1977–78 WHA season

Professional ice hockey season August 2023 1977–78 WHA season World Hockey Association Ice hockey October 12, 1977 – May 22, 1978 Regular season Winnipeg Jets Draft 1977 WHA amateur draft Scott Campbell Houston Aeros Marc Tardif (Quebec) Gordie Howe Trophy Marc Tardif (Quebec) Bill Hunter Trophy Playoffs 1978 WHA playoffs Avco Cup Final 1978 WHA playoffs#Avco Cup Final Winnipeg Jets New England Whalers Bob Guindon (Jets) WHA Playoff MVP 1978–79 1976–77 WHA The 1977–78 WHA season was the sixth season of the World Hockey Association (WHA). Eight teams played 80 games each. The Avco World Trophy winner was the Winnipeg Jets. League business With a reduction of three teams from the end of the previous season (the San Diego Mariners, Phoenix Roadrunners, and Calgary Cowboys folded), the WHA abandoned its divisional format and grouped the remaining eight teams together. There had been a tentative merger agreement that would have had Cincinnati, Houston, New England, Winnipeg, Quebec, and Edmonton join the NHL but it could not be finalized. In a unique move, two international All-Star teams, the Soviet All-Stars and Czechoslovakia All-Stars, played games that counted in the regular season standings. They played each WHA team once, on the WHA team's home ice. The Soviet team acquitted themselves well, winning three plus two additional games against WHA teams outside the regular standings, tying one and losing the other four; while the Czechoslovak team only won once and tied once, losing six. This is the first time International teams competed in regular season competition in a major professional sports league in North America; those two teams as well as a Finnish team would come back to play the WHA teams the next year. The best six teams qualified for the playoffs. However, instead of the standard schedule for a six-team playoff (i.e., giving the first and second place teams byes into the semifinals, with the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth place teams opening in the quarterfinals), the WHA came up with a unique twist. There were three quarterfinal series instead of two, with the teams paired top to bottom (i.e., 1st vs. 6th, 2nd vs. 5th, 3rd vs. 4th). The highest-seeded quarterfinal winner then received a semifinal bye and advanced directly to the finals, while the remaining two quarterfinal series winners played off in a single semifinal. All series were best four-out-of-seven games. Regular season The Howe family of Gordie and his sons Mark and Marty moved to the New England Whalers from the Houston Aeros. The trio helped the Whalers to the Avco Cup final. Final standings Player stats Scoring leaders Bolded numbers indicate season leaders GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes Player Team GP G A Pts PIM Marc Tardif Quebec Nordiques 78 65 89 154 50 Real Cloutier Quebec Nordiques 73 56 73 129 19 Ulf Nilsson Winnipeg Jets 73 37 89 126 89 Anders Hedberg Winnipeg Jets 77 63 59 122 60 Bobby Hull Winnipeg Jets 77 46 71 117 23 Andre Lacroix Houston Aeros 78 36 77 113 57 Robbie Ftorek Cincinnati Stingers 80 59 50 109 54 Kent Nilsson Winnipeg Jets 80 42 65 107 8 Gordie Howe New England Whalers 76 34 62 96 85 Mark Howe New England Whalers 70 30 61 91 32 Leading goaltenders Bolded numbers indicate season leaders GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties, GA = Goals against; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average Player Team GP Min W L T GA SO SV% GAA Al Smith New England Whalers 55 3246 30 20 3 174 2 88.5 3.22 Joe Daley Winnipeg Jets 37 2075 21 11 1 114 1 88.3 3.30 Gary Bromley Winnipeg Jets 39 2252 25 12 1 124 1 88.6 3.30 Jean-Louis Levasseur New England Whalers 27 1655 14 11 2 91 3 88.6 3.30 Ernie Wakely Cincinnati – Houston 57 3381 28 23 4 192 2 89.1 3.41 All-Star Game The 1978 WHA All-Star game pitted the defending champion Quebec Nordiques against the stars from the remaining WHA teams. The game was played on 17 January 1978, in Quebec City, and attracted 6,413 spectators. The Nordiques, coached by Marc Boileau, won the game 5–4. Marc Tardif and Mark Howe were named the players of the game. Avco World Cup playoffs 1978 WHA playoffs 0 7 / 8 2 Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals 170 2 New England Whalers 4 5 Edmonton Oilers 1 3 Houston Aeros 2 4 Quebec Nordiques 4 1 Winnipeg Jets 4 6 Birmingham Bulls 1 2 New England Whalers 4 4 Quebec Nordiques 1 1 Winnipeg Jets 4 2 New England Whalers 0 WHA awards Trophies Avco World Trophy: Winnipeg JetsGordie Howe Trophy: Marc Tardif, Quebec NordiquesBill Hunter Trophy: Marc Tardif, Quebec NordiquesLou Kaplan Trophy: Kent Nilsson, Winnipeg Jets Ben Hatskin Trophy: Al Smith, New England WhalersDennis A. Murphy Trophy: Lars-Erik Sjoberg, Winnipeg JetsPaul Deneau Trophy: Dave Keon, New England WhalersRobert Schmertz Memorial Trophy: Bill Dineen, Houston AerosWHA Playoff MVP: Robert Guindon, Winnipeg Jets All-Star Team Position First Team Second Team Centre Ulf Nilsson, Winnipeg Robbie Ftorek, Cincinnati Right Wing Anders Hedberg, Winnipeg Real Cloutier, Quebec Left Wing Marc Tardif, Quebec Bobby Hull, Winnipeg Defence Lars-Erik Sjoberg, Winnipeg Rick Ley, New England Defence Al Hamilton, Edmonton Barry Long, Winnipeg Goaltender Al Smith, New England Ernie Wakely, Houston See also 1977 WHA Amateur Draft 1977–78 NHL season References HockeyDB 2 2 Category:World Hockey Association seasons WHA WHA