San Diego Gulls (WHL, 1972-73)

Well, that was a long layoff, wasn't it? Kinda lost interest in doing this awhile ago. Been wanting to get back to posting programs, but never got around to it. The computer and scanner I use are, shall we say, stubborn.

Anyway, here are a couple more from my collection. The next two posts will be for the San Diego Gulls.

1972-73 Regular Season--Gulls vs. Salt Lake Golden Eagles

The San Diego Gulls were part of the old Western Hockey League, a minor-pro circuit based along the Pacific coast and Southwest United States. The Gulls joined the WHL in 1966 and were the third hockey team to represent San Diego since 1940.

Former Red Wing and long-time minor leaguer Max McNab was coach and GM for the Gulls for most of their existence. After 1971-72, McNab turned over coaching duties to assistant Jack Evans, who stayed behind the bench for the franchise's final two seasons.

In 1972-73, the Gulls finished the season with a respectable 32-29-11 record, good enough for third place in the WHL. Offensively, the Gulls were the second-lowest scoring team in the league, with only 239 goals. They were led by center Bob Courcy's 33 goals and 71 points. Three other players scored at least 20 goals.

Defense, on the other hand, was the Gulls' strong point that season. San Diego allowed the fewest in the WHL in 1972-73, a mere 223. They only used two netminders that season, Ken Broderick and Bob Champoux. Broderick had the bulk of the starts, going 23-21-6 with a 2.94 GAA and 3 shutouts. The veteran Champoux went 9-8-5 in relief, with a 3.31 GAA and 1 shutout.

In the playoffs, San Diego drew the Phoenix Roadrunners, the regular season champions, in Round One. The Gulls made a series of it, but Phoenix eliminated them in six games. The Roadrunners would eventually take the WHL Championship in four straight over Salt Lake, the opponent from that night's program.

Cute logo, isn't it? Plenty of black-and-white ads and pictures in this 36-page program. The cover has some color pics. Can't beat the price though, $0.50!

Sources:

San Diego Gulls Statistics: 1972-73, (from hockeydb.com)

Western Hockey League Statistics: 1972-73, (from hockeydb.com)

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Port Huron Hockey: Flags/Wings (1962-81)

Now, on to Port Huron. Port Huron has had a long, yet checkered, history of pro hockey. The most successful franchise, by far, was the Port Huron Flags (also called Wings for a few years) of the IHL. The Flags were, for the most part, a competitve team on the ice, making the Turner Cup Finals seven times and winning the Cup on three occasions. For three years, (1971-74), the franchise was a farm team of the Detroit Red Wings, and sent numerous players on to the NHL in it's existence. However, the team had problems drawing big enough crowds. While the Flags lasted for nearly 20 years, former GM Morris Snider later admitted that the franchise could have folded three years before it actually did, due to declining attendance. I've found some Flags/Wings programs online over the years, and here's what I have. 1963-64 Regular Season--Flags vs. Windsor 1963-64 was the second year of existence for the Flags. After missing the playoffs in their inaugural cam

Flint Generals yearbook (IHL, 1973-74)

I recently bought two yearbooks from the Flint Generals of the IHL. This one is from the 1973-74 season. It's a 40-page book, all in black-and-white, and on glossy paper. Each player for that season has a full page photo and a short bio. The statistics and a team photo for each Generals season are included. Stats for every player that wore the "blue and gold" are listed in the back of the yearbook. Flint Journal sportswriter Len Hoyes added an article previewing the remainder of the 1973-74 campaign. One thing that Hoyes noted in his article was about attendance: "With all of their problems, the Generals were still attracting fans at a rate of 3,950 per game. Attendance was down slightly, but Flint's percentage rate of almost 100 percent remained the envy of minor league hockey." (Hoyes, 1974) The original Generals were a popular team for most of their existence, and attendance only bottomed out when the region's economy tanked

Muskegon Mohawks (IHL, 1965-84)

I know, I said earlier I was going to look at Detroit's minor league teams. That would mean the Vipers would be next, but I decided to cover them later when I had time (I have a TON of programs from that team). Instead, I'm going to look briefly at Muskegon. Muskegon has had a long, colorful past in professional hockey. It all started in 1960 with the expansion Muskegon Zephyrs of the IHL. Five seasons later, 1965-66, the Zephyrs became the Mohawks, and remain so until 1984-85, when they became the Lumberjacks. The Lumberjacks would remain in town through the 1992-93 season. After that season, the franchise would relocate to Cleveland, Ohio. Here are the Mohawks programs I have, along with a couple bonus scans. The Mohawks existed from 1965-84, about 20 seasons, and had two vastly different eras of success. From 1965-76, the Mohawks finished above .500 10 times, winning the Huber Trophy (Regular Season Championship) six times and the Turner Cup (Playoff C

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