Seattle Totems

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See also: Seattle Totems (NPHL)
Seattle Totems
City: Seattle, Washington
League: Western Hockey League

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 Seattle Civic Ice Arena and later at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

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[edit] History

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.

[edit] Season-by-season results

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

[edit] See also

[edit] External links