Fort Worth Texans
May 12, 2020
Central Hockey League (1974-1982) Born: 1974 – Re-branded from Fort Worth Wings Folded: 1982 First Game: October 9, 1974 (L 3-2 @ Denver Spurs) Last
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Category: Central Hockey League 1963
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Houston Apollos (1965-1969)
January 23, 2020
The original Houston Apollos hockey team was a minor league farm club of the Montreal Canadiens during the late 1960’s. The Apollos, who skated at the Sam Houston Coliseum, were members of the Central Hockey League, playing teams from across the deep south and the lower great plains states. Though the team lasted only four seasons, the Apollos helped to develop four future Hockey Hall of Famers: Tony Esposito, Pat Quinn, Serge Savard & Rogie Vachon. A re-booted version of the Apollos returned to the CHL from 1979 to 1981.
Montana Magic
March 27, 2019
The Montana Magic were a Billings-based minor league hockey venture that struggled through a single season at the Yellowstone Metra before collapsing along with the rest of the Central Hockey League (CHL) in May 1984. The Magic held a partial affiliation with the NHL’s St. Louis Blues and filled the rest of their roster with independent free agents. The free agents included former NHL stars Reggie Leach, who famously scored 80 goals for the Philadelphia Flyers in 1975-76, and former New York Rangers star Don Murdoch, whose career was derailed by substance abuse.
Birmingham South Stars
January 30, 2019
The doomed Birmingham South Stars were the third attempt to establish pro hockey at Alabama’s 16,000-seat Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center, opened in 1976. The South Stars of the Central Hockey League (CHL) followed the original Birmingham Bulls (1976-1979) of the major World Hockey Association and a later minor league edition of the Bulls that played in the CHL from 1979 to 1981. The South Stars were a farm club of the NHL’s Minnesota North Stars and shared their parent club’s green & gold colors.
Houston Apollos (1979-1981)
December 5, 2018
The 1979-1981 Houston Apollos were a doomed minor league hockey entry in the Central Hockey League (CHL). The name was a tribute a previous CHL club named the Apollos that played from 1965 to 1969 as a Montreal Canadiens farm team. Both the versions of the Apollos played in the old Sam Houston Coliseum. The “new” Apollos folded in the middle of their second season in January 1981.