Founded in November 1971, the first Fighting Saints team played four seasons beginning in 1972–73 under the ownership of nine local businessmen.

In fact, one of the players the Saints selected in the inaugural WHA draft in 1972 was Wendell Anderson, a former star defenseman at the University of Minnesota and a member of the silver medal-winning Team USA squad at the 1956 Winter Olympics.

Perhaps even more impressively, given that they were in direct competition with the Minnesota North Stars of the established National Hockey League, the Fighting Saints always drew more fans than the WHA average.

They also boasted a handful of expensive marquee players such as Mike Walton, Dave Keon and John McKenzie.

Without a marketable star in Gordie Howe or Bobby Hull's mold, the Saints were unable to secure a lucrative television deal.

The Fighting Saints' last game was played February 25, 1976, at the Civic Center, a 2–1 overtime loss to the San Diego Mariners in front of an announced crowd of 6,011.

The decision to fold the franchise occurred February 28, 1976, in the lobby of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport, moments before the team was scheduled to board a flight to Cincinnati for a game that night.

(The trio weren't the Saints' only connection to the film: in the 1974 WHA semifinals against Houston, controversial forward Bill "Goldie" Goldthorpe played three games for the Fighting Saints, compiling no points and 25 penalty minutes; Slap Shot featured a wild player named Ogie Oglethorpe, based on Goldthorpe.)

Veteran NHL coach Bruce Boudreau made his professional debut with the Saints, playing 30 games in the 1975–76 season and scoring three goals and six assists.

[5] Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes Games of the original Fighting Saints were heard on WLOL Radio (1330 AM) from 1972 to 1976, with Frank Buetel as play-by-play announcer.

Buetel's color commentators included Roger Buxton (1972–73) and Bob Halvorson, the Saints' first-season public relations director (1972–73), and Bill Allard (1973–1976).

On January 7, 1973, CBS aired its first WHA game between the Fighting Saints and Winnipeg Jets live from the new St. Paul Civic Center with Ron Oakes, Gerry Cheevers and Dick Stockton announcing.

The main sportswriters who covered the Fighting Saints were Charley Hallman of the St. Paul Pioneer Press-Dispatch and John Gilbert of the Minneapolis Tribune.