Seattle Totems
| Seattle Totems | |
|---|---|
| City | Seattle, Washington |
| League | Western Hockey League |
| Operated | 1945 to 1975 |
| Colors | Green, blue, and silver |
The Seattle Totems were a professional ice hockey franchise in Seattle, Washington. They were a member of various minor professional and semi-professional leagues (and under several names) between 1945 and 1975. They played their home games in the Mercer Arena and later at the Seattle Center Coliseum. On January 5, 1974, the Totems became the first American based hockey team to play the Soviet National Team.[1]
History (1945-75)
After World War II, the Pacific Coast Hockey League, a major professional league on the west coast in the teens and 1920s, was resurrected as a semi-professional loop. Seattle, as a strong hockey town and notable for being the first city outside of Canada to host a Stanley Cup champion in 1917, was granted a franchise, the Seattle Ironmen. The Ironmen had modest success, finishing in first place in the league in 1948, while the league itself became fully professional in 1949. Its most notable stars were Gordon Kerr, the team's leading scorer in those years with 235 points in 244 games, William Robinson, Eddie Dartnell and Joe Bell. Among other notables for the team were future NHL star goaltender Al Rollins and legendary Philadelphia Flyers coach Fred Shero.
In 1952, the league changed its name to the Western Hockey League, and the Ironmen themselves changed their name to the Seattle Bombers the following season. The team continued to play poorly for two seasons, and the only bright spot was the debut for Seattle of the greatest minor league scorer of all time, Guyle Fielder. After two seasons of increasing travel costs—for which the Bombers received aid from the league—Seattle suspended operations for the 1955 season.
The team rejoined the WHL as the Americans the following season, finishing in first place in 1957 led by a tremendous season by Fielder, who broke the professional single season scoring record with 122 points en route to Most Valuable Player honors and the first of four straight scoring championships for Seattle. Among other notables for the Americans were Val Fonteyne, notable as the least penalized player of all time, future Vezina winner Charlie Hodge, and future National Hockey League general managers Emile Francis and Keith Allen. The team's final season as the Americans, in 1958, saw the first time the franchise would win a playoff series.
The Americans were renamed the Seattle Totems for the 1958-59 season, the name by which it would go for the rest of its existence. Fielder and Filion remained the team's great stars, but like many other WHL teams the Totems had very stable rosters, and players such as Marc Boileau, Gerry Leonard, Bill MacFarland, Jim Powers, Gordie Sinclair and future NHL coach and general manager Tom McVie spent many seasons each in Seattle colors. Allen was the team's coach its first seven seasons as the Totems, guiding the team to a first place finish in 1959 and to the playoffs six out of the seven years of his tenure.
Abortive NHL franchise
On June 12, 1974, the NHL announced that a Seattle group headed by Vince Abbey had been awarded an expansion team to begin play in the 1976-77 season. A $180,000 deposit was due by the end of 1975 and the total franchise fee was $6 million -- plus, Abbey had to repurchase the shares in the Totems held by the Vancouver Canucks, who were using the minor-league Totems as a farm club. The expansion announcement also included a franchise for Denver, and with the loss of two more of its major markets, the WHL announced on the same day that it was folding. The Totems joined the Central Hockey League for 1974-75.
After missing a number of deadlines while scrambling to secure financing, the NHL threatened to pull the franchise as there were a number of other suitors in the wings. Abbey allegedly passed on an opportunity to purchase a WHA team for $2 million during this period, and he missed an opportunity to acquire an existing franchise when the Pittsburgh Penguins were sold in a bankruptcy auction for $4.4 million in June 1975.
The Totems folded following the 1974-75 CHL season, and that summer the NHL pulled the expansion franchise from Seattle as well, leaving the city without hockey for the first time in two decades. Abbey filed suit against the NHL and the Canucks for anti-trust violations that he alleged prevented him from acquiring a team; it was finally settled in favor of the NHL in 1986.[1]
Season-by-season results (1958-75)
Season G W L T Pts Pct GF GA 1958-59 70 40 27 3 83 0.593 277 225 1959-60 70 38 28 4 80 0.571 270 219 1960-61 70 37 28 5 79 0.564 262 222 1961-62 70 36 29 5 77 0.550 244 222 1962-63 70 35 33 2 72 0.514 239 237 1963-64 70 29 35 6 64 0.457 247 228 1964-65 70 36 30 4 76 0.543 204 198 1965-66 72 32 37 3 67 0.465 231 256 1966-67 72 39 26 7 85 0.590 228 195 1967-68 72 35 30 7 77 0.535 207 199 1968-69 74 33 30 11 77 0.520 236 238 1969-70 73 30 35 8 68 0.466 240 260 1970-71 72 27 36 9 63 0.438 223 260 1971-72 72 12 53 7 31 0.215 175 331 1972-73 72 26 32 14 66 0.458 270 286 1973-74 78 32 42 4 68 0.436 288 319 1974-75 78 29 38 11 69 0.442 258 296
See also
- Seattle Totems (NPHL) - current team in the Northern Pacific Hockey League.
References
- ^ Hockey’s Book of Firsts, p.60, James Duplacey, JG Press, ISBN 978-1-57215-037-9