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1975 Pioneer Planes reunited in May – Winnipeg Free Press

Posted on by Neons

This may be the last time the 1975-76 Winnipeg Jets walk down memory lane and reminisce about how far the team has come.

Members of the Pioneer Squad will reunite at the Fort Harry Hotel on May 11 to commemorate a World Hockey Association season that ended with the franchise's first Avco Cup.

Ulf Nilsson, Peter Sullivan, Veli-Pekka Ketola, Mike Ford, Norm Bodin, Tommy Bergman, Bill Lesuk, Lyle Moffat, Perry Miller, Heiki Rihiranta, Bobby Guindon and Joe Daly will be in attendance.

MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILE Perry Miller (left), Mike Ford and Bill Lesuk stand ready when the 1975 Winnipeg Jets reunite on May 11.

MIKE DEAL / FREE PRINT FILES

Perry Miller (left), Mike Ford and Bill Lesuk stand ready when the 1975 Winnipeg Jets reunite on May 11.

“We lost a number of players, but it will be great to see others back,” said Lesuk, who has lived in Birds Hill since coming to Winnipeg in 1975. “It can be difficult to explain. , but it was one of the highlights of our lives, being able to play with the jets and have that European influence was really cool.

“It meant everything to me.”

A few names missing from next month's list include the deceased Bobby Hull, Lars-Erik Sjöberg, Larry Hornung, Ted Green, Larry Hillman and head coach Bobby Kromm.

“This completes a trilogy of meetings for the Avco Cup-winning Jets,” said event organizer Jeff Kirbison, who hosted the Jets' two other championship meetings (1977-78 and 1978-79). “Also, I think it's the most important of the teams because they had all the Europeans.

“They were innovative and made a mark and played a brand of hockey that people hadn't seen.”

The Jets were high-flying hockey that no one in the WHA or rival NHL had played during the era stamped with the Broad Street Bullies in Philadelphia.

With the prolific “Hot Line” of Bobby Hull and the Swedes, Ulf Nilsson and Anders Hedberg, Winnipeg won the Canadian Division and fell just once in the playoffs, beating the Houston Eros by 47. Gordie Howe, aged 12, in the Avco Cup final on 12 May 1976.

The championship effectively put Winnipeg on the hockey map, just over a year after the Jets became the first team to sign Swedish and Finnish players in 1974.

“It was really exciting because we really didn't know what to expect, we didn't know what hockey was going to be like in North America,” Ketola recalled. “It was exciting to come out there and meet superstars like Bobby Hull, and that meant a lot to us.”

After missing the playoffs in 1974, calls to end the European experiment rained down on the organization. The foreigners' flashy style was a tough sell to North American fans who celebrated a north-south brand of hockey.

Ketola, who eventually became a fan favorite, said it took a few years to settle in — partly because of the punishment he endured on the ice — but the support of his teammates shielded the Europeans from outside noise.

“It was clear that Bobby wanted Europeans and, of course, Bobby had two great (players) in Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson. I think it was a big thing for Bobby because Bobby loved playing (that style) of hockey,” Ketola said.

Lesuk pointed to the Jets holding training camp in Europe in 1975, which included visits to Finland and Sweden. Not only did the players bond with their new teammates in their hometowns, but they also appreciated their culture, which was invaluable to the team's success.