Toronto Toros

Toronto Toros
founding	November 21, 1971
resolution	1979
history	Ottawa Nationals 1972 - 1973 Toronto Toros 1973 - 1976 Birmingham Bulls 1976 - 1979
Stadion	Varsity Arena Maple Leaf Gardens
Location	Toronto , Ontario
Team colors	red, white & blue
Avco World Trophies	no
Division title	no

The Toronto Toros were an ice hockey team from Toronto , Ontario that was active in the North American World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1973 to 1976 . The franchise was originally based in Ottawa and was named Ottawa Nationals . The team then moved to Birmingham in the US state of Alabama and played there as the Birmingham Bulls .

history

After the previous team, the Ottawa Nationals, had played the pre-season playoffs in Toronto and received a better audience there than in Ottawa, the team had moved to Toronto for the 1973/74 season and played there as the Toronto Toros. The new owner was John F. Bassett .

One would have liked to have played in the CNE Coliseum , which held about 10,000 spectators, but the owner Bill Ballard , son of Harold Ballard , who owned both the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Maple Leaf Gardens , knew how to prevent this. In the first season, the team played in the Varsity Arena , which only had a capacity of 4,860 spectators. An average attendance of 4,291 showed that the stadium was too small. The team's star was Wayne Carleton , who came to Toronto with the Nationals.

In the 1974/75 season , the team moved to the Maple Leaf Gardens and increased the average attendance there to an impressive 10,436. This was also ensured by spectacular new signings such as that of the Czechoslovak Václav Nedomanský , Paul Henderson , the hero of the Summit Series 1972 , and above all of Frank Mahovlich , a former star of the Maple Leafs. The team reached the playoffs, but failed there because of the San Diego Mariners in the first round. Although the stars were all held, a disastrous 1975/76 season followed in which they were the weakest team in the league with only 53 points. Even the Minnesota Fighting Saints , who stopped playing 22 game days before the end of the season, had collected significantly more points. February, in which seven of the twelve games played on home ice, brought eleven defeats. The average attendance had fallen to 8,983. John F. Bassett pulled the rip cord and relocated his team to Birmingham , Alabama , where they played as the Birmingham Bulls with the same logo and jerseys .