The San Diego Mariners 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 based in
San Diego
San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
, California, that competed 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). The team played its home games at the
San Diego Sports Arena
Pechanga Arena is an indoor arena in San Diego, California. Opened in 1966, it is an example of New Formalism architecture and has been designated by the City of San Diego as a historic resource. The arena has been home to numerous athletic team ...
.
Previous to being in San Diego, the team was known as the
New York Raiders,
New York Golden Blades, and the
Jersey Knights. After folding in 1977, San Diego Mariners' name was adopted by an unrelated franchise in the low-level, minor professional
Pacific Hockey League : ''For the 1990s semi-professional ice hockey league, see Pacific Hockey League (1994).''
The Pacific Hockey League was a low-level minor professional hockey league that existed for two seasons in 1977–78, and 1978–79. Its member teams from Ca ...
(PHL).
Notable alumni
Star players for the Mariners included defenseman
Harry Howell, center
Andre Lacroix, and goaltender
Ernie Wakely. The Mariners were coached by Howell (as
player-coach
A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...
) during their first season and
Ron Ingram the succeeding two seasons, qualifying for the WHA playoffs each year.
Demise
Late in the Mariners' second season in
1975–76, owner Joseph Schwartz defaulted on paying his players' salaries and the league's assessments, and the league took over the team. In August 1976,
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...
and
San Diego Padres
The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...
owner
Ray Kroc
Raymond Albert Kroc (October 5, 1902 – January 14, 1984) was an American businessman who was instrumental in turning McDonald's into the most successful global fast food corporation by revenue. He purchased it from the McDonald Brothers in ...
purchased the team for $450,000.
During the Mariners' final WHA season in
1976–77, the team never drew well, and when they only managed to attract 5,000 fans per game, Kroc sold the team to a group who planned to move it to
Melbourne, Florida
Melbourne ( ) is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is located southeast of Orlando, Florida, Orlando along Florida's Space Coast, named because of the region's proximity to Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center. The city ...
, however, they could not find a suitable arena. The team was then sold to former
Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team play ...
minority owner Bill Putnam, who changed the team's name to the "Florida Breakers" and announced they would play at the
Hollywood Sportatorium
The Hollywood Sportatorium was an indoor arena in Pembroke Pines, Florida (originally Hollywood), located at 17171 Pines Boulevard (originally 16661 West Hollywood Boulevard). The Sportatorium was from downtown Miami and from downtown Fort L ...
in
Hollywood, Florida
Hollywood is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. It is a suburb in the Miami metropolitan area. The population of Hollywood was 153,067 as of 2020, making it the Broward County#Communities, third-largest city in Broward County, th ...
, between Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
After this deal fell apart Jerry Saperstein tried to buy the team and move them to the same area as the Florida Icegators.
However, this deal collapsed as well, and after three attempts by three different groups to move the team to Florida all failed, the Mariners folded just before training camp opened in the fall of 1977. Fans who put down deposits for season tickets never got their money back.
The last Mariners player active in major professional hockey was
Kevin Devine
Kevin Devine (born December 19, 1979) is an American songwriter and musician from Staten Island, New York City, who is associated with acts such as Brand New, Manchester Orchestra, and The Front Bottoms. He is a contemporary member of the u ...
, who played his last NHL game in the
1982-83 NHL season.
Ron Plumb was the last active player who retired in 1986 after playing in England. Mariners' draft pick
Don Edwards
William Donlon Edwards (January 6, 1915 – October 1, 2015) was an American politician of the Democratic Party and a member of the United States House of Representatives from California for 32 years in the late 20th century.
Early life
Edwar ...
played in the NHL until 1986, but never played in the WHA.
Team colors
Team colors for the Mariners were orange and blue. The uniforms were the same design as the team wore as the New York Raiders and Jersey Knights, albeit with the jersey logo replaced with ''San Diego'' spelled out diagonally across the front. The color scheme was the same as it was for the
San Diego Gulls
The San Diego Gulls are a professional ice hockey team based in San Diego. They are the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Anaheim Ducks. The team plays its home games at Pechanga Arena.
History
On Jan ...
of the old
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 ...
. The color scheme was later adopted in the form of throwback jerseys for the now-defunct
WCHL/ECHL San Diego Gulls.
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''
Name reused in new league
After the WHA Mariners folded, San Diego Sports Arena operator Peter Graham joined the idea for a new low-level minor professional hockey league on the West Coast, the
Pacific Hockey League : ''For the 1990s semi-professional ice hockey league, see Pacific Hockey League (1994).''
The Pacific Hockey League was a low-level minor professional hockey league that existed for two seasons in 1977–78, and 1978–79. Its member teams from Ca ...
(PHL). Graham used the name of the defunct WHA team, founding an unrelated San Diego Mariners in the PHL in 1977. Those Mariners were sold in 1978 to Pittsburgh businessman Elmer Jonnet, and played in the PHL's second and final season as the "San Diego Hawks".
The Story of the Pacific Hockey League
/ref>
See also
* List of San Diego Mariners (WHA) players
References
External links
WHAhockey.com - San Diego Mariners
{{WHA
World Hockey Association teams
Ice hockey clubs established in 1974
Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 1977
Ice hockey teams in San Diego
Defunct ice hockey teams in California
Raiders/Golden Blades/Knights WHA franchise