Vancouver Blazers

The Vancouver Blazers are a defunct professional team that played two seasons in the World Hockey Association. Established in 1973 after the Philadelphia Blazers relocated, the team was moved to Calgary in 1975 to become the Calgary Cowboys. 
==History==
The Philadelphia Blazers had experienced a very difficult beginning to their inaugural season, but actually finished it off very nicely. They had on their roster some of the brightest stars of the league in André Lacroix and Danny Lawson and future National Hockey League Hall of Famer Bernie Parent and qualified for the playoffs. However, Parent, discontent, left the team during the playoffs and the team was swept in four games by the Cleveland Crusaders. After a season very rich in emotions and twists of all kind, owners Bernard Brown and James Cooper sold their team to Jim Pattison, who promptly moved it to Canada.
Pattison knew that in order to compete with the Vancouver Canucks of the NHL, who happened to share the same arena, he needed to attract a major super-star to the team as Lacroix, who had lead the league in scoring the previous year, left for the New York Golden Blades of the WHA. Pattison tried, to no avail, to sign NHL star Phil Esposito offering him $2.5 million over 5 years. Esposito decided to stay with the Bruins for less money.
The team performed horribly in their first year with a dismal record of 27-50-1. The next season, 1974–75, brought back some respectability to the team as they finished only two games below .500. But that wasn't enough to keep the team in Vancouver. After only two seasons in Vancouver, the team once again packed up their bags and moved to Calgary, Alberta, and were renamed the Calgary Cowboys. The Cowboys would be the second WHA team to attempt Calgary as the Calgary Broncos were slated to start playing there for the inaugural WHA season. The Broncos, though, never actually played a game before folding.
==Season-by-season record==
Blazers' season-by-season record	Blazers' season-by-season record	Blazers' season-by-season record	Blazers' season-by-season record	Blazers' season-by-season record	Blazers' season-by-season record	Blazers' season-by-season record	Blazers' season-by-season record	Blazers' season-by-season record	Blazers' season-by-season record	Blazers' season-by-season record	Blazers' season-by-season record
Season 	Team Name 	GP 	W 	L 	T 	PTS 	GF 	GA 	PIM 	Finish 	Playoffs
1973–74 	Vancouver Blazers 	78 	27 	50 	1 	55 	278 	345 	1047 	5th, Western 	Did not qualify
1974–75 	Vancouver Blazers 	78 	37 	39 	2 	76 	256 	270 	1075 	4th, Canadian 	Did not qualify
==All-time scoring leaders==
Blazers' all-time scoring leaders	Blazers' all-time scoring leaders	Blazers' all-time scoring leaders	Blazers' all-time scoring leaders	Blazers' all-time scoring leaders	Blazers' all-time scoring leaders	Blazers' all-time scoring leaders
Player 	POS 	GP 	G 	A 	Pts 	
Danny Lawson 	RW 	156 	83 	81 	164 	
Bryan Campbell 	C 	154 	56 	96 	152 	
Claude St. Sauveur 	C 	146 	62 	53 	115 	
John McKenzie 	RW 	119 	37 	75 	112 	
Don Burgess 	LW 	140 	41 	54 	95 	
Rob Walton 	C 	103 	32 	48 	80 	
Hugh Harris 	C 	58 	23 	34 	57 	
John Migneault 	RW 	88 	25 	28 	53 	
Murray Myers 	RW 	85 	23 	21 	44 	
Mike Pelyk 	D 	75 	14 	26 	40 	
==Captains==
==Head coaches==
* Andy Bathgate (1973-74)
* Joe Crozier (1974-75)
Category:Canadian ice hockey teams
Category:World Hockey Association team
Category:Established in 1973
Category:Disestablished in 1975