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Outlaw Hockey: The rise and fall of the West Texas Hockey League
The appellation Outlaw Hockey is generally not well regarded. Although several such organizations have come and gone, none truly represented the sport in its era than the WTHL of 1971-1975. The actual definition is a league that's existence is against the well respected hockey classes in Canada and the United States.
In 1925, the PCHL and the EHL merged their competitions and organized the first Trans-Continental Cup. Twelve years later the first discussion began on how to run the necessary minor league levels. From 1937-38 on, there have been 4 classes of hockey. A Class to D Class operate on different levels. For instance, A class is the highest level, B class is second, C class is the lowest fully professional level, where as D class is essentially Major Junior Hockey.
The Southwest League, a C class competition mainstay, burst on to the scene in 1956, with the opening of several hockey compatible arenas in the Southwest of the United States. Its best team for those initial years were the Phoenix Vipers and the talented but poorly funded Santa Fe Senors. The 1958 Cranmer Cup, ( the SWL's Title) was finished in an overtime game as the Capitol Arena in front of 700 die hard locals. Though the crowd was small it would be close to the nadir of the Southwest League in its history.
Following a boom in the popularity of Hockey, the first true Outlaw Hockey League was formed in the United States Hockey Association, a rebel league attempting to break into the A class. With more players needed, three out of the Six SWL immediately folded and needed to bring in new funding to survive. As such,going into the last season of the SWL in 1970-71, the league was looking moribund and folded six weeks into the season.
With the death of the Southwest League, there was a rush to take advantage of the three year old USHA, and move some of the markets to become Class B to the USHA. As such, going into the 1971-72 professional season, the West Texas Hockey League was formed, with five teams for the first season, with four teams in Texas and one in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The next post will discuss the teams and their place going into the first year of West Texas hockey, here is the lineup
Santa Fe Senors
Midland Cowboys
El Paso Padres
Lubbock Canucks
Amarillo Eskimos
- TheEnigmaticOne
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Re: Outlaw Hockey: The rise and fall of the West Texas Hockey League
Santa Fe Senors
Santa Fe is a holdover from the defunct SWL, and has seemingly addressed certain problems. For one the Capitol Arena, with the construction of a new basketball arena, has been fully renovated to be a hockey only venue. The fanbase has grown, but still seems small for an aspirant B Class squad. As a part of the leagues contract system with the USHA, players from A class can be sent down to the WTHL and other affiliate leagues, without going to a specific squad. Most of their current squad are holdovers as well, but it seems in need of new blood if its going to last in this new venture.
Midland Cowboys
Midland, Texas has never had a hockey team before the Cowboys were formed in 1969-70. They have accrued some local interest in the form of ticket sales, and have a small but steady fanbase. The Cowboys have one rule, Beat Lubbock, and that motto inspires fans to come to games.
El Paso Padres
Though the largest market by far, Hockey is only a passing fad and has yet to attract a fanbase. The new team has one thing backing them, good old oil money. The Padres have hired the most former A class talent, with all star goalie Kaiser Kitchener of Moncton, NB anchoring the team as both part owner and player coach.
Lubbock Canucks
The city of Lubbock has had Ice hockey since the Lubbock Fieldhouse was constructed in the late 1939 season. As the Lubbock Bucks they were SWL champions three times (1946, 1951, 1968) and had sufficient funding until they were folded with the death of the SWL. As such, for the purposes of the new WTHL, the new owner, former football star from Lubbock Central, Warren Cliff, owner of a string of Car washes, bought an entire B class team from Canada. This team, which had last played as the Cape Breton Bearcats of the Quebec League, was flown down to Texas to begin play. The team was immediately named the Canucks by the cities papers after the news of the relocation were finalized. The team is expected to be the best talented squad in the league.
Amarillo Eskimos
Eskimos Hockey first came to the hockey scene as a D Class market. Its team, the Eskimos, had some success, but operated in the youth category from its formation in 1950 until management chose to jump to the rebel B class and brought the Eskimos to play in the Amarillo Ice Palace.
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Thread Starter- TheEnigmaticOne
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Re: Outlaw Hockey: The rise and fall of the West Texas Hockey League
TCL 1971-72 Pacific Coast Conference
Seattle Sea Serpents
Portland Rosebuds
Vancouver Victory: Sometimes referred to as the V's
Los Angeles Blades
San Francisco Seals
Oakland Oaks
Eastern Conference
New York Citizens
Toronto Tecumsehs
Montreal Wanderer
Chicago Zephyrs
Boston Bees
Philadelphia Ramblers
USHA 1971-72
Eastern Conference
New York Metros
Birmingham Dixie Flyers
New England Clippers
Pittsburgh Privateers
Cincinnati Czars
Western Conference
Houston Hawks
Omaha Mavericks
Saint Louis Archers
Chicago Wind
Detroit Dynamo
These are the A Class teams going into the first year of the USHA. If you have any questions about names and team history I'd be happy to answer. This is simply to help set the scene, as the TL is mainly set in B Class.
Last edited by TheEnigmaticOne (10/07/2024 7:03 pm)
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