey in Seattle, Washington includes professional teams as early as 1915, such as the Seattle Metropolitans, the first United States-based team to win the Stanley Cup. The city has been represented by various teams in the iterations of the Western Hockey League since 1944, of which the major junior Seattle Thunderbirds are the latest. Presently, the city has a National Hockey League franchise, the Seattle Kraken, who began play in the 2021–22 season.