The San Diego Hawks (known initially as the San Diego Mariners) were a minor professional ice hockey team based in San Diego, California, that competed in the Pacific Hockey League (PHL). The team played its home games at the San Diego Sports Arena. The Hawks competed in both of the PHL's two seasons before the league folded, playing from 1977 to 1979.
The team competed as the Mariners for its first season before being rebranded as the Hawks for its second season, following a change in ownership. [1] The team's original name was adopted from a previous, unrelated hockey team, the San Diego Mariners of the World Hockey Association (WHA), who had folded earlier in 1979. [2]
The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). As of the 2024–25 AHL season, all 32 NHL teams held affiliations with an AHL team. Historically, when an NHL team does not have an AHL affiliate, its players are assigned to AHL teams affiliated with other NHL franchises.
The ECHL is a minor professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams across the United States and Canada. Competitively, it is a tier below the American Hockey League. The league serves as a farm system to the American Hockey League (AHL) and National Hockey League (NHL).
The West Coast Hockey League was a professional minor ice hockey league active in the western United States from 1995 to 2003. The number of teams ranged from six to nine. The teams were located in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and Washington.
Paul Shmyr was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) and National Hockey League (NHL). He featured in the 1971 Stanley Cup Finals with the Chicago Black Hawks and the 1981 Stanley Cup Finals with the Minnesota North Stars.
The Alaska Aces, known as the Anchorage Aces until 2003, was a professional ice hockey team in Anchorage, Alaska. Home games were played at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage. The Aces won three Kelly Cup championships, with their last championship following the 2013–14 ECHL season.
An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also hope that the expansion of their competition will grow the popularity of the sport generally. The term is most commonly used in reference to the North American major professional sports leagues but is applied to sports leagues in other countries with a closed franchise system of league membership. The term refers to the expansion of the sport into new areas. The addition of an expansion team sometimes results in the payment of an expansion fee to the league by the new team and an expansion draft to populate the new roster.
The San Diego Mariners were a professional ice hockey team based in San Diego, California, that competed in the World Hockey Association (WHA). The team played its home games at the San Diego Sports Arena. Previous to being in San Diego, the team was known as the New York Raiders, New York Golden Blades, and the Jersey Knights. After folding in 1977, San Diego Mariners' name was adopted by an unrelated franchise in the low-level, minor professional Pacific Hockey League (PHL).
André Joseph Lacroix is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player in the National Hockey League and the World Hockey Association, and is the WHA's all-time leading career scorer.
The Pacific Southwest Hockey League was a semi-professional ice hockey league that operated in California, Nevada and Alaska starting in 1972 and ran through 1995, when its members were incorporated into the upstart professional West Coast Hockey League. The league operated as the California-Nevada Hockey League from 1968 to 1972.
The Colorado Gold Kings, previously known as the Alaska Gold Kings, were an American professional minor league ice hockey team based in Fairbanks, Alaska, and later Colorado Springs, Colorado. The Gold Kings were members of the West Coast Hockey League.
The Pacific Hockey League was a low-level minor professional hockey league that existed for two seasons in 1977–78, and 1978–79. Its member teams from California, Arizona and Washington states, replaced the void left by defunct World Hockey Association franchises, with some teams sharing the names of their predecessors.
The San Diego Gulls were a professional ice hockey team based in San Diego, California, that competed in the Western Hockey League (WHL). The team, the first to use the Gulls nickname, was founded in 1966. The Gulls ceased operations in 1974, when the World Hockey Association's Jersey Knights relocated to San Diego, becoming the San Diego Mariners. The team played its home games at the San Diego Sports Arena.
The Pacific Coast Professional Football League (PCPFL), also known as the Pacific Coast Football League (PCFL) and Pacific Coast League (PCL) was a professional American football minor league based in California. It operated from 1940 through 1948. One of the few minor American professional sports leagues that competed in the years of World War II, the PCPFL was regarded as a minor league of the highest level, particularly from 1940 to 1945, at a time in which the National Football League (NFL) did not extend further west than Chicago and Green Bay. It was also the first professional football league to have a team based in Hawaii.
The Los Angeles Monarchs were a professional ice hockey team, active from 1944–1950, in the Pacific Coast Hockey League (PCHL). The Monarchs are the first professional ice hockey team to win a league championship for the city of Los Angeles. They played in the southern division of the PCHL, alongside teams from the neighboring cities such as the Pasadena Panthers, the Hollywood Wolves, and the San Diego Skyhawks. The southern division also included the San Francisco Shamrocks, Oakland Oaks and, in 1947, the Fresno Falcons.
Brian Morenz is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey Centre. He played professionally in the World Hockey Association (WHA) with the New York Raiders, New York Golden Blades and Jersey Knights franchise as well as the San Diego Mariners. He is a distant cousin of Howie Morenz, the Montreal Canadiens great.
Sports in San Diego includes major professional league teams, other highest-level professional league teams, minor league teams, and college athletics. San Diego hosts one team of the major professional leagues, the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB). San Diego FC of Major League Soccer (MLS) begins play in 2025. The city is home to several universities whose teams compete in various NCAA Division I sports, most notably the San Diego State Aztecs. The Farmers Insurance Open, a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, is played annually at Torrey Pines Golf Course.
The San Francisco Shamrocks were a minor professional ice hockey team that played in the Pacific Hockey League (PHL) during the 1977–78 and 1978–79 seasons. Based in Daly City, California, the team played its home games in the Cow Palace.
The San Diego Gulls are a professional ice hockey team based in San Diego, California, that competes in the American Hockey League (AHL). The team plays its home games at Pechanga Arena. The Gulls began play in the 2015–16 season. The team is an affiliate of the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Anaheim Ducks.
The Pacific Hockey League (PHL) was a short lived semi-professional ice hockey league in the western United States in the 1990s. The league was formed by a merger of two previous semi-professional leagues, the Pacific Southwest Hockey League and Pacific Northwest Hockey League. Several PHL teams became charter members of the professional West Coast Hockey League in 1995.
The California Hawks were a semi-professional ice hockey team from Anaheim, California. Originally located in Tri-Valley, the club joined the Pacific Southwest Hockey League in 1981 and remained active until 1995.