TheCleveland Crusaders were a professionalice hockey team fromCleveland. They played in theWorld Hockey Association from1972 to1976. Their home ice was theCleveland Arena from 1972 to 1974, and theRichfield Coliseum from 1974 to 1976.

Cleveland Crusaders
City	Cleveland, Ohio
League	World Hockey Association
Operated	1972–1976
Home arena	Cleveland Arena (1972–74) Richfield Coliseum (1974–76).
Media	WUAB WHK
Franchise history
1972 (did not play)	Calgary Broncos
1972–1976	Cleveland Crusaders
1976–1977	Minnesota Fighting Saints

The team was owned byNick Mileti, who had been the founder of theNBA'sCleveland Cavaliers, and also ownedMajor League Baseball'sCleveland Indians. He had also owned the nine-timeAmerican Hockey League championCleveland Barons, but moved them toJacksonville, Florida to make room for the Crusaders. The first coach for the Crusaders wasBill Needham, a mainstay of the Barons. Needham coached the Crusaders to winning records in the first two seasons, but failed to advance past the second playoff round. In the1974–75 season,John Hanna took over as coach, to be replaced mid-season byJack Vivian. Cleveland finished second in the east division despite a losing record, but fell in the first round of the playoffs.Johnny Wilson led the team for its final season, also losing in the first round of the post-season.

Mileti sold the team to Jay White in 1975, but White sold it back to Mileti in 1976. However, not long after Mileti closed on his repurchase, theNational Hockey League'sCalifornia Golden Seals moved to Cleveland and became theCleveland Barons. Mileti knew he could not hope to compete with an NHL team and decided to move the Crusaders elsewhere.

Initially, the team was going to relocate to South Florida and become theFlorida Breakers,^[1] going far enough to have a logo designed.^[2] After the proposed move fell through,^[3] the Crusaders relocated toSt. Paul, Minnesota, becoming the second incarnation of theMinnesota Fighting Saints.

Gary Jarrett was the Crusaders top scorer in their four seasons, playing in 298 games, scoring 104 goals, 119 assists, totalling 223 points.Gerry Pinder played the most games in a Crusader uniform, 304 in total. Other notable Crusaders players includedPaul Shmyr (538 penalty minutes in four seasons), netminderGerry Cheevers (99 wins in four seasons), and defensemanWayne Hillman.

The last active Crusaders player in major professional hockey wasPaul Baxter, who last played the1986-87 NHL season.

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

• season statistics www.hockeydb.com
• List of NHL players www.legendsofhockey.net