October 11, 1972, 50 years ago: This was the opening night of the World Hockey Association. The 1st game is played at the Edmonton Gardens, and the Alberta Oilers -- they would switch from the Province's name to the City's the next season -- beat the Ottawa Nationals 7-4. Ron Anderson scores the team's 1st goal.
The Quebec Nordiques, trying to get good publicity, named Montreal Canadiens legend Maurice "the Rocket" Richard as head coach, but they lose their 1st game, 2-0 to the Cleveland Crusaders at the Cleveland Arena. Richard immediately quits, saying he wasn't meant to be a coach. Nords management asks him to stay on long enough to hire a replacement. They win their 2nd game, but the Rocket has had enough, and Maurice Filion is hired.
The Quebec Nordiques, trying to get good publicity, named Montreal Canadiens legend Maurice "the Rocket" Richard as head coach, but they lose their 1st game, 2-0 to the Cleveland Crusaders at the Cleveland Arena. Richard immediately quits, saying he wasn't meant to be a coach. Nords management asks him to stay on long enough to hire a replacement. They win their 2nd game, but the Rocket has had enough, and Maurice Filion is hired.
On October 12, the New York Raiders lost to the Winnipeg Jets, 6-4 at Madison Square Garden; the New England Whalers beat the Philadelphia Blazers, 4-3 at the Boston Garden; the Houston Aeros beat the Chicago Cougars, 3-2 at the Sam Houston Coliseum.
On October 13, the Los Angeles Sharks made their debut, losing 3-2 to Houston at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena; and the Minnesota Fighting Saints made theirs, losing to Winnipeg, 4-3 at the St. Paul Civic Center.
Despite having Bobby Hull, the Jets would lose the inaugural WHA Finals to the Whalers. The Aeros would win the title in 1974 and 1975; the Nordiques in 1977; and the Jets in 1976, 1978 and 1979.
After the 1978-79 season, the Jets, the Nordiques, the Whalers and the Oilers were the only teams financially strong enough to join the NHL. All are still in the League, but only the Oilers are in the same city, following their run of 5 Stanley Cups in 7 years from 1984 to 1990. In 1995, the Nordiques moved to Denver, and became the Colorado Avalanche, winning the Cup in 1996 and 2001.
The Whalers moved around New England for various reasons, before becoming established in Hartford, Connecticut, and changing their name to the Hartford Whalers. But in 1997, not having reached the Finals, they were moved to North Carolina, becoming the Carolina Hurricanes, settling in Raleigh in 1999. They made the Finals in 2002, and won the Cup in 2006.
In 1996, the Jets moved to Phoenix, and are now known as the Arizona Coyotes. To this day, the Jets/Coyotes franchise has never reached the Stanley Cup Finals. In 2011, the Atlanta Thrashers moved to become the new Winnipeg Jets. The Thrashers/Jets franchise hasn't made the Finals, either. So we have the irony of the WHA's most successful franchise being the least successful of the WHA teams that made it into the NHL.
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October 11, 1972 was a Wednesday. I've shown you the WHA scores for the day. Here are the NHL scores:
* The New York Rangers beat the Vancouver Canucks, 5-3 at Madison Square Garden. Rod Gilbert scored 2 goals. The expansion New York Islanders, who debuted 4 days earlier, did not play on this day.
* The Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs, the League's oldest teams and best rivals, played to a tie, 2-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens.
* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Los Angeles Kings, 7-3 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.
* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Boston Bruins, 4-3 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.
* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Atlanta Flames, 4-1 at the Chicago Stadium. An expansion team that year, the Flames moved to Calgary in 1980.
* The Minnesota North Stars beat the California Golden Seals, 5-2 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. (It was built next-door to Metropolitan Stadium. Both would be torn down to make room for wings of the Mall of America.)
* And the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the St. Louis Blues, 5-2 at the St. Louis Arena.
The NBA started a new season on the day, with 3 games:
* The Seattle SuperSonics beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 105-100 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.
* The Boston Celtics beat the Detroit Pistons, 121-108 at Cobo Hall in Detroit. John Havlicek led all scorers with 29, topping the Pistons' Dave Bing and Bob Lanier, who each had 28.
* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Kansas City-Omaha Kings, 129-94 at the Omaha Civic Center. The Kings, who had been the Cincinnati Royals the season before, thus hosted the 1st major league sporting event in the State of Nebraska. Jim McMillan led the Lakers with 23 points. Entering his last season, Wilt Chamberlain scored only 7 in 32 minutes. Nate "Tiny" Archibald led all NBA scorers on the night with 31 points.
The ABA hadn't started their season yet. But baseball's Playoffs were underway:
* The Pittsburgh Pirates, defending World Champions, lead the Cincinnati Reds 3-2 in the bottom of the 9th inning of the deciding Game 5 of the National League Championship Series at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. But Johnny Bench hits a home run off Dave Guisti, over the left-field fence to tie the game‚ over the head of the Pirates' legendary right fielder, Roberto Clemente, who had joined the 3,000 Hit Club just 2 weeks earlier.
The Reds collect 2 more singles, and Bob Moose, who had come in to relieve Guisti, throws a wild pitch, and the Reds win, 4-3. Not since Jack Chesbro in 1904 had a wild pitch decided a Pennant. Not since Johnny Miljus in the 1927 World Series had a wild pitch ended a postseason series. By a weird coincidence, Miljus threw his wild pitch as a Pirate, and Chesbro had also pitched for the Pirates before signing with the Highlanders/Yankees.
The Reds, taking their 2nd Pennant in 3 years, would go on to lose the World Series to the Oakland A's. The Pirates, having won their 3rd straight NL East title but having only 1 Pennant to show for it, would lose something far greater: A plane crash on New Year's Eve would make this game the last one that Clemente would ever play.
The Reds, taking their 2nd Pennant in 3 years, would go on to lose the World Series to the Oakland A's. The Pirates, having won their 3rd straight NL East title but having only 1 Pennant to show for it, would lose something far greater: A plane crash on New Year's Eve would make this game the last one that Clemente would ever play.
Moose, a native of the Pittsburgh suburb of Export, Pennsylvania, a key figure on the Pirates' 1971 World Series winners, would be killed in a car crash in Ohio while still with the team, on October 9, 1976 -- his 29th birthday.
And in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series, at Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Jim "Catfish" Hunter starts for the Oakland Athletics, and gets a home run from Mike Epstein; while Mickey Lolich starts for the Detroit Tigers, and gets a homer from Dick McAuliffe. It went to extra innings, and the A's scored 2 runs in the top of the 10th. But the Tigers scored 3 in the bottom of the 10th, as Jim Northrup loops a single for a 4-3 win.