In the early 1970s 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 Minnesota Fighting Saints were one of the WHA’s original franchises, playing their games in downtown St. Paul at the newly built Civic Center. They were the first major professional sports team 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, Slap Shot (1977), which became a cult classic still considered one of the greatest sports movies of all time. -- Adapted from back cover.