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Hampton Gulls
Hampton Gulls
City	Hampton, Virginia
League	SHL (1974–1977); AHL (1977–78)
Operated	1974–1978
Home arena	Hampton Coliseum
Colors	Black, white, gold;
Head coach	John Brophy
Affiliates	Cincinnati Stingers; Minnesota Fighting Saints; Edmonton Oilers
Franchise history
1974	Fayetteville Arsenal
1974–78	Hampton Gulls
Championships
Regular season titles	One (1976–77)

The Hampton Gulls were an American minor league professional ice hockey team based in Hampton, Virginia, from 1974 to 1978 at the Hampton Coliseum. The Gulls played three seasons in the Southern Hockey League, beginning in 1974.^[1] When that league folded in 1977, the Hampton played one season in the American Hockey League.^[2] The Gulls were a World Hockey Association farm team to the Cincinnati Stingers each season.^[3]^[4] John Brophy was the team's only head coach during its existence.^[5] Hampton ceased operations on February 10, 1978, part way through its fourth season.^[2]

History

The franchise originated as an expansion team for the 1974–75 Southern Hockey League season in Fayetteville, North Carolina. The new team was named after the Fayetteville Arsenal, and was scheduled to play at the Cumberland County Memorial Arena. In October 1974, owner Bill Raue moved the team before playing any games, when availability of home ice dates became a problem, and the Hampton Coliseum was available.^[6]^[7] Claude Chartre led the team in scoring with 112 points, and Lorne Rombough led with 56 goals.^[8] Hampton finished the season in second place, and finished runners-up to the Charlotte Checkers in the playoff finals.^[9]^[10]

Before the 1975–76 Southern Hockey League season, the team was purchased by Charles Wornom, a city councillor and future mayor of Hampton, Virginia, for $40,000.^[11] The season saw the Gulls sharing the greater Hampton Roads area with the Tidewater Sharks, another SHL team in Norfolk, Virginia. Art Stratton led the team in scoring with 78 points, and Larry Billows led with 29 goals.^[12] Hampton repeated the second-place finish in the regular season, and being runners-up to the Charlotte Checkers in the playoff finals.^[13]^[14]

In the 1976–77 Southern Hockey League season, Hampton was affiliated with both the Cincinnati Stingers, and the Minnesota Fighting Saints.^[3] The Gulls were in first place when the Southern Hockey League collapsed in January 1977.^[6] Claude Chartre led the team in scoring with 58 points, and Pat Donnelly led with 23 goals.^[15]

The Gulls joined the American Hockey League for the 1977–78 AHL season, and affiliated with the Edmonton Oilers in addition to Cincinnati.^[4] Paul O'Neil led the team in scoring with 44 points, and Danny Arndt led with 20 goals.^[16] Hampton played 46 games into the schedule, and were last in place when the franchise folded due to financial issues.^[7]

Results

Season-by-season results:^[1]^[2]

Season	League	Games	Won	Lost	Tied	Points	Winning Pct (%)	Goals for	Goals against	Standing	Playoffs
1974–75	SHL	72	43	28	1	87	0.604	323	262	2nd, SHL	Lost in finals
1975–76	SHL	72	33	23	16	82	0.569	262	234	2nd, SHL	Lost in finals
1976–77	SHL	50	32	16	2	66	0.660	198	152	1st, SHL	League folded
1977–78	AHL	46	15	28	3	33	0.359	142	171	5th, South	Team folded
TOTALS		240	123	95	22	268	0.558	925	819