1977–78 Winnipeg Jets season

The 1977–78 Winnipeg Jets season was the Jets 6th season in the World Hockey Association (WHA). The Jets finished 1st in the league and defeated the New England Whalers 4 games to 0 in the Finals to win their 2nd Avco World Trophy.
==Off-season==
The Jets jerseys were the same design as in the 1973-74 season except for the addition of white shoulder yolks to the primarily away dark blue jersey which was a darker blue.
==Regular Season==
On March 11, 1978, Bobby Hull scored the 1,000th goal in the 1,600th game of his career against the Quebec Nordiques in the Jets 7-4 victory.
===Final Standings===
===Game Log===
Regular Season Results	Regular Season Results	Regular Season Results	Regular Season Results	Regular Season Results 	Regular Season Results
No. 	R 	Date 	Score 	Opponent 	Record
1 	W 	October 12, 1977 	7–3 	@ Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) 	1–0–0
2 	W 	October 13, 1977 	5–2 	Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 	2–0–0
3 	W 	October 15, 1977 	5–4 	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	3–0–0
4 	W 	October 16, 1977 	9–1 	Indianapolis Racers (1977–78) 	4–0–0
5 	L 	October 21, 1977 	2–5 	New England Whalers (1977–78) 	4–1–0
6 	W 	October 23, 1977 	10–3 	Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 	5–1–0
7 	L 	October 26, 1977 	3–5 	@ Indianapolis Racers (1977–78)	5–2–0
8 	W 	October 28, 1977 	3–2 	Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) 	6–2–0
9 	W 	October 30, 1977 	5–2 	Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) 	7–2–0
10 	W 	November 2, 1977 	6–3 	@ Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) 	8–2–0
11 	W 	November 4, 1977 	4–2 	@ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 	9–2–0
12 	W 	November 5, 1977 	6–1 	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	10–2–0
13 	W 	November 9, 1977 	4–3 	Houston Aeros (1977–78) 	11–2–0
14 	L 	November 11, 1977 	2–3 OT 	Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 	11–3–0
15 	L 	November 13, 1977 	2–3 	Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) 	11–4–0
16 	L 	November 15, 1977 	6–7 OT 	@ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 	11–5–0
17 	T 	November 16, 1977 	2–2 	Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 	11–5–1
18 	L 	November 18, 1977 	2–3 	@ New England Whalers (1977–78)	11–6–1
19 	W 	November 19, 1977 	6–4 	@ Indianapolis Racers (1977–78)	12–6–1
20 	L 	November 22, 1977 	2–4 	@ Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) 	12–7–1
21 	L 	November 27, 1977 	3–4 OT 	Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 	12–8–1
22 	L 	December 2, 1977 	1–4 	@ New England Whalers (1977–78)	12–9–1
23 	L 	December 3, 1977 	5–6 	@ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 	12–10–1
24 	L 	December 4, 1977 	2–3 	Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) 	12–11–1
25 	W 	December 7, 1977 	5–2 	Houston Aeros (1977–78) 	13–11–1
26 	L 	December 9, 1977 	3–4 OT 	Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) 	13–12–1
27 	W 	December 11, 1977 	7–1 	Indianapolis Racers (1977–78) 	14–12–1
28 	W 	December 13, 1977 	5–1 	Czechoslovakia (1977–78) 	15–12–1
29 	W 	December 17, 1977 	6–3 	@ New England Whalers (1977–78)	16–12–1
30 	W 	December 18, 1977 	7–3 	New England Whalers (1977–78) 	17–12–1
31 	W 	December 20, 1977 	6–4 	Soviet All-Stars (1977–78) 	18–12–1
32 	W 	December 21, 1977 	4–3 	@ Houston Aeros (1977–78) 	19–12–1
33 	W 	December 23, 1977 	6–4 	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	20–12–1
34 	W 	December 26, 1977 	9–4 	Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 	21–12–1
35 	W 	January 6, 1978 	4–1 	@ Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) 	22–12–1
36 	W 	January 8, 1978 	4–2 	Indianapolis Racers (1977–78) 	23–12–1
37 	W 	January 11, 1978 	11–2 	Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 	24–12–1
38 	L 	January 13, 1978 	2–3 	@ Houston Aeros (1977–78) 	24–13–1
39 	W 	January 14, 1978 	6–3 	@ Indianapolis Racers (1977–78)	25–13–1
40 	L 	January 15, 1978 	3–4 OT 	Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) 	25–14–1
41 	W 	January 18, 1978 	5–1 	Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 	26–14–1
42 	T 	January 20, 1978 	4–4 	New England Whalers (1977–78) 	26–14–2
43 	L 	January 22, 1978 	4–5 	Indianapolis Racers (1977–78) 	26–15–2
44 	L 	January 25, 1978 	2–6 	@ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 	26–16–2
45 	L 	January 26, 1978 	1–2 OT 	@ Houston Aeros (1977–78) 	26–17–2
46 	L 	January 28, 1978 	5–8 	@ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 	26–18–2
47 	W 	January 29, 1978 	8–4 	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	27–18–2
48 	W 	January 31, 1978 	7–2 	@ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 	28–18–2
49 	W 	February 4, 1978 	7–5 	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	29–18–2
50 	W 	February 5, 1978 	4–3 	Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) 	30–18–2
51 	W 	February 8, 1978 	9–0 	Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 	31–18–2
52 	W 	February 10, 1978 	10–2 	Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) 	32–18–2
53 	W 	February 11, 1978 	5–3 	@ Indianapolis Racers (1977–78)	33–18–2
54 	W 	February 12, 1978 	6–5 	@ Houston Aeros (1977–78) 	34–18–2
55 	W 	February 15, 1978 	6–5 	Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) 	35–18–2
56 	W 	February 16, 1978 	2–1 OT 	@ New England Whalers (1977–78)	36–18–2
57 	W 	February 18, 1978 	4–0 	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	37–18–2
58 	W 	February 19, 1978 	5–2 	Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 	38–18–2
59 	W 	February 22, 1978 	4–2 	New England Whalers (1977–78) 	39–18–2
60 	W 	February 24, 1978 	7–2 	New England Whalers (1977–78) 	40–18–2
61 	W 	February 26, 1978 	9–6 	Houston Aeros (1977–78) 	41–18–2
62 	L 	March 1, 1978 	3–4 	@ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 	41–19–2
63 	L 	March 3, 1978 	1–5 	Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) 	41–20–2
64 	L 	March 4, 1978 	6–8 	@ Indianapolis Racers (1977–78)	41–21–2
65 	L 	March 5, 1978 	3–4 	Houston Aeros (1977–78) 	41–22–2
66 	W 	March 9, 1978 	6–5 	Indianapolis Racers (1977–78) 	42–22–2
67 	W 	March 11, 1978 	7–4 	@ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 	43–22–2
68 	W 	March 12, 1978 	3–2 	Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 	44–22–2
69 	W 	March 15, 1978 	8–4 	Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) 	45–22–2
70 	L 	March 17, 1978 	2–6 	@ Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) 	45–23–2
71 	W 	March 19, 1978 	5–3 	Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 	46–23–2
72 	W 	March 22, 1978 	5–3 	@ New England Whalers (1977–78)	47–23–2
73 	W 	March 25, 1978 	3–1 	@ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 	48–23–2
74 	L 	March 28, 1978 	3–5 	@ Houston Aeros (1977–78) 	48–24–2
75 	W 	March 30, 1978 	4–1 	@ Indianapolis Racers (1977–78)	49–24–2
76 	L 	April 1, 1978 	2–5 	@ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 	49–25–2
77 	L 	April 4, 1978 	3–6 	@ Houston Aeros (1977–78) 	49–26–2
78 	W 	April 6, 1978 	7–4 	New England Whalers (1977–78) 	50–26–2
79 	L 	April 7, 1978 	2–4 	@ Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) 	50–27–2
80 	L 	April 9, 1978 	4–5 	Houston Aeros (1977–78) 	50–28–2
==Playoffs==
Due to their victory over the Bulls, the Jets earned a bye to the Finals while the other two Quarter-finals winners faced off against each other.
===Winnipeg Jets 4, Birmingham Bulls 1===
#	Date 	Visitor 	Score	Home 	Record
1	April 14	Birmingham Bulls	3–9 	Winnipeg Jets 	0–1
2	April 16	Birmingham Bulls	3–8 	Winnipeg Jets 	0–2
3	April 19	Winnipeg Jets 	2–3 	Birmingham Bulls	2–1
4	April 21	Winnipeg Jets 	5–1 	Birmingham Bulls	3–1
5	April 23	Birmingham Bulls	2–5 	Winnipeg Jets 	1–4
===Winnipeg Jets 4, New England Whalers 0===
The Finals matched the Winnipeg Jets and New England Whalers, who had both won the AVCO World Trophy once. Al Smith played Games 1, 3 and 4 in net for the Whalers while Gary Bromley and Joe Daley alternated games for the Jets with Bromley starting Game 1. Game 1 was scoreless until the third period when the Jets depth scoring paid off with Bob Guindon marking twice and Peter Sullivan netting the winner. The Jets depth scoring was again the story of Game 2 as Dan Labraaten, Lyle Moffat and Bob Guindon staked the Jets to a 3-0 lead. The Jets first line finally scored as Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson piled on Whalers goalie Jean-Louis Levasseur as the Jets won 5-2. The Jets dominated Game 3 as Willy Lindström had a Hat trick and Kent Nilsson scored twice and added 2 assists in a 10-2 romp. Game 4 saw the Whalers take their only lead of the series as Mike Antonovich and Rick Ley scored, taking a 2-0 lead into the second period. Anders Hedberg took over, scoring twice and setting up 2 goals, including the series winner by Bobby Hull as the Jets swept the series four straight. Game 4 was the last game for the Hull-Nilsson-Hedberg line as the Swedes jumped to the New York Rangers. Bob Guindon was named the WHA Playoff MVP.
#	Date 	Visitor 	Score	Home 	Record
1	May 12	New England Whalers	1–4 	Winnipeg Jets 	0–1
2	May 14	New England Whalers	2–5 	Winnipeg Jets 	0–2
3	May 19	Winnipeg Jets 	10–2 	New England Whalers	3–0
4	May 22	Winnipeg Jets 	5–3 	New England Whalers	4–0
==Player Stats==
===Regular Season===
;Scoring
# 	Player	Pos	GP	G 	A 	Pts	PIM	+/-	PPG	SHG
15	 	C 	73	37	89	126	89 	41 	7 	3
14	 	RW 	77	63	59	122	60 	60 	17 	6
9 	 	LW 	77	46	71	117	23 	55 	10 	0
11	 	C 	80	42	65	107	8 	27 	18 	0
20	 	RW 	77	30	30	60 	42 	4 	7 	0
10	 	C 	77	16	39	55 	43 	-12	3 	1
4 	 	D 	78	11	39	50 	72 	60 	0 	1
18	 	LW 	77	20	22	42 	18 	-1 	0 	4
16	 	LW 	71	20	21	41 	16 	12 	3 	0
21	 	LW 	47	18	16	34 	30 	7 	5 	0
2 	 	D 	62	5 	28	33 	43 	22 	0 	0
19	 	C 	55	12	19	31 	16 	2 	2 	0
3 	 	D 	78	7 	24	31 	42 	10 	1 	1
17	 	LW 	80	9 	18	27 	48 	-4 	0 	0
8 	 	D 	66	6 	20	26 	79 	20 	1 	0
6 	 	D 	73	4 	22	26 	52 	19 	2 	0
22	 	LW 	57	9 	16	25 	39 	-6 	0 	0
26	 	D 	49	14	7 	21 	29 	5 	2 	0
23	 	RW 	21	8 	9 	17 	2 	9 	0 	0
5 	 	D 	52	2 	7 	9 	203	6 	0 	0
24	 	D 	19	1 	4 	5 	2 	17 	0 	0
2 	 	D 	3 	1 	1 	2 	0 	3 	0 	0
1 	 	G 	37	0 	2 	2 	2 	0 	0 	0
30	 	G 	39	0 	1 	1 	4 	0 	0 	0
24	 	D 	3 	0 	0 	0 	0 	-5 	0 	0
7 	 	C 	5 	0 	0 	0 	2 	-2 	0 	0
7 	 	D 	12	0 	0 	0 	2 	-9 	0 	0
35	 	G 	10	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
;Goaltending
Player	MIN 	GP	W 	L 	T	GA 	GAA 	SO
 	2252	39	25	12	1	124	3.30	1
 	2075	37	21	11	1	114	3.30	1
 	511 	10	4 	5 	0	30 	3.52	0
Team: 	4838	80	50	28	2	268	3.32	2
===Playoffs===
;Scoring
Player	Pos	GP	G	A 	Pts	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG
 	RW 	9 	9	6 	15 	2 	 	 	1
 	C 	9 	1	13	14 	12 	 	 	0
 	LW 	9 	8	5 	13 	5 	 	 	2
 	LW 	9 	5	7 	12 	9 	 	 	0
 	LW 	9 	8	3 	11 	12 	 	 	2
 	C 	9 	2	8 	10 	10 	 	 	0
 	D 	9 	0	9 	9 	4 	 	 	0
 	LW 	9 	4	4 	8 	2 	 	 	1
 	RW 	8 	3	4 	7 	17 	 	 	0
 	C 	9 	3	4 	7 	4 	 	 	1
 	LW 	9 	2	5 	7 	12 	 	 	0
 	D 	9 	0	5 	5 	6 	 	 	0
 	D 	7 	1	3 	4 	19 	 	 	0
 	D 	7 	0	4 	4 	7 	 	 	0
 	C 	3 	2	1 	3 	7 	 	 	0
 	D 	9 	1	2 	3 	0 	 	 	0
 	RW 	5 	2	0 	2 	0 	 	 	1
 	LW 	4 	1	1 	2 	8 	 	 	0
 	D 	8 	0	2 	2 	2 	 	 	0
 	D 	2 	1	0 	1 	0 	 	 	0
 	G 	5 	0	1 	1 	20 	 	 	0
 	D 	9 	0	1 	1 	61 	 	 	0
 	G 	5 	0	0 	0 	2 	 	 	0
;Goaltending
Player	MIN	GP	W	L	GA	GAA 	SO
 	268	5 	4	0	7 	1.57	0
 	271	5 	4	1	13	2.88	0
Team: 	539	9 	8	1	20	2.23	0
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalty Minutes; PPG=Power-play goals; SHG=Short-handed goals; GWG=Game-winning goals
MIN=Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals Against; GAA = Goals Against Average; SO = Shutouts 
==Awards and Records==
*Avco World Trophy: Winnipeg Jets
*Lou Kaplan Trophy (Rookie of the Year): Kent Nilsson
*Dennis A. Murphy Trophy (Best Defenseman): Lars Sjoberg
*WHA Playoff MVP: Robert Guindon
*Ulf Nilsson, Center, WHA First Team All-Star
*Anders Hedberg, Right Wing, WHA First Team All-Star
*Lars Sjoberg, Defense, WHA First Team All-Star
*Bobby Hull, Left Wing, WHA Second Team All-Star
*Barry Long, Defense, WHA Second Team All-Star
==Transactions==
==Draft Picks==
Winnipeg's draft picks at the 1977 WHA Amateur Draft.
Round	# 	Player 	Nationality	College/Junior/Club Team (League)
1 	3 	Ron Duguay (C) 	 	Sudbury Wolves (OHA)
1 	8 	Miles Zaharko (D) 	 	New Westminster Bruins (WCHL)
3 	28	Mark Lofthouse (RW) 	 	New Westminster Bruins (WCHL)
4 	37	Don Laurence (C) 	 	Kitchener Rangers (OHA)
5 	46	Bill Stewart (D) 	 	Niagara Falls Flyers (OHA)
6 	55	Ric Seiling (RW) 	 	St. Catharines Fincups (OHA)
7 	64	Jim Hamilton (LW) 	 	London Knights (OHA)
8 	72	Warren Holmes (C) 	 	Ottawa 67's (OHA)
9 	80	Mike Keating (LW) 	 	St. Catharines Fincups (OHA)
10 	88	Murray Bannerman (G)	 	Victoria Cougars (WCHL)
==Farm Teams==
==Video==
Jets-Aeros game from April 4, 1978.
WHA Houston Aeros - Winnipeg Jets 78-79
==See Also==
*1977–78 WHA season
==References==
* 
Winnipeg Jets season, 1977–78
Winnipeg Jets season, 1977–78
category:Winnipeg Jets seasons