1975–76 Denver Spurs/Ottawa Civics season

1975–76 Denver Spurs/Ottawa Civics
Division6th Canadian
1975–76 record14–26–1
Home record8–14–1
Road record6–12–0
Goals for134
Goals against172
Team information
General managerJean-Guy Talbot
CoachJean-Guy Talbot
CaptainRalph Backstrom
Alternate captainsJean-Paul LeBlanc
Darryl Maggs
Larry Bignell
ArenaMcNichols Sports Arena (Oct.–Dec.)
Ottawa Civic Centre (Jan.)
Team leaders
GoalsRalph Backstrom
Don Borgeson (21)
AssistsRalph Backstrom (29)
PointsRalph Backstrom (50)
Penalty minutesRick Morris (58)
WinsBob Johnson (8)
Goals against averageCam Newton (3.66)

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 giving up for good after 41 games.

Offseason

Regular season

Final standings

Canadian Division GP W L T Pts GF GA PIM
Winnipeg Jets 81 52 27 2 106 345 254 940
Quebec Nordiques 81 50 27 4 104 371 316 1654
Calgary Cowboys 80 41 35 4 86 307 282 1064
Edmonton Oilers 81 27 49 5 59 268 345 991
Toronto Toros 81 24 52 5 53 335 398 1099
+ 41 14 26 1 29 134 172 536

+team started season in Western Division when playing in Denver; transferred by league to Canadian Division shortly after moving to Ottawa.


Schedule and results

1975–76 regular season[1]
October
Game Result 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
November
Game Result Date Score Opponent Record
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
December
Game Result Date Score Opponent Record
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
January
Game Result Date Score Opponent Record
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

Legend:   Win (2 points)   Loss (0 points)   Tie (1 point)

Player statistics

Regular season
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/- PPG SHG GWG
Ralph Backstrom C 41 21 29 50 14 9 8 0 4
Don Borgeson LW 40 21 16 37 24 7 5 0 1
Gary MacGregor C 38 16 14 30 18 -2 3 0 0
Jim Sherrit C 40 11 19 30 16 -4 0 0 0
Darryl Maggs D 41 4 23 27 42 -9 1 0 1
Mark Lomenda RW 37 6 16 22 11 -6 5 0 0
Frank Rochon LW 41 11 10 21 10 -18 3 0 0
Rick Morris LW 41 9 6 15 58 -19 0 2 1
Bob Liddington LW 35 7 8 15 14 -2 1 0 0
John Arbour D 35 2 13 15 49 -14 0 0 0
Barry Legge D 40 6 8 14 15 -11 4 0 1
Brian Lavender LW 37 5 6 11 35 -15 0 0 0
Larry Bignell D 41 5 5 10 43 -4 0 0 0
Peter Mara C 40 3 7 10 8 -15 0 0 0
Bryon Baltimore D 41 1 8 9 32 -13 0 0 0
Gary Bredin RW 17 4 3 7 2 -7 1 0 0
Jean-Paul LeBlanc C 15 1 5 6 25 -7 0 0 0
Ron Delorme C 22 1 3 4 28 -3 0 0 0
Larry Mavety D 14 0 4 4 14 -12 0 0 0
Keith Kokkola D 16 0 3 3 40 -2 0 0 0
Bob Johnson G 24 0 1 1 7 0 0 0 0
Lynn Zimmerman G 8 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Brian Gibbons D 2 0 0 0 0 -2 0 0 0
Bill Goldthorpe LW 12 0 0 0 31 -5 0 0 0
Chris Grigg G 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Cam Newton G 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ed Pizunski RW 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jan Popiel LW 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0
Nick Sanza G 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SO
Bob Johnson 1345 24 8 14 1 88 3.93 0
Cam Newton 573 10 4 6 0 35 3.66 1
Lynn Zimmerman 495 8 2 6 0 31 3.76 0
Chris Grigg 80 2 0 0 0 13 9.75 0
Nick Sanza 20 1 0 0 0 5 15.00 0
Team: 2513 41 14 26 1 172 4.11 1

[2]

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

Transactions

Draft picks

Denver's draft picks at the 1975 WHA Amateur Draft.[3]

Round # Player Nationality College/Junior/Club team (League)
1 4 Mel Bridgman (C)  Canada Victoria Cougars (WCHL)
3 34 Ron Delorme (RW)  Canada Lethbridge Broncos (WCHL)
4 49 Andre Leduc (D)  Canada Sherbrooke Castors (QMJHL)
5 64 Nick Sanza (G)  Canada Sherbrooke Castors (QMJHL)
6 77 Greg Miazga (F)  Canada Victoria Cougars (WCHL)
7 91 Rick Martin (RW)  Canada London Knights (OHA)
10 128 Dave Bossy (D)  Canada University of Notre Dame (WCHA)
11 141 Andy Whitby (F)  Canada Oshawa Generals (OHA)

See also

References

  1. ^ "1975-76 Denver Spurs/Ottawa Civics Schedule". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved April 9, 2025.
  2. ^ "1975-76 Denver Spurs/Ottawa Civics Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". hockey-reference.com. Retrieved July 2, 2009.
  3. ^ "1975 WHA Amateur Draft". hockeyDB.com. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
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