On this day in 1972, sports fans were about to learn who would play for the brand-new Edmonton Oilers.
The new team's co-owner, "Wild Bill" Hunter, was already a big name in Edmonton's hockey scene, as the owner, manager, and coach of the Edmonton Oil Kings. But Hunter was determined to bring pro hockey to the city. He made attempts to get the NHL to expand to Edmonton in the 1960s (including an offer to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins and move them here) but was rebuffed by the league.
So, why not just start a new pro league? In 1971, Hunter partnered up with two American sports promoters who were looking to establish a competitor league to the NHL — the World Hockey Association. Hunter would serve as the WHA's president, as well as co-owning the Edmonton team along with local businessman, surgeon, and eventual television station owner Charles Allard. The Edmonton team was dubbed the Oilers, based on a nickname often given to Hunter's Oil Kings.
The WHA's short history was always characterized by a certain amount of instability, and its first year was no exception. When the league was announced, it was with 12 founding teams, including the Oilers, the Hartford Whalers (now the Carolina Hurricanes), and the Winnipeg Jets. By the time the first season opened a year later, two of those teams had relocated (including the San Francisco team that became the Quebec Nordiques), and two of the promised teams had just folded.
Calgary's WHA team was one of the pair that fell apart before the league played its first game. So Edmonton's team was temporarily renamed the Alberta Oilers (although they never played a game in Calgary). The team beat the Ottawa Nationals 7-4 in the WHA's inaugural game on Oct. 11, 1972.
The WHA would last less than a decade, with the Oilers finding some success on the ice. However, some of the developments during the WHA era would lay the groundwork for the team's dominance in the coming decade. In 1976, the team acquired Glen Sather, a former Oil Kings left winger who had played in the NHL for 12 years before moving to the WHA. Not only did Sather play, but he also took over as coach partway through the season. He would go on to lead the team to five Stanley Cup wins, four of them as head coach.
In their final year in the WHA, the Oilers acquired a young player named Wayne Gretzky. He was originally signed by the Indianapolis Racers at 17 years old. NHL rules forbade drafting anyone under 20, but the WHA had no such restriction. The Racers were in dire financial straits and decided to close the franchise, selling off the players to other teams. That would lead to one of the odder trades in pro hockey history, with negotiations between the Racers, the Oilers, and the Jets. Gretzky and his teammates Eddie Mio and Peter Driscoll were put on a plane and still in the air when the deal was being made, so they didn't know which city they'd end up in. Eventually, of course, Edmonton won out and the three joined the Oilers.
The Edmonton Oilers would eventually join the NHL when the league merged with the financially struggling WHA in 1979. They are the only founding WHA team to avoid relocation over the past 45 years — a testament to their dedicated and passionate fans, who cheered their team on against the Dallas Stars in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final on May 29.
This clipping was found on Vintage Edmonton, a daily look at Edmonton's history from armchair archivist Rev Recluse of Vintage Edmonton.