| Philadelphia Blazers | |
|---|---|
| City | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Home arena | Philadelphia Civic Center |
| Colors | Yellow and burnt orange |
| Franchise history | |
| 1972 | Miami Screaming Eagles |
| 1972–1973 | Philadelphia Blazers |
| 1973–1975 | Vancouver Blazers |
| 1975–1977 | Calgary Cowboys |
The Philadelphia Blazers were an ice hockey franchise in the World Hockey Association (WHA) for the 1972–73 WHA season that was based out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
The franchise was originally intended to be based out of Miami, Florida (to be called the Miami Screaming Eagles), but due to money problems, and a lack of a suitable arena, they never played a game in Miami. The franchise instead moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where it debuted in 1972 as the Philadelphia Blazers. After only one season in Philadelphia, the team relocated to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for the start of the 1973–74 WHA season and became the Vancouver Blazers. Two years later the franchise was again relocated, this time to Calgary, Alberta where they played as the Calgary Cowboys beginning with the 1975–76 WHA season. Two years later, the franchise folded.
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In June 1972, Bernard Brown and James Cooper were granted the rights to the Miami Screaming Eagles along with the players (namely Bernie Parent) that were under contract with the team, from Herb Martin. Brown and Cooper then relocated to Philadelphia and renamed the team the Philadelphia Blazers. Shortly after the relocation to Philadelphia, they came to contract terms with Derek Sanderson, signing him for $2.6 million over 5 years, at the time the highest salary ever paid to a professional sports player. The signing caused a great deal of publicity, but controversy as well, as many hockey pundits asserted that Sanderson was nowhere near enough of a preeminent star to warrant such a payout.
The Blazers had high hopes going into the inaugural WHA season with such stars as Parent, Sanderson, and fellow ex-Bruin John McKenzie, who was named the team's player-coach. But their hopes were soon dashed as McKenzie suffered an injury in a pre-season game and Parent and Sanderson also suffered from injuries. The team's first home game was also a disaster. The Zamboni malfunctioned and took a chunk of ice out of the playing surface, forcing the game to be rescheduled. The team started out with a 1-6 record (after which McKenzie was replaced as coach by Phil Watson). Philadelphia went on to drop a scarcely better 10 of their next 13 games, by which time Parent and McKenzie returned. By that point Sanderson was long gone. After only eight games (scoring three goals and three assists) in Philadelphia and considerable controversy, the owners paid Sanderson one million dollars to void his contract; he promptly returned to the Bruins to finish out the season.
Despite a rough early season, things actually improved for the Blazers towards the end. Ex-Philadelphia Flyer Andre Lacroix led the league in scoring, and ex-Buffalo Sabre Danny Lawson scored 61 goals; they would prove over the years to be two of the WHA's brightest stars, and Lacroix eventually was the league's all-time leading career scorer. Coupled with Bernie Parent's goaltending, the team made the playoffs with a record of 38 wins and 40 losses. However, a discontented Parent left the team during the playoffs and the Blazers were swept in four by the Cleveland Crusaders.
After the season ended, owners Brown and Cooper sold the team to Jim Pattison and he promptly moved the team north of the border to Vancouver, British Columbia. The team was renamed the Vancouver Blazers.
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes
| Season | Team Name | GP | W | L | T | PTS | GF | GA | PIM | Finish | Playoffs |
| 1972–73 | Philadelphia Blazers | 78 | 38 | 40 | 0 | 76 | 288 | 305 | 1260 | 3rd, Eastern | Lost Quarterfinals (Cleveland) |
| 1973–74 | Vancouver Blazers | 78 | 27 | 50 | 1 | 55 | 278 | 345 | 1047 | 5th, Western | Did not qualify |
| 1974–75 | Vancouver Blazers | 78 | 37 | 39 | 2 | 76 | 256 | 270 | 1075 | 4th, Canadian | Did not qualify |
| 1975–76 | Calgary Cowboys | 80 | 41 | 35 | 4 | 86 | 307 | 282 | 1064 | 3rd, Canadian | Won Quarterfinals (Quebec) Lost Semifinals (Winnipeg) |
| 1976–77 | Calgary Cowboys | 81 | 31 | 43 | 7 | 69 | 252 | 296 | 832 | 5th, Western | Did not qualify |
| Franchise totals | 395 | 174 | 207 | 14 | 362 | 1381 | 1498 | 5278 |
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