WHA Hockey.TV: A Tribute to the Legends of the World Hockey Association by Mark Willand

Alton White Breaks WHA Color Barrier

By Hockey Blog In Canada

Do you know who the gentleman is pictured to the left? If you don't, that's ok. I'm here to tell you. The NHL doesn't recognize any of the records set in the WHA by any player simply because the NHL doesn't recognize its largest rival to date. The WHA was the "rogue league" - a league whose players wouldn't be included in any international event that the NHL was included in. Because of this, there are a large number of records that have gone unrecognized despite the WHA having some impressive records set. The man to the left is a man who set a record that will never make a record book because of the NHL's unwillingness to acknowledge anything WHA. However, the man to left - Alton White - will be recognized here because of what he did.

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Obituary: Kevin O'Shea, Minnesota Fighting Saints

DURHAM, ONT -- Former Minnesota Fighting Saint Kevin O'Shea, died on Monday at the age of 62.

O'Shea joined his older brother, Danny, on the Oshawa Generals team in 1963-64, appearing in just the one game, but his hockey career took him to the highest level. His hockey resumé included playing two seasons at St. Lawrence University, representing Canada at the 1969 World Championships and spending the 1969-70 season with the WHL's San Diego Gulls. He was claimed by the Buffalo Sabres in the inter-league draft in June 1970.

 O'Shea played parts of two seasons with the Sabres and another couple of seasons with the St. Louis Blues. The winger played 133 regular season games and another 12 in the playoffs. He also played in the WHL with Denver, Phoenix and the WHA's Fighting Saints before finishing his career in Sweden in 1976.

After retiring at the age of 29, he enrolled in the University of Windsor's law school, specializing in labour relations.

He is the loving father of Kelly, Daniel and Alexandra.

A funeral will take place on Saturday at St. Mark's Roman Catholic Church in Stouffville, ONT at 10:30 a.m.

"Bullish Times In Birmin'ham" from the SI Vault

OFF THE ICE, ANYWAY, AS ALABAMANS DISCOVER THE HAT TRICK.

ON ICE, THE BULLS' MARKET HAS BEEN BEARISH

Peter Gammons, December 13, 1976

This is Birmin'ham, y'all. Sweet Home, Alabama. This is the heart of Dixie, where signs on street corners proclaim the city as the FOOTBALL CAPITAL OF THE SOUTH, where grits 'n' biscuits 'n' gravy come with breakfast and where the smoke from the chimneys of the steel, coal and natural-gas mills smudges the skyline. And, now, where one or two nights a week in the lavish Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Coliseum two flags hang from the scoreboard clock. One is the Stars and Stripes of the U.S.. The other? No, not the Confederate flag. The Maple Leaf of Canada.

In its 82nd year, hockey has discovered Alabama. The team is the WHA's Birmingham Bulls—formerly known as the Ottawa Nationals and the Toronto Toros—and while none of the Bulls is as popular as one of Bear Bryant's centers, the townsfolk seem fascinated by the funny new game. "We don't understand all that swishy-swishy they do with the puck," says Mike Summers, a local construction worker, "but as long as they kick some butts and win once in a while, they're the greatest thing to come here to Birmin'ham."

So, not surprisingly, the darlin' of Dixie is not an old NHLer like Frank Mahovlich or Paul Henderson, a kid star like Mark Napier or a Czechoslovakian refugee like Vaclav Nedomansky, but a 5'7", 170-pound roughneck named Leapin' Louie Nistico. Leapin' Louie and the Bulls regularly fill about half the seats in the 16,753-seat Coliseum, but so far they lead the WHA in only two departments: payroll and losses. They are in last place in the WHA's Eastern Division with an 8-20-1 record.

January 11, 2010: The 35th Anniversary of the Whalers First Game in Hartford

The Hartford Courant, January 11, 1975, by Tom Hine

The many years of waiting have long since disappeared. It's now only a matter of hours. The City of Hartford is on the major league sports map, and the New England Whalers have a home of their own. It culminates at 7:30 tonight when the first WHA hockey puck is dropped at center ice in the two-day-old Hartford Civic Center. And Hartford...and the Whalers...couldn't be happier.

It's been a long road. That's exactly where the Whalers have spent most of the last three month. On the road. Even their 13 games in West Springfield were away from home, only a temporary residence for a major league hockey team that awaited ever so patiently for the final touches on a new Civic Center they'll move into tonight.

The San Diego Mariners are listed as the Whalers' first Hartford foes, but most of the fans don't know it. The 10,507 who bought tickets to assure a sellout tonight over ten days ago could care less who the Whalers are playing. They just want to be there when it happens. Fancy words like icing, blue lines, red lines, creases, offsides...that will all come later. Teams like the Jets, Aeros, Nordiques, Fighting Saints, Roadrunners..that will all come later, too. And names like Abrahamsson, Swain, Fotiu, Ley, Webster, Pleau...they, too, may be unfamiliar to most patrons, but they'll be household words in only a short time. Hartford wanted major league hockey, and it will have it tonight.