
Tucson Mavericks
Central Hockey League (1974-1975) Born: 1974 Folded: 1975 First Game: October 10, 1975 (L 6-0 @ Salt Lake Golden Eagles) Last Game: April 4, 1976

Central Hockey League (1974-1975) Born: 1974 Folded: 1975 First Game: October 10, 1975 (L 6-0 @ Salt Lake Golden Eagles) Last Game: April 4, 1976

Central Hockey League (1974-1982) Fort Worth Texans Born: 1974 – Re-branded from Fort Worth Wings Folded: 1982 First Game: October 9, 1974 (L 3-2 @

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.

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.

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.