The Story of the Pacific Hockey League

The Story of the Pacific Hockey League The Pacific Hockey League was conceived in January 1977 by Dennis Murphy and Walt Marlow, and gained traction later in the year when Peter Graham, operator of the San Diego Sports Arena, expressed interest after the San Diego Mariners had folded. Along with Jim Browitt, the four men organized the PHL over Summer 1977, intending to play its first games in late December. By design, the PHL was a low-budget league with a salary cap and a short schedule. Teams had to sign a certain minimum number of American-born players. The teams could not enter into affiliations with major-league teams. If a team in the NHL or WHA wanted a player, it had to purchase the player outright. James Browitt was to be the first commissioner, but he resigned the position before the start of the season to buy into the Long Beach Sharks team. Taking his place was Walt Marlow, who as commissioner, ran all aspects of the league including scheduling, statistics, and officiating. Peter Graham formed the San Diego Mariners, while Dennis Murphy controlled the San Francisco Shamrocks, co-owned by Jerry Saperstein of the Harlem Globetrotters. A fourth team was to be based in Los Angeles, but when Mike Skerlak, owner of the Phoenix Roadrunners, expressed interest in joining the PHL, the Los Angeles team was dropped in favor of Phoenix. The Roadrunners had been reformed after the WHA team folded in April, this time as a member of the Central League. However, the financial strain was too much playing in a far-away league, and Skerlak withdrew the team from the CHL in early December of 1977, entering the PHL afterwards. The Pacific Los Angeles Blades program, 1979 Hockey League played its first game on December 25, 1977. Each team in the four- team league would play a 42-game schedule. Finding players for the new league was not difficult. With the WHA scaling back by four teams in 1977, and the demise of the North American and Southern Hockey Leagues in 1976-77, there were many players available. The PHL did not offer big contracts, but players signed anyway, hoping for another chance at the major leagues. Frank Hughes led all scorers with 74 points (33g, 41a) playing for Phoenix. Randy Wyrozub (SF), Bob Sicinski (SD), Steve Cardwell (SF), Dale Smedsmo (LB), Jeff Carlson (Phx) and Bill Evo (SF) rounded out the top scorers. Other notable players to play in the PHL were Wayne Rivers (who also coached), Keith Kokkola, John Miszuk, John Kiely and Paul Hoganson with San Francisco; Bob Liddington, John Sheridan, Bill Horton and Peter Donnelly in Long Beach; Clay Hebenton and Bill Reed in San Diego; and Kerry Bond, Howie Young and Jim Niekamp in Phoenix. The league survived its first season with all of the teams playing a full schedule. In the lone playoff series, San Francisco defeated Phoenix to capture the PHL championship. The Pacific Hockey League expanded by three teams for 1978-79. The Tucson Rustlers were added to provide a rival for Phoenix, and the Spokane Flyers marked the league’s first northern foray, with the eventual plan of adding teams in between and creating Northern and Southern divisions. A new team was San Diego’s Mariners program, 1978 also placed in Los Angeles, while the Long Beach team dropped out. The San Diego Mariners were sold to Pittsburgh businessman Elmer Jonnet and renamed the Hawks. Now a six-team circuit, the schedule was expanded to 60 games. The second season was a disaster. Elmer Jonnet violated the league’s salary cap rules and signed a team of former WHA veterans, while performing a power-play of his own to wrest control of the league. Walt Marlow resigned as commissioner in December 1978, and was succeeded by Ken Broderick, the former WHA goaltender. Less than two months later, Alf Cadman, owner of the Tucson team, abandoned the Rustlers. The Los Angeles and San Francisco teams had zero fan support and less money, and both folded in early January 1979. Most of the Los Angeles squad were absorbed into the Tucson Rustlers, who somehow managed to play out the schedule 370 .

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