1975–76 Minnesota Fighting Saints season

1975–76 Minnesota Fighting Saints
Division4th West
1975–76 record30–25–4
Goals for211
Goals against212
Team information
CoachHarry Neale
CaptainTed Hampson
ArenaSt. Paul Civic Center
← 1974–75
Folded →

The 1975–76 Minnesota Fighting Saints season was the original Minnesota Fighting Saints' fourth and final season of operation in the World Hockey Association (WHA). The Saints did not finish the season, folding after 59 games. However the 1975–76 Cleveland Crusaders would relocate to Minnesota the following season and play as the new Fighting Saints.

Offseason

Regular season

Final standings

Western Division GP W L T Pts GF GA PIM
Houston Aeros 80 53 27 0 106 341 263 1093
Phoenix Roadrunners 80 39 35 6 84 302 287 1292
San Diego Mariners 80 36 38 6 78 303 290 716
Minnesota Fighting Saints 59 30 25 4 64 211 212 1354


Game log

Regular season schedule
No. R Date Score Opponent Record
1 W October 10, 1975 4–1 @ Edmonton Oilers (1975–76) 1–0–0
2 W October 12, 1975 2–0 @ Calgary Cowboys (1975–76) 2–0–0
3 L October 15, 1975 4–8 Cleveland Crusaders (1975–76) 2–1–0
4 L October 18, 1975 1–3 Edmonton Oilers (1975–76) 2–2–0
5 W October 21, 1975 2–1 @ Indianapolis Racers (1975–76) 3–2–0
6 T October 23, 1975 4–4 @ San Diego Mariners (1975–76) 3–2–1
7 L October 25, 1975 1–6 @ San Diego Mariners (1975–76) 3–3–1
8 L October 29, 1975 4–6 Cincinnati Stingers (1975–76) 3–4–1
9 W November 1, 1975 3–2 Phoenix Roadrunners (1975–76) 4–4–1
10 L November 5, 1975 4–6 @ Houston Aeros (1975–76) 4–5–1
11 W November 8, 1975 4–3 Toronto Toros (1975–76) 5–5–1
12 L November 11, 1975 6–8 @ Quebec Nordiques (1975–76) 5–6–1
13 W November 15, 1975 9–7 Indianapolis Racers (1975–76) 6–6–1
14 W November 16, 1975 3–2 @ Cincinnati Stingers (1975–76) 7–6–1
15 L November 19, 1975 3–4 OT @ Cleveland Crusaders (1975–76) 7–7–1
16 W November 20, 1975 2–0 @ New England Whalers (1975–76) 8–7–1
17 L November 22, 1975 4–6 Calgary Cowboys (1975–76) 8–8–1
18 W November 25, 1975 3–2 OT New England Whalers (1975–76) 9–8–1
19 W November 27, 1975 5–3 Cincinnati Stingers (1975–76) 10–8–1
20 L November 30, 1975 3–5 @ Winnipeg Jets (1975–76) 10–9–1
21 W December 5, 1975 4–3 Denver Spurs/Ottawa Civics (1975–76) 11–9–1
22 W December 9, 1975 5–3 @ Toronto Toros (1975–76) 12–9–1
23 L December 10, 1975 2–3 @ New England Whalers (1975–76) 12–10–1
24 L December 12, 1975 0–1 @ Cleveland Crusaders (1975–76) 12–11–1
25 W December 13, 1975 4–3 Houston Aeros (1975–76) 13–11–1
26 T December 17, 1975 0–0 New England Whalers (1975–76) 13–11–2
27 W December 20, 1975 6–3 Winnipeg Jets (1975–76) 14–11–2
28 W December 21, 1975 3–1 @ Winnipeg Jets (1975–76) 15–11–2
29 W December 23, 1975 5–4 @ Denver Spurs/Ottawa Civics (1975–76) 16–11–2
30 L December 27, 1975 0–5 @ Houston Aeros (1975–76) 16–12–2
31 L December 28, 1975 1–2 San Diego Mariners (1975–76) 16–13–2
32 T December 30, 1975 4–4 Quebec Nordiques (1975–76) 16–13–3
33 W January 3, 1976 3–1 Indianapolis Racers (1975–76) 17–13–3
34 L January 4, 1976 2–5 Denver Spurs/Ottawa Civics (1975–76) 17–14–3
35 W January 7, 1976 7–6 OT Phoenix Roadrunners (1975–76) 18–14–3
36 L January 10, 1976 1–4 Houston Aeros (1975–76) 18–15–3
37 W January 11, 1976 7–4 @ Cincinnati Stingers (1975–76) 19–15–3
38 L January 15, 1976 4–5 OT @ San Diego Mariners (1975–76) 19–16–3
39 L January 16, 1976 1–3 @ Phoenix Roadrunners (1975–76) 19–17–3
40 W January 17, 1976 4–2 @ Phoenix Roadrunners (1975–76) 20–17–3
41 W January 21, 1976 6–5 OT San Diego Mariners (1975–76) 21–17–3
42 L January 23, 1976 1–7 San Diego Mariners (1975–76) 21–18–3
43 W January 25, 1976 5–2 Toronto Toros (1975–76) 22–18–3
44 W January 28, 1976 6–2 Winnipeg Jets (1975–76) 23–18–3
45 W January 29, 1976 6–5 OT @ Indianapolis Racers (1975–76) 24–18–3
46 W January 31, 1976 4–1 Houston Aeros (1975–76) 25–18–3
47 L February 1, 1976 5–6 Cleveland Crusaders (1975–76) 25–19–3
48 L February 3, 1976 4–8 @ Houston Aeros (1975–76) 25–20–3
49 L February 4, 1976 1–4 @ San Diego Mariners (1975–76) 25–21–3
50 L February 7, 1976 2–4 @ Phoenix Roadrunners (1975–76) 25–22–3
51 T February 8, 1976 3–3 @ Phoenix Roadrunners (1975–76) 25–22–4
52 W February 10, 1976 6–3 San Diego Mariners (1975–76) 26–22–4
53 W February 11, 1976 4–2 @ San Diego Mariners (1975–76) 27–22–4
54 W February 12, 1976 6–4 Quebec Nordiques (1975–76) 28–22–4
55 L February 14, 1976 2–5 Phoenix Roadrunners (1975–76) 28–23–4
56 W February 17, 1976 6–3 @ Toronto Toros (1975–76) 29–23–4
57 W February 20, 1976 6–3 @ Calgary Cowboys (1975–76) 30–23–4
58 L February 22, 1976 3–4 @ Edmonton Oilers (1975–76) 30–24–4
59 L February 25, 1976 1–2 OT San Diego Mariners (1975–76) 30–25–4

[1]

Playoffs

Player stats

Regular season
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/- PPG SHG GWG
Mike Walton C 58 31 40 71 27 7 0 0 0
Dave Keon C 57 26 38 64 4 14 5 2 3
Fran Huck C 59 17 32 49 27 9 0 0 0
Wayne Connelly C 59 24 23 47 19 9 4 0 2
John McKenzie RW 57 21 26 47 48 10 4 2 6
Mike Antonovich C 57 25 21 46 18 21 0 0 0
Henry Boucha C 36 15 20 35 47 3 0 0 0
Rick Smith D 51 1 32 33 50 1 0 0 0
Paul Holmgren RW 51 14 16 30 121 -7 0 0 0
Ted Hampson C 59 5 14 19 14 -3 0 1 0
Jack Carlson LW 58 8 10 18 189 -14 0 0 1
Gary Gambucci C 45 10 6 16 14 5 0 0 0
Bill Butters D 59 0 15 15 170 19 0 0 0
Curt Brackenbury RW 59 4 9 13 254 7 0 0 0
Pat Westrum D 54 3 10 13 98 0 0 0 0
Ron Busniuk RW 59 2 11 13 150 9 2 0 0
Gerry Odrowski D 37 1 12 13 10 -9 0 0 0
Bruce Boudreau C 30 3 6 9 4 -1 0 0 0
Jerry Zrymiak D 22 0 8 8 16 2 0 0 0
Perry Miller D 13 1 4 5 11 -5 0 0 0
John Arbour D 7 0 4 4 14 4 0 0 0
Francois Ouimet D 9 0 2 2 2 0 0 0 0
Jeff Carlson RW 7 0 1 1 14 0 0 0 0
Steve Carlson C 10 0 1 1 23 -1 0 0 0
Mike Curran G 5 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0
John Garrett G 52 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 0
Jean-Louis Levasseur G 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Craig Sarner RW 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jean Tetreault LW 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SO
John Garrett 3179 52 26 22 4 177 3.34 2
Mike Curran 240 5 2 2 0 22 5.50 1
Jean-Louis Levasseur 193 4 2 1 0 10 3.11 0
Team: 3612 59 30 25 4 209 3.47 3

[2]

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals
      MIN = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts;

Awards and records

Transactions

Draft picks

Minnesota's draft picks at the 1975 WHA Amateur Draft.[3]

Round # Player Nationality College/Junior/Club team (League)
1 10 Greg Hickey (LW)  Canada Hamilton Fincups (OHA)
2 25 Kim Clackson (D)  Canada Victoria Cougars (WCHL)
3 40 Greg Neeld (D)  Canada Calgary Centennials (WCHL)
4 55 Bob Hoffmeyer (D)  Canada Saskatoon Blades (WCHL)
5 69 Jim Minor (C)  Canada Regina Pats (WCHL)
6 83 Brian Shmyr (C)  Canada New Westminster Bruins (WCHL)
7 96 Marc Tessier (C)  Canada Sherbrooke Castors (QMJHL)
8 108 Bob McNeice (LW)  Canada New Westminster Bruins (WCHL)
9 120 Dave Faulkner (C)  Canada Regina Pats (WCHL)
10 133 Denis Daigle (LW)  Canada Montreal Red White and Blue (QMJHL)
11 146 Earl Sargent (W)  United States Fargo-Moorhead Sugar Kings (MidJHL)
12 157 Richard Dutton (D)  Canada Laval National (QMJHL)
13 167 Tom Ulseth (C)  United States University of Wisconsin (WCHA)
14 173 Henry Taylor (RW)  United States St. Paul Vulcans (MidJHL)

Farm teams

See also

References

  1. ^ "1975–76 Minnesota Fighting Saints Games". Hockey-reference.com. Retrieved July 2, 2009.
  2. ^ "1975-76 Minnesota Fighting Saints Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". hockey-reference.com. Retrieved July 2, 2009.
  3. ^ "1975 WHA Amateur Draft". hockeyDB.com. Retrieved December 19, 2018.