The franchise originally competed in the
Western Hockey League (WHL) from 1967 to 1974 after being moved from
Victoria, British Columbia, where they had played for the three previous seasons as the
Maple Leafs. In 1974, the Roadrunners joined the WHA with their roster mostly intact when the WHL ceased operations. The Roadrunners achieved relative success during their first two WHA seasons, but lack of financial success resulted in the removal of local favorite
Sandy Hucul as coach and his replacement with
Al Rollins, who was disliked by Phoenix hockey fans. Rollins did not succeed in improving the team's fortunes. At one point, the team was forced to sell players just to pay the bills. The Roadrunners finally gave up and folded at the end of its third season. The last active WHA Roadrunner in major professional hockey was the team's star player,
Robbie Ftorek, who retired from the NHL after the
1984–85 season. ==Notable players==