Alberta Oilers Heritage Website

Before the puck dropped on the Oilers’ first season in the World Hockey Association (WHA) in the fall of 1972, owners Dr. Charles Allard, Zane Feldman and Bill Hunter dealt with many frustrating false starts.

The fledgling World Hockey Association had seen many franchises move or fold before the beginning of the league’s inaugural 1972-73 season. The San Francisco franchise sold their team to Quebec businessmen, the Miami Screaming Eagles moved to Philadelphia, and the owners of the Calgary Broncos could not post the money needed to start the season.

Hunter, the founder of the successful Western Hockey League, travelled from coast to coast from 1971-1973, selling the idea of a new hockey league to potential investors. With 12 teams ready to start the season, the Oilers looked to be one of the most stable franchises going into the league's debut. The Oilers had struck a deal with American giant Gulf Oil to sponsor the team; hence, the team would bear the Gulf corporate colours of orange, white and blue. Hunter, Allard and Feldman also placated Calgary hockey fans, who were still disappointed that their city did not have a team, by planning to play some of the Oilers' home games at the Calgary Corral. To accommodate the planned Calgary split, Hunter called the team the Alberta Oilers.

Prior to the season start, the Gulf deal fell through and a deal to play games in Calgary never materialized. Therefore, the Alberta Oilers would become solely an Edmonton based team. The original colours of orange, blue and white were kept as the jerseys were already designed by the time Gulf decided to back out of the deal.

In the first WHA entry draft, the Oilers attempted to lure NHL talent from the Philadelphia lineup, as the team selected Flyers stars Bobby Clarke and Reggie Leach in that draft. However, Hunter could not budge either prospect. Therefore, instead of spending millions on a superstar like Winnipeg Jets' Bobby Hull, Hunter focused on building a team based on Western-Canadian-born talent. He brought in former Edmonton Oil King Jim Harrison from the Toronto Maple Leafs, Buffalo Sabres Ron Anderson and Al Hamilton, and NHL legend Glenn Hall to be the club’s goaltending coach.

"Right from the beginning, it was clear that the Oilers were going to be one of the most stable franchises in the league," recalled Ken Brown; a man who left the Chicago Blackhawks organization for the WHA and the Oilers. "You saw that in some cities that it wasn’t going to work. When you saw the New York Golden Blades playing in front of just 3,000 people at Madison Square Garden, you knew that they weren’t going to last long. But the Oilers were always one of the best organizations in the WHA."

The Oilers played the Ottawa Nationals in a road game on October 11, 1972, for the opening night of the WHA. Anderson scored the first goal in league history, and the Oilers went on to post 7-4 victory.

That first year saw 11 of the WHA’s 12 teams in dogged playoff races. Because each of the teams had started from square one, no team had a clear advantage. After firing coach Ray Kinasewich with just 26 games left in the season, Hunter took over as the Oilers’ coach and guided the team to a 14-11-1 record down the stretch. The hot streak transformed the club into contenders, and the Oilers finished tied with the Minnesota Fighting Saints for fourth in the Western Division with a 38-37-3 record. Both teams were just three points behind the second-place Houston Aeros.

"Many of the franchises did well," said Brown. "We were all starting out from the same place, so no one had the time to do the right things needed to build a dynasty."

By the end of the regular season, the Oilers and Saints needed a tie breaker to determine the last playoff spot. The league decided the two should meet in Calgary for a neutral-site playoff. The Saints won, 4-2, ending the Oilers' season.

The Oilers finished the year with an average attendance of 3,828, second lowest in the new league. However, the Oilers called the old Edmonton Gardens home, and with a seating capacity of 5,200, many could not watch the games. Still, with a new 15,000-seat arena planned for the 1974-75 season, the Oilers had already established themselves as a solid franchise in the WHA.