The Cincinnati Stingers hockey team began life in the upstart World Hockey Association in the winter of 1975-76. Owners Bill DeWitt Jr. and Brian Heekin originally sought to land an NHL expansion club for the Queen City, failed, and then accepted the first expansion franchise awarded by the fledgling WHA as a fallback option in May 1973.
The Memphis Wings hockey team was the first pro sports team to take up residence in Memphis’ newly-constructed 10,000-seat Mid-South Coliseum during the winter of 1964. The Wings were a directly owned farm club of the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings and featured a number of former and future NHL stars, including future Hall of Famers Pat Quinn and Glen Sather.
The Oklahoma City Blazers was the name chosen by two separate minor league hockey franchises in the Central Hockey League of the 1960’s and 1970’s. Because the two teams used the same identity and were separated by only a single year’s lay-off, we’ve elected to consolidate them into a single FWiL entry. The Blazers glory years came during their time as the top farm club of the NHL’s Boston Bruins from 1965 to 1971
The St. Louis Braves were an owned and operated farm club of the National Hockey League’s Chicago Black Hawks from 1963 until 1967. Chicago-based Hawks owners Arthur Wirtz and James D. Norris owned the St. Louis Arena during this era in addition to the Braves hockey club. The Braves were displaced by the arrival of the National Hockey League’s St. Louis Blues in 1967.
The Denver Spurs started in the Western Hockey League in 1968. When that circuit folded, they joined the Central Hockey League in 1974. The following year, they joined the World Hockey Association, but moved to Ottawa halfway through the season.
