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28-659: The Totems were one of the few American-based professional clubs to play a touring Soviet team. On December 25, 1972, the Totems lost to the Soviets 9–4. A rematch between the two teams was held on January 4, 1974, where, led by Don Westbrooke's three goals, the Totems won 8–4. After World War II, the Pacific Coast Hockey League (PCHL), a major professional league on the West Coast in the 1910s and 1920s,

56-793: A traveling team before being moved to Tacoma, Washington , to become the Tacoma Tigers . From 1932 to 1935, no league called the PCHL existed, although teams from the first PCHL joined the Western Canada Hockey League or the North West Hockey League . In 1936, the Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver franchises of the North West Hockey League joined with the Oakland Clippers to re-form

84-877: The California Golden Seals in June, the NHL pulled the expansion franchise from Seattle. Abbey filed suit against the NHL and the Canucks for anti-trust violations that he alleged prevented him from acquiring a team; it was finally settled in favor of the NHL in 1986. In 2018, the NHL again awarded Seattle an NHL team, the Seattle Kraken , which began play in 2021. Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes Pacific Coast Hockey League The Pacific Coast Hockey League

112-672: The Colorado Rockies . Before the end of the month, Bud Poile became league president and would hold the job until the CHL folded in 1984. For the 1974–75 season, the CHL absorbed three teams, the Denver Spurs , Salt Lake Golden Eagles , and Seattle Totems , from the folding Western Hockey League . Salt Lake would stay in the league until the end and would continue in the International Hockey League for

140-606: The Pittsburgh Penguins were sold in a bankruptcy auction for $ 4.4 million in June 1975. The Totems folded following the 1974–75 CHL season after acquiring $ 2 million in debt, leaving the city without hockey for the first time in two decades; the Seattle Breakers (now the Thunderbirds) would begin play in 1977 in the junior Western Canada Hockey League . After a failed attempt by Abbey to purchase

168-670: The St. Paul Rangers ( New York Rangers ). The only NHL team without a CHL affiliate that year, the Toronto Maple Leafs , joined the league through its affiliation with the Tulsa Oilers in the CHL's second season. After Adams's death, Emory Jones served as interim president until the appointment of lawyer Joe Kane in August 1968. Kane announced the league was changing its name on September 26, 1968, dropping Professional from

196-462: The 1948–49 season, only four of the previous season's players remained, leaving the roster to be replaced by amateur players from Tacoma and the team to finish last in its division. Over its existence, the Ironmen's most notable stars were Gordon Kerr , the team's leading scorer in those years with 235 points in 244 games, William Robinson , Eddie Dartnell and Joe Bell . Among other notables for

224-516: The 1976–77 season. A $ 180,000 deposit was due by the end of 1975 and the total franchise fee was $ 6 million. Additionally, Abbey had to repurchase the shares in the Totems held by the Vancouver Canucks , who were using the minor-league Totems as a farm club. The expansion announcement also included a franchise for Denver , and with the loss of two more of its major markets, the WHL announced on

252-558: The 1984–85 season, after the CHL ceased operations. Denver and Seattle were admitted to the CHL as a steppingstone for their eventual admission to the NHL in 1976; however, the league never followed through on the expansion, and both teams folded after 1975. For 1979–80, the CHL added the Cincinnati Stingers and Birmingham Bulls , the two teams from the World Hockey Association that were not admitted to

280-720: The Americans, in 1958, saw the first time the franchise would win a playoff series. The Americans were renamed the Seattle Totems for the 1958–59 season, the name by which it would go for the rest of its existence. Fielder and Filion remained the team's great stars, but like many other WHL teams the Totems had very stable rosters, and players such as Marc Boileau , Gerry Leonard , Bill MacFarland , Jim Powers , Gordie Sinclair and future NHL coach and general manager Tom McVie spent many seasons each in Seattle colors. Allen

308-549: The Iron Workers additionally worked at the production lines of the U.S. Navy's Isaacson Steel plant in nearby Tukwila, Washington . When the club entered the new PCHL in its inaugural 1944–45 season, it was renamed the Seattle Ironmen and hired Frank Dotten as its new head coach. The club had modest success, finishing in first place in the 1947–48 regular season. When the league itself became fully professional for

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336-584: The NHL that year. Also during the 1979–80 season, the United States Olympic hockey team played games against each team in the CHL that counted in the standings. The team went on to win the gold medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics . In the 1983–84 season, both the U.S. and Canadian Olympic hockey teams played games in the CHL. The CHL's final champions, the Tulsa Oilers, were left without a home during their championship 1983–84 season when

364-579: The PCHL renamed itself the Western Hockey League before the start of the 1952–1953 season. The PCHL championship trophy was the President's Cup . 1945: Seattle Ironmen 1946: Vancouver Canucks 1947: Los Angeles Monarchs 1948: Vancouver Canucks 1949: San Diego Skyhawks 1950: New Westminster Royals 1951: Victoria Cougars 1952: Saskatoon Quakers Central Professional Hockey League The Central Professional Hockey League

392-591: The Pacific Coast Hockey League. The Clippers relocated to Spokane in their first year. The Spokane Clippers disbanded for the 1939–40 season, but reappeared the next year as the Spokane Bombers . The league disbanded after the 1941 season, primarily as a result of World War II . 1937: Portland Buckaroos 1938: Seattle Seahawks 1939: Portland Buckaroos 1940: Vancouver Lions 1941: Vancouver Lions The final incarnation of

420-407: The founders of the earlier Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) as president. The Vancouver Lions won the league's championship all three seasons and played in all five seasons of the second version of the league, winning its final two championships in 1940 and 1941. The Victoria Cubs ' arena, Patrick Arena , was destroyed by fire in 1929, after which the club continued for one season as

448-787: The league was managed by Hockey Hall of Fame member Al Leader , and grew out of combining teams from the Southern California Hockey League and the Northwest International Hockey League . The PCHL was founded as an amateur loop, partly because the National Hockey League recognized Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) founder Lester Patrick as the territorial rights holder for professional hockey in Vancouver , Portland , and Seattle . In 1948, however,

476-539: The only bright spot was the debut for Seattle of the greatest minor league scorer of all time, Guyle Fielder . After two seasons of increasing travel costs—for which the Bombers received aid from the league—Seattle suspended operations for the 1955 season. The team rejoined the WHL as the Seattle Americans the following season, finishing in first place in 1957 led by a tremendous season by Fielder, who broke

504-672: The previous year's EPHL teams, while the fifth came from the International Hockey League . Its founding president was Jack Adams , who served in the role until his death in 1968. The CHL's championship trophy was called the Adams Cup in his honor. In the league's first season, all five teams were affiliated with an NHL club. The CHL initially consisted of the Indianapolis Capitals ( Detroit Red Wings ), Minneapolis Bruins ( Boston Bruins ), Omaha Knights ( Montreal Canadiens ), St. Louis Braves ( Chicago Black Hawks ) and

532-431: The professional single season scoring record with 122 points en route to Most Valuable Player honors and the first of four straight scoring championships for Seattle. Among other notables for the Americans were Val Fonteyne , notable as the least penalized player of all time, future Vezina winner Charlie Hodge , and future National Hockey League general managers Emile Francis and Keith Allen . The team's final season as

560-502: The same day that it was folding. The Totems joined the Central Hockey League for 1974–75. After missing a number of deadlines while scrambling to secure financing, the NHL threatened to pull the franchise as there were a number of other suitors in the wings. Abbey allegedly passed on an opportunity to purchase a WHA team for $ 2 million during this period, and he missed an opportunity to acquire an existing franchise when

588-458: The team owners went into receivership. The league stepped in to keep the team operating, and the Oilers played all their games on the road from mid-February through the end of the playoffs. Their Cup-winning game on April 27, 1984, was the last game played in the CHL. The league folded the following month. * There were two separate franchised that were called 'Omaha Knights' ‡ Oilers team

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616-513: The team were future NHL star goaltender Al Rollins and legendary Philadelphia Flyers coach Fred Shero . The Ironmen served as inspiration for the 2022 Reverse Retro alternate uniform for the NHL's Seattle Kraken . In 1952, the league changed its name to the Western Hockey League (WHL), and the Ironmen themselves changed their name to the Seattle Bombers the following season. The team continued to play poorly for two seasons, and

644-491: The ten team league voted to turn pro, and was recognized as such by the NHL. Before the start of the 1951–1952 season, the PCHL had dwindled to a six team league. The neighbouring Western Canada Senior Hockey League (WCSHL), which played minor senior hockey on the Canadian prairies , had also dwindled, to just three franchises. The three WCSHL franchises turned professional and joined the PCHL for 1951–1952. One year later,

672-474: The title. He served one year as president, retiring in June 1969. Kane was succeeded by Jones, who held the job until retiring in 1974. Max McNab served as league president from 1974 until becoming general manager of the Washington Capitals during his second season. Ray Miron was hired as president in August 1976, but resigned less than three weeks later to accept the job as general manager of

700-636: Was a minor professional ice hockey league that operated in the United States from 1963 to 1984. Named the Central Hockey League for the 1968–69 season and forward, it was owned and operated by the National Hockey League and served as a successor to the Eastern Professional Hockey League , which had folded after the 1962–63 season. Four of the CHL's initial franchises were, in fact, relocations of

728-468: Was an ice hockey minor league with teams in the western United States and western Canada that existed in three incarnations: from 1928 to 1931, from 1936 to 1941, and from 1944 to 1952. The first incarnation of the PCHL had four teams and lasted three seasons. Brothers Frank Patrick and Lester Patrick , financed by their wealthy lumberman father Joseph Patrick , founded it and operated franchises in Vancouver and Victoria , with Frank, one of

756-742: Was resurrected as a semi-professional loop. Seattle, as a notably strong hockey town and the first city outside of Canada to host a Stanley Cup champion (the 1917 Seattle Metropolitans ), was granted two franchises, one of which were the Seattle Ironmen . The club had been founded as an amateur team the previous year in the Northwest Industrial Hockey League, where they were known as the Seattle Isaacson Iron Workers . As NIHL teams were operated by war industry companies, most players for

784-420: Was the team's coach its first seven seasons as the Totems, guiding the team to a first-place finish in 1959 and to the playoffs six out of the seven years of his tenure. The Totems played the 1974–75 season in the Central Hockey League after the WHL folded. On June 12, 1974, the National Hockey League (NHL) announced that a Seattle group headed by Vince Abbey had been awarded an expansion team to begin play in

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