You are probably too young to remember the World Hockey Association (WHA), but it was a great league that brought pro hockey to the western Canadian heartland. Four of the WHA's teams ended up in the NHL: The Winnipeg Jets (now Phoenix Coyotes), the Hartford Whalers (now Carolina Hurricanes), the Quebec Nordiques (now Colorado Avalanche) and the Alberta Oilers (now Edmonton Oliers).

I lived in Calgary during one of the two years that the WHA's Calgary Cowboys existed. They began life as a charter member of the WHA in 1972 as the Philadelphia Blazers, then moved to Vancouver to become the Vancouver Blazers before again relocating to Calgary.

This team and league provided me with the chance to see such great pros as Bobby Hull, Ulf Nilsson, Anders Hedberg, and Wayne Gretzky as well as Gordie Howe playing with his sons Mark and Marty. I will always be indebted to that league for giving me the chance to see these players in action.

As a tribute, I wrote a good old fashioned rock and roll song aboout that league. Here is the song, and here is a great site that has info about the rebel league that challenged the status quo of the NHL in 1972.