1979-1980 Milwaukee Admirals forfeited a playoff series

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They reportedly forfeited the 1979-1980 Quarterfinals series against Saginaw for "rough play".

Considering how rough and tumble the IHL (and just about every hockey league that was around in those days), that must have been pretty bad for a team to forfeit.

I know we've got some long-time Ads fans on here, so seeing as how this is the "Remember When" forum for the minors, I figured it'd be good to get some input on this story.

The fact that the Admirals never won the cup is one of the low points in Admiral history, but it isn't the lowest – in the Turner Cup playoffs of 1979-80, the Admirals forfeited the last two games of their quarterfinal series with Saginaw. The IHL made up an excuse that the Admirals refused to play because of ice conditions, and forfeited the series. However, Lloyd Pettit's complaint wasn't with the ice as much as it was with the players on the ice. The Admirals were getting roughed up badly. Six of the Gears' players had over 100 PIM in the regular season, including Mel Hewitt with 504. Pettit demanded that Saginaw forfeit the remaining two games in the series because of the rough play.

http://home.roadrunner.com/~jhouk/adhistory.html

[arktoshorse]

I thought they forfitted the series over John Gibson aassault in breaking Carey Haworths nose.