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Vintage Minnesota Hockey.com Thoughts- 1967 Minnesota North Stars
On March 11, 1965, NHL President Clarence Campbell announced that the league would expand to twelve teams from six through the creation of a new six-team division for the 1967–68 season. In response to Campbell's announcement, a partnership of nine men, led by Walter Bush Jr. and John Driscoll, was formed to seek a franchise for the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. Their efforts were successful as the NHL awarded one of six expansion franchises to Minnesota on February 9, 1966. In addition to Minnesota, the five other franchises were California (Oakland), Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and St. Louis. The "North Stars" name was announced on May 25, 1966, following a public contest. The name is derived from the state's motto "L'Étoile du Nord", which is a French phrase meaning "The Star of the North". Months after the naming of the team, ground was broken on October 3, 1966, for a new hockey arena in Bloomington, Minnesota. The home of the North Stars, Metropolitan Sports Center, was built in 12 months at a cost of US $7 million. The arena was ready for play for the start of the 1967–68 NHL season, but portions of the arena's construction had not been completed. Spectator seats were in the process of being installed as fans arrived at the arena for the opening home game on October 21, 1967.
On October 11, 1967, the North Stars played the first game in franchise
history on the road against the St. Louis Blues. The game ended in a
2-2 tie. On October 21, 1967, the North Stars played their first home
game against the California Seals. The North Stars won 3-1. The team
achieved success early as it was in first place in the Western Division
halfway through the 1967–68 season. Tragedy struck the team during
the first season on January 13, 1968, when forward Bill Masterton
suffered a fatal hit during a game against the Seals at Met Center.
Skating towards the Seals goal across the blue line, Masterton fell
backwards, hitting the back of his head on the ice, rendering him
unconscious. He never regained consciousness and died on January
15, 1968 in Edinas Southdale Hospital, at the age of 29, two days after
the accident. Doctors described the cause of Masterton's death as a
"massive brain injury". To this date, this remains the only death as a
result of an injury during a game in NHL history. The North Stars
retired his jersey, and later that year, hockey writers established the
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy which would be given annually to a
player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance,
sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. Following the news of Masterton's death, the North Stars lost the next six games.
The North Stars would achieve success in their first year of existence by finishing in fourth place in the Western division with a record of 27-32-15, and advancing to the playoffs. Source in Part: Wikipedia.com
The Minnesota North Stars Donned three style of Jerseys in 1967
The sweaters the Minnesota North Stars
donned in their first year of existence have
been examined from many viewpoints-
including the recent "Uniform History
Project" undertaken by our friends at
Theother6econds.com which examines
each year(s) jersey style that the North Stars,
California Seals, Cleveland Barons and all
the way to today's Dallas Stars jerseys wore
in game play. One thing that we have
always noticed about not only this excellent
jersey project, and many other websites that discuss uniform logos is that
no one mentions, or examines closer, the early Pre-season uniforms that
the North Stars donned in 1967. From our research at VMH.com of older
North Stars images, hockey cards, and game programs from the Stars
inaugural season one can clearly see that the front crest and numbering
font in much different than what the Stars donned for a good portion of
their season in 1967. The top left portion of the Stars "N" crest is angled,
with a smaller and less proportional Star that is oddly dark gold on light
gold is clearly seen in photos. We are not 100% as to how long this style
of logo was used but think it may have only been for the Stars pre-season
games from October 11-October 16. In looking at other early photos of
adhered or taped onto the jerseys loosely. We think that the public,
owners or graphic artist hired to produce the N-Stars logo and number
font hated the appearance of the early jerseys that they stripped them
off and re-worked the logo and numbers and re-cut twill for these jerseys
that were then later sewn on. The 1967 jerseys were also unique in that
they had a vintage style lace-up necking that was also later scrapped in
1967 for a standard V neck that is additionally shown in the Stars 1967 team photo. Thus x3 different styles of jerseys were donned in 1967. Enjoy the photos of the research we conducted to complete this VMH.com thought entry, and the re-make of the early 1967 logo, and numbering font that we reproduced for your enjoyment, and our archives.
