A Slap Shot in Time: The Wild but True History of the Minnesota Fighting Saints

In the early 1970’s an upstart professional hockey league known as the World Hockey Association was formed to challenge the well-established and long-standing National Hockey League. The WHA set its sights on competing with the NHL for players, fans and dollars.

The Minnesota Fighting Saints were one of the WHA’s original franchises, playing their games downtown St. Paul at the newly built Civic Center. They were the first major professional sports team to be based in St. Paul, at a time when Minnesota’s other major professional sports teams were based across town in Minneapolis.

Competing in parts of five seasons, the Fighting Saints, along with their minor league team, the Johnstown Jets, were notorious for wild antics both on the ice, and off. Some of those events were the inspiration for a major Hollywood film. Over time, that film became a cult classic and is still today considered one of the greatest sports movies of all time.

This book is about the real stories. The wild but true history of the Minnesota Fighting Saints. by Dan Whenesota