Phoenix Roadrunners (WHA)
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The Phoenix Roadrunners were a professional
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...
team in the
World Hockey Association The World Hockey Association () was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972–73 WHA season, 1972 to 1978–79 WHA season, 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (N ...
(WHA) from 1974 to
1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...
. They played at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in
Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...
. The organization folded for financial reasons before the remaining teams in the WHA merged with the NHL in 1979. The colors of the team were blue and gold. In 1996 the Winnipeg Jets, a former WHA franchise, moved to Phoenix and became the Phoenix Coyotes (now the
Arizona Coyotes The Arizona Coyotes are an inactive professional ice hockey team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. They competed in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division (1996–1998, 2021–2024) and ...
). In 2016, the Coyotes purchased their AHL affiliate (the
Springfield Falcons The Springfield Falcons were a ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) and played in Springfield, Massachusetts, at the MassMutual Center. In 2016, the Falcons' franchise was purchased by the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Arizona Co ...
), and moved them to Tucson. The Tucson Roadrunners use a logo very similar to the WHA Roadrunners.


History

The franchise originally competed in the
Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior hocke ...
(WHL) from 1967 to 1974 after being moved from
Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Gre ...
, where they had played for the three previous seasons as the Maple Leafs. In 1974, the Roadrunners joined the WHA with their roster mostly intact when the WHL ceased operations. The Roadrunners achieved relative success during their first two WHA seasons, but lack of financial success resulted in the removal of local favorite Sandy Hucul as coach and his replacement with Al Rollins, who was disliked by Phoenix hockey fans. Rollins did not succeed in improving the team's fortunes. At one point, the team was forced to sell players just to pay the bills. The Roadrunners finally gave up and folded at the end of its third season. The last active WHA Roadrunner in major professional hockey was the team's star player, Robbie Ftorek, who retired from the NHL after the 1984–85 season.


Notable players

* Robbie Ftorek – (WHA MVP 1977)


Season-by-season record

''Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes''


See also

* List of Phoenix Roadrunners (WHA) players


External links


Phoenix Roadrunners 1974–1977

Team History at Hockeydb.com
{{WHA Defunct ice hockey teams in the United States Sports in Phoenix, Arizona World Hockey Association teams Ice hockey clubs established in 1974 Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 1977 1974 establishments in Arizona 1977 disestablishments in Arizona Defunct ice hockey teams in Arizona