NHL teams we’ve lost
Ice hockey has been a hot potato for sports fans in America and beyond for many years. This sport is one of the few where players become stars and teams become legends.
It’s a common story in sports in North America when an NHL club changes its geographic location. Today we will recall the clubs that the League lost after relocation or for other reasons.
If you ask any hockey player about their biggest career dream, everyone will answer the same. NHL is the top sports organization in this field.
NHL is a well-recognized sports organization that brings together NHL hockey squads from the US and Canada. Currently, most experts recognize the NHL as one of the strongest on the planet.
During last 25 years, there has been a permanent growth in demand for North-American athletes in the NHL. But more than half of hockey players still come from Canada. The organization developed this sports discipline and launched many regulative initiatives to make it more serious.
NHL operates annually from September to June in two distinct phases, both of which attract sports fans. Players from all over the world flock to the League for a chance to win the Stanley Cup and play in the biggest stadiums.
Cleveland Crusaders
The team is created under the name of Calgary Broncos but does not play a single game in the WHA. Shortly before the league’s first season started, the Calgary team filed for bankruptcy, and its place was then occupied by the Crusaders.
In 1976, by a game of dominoes, franchise moved to St. Paul, and different squads, one after another, lost their statuses and were left only at the history pages.
Cleveland Barons
This is a North American franchise. The team was located in Richfield, a small town in the southern suburbs of Cleveland in the State of Ohio.
They played their first season in the NHL, taking over another famous squad in the 1976-77 season. Economic difficulties forced them to merge with another team after their 2nd season. This decisive step was the start of an end.
On June 14, 1978, NHL decided to merge two squads that were suffering from economic problems. Thus, the squad and an organization of the North Stars of Minnesota come together under the name of the latest one but with the management of the Barons: Gund brothers as owner and executive director of the Barons, as a new coach.
The colors of the Minnesota squad are preserved as well as the ice rink of the Met Center, a smaller room with nearly four thousand seats. The new team took the Barons’ place in the Adams Division for the 1978–79 period.
Cincinnati Stingers
Almost two and a half years elapsed between the franchise allocation and the Stingers’ first game. The Stingers had been active in the player market and had been busy signing players.
Some players have been loaned out to other squads, f.e. Dennis Sobchuk, brought in from the Regina Pats, who helped the new Phoenix Roadrunners get through their first season in good shape.
The franchise took part in the 1979/80 season of the Central Hockey League but left the league after 33 of 80 games and was subsequently dissolved.
Indianapolis Racers
Racers played for five seasons in the WHA before disbanding in 1978–79 after twenty-five games.
1976-77s were the Racers’ best season when they finished third in its division and advanced to the playoffs. It passed the first round by beating the Cincinnati Stingers 4 games to 0 before failing to win four times to 1 against the Quebec Nordiques.
Why is the National Hockey League the toughest tournament in the world?
In the mid-2000s, the league took a course to equalize teams and their capabilities. And does it to this day to make money. The system is arranged in such a way that no one is higher than you. But this has a downside – it’s harder to get to the trophy.
Therefore, not all teams can withstand this challenge and fall out of history forever.