Ottawa Nationals 1972-73
Toronto Toros 1973-74 to 1975-76
Birmingham Bulls 1976-77 to 1978-79

Owners

Doug Michel

Nick Trbovich

John Bassett

Rinks

Ottawa Civic Centre 1972-73

Maple Leaf Gardens 1974 to 1976

Jefferson County Civic Center 1976 to 1979

Seasons & Leaders

1972-73 Ottawa Record 35-39-4, 74 pts Coach Bill Harris Goals 42, Wayne Carleton 28, Gavin Kirk Assists 49, Wayne Carleton 40, Bob Charlebois 40, Gavin Kirk Points 91, Wayne Carleton 68, Gavin Kirk Penalty Min. 121, Rick Cunningham 93, Ken Stephanson Wins 25, Gilles Gratton Goals Against 3.71, Gilles Gratton Shutouts none

1973-74 Toronto Record 41-33-4, 86 pts Coach Bill Harris Goals 37, Wayne Carleton 33, Tom Simpson Assists 55, Wayne Carleton 48, Gavin Kirk Points 92, Wayne Carleton 68, Gavin Kirk Penalty Min. 88, Rick Cunningham 84, Brian Gibbons Wins 26, Gilles Gratton Goals Against 3.27, Les Binkley Shutouts 2, Gilles Gratton

1974-75 Toronto Record 43-33-2, 88 pts Coach Bill Harris Bob Leduc Goals 52, Tom Simpson 41, Vaclav Nedomansky Assists 66, Wayne Dillon 58, Gavin Kirk Points 95, Wayne Dillon 82, Frank Mahovlich Penalty Min. 117, Rick Cunningham 105, Brian Gibbons Wins 30, Gilles Gratton Goals Against 3.59, Les Binkley Shutouts 2, Gilles Gratton

1975-76 Toronto Record 24-52-5, 53 pts Coach Bob Baun Gilles Leger Goals 56, Vaclav Nedomansky 43, Mark Napier Assists 55, Frank Mahovlich 51, Jim Dorey Points 98, Vaclav Nedomansky 93, Mark Napier Penalty Min. 185, Jerry Rollins 134, Jim Dorey Wins 7, Dave Tataryn Goals Against 3.59, John Garrett Shutouts 1, John Garrett

1976-77 Birmingham Record 31-46-4, 66 pts Coach Gilles Leger Pat Kelly Goals 60, Mark Napier 36, Vaclav Nedomansky Assists 48, Dale Hoganson 37, Peter Marrin Points 96, Mark Napier 69, Vaclav Nedomansky Penalty Min. 166, Lou Nistico 133, Gilles Bilodeau Wins 24, John Garrett Goals Against 3.53, John Garrett Shutouts 4, John Garrett

1977-78 Birmingham Record 36-41-3, 75 pts Coach Glen Sonmor Goals 38, Ken Linseman 37, Paul Henderson Assists 43, Peter Marrin 38, Ken Linseman Points 76, Ken Linseman 71, Peter Marrin Penalty Min. 284, Steve Durbano 279, Frank Beaton Wins 24, John Garrett Goals Against 3.81, John Garrett Shutouts 2, John Garrett

1978-79 Birmingham Record 32-42-6, 70 pts Coach John Brophy Goals 28, Michel Goulet 26, Louis Sleigher 26, Rick Vaive Assists 40, Craig Hartsburg 36, Rob Ramage Points 59, Rick Vaive 58, Michel Goulet Penalty Min. 248, Rick Vaive 212, Dave Hanson Wins 16, Pat Riggin Goals Against 3.76, Ernie Wakely Shutouts 1, Pat Riggin

Complete Roster & Regular Season Scoring Totals

Player (G: Goaltender)	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	Penalty Min.
Kirk, Gavin	355	102	207	309	249
Henderson, Paul	360	140	143	283	112
Napier, Mark	237	136	118	254	53
Nedomansky, Vaclav	252	135	118	253	43
Mahovlich, Frank	237	89	143	232	75
Simpson, Tom	299	122	82	204	145
Dillon, Wayne	212	71	128	199	78
Marrin, Peter	278	81	112	193	127
Carleton, Wayne	156	80	104	184	73
Turkiewicz, Jim	392	24	119	143	234
Martin, Tom	213	59	76	135	59
Stewart, John C.	170	54	73	130	193
Trottier, Guy	149	55	69	124	85
Hickey, Pat	152	61	63	124	102
Farda, Richard	177	34	86	120	12
Jacques, Jeff	199	50	68	118	231
Nistico, Lou	186	44	72	116	375
Leduc, Bob	158	47	66	113	109
Cunningham, Rick	323	23	90	113	458
Gibbons, Brian	224	15	88	103	251
Sentes, Dick	138	48	53	101	124
Gorman, Dave	175	42	58	100	149
Dorey, Jim	117	20	74	94	203
King, Steve	136	32	56	88	54
Linseman, Ken	71	38	38	76	126
Featherstone, Tony	108	29	45	74	31
Hoganson, Dale	124	8	60	68	77
Charlebois, Bob	78	24	40	64	28
Cassolato, Tony	141	31	32	63	121
Alley, Steve	105	25	36	61	37
Stephenson, Bob	117	30	30	60	105
Vaive, Rick	75	26	33	59	248
Gibson, Jack	122	38	21	59	108
Beaudoin, Serge	136	13	46	59	232
Goulet, Michel	78	28	30	58	65
Sheehy, Tim	63	30	23	53	49
Adduono, Rick	80	20	33	53	67
Amodeo, Mike	233	6	46	52	244
Hanson, Dave	95	13	38	51	453
Hughes, Brent	128	12	38	50	69
Hartsburg, Craig	77	9	40	49	73
Ramage, Rob	80	12	36	48	165
Cuddie, Steve	144	10	34	44	114
Sleigher, Louis	62	26	12	38	46
Gingras, Gaston	60	13	21	34	35
Climie, Ron	31	12	19	31	2
Selby, Brit	81	10	21	31	21
Noris, Joe	45	9	19	28	6
Roberto, Phil	53	8	20	28	91
Conacher, Brian	69	8	19	27	32
Lagace, Jean-Guy	78	2	25	27	110
Brewer, Carl	77	2	23	25	42
Phaneuf, Jean	78	10	15	25	6
Westrum, Pat	111	3	21	24	145
Langway, Rod	52	3	18	21	52
Stephanson, Ken	77	3	16	19	93
Gallant, Gord	34	4	13	17	62
Boland, Mike	41	1	15	16	44
Beaton, Frank	56	6	9	15	279
Heaver, Paul	71	2	12	14	83
D'Alvise, Bob	59	5	8	13	10
Bilodeau, Gilles	107	4	9	13	429
Kuzmicz, George	35	0	12	12	22
Orr, Bill	46	3	9	12	16
Syvret, Dave	58	1	11	12	14
Rollins, Jerry	60	5	7	12	202
Warr, Steve	72	3	8	11	79
Durbano, Steve	45	6	4	10	284
Mavety, Larry	17	0	9	9	24
Folco, Peter	21	1	8	9	15
Gratton, Gilles (G)	161	0	9	9	46
Atkinson, Steve	52	2	6	8	22
Ball, Terry	23	1	6	7	8
Meloff, Chris	28	1	6	7	40
Tebbutt, Greg	38	2	5	7	83
Garrett, John (G)	132	0	7	7	47
Gibbons, Gerard	31	2	4	6	30
Zrymiak, Jerry	17	0	5	5	11
Riley, Ron	22	0	5	5	2
Wood, Wayne (G)	74	0	4	4	28
Foley, Rick	11	1	2	3	6
Evans, Chris	12	1	2	3	4
Wakely, Ernie (G)	37	0	3	3	0
Riggin, Pat (G)	46	0	3	3	22
Donnelly, John	15	1	1	2	44
Titcomb, Gord	2	0	1	1	0
Arndt, Danny	4	0	1	1	0
Crowder, Keith	5	1	0	1	17
Haney, Merv	7	0	1	1	4
Terbenche, Paul	11	1	0	1	0
Neeld, Greg	17	0	1	1	18
McKay, Ray	19	0	1	1	11
Holden, Bill (G)	1	0	0	0	0
Marsh, Jim	1	0	0	0	0
O'Neil, Paul	1	0	0	0	0
Stewart, John A.	1	0	0	0	0
Dupras, Rich	2	0	0	0	0
Van Horlick, John	2	0	0	0	12
Crowley, Paul	4	0	0	0	0
Hart, Dick	4	0	0	0	0
Schneider, Buzz	4	0	0	0	2
Kokkola, Keith	5	0	0	0	21
Blum, Frank (G)	7	0	0	0	0
Tataryn, Dave (G)	23	0	0	0	0
Vien, Mario (G)	26	0	0	0	0
Shaw, Jim (G)	37	0	0	0	0
Binkley, Les (G)	81	0	0	0	0

Complete Playoff Scoring Totals

Player (G: Goaltender)	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	Penalty Min.
Kirk, Gavin	23	9	13	22	18
Martin, Tom	22	8	13	21	4
Carleton, Wayne	15	5	15	20	8
Dillon, Wayne	18	9	10	19	13
Sentes, Dick	17	10	5	15	21
Trottier, Guy	17	6	7	13	4
Leduc, Bob	17	4	8	12	46
Gibbons, Brian	17	3	7	10	22
Cuddie, Steve	14	1	8	9	22
Dorey, Jim	6	2	6	8	2
Marrin, Peter	14	0	8	8	6
Simpson, Tom	22	6	2	8	5
Nistico, Lou	6	6	1	7	19
Hickey, Pat	17	3	4	7	16
Cunningham, Rick	21	1	6	7	33
Mahovlich, Frank	9	4	1	5	2
Gibson, Jack	13	2	3	5	16
Linseman, Ken	5	2	2	4	15
Conacher, Brian	5	1	3	4	4
Nedomansky, Vaclav	6	3	1	4	9
Jacques, Jeff	6	0	4	4	2
Selby, Brit	10	1	3	4	2
Turkiewicz, Jim	11	1	3	4	6
Brewer, Carl	12	0	4	4	11
King, Steve	17	0	4	4	18
Amodeo, Mike	20	0	4	4	40
Featherstone, Tony	6	2	1	3	2
Mavety, Larry	6	0	3	3	6
Gorman, Dave	4	1	1	2	0
Durbano, Steve	4	0	2	2	16
Henderson, Paul	5	1	1	2	0
Napier, Mark	5	0	2	2	14
Stewart, John C.	5	1	1	2	6
Charlebois, Bob	5	1	1	2	4
Stephanson, Ken	5	1	1	2	8
Beaton, Frank	5	2	0	2	10
Westrum, Pat	3	0	1	1	0
Climie, Ron	4	1	0	1	2
Roberto, Phil	4	1	0	1	20
Alley, Steve	5	1	0	1	10
Beaudoin, Serge	5	1	0	1	46
Hanson, Dave	5	0	1	1	48
Orr, Bill	12	1	0	1	6
Boland, Mike	1	0	0	0	12
Gibbons, Gerard	1	0	0	0	0
Wood, Wayne (G)	1	0	0	0	0
Riley, Ron	2	0	0	0	0
Bilodeau, Gilles	3	0	0	0	27
Cassolato, Tony	4	0	0	0	4
Langway, Rod	4	0	0	0	9
Warr, Steve	4	0	0	0	0
Hoganson, Dale	5	0	0	0	7
Hughes, Brent	5	0	0	0	12
Garrett, John (G)	5	0	0	0	0
Shaw, Jim (G)	5	0	0	0	0
Binkley, Les (G)	10	0	0	0	0
Gratton, Gilles (G)	13	0	0	0	0

Complete Regular Season Goaltending

Goaltender	Games	Minutes	Goals	Shutouts	Record	Average
Gratton, Gilles	161	9102	560	4	81-66-7	3.69
Garrett, John	132	7660	467	7	51-71-5	3.66
Binkley, Les	81	4228	262	1	30-36-2	3.72
Wood, Wayne	74	3775	260	1	26-32-2	4.13
Riggin, Pat	46	2511	158	1	16-22-5	3.78
Wakely, Ernie	37	2060	129	0	15-17-1	3.76
Shaw, Jim	37	1832	133	0	11-16-2	4.36
Tataryn, Dave	23	1261	100	0	7-12-1	4.76
Vien, Mario	26	1228	105	0	4-14-3	5.13
Blum, Frank	7	158	8	0	1-0-0	3.04
Holden, Bill	1	10	0	0	0-0-0	0.00

Complete Playoff Goaltending

Goaltender	Games	Minutes	Goals	Shutouts	Record	Average
Gratton, Gilles	13	662	37	1	5-5	3.35
Binkley, Les	10	464	39	0	3-6	5.04
Shaw, Jim	5	262	18	0	2-2	4.12
Garrett, John	5	271	26	0	1-4	5.76
Wood, Wayne	1	29	3	0	0-0	6.21

History

The WHA granted a regional franchise on November 21, 1971, to be placed somewhere in Ontario Province. Doug Michel, a businessman with a background in construction, convinced the WHA to grant him the franchise while he would take care of finding a place to play. Hamilton was everyone's preferred choice, but the city at the time did not have a major-league arena. Toronto was the next logical choice, and Michel negotiated -- without success -- with Maple Leafs owner Harold Ballard, for use of the Maple Leaf Gardens. Ballard was already an outspoken foe of the WHA but still heard Michel's case to place a WHA team in Toronto, if for no other reason, to cut off a potential bid by another well-connected, wealthy Toronto family, the Bassetts, to bid for a Toronto-based WHA club. Ultimately, negotiations between Ballard and Michel waned, with Ballard's attentions sidetracked by personal and legal troubles that would land him a spell in prison. Ottawa became the franchise's home in February 1972, once Michel was able to wrangle a deal with the city to use the Ottawa Civic Centre Arena. The Civic Centre was brand new and sat just under 10,000 people, but the populace did not exactly warm to Michel or the WHA when they learned that Ottawa was his third choice for a home site. The Civic Centre's management were highly skeptical of Michel and of the WHA, and protective of the main hockey attraction, the junior 67's. The management compelled Michel to post a $100,000 bond to secure dates, which left Michel with essentially nothing afterwards. With still nine months before the start of play, Michel faced an uphill battle to secure funding, sign players and convince a skeptical Ottawa public that his team was for real. The new team was named the Nationals, a nod to Ottawa's status as the national capital and to Michel's previous role as co-founder of the amateur Young Nationals during the 1960s. Spending most of his time and money searching for a home left Michel short on funds and the possibility of having to withdraw from the league if outside help could not be secured. Through league channels, Buffalo industrialist Nick Trbovich joined the team in May as a co-owner. Trbovich controlled the money, and Michel oversaw the operations, assembling it from scratch and hiring the coaching staff. A. J. "Buck" Houle signed on as the General Manager, and former player and Swedish Nationals coach Billy Harris assumed the same role with Ottawa. A few players had signed, but until Trbovich's role was solidified, none of the contract guarantees could be made until August 1972, at which time the Ottawa Nationals were presented to the public. Wayne Carleton and Les Binkley were the biggest names, the rest of the roster a collection of fringe NHLers, minor-league players, and amateurs from the college and Junior ranks. Michel realized he needed to sign a big name to launch the new team, and to that end, he pursued Toronto's Dave Keon. Negotiations carried on for weeks during the summer of 1972, at times Keon virtually a National, and at other times the parties back to square one. Ultimately, Keon used this as leverage to secure a better deal with the Maple Leafs, and the Nationals were back to where they were at the start of the summer: no star players and an Ottawa crowd thoroughly unimpressed. The WHA debuted, playing its first game in Ottawa on October 11, 1972, the Nationals hosting the Alberta Oilers. The game was to be televised nationally across Canada, but the same luck that had dogged the Nationals appeared again. The arena was just half-filled, and a few minutes into the game, an electrical transformer blew, blacking out the broadcast. And the Nats lost the game. The Ottawa fans remained wary of this team, and the Nationals didn't help their cause by losing consistently, sometimes to home crowds in the hundreds. By early February 1973, the Nationals were playing down to everyone's expectations, sporting a 19-31-4 record and a tight hold on last place. Attendance was growing but still very low, and in January, the team was nearly sold to Marv Fishman, who would have uprooted the team immediately to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The deal fell through and the team stayed in Ottawa, facing an even more skeptical audience. At this low point of the season, the team caught fire. The Nats won 16 of their next 22 games to vault into a playoff berth, and for the first time, had developed a small but devoted following of fans in the Canadian Capital. Wayne Carleton led scorers with 42 goals and 91 points, Gavin Kirk was the best of the no-name rookies with 28 goals and 68 points, while Gilles Gratton won 25 games in goal. While the public may have shown some belated affection for the Nationals, the city's government, and the group that controlled the lease on the Civic Centre and the arena, did not. The city demanded another full payment of $100,000 on March 15, 1973 to secure dates for the following season, a steep sum that Michel and Trbovich weren't willing to pay. Particularly troubling to the owners was that while the Nationals could play out their 1972-73 home schedule at the Civic Centre, there was no guarantee they could play their home playoff games there unless they paid the money for the next season. Viewing this as a strong-arm tactic, Trbovich sent Michel down to Toronto to aggressively work a deal with the Maple Leaf Gardens, at the very least for its possible 1973 playoff dates. A deal was struck (helped by the fact the Maple Leafs missed the 1973 playoffs), and the team (now referred to as the Ontario Nationals in the program) played its two home playoff games in Toronto. Almost immediately, the team was sold to John F. Bassett Jr, heading a group of over 20 investors. The team was relocated to Toronto in May 1973 and renamed the Toros. Bassett housed the Toros at the University of Toronto's Varsity Arena during 1973-74, with selected games in Ottawa. More significantly, Bassett sought underage Junior players (younger than 20 years of age), signing them to small but attractive contracts and circumventing the league's selfimposed age restrictions. Bassett was unapologetic, reasoning that if an 18-year old man can vote and fight in wars, he can play hockey professionally. In 1973, he signed Wayne Dillon, who scored 30 goals for the 1973-74 Toros. Vet Wayne Carleton led with 37 goals, and seven other Toros scored at least 20 goals. The Toros finished second in the Eastern Division, lasting two rounds in the 1974 Playoffs. The 1974-75 Toros added Frank Mahovlich and his 500 NHL career goals, 1972 Summit Series hero Paul Henderson, Czech defector Vaclav "Big Ned" Nedomansky, and youngster Pat Hickey to the attack, and the Toros finished second again, winning 43 games. Tom Simpson, an original National from 1972, broke through with 52 goals. Unfortunately, the Toros lasted just a single round in the 1975 Playoffs, bumped by San Diego. Toronto fans had "embraced" the team on a conditional basis, certainly not ready to abandon the Maple Leafs quite yet. Attendance for the Toros, now playing at the Maple Leaf Gardens, was above 10,000 per game, but the per-game rental fee demanded by Ballard was one of the highest in the league. The bottom fell out from beneath the team in 1975-76. Despite the addition of rookie Mark Napier and former Leaf hero Bobby Baun as coach, the Toros lost 52 games and endured a league-record 17-game winless streak, which cost Baun his job. The offense was healthy, scoring 335 goals, but a team-wide lack of interest to back-check or play actual defense meant that 398 opponent pucks found the back of the Toronto net. Whatever support Toronto fans had for the Toros had evaporated. Bassett already sensed this, and seeking to get out from under Ballard's control, had already started looking for a new home for his team. Bassett had his eye on the southeast United States. He previously had business interests in Florida and had briefly owned the Memphis Southmen of the World Football League. He saw potential in this region where others did not. In June 1976, he moved his team to Birmingham, Alabama, rebranding the team as the Bulls. The 1976-77 Bulls were essentially the same team that had left Toronto a few months earlier. The Bulls gave up lots of goals and won about a third of their games. Vaclav Nedomansky scored 36 goals, and Mark Napier put in 60. A mid-season coaching change (Gilles Leger went back to the general manager role, replaced by Pat Kelly) gave the Bulls some life, but at season's end, the Bulls were still in last place in the Eastern Division, out of the playoffs again. The existence of the team now rested on the outcome of the 1977 WHA-NHL merger talks. If successful, the Bulls would be paid to fold. In August 1977, the vote was close, but not enough for approval. Two teams had folded outright in 1977 (San Diego and Phoenix) and a third would fold soon (Calgary), but Bassett's Birmingham Bulls would reassemble for the league's sixth season, now an eight-team league. Returning to the Bulls was the core of the 1976-77 team, minus Mark Napier, but now featuring two promising under-age players, Ken Linseman and Rod Langway. Unfortunately, the Bulls played more of the same hockey they had since 1975, in which the forwards lingered at center ice and the defense gave up its five goals a game. A month into the 1977-78 season, the Bulls had won just 2 of 14 games. Over a period of a few days in November 1977, the Bulls unloaded their top scorers in return for players with more colorful backgrounds. Vaclav Nedomansky and Tim Sheehy were sent to Detroit of the NHL in return for the rights to Dave "Killer" Hanson and Steve "Mental Case" Durbano. Frank "Seldom" Beaton signed as a free agent, joining carry-over Gilles "Bad News" Bilodeau. As their nicknames indicate, they were not known for playmaking. The Bulls now had a new identity: a team more than willing to hit, fight and brawl. The top four penalty-minute totals were occupied by Bulls players, and bench-clearing brawls were not uncommon. The Bulls were now the villains of the league ... but they were also winning more often too. In one of their first games together, the new-look Bulls destroyed Cincinnati by a 12-2 score, a game in which coach Sonmor started his tough guys to take the opening face-off. Predictably, a line brawl broke out at the 24-second mark, but the message was clear: these are the new Bulls, and beware. The team now had life, and led by Linseman's 76 points, Paul Henderson's 37 goals and John Garrett's 24 wins in nets, the Bulls were able to fight and intimidate their way to 36 wins and a playoff spot. They were quickly bumped by Winnipeg in the first round of the 1978 Playoffs, featuring a famous "fight" in the first game in which Dave Hanson inadvertently yanked off Bobby Hull's hairpiece during the scuffle. Hull would play the rest of the game wearing a helmet, with Hanson seeking his forgiveness. Merger negotiations failed to produce results in 1978, and the Bulls again convened for the 1978-79 season. Linseman and Langway had now graduated to the NHL, and goaltender John Garrett had signed with New England. To augment the roster, Bassett unabashedly raided the Juniors for six top-level players, collectively known as the Baby Bulls. Led by teenagers Rick Vaive, Michel Goulet, Louis Sleigher, Rob Ramage, Gaston Gingras and Pat Riggin, and their dependable veterans including Paul Henderson and goaltender Ernie Wakely, the 1978-79 Bulls played well, but not well enough to secure a playoff berth. Coached by legendary minor-league fighter John Brophy, the Bulls played hard but with restraint, not engaging in all-out brawls as in the previous season. Still, Vaive led the league in penalty minutes with 248, and Dave Hanson was fourth with 212. However, the fate of the Bulls was sealed in March 1979, when the NHL agreed to absorb four of the WHA teams the following season. The Bulls were not part of the merger, and were folded at the season's close, one of just five teams to endure for the entire seven-year run of the WHA. Although the Bulls never had a winning record, their legacy lived on for many years, as many of the teenagers who once skated for Birmingham went on to illustrious careers in the NHL. Ken Linseman played many seasons in Philadelphia and later with Edmonton, winning the Stanley Cup in 1984. Rob Ramage would play for many teams, retiring in 1994 and the only former WHA player to play with a 1990s-era expansion team. Rick Vaive would score 50 goals in three successive seasons for Toronto in the 1980s, and a total of 441 goals in his NHL career. Gaston Gingras, Pat Riggin and Craig Hartsburg would all have lengthy and productive careers in the NHL. However, two Bulls in particular deserve mention: Rod Langway (a member of the 1977-78 team) and Michel Goulet (a Baby Bull of 1978-79). Both had long and productive careers in the NHL, and both were rewarded with induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, a lasting legacy of the short-lived Birmingham Bulls.

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• Article: Color of Hockey: Alton White (The Hockey News), by William Douglas — March 8, 2020
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