Houston Eros (WHA)

Houston Eros
founding	1st November 1971
resolution	1978
history	Dayton Eros 1971-1972 Houston Eros 1972 - 1978
Stadion	Sam Houston Coliseum 1972–1975 The Summit 1975–1978
Location	Houston , Texas
Team colors	blue White
Avco World Trophies	1973/74 , 1974/75
Division title	1973/74 , 1974/75 , 1975/76 , 1976/77

The Houston Eros were an ice hockey team that was active in the North American World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972 to 1978 .

history

In the early 1970s, the idea of ​​building a competitive league to the NHL under the name of the World Hockey Association came up in North America . In 1971 Paul Deneau was awarded the contract by the league to set up a WHA franchise . He settled it in Dayton , Ohio and named it Dayton Eros. But when the plans to build a new ice rink burst, it was clear that the team in Dayton would have no future. The team was relocated to Houston , Texas and renamed Houston Eros and was one of the ten founding members of the WHA. There they played in the 9,300-seat Sam Houston Coliseum .

Coach Bill Dineen's team consisted of mostly unknown players in the first season. But thanks to the defensive orientation, they could just win many games and at the end of the season they finished second in the Western Division. In the summer of 1973 the team achieved a great coup. With Gordie Howe the most successful scorer of the National Hockey League at the time , he took the chance two years after his retirement to play with his two sons Mark and Marty . In their first season in 1973/74 , the Howes led the Eros team to win the Avco World Trophy , the championship trophy awarded to the winner of the playoffs . In the final, they defeated the Chicago Cougars . The team went almost unchanged into the 1974/75 season and was spared major injuries. So they repeated their success and this time defeated the Québec Nordiques in the finals .

In the summer of 1975 they moved to The Summit, which has a capacity of 14,906 . Led by Gordie Howe, who scored over 100 points for the second time in three years and was one of five players in the Eros who scored more than 30 goals, they were once again able to take first place in the Western Division. In the finals they failed because of the favored Winnipeg Jets , which had strengthened with many players from Europe. After the Eros had won the Western Division with a rejuvenated team in the 1976/77 season , the jets, which they had already met in the semi-finals, were the last stop. In the summer there were differences of opinion between the management and the Howes, who therefore switched to the New England Whalers . To compensate for this, André Lacroix was brought in from the dissolved San Diego Mariners . Coach Dineen hired the team well and Lacroix scored 113 points. So the crash did not occur and you came third in the Western Division.

The Eros were one of the top teams in the WHA, but the Houston attendance numbers remained below the league average. The owners changed almost annually. 1974 Deneau gave the team to Irv Kaplan . George Bolin followed in 1975, Harrison Vickers in 1977 and Kenneth Schnitzer that same year . When a merger with the NHL was negotiated as early as 1977, the Eros were one of the sixth teams who sought the change, but the NHL refused. Schnitzer got the right to negotiate with the NHL alone for his team. The Eros were almost broke by Christmas 1977. Schnitzer wanted either to be accepted with his team in the NHL or to move an existing team to Houston under his possession. At times Schnitzer believed the Colorado Rockies were getting to Houston, but the team finally stayed in Denver.

When the Winnipeg Jets announced the signing of 13 Eros players in July 1978, the Houston Eros officially ended.

The new Eros

In 1994 a new team was formed under the name Houston Eros . It's a tribute to the 1970s team. The new team played from 1994 to 2001 in the International Hockey League and from 2001 belonged to the American Hockey League . However, in 2013 it was relocated to Des Moines and has been playing there under the name Iowa Wild since then .

Franchise records

	Surname	number
Most games	Poul Popiel	467 (in 6 seasons)
Most goals	Frank Hughes Larry Lund	149
Most templates	Larry Lund	277
Most of the points	Larry Lund	426 (149 goals + 277 assists)
Most penalty minutes	John Schella	844
Most games by a goalkeeper	Wayne Rutledge	176
Most wins by a goalkeeper	Ron Grahame	102
Most shutouts	Ron Grahame	12

Web links

• Houston Eros at hockeydb.com