WHA stats guru Curtis Walker has created even more stats features on our free WHA HOF site (click on headline above for the web link) -- there are now team franchise pages for each 1972-1979 WHA team, and pdf downloads for some game searches, and some additional photos for the player stats pages and lots of ther details.
We'll continue to develop this research resource as time goes on, but I tip my hat to Curtis for the massive amounts of data he has already made possible for all to see!
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
thanks to FSN & Dennis Murphy
Back from Phoenix and the TV announcement for the WHA HOF on the Coyotes TV broadcast. I'll have a piece about that and the NHL Coyotes season done soon. Thanks to Todd Walsh and FSN for having me on his show and for treating the WHA with such respect...
I'm just now off the phone with the original WHA co-founder Dennis Murphy, who kindly shared more stories about the founding of the 1972-1979 league. Dennis also voiced his strong support for the WHA HOF, and is delighted that efforts are being made to secure the WHA's place in hockey history.
Dennis, off course, has been involved in many major league start-ups: the ABA, WHA, World Team Tennis, Roller Hockey International and on and on. His latest new league in development: The International Hockey Association, a proposed 4-on-4 summer pro league. Don't think it could fly? Anyone who bets against Dennis Murphy does so at their own risk!
I'm just now off the phone with the original WHA co-founder Dennis Murphy, who kindly shared more stories about the founding of the 1972-1979 league. Dennis also voiced his strong support for the WHA HOF, and is delighted that efforts are being made to secure the WHA's place in hockey history.
Dennis, off course, has been involved in many major league start-ups: the ABA, WHA, World Team Tennis, Roller Hockey International and on and on. His latest new league in development: The International Hockey Association, a proposed 4-on-4 summer pro league. Don't think it could fly? Anyone who bets against Dennis Murphy does so at their own risk!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
WHA HOF media updates
A few recent media bits for the WHA HOF...
Saturday, March 27 TV: See the public announcement of new WHA Hall
Of Fame on the Phoenix Coyotes pre-game TV telecast on the Fox
Sports Arizona network at 5:30pm (AZ time). We'll try to have this clip online soon...
Friday, March 26 radio: WHA HOF President Timothy Gassen was a guest
on "Sports Night Saskatchewan"' on CJME/CKOM in Regina/Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada; you can download the show HERE:
http://www.newstalk980.com/audio/sports-night/20100326-sports-night-march-26-2010-hour-2
Read about the WHA HOF in a March 2010 piece at The Hockey News HERE:
http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/32300-THNcom-Blog-WHA-stars-receive-a-Hall-of-their-own.html
Saturday, March 27 TV: See the public announcement of new WHA Hall
Of Fame on the Phoenix Coyotes pre-game TV telecast on the Fox
Sports Arizona network at 5:30pm (AZ time). We'll try to have this clip online soon...
Friday, March 26 radio: WHA HOF President Timothy Gassen was a guest
on "Sports Night Saskatchewan"' on CJME/CKOM in Regina/Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada; you can download the show HERE:
http://www.newstalk980.com/audio/sports-night/20100326-sports-night-march-26-2010-hour-2
Read about the WHA HOF in a March 2010 piece at The Hockey News HERE:
http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/32300-THNcom-Blog-WHA-stars-receive-a-Hall-of-their-own.html
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Winnipeg support for WHA HOF location
A fan in Winnipeg has started a Facebook group to muster support for bringing the WHA HOF exhibit to Winnipeg. You can see at the link above. If you are in Winnipeg and want the WHA HOF in your beautiful city, voice your opinion there and let the powers-that-be know!
Monday, March 22, 2010
new Hockey News WHA HOF article
Brian Costello, a fine journalist and WHA HOF Board member, wrote a new column about the new WHA HOF for The Hockey News -- click the title above to go there to see it...
Thank you, Brian!
Thank you, Brian!
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Here is an excerpt from a newspaper piece on the announcement of the WHA Hall of Fame. (Editor's note: I've also corrected a couple minor factual mistakes). Many thanks to Paul Friesen for taking the time to talk with us...
------------
WHA stars get due
Nine Jets head up list of Rebel League Hall of Famers
By Paul Friesen, WINNIPEG SUN
What if we told you a film documentary of the WHA’s Winnipeg Jets was going to premiere here this summer, and that Anders Hedberg, Ulf Nilsson and Bobby Hull had agreed to show up for it, as part of a Jets players reunion?
The documentary will include long-lost footage of the Jets in action against the Russians in Japan, somewhere around New Year’s, 1978.
And if all goes according to plan, the WHA Hall of Fame will have a permanent home in the city that gave hockey one of the most entertaining teams of any era, any league.
It’s all the brain child of Timothy Gassen, a film producer once from Indianapolis, of all places, who grew up a huge fan of the WHA.
“What’s best about the WHA was embodied in the Winnipeg Jets,” Gassen said yesterday from his home in Tucson. “Those Winnipeg Jet teams are still among the greatest of all major league hockey, and I don’t care what initials of league you put in front of the name.”
Gassen waited for years for some institution to properly document and preserve the WHA’s legacy. When nobody did, he dove in five years ago, first turning out a book and documentary on the Indianapolis Racers and their 17-year-old phenom, Wayne Gretzky.
As more and more ex-players, managers and fans came forward with artifacts, photos, even video, Gassen put together an 11-man advisory board, which included WHA alums Hedberg, Jacques Demers and Pat Stapleton, sent out and received ballots from another 30-plus former players, broadcasters and hockey historians and produced the lineup for the WHA Hall of Fame.
The list, to be officially unveiled later this month, includes nine former Jets players, led, of course, by the Hot Line — Hull, Hedberg and Nilsson — and including goalie Joe Daley.
“Wow. I didn’t know that,” Daley said. “That’s nice to know. It’s wonderful news.”
A Winnipeg native, Daley is one of just a handful of people who played all seven of the WHA’s seasons, from 1972 through ’79, joining the renegade league after four years in the NHL.
What the WHA gave players like him was a choice, and suddenly the NHL’s monopoly and resulting iron-fisted rule over players was broken.
When Chicago’s Golden Jet jumped ship, all Hull broke loose, and when No. 9 was paired with a couple of soft-spoken but hard-skating Swedes, the game was changed, forever.
“It really opened up Europe,” Daley said. “We filled a team with them, when it was against the ideals of building a team. They thought we had way too many. We proved that wrong.”
Watching this new hybrid of a game storm his home town, Gassen, then 17, was instantly hooked.
More than three decades later, all his scrounging through the basements of TV stations and the garages of retired producers has helped preserve a chapter in hockey history that was on the verge of being lost forever, as much of the film and videotape wouldn’t have lasted much longer.
If Gassen winds up breaking even on sales of his DVDs, he’ll take it.
“But obviously this is a labour of love,” he said. “No one got into this and no one jumped on board with me because they thought this was a money-making proposition.”
No, this is more about giving a league its due.
And if you ask me, it’s long overdue.
But why someone from a place where they don’t even have pro hockey anymore?
“Maybe it makes some kind of sense that a kid from Indianapolis came up with this idea,” Gassen said. “That spirit ... that’s what the WHA was all about.”
------------
WHA stars get due
Nine Jets head up list of Rebel League Hall of Famers
By Paul Friesen, WINNIPEG SUN
What if we told you a film documentary of the WHA’s Winnipeg Jets was going to premiere here this summer, and that Anders Hedberg, Ulf Nilsson and Bobby Hull had agreed to show up for it, as part of a Jets players reunion?
The documentary will include long-lost footage of the Jets in action against the Russians in Japan, somewhere around New Year’s, 1978.
And if all goes according to plan, the WHA Hall of Fame will have a permanent home in the city that gave hockey one of the most entertaining teams of any era, any league.
It’s all the brain child of Timothy Gassen, a film producer once from Indianapolis, of all places, who grew up a huge fan of the WHA.
“What’s best about the WHA was embodied in the Winnipeg Jets,” Gassen said yesterday from his home in Tucson. “Those Winnipeg Jet teams are still among the greatest of all major league hockey, and I don’t care what initials of league you put in front of the name.”
Gassen waited for years for some institution to properly document and preserve the WHA’s legacy. When nobody did, he dove in five years ago, first turning out a book and documentary on the Indianapolis Racers and their 17-year-old phenom, Wayne Gretzky.
As more and more ex-players, managers and fans came forward with artifacts, photos, even video, Gassen put together an 11-man advisory board, which included WHA alums Hedberg, Jacques Demers and Pat Stapleton, sent out and received ballots from another 30-plus former players, broadcasters and hockey historians and produced the lineup for the WHA Hall of Fame.
The list, to be officially unveiled later this month, includes nine former Jets players, led, of course, by the Hot Line — Hull, Hedberg and Nilsson — and including goalie Joe Daley.
“Wow. I didn’t know that,” Daley said. “That’s nice to know. It’s wonderful news.”
A Winnipeg native, Daley is one of just a handful of people who played all seven of the WHA’s seasons, from 1972 through ’79, joining the renegade league after four years in the NHL.
What the WHA gave players like him was a choice, and suddenly the NHL’s monopoly and resulting iron-fisted rule over players was broken.
When Chicago’s Golden Jet jumped ship, all Hull broke loose, and when No. 9 was paired with a couple of soft-spoken but hard-skating Swedes, the game was changed, forever.
“It really opened up Europe,” Daley said. “We filled a team with them, when it was against the ideals of building a team. They thought we had way too many. We proved that wrong.”
Watching this new hybrid of a game storm his home town, Gassen, then 17, was instantly hooked.
More than three decades later, all his scrounging through the basements of TV stations and the garages of retired producers has helped preserve a chapter in hockey history that was on the verge of being lost forever, as much of the film and videotape wouldn’t have lasted much longer.
If Gassen winds up breaking even on sales of his DVDs, he’ll take it.
“But obviously this is a labour of love,” he said. “No one got into this and no one jumped on board with me because they thought this was a money-making proposition.”
No, this is more about giving a league its due.
And if you ask me, it’s long overdue.
But why someone from a place where they don’t even have pro hockey anymore?
“Maybe it makes some kind of sense that a kid from Indianapolis came up with this idea,” Gassen said. “That spirit ... that’s what the WHA was all about.”
Monday, March 15, 2010
WHA HOF public announcement
Here is the official press release announcing publicly the WHA HOF. It has taken us a long time and more work than we ever could have imagined -- but we haven talen many major steps toward our goal of recognizing those who helped change the history of major league hockey through the WHA...
--------
For Immediate Release
March 15, 2010
WORLD HOCKEY ASSOCIATION
HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES
ANNOUNCED MARCH 27
Tucson, AZ – The one-time induction class for the new World Hockey Association Hall of Fame will be announced publicly on March 27, 2010 during the Fox Sports Arizona pre-game telecast for the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday, March 27 in Glendale, Arizona.
WHA Hall of Fame President Timothy Gassen will announce the new hall, honoring the players, coaches and builders of the 1972-1979 major hockey league. Gassen is also producer and director of the new three-part WHA Hall of Fame DVD Series, and will announce soon the release dates for the 12 hours of new historical video productions.
The WHA Hall of Fame also launched on March 15 an extensive new Web site at www.WHAhof.com – This free site includes video clips, vintage photos, extensive statistical databases and complete information on the 1972-1979 World Hockey Association and the 2010 HOF inductees.
The WHA HOF will stage 2010 film debuts throughout North America for the new DVD series, and negotiations are under way for several WHA HOF museum displays.
Prominent hockey people involved in the creation of the WHA HOF include Stanley Cup-winning coach and Canadian Senator Jacques Demers, 1972 Team Canada star Pat Stapleton, Fox Sports VP Jack Stanfield, Swedish superstar Anders Hedberg, and prominent hockey historians and media figures.
---------
The World Hockey Association Hall of Fame is an independent volunteer organization of hockey historians, journalists and former WHA coaches, players and management who are dedicated to honoring the 1972-1979 major league.
Media Contact: Timothy Gassen
www.WHAhof.com
info@WHAhof.com
--------
For Immediate Release
March 15, 2010
WORLD HOCKEY ASSOCIATION
HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES
ANNOUNCED MARCH 27
Tucson, AZ – The one-time induction class for the new World Hockey Association Hall of Fame will be announced publicly on March 27, 2010 during the Fox Sports Arizona pre-game telecast for the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday, March 27 in Glendale, Arizona.
WHA Hall of Fame President Timothy Gassen will announce the new hall, honoring the players, coaches and builders of the 1972-1979 major hockey league. Gassen is also producer and director of the new three-part WHA Hall of Fame DVD Series, and will announce soon the release dates for the 12 hours of new historical video productions.
The WHA Hall of Fame also launched on March 15 an extensive new Web site at www.WHAhof.com – This free site includes video clips, vintage photos, extensive statistical databases and complete information on the 1972-1979 World Hockey Association and the 2010 HOF inductees.
The WHA HOF will stage 2010 film debuts throughout North America for the new DVD series, and negotiations are under way for several WHA HOF museum displays.
Prominent hockey people involved in the creation of the WHA HOF include Stanley Cup-winning coach and Canadian Senator Jacques Demers, 1972 Team Canada star Pat Stapleton, Fox Sports VP Jack Stanfield, Swedish superstar Anders Hedberg, and prominent hockey historians and media figures.
---------
The World Hockey Association Hall of Fame is an independent volunteer organization of hockey historians, journalists and former WHA coaches, players and management who are dedicated to honoring the 1972-1979 major league.
Media Contact: Timothy Gassen
www.WHAhof.com
info@WHAhof.com
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Nordiques back on the ice!
I want to encourage WHA fans to write to me and share their thoughts about the WHA, and any news about WHA players and events.
Here is a great example: Stephane Harvey, a hockey historian and WHA Quebec Nordiques authority, shared this with me today (March 11, 2010):
"This Saturday I will go to Quebec city to see the old-timers game between the Nordiques and the Montreal Canadiens at the historic Quebec Colisee. Some ex-WHA players will play: Michel Goulet, Real Cloutier, Alain Côté, Louis Sleigher for the Nordiques and also Peter Stastny who played with his country, Czechoslovaquia against WHA team will be there. For the Habs, Mark Napier.
Here is my list of the 10 most memorables or important games played at the Colisee de Quebec during the 7 years of WHA:
1. Fisrt WHA game oct. 13 1972 Nordiques shutout the Oilers 6-0
2. First game of Bobby Hull in the WHA Nov. 8 1972
3. First All-Star game of the WHA, January 6 1973
4. The first game of the 1974 summit between Team Canada and USSR Sept. 17 1974
5. The Houston Aeros won their second AVCO cup, May 12 1975
6. The infamous Rick Jodzio-Marc Tardif incident April 11 1976
7. The Nordiques beat USSR 6-1, January 8 1977
8. The Nordiques won the Avco Cup in the 7th game, May 26 1977.
9. The WHA all-star game of 1978, January 17
10. Bobby Hull scored his 1000th goal, March 8 1978
So it's always a pleasure to see a hockey game at the Colisee!"
Thank you again Stephane for your support of the WHA HOF and for keeping alive the memory of the WHA Quebec Nordiques!
Here is a great example: Stephane Harvey, a hockey historian and WHA Quebec Nordiques authority, shared this with me today (March 11, 2010):
"This Saturday I will go to Quebec city to see the old-timers game between the Nordiques and the Montreal Canadiens at the historic Quebec Colisee. Some ex-WHA players will play: Michel Goulet, Real Cloutier, Alain Côté, Louis Sleigher for the Nordiques and also Peter Stastny who played with his country, Czechoslovaquia against WHA team will be there. For the Habs, Mark Napier.
Here is my list of the 10 most memorables or important games played at the Colisee de Quebec during the 7 years of WHA:
1. Fisrt WHA game oct. 13 1972 Nordiques shutout the Oilers 6-0
2. First game of Bobby Hull in the WHA Nov. 8 1972
3. First All-Star game of the WHA, January 6 1973
4. The first game of the 1974 summit between Team Canada and USSR Sept. 17 1974
5. The Houston Aeros won their second AVCO cup, May 12 1975
6. The infamous Rick Jodzio-Marc Tardif incident April 11 1976
7. The Nordiques beat USSR 6-1, January 8 1977
8. The Nordiques won the Avco Cup in the 7th game, May 26 1977.
9. The WHA all-star game of 1978, January 17
10. Bobby Hull scored his 1000th goal, March 8 1978
So it's always a pleasure to see a hockey game at the Colisee!"
Thank you again Stephane for your support of the WHA HOF and for keeping alive the memory of the WHA Quebec Nordiques!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
WHA HOF is now online!
It's taken years of hard work, but we have finally launched the World Hockey Association Hall of Fame online. In this blog I'll share "backstage" stroies of putting together this mammmoth effort, give you HOF updates, and tell you what we're working on for the future.
There's a lot of new things that will launch all at once in 2010, so check back here often.
The first cool thing I'll metion is the official public announcement for the WHA HOF, on March 27, 2010. It'll happen during the pre-game TV show for the Phoenix Coyotes, on Fox Sports Arizona. Those of you with satellite or digital cable that includes the NHL broadcasts should be able to pick it up. Those of you in Arizona, of course, can tune in on regular cable TV.
This will be out third appearacne on a Coyotes broadcast, and more about that later. ;)
There's a lot of new things that will launch all at once in 2010, so check back here often.
The first cool thing I'll metion is the official public announcement for the WHA HOF, on March 27, 2010. It'll happen during the pre-game TV show for the Phoenix Coyotes, on Fox Sports Arizona. Those of you with satellite or digital cable that includes the NHL broadcasts should be able to pick it up. Those of you in Arizona, of course, can tune in on regular cable TV.
This will be out third appearacne on a Coyotes broadcast, and more about that later. ;)
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