Western Hockey League (1967-1974)
World Hockey Association (1974-1977)
Central Hockey League (1977)
Pacific Hockey League (1977-1979)
Tombstone
Born: May 16, 1967 – The Victoria Maple Leafs relocate to Phoenix, AZ1Boatner, Verne. “Phoenix Gets WHL Hockey Franchise”. The Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ). May 17, 1967
Folded (WHA Franchise): April 1977
Re-Born: June 9, 1977 – Central Hockey League expansion franchise2Gianelli, Frank. “Beep, beep…Birds are back”. The Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ). June 10, 1977
Folded (Again): June 22, 19793Martinez, Rick. “Roadrunners to suspend operations for 1 year”. The Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ). June 23, 1979
Lester Patrick Cup Champions (WHL): 1973 & 1974
AVCO Cup Championships (WHA): None
Adams Cup Championships (CHL): None
Arena
Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum(12,600)41975-76 World Hockey Association Media Guide
Opened: 1965
Marketing
Team Colors:
Ownership
Owners:
- 1967-1977: Karl Eller, et al.
- 1977-1979: Mike Skerlak
Trophy Case
World Hockey Association Most Valuable Player
- 1976-77: Robbie Ftorek
World Hockey Association Coach of the Year
- 1974-75: Sandy Hucul
Our Favorite Stuff
Phoenix Roadrunners
WHA Replica Jersey
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Heavyweight sewn tackle twill
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Background
Phoenix’s first – and greatest – edition of the Roadrunners hockey team arrived in town in the spring of 1967, transplanted from Victoria, British Columbia. The Roadrunners initially were members of the Western Hockey League, a fine minor league circuit whose membership in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s stretched from Seattle and Portland in the Pacific Northwest down through the Mountain West states and into southern California and Arizona. The Roadrunners would win the final two Lester Patrick Cups as champions of the WHL in 1973 and 1974.
The steady westward expansion of the National Hockey League (NHL) and its rivalry with the upstart World Hockey Association (WHA) for players and expansion markets led to the demise of the WHL in the spring of 1974. The owners of the WHL’s Denver Spurs and Seattle Totems franchises sought and received NHL expansion franchises, though their both of their bids would collapse in embarrassing fashion before either team ever took the ice in the senior circuit. Phoenix’s owners, coming off back-to-back Western League titles, accepted an invitation to leap up into the Majors with the WHA for the 1974-75 season.
Into The WHA
The Roadrunners entered the WHA under the leadership of head coach Sandy Hucul, an original Roadrunners player who arrived with the franchise from Victoria in 1967. In 1972, Hucul retired at age 38 after playing 18 seasons in the Western League without making it to the NHL. He promptly assumed the Roadrunners’ coaching reigns and took the team to its Lester Patrick Cup titles in 1973 and 1974.
The Roadrunners initially found success in the WHA under Hucul as well, posting winning records and advancing to the playoffs in 1974-75 and again in 1975-76. Phoenix kept a core of players from its superb Western League clubs of the early 1970’s, including Jim Boyd, Michel Cormier, Murray Keogan, Bob Mowat and Howie Young.
This group was supplemented by newly arrived young snipers Dennis Sobchuk and Robbie Ftorek for the 1974-75 season. After leading the Roadrunners in scoring as a 20-year old in 1974-75, Sobchuk would leave town after just one season. But Ftorek would emerge as the Roadrunner’s top offensive threat of the WHA era. During the 1976-77 season, the 25-year old Massachusetts native would score 117 points and become the first American-born player to win the Most Valuable Player award in a major professional league.
Beyond Ftorek’s heroics, however, the 1976-77 campaign was a grim one. Hucul’s contract was not renewed prior to the season. After losing $5 million over the team’s first two seasons in the WHA, owner Karl Eller instituted major budget cuts. After two winning WHA campaigns under Hucul, the Roadrunners fell to last place in the six-team Western Division with a 28-48-4 mark under Al Rollins. On April Fool’s Day 1977, with two games left on the home schedule, Eller announced that the Roadrunners would go out of business after the season ended.
Attack of the Clones
After the original Western League/WHA Roadrunners closed up shop in April 1977, the Roadrunners branded was re-booted by minor league clubs three times over the decades that followed.
We’re going to include the first re-boot here in this entry because it happened almost immediately and it featured a number of Roadrunners veterans from Western League and WHA days. This included Sandy Hucul, who returned to coach the team its newest incarnation, as an expansion team for the 1977-78 Central Hockey League (CHL)season.
Minor league hockey was on the rocks in the late 1970’s and the “new” Roadrunners experience in the bush leagues was a rough one. The team abandoned the NHL-affiliated CHL after just 27 games to make an abrupt midseason jump to a start-up independent circuit, the Pacific Hockey League (PHL). The PHL proved to be a shabby enterprise and the Roadrunners folded along with the rest of that league in the spring of 1979.
In 1989, a third version of the Roadrunners joined the International Hockey League (IHL). By this point, every member of the Western League/WHA Roadrunners was long since retired from playing professional hockey. The IHL Roadrunners played from 1989 to 1997.
The most recent revival of the Roadrunners came in 2005. The 21st century Roadrunners joined the ECHL and seemed to have potential. Phoenix Suns NBA owner Robert Sarver backed the ECHL club financially and, for a brief period, the team held an affiliation with the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes. But this edition of the Roadrunners closed for business after four seasons in 2009.
Phoenix Roadrunners Shop
Our Favorite Stuff
Phoenix Roadrunners
Logo T-Shirt
An all-time classic hockey logo that just won’t die! The Roadrunners’ Western League/WHA logo of the 1970’s has been re-purposed countless time over the past half century by teams in Phoenix and beyond. In 2004, the name and logo was even adopted by the Toronto Roadrunners (!) of the American Hockey League.
This design is also available today as a Crewneck Sweatshirt from our friends at Cincinnati’s Old School Shirts!
When you make a purchase through an affiliate link like this one, Fun While It Lasted earns a commission at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!
Links
World Hockey Association Programs
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