Chicago Cougars

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Chicago Cougars
founding 1st November 1971
resolution 1975
history Chicago Cougars
1972 - 1975
Stadion International amphitheater
Location Chicago , Illinois
Team colors Dark green, gold
Avco World Trophies no
Division title no

The Chicago Cougars were an ice hockey team that was active in the North American World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1971 to 1975 .

history

The Cougars were a founding member of the WHA, but by the time the league started playing, brothers Jordan and William Kaiser, who made their living in real estate, were the third owners of the franchise . Due to these turbulent events in the club, in the summer of 1972, just a few months before the start of the season, there was only one player under contract with Bob Kelly . Realizing this, Kelly changed his mind and terminated his contract to continue playing in the National Hockey League . The 9,000-seat International Amphitheater served as the stadium .

The squad for the first season 1972/73 consisted mainly of players who had previously played in lower-class teams. From the NHL came only Rosaire Paiement , who had previously shown attractive performances at the Vancouver Canucks , and Reg Fleming, with whom you could lose a familiar face from local rivals, the Chicago Black Hawks . But in the first season the Cougars were the weakest team in the league. One of the bright spots in the team was Bob Sicinski , who was the best scorer with 88 points. Goalie Jimmy McLeod had a decent season while his backup disappointed André Gill , losing 24 of his 28 games.

The following summer, the Cougars tried to strengthen their team and were able to win two stars for the 1973/74 season from the Black Hawks with Pat Stapleton and Ralph Backstrom . Stapleton acted as player-coach. The season was more successful, and you could defeat the Québec Nordiques in the fight for fourth playoff place in the Eastern Division. In terms of sport, the playoffs were a complete success. The team prevailed against both the Toronto Toros and the New England Whalers in seven games. In the finals, however, the rested Houston Eros were superior and won all four games.

However, they were extremely unhappy about the stadium situation. Even the International Amphitheater was not the home that the cougars wanted. Rodeos and animal shows were usually held here. But during the playoffs you could not even play here because the hall was rented for a Peter Pan performance, but had to move to Mount Prospect to the Randhurst Twin Ice Arena , located in a shopping center , which only had a 3,000 spectator.

At the beginning of the 1974/75 season there was no concern about the sporting field. Here you could prevail in the campaign for the top draft pick Gary MacGregor against the Montréal Canadiens . MacGregor thanked it with 44 goals. In addition, the goalkeeper Dave Dryden of the Buffalo Sabers was brought in from the NHL . The finances were more of a concern here and the owners, the Kaiser brothers, wanted to get rid of the team. After not finding a buyer, three players, Pat Stapleton, Ralph Backstrom and Dave Dryden, were ready to buy the club from them. However, after the Kaisers were able to keep the money for the annual tickets, they made the better cut in this business. The team missed the playoff participation and also the hope of a new stadium, the Rosemont Horizon , which should be completed until 1980, fell through. The three players who now owned the team made a significant loss and stopped playing shortly after the season ended.

There was no official successor to the Cougars, but many of the players moved from Chicago to the new Denver Spurs team , which became the Ottawa Civics in the course of the coming season and which broke up after their only season.

Club records