1976–77 Minnesota Fighting Saints season

The 1976–77 Minnesota Fighting Saints season was the last season of WHA hockey in Minnesota. The original Fighting Saints disbanded and the Cleveland Crusaders relocated to become the new Minnesota Fighting Saints. The season came to an early end on January 14, 1977, when the Saints played their last game without finishing the season.

1976–77 Minnesota Fighting Saints
Division6th Eastern
1976–77 record19–18–5
Goals for136
Goals against129
Team information
CoachGlen Sonmor
CaptainRon Ward
Alternate captainsBill Butters
Ray Adduono
Johnny McKenzie
ArenaSt. Paul Civic Center

Offseason

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Regular season

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Final standings

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Eastern Division
GP W L T GF GA PTS
Quebec Nordiques 81 47 31 3 353 295 97
Cincinnati Stingers 81 39 37 5 354 303 83
Indianapolis Racers 81 36 37 8 276 305 80
New England Whalers 81 35 40 6 275 290 76
Birmingham Bulls 81 31 46 4 289 309 66
Minnesota Fighting Saints 42 19 18 5 136 129 43

Game log

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Regular season schedule
No. R Date Score Opponent Record
3 W October 10, 1976 4–1 Indianapolis Racers (1976–77) 1–2–0
6 W October 17, 1976 6–1 Birmingham Bulls (1976–77) 2–4–0
8 T October 22, 1976 2–2 Calgary Cowboys (1976–77) 2–5–1
11 L October 30, 1976 1–5 @ Quebec Nordiques (1976–77) 3–6–2
13 L November 3, 1976 2–4 @ Edmonton Oilers (1976–77) 3–8–2
14 L November 5, 1976 2–9 @ Winnipeg Jets (1976–77) 3–9–2
15 L November 7, 1976 1–3 Phoenix Roadrunners (1976–77) 3–10–2
16 T November 11, 1976 3–3 New England Whalers (1976–77) 3–10–3
17 W November 13, 1976 4–2 @ Quebec Nordiques (1976–77) 4–10–3
18 L November 18, 1976 5–9 Quebec Nordiques (1976–77) 4–11–3
19 T November 20, 1976 3–3 @ New England Whalers (1976–77) 4–11–4
20 W November 21, 1976 5–1 Calgary Cowboys (1976–77) 5–11–4
21 W November 23, 1976 4–0 Cincinnati Stingers (1976–77) 6–11–4
22 W November 26, 1976 4–2 Quebec Nordiques (1976–77) 7–11–4
23 W November 27, 1976 3–1 @ New England Whalers (1976–77) 8–11–4
24 W November 28, 1976 3–1 @ Birmingham Bulls (1976–77) 9–11–4
25 L December 3, 1976 3–4 Winnipeg Jets (1976–77) 9–12–4
26 W December 5, 1976 5–1 Edmonton Oilers (1976–77) 10–12–4
27 W December 7, 1976 4–2 New England Whalers (1976–77) 11–12–4
28 W December 10, 1976 4–2 Calgary Cowboys (1976–77) 12–12–4
29 L December 12, 1976 2–4 San Diego Mariners (1976–77) 12–13–4
30 L December 15, 1976 0–5 @ Cincinnati Stingers (1976–77) 12–14–4
31 W December 16, 1976 5–3 @ Indianapolis Racers (1976–77) 13–14–4
32 W December 18, 1976 4–3 Cincinnati Stingers (1976–77) 14–14–4
33 L December 22, 1976 3–4 Quebec Nordiques (1976–77) 14–15–4
34 L December 23, 1976 1–2 @ Calgary Cowboys (1976–77) 14–16–4
35 L December 26, 1976 2–3 @ New England Whalers (1976–77) 14–17–4
36 W December 28, 1976 5–4 New England Whalers (1976–77) 15–17–4
37 W December 30, 1976 4–2 @ Birmingham Bulls (1976–77) 16–17–4
38 W January 2, 1977 3–1 Birmingham Bulls (1976–77) 17–17–4
39 T January 7, 1977 1–1 Houston Aeros (1976–77) 17–17–5
40 W January 8, 1977 5–0 Edmonton Oilers (1976–77) 18–17–5
41 L January 12, 1977 3–4 Birmingham Bulls (1976–77) 18–18–5
42 W January 14, 1977 9–5 Indianapolis Racers (1976–77) 19–18–5

[1]

Playoffs

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Player stats

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Regular season
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/- PPG SHG GWG
Dave Keon C 42 13 38 51 2 25 1 1 0
Mike Antonovich C 42 27 21 48 28 20 6 0 0
Ron Ward C 41 15 21 36 6 9 4 1 0
John McKenzie RW 40 17 13 30 52 14 3 0 0
Al McDonough RW 42 9 21 30 6 13 0 0 0
Ray Adduono C 40 4 19 23 17 −14 3 0 0
John Arbour D 33 3 19 22 22 14 0 0 0
Danny Gruen LW 34 10 9 19 19 7 2 0 0
Craig Patrick RW 30 6 11 17 6 4 0 0 0
Butch Deadmarsh LW 35 9 4 13 51 −5 2 0 0
Steve Carlson C 21 5 8 13 8 3 0 0 0
Jerry Zrymiak D 40 2 10 12 14 7 0 0 0
Ray McKay D 42 2 9 11 28 19 0 0 0
Pat Westrum D 40 1 9 10 42 15 0 0 0
Gord Gallant LW 37 6 3 9 64 −1 0 0 0
Jack Carlson LW 36 4 3 7 55 −1 0 0 0
Bill Butters D 42 0 7 7 133 5 0 0 0
John Stewart LW 15 3 3 6 2 −6 0 0 0
Dave Hanson D 7 0 2 2 35 −9 0 0 0
Jean-Louis Levasseur G 30 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0
Ray Clearwater D 2 0 0 0 2 −3 0 0 0
Mike Curran G 16 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 0
Barry Legge D 2 0 0 0 0 −1 0 0 0
Tom Milani RW 2 0 0 0 0 −2 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SO
Jean-Louis Levasseur 1715 30 15 11 2 78 2.73 2
Mike Curran 848 16 4 7 3 50 3.54 0
Team: 2563 42 19 18 5 128 3.00 2

[2]

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals
      MIN = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts;

Awards and records

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Transactions

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Draft picks

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Minnesota's draft picks (selected while still known as the Cleveland Crusaders) at the 1976 WHA Amateur Draft.[3]

Round # Player Nationality College/Junior/Club team (League)
1 3 Glen Sharpley (C)   Canada Hull Festivals (QMJHL)
2 14 Rod Schutt (LW)   Canada Sudbury Wolves (OHA)
3 27 Jeff McDill (RW)   Canada Victoria Cougars (WCHL)
4 39 Rocky Maze (LW)   Canada Edmonton Oil Kings (WCHL)
5 47 Vern Stenlund (C)   Canada London Knights (OHA)
5 51 Bob Miller (W)   United States U.S. National Team
6 63 Rob Flockhart (LW)   Canada Kamloops Chiefs (WCHL)
7 75 Mark Earp (G)   Canada Kamloops Chiefs (WCHL)
8 87 Ron Zanussi (F)   Canada London Knights (OHA)
9 98 Charlie Skjodt (C)   Canada Windsor Spitfires (OHA)
10 109 Larry McRae (G)   Canada Windsor Spitfires (OHA)

Farm teams

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "1976–77 Minnesota Fighting Saints Games". Hockey-reference.com. Retrieved June 29, 2009.
  2. ^ "1976-77 Minnesota Fighting Saints Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". hockey-reference.com. Retrieved June 29, 2009.
  3. ^ "1976 WHA Amateur Draft". hockeyDB.com. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
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