# 1974 WHA playoffs

The 1974 WHA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the World Hockey Association's 1973-1974 season. The tournament concluded with the Western Division champion Houston Aeros defeating the Eastern Division champion Chicago Cougars in four games for their first Avco Cup championship.

## Playoff seeds

The top four teams in each division made the playoffs.

### Eastern Division

* New England Whalers, Eastern Division champions – 90 points
* Toronto Toros – 86 points
* Cleveland Crusaders – 83 points
* Chicago Cougars – 81 points

### Western Division

* Houston Aeros, Western Division champions – 101 points
* Minnesota Fighting Saints – 90 points
* Edmonton Oilers – 79 points
* Winnipeg Jets – 73 points

## Bracket

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Finals | Finals | Finals |
| E1 | New England Whalers | 3 | | | | | | |
| E4 | Chicago Cougars | 4 | | | | | | |
| E4 | Chicago Cougars | 4 | E4 | Chicago Cougars | 4 | | | |
| Eastern Division | Eastern Division | Eastern Division | E4 | Chicago Cougars | 4 | | | |
| Eastern Division | Eastern Division | Eastern Division | E2 | Toronto Toros | 3 | | | |
| E2 | Toronto Toros | 4 | E2 | Toronto Toros | 3 | | | |
| E3 | Cleveland Crusaders | 1 | | | | | | |
| E3 | Cleveland Crusaders | 1 | | | | E4 | Chicago Cougars | 0 |
| | | | | | | W1 | Houston Aeros | 4 |
| W1 | Houston Aeros | 4 | | | | | | | W1 | Houston Aeros | 4 |
| W4 | Winnipeg Jets | 0 | | | | | | |
| W4 | Winnipeg Jets | 0 | W1 | Houston Aeros | 4 | | | |
| Western Division | Western Division | Western Division | W1 | Houston Aeros | 4 | | | |
| Western Division | Western Division | Western Division | W2 | Minnesota Fighting Saints | 2 | | | |
| W2 | Minnesota Fighting Saints | 4 | W2 | Minnesota Fighting Saints | 2 | | | |
| W3 | Edmonton Oilers | 1 | | | | | | |

## Division Semifinals
### Eastern Division Semifinals
#### (E1) New England Whalers vs. (E4) Chicago Cougars

The series matched Chicago, a team that had a negative goal differential (271-273) with the Whalers, who had the 2nd best defense with a 5th best goal attack to go along with home-field advantage. The Whalers won the first two games, including an overtime win in Game 2, but the Cougars struck back with wins back home and an OT win of their own. The teams traded wins on the road to set up a Game 7 in Boston. The Cougars pulled off the upset victory. As it turned out, Game 6 was the last playoff game played by the franchise at the International Amphitheatre, as the next home game would be moved to Randhurst Twin Ice Arena due to unforeseen commitments made at their venue. Game 7 also was the last playoff game played by the Whalers, who had already announced their move to Hartford months earlier.

#### (E2) Toronto Toros vs. (E3) Cleveland Crusaders
### Western Division Semifinals
#### (W1) Houston Aeros vs. (W4) Winnipeg Jets

After the first two games, Winnipeg goaltender Joe Daley and his backup Ernie Wakely each came down with pneumonia. Winnipeg was forced to loan a goalie, which resulted in them receiving Frank Blum (a goalie who had played just seven professional games in the WHA) from the Toronto Toros. In Game 3, Larry Lund led the attack for the Aeros, scoring four goals to set a new postseason record for goals that was not broken for five years. In total, Blum allowed fourteen goals in the resulting two games for the Jets as they were swept (as it turned out, Blum never played in the WHA ever again). This would be the first of four times the Aeros and Jets would face each other in the playoffs.

#### (W2) Minnesota Fighting Saints vs. (W3) Edmonton Oilers
## Division Finals
### Eastern Division Finals
#### (E2) Toronto Toros vs. (E4) Chicago Cougars

Both teams played their games away from their usual homes: The Cougars, left with no choice due to commitments, played at Randhurst Twin Ice Arena while the Toros elected to play their postseason games at Maple Leaf Gardens.

### Western Division Finals
#### (W1) Houston Aeros vs. (W2) Minnesota Fighting Saints

The series was a matchup of the two top scoring offenses (Minnesota, Houston) and defenses (Houston, Minnesota).

## Avco Cup Final
### (W1) Houston Aeros vs. (E4) Chicago Cougars

The Aeros, having lost only one playoff game leading to the Finals, were well rested to play Chicago. The Final matched two brothers with Jan Popiel for Chicago (who finished the postseason tied for third-most goals with 8) and Poul Popiel for Houston (who tied the postseason for most assists with 14).
Houston took the lead early in Game 1, but Chicago threatened late and tied the game in the third period before the Aeros scored with four minutes remaining to take the lead again and win. The next three games saw Houston dominate and never trail at any moment on their way to a sweep. This was the first professional sports championship for Houston since the Houston Oilers won the AFL in 1961.
* Houston won series 4–0

## Statistical leaders
### Skaters

These were the top ten skaters based on points. Bold denotes the statistical leader.
| Player | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| Larry Lund | Houston Aeros | 14 | 9 | 14 | 23 | 56 |
| Ralph Backstrom | Chicago Cougars | 18 | 5 | 14 | 19 | 4 |
| Mark Howe | Houston Aeros | 14 | 9 | 10 | 19 | 4 |
| Mike Walton | Minnesota Fighting Saints | 11 | 10 | 8 | 18 | 16 |
| André Hinse | Houston Aeros | 14 | 8 | 9 | 17 | 18 |
| Gordie Howe | Houston Aeros | 13 | 3 | 14 | 17 | 34 |
| Gord Labossiere | Houston Aeros | 14 | 7 | 9 | 16 | 20 |
| Murray Hall | Houston Aeros | 14 | 9 | 6 | 15 | 6 |
| Rosaire Paiement | Chicago Cougars | 18 | 9 | 6 | 15 | 16 |
| Poul Popiel | Houston Aeros | 14 | 1 | 14 | 15 | 22 |

### Goaltending

These were the top eight goaltenders in terms of minutes.
| Player | Team | GP | GA | SA | SV | SV% | SO | MIN |
| Don McLeod | Houston Aeros | 14 | 35 | 386 | 351 | .909 | 0 | 842 |
| Andre Gill | Chicago Cougars | 11 | 38 | 318 | 280 | .881 | 0 | 614 |
| Gilles Gratton | Toronto Toros | 10 | 25 | 287 | 262 | .913 | 1 | 539 |
| Cam Newton | Chicago Cougars | 10 | 34 | 254 | 220 | .866 | 0 | 486 |
| Al Smith | New England Whalers | 7 | 21 | 240 | 219 | .913 | 1 | 399 |
| John Garrett | Minnesota Fighting Saints | 7 | 25 | 256 | 231 | .902 | 0 | 372 |
| Gerry Cheevers | Cleveland Crusaders | 5 | 18 | 196 | 178 | .908 | 0 | 303 |
| Mike Curran | Minnesota Fighting Saints | 5 | 14 | 161 | 147 | .913 | 0 | 289 |