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DETAILS |
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Name |
Cincinnati
Stingers I |
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Operated |
1973-1979 |
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League |
World
Hockey Association |
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Home Arena |
Riverfront
Coliseum (U.S. Bank
Arena) |
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Championships |
None |
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STATISTICS |
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SEASON |
LEAGUE |
GP |
W |
L |
T |
OTL |
SOL |
PTS |
PCT |
RANK |
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Did not play |
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Did not play. |
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1975-76 |
WHA |
80 |
35 |
44 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
71 |
.444 |
4 |
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1976-77 |
WHA |
81 |
39 |
37 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
83 |
.512 |
2 |
|
1977-78 |
WHA |
80 |
35 |
42 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
73 |
.456 |
7 |
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1978-79 |
WHA |
80 |
33 |
41 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
72 |
.450 |
5 |
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None |
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1973-74 |
1974-75 |
1975-76 |
1976-77 |
1977-78 |
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1978-79 |
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1973-74 |
1974-75 |
1975-76 |
1976-77 |
1977-78 |
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1978-79 |
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In
1972, a new major hockey league sprung up known
as the World Hockey Association. The rebel
league was organized by Gary Davidson and Dennis
Murphy, who were also the same entrepreneurs
that established the moderately successful
American Basketball Association. The WHA hoped
to capitalize on a number of major cities that
were devoid of NHL teams. The league became an
attractive option for many NHL players because
the WHA were offering players large contracts
and did not recognize the reserve clause. One of
the first large contracts was a ten-year deal
given to NHL superstar Bobby Hull worth $1.75
million. With the average NHL player salary
hovering around $22,000 per year, a
million-dollar hockey contract was unheard of at
the time.
After a few years of establishing itself and
creating its own identity, the WHA continued to
grow. One pivotal reason for the league's growth
was that there were new arenas being built in
cities devoid of a major league hockey team.
These cities wanted tenants. So while the NHL
was more demanding in setting forth conditions
for entry into their league, the WHA saw
opportunity. As long as an attractive arena was
located in the city of question, the WHA would
gladly accept a franchise bid.
Meanwhile Cincinnati lawyer Brian Heekin and a
young Bill DeWitt Jr. set out to bring an NHL
team to the Queen City. The DeWitt name was well
known in Cincinnati due to the fact that Bill
DeWitt Sr. was a former owner of the Cincinnati
Reds. Bill DeWitt Jr. began to follow in his
father's footsteps by investing in the ABA's
Kentucky Colonels and becoming a minority owner
of the American Hockey League's Cincinnati
Swords. When he and Brian Heekin began eyeing an
NHL team, their problem was that they had no
arena. City officials agreed to subsidize a new
arena for a National Hockey League team only,
but DeWitt and Heekin would ultimately lose in
their bid for an expansion team in the senior
league.
Despite the failure of landing an expansion
team, the NHL did place Cincinnati at the top of
the list for future considerations. The problem
was that the league had no plans to expand in
the near future. So DeWitt and Heekin turned to
the World Hockey Association, a league they
initially frowned upon, with hopes that the two
major leagues would eventually merge. However,
city officials were not thrilled with the
prospect of building a new arena for a team that
played in a rebel league barely two years old.
If Heekin and DeWitt wanted an arena for a WHA
team, they'd have to come up with the cash on
their own.
After eighteen long months, local banks agreed
to buy $20 million in construction bonds for a
new arena to be opened in time for the 1975-76
hockey season. On May 6, 1973, the World Hockey
Association granted it's first expansion club to
Cincinnati. Heekin would be in charge of the
building while DeWitt would run the team and be
the exclusive negotiator of player contracts.
Since the Cincinnati club had no place to play
until 1975, the franchise remained sidelined
until the opening of their new building. Despite
the downtime, the organization still
participated in the amateur drafts and signed
players to minor league contracts leading up to
their inaugural season. Some players were sent
to the Hampton Gulls of the Southern Hockey
League, while others would be loaned out to
other WHA clubs. For instance, Dennis Sobchuk
and John Hughes were both sent to the Phoenix
Roadrunners for the 1974-75 season and would
play there until the Cincinnati club was ready
to reclaim them. It was in 1974 when Cincinnati
adopted the team nickname "Stingers".
When the club finally hit the ice the reception
was average at best. For their first season, the
club's attendance would go up and down with some
nights pulling in over 10,000 fans while other
nights they would draw only 3,000. By the end of
their inaugural season the Stingers averaged
about 7,700 fans per game. While the average
increased slightly for the following season, the
Stingers draw was never huge. The brand of
hockey that the WHA offered was a far tougher
sell then the NHL. That coupled with the fact
that league was highly unstable. Talks about a
merger appeared between the WHA and the NHL
following the 1976-77 season. Stingers owner
Bill DeWitt Jr. and New England Whalers owner
Howard Baldwin led the effort for the WHA and an
agreement was reached that would have put the
Cincinnati Stingers along with the New England
Whalers, Winnipeg Jets, Quebec Nordiques,
Edmonton Oilers and Houston Aeros in the NHL for
the 1977-78 season. All six WHA clubs would
remain intact and play in an NHL division
together. This division would then slowly evolve
towards a full interlocked schedule in the
senior league over five years, but the proposal
ultimately failed when NHL owners voted on the
merger. The merger failed by one vote.
The WHA and the Stingers limped through two more
seasons and by the final season (1978-79), the
league which at one point had fourteen teams was
now down to six. A new merger proposal was set
forth and eventually accepted by the NHL. The
new merger proposal, with a price tag of $6
million dollars for each franchise, saw the NHL
expand into New England (Hartford), Quebec,
Winnipeg and Edmonton. These expansion clubs
would replace their WHA clubs. Stingers
ownership had the opportunity to join in the NHL
expansion but, along with the Birmingham Bulls,
they accepted a buy-out fee instead. Both clubs
were given a cash payment of $3.15 million each.
Cincinnati's players would then be distributed
among Edmonton, Quebec, Hartford and Winnipeg.
The other existing NHL teams then stepped in and
had the option of reclaiming the rights to most
of the players that they had lost to WHA clubs.
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