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Teams Of Yore: Kansas City Scouts


 

The Scouts joined the NHL as an expansion team in 1974

NHL (1974-76)

-chose the name Scouts due to the The Scout statue that stands in Penn Valley Park and overlooks the downtown area


-with two seasons of poor attendance, coupled with poor performance, led to a quick relocation to Denver (they became Colorado Rockies) after the team was sold; NHL hockey has never returned to Kansas City


-Icing On The Plains The Rough Ride of Kansas City’s NHL Scouts, by Troy Treasure, is an excellent look back at the franchise

 

Scouts Greatest Season: 1975-76

When you only win a combined 27 games over two seasons, can you claim a greatest season? Even though they scored fewer points in the standings during the 75-76 campaign, the team was actually in playoff contention (they were only a point out of qualifying in the Smythe Division) near the end of December. The bottom fell out, and the rest of the season was less than kind to the team. They went 1-35-8 in their last 44 games. Hopefully, they had held the order for playoff t-shirts, and the dozens of Scouts fans recovered from ”Playoff Fever”…

 

Scouts Greatest Game: 12/3/75 v. Canadians

Simon Nolet, who scored the first goal in Scouts history, served as the first team captain.

Talk about a mismatch… The Canadians went on to win the cup in the spring, and the franchise is far and away the most successful in NHL history (they have won an astounding 24 Stanley Cups). To put this into better perspective, 35 of the top 50 individual players with the most Stanley Cups won at least one with the Canadians. The current version of the team rolled into Kemper Arena that

night with ten future Hockey Hall of Famers (which included Guy Lafleur, Ken Dryden, Guy Lapointe, Larry Robinson, and Yvan Cournoyer) on their roster, and on paper the 18-4-3 Canadians would have little issue of dispatching of the Scouts, which stood at 6-13-4 (they had only won once since early November). Due to the perceived mismatch, the Canadians started back-up Michel Larocque in goal, but he was no slouch. A four-time Vezina winner (granted three were won in combo with all-time great Dryden), Larocque won 160 games during his career and was 144-89-1 with a 2.83 goals-against average during his time in Montreal. Despite his years of success, Michel was not up to the task of keeping the Scouts from putting the puck in the net early and often. Seeing only sixteen Kansas City shots on goal in the first forty minutes of play, five were goals, and the Scouts sported a two-goal lead. Perhaps seeing enough of Larocque for that evening, NHL coaching great Scotty Bowman brought in Ken Dryden for the last twenty minutes to give the Canadians their best shot at a comeback. Yvon Lambert scored early in the final period for Montreal to make the score 5-4, and the tide of the game seemed to have finally swayed in the visitor's favor. Not to be outdone, Wilf Paiement scored this third goal (the first and only hat trick in Scouts history) on a power play with just over eight minutes left in the contest. The Canadians did add a late goal to cut it to one, but Scouts goalie Denis Heron made enough stops (37 saves for the game) to persevere the upset and get the win. Ken Dryden stopped eight of nine shots he faced in the third period, but was saddled with the loss. Guy Charron tallied three assists for the Scouts on the night, and Craig Patrick (perhaps better known for later being the assistant coach and assistant general manager for the 1980 U.S. Olympic Gold Medal Hockey Team) added a goal and two assists. It's too bad that just over 7,600 fans attended Kemper that night to witness this epic victory.

 

Greatest Scouts Player: Wilf Paiement

-scored first (and only) hat trick in Scouts history; nine overall during his career

-three-time selection to the NHL All-Star Game; represented the Scouts in 1976

-played for seven teams over his fourteen-year NHL career

-scored 814 career points; ranks 164th in NHL history (as of 11/23/21); added 23 points in 28 games for Canada in the international play

-last player in NHL history, besides Wayne Gretzky, to wear #99

-played in three Conference Finals during career; never able to break through to Stanley Cup Finals

-upon retirement from the NHL (in 1988), Wilf was the last member of the Kansas City Scouts to play in the NHL

 

Scouts Most Interesting: Steve Durbano

The Scouts needed toughness. Playing for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Steve Durbano was tough (well, at least he liked to fight). The perceived need for toughness in Kansas City was strong enough to pull the trigger on a midseason trade during the 1975-76 season that sent the team’s captain, Simon Nolet, as a part of the trade that landed Durbano. Splitting that season with the Penguins and Scouts, Durbano racked up a league-leading 370 minutes of penalties and was almost always looking for a tussle. His Scouts teammates, who preferred to be left unnamed (wonder why?), privately got sick of killing off all the power plays he created for the opponents. Described a Jekyll and Hyde of sorts, there are many accounts of him being as of a good guy off the ice as he was a psycho on it.

 

Home For The Scouts: Kemper Arena

Opening in 1974, Kemper Arena seated 19,500 fans and was a hotbed of NCAA basketball. It hosted both a Men’s and Women’s Division I Final Four and the Big Eight/Twelve Conference Tournament for decades.

What is the current status of this arena?

It is still standing, but was renamed Hy-Vee Arena (I’m not calling it that despite the fact I love Hy-Vee) in 2018 and has been converted into a youth sports complex with twelve basketball courts on two levels. There is also a 350-meter track in the structure. There currently is no statue in honor of Brett Musburger, Gerald Ford, Steve Durbano, or even Otis Birdsong.

Did The Beatles ever play here? Beastie Boys?

No… the arena didn’t begin holding concerts until 1974, so they missed ”The Fab Four.” Paul McCarthy and Wings played there in 1976, so at least they got a fourth of the greatest band in history. The Beastie Boys rocked Kemper on 9/7/98, closed with ”Sabotage,” and even threw in ”So What’cha Want” as a part of the festivities. How did I not drag my rear end down there and go to this one…

What was the most significant non-sports/music event?

Close one on this question… The 1976 Republican National Convention took place there as incumbent U.S. President Gerald Ford narrowly defeated Ronald Reagan for the party’s nomination. Reagan parlayed this strong showing to win the party nomination and presidency in 1980. In 1999, at the WWE pay-per-view Over The Edge, Owen Hart plummeted to his death as he carried out his ring entrance as The Blue Blazer. This entrance required Hart to be lowered from the rafters to the ring like a superhero, but an equipment malfunction caused him to fall 70’.

 




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