1975–76 Minnesota Fighting Saints season

1975–76 Minnesota Fighting Saints
Division	4th Western
1975–76 record	30–25–4
Goals for	211
Goals against	212
Team Information
General Manager	Glen Sonmor
Coach	Harry Neale
Alternate captains	Wayne Connelly
Arena	St. Paul Civic Center
Team Leaders
Goals	Mike Walton (31)
Assists	Mike Walton (40)
Points	Mike Walton (71)
Penalties in minutes	Curt Brackenbury (254)
Wins	John Garrett (26)
Goals against average	Jean-Louis Levasseur (3.11)

<1974–75

The 1975–76 Minnesota Fighting Saints season was the 4th season of the original Fighting Saints franchise in the World Hockey Association (WHA). The Saints did not finish the season, disbanding after 59 games.

Off-season

The Fighting Saints jerseys were the same design as in the 1973-74 season.

Regular Season

Final Standings

Western Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
Houston Aeros	80	53	27	0	106	341	263	1093
Phoenix Roadrunners	80	39	35	6	84	302	287	1292
San Diego Mariners	80	36	38	6	78	303	290	716
Minnesota Fighting Saints	59	30	25	4	64	211	212	1354

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, PIM = Penalties Minutes
Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Game Log

Regular Season Results
No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	W	October 10, 1975	4–1	@ Edmonton Oilers (1975–76)	1–0–0
2	W	October 12, 1975	2–0	@ Calgary Cowboys (1975–76)	2–0–0
3	L	October 15, 1975	4–8	Cleveland Crusaders (1975–76)	2–1–0
4	L	October 18, 1975	1–3	Edmonton Oilers (1975–76)	2–2–0
5	W	October 21, 1975	2–1	@ Indianapolis Racers (1975–76)	3–2–0
6	T	October 23, 1975	4–4	@ San Diego Mariners (1975–76)	3–2–1
7	L	October 25, 1975	1–6	@ San Diego Mariners (1975–76)	3–3–1
8	L	October 29, 1975	4–6	Cincinnati Stingers (1975–76)	3–4–1
9	W	November 1, 1975	3–2	Phoenix Roadrunners (1975–76)	4–4–1
10	L	November 5, 1975	4–6	@ Houston Aeros (1975–76)	4–5–1
11	W	November 8, 1975	4–3	Toronto Toros (1975–76)	5–5–1
12	L	November 11, 1975	6–8	@ Quebec Nordiques (1975–76)	5–6–1
13	W	November 15, 1975	9–7	Indianapolis Racers (1975–76)	6–6–1
14	W	November 16, 1975	3–2	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1975–76)	7–6–1
15	L	November 19, 1975	3–4 OT	@ Cleveland Crusaders (1975–76)	7–7–1
16	W	November 20, 1975	2–0	@ New England Whalers (1975–76)	8–7–1
17	L	November 22, 1975	4–6	Calgary Cowboys (1975–76)	8–8–1
18	W	November 25, 1975	3–2 OT	New England Whalers (1975–76)	9–8–1
19	W	November 27, 1975	5–3	Cincinnati Stingers (1975–76)	10–8–1
20	L	November 30, 1975	3–5	@ Winnipeg Jets (1975–76)	10–9–1
21	W	December 5, 1975	4–3	Denver Spurs (1975–76)	11–9–1
22	W	December 9, 1975	5–3	@ Toronto Toros (1975–76)	12–9–1
23	L	December 10, 1975	2–3	@ New England Whalers (1975–76)	12–10–1
24	L	December 12, 1975	0–1	@ Cleveland Crusaders (1975–76)	12–11–1
25	W	December 13, 1975	4–3	Houston Aeros (1975–76)	13–11–1
26	T	December 17, 1975	0–0	New England Whalers (1975–76)	13–11–2
27	W	December 20, 1975	6–3	Winnipeg Jets (1975–76)	14–11–2
28	W	December 21, 1975	3–1	@ Winnipeg Jets (1975–76)	15–11–2
29	W	December 23, 1975	5–4	@ Denver Spurs (1975–76)	16–11–2
30	L	December 27, 1975	0–5	@ Houston Aeros (1975–76)	16–12–2
31	L	December 28, 1975	1–2	San Diego Mariners (1975–76)	16–13–2
32	T	December 30, 1975	4–4	Quebec Nordiques (1975–76)	16–13–3
33	W	January 3, 1976	3–1	Indianapolis Racers (1975–76)	17–13–3
34	L	January 4, 1976	2–5	Ottawa Civics (1975–76)	17–14–3
35	W	January 7, 1976	7–6 OT	Phoenix Roadrunners (1975–76)	18–14–3
36	L	January 10, 1976	1–4	Houston Aeros (1975–76)	18–15–3
37	W	January 11, 1976	7–4	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1975–76)	19–15–3
38	L	January 15, 1976	4–5 OT	@ San Diego Mariners (1975–76)	19–16–3
39	L	January 16, 1976	1–3	@ Phoenix Roadrunners (1975–76)	19–17–3
40	W	January 17, 1976	4–2	@ Phoenix Roadrunners (1975–76)	20–17–3
41	W	January 21, 1976	6–5 OT	San Diego Mariners (1975–76)	21–17–3
42	L	January 23, 1976	1–7	San Diego Mariners (1975–76)	21–18–3
43	W	January 25, 1976	5–2	Toronto Toros (1975–76)	22–18–3
44	W	January 28, 1976	6–2	Winnipeg Jets (1975–76)	23–18–3
45	W	January 29, 1976	6–5 OT	@ Indianapolis Racers (1975–76)	24–18–3
46	W	January 31, 1976	4–1	Houston Aeros (1975–76)	25–18–3
47	L	February 1, 1976	5–6	Cleveland Crusaders (1975–76)	25–19–3
48	L	February 3, 1976	4–8	@ Houston Aeros (1975–76)	25–20–3
49	L	February 4, 1976	1–4	@ San Diego Mariners (1975–76)	25–21–3
50	L	February 7, 1976	2–4	@ Phoenix Roadrunners (1975–76)	25–22–3
51	T	February 8, 1976	3–3	@ Phoenix Roadrunners (1975–76)	25–22–4
52	W	February 10, 1976	6–3	San Diego Mariners (1975–76)	26–22–4
53	W	February 11, 1976	4–2	@ San Diego Mariners (1975–76)	27–22–4
54	W	February 12, 1976	6–4	Quebec Nordiques (1975–76)	28–22–4
55	L	February 14, 1976	2–5	Phoenix Roadrunners (1975–76)	28–23–4
56	W	February 17, 1976	6–3	@ Toronto Toros (1975–76)	29–23–4
57	W	February 20, 1976	6–3	@ Calgary Cowboys (1975–76)	30–23–4
58	L	February 22, 1976	3–4	@ Edmonton Oilers (1975–76)	30–24–4
59	L	February 25, 1976	1–2 OT	San Diego Mariners (1975–76)	30–25–4

Playoffs

• The Saints ceased operations before the playoffs.

Player Stats

Regular Season
Scoring
# Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/- PPG SHG GWG 4 Walton, MikeMike Walton C 58 31 40 71 27 7 0 0 0 14 Keon, DaveDave Keon C 57 26 38 64 4 14 5 2 3 25 Huck, FranFran Huck C 59 17 32 49 27 9 0 0 0 7 Connelly, WayneWayne Connelly C 59 24 23 47 19 9 4 0 2 19 McKenzie, JohnJohn McKenzie RW 57 21 26 47 48 10 4 2 6 12 Antonovich, MikeMike Antonovich C 57 25 21 46 18 21 0 0 0 16 Boucha, HenryHenry Boucha C 36 15 20 35 47 3 0 0 0 3 Smith, RickRick Smith D 51 1 32 33 50 1 0 0 0 24 Holmgren, PaulPaul Holmgren RW 51 14 16 30 121 -7 0 0 0 10 Hampson, TedTed Hampson C 59 5 14 19 14 -3 0 1 0 20 Carlson, JackJack Carlson LW 58 8 10 18 189 -14 0 0 1 8 Gambucci, GaryGary Gambucci C 45 10 6 16 14 5 0 0 0 2 Butters, BillBill Butters D 59 0 15 15 170 19 0 0 0 9 Brackenbury, CurtCurt Brackenbury RW 59 4 9 13 254 7 0 0 0 6 Westrum, PatPat Westrum D 54 3 10 13 98 0 0 0 0 5 Busniuk, RonRon Busniuk RW 59 2 11 13 150 9 2 0 0 15 Odrowski, GerryGerry Odrowski D 37 1 12 13 10 -9 0 0 0 18 Boudreau, BruceBruce Boudreau C 30 3 6 9 4 -1 0 0 0 23 Zrymiak, JerryJerry Zrymiak D 22 0 8 8 16 2 0 0 0 11 Miller, PerryPerry Miller D 13 1 4 5 11 -5 0 0 0 Arbour, JohnJohn Arbour D 7 0 4 4 14 4 0 0 0 26 Ouimet, FrançoisFrançois Ouimet D 9 0 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 22 Carlson, JeffJeff Carlson RW 7 0 1 1 14 0 0 0 0 21 Carlson, SteveSteve Carlson C 10 0 1 1 23 -1 0 0 0 Sarner, CraigCraig Sarner RW 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 Tetreault, JeanJean Tetreault LW 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Levasseur, Jean-LouisJean-Louis Levasseur G 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Curran, MikeMike Curran G 5 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 35 Garrett, JohnJohn Garrett G 52 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SO Garrett, JohnJohn Garrett 3179 52 26 22 4 177 3.34 2 Curran, MikeMike Curran 240 5 2 2 0 22 5.50 1 Levasseur, Jean-LouisJean-Louis Levasseur 193 4 2 1 0 10 3.11 0 Team: 3612 59 30 25 4 209 3.47 3

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 Saints did not win any awards this season.

Gallery

Bill Goldthorpe shoots on Mike Curran, October 25, 1975.

Paul Holmgren and Dave Tataryn, December 9, 1975.

Bruce Boudreau shoots on Bob Johnson, 1975-76 season action.

See Also

• 1975–76 WHA season