Western Hockey League (1958-1974)
Central Hockey League (1974-1975)
Tombstone
Born: 1958 – The Seattle Americans are re-branded as the Seattle Totems
Folded: Postseason 1975
First Game: October 11, 1958 (L 5-4 @ Spokane Spokes)
Last Game: April 2, 1975 (T 5-5 @ Omaha Knights)
Lester Patrick Cup Champions (WHL): 1959, 1967 & 1968
Adams Cup Championships (CHL): None
Arenas
1958-1964: Seattle Center Arena
Opened: 1927
Demolished: 2017
1964-1975: Seattle Center Coliseum (12,300)
Opened: 1962
Marketing
Team Colors:
Ownership
Owners:
- ????-1972: Vince Abbey & Dr. Eldred Barnes
- 1972-1974: Vancouver Canucks, Vince Abbey, Dr. Eldred Barnes
Totems Tees
Seattle Totems
Logo T-Shirt
The Totems, Seattle’s popular minor league hockey club of the 1960’s and early 70’s came this close to joining the NHL. In 1974, Seattle’s owners were offered a conditional expansion franchise for the 1976-77 season. But NHL officials grew nervous over Seattle’s prospects and revoked the offer the following. Seattle would have to wait nearly 50 more years for the arrival of the NHL in 2021.
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Background
This popular minor league hockey club drew big crowds in Seattle during their 1960’s heyday. The Seattle Totems won three Lester Patrick Cups as champions of the Western Hockey League between 1959 and 1968, including back-to-back titles in 1967 and 1968.
The Totems’ glory years coincided the playing days of minor league legend Guyle Fielder. Fielder spent 16 seasons in Seattle, playing for all three of the city’s Western League clubs, the Bombers, Americans and Totems. The diminutive center led the WHL in scoring nine times and won six league MVP awards.
Incredibly, the NHL had no use for Fielder. He played just 15 NHL games in his career and never recorded a point in the senior circuit. By the time the NHL expanded beyond six teams in 1967 and began raiding the minor leagues for talent, Fielder was 36 years old and past his prime. He played another six seasons and retired as the minor leagues’ all-time record holder for games played with 1,487 and as the all-time leading scorer for all of professional hockey.
The Totems imploded on and off the ice at the end of the 1960’s. Fielder, the heart and soul of Seattle hockey for 16 winters, retired at the end of the 1968-69 season. (He would soon un-retire and skate four more WHL seasons for Salt Lake and Portland). 1968-69 season would be the Totems’ last winning campaign.
Vancouver Canucks Partnership
The 1971-72 Totems were the worst team in the history of the Western League, losing a league record 53 games (12-53-7). Owners Vince Abbey and Eldred Barnes ran out of money and were forced to sell controlling interest in the club to the their long-time WHL rivals, the Vancouver Canucks, who had joined in the NHL in 1970. The Totems became a Canucks farm club. Abbey and Barnes remained as minority shareholders in the club. They held out hope that the NHL might yet offer the Totems a chance to join, as they had to former WHL cities Los Angeles, Oakland and Vancouver. A provision of the Canucks deal allowed Abbey and Barnes to buy back their shares from the Canucks if the NHL were to offer an expansion franchise in the future.
The Totems completed two more WHL seasons under the financial protection of the Vancouver Canucks. Then, on June 12, 1974 the National Hockey League awarded conditional expansion franchises for the 1976-77 season to two Western League cities, Denver and Seattle. Long-time Totems owners Vince Abbey and Eldred Barnes controlled the Seattle bid. Ivan Mullenix, owner of the WHL’s Denver Spurs club held Colorado’s chip.
NHL Expansion Bid
The NHL’s move into Denver and Seattle spelled the doom of the Western Hockey League. The league folded after 22 seasons in June 1974. San Diego also tried to get into the NHL and was rejected. The Phoenix Roadrunners jumped to the NHL’s rival, the World Hockey Association. The Totems, in need of a temporary home until their NHL debut in 1976, jumped to the Central Hockey League along with another WHL refugee, the Salt Lake Golden Eagles.
Abbey and Barnes hustled to line up financing and meet the NHL’s financial deadlines. The pair needed to line up funds both to re-purchase their Totems interest from the Vancouver Canucks and to place a down payment on the NHL’s $6 million expansion fee. Meanwhile, the minor league Totems continued to hemorrhage money during a last place season in the Central League in the winter of 1974-75.
The NHL lost confidence in both the Denver and Seattle bids and rescinded them in 1975. The minor league Totems folded that same year. Vince Abbey and Eldred Barnes filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the National Hockey League that dragged out for another decade. They lost the case in 1986.
As of 2018, Guyle Fielder remains the fourth all-time leading scorer in pro hockey history, trailing only Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe and Jaromir Jagr.
Seattle Totems Shop
Our Favorite Gear
Seattle Totems Replica Jersey
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Editor's Pick
ICE WARRIORS
The Pacific Coast/Western Hockey League 1948-1974
By Jon C. Stott
Between 1948 and 1974, more than 2,500 minor-league professional hockey players skated across the Pacific Northwest states and western Canada as part of the 23 teams that made up the Western Hockey League (known as the Pacific Coast Hockey League before 1952). Some of the young players went on to enjoy careers in the National Hockey League; others were former NHLers willing to extend their careers by returning to the minors. Many of the most colorful, however, were minor-league “lifers” who simply had hockey in their blood and built their reputations in the WHL and other minor pro leagues.Ice Warriors traces the WHL’s origins, rise and fall, and includes interviews with players, coaches and fans as well as statistical records and pictures from the era.
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In Memoriam
Defenseman John Hanna (1968-1972) passed away on November 20, 2005 at age 70.
Links
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