Toronto Blizzard (1971–1984)

Toronto Blizzard
Full name	Toronto Blizzard
Nickname(s)	Blizzard, Metros, Metros-Croatia
Founded	1971
Dissolved	1984
Ground	Varsity Stadium; (Capacity: 22,000)
League	North American Soccer League
Home colours	Away colours

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This article is about the original Toronto Blizzard of the NASL. For the second team to use the name, see Toronto Blizzard (1986-1993)

The Toronto Blizzard were a professional soccer club based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that played in the North American Soccer League.

[edit] History

The Toronto Metros joined the NASL in 1971. Their home field was Varsity Stadium.

In 1975 the team merged with Toronto Croatia of the National Soccer League, becoming Toronto Metros-Croatia. The club won the 1976 Soccer Bowl championship. However, they continued to struggle at the gate.

The Global Television Network purchased the struggling Toronto Metros-Croatia on February 1, 1979.^[1] Following the purchase, Toronto Croatia returned to the NSL as a separate club. The NASL team was renamed the Toronto Blizzard following the takeover. Under the new ownership, attendances nearly doubled.^[1]

The Blizzard were members of the NASL until 1984, the last year of league operations. The team were runners-up for the league championship in 1983, losing the Soccer Bowl to the Tulsa Roughnecks 2-0 in front of nearly sixty thousand people at Vancouver's BC Place Stadium. They were runners-up again in 1984 when they lost to the Chicago Sting two games to none in a best of three championship series. The club was coached in these final two years by Bobby Houghton, assisted by Dave Turner and featured Roberto Bettega, David Byrne, Cliff Calvert, Pasquale De Luca, Charlie Falzon, Sven Habermann, Paul Hammond, Paul James, Conny Karlsson, Victor Kodelja, Trevor McCallum, Colin Miller, Jan Möller, Jimmy Nicholl, Ace Ntsoelengoe, Randy Ragan, Neill Roberts, John Paskin, Derek Spalding, and Bruce Wilson in its lineup.

The Blizzard qualified for the play-offs on only two other occasions, in 1979 and 1982, losing in the first round each time. Prominent players during the first four years included Clyde Best, Željko Bilecki, Jimmy Bone, Roberto Bettega, Drew Busby, David Byrne, Cliff Calvert, Tony Chursky, David Fairclough, Colin Franks, George Gibbs, Jimmy Greenhoff, Graham Hatley, Victor Kodelja, Sam Lenarduzzi, Peter Lorimer, Ivan Lukačević, Drago Vabec, Mike McLenaghen, Willie McVie, Alan Merrick, Charlie Mitchell, Juan Carlos Molina, Jan Möller, Francesco Morini, Ace Ntsoelengoe, Rob Prentice, Randy Ragan, Neill Roberts, Malcolm Robertson, Peter Roe, Jomo Sono, Gordon Sweetzer, Blagoje Tamindžić, Jose Velasquez, and Bruce Wilson.

Toronto Metros-Croatia crest

[edit] Year-by-year team record

[edit] Metros

Year	League	W	L	T	Pts	Reg. Season	Playoffs	Avg. Attendance
1971	NASL	5	10	9	89	3rd, Northern Division	Did not qualify	5,993
1972	NASL	4	6	4	53	4th, Northern Division	Did not qualify	7,173
1973	NASL	6	4	9	89	1st, Northern Division	Lost Semifinal (Philadelphia)	5,961
1974	NASL	9	10	1	87	2nd, Northern Division	Did not qualify	3,458

[edit] Metros-Croatia

Year	League	W	L	T	Pts	Regular Season	Playoffs	Avg. Attendance
1975	NASL	13	9	—	114	2nd, Northern Division	Lost Quarterfinal (Tampa Bay)	6,271
1976	NASL	15	9	—	123	2nd, Atlantic Conference, Northern Division	Won 1st Round (Rochester) Won Division Championship (Chicago) Won Conference Championship (Tampa Bay) Won Soccer Bowl '76 (Minnesota)	5,555
1977	NASL	13	13	—	115	1st, Atlantic Conference, Northern Division	Lost Conference Championship (Rochester)	7,321
1978	NASL	16	14	—	144	3rd, National Conference, Eastern Division	Lost 1st Round (Vancouver)	6,233

[edit] Blizzard

Year	League	W	L	T	Pts	Reg. Season	Playoffs	Avg. Attendance
1979	NASL	14	16	—	133	3rd, National Conference,Eastern Division	Lost Conference Quarterfinal (New York)	11,821
1979/80	NASL Indoor	Did not enter
1980	NASL	14	18	—	128	3rd, National Conference, Eastern Division	Won 1st Round (Los Angeles) Lost Quarterfinal (Chicago)	15,043
1980/81	NASL Indoor	5	13	—	—	4th, Northern Division	Did not qualify
1981	NASL	7	25	—	77	4th, Eastern Division	Did not qualify	7,287
1981/82	NASL Indoor	8	10	—	—	2nd, American Conference, East Division	Did not qualify
1982	NASL	17	15	—	151	3rd, Eastern Division	Lost 1st Round (Seattle)	8,105
1982/83	NASL Indoor	Season cancelled
1983	NASL	16	14	—	135	3rd, Eastern Division	Won 1st Round (Vancouver) Won Semifinals (Montreal) Lost Soccer Bowl '83 (Tulsa)	11,630
1983/84	NASL Indoor	Did not enter
1984	NASL	14	10	—	117	2nd, Eastern Division	Won Semifinals (San Diego) Lost Championship (Chicago)	11,452