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

Video: Paul Shmyr 1977 WHA All Star Game Interview

San Diego Mariner Paul Shmyr interviewed at 1977 WHA All Star Game by Bob Lamey.

Profile: Gerry Cheevers, Cleveland Crusaders

A very entertaining article by Greg Popelka at the ClevelandFan.com

It’s one of the rich images of baseball: a ten-year-old, listening to games on a transistor radio, during times when he should not be doing so. For example, during the school day, or in bed after lights-out. I was that youngster, back in the day. Only, during winter, I was just as likely to be hiding the radio under the pillow while listening to the call of noted announcer Steve Albert (brother of Marv and Kenny) of the Cleveland Crusaders.

As with much of the late 20th century sports landscape in Cleveland, the Crusaders were the product of the vision and effort of noted local sports tycoon, Nick Mileti. Mileti has been hailed as a local hero, receiving credit for helping to keep the Cleveland Indians from moving to a market such as New Orleans in the 1970s. He built the Coliseum in Richfield, a very nice venue for concerts and sporting events, and which emphasized the quality of individual seats vs. the corporate loges.  The “Big House on the Prairie”, as it was known, was in the middle of a, uh, prairie, south of Cleveland and accessible to Akron and Columbus as well. 

Mileti owned the Cleveland Barons, which had had decades of International Hockey League success during the days of the “original six” NHL teams: the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins, New York Rangers, and the Chicago Blackhawks. Not exactly the original teams or team names, but these were the traditional NHL franchises. They formed the backbone of the league into the 1970s.

Rich Leduc, Three others Named to Quebec League Hall of Fame

The Quebec Major Hockey League's Hall of Fame is growing by four new members. The league announced yesterday that Gilbert Delorme, Richard Leduc and Yanic Perreault are joining the player category, while Maurice Tanguay will be inducted in the builder category. All four will officially take their place in the Hall on March 31 in Montreal.

Leduc played two seasons with the Trois Rivières Ducs, scoring 117 goals and 166 assists in 114 games from 1969 to 1971. In 1971, the California Golden Seals selected him 29th overall in the NHL draft and he went on to play 10 seasons in the American Hockey League, World Hockey Association and the NHL.

Born in Ile Perrot, Quebec, LeDuc scored 117 goals in two seasons of junior with the Trois Rivieres Ducs. He spent most of his first two pro seasons with the AHL's Boston Braves and accumulated 57 goals. The young pivot was a solid role player for the Bruins in 1973-74 and played in five post-season contests when the club reached the finals.

Gerry Cheevers Cleveland Crusaders 1972-73 Profile Part 2

Gerry Cheever and the Cleveland Crusaders shut out the New England Whalers

Gerry Cheevers Cleveland Crusaders vs. Whalers 1972-73

Gerry Cheevers:  The WHA Years 1972-1975

Courtesy of Hockey Legends

The world of professional hockey changed in 1972 with the birth of the World Hockey Association. "The WHA came along and everything was helter skelter," Gerry remembers. Cheevers was selected by New England in the inaugural WHA draft, but was traded to the Cleveland Crusaders prior to the WHA's debut season. "I had wonderful days in Cleveland. I would never trade them in." It seemed rather peculiar that Gerry, just after having won a second Stanley Cup with a dominant Bruins line-up, would leave for other pastures. "I was struggling to make the money I thought I deserved with the Bruins," Cheevers explains. "They had a negotiator who was a pretty hardcore guy. He was a lawyer and didn't know much about hockey." During that heady 1971-72 season, Gerry Cheevers was only in goal for five Bruins' losses. "They offered me a very minimal raise. It sort of hit me. I called Tommy Johnson, who was our coach, and said, 'Tommy, I can't take this. I've got an offer that'll stagger you.' He said, 'Don't do anything. Come back in three or four days,' so I cam back in three or four days and Tommy said, 'I'm here to offer you whatever the other team offered you.' I told him what Cleveland offered and he said, 'Can't do it, Gerry. Do they need a coach?'"

Cheevers was in a dilemma. "I was negotiating with Nick Miletti in Cleveland — a great man — and the Bruins came up a little bit, but it wasn't even fifty percent of Cleveland's offer. I'm the type of guy who spends six or seven years in one place and then am ready to move on so I went to Cleveland and met a whole new group of guys." Gerry already knew a few of the Crusaders through his Boston Bruins affiliation — he had played with Bob Dillabough, Skip Krake and Ron Buchanan previously, but met a number of new teammates who became lifelong friends. "Paul Shmyr was there. Gerry Pinder. Great players plus a bunch of kids who would never have gotten a chance if not for the WHA. Bobby Whidden, the other goaltender, is a great friend of mine to this day," smiles Cheevers. "We competed hard and went to the semi-finals a couple of years."

But Cleveland wasn't the final stop for the all-star netminder. "There was a money crunch there and people don't act too rationally, regardless of whether you're the owner or a player. None of us acted too wisely. Boston (Bruins) was struggling in goal after four-and-a-half years. I met with them privately and they told me they would like to have me back. But those WHA days were great days. The bottom line of the WHA was 'Mission accomplished.' Four teams became NHL teams. It brought international players into the mix, salaries rose. It gave jobs to 150 or more players but it eventually brought an extra hundred players into the NHL," Cheevers states.