The Birmingham Bulls were a professional ice hockey team based in Birmingham, Alabama who played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1976 to 1979 & the Central Hockey League (CHL) from 1979 to 1981.
The Bulls played their home games at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Center.
Prior to being in Birmingham, the team was known as the Ottawa Nationals and the Toronto Toros.
In 1992, another Birmingham hockey franchise was founded that used the Bulls name, the Birmingham Bulls of the ECHL.
History[]
The Toros had been modestly successful on the ice since moving to Toronto, and had drawn fairly well by WHA standards. However, onerous lease terms at Maple Leaf Gardens led owner John Bassett to move to Birmingham.
John Brophy (who would later go on to coach the Leafs) joined head coach Glen Sonmor as an assistant after the move to Birmingham. He became the head coach in the 1978–79 season when Sonmor joined the Minnesota North Stars. His team finished last in the league, but was in the middle of a youth movement.
Wayne Gretzky was heavily recruited by Birmingham Bulls owner John Bassett to be part of the youth movement. Bassett wanted to confront the NHL by signing as many young and promising superstars as possible and saw Gretzky as the most promising young prospect.
Although Bassett failed to sign Gretzky, the Bulls included several future NHL stars at the beginning of their professional careers (such as Rick Vaive, Michel Goulet, Rob Ramage, Pat Riggin, Craig Hartsburg, Gaston Gingras and Rod Langway), as well as a 36-year-old Paul Henderson.
Even though his team was the only one in the league not to make the playoffs, Brophy was awarded the Robert Schmertz Memorial Trophy as the WHA's coach of the year.
After the WHA[]
The Bulls were not included in the WHA-NHL merger of 1979. Even without the WHA's insistence that all of its surviving Canadian teams be included, the NHL was skeptical about putting another team in the South due to the struggles of the Atlanta Flames (who would eventually move to Calgary a year later).
After the WHA ceased operations in 1979, the Birmingham Bulls joined the Central Hockey League, playing during the 1979–80 and 1980–81 seasons.
The CHL team included returning coach John Brophy & six players carried over from the previous season's WHA team, including Paul Henderson, Pat Riggin, Rick Adduono and Dave Hanson. The team disbanded during its second season.
Simultaneous with the merger, the NHL lowered its minimum age from 20 to 18 years old, making a number of previously underage members of the Bulls eligible for the 1979 NHL Entry Draft.
The Colorado Rockies used the first overall pick to select a former member of the Bulls, Rob Ramage. A total of four former Bulls were selected in the first round (including three of the first six picks), with another two Bulls being selected in the second round.
The last active NHL player from the Bulls was Michel Goulet, who retired in 1994 as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks.