1976-77 Southern Hockey League season

This was the 1976-77 Southern Hockey League season. The league folded mid-season.

League Demise
The league imploded with dramatic speed in January 1977. The teams' rosters were decimated by numerous World Hockey Association callups, and the unstable fiscal situation resulted in further roster instability. On January 3, 1977, the Richmond Wildcats folded after not being paid for most of the season, followed hours later by the Greensboro Generals. On January 7, the Tidewater Sharks shut down after missing payroll, and the Winston-Salem Polar Twins followed suit on the same day. This left the SHL with just three teams--the Baltimore Clippers, Charlotte Checkers and Hampton Gulls.

Without enough teams to carry on alone, the SHL debated whether to end the season and play a round-robin tournament to determine a champion, play an interlocking schedule with the NAHL or International Hockey League, or fold. When the NAHL and IHL rejected overtures for interlocking play, the SHL decided a round-robin tournament was not viable and suspended operations on January 31, 1977. Plans to return in 1977-78 came to nothing, and the SHL never returned.