The Houston Aeros were a professional ice hockey team in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972 to 1978.
62-617: Houston Aeros may refer to: Houston Aeros (WHA) , a World Hockey Association team in the 1970s Houston Aeros (1994–2013) , a team in the International Hockey League and the American Hockey League Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Houston Aeros . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
124-568: A charter member of the WHA. However, Dayton residents were indifferent at best to a WHA team, and while there were questions regarding whether a U.S. market with less than a million people and a stagnating economy would support a major league hockey franchise in the long term, the more critical short-term problem was that Dayton did not have a suitable arena. The largest arena in the city, the University of Dayton Arena , did not have an ice plant and
186-405: A line with Hodge and Wayne Cashman , became the league's top goal scorer and the first NHL player to break the 100-point mark, setting many goal- and point-scoring records. With other stars like forwards Bucyk, John McKenzie , Derek Sanderson , and Hodge, defenders like Dallas Smith and goaltender Gerry Cheevers , the "Big Bad Bruins" became one of the league's top teams from the late 1960s into
248-924: A loss to the Ottawa Senators in a make-up game following the Boston Marathon bombing on April 28 gave the Canadiens the division title. In the opening round of the 2013 playoffs , the Bruins took on the Toronto Maple Leafs, defeating them in seven games. They went on to beat the New York Rangers in five games and the Pittsburgh Penguins in a four-game sweep to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals and
310-1021: A professional ice hockey team based in Boston . The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference . The team has been in existence since 1924 , making them the third-oldest active team in the NHL, and the oldest in the United States. The Bruins are one of the " Original Six " NHL teams, along with the Detroit Red Wings , Chicago Blackhawks , Montreal Canadiens , New York Rangers , and Toronto Maple Leafs . They have won six Stanley Cup championships, tied for fourth-most of any team with
372-633: A proposal from the owners of the Minnesota North Stars to buy the Barons franchise and "merge" it with their own. Having run out of options, Schnitzer folded the Aeros on July 9, 1978. In doing so, the Aeros became the only WHA champion that did not eventually join the NHL. Bill Dineen was the Aeros' head coach during their entire stay in the WHA. Among the players for the Aeros were Gordie Howe and his two sons Mark and Marty , who became
434-619: A record which still stands) because of a 38–5–1 record, and shattered numerous scoring records, but lost to the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Finals . The 1930s Bruins teams included Shore, Thompson, Clapper, Babe Siebert and Cooney Weiland . The team led the league five times in the decade. In 1939 , the team captured its second Stanley Cup. That year, Thompson was traded for rookie goaltender Frank Brimsek . Brimsek had an award-winning season, capturing
496-511: Is now third. However, they missed out on the third and final playoff berth by one point to the expansion Pittsburgh Pirates . In their third season , Ross took advantage of the collapse of the Western Hockey League (WHL) to purchase several western stars, including the team's first great star, defenseman Eddie Shore . With the Bruins, he would go on to become one of the greatest players in NHL history. Boston qualified for
558-486: The 1939–40 season , Shore was traded to the struggling New York Americans for his final NHL season. In 1941, the Bruins won their third Stanley Cup after losing only eight games and finishing first in the regular season. It was their last Stanley Cup for 29 years. World War II affected the Bruins more than most teams; Brimsek and the "Krauts" all enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force following
620-505: The 1974 Stanley Cup Finals in an upset to the Philadelphia Flyers . Don Cherry stepped behind the bench as the new coach in 1974–75 . The Bruins stocked themselves with enforcers and grinders, and remained competitive under Cherry's reign, the so-called "Lunch Pail A.C"., behind players such as Gregg Sheppard , Terry O'Reilly , Stan Jonathan and Peter McNab . This would also turn out to be Orr's final full season in
682-614: The 1987–88 NHL season , the Bruins defeated their Original Six nemesis Montreal Canadiens in the playoffs. In 1991 and 1992 , the Bruins suffered two consecutive conference finals losses to the eventual Cup champion, the Pittsburgh Penguins . Starting from the 1992–93 NHL season onwards, the Bruins had not gotten past the second round of the playoffs until winning the Stanley Cup after the 2011 season . The 1992–93 season ended disappointingly. Despite finishing with
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#1732775526895744-655: The Art Ross Trophy , the Conn Smythe Trophy and the Hart Memorial Trophy , the only player to ever win four major awards in the same season. While Sinden temporarily retired from ice hockey before the 1970–71 season to enter business (he was replaced by ex-Bruins and Canadiens defenseman Tom Johnson ), the Bruins set dozens of offensive scoring records: they had seven of the league's top ten scorers—a feat not achieved before or since—set
806-669: The Montreal Canadiens each time), the Bruins mustered only four winning seasons between 1947 and 1967. They missed the playoffs eight consecutive years (1960 to 1967). On January 18, 1958, the first-ever black NHL player, Willie O'Ree , stepped onto the ice for the Bruins. He played in 45 games for the Bruins over the 1957–58 and 1960–61 seasons. The "Uke Line"—named for the Ukrainian heritage of Johnny Bucyk , Vic Stasiuk , and Bronco Horvath – came to Boston in 1957 and enjoyed four productive offensive seasons, heralding, along with scoring stalwarts Don McKenney and Fleming MacKell ,
868-562: The Vancouver Canucks , defeating them in seven games for the team's first Stanley Cup since 1972. The 2010–11 Bruins were the first team in NHL history to win a game 7 three times in the same playoff run. Following their Stanley Cup win, the Bruins lost Mark Recchi to retirement and Michael Ryder and Tomas Kaberle to free agency. The Bruins went on to finish second in the Eastern Conference with 102 points, winning
930-482: The Vezina and Calder Trophies , becoming the first rookie named to the NHL first All-Star team, and earning the nickname "Mr. Zero". The team skating in front of Brimsek included Bill Cowley , Shore, Clapper and "Sudden Death" Mel Hill (who scored three overtime goals in one playoff series), together with the " Kraut line " of center Milt Schmidt , right winger Bobby Bauer and left winger Woody Dumart . In
992-403: The 1941 Cup win, and lost the most productive years of their careers at war. Cowley, assisted by veteran player Clapper and Busher Jackson , became the team's remaining star. The NHL had by 1942 been reduced, for the next 25 years, to the six teams that would come to be called the " Original Six ". In 1944, Bruins' Herb Cain set the then-NHL record for points in a season with 82. However,
1054-473: The 1976 AVCO finals to the Winnipeg Jets, also in a sweep. In 1977, John Ziegler became president of the WHA's established rival, the National Hockey League , and shortly thereafter, initiated the first serious merger discussions with the WHA. Houston, along with Cincinnati , Winnipeg , New England , Quebec , and Edmonton applied for entry into the NHL. After a lengthy debate, NHL owners voted
1116-638: The 1980s. In 1970 , a 29-year Stanley Cup drought came to an end in Boston, as the Bruins defeated the St. Louis Blues in four games in the 1970 Stanley Cup Finals . Orr scored the game-winning goal in overtime to clinch the Stanley Cup. The same season was Orr's most awarded—the third of eight consecutive years he won the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the top defenseman in the NHL—and he won
1178-681: The Aeros became one of the most successful franchises in the WHA. They won four consecutive Western Division titles, from 1973–74 to 1976–77 seasons, and finished second in the Western Division in 1972–73 and third in the league in 1977–78 . They won the AVCO World Trophy in 1974 over the Chicago Cougars and in 1975 over the Quebec Nordiques , winning both series in four-game sweeps; and lost in
1240-621: The Blackhawks (trailing the Canadiens, Maple Leafs, and Red Wings, with 24, 13, and 11, respectively), and tied for second-most for an NHL team based in the United States. The Bruins have also won the Presidents' Trophy four times with their most recent win in 2022–23 featuring the Bruins with 135 points—the most in one season in NHL history. The first facility to host the Bruins was the Boston Arena (now known as Matthews Arena ),
1302-447: The Bruins did not make the playoffs that season. The stars returned from World War II for the 1945–46 season , and Clapper led the team back to the Stanley Cup Finals as player-coach . He retired as a player after the next season, becoming the first player to play twenty NHL seasons. Brimsek proved to be not as good as he was before the war, and after 1946 the Bruins lost in the first playoff round three consecutive years. After Brimsek
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#17327755268951364-462: The Bruins finishing seventh in the East, but lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils in five games. In 2003–04 , the Bruins won another division title and appeared to get past the first round for the first time in five years with a 3–1 series lead on the rival Canadiens. However, the Canadiens rallied back to win three consecutive games, upsetting the Bruins. The 2004–05 NHL season
1426-451: The Bruins lost their next 11 games and only managed a 6–24–0 record, finishing in last place in its first season. The Bruins played three more seasons at the Arena, after which they became the main tenant of Boston Garden . The Bruins improved in their second season to a winning 17–15–4 record, which originally held the record for the biggest single-season improvement in NHL history, and
1488-538: The Bruins to another Stanley Cup Finals appearance in 1988 against the Edmonton Oilers . The Bruins lost in a four-game sweep. Boston returned to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1990 (with Neely, Bourque, Craig Janney , Bobby Carpenter , and rookie Don Sweeney , and former Oilers goaltender Andy Moog and Reggie Lemelin splitting goaltending duties), but again lost to the Oilers, this time in five games. In
1550-518: The Bruins won the 2010 Winter Classic over the Philadelphia Flyers in a 2–1 overtime decision at Fenway Park , thus becoming the first home team to win an outdoor classic game. They finished in sixth place in the Eastern Conference, and a 2010 NHL playoff opening round appearance against the Buffalo Sabres, which they won 4–2. Boston became only the third team in NHL history to lose a playoff series after leading 3–0 when they lost in game 7 to
1612-400: The Bruins would miss the playoffs. The next season, Boston made the playoffs for the first of 29 consecutive seasons, an all-time record. The Bruins then obtained forwards Phil Esposito , Ken Hodge and Fred Stanfield from Chicago in a deal celebrated as one of the most one-sided in hockey history. Hodge and Stanfield became key elements of the Bruins' success, and Esposito, who centered
1674-646: The Canadiens. They subsequently moved into the FleetCenter, now known as the TD Garden . In the 1996 playoffs, the Bruins lost their first-round series to the Florida Panthers in five games. In 1997 , Boston missed the playoffs for the first time in 30 years (and for the first time in the expansion era), having set the North American major professional record for most consecutive seasons in
1736-558: The Chicago Blackhawks, falling in six games, with three going into overtime. In the 2013–14 season , the Bruins won the Presidents' Trophy after finishing first in the newly formed Atlantic Division with a record of 54–19–9 for 117 points. Their regular season success, however, would not translate into another conference finals appearance. Despite winning their first-round series against the Detroit Red Wings,
1798-463: The NHL record—as the Bruins made the Cup Finals once more, but lost in six games to Montreal. After that series, John Bucyk retired, holding virtually every Bruins' career longevity and scoring mark to that time. The 1979 semifinals series against the Canadiens proved to be Cherry's undoing. In the deciding seventh game, the Bruins, up by a goal, were called for having too many men on the ice in
1860-679: The Northeast Division title, but losing to the Washington Capitals in the first round of the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs in seven games. During the off-season preceding the lockout , Tim Thomas made his decision to sit out the 2012–13 season ; his rights were traded to the New York Islanders . The Bruins battled the Montreal Canadiens for leadership in the Northeast Division all season, before
1922-541: The Philadelphia Flyers. In the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs , the Bruins eliminated the Montreal Canadiens in seven games. On May 6, the Bruins swept the Philadelphia Flyers in four games to advance to the conference finals for the first time since 1992 . Boston then defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in seven games and advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1990 to face
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1984-510: The Rangers. The Bruins made the semifinals again, losing to the Flyers, before losing Orr as a free agent to Chicago in the off-season. Cheevers returned in 1977 , and the Bruins got past the Flyers in the semifinals, but were swept by the Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Finals . The story repeated itself in 1978 —with a balanced attack that saw Boston have 11 players with 20+ goal seasons, still
2046-438: The United States, and sold one to Boston grocery magnate Charles Adams . The team was one of the NHL's first expansion teams, and the first NHL team to be based in the United States. Adams' first act as owner was to hire Art Ross , a former star player and innovator, as general manager. Ross came up with "Bruins" for a team nickname, a name for brown bears used in classic folk tales. The team's nickname also went along with
2108-401: The face of the Bruins for over two decades. The Bruins made the playoffs every year through the 1980s behind stars such as Park, Bourque and Rick Middleton , and had the league's best record in 1982–83 behind a Vezina Trophy -winning season from ex-Flyers goaltender Pete Peeters , with 110 points, but fell short of making the Stanley Cup Finals. Bourque, Cam Neely and Keith Crowder led
2170-605: The final series of talks, it soon became evident that no merger of any sort would take place in time for the 1978–79 NHL season . It was also apparent that when there was a merger, the Aeros were not likely to be included. Schnitzer announced that the Aeros would not take part in the 1978–79 WHA season . He first applied for direct admission to the NHL, only to find the older league uninterested in such an expansion with so many of its existing franchises struggling. Finally, Schnitzer campaigned to be allowed to purchase an existing club and relocate it to Houston. The obvious candidate to move
2232-494: The first father/son combination to play together in professional hockey. When Mark Howe retired as a member of the Detroit Red Wings (his father's old team) in 1995, he was the last member of the Houston Aeros to be playing in the NHL. Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are
2294-473: The late stages of the third period. Montreal tied the game on the ensuing power play and won in overtime. Cherry was dismissed as head coach thereafter. The 1979–80 season saw a new head coach Fred Creighton , and also included a trade of goaltender Ron Grahame to the Los Angeles Kings for a first-round pick which was used to select Ray Bourque , one of the greatest defensemen of all-time and
2356-595: The league, before his knee injuries worsened, as well as the last time Orr and Esposito would finish 1–2 in regular season scoring. The Bruins placed second in the Adams Division, and lost to the Chicago Black Hawks in the first round of the 1975 playoffs , losing a best-of-three series, two games to one. Continuing with Sinden's rebuilding of the team, the Bruins traded Esposito and Carol Vadnais for Brad Park , Jean Ratelle and Joe Zanussi to
2418-488: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Houston_Aeros&oldid=947219890 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Houston Aeros (WHA) The Aeros were originally slated to play in Dayton, Ohio , as
2480-532: The logo was modified into the basic "spoked-B" form that was to be used thereafter. The 1950s began with Charles Adams' son Weston facing financial trouble. He was forced to accept a buyout offer from Walter A. Brown , the owner of the Boston Celtics and the Garden, in 1951. Although there were some instances of success (such as making the Stanley Cup Finals in 1953 , 1957 , and 1958 , only to lose to
2542-532: The merger. This left room for only one American team. The Aeros and Whalers were the only serious contenders, as they were the most stable of the American teams. Aeros owner Kenneth Schnitzer attempted to persuade Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs to support a merger that included the Aeros and not the Hartford-based Whalers. However, Jacobs, as one of the older league's most hard-line owners,
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2604-436: The playoffs in 2000–01 , and Keenan was let go. Center Jason Allison led the Bruins in scoring. The following season, 2001–02 , the Bruins won their first Northeast Division title since 1993 with a core built around Joe Thornton , Sergei Samsonov , Brian Rolston , Bill Guerin , Mike Knuble and Glen Murray . They lost in six games to the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the playoffs. The 2002–03 season found
2666-477: The playoffs. After a slow start to the 2008–09 season , the Bruins went on to have the best record in the Eastern Conference and qualified for the playoffs for the fifth time in nine years, facing the Canadiens in the playoffs for the fourth time during that span, defeating them in four games before losing in seven games to the Carolina Hurricanes in the conference semifinals. On January 1, 2010,
2728-411: The playoffs. During a game between the Bruins and the Vancouver Canucks on February 21, 2000, Marty McSorley was ejected for using his stick to hit Canucks forward Donald Brashear in the head, and subsequently suspended for what resulted in the rest of his career. After a mediocre start, the Bruins fired coach Pat Burns in favor of Mike Keenan . Despite a 15-point improvement, the Bruins missed
2790-552: The playoffs. The Bruins lost in the first round of the 1998 playoffs to the Washington Capitals in six games. In 1999, the Bruins defeated the Carolina Hurricanes in six games during the first round of the playoffs. Nevertheless, they would lose to the Sabres in six games in the second round of the playoffs. In the 1999–2000 season , the Bruins finished in last place in the Northeast Division and failed to qualify for
2852-425: The proposal down. Merger discussions resumed in 1978, and it again appeared that the Aeros, as one of the league's strongest teams, were an obvious candidate to join the NHL. Unfortunately for Houston, by this time Ziegler realized NHL owners would never vote to admit six teams and floated a proposal that would admit four WHA franchises. The WHA responded by insisting that all three of its Canadian teams be included in
2914-455: The record for wins in a season, and in a league that had never seen a 100-point scorer before the 1968–69 season , the Bruins had four that year. All four (Orr, Esposito, Bucyk and Hodge) were named First Team All-Stars. Boston were favored to repeat as Cup champions but lost to the Canadiens (and rookie goaltender Ken Dryden ) in seven games. While the Bruins were not quite as dominant the next season, Esposito and Orr were once again one-two in
2976-544: The scoring standings and Boston regained the Stanley Cup by defeating the New York Rangers in six games in the 1972 Stanley Cup Finals . The 1972–73 season saw upheaval for the Bruins. Former head coach Sinden became the general manager. Bruins players Gerry Cheevers , Derek Sanderson , Johnny McKenzie and Ted Green left to join the World Hockey Association (WHA). Coach Tom Johnson
3038-716: The second-best regular season record after Pittsburgh, Boston was swept in the first round by the Buffalo Sabres . Bourque made the NHL All-Star First Team. The 1995 season was the Bruins' last at the Boston Garden . The final official match played in the Garden was a 3–0 loss to the New Jersey Devils in the 1995 playoffs; the Bruins went on to play the final game at the old arena on September 28, 1995, in an exhibition matchup against
3100-566: The successful era of the late 1950s. There followed a long and difficult reconstruction period in the early to mid-1960s. Weston Adams repurchased the Bruins in 1964 after Brown's death. Adams signed future superstar defenseman Bobby Orr , who entered the league in 1966 . Orr was that season's winner of the Calder Memorial Trophy for Rookie of the Year and named to the second NHL All-Star Team. Despite Orr's stellar rookie season,
3162-405: The team fell to the Canadiens in seven games in the Eastern Conference semifinals during the 2014 playoffs . In the 2014–15 season , the Bruins finished with a record of 41–27–14 for 96 points, missing out on the playoffs by just two points after the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Ottawa Senators clinched the final two playoff spots in the East. The Bruins therefore became only the third team to miss
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#17327755268953224-406: The team finishing in last place in the division. After the disappointing 2006–07 season , Lewis was fired as coach, replaced by Claude Julien . The 2007–08 campaign saw the Bruins finish 41–29–12 and making the playoffs. Although Bruins center Patrice Bergeron was injured with a concussion most of the season, youngsters Milan Lucic , David Krejci and Vladimir Sobotka showed promise in
3286-479: The team's original uniform colors of brown and yellow, which came from Adams' grocery chain, First National Stores . On December 1, 1924, the Bruins won the first ever NHL game played in the United States, hosting the Montreal Maroons at Boston Arena , with Smokey Harris scoring the first-ever Bruins goal, spurring the Bruins to a 2–1 win. This would be one of the few high points of the season, as
3348-545: The then-expanded playoffs by a comfortable margin. In their first-ever playoff run, the Bruins reached the Stanley Cup Finals where they lost to the Ottawa Senators in the first Stanley Cup Finals between exclusively NHL teams. The Stanley Cup -winning game for the Senators would see Bruins' Billy Coutu attack the referee, earning him a ban from the NHL for life, the only in league history. The 1928–29 season
3410-464: The university balked at the cost of installing one. The largest hockey venue, Hara Arena , seated only 5,000 people—not enough even for temporary use. Due to these problems, owner Paul Deneau moved the team to Houston, Texas . Although the Aeros name had originally been chosen in honor of the Wright brothers , it was deemed appropriate for Houston given the importance of the space industry. In Houston,
3472-502: The world's oldest (built 1909–10) indoor ice hockey facility still in use for the sport at any level of competition . Following the Bruins' departure from the Boston Arena, the team played its home games at the Boston Garden for 67 seasons, beginning in 1928 and concluding in 1995 , when they moved to the TD Garden . In 1924, the NHL made the decision to expand to the United States. The previous year in 1923, sports promoter Thomas Duggan received options on three NHL franchises for
3534-445: Was fired 52 games into the season, replaced by Bep Guidolin . The Adams family, which had owned the team since its founding in the 1920s, sold it to Storer Broadcasting . The Bruins' season came to a premature end in a first-round loss to the Rangers in the 1973 playoffs . In 1974, the Bruins regained their first-place standing in the regular season, with three 100-point scorers on the team (Esposito, Orr, and Hodge). However, they lost
3596-537: Was opposed to any sort of merger with the WHA. In any event, Ziegler was cool to the idea of adding another Sun Belt NHL team. Of the three Sun Belt teams that had joined the league since 1967, one (the California Golden Seals ) had already relocated and another, the Atlanta Flames ) were struggling financially. The Flames, as it turned out, would move to Calgary two years later. During
3658-471: Was the Cleveland Barons (the former Golden Seals), who had barely survived the season and were on the verge of folding. Schnitzer believed the older league would accept almost any other proposal as an alternative to the perceived embarrassment of having to disband a franchise, and did come close to a deal to relocate the moribund Barons franchise to Houston. However, the NHL instead opted to approve
3720-406: Was the first played at Boston Garden . In 1929, the Bruins defeated the New York Rangers to win their first Stanley Cup in two games. Standout players on the first championship team included Shore, Harry Oliver , Dit Clapper , Dutch Gainor and goaltender Tiny Thompson . The season after that, 1929–30 , the Bruins posted the best-ever regular season winning percentage in the NHL (.875,
3782-422: Was traded to the Blackhawks, the only remaining quality young player was forward Johnny Peirson . During the 1948–49 season , the original form of the "spoked-B" logo, with a small number "24" to the left of the capital B signifying the calendar year in the 20th century in which the Bruins team first played, and a similarly small "49" to the right of the "B", appeared on their home uniforms. The following season,
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#17327755268953844-579: Was wiped out by a lockout , and Bruins management eschewed younger free agents in favor of older veterans. The Bruins fired general manager Mike O'Connell in March and the Bruins missed the playoffs for the first time in five years. Peter Chiarelli was hired as the new general manager of the team. Head coach Mike Sullivan was fired and Dave Lewis , former coach of the Detroit Red Wings, was hired to replace him. The Bruins signed star defenseman Zdeno Chara , and center Marc Savard . The 2006–07 season ended in
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