Minnesota Folding saints a WHA MVRP

[yave1964]

  One of the original teams in the WHA was the Minnesota Fighting Saints, and though they drew well and were a solid club financial trouble forced them in midseason four to fold up shop. When the Cleveland Crusaders went belly up the club moved to Minnesota the following season and the Fighting Saints were reformed and them folded halfway through the following season as well.

  The team never had a losing record and actually like previously stated drew fairly well, considering they were going head to head with the North Stars of the NHL. The first season GM Glen Sonmor and coach Harry Neale drafted well, drafting local players in a day and age when non Canadian boys just did not get a shot. The team was soft though and the following year a change in plans occurred, they went for team toughness, ala the Broad Street Bullies. Every goon who ever played was given a shot to make the team, including the Carlson Brothers and Dave Hanson, who went on to fame as the Hanson brothers in the movie Slapshot. Goldie Goldthorpe, a crazy half a felon player who put the fear of god into everyone on the ice was even signed for the playoffs against the Houston Aeros because God knows they didn't have enough goons already. Goldthorpe was the real life inspiration for 'Olgie Olgelthorpe' also of Slapshot fame.

  The second year, they beat the Oilers in the first round and captured the cities attention, playing a tough series against the Aeros which they eventually lost in six hard fought games. The home games saw record crowds of 17,000 plus, but they never were able to maintain the momentum after that and slowly the fan base dwindled until the team finally folded. Owner Wayne Belisle was struggling financially outside of Hockey and unable to find an owner willing to assume the debt that was unpaid (Including many players salaries they closed shop halfway through year 4 with a respectable 30-25-4 record.

  When the new club came over from Cleveland the ten thousand fans a night who had been loyal to the team felt betrayed, attendance fell by half and they closed up shop again halfway through the season, finishing 19-18-5, again leaving players unpaid and debt accrued, thus derisively earning the Fighting Saints the Nickname 'Folding Saints' for folding twice in two years.

  Significant players who played for the Saints

 

DAVE KEON Hall of Famer Keon, a class act, had enough of Harold Ballard and his games, signed with the Saints and starred with both incarnations.

  MIKE WALTON: Shaky led the league in scoring for the second season, in three seasons, 211 games scored 281 points, leaving a million stories to tell about one of the flakiest players in the history of a flaky league.

  BOBBY ORR was courted by the Saints but was unable to be coaxed into the league. WENDELL ANDERSON who played for the 1956 USA Olympic team was drafted, but chose to stay with his day job, Governor of Minnesota.

  TED HAMPSON was the captain for all four years of the first Saints after escaping from Charlie Finley and the Oakland Seals.

  WAYNE CONNELLY is the all time leader in both games and points after coming over from the Bruins. MIKE ANTONOVICH was a local boy made good who played for all four years with the original Saints.

  After the club went rogue with a team of more or less felons on ice, GORD GALLANT became the chief enforcer until he punched out coach Harry Neale in a hotel after getting in trouble for sneaking in after curfew. CURT BRACKENBURY was a solid enforcer as were the CARLSON BROTHERS and DAVE HANSON. JOHN ARBOUR, a solid d-man who could move the puck still managed to be the all time penalty minute leader with this bunch, which again also for a short time included GOLDIE GOLDTHORPE.  Nasty BILLY BUTTERS also starred for the club.

PAUL HOLMGREN started his career with the Saints before moving to the Flyers. Longtime steady NHL d-man RICK SMITH starred for the club.

 Colorful JOHN GARRETT played the most games in goal of anyone in Saints history.

 JACK MCCARTAN, Minnesota native who won gold with the USA Olympic team in 1960 came out of retirement to man the net the first season there after not playing in the NHL for twelve years.

 

[sarsippius]

  When the Cleveland Crusaders went belly up the club moved to Minnesota the following season and the Fighting Saints were reformed and them folded halfway through the following season as well.

 

Now this I did not know....kind of an interesting connection between Cleveland and Minnesota, since the NHL Cleveland Barons and the Minnesota North Stars merged into a reconstituted North Stars team back in...I guess '79, the year of the merger?

[yave1964]

Now this I did not know....kind of an interesting connection between Cleveland and Minnesota, since the NHL Cleveland Barons and the Minnesota North Stars merged into a reconstituted North Stars team back in...I guess '79, the year of the merger?

Yep, I still have the Chris Manery, Dennis Maruk and Gil Meloche cards that say 'North Stars' but the poses were so obviously taken during the previous season when they were in Cleveland and then airbrushed over with a green paint, lol. Absolutely horrible looking cards but strangely among my favorites.