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Toledo Goaldiggers (IHL, 1985-86)

1985-86 Regular Season:
Goaldiggers vs. Kalamazoo Wings
Goaldiggers vs. Indianapolis Checkers
     Since their inception in 1974, the Toledo Goaldiggers had been one of the top teams in the International Hockey League. The Diggers reached the Turner Cup Finals six times in their 12 years of existence, bringing home four Cups in the process. During their first several seasons, the team was very popular on the ice as well, often playing to jam-packed crowds at the ancient Toledo Sports Arena.
     By the mid-1980s, the franchise was in decline. Attendance had fallen by more than half, even with the powerhouse teams in 1981-84. The franchise nearly went out of business twice, only to be rescued by new investors in time for the next season.
     1985-86 was a difficult season for the Goaldiggers. Toledo was coming off a dismal 1984-85 season, which saw the team drop to last place in the Eastern Division with a 32-42-8 record, losing in the first round to Muskegon. Ted Garvin, the popular head coach during the team's glory days in the 1970s, returned at midseason to steer the team to the playoffs, but was let go after failing to come to a contract for 1986. Toledo went with former Montreal Canadien Peter Mahovlich as player/coach for 1985-86, and the Diggers dropped to a miserable 24-48-10 record. Toledo's measly 58 points only escaped the IHL's cellar due to the total ineptitude of the expansion Flint Spirits (16-60-6). The Goaldiggers were 30 points back of the last playoff spot, held by Indianapolis.
     Mahovlich, a four-time Stanley Cup champion in Montreal, did not have much to work with on both sides of the puck. Toledo's 293 goals were second-worst in the IHL that season. Guy Benoit was the leading scorer on the team (despite being traded at the deadline to Muskegon), with 40 goals and 86 points. Two of the team's top three scorers were on the blueline. Dave Falkenberg, a holdover from Toledo's powerhouse teams in the early 1980s, h had 32 goals and 83 points in his final season. Don Waddell, who won the 1981 Turner Cup in Saginaw and came over from Flint in 1984-85, pumped in 19 goals and 69 points. Three other Diggers managed to score over 20 goals, but only one, center Chris McSorley, played the entire season in Toledo.
    The best way to describe the Diggers' defense that year is: sieve. Toledo surrendered a whopping 421 goals, second only to Flint. The team used seven different goaltenders during the season, but the two main netminders were John Franzosa and Mario Proulx. Rookie Franzosa played in 36 games between the Goaldigger pipes, posting a 13-19-0 record and a 4.75 GAA. Proulx, in his second and final season in pro hockey, played 22 games, with an ugly 4-13-0 record and 4.90 GAA, though he did get the only shutout for Toledo netminders. A notable netminder for this forgettable season is Glenn Healy. Healy, who went on to a long NHL career, was a rookie fresh out of Western Michigan when he played 7 games in Toledo in 1985-86. 
     I actually have two programs from this season, and both used the design I posted (which is the same as the previous year's program). Both programs are 40 pages, mostly in black and white. There are no articles, which is strange for your typical sports program. The insert includes "Digger Bingo", which you cross off the number of a player who scores a goal (or a goalie who gets an assist). According to one sheet, Toledo defeated Indianapolis, 7-5, in one of the programs. No idea who won the Toledo-Kalamazoo game. The league directory is located on page 29. The Salt Lake Golden Eagles were in their second season in the IHL that year, and the directory gives you directions to the arena from the airport. In other words: DO NOT DRIVE. One of the color pages is page 2, which features a full-page pic of Digger Duck, the team's mascot, who was available for personal appearances. Local advertisements include Toledo 11 News, Ohio Citizens Bank, Gross Automotive, The Toledo Blade, Conrad's Car Wash and Rax Restaurants.  

BONUS: Even though 1985-86 was a pretty awful season for the Toledo Goaldiggers, there are two full Diggers games from that season on YouTube. Here's a game between the Diggers and Kalamazoo Wings. It's not the one one of my programs is from, but earlier in the year. Note Toledo's much more subdued jerseys. The stick and puck logo was moved to the shoulder while the "GOALDIGGERS" script and player logo was moved to the crest. This was the only season these jerseys were worn.


Aftermath: 1985-86 was the last hurrah for the Toledo Goaldiggers. The franchise was bleeding buckets financially by that point, with small crowds coming to the ancient Toledo Sports Arena. The team suspended operations after the season, bringing an end to Toledo's 38-year run in the IHL. The Goaldiggers' franchise rights would be purchased in 1990 and shifted to Kansas City, Missouri, to become the Kansas City Blades. Toledo would join the ECHL with the expansion Storm in 1991. The Toledo Sports Arena, declared obsolete in 1978 by Ted Garvin, would last 29 more seasons before finally being replaced by the Huntington Center in 2009. 

References:

International Hockey League Regular Season Statistics: 1985-86, from hockeydb.com

 

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