Ottawa and Tampa Get NHL Teams : Hockey: The league snubs an Anaheim group that had sought an expansion franchise. The new clubs debut in 1992.

Ottawa and Tampa were awarded NHL expansion teams for the 1992-93 season by the league’s board of governors today.

The league chose a Tampa group led by former NHL star Phil Esposito, even though the city does not have a hockey arena.

Ottawa, Canada’s capital, also plans to build an arena and mounted a campaign that culminated with a visit by a 125-person delegation at this week’s NHL winter meetings.

The decision was a setback for two groups from Southern California. Former Kings owner Jerry Buss was seeking a team for either Anaheim or San Diego beginning in 1993-94. A second Southern California bid came from a San Diego group that wanted to wait until 1996 to begin play.

Also losing out was a group from St. Petersburg, 15 miles from Tampa, which had proposed to play in the Suncoast Dome. That group, considered the front-runner by many, included former NHL goalie Jim Rutherford. Also left out were groups from Miami and Hamilton, Ontario.

Seattle withdrew its application at the annual league meeting Wednesday because of a lack of money, leaving seven groups still vying for a team.

Each application group met privately in a hotel ballroom Wednesday with nearly 50 officials from the NHL, including President John Ziegler and representatives from the league’s 21 teams. Each group made a 20-minute presentation and then spent about 20 minutes more answering questions.

“It seemed a lot longer than that,” said Rutherford, director of hockey operations for the company that submitted St. Petersburg’s application.

Five groups proposed to field a team in 1992.