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
Division	6th Eastern
1976–77 record	19–18–5
Goals for	136
Goals against	129
Team information
Coach	Glen Sonmor
Captain	Ron Ward
Alternate captains	Bill Butters Ray Adduono Johnny McKenzie
Arena	St. Paul Civic Center

Regular season

Final standings

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

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

Player stats

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

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;

Draft picks

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

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)

See also

• 1976–77 WHA season