The Denver Spurs were hastily granted an expansion franchise to begin play in the 1975-1976 season. The team took many of its players from the defunct Chicago Cougars, but they didn't enjoy any more success than the Cougars had in their last season. Playing in front of sparse crowds at the spacious McNichols Arena, the Spurs soon ran into financial problems and relocated to Ottawa early in January 1976. Unlike the first WHA team to call Ottawa home, the newly-renamed Civics were well-received, but after a seven-game stint in their new home, with no local buyers coming forward, the franchise folded on 17 January 1976.
Perhaps the most noteworthy game in the brief history of the franchise came on 24 October 1975 in Winnipeg. In the Jets' previous game, Perry Miller had been sent to hospital for an eye injury he sustained as a result of a high stick from Bernie MacNeil of the Cincinnati Stingers. Enraged teammate Bobby Hull staged a one-game strike to protest the growing level of violence in hockey, and sat out the Jets' next game against the Spurs at the Winnipeg Arena. |
