1975–76 Denver Spurs/Ottawa Civics season

The 1975–76 Denver Spurs/Ottawa Civics season was the ill-fated single season of operation of the Denver Spurs/Ottawa Civics in the World Hockey Association (WHA). The Spurs began the season in Denver, Colorado but relocated to Ottawa, Ontario before giving up for good after 41 games.

1975–76 Denver Spurs/Ottawa Civics
Division	6th Canadian
1975–76 record	14–26–1
Home record	8-14-1
Road record	6-12-0
Goals for	134
Goals against	172
Team information
General manager	Jean-Guy Talbot
Coach	Jean-Guy Talbot
Captain	Ralph Backstrom
Alternate captains	Jean-Paul LeBlanc Darryl Maggs Larry Bignell
Team leaders
Goals	Ralph Backstrom, Don Borgeson
Assists	Ralph Backstrom
Points	Ralph Backstrom

Regular season

Final standings

Canadian Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
Winnipeg Jets	81	52	27	2	106	345	254	940
Quebec Nordiques	81	50	27	4	104	371	316	1654
Calgary Cowboys	80	41	35	4	86	307	282	1064
Edmonton Oilers	81	27	49	5	59	268	345	991
Toronto Toros	81	24	52	5	53	335	398	1099
Denver Spurs / Ottawa Civics+	41	14	26	1	29	134	172	536

+team started season in Western Division when playing in Denver; transferred by league to Canadian Division shortly after moving to Ottawa.

Denver Spurs Game log

Regular season schedule
No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	L	October 10, 1975	1–7	Indianapolis Racers (1975–76)	0–1–0
2	L	October 16, 1975	3–7	Winnipeg Jets (1975–76)	0–2–0
3	W	October 17, 1975	5–4	@ Phoenix Roadrunners (1975–76)	1–2–0
4	W	October 18, 1975	6–4	@ Indianapolis Racers (1975–76)	2–2–0
5	W	October 22, 1975	2–1	@ Calgary Cowboys (1975–76)	3–2–0
6	L	October 24, 1975	2–5	@ Winnipeg Jets (1975–76)	3–3–0
7	L	October 30, 1975	2–3	Phoenix Roadrunners (1975–76)	3–4–0
8	L	November 1, 1975	2–3	Houston Aeros (1975–76)	3–5–0
9	T	November 4, 1975	2–2	Cleveland Crusaders (1975–76)	3–5–1
10	L	November 6, 1975	3–5	Quebec Nordiques (1975–76)	3–6–1
11	L	November 7, 1975	2–3 OT	San Diego Mariners (1975–76)	3–7–1
12	L	November 9, 1975	2–3	@ Houston Aeros (1975–76)	3–8–1
13	L	November 13, 1975	8–11	Toronto Toros (1975–76)	3–9–1
14	W	November 15, 1975	5–4 OT	Cleveland Crusaders (1975–76)	4–9–1
15	W	November 18, 1975	6–3	Edmonton Oilers (1975–76)	5–9–1
16	L	November 20, 1975	1–5	@ San Diego Mariners (1975–76)	5–10–1
17	L	November 21, 1975	2–6	Calgary Cowboys (1975–76)	5–11–1
18	W	November 23, 1975	5–3	Cincinnati Stingers (1975–76)	6–11–1
19	W	November 26, 1975	3–0	@ Cleveland Crusaders (1975–76)	7–11–1
20	L	November 28, 1975	3–7	@ New England Whalers (1975–76)	7–12–1
21	W	November 30, 1975	4–2	@ Indianapolis Racers (1975–76)	8–12–1
22	L	December 2, 1975	3–4 OT	Winnipeg Jets (1975–76)	8–13–1
23	L	December 5, 1975	3–4	@ Minnesota Fighting Saints (1975–76)	8–14–1
24	L	December 6, 1975	2–3	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1975–76)	8–15–1
25	W	December 7, 1975	5–1	New England Whalers (1975–76)	9–15–1
26	W	December 9, 1975	6–3	Cleveland Crusaders (1975–76)	10–15–1
27	L	December 13, 1975	1–4	Phoenix Roadrunners (1975–76)	10–16–1
28	W	December 16, 1975	3–2 OT	Cincinnati Stingers (1975–76)	11–16–1
29	W	December 19, 1975	6–3	San Diego Mariners (1975–76)	12–16–1
30	L	December 23, 1975	4–5	Minnesota Fighting Saints (1975–76)	12–17–1
31	L	December 26, 1975	4–9	@ Houston Aeros (1975–76)	12–18–1
32	L	December 27, 1975	0–10	@ Phoenix Roadrunners (1975–76)	12–19–1
33	L	December 28, 1975	2–5	Phoenix Roadrunners (1975–76)	12–20–1
34	W	December 30, 1975	2–1 OT	Indianapolis Racers (1975–76)	13–20–1

Ottawa Civics Game log

Regular season schedule
No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
35	L	January 2, 1976	1–2	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1975–76)	13–21–1
36	L	January 3, 1976	2–4	@ Houston Aeros (1975–76)	13–22–1
37	W	January 4, 1976	5–2	@ Minnesota Fighting Saints (1975–76)	14–22–1
38	L	January 7, 1976	2–3	New England Whalers (1975–76)	14–23–1
39	L	January 10, 1976	5–8	@ Phoenix Roadrunners (1975–76)	14–24–1
40	L	January 11, 1976	5–6 OT	@ Winnipeg Jets (1975–76)	14–25–1
41	L	January 15, 1976	4–5 OT	Houston Aeros (1975–76)	14–26–1

Player stats

Regular season
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/- PPG SHG GWG Ralph Backstrom C 41 21 29 50 14 9 8 0 4 Don Borgeson LW 40 21 16 37 24 7 5 0 1 Gary MacGregor C 38 16 14 30 18 -2 3 0 0 Jim Sherrit C 40 11 19 30 16 -4 0 0 0 Darryl Maggs D 41 4 23 27 42 -9 1 0 1 Mark Lomenda RW 37 6 16 22 11 -6 5 0 0 Frank Rochon LW 41 11 10 21 10 -18 3 0 0 Rick Morris LW 41 9 6 15 58 -19 0 2 1 Bob Liddington LW 35 7 8 15 14 -2 1 0 0 John Arbour D 35 2 13 15 49 -14 0 0 0 Barry Legge D 40 6 8 14 15 -11 4 0 1 Brian Lavender LW 37 5 6 11 35 -15 0 0 0 Larry Bignell D 41 5 5 10 43 -4 0 0 0 Peter Mara C 40 3 7 10 8 -15 0 0 0 Bryon Baltimore D 41 1 8 9 32 -13 0 0 0 Gary Bredin RW 17 4 3 7 2 -7 1 0 0 Jean-Paul LeBlanc C 15 1 5 6 25 -7 0 0 0 Ron Delorme C 22 1 3 4 28 -3 0 0 0 Larry Mavety D 14 0 4 4 14 -12 0 0 0 Keith Kokkola D 16 0 3 3 40 -2 0 0 0 Bob Johnson G 24 0 1 1 7 0 0 0 0 Lynn Zimmerman G 8 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Brian Gibbons D 2 0 0 0 0 -2 0 0 0 Bill Goldthorpe LW 12 0 0 0 31 -5 0 0 0 Chris Grigg G 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Cam Newton G 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Ed Pizunski RW 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jan Popiel LW 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 Nick Sanza G 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SO Bob Johnson 1345 24 8 14 1 88 3.93 0 Cam Newton 573 10 4 6 0 35 3.66 1 Lynn Zimmerman 495 8 2 6 0 31 3.76 0 Chris Grigg 80 2 0 0 0 13 9.75 0 Nick Sanza 20 1 0 0 0 5 15.00 0 Team: 2513 41 14 26 1 172 4.11 1

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals
      MIN = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts;

Draft picks

Denver's draft picks at the 1975 WHA Amateur Draft.

Round	#	Player	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team (League)
1	4	Mel Bridgman (C)	Canada	Victoria Cougars (WCHL)
3	34	Ron Delorme (RW)	Canada	Lethbridge Broncos (WCHL)
4	49	Andre Leduc (D)	Canada	Sherbrooke Castors (QMJHL)
5	64	Nick Sanza (G)	Canada	Sherbrooke Castors (QMJHL)
6	77	Greg Miazga (F)	Canada	Victoria Cougars (WCHL)
7	91	Rick Martin (RW)	Canada	London Knights (OHA)
10	128	Dave Bossy (D)	Canada	University of Notre Dame (WCHA)
11	141	Andy Whitby (F)	Canada	Oshawa Generals (OHA)

See also

• 1975–76 WHA season