Watched the Kansas City Scouts lose in overtime of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals tonight on Channel 41. I only caught the third period and overtime but they had their chance to put it away with under 6 minutes left but missed a perfect rebound shot off a 3 on 2 break. The Scouts had home-ice advantage to begin the series but the game was played in New Jersey as the Scouts long left town.
The NHL awarded Kansas City an expansion franchise when an ownership group led by the late Frank Morgan and others secured a team which began playing in 1974 along with the Washington Capitals™. Unlike their 1970's era expansion counterparts the New York Islanders™ who won 4 straight Stanley Cups just 8 years after they started playing, the Scouts didn't have incredible front-office management and coaching success and were flat out awful. After 2 miserable years, they moved to Denver and eventually to New Jersey. The Devil nickname comes from a legendary creature that lives in the swamplands of the state.
Aaron Stilley has a blog with some of the details of the first year and other Scouts facts if you really want to read about the misery of the club.
After the Scouts left in 1976, Kansas City had to wait until 1991 for professional hockey when the Kansas City Blades began playing in hockey's minor league version of AAA baseball, the IHL. The Blades were affiliated with the San Jose Sharks™ and were successful winning the league's Turner Cup in 1992 and provided a lot of the talent to San Jose that pulled off some monumental upsets in the playoffs in the mid-90's. The team also filled Kemper Arena to sell out crowds. Unfortunately the IHL folded in 2001. I did attend one Blades game when the Hanson Brothers were in town for the night.
Film credits to Universal Studios from the Slapshot movie.
The Hanson Brothers performed during intermissions and extended time outs.
The Missouri Mavericks™ are the next best attempt at hockey in Kansas City and lost in Game 7 of the AHL's Turney Conference Finals this past spring.
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