After two unsuccessful seasons in New York and New Jersey, the WHA came to San Diego, with the former Jersey Knights becoming the San Diego Mariners. The Mariners were coached by Harry Howell, who also was one of the team's top defensemen.

After starting the season with an ugly 8-2 loss on the road against the Phoenix Roadrunners, the Mariners beat the Houston Aeros 6-2 in their first game at the San Diego Sports Arena. The Mariners would win their first four home games, as they were a surprise contender in the Western Division.

Helping to lead the Mariners was Andre Lacroix who had one of the best seasons in the history of professional hockey, winning his second league scoring title with 147 points as he set a record of racked up 106 assists, winning the WHA's MVP award. Benefiting the most from the play of Lacroix, who fans called the magician for the way he made the puck disappear, was Wayne Rivers who had 54 goals and 53 assists, while Ernie Wakely and Russ Gillow split the goaltending duties.

The Mariners would finish the season in second place with a solid record of 43-31-4. In the playoffs the Mariners would get off to a fast start in the playoffs beating the Toronto Toros in the first two games at home, scoring 12 goals.

After losing the next two games in Toronto, the Mariners scored another big winning 4-3 in Game 5 to regain control of the series on the way to winning in six games. However, in the next round the Mariners would get blown away by the Houston Aeros, losing in four straight games by a combined score of 17-5.