Saskatoon's 1983 NHL dreams now the subject of a documentary

Back in 1983, Bill Hunter offered to buy the St. Louis Blues in an effort to bring the NHL team to his hometown of Saskatoon.

It captured the city’s imagination with letter-writing campaigns asking the NHL for season tickets, rumours that Don Cherry would coach and even had sports stores make “Saskatoon Blues” jerseys.

So what happened – why didn’t we get the team? 52 North Films is starting work on a documentary to figure it all out.

“Bill Hunter faced the same obstacles of trying to get into the inner circle and had many of the same debates of the economy of hockey that we have now,” said Kyle Burgess with 52 North Films.

“It’s the same now as it was then, where they’re very protective of where teams come and go to. You can see it now with how things have worked out for Las Vegas and Quebec City.”

Some filming on “Hunting for a Team” has already started, including interviews with Hunter’s family, but more money is needed to get through production.

The company has started a crowdfunding page to help along with a Facebook page for the film.