1975–76 Denver Spurs/Ottawa Civics season

The 1975–76 Denver Spurs/Ottawa Civics season was the ill-fated single season of operation of the Denver Spurs/Ottawa Civics in the World Hockey Association (WHA). The Spurs began the season in Denver, Colorado but relocated to Ottawa, Ontario before disbanding after 51 games.
==Off-season==
The Spurs inaugural jersey colours were dark orange, white and black with a primarily white home jersey and a primarily dark orange away jersey. Three stripes on the arms and body of the home jersey and five stripes on the away jersey completed the design. The numbers and names were outlined. The logo was the same as the 1973-74 Denver Spurs that played in the CHL, a white cowboy boot with a blade and gold spurs on a circle background.
==Regular Season==
The Spurs, not unlike most of the other teams to have played in the WHA, had financial difficulties. The home games drew poor attendences and there were ongoing reports that the National Hockey League was going to establish a team in Denver. Two teams were candidates for relocation there, the Kansas City Scouts and the California Golden Seals. All of those factors led to a legendary hasty mid-season move of the Spurs to Ottawa on January 2, 1976. Allegedly, nobody bothered telling the players that the team had moved, and they learned of it when, standing on the ice before their next game in Cincinnati against the Cincinnati Stingers, heard the O Canada being played. The team lost that night, they also lost on the next against the Houston Aeros. On January 4, the team defeated the Minnesota Fighting Saints, who wouldn't survive the season either, 5-2. This win was the first and last win of the Civics history.
On January 7, 1976, the team played its first home game in Ottawa, the first WHA game in the Canadian capital since the departure of the Ottawa Nationals two years and a half before. The players found themselves playing in front of a crowd not much bigger than that they had been accustomed to in Denver and lost to the New England Whalers 3-2. The team returned on the road for two more losses and went back to the Ottawa Civic Centre on January 15, 1976 for another match against Houston. The Civics fought hard and brought the game in overtime. The Aeros however scored the game winner, ending the game, and the franchise history it turned out, as the team officially declared it ceased activities the next day. 
The Civics lasted only seven games and played in the Spurs' uniform. Reports that the jerseys had been stripped bare of its logo are untrue. All Civics players were declared free agents by the league and a dispersal draft was held. Several players found a new address, including leading scorer Ralph Backstrom, who at 37, moved to the New England Whalers. Many of the other players, however, would sit the remainder of the season out before coming back in another league the next season. Others like Brian Lavender retired.
===Final Standings===
===Game Log===
Regular Season Schedule	Regular Season Schedule	Regular Season Schedule	Regular Season Schedule	Regular Season Schedule 	Regular Season Schedule
No. 	R 	Date 	Score 	Opponent 	Record
1 	L 	October 10, 1975 	1–7 	Indianapolis Racers (1975–76) 	0–1–0
2 	L 	October 16, 1975 	3–7 	Winnipeg Jets (1975–76) 	0–2–0
3 	W 	October 17, 1975 	5–4 	@ Phoenix Roadrunners (1975–76) 	1–2–0
4 	W 	October 18, 1975 	6–4 	@ Indianapolis Racers (1975–76) 	2–2–0
5 	W 	October 22, 1975 	2–1 	@ Calgary Cowboys (1975–76) 	3–2–0
6 	L 	October 24, 1975 	2–5 	@ Winnipeg Jets (1975–76) 	3–3–0
7 	L 	October 30, 1975 	2–3 	Phoenix Roadrunners (1975–76) 	3–4–0
8 	L 	November 1, 1975 	2–3 	Houston Aeros (1975–76) 	3–5–0
9 	T 	November 4, 1975 	2–2 	Cleveland Crusaders (1975–76) 	3–5–1
10 	L 	November 6, 1975 	3–5 	Quebec Nordiques (1975–76) 	3–6–1
11 	L 	November 7, 1975 	2–3 OT 	San Diego Mariners (1975–76) 	3–7–1
12 	L 	November 9, 1975 	2–3 	@ Houston Aeros (1975–76) 	3–8–1
13 	L 	November 13, 1975 	8–11 	Toronto Toros (1975–76) 	3–9–1
14 	W 	November 15, 1975 	5–4 OT 	Cleveland Crusaders (1975–76) 	4–9–1
15 	W 	November 18, 1975 	6–3 	Edmonton Oilers (1975–76) 	5–9–1
16 	L 	November 20, 1975 	1–5 	@ San Diego Mariners (1975–76) 	5–10–1
17 	L 	November 21, 1975 	2–6 	Calgary Cowboys (1975–76) 	5–11–1
18 	W 	November 23, 1975 	5–3 	Cincinnati Stingers (1975–76) 	6–11–1
19 	W 	November 26, 1975 	3–0 	@ Cleveland Crusaders (1975–76) 	7–11–1
20 	L 	November 28, 1975 	3–7 	@ New England Whalers (1975–76) 	7–12–1
21 	W 	November 30, 1975 	4–2 	@ Indianapolis Racers (1975–76) 	8–12–1
22 	L 	December 2, 1975 	3–4 OT 	Winnipeg Jets (1975–76) 	8–13–1
23 	L 	December 5, 1975 	3–4 	@ Minnesota Fighting Saints (1975–76)	8–14–1
24 	L 	December 6, 1975 	2–3 	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1975–76) 	8–15–1
25 	W 	December 7, 1975 	5–1 	New England Whalers (1975–76) 	9–15–1
26 	W 	December 9, 1975 	6–3 	Cleveland Crusaders (1975–76) 	10–15–1
27 	L 	December 13, 1975 	1–4 	Phoenix Roadrunners (1975–76) 	10–16–1
28 	W 	December 16, 1975 	3–2 OT 	Cincinnati Stingers (1975–76) 	11–16–1
29 	W 	December 19, 1975 	6–3 	San Diego Mariners (1975–76) 	12–16–1
30 	L 	December 23, 1975 	4–5 	Minnesota Fighting Saints (1975–76) 	12–17–1
31 	L 	December 26, 1975 	4–9 	@ Houston Aeros (1975–76) 	12–18–1
32 	L 	December 27, 1975 	0–10 	@ Phoenix Roadrunners (1975–76) 	12–19–1
33 	L 	December 28, 1975 	2–5 	Phoenix Roadrunners (1975–76) 	12–20–1
34 	W 	December 30, 1975 	2–1 OT 	Indianapolis Racers (1975–76) 	13–20–1
35 	L 	January 2, 1976 	1–2 	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1975–76) 	13–21–1
36 	L 	January 3, 1976 	2–4 	@ Houston Aeros (1975–76) 	13–22–1
37 	W 	January 4, 1976 	5–2 	@ Minnesota Fighting Saints (1975–76)	14–22–1
38 	L 	January 7, 1976 	2–3 	New England Whalers (1975–76) 	14–23–1
39 	L 	January 10, 1976 	5–8 	@ Phoenix Roadrunners (1975–76) 	14–24–1
40 	L 	January 11, 1976 	5–6 OT 	@ Winnipeg Jets (1975–76) 	14–25–1
41 	L 	January 15, 1976 	4–5 OT 	Houston Aeros (1975–76) 	14–26–1
*Last game for the Denver Spurs.
==Playoffs==
*The Spurs/Civics ceased operations after 51 games.
==Player Stats==
Regular Season	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Scoring 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable sortable"	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
# 	Player	Pos	GP	G 	A 	Pts	PIM	+/-	PPG	SHG	GWG
14 	 	C 	41	21	29	50 	14 	9 	8 	0 	4
12 	 	LW 	40	21	16	37 	24 	7 	5 	0 	1
9 	 	C 	38	16	14	30 	18 	-2 	3 	0 	0
19 	 	C 	40	11	19	30 	16 	-4 	0 	0 	0
4 	 	D 	41	4 	23	27 	42 	-9 	1 	0 	1
8 	 	RW 	37	6 	16	22 	11 	-6 	5 	0 	0
15 	 	LW 	41	11	10	21 	10 	-18	3 	0 	0
10 	 	LW 	41	9 	6 	15 	58 	-19	0 	2 	1
7 	 	LW 	35	7 	8 	15 	14 	-2 	1 	0 	0
5 	 	D 	35	2 	13	15 	49 	-14	0 	0 	0
3 	 	D 	40	6 	8 	14 	15 	-11	4 	0 	1
21 	 	LW 	37	5 	6 	11 	35 	-15	0 	0 	0
2 	 	D 	41	5 	5 	10 	43 	-4 	0 	0 	0
23 	 	C 	40	3 	7 	10 	8 	-15	0 	0 	0
18 	 	D 	41	1 	8 	9 	32 	-13	0 	0 	0
17 	 	RW 	17	4 	3 	7 	2 	-7 	1 	0 	0
16 	 	C 	15	1 	5 	6 	25 	-7 	0 	0 	0
11 	 	C 	22	1 	3 	4 	28 	-3 	0 	0 	0
6 	 	D 	14	0 	4 	4 	14 	-12	0 	0 	0
24 	 	D 	16	0 	3 	3 	40 	-2 	0 	0 	0
31 	 	G 	8 	0 	1 	1 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
1 	 	G 	24	0 	1 	1 	7 	0 	0 	0 	0
22 	 	RW 	1 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
19 	 	LW 	1 	0 	0 	0 	2 	0 	0 	0 	0
5 	 	D 	2 	0 	0 	0 	0 	-2 	0 	0 	0
16 	 	LW 	12	0 	0 	0 	31 	-5 	0 	0 	0
 	 	G 	1 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
31 	 	G 	2 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
30 	 	G 	10	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals
MIN = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts 
==Awards and Records==
*The Spurs/Civics did not win any awards this season.
==Transactions==
==Draft Picks==
Denver's draft picks at the 1975 WHA Amateur Draft.
Round	# 	Player 	Nationality	College/Junior/Club Team (League)
1 	4 	Mel Bridgman (C)	 	Victoria Cougars (WCHL)
3 	34 	Ron Delorme (RW)	 	Lethbridge Broncos (WCHL)
4 	49 	Andre Leduc (D) 	 	Sherbrooke Castors (QMJHL)
5 	64 	Nick Sanza (G) 	 	Sherbrooke Castors (QMJHL)
6 	77 	Greg Miazga (F) 	 	Victoria Cougars (WCHL)
7 	91 	Rick Martin (RW)	 	London Knights (OHA)
10 	128	Dave Bossy (D) 	 	University of Notre Dame (WCHA)
11 	141	Andy Whitby (F) 	 	Oshawa Generals (OHA)
==Farm Teams==
==Gallery==
1975-Nov7-Backstrom-Dion.jpg|Ralph Backstrom scores on Michel DeGuise, November 6, 1975.
1975-Nov13-Shaw-Borgeson.jpg|Don Borgeson scores on Jim Shaw, November 13, 1975.
1975-Dec9-Bowles-Liddington-Whidden.jpg|Brian Bowles, Bob Liddington, Bob Whidden, December 9, 1975.
1975-Dec24-Lariviere-Backstrom-Norris.jpg|Garry Lariviere, Ralph Backstrom, Jack Norris, December 24, 1975.
1975-Jan15-Civics-Aeros lineups-last game.jpg|Line-up from the Civics last game, January 15, 1975.
1975-76-BobJohnson-Boudreau.jpg|Bruce Boudreau shoots on Bob Johnson, 1975-76 season action.
==See Also==
*1975–76 WHA season
==References==
Denver Spurs/Ottawa Civics season, 1975–76
Denver Spurs/Ottawa Civics season, 1975–76
Category:Denver Spurs/Ottawa Civics