Vancouver Blazers

Vancouver Blazers
founding	1st November 1971
resolution	1977
history	Miami Screaming Eagles Foundation Philadelphia Blazers 1972 - 1973 Vancouver Blazers 1973 - 1975 Calgary Cowboys 1975 - 1977
Stadion	Pacific Coliseum
Location	Vancouver , British Columbia
Team colors	yellow & orange
Avco World Trophies	no
Division title	no

The Vancouver Blazers were an ice hockey team from Vancouver , British Columbia that was active in the North American World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1973 to 1975 . The franchise was originally formed in 1972 as Miami Screaming Eagles and played as Philadelphia Blazers in the 1972/73 season . In 1975 the team moved to Calgary and played there as Calgary Cowboys for two years .

history

Jim Pattison bought the Philadelphia Blazers and moved the team to Vancouver in 1973 . Here it was in competition with the Vancouver Canucks from the National Hockey League , which, just like the Blazers, played in the 15,569-seat Pacific Coliseum .

Last year's top scorer, André Lacroix , was able to leave the team as his contract was not valid for a team based in Canada. Patterson wanted to replace him with NHL star Phil Esposito and offered him a contract worth $ 2.5 million. But Esposito refused and continued to play for less money in Boston. In addition to Danny Lawson , who was one of the stars of the team in Philadelphia, Bryan Campbell and Claude St. Sauveur were the other stars of the team. The Blazers attracted almost 10,000 spectators to their stadium in the first year, but after they could not reach the playoffs in the second season in Vancouver, while the Canucks were on the up in the competitive league, the number of spectators sold fell to a good 8,000 seats per game . Pattison decided to move with the team to Calgary after the 1974/75 season .