# 1979–80 WHL season

The 1979–80 WHL season was the 14th season of the Western Hockey League (WHL). It featured eleven teams completing a 72-game regular season. The Portland Winter Hawks became the first American-based club to top the regular season standings, capturing the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy. In the playoffs, the Regina Pats won their second President's Cup, defeating the Victoria Cougars in the championship final.
The season was the first for the Great Falls Americans, after the Edmonton Oil Kings relocated to Great Falls prior to the season. However, the team lasted only 28 games before ceasing operations on December 16, 1979, for the remainder of the season. Thus while twelve teams opened the season, only eleven played it through to completion.

## League notes

* The WHL changed its divisional format, opting for a two division format of eight teams in the East and four in the West over the previous three division format.

## Team changes

* The Edmonton Oil Kings relocated to Great Falls, Montana, becoming the Great Falls Americans.

## Regular season
### Final standings

| East Division | GP | W | L | T | Pts | GF | GA |
| x Regina Pats | 72 | 47 | 24 | 1 | 95 | 429 | 311 |
| x Calgary Wranglers | 72 | 43 | 27 | 2 | 88 | 376 | 319 |
| x Medicine Hat Tigers | 72 | 37 | 30 | 5 | 79 | 344 | 315 |
| x Billings Bighorns | 72 | 37 | 34 | 1 | 75 | 326 | 284 |
| x Brandon Wheat Kings | 72 | 33 | 37 | 2 | 68 | 319 | 343 |
| x Lethbridge Broncos | 72 | 28 | 39 | 5 | 61 | 329 | 349 |
| Saskatoon Blades | 72 | 27 | 40 | 5 | 59 | 331 | 382 |
| Great Falls Americans$^1$ | 28 | 2 | 25 | 1 | 5 | 73 | 186 |
| West Division | GP | W | L | T | Pts | GF | GA |
| x Portland Winter Hawks | 72 | 53 | 18 | 1 | 107 | 398 | 293 |
| x Victoria Cougars | 72 | 51 | 21 | 0 | 102 | 349 | 226 |
| x Seattle Breakers | 72 | 29 | 41 | 2 | 60 | 297 | 364 |
| New Westminster Bruins | 72 | 10 | 61 | 1 | 21 | 244 | 443 |
$^1$Folded mid-season

### Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalties in minutes
| Player | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| Doug Wickenheiser | Regina Pats | 71 | 89 | 81 | 170 | 99 |
| Tim Tookey | Portland Winter Hawks | 70 | 58 | 83 | 141 | 55 |
| Barry Pederson | Victoria Cougars | 72 | 52 | 88 | 140 | 50 |
| Kelly Kisio | Calgary Wranglers | 71 | 65 | 73 | 138 | 64 |
| Jim Dobson | Portland Winter Hawks | 72 | 66 | 68 | 134 | 179 |
| Ron Flockhart | Regina Pats | 65 | 54 | 76 | 130 | 63 |
| Gord Williams | Lethbridge Broncos | 72 | 57 | 65 | 122 | 92 |
| Darren Veitch | Regina Pats | 71 | 29 | 93 | 122 | 118 |
| Brian Varga | Regina Pats | 70 | 39 | 79 | 118 | 97 |
| Doug Morrison | Lethbridge Broncos | 68 | 58 | 59 | 117 | 188 |

## 1980 WHL Playoffs
### First round

* Regina defeated Lethbridge 4 games to 0
* Brandon defeated Calgary 4 games to 3
* Medicine Hat defeated Billings 4 games to 3

### Division semi-finals

Round Robin format
* Medicine Hat (3–1) advanced
* Regina (2–2) advanced
* Brandon (1–3) eliminated
* Victoria (5–3) advanced
* Seattle (4–4) advanced
* Portland (3–5) eliminated

### Division finals

* Regina defeated Medicine Hat 4 games to 1
* Victoria defeated Seattle 4 games to 0

### WHL Championship

* Regina defeated Victoria 4 games to 1

## WHL awards

* Most Valuable Player: Doug Wickenheiser, Regina Pats
* Top Scorer - Bob Clarke Trophy: Doug Wickenheiser, Regina Pats
* Most Sportsmanlike Player: Steve Tsujiura, Medicine Hat Tigers
* Top Defenseman - Bill Hunter Trophy: Dave Babych, Portland Winter Hawks
* Rookie of the Year - Jim Piggott Memorial Trophy: Grant Fuhr, Victoria Cougars
* Top Goaltender - Del Wilson Trophy: Kevin Eastman, Victoria Cougars
* Coach of the Year - Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy: Doug Sauter, Calgary Wranglers
* Regular season Champions - Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy: Portland Winter Hawks

## All-Star Teams

| | First Team | First Team | Second team | Second team |
| Goal | Grant Fuhr | Victoria Cougars | Andy Moog | Billings Bighorns |
| Defense | Dave Babych | Portland Winter Hawks | Jim McTaggart | Billings Bighorns |
| Defense | Darren Veitch | Regina Pats | Mark Robinson | Victoria Cougars |
| Center | Doug Wickenheiser | Regina Pats | Barry Pederson | Victoria Cougars |
| Left wing | Greg C. Adams (tied) | Victoria Cougars | Ken Solheim | Medicine Hat Tigers |
| Left wing | Florent Robidoux (tied) | Portland Winter Hawks | - | - |
| Right wing | Jim Dobson | Portland Winter Hawks | Mike Blaisdell (tie) | Regina Pats |
| Right wing | - | - | Don Gillen (tie) | Brandon Wheat Kings |