Owned by WHA co-founder Dennis Murphy, the Los Angeles Aces were going to be one of the new league's cornerstone teams. Before the season started the Aces became the Sharks, as an effort to but a team in San Francisco failed.

The San Francisco team was to be named the Sharks, but after they settled on becoming the Quebec Nordiques, the name was left for their planned rival in Los Angeles. The Sharks coached by Terry Slater, would split their home games between the Los Angeles Sports Arena and the Long Beach Arena, much like the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL did before the opening of the The Forum.

In their first game on October 13th the Sharks suffered a 3-2 home loss to the Houston Aeros. They would beat the Aeros two days later 5-1 for their first win.

Building their team around a solid defense, and physical play, the Sharks led the World Hockey Association in Penalty Minutes, while goalies George Gardner and Russ Gillow combined for the third best Goals Against Average as the Sharks finished in third place with a record of 37-35-6. The Sharks offense was led by Gary Veneruzzo who had a team best 43 goals.

The Sharks would face the Houston Aeros in the playoffs, and after splitting the first two games in Houston they would take a series lead, winning 3-2 in Game 3. However, the series slipped away in Game 4 when the Sharks suffered a 3-2 overtime loss at home.

The Aeros would go on to win the series in six games.