Port Huron Flags (IHL, 1976-77)

 

1976-77 Regular Season:
Flags vs. Saginaw Gears

     The Port Huron Flags were in their fifteenth season of operation in the International Hockey League in 1976-77. The team was coming off a surprise run to the 1976 Turner Cup Finals, where they lost to the Dayton Gems in four straight. Former Flag Bob McCammon returned as head coach, while Morris Snider was back as general manager. The Flags were a secondary affiliate of the New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues. 

     1976-77 was a big step backward for the team, both on and off the ice. The Flags slumped to a 27-43-8 record, dead last in the league. Their 62 points were nine points back of the next-worst team, the Columbus Owls. Off the ice, the Flags lost $150,000 on the season, putting the franchise's future in jeopardy.

      Port Huron scored the fewest goals in the IHL in 1977, with just 268. The team's leading scorer was Larry Gould, with 35 goals and 106 points. The Flags had two 40-goal scorers that year. Second-year center Bud Stefanski had a career year, scoring 49 goals and 103 points in 77 games. Longtime Flag/Wing Len Fontaine scored 42 goals and 79 points in 61 games in his final season in Port Huron. Mike McDougal (25) and Len Chalmers (27) were the only other players to score over 20 goals for the Flags. 

     The Flags were just as bad on defense, surrendering a league-worst 328 goals. McCammon used four different goaltenders that season. The main netminder was former Columbus Owl Rocky Menard, who had a 3.74 GAA and two shutouts in 55 games. His main backup was Bernie Germain, who played the previous season in Flint. Germain (who also played with the NAHL's Beauce Jaros) played 23 games with the Flags in 1977, with a 4.67 GAA and one shutout in his final season. Tom Mohr, acquired from the Saginaw Gears late in the season, played 5 games with a 3.73 GAA, while Mike Ralph also saw action. The leading scorer on defense was 21-year old Mike Boland. Boland scored 7 goals and 44 points in 66 games, good enough for sixth place on team scoring.

     Port Huron had the fourth-most penalty minutes in the IHL, racking up 1,615 on the year. Boland led the team with 306 penalty minutes, a career high. Defenseman Frank Bathe was next with 250 PIM in 71 games and Reid Bailey had 148 in 72 games. Jim Gustafson (136), Doug Mahood (122) and John White (100) were the other players with 100 or more penalty minutes. 

     The Flags were the lone team mathematically eliminated from the postseason that year. The Saginaw Gears would go on to win the Turner Cup, defeating the Toledo Goaldiggers in seven games. 

     This is the largest Flags program I have seen so far. Including the GOAL insert (which I've never seen in a Flags program before), it's 96 pages long. The GOAL section is in color, while the Flags program is in black-and-white. GOAL includes an interview with future NHL President John Ziegler, an article about musician Charley McCoy, and an article called "Three The Hard Way", which was about three NHL players (Chico Resch, Ken Dryden, Curt Bennett), who made it to the NHL by way of college hockey. There's also an article about the Watson brothers (Joe and Jimmy) from the Philadelphia Flyers. As for the Flags portion, it has the usual hockey program stuff--stats, ads, a scorecard, and a team photo from the 1975-76 season. A notable member of the Flags is publicity director/radio announcer Mike "Doc" Emrick. Yes, that Mike Emrick, the longtime NHL announcer got his pro hockey start in Port Huron. He still lives in the Port Huron area.

     This is from the March 19, 1977, game between the Flags and Saginaw Gears. Saginaw would finish
in first place in the IHL with a 40-27-11 record, 29 points ahead of the last-place Flags. This is the roster for the Gears that night. Goaltender Mario Lessard would eventually make it to the NHL, playing six seasons for the Los Angeles Kings. This was Mario's final season with the Gears, as he would be called up to the AHL's Springfield Indians in 1977-78. Defenseman Greg Hotham is another Gears player who would go on to the NHL, playing seven seasons with Toronto and Pittsburgh. Center Paul Evans played parts of three seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers. Stu Irving was a member of the silver medal-winning 1972 US Hockey team, and also served his country during the Vietnam War. The top player on the Gears was Dennis Desrosiers, who was the first player signed by the team in 1972 and was a former 60-goal scorer. "Rosey" would later coach the Flint Generals, Saginaw Generals/Hawks, Saginaw Wheels and Saginaw Spirit. After retiring, Dave Westner was manager of the Saginaw/Bay Ice Arena for years. Center Marcel Comeau played for the entire 11-year history of the Gears franchise, serving as captain, coach and general manager at one point. Head Coach Don Perry would coach the LA Kings for parts of three years, leading the Kings to the "Miracle on Manchester" win over Edmonton in 1981-82. 

     Here's the Flags roster for that night. Len Fontaine played in Port Huron for seven seasons, winning two Turner Cups in 1971 and 1972. He would be traded to Toledo in 1977 and would help the Goaldiggers win the 1978 Turner Cup over, of all teams, the Flags, in seven games. Fontaine also played briefly for the Detroit Red Wings and the WHA's Michigan Stags. Doug Mahood was part of the 1974-75 "Miracle on Main Street" Toledo Goaldiggers that won the Turner Cup in their first year. He was part of the infamous "Murder Inc." line with Paul Tantardini and Willie Trognitz. This was Mahood's final season in hockey, and he racked up 122 PIM in just 12 games with Port Huron. Forward Bill Watt played college hockey at Michigan State and played virtually his entire pro career in Port Huron (except for 15 games with the NAHL's Long Island Ducks in 1972-73). Head Coach Bob McCammon played 10 years with the Flags, then took over as head coach in 1973-74. He would eventually coach in Philadelphia and Vancouver for eight seasons. Morris Snider was not only the General Manager of the Flags, but also the GM of McMorran Place, a position that he would hold through 1996. Snider received no extra pay for running the Flags, a position he held for 10 seasons. 

 

     Local advertisements include WHLS 1450 AM, the Brass Rail Bar, Sperry's Department Store, Dawn Donuts, Mortimer & Son Lumber Co., Cawood Auto, and London's Dairy. 

Aftermath: Local businessmen, led by former Flags owner John Wismer, donated $50,000 to ensure the Flags would return for the 1977-78 season. Snider warned that this would be a "one-time deal". While the team would never miss the playoffs again, the financial losses would continue to increase, reaching a high of $250,000 in the team's final season, 1980-81.