1977-78 WHA Season

The 1977-78 WHA season was the sixth season of the World Hockey Association (WHA). Eight teams played 80 games each. The Winnipeg Jets defeated the New England Whalers 4 games to 0 in the Finals to win their 3rd Avco World Trophy.
==Regular Season==
With a reduction of 3 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 8 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, tying one and losing the other four, plus winning two exhibition games. The Czech team only won once and tied once, losing six. This was 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 return to play the WHA teams the next year.
On December 7, 1977, Gordie Howe scored the 1000th goal of his professional career on goalie John Garrett of the Birmingham Bulls.
===Playoff Format===
The best six teams qualified for the playoffs. However, instead of the standard schedule for a six-team playoff (i.e., giving the 1st and 2nd place teams byes into the Semi-finals, with the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th place teams opening in the Quarter-finals), the WHA came up with a unique twist. There were three Quarter-final 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 Quarter-final winner then received a Semi-finals bye and advanced directly to the Finals, while the remaining two Quarter-finals series winners played off in a single Semi-final. All series were best four out of seven games.
===Final Standings===
===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
André 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 Trophy Playoffs==
===Quarter-finals===
====New England Whalers 4, Edmonton Oilers 1====
Game	Date 	Visitor 	Score	Home 	Series
1 	April 14	Edmonton Oilers 	4–6 	New England Whalers	0–1
2 	April 16	Edmonton Oilers 	1–4 	New England Whalers	0–2
3 	April 19	New England Whalers	0–2 	Edmonton Oilers 	2–1
4 	April 21	New England Whalers	9–1 	Edmonton Oilers 	3–1
5 	April 23	Edmonton Oilers 	1–4 	New England Whalers	1–4
====Quebec Nordiques 4, Houston Aeros 2====
#	Date 	Visitor 	Score	Home 	Record
1	April 16	Quebec Nordiques	3–4 	Houston Aeros 	0-1
2	April 18	Quebec Nordiques	5–4 	Houston Aeros 	1-1
3	April 20	Houston Aeros 	1–5 	Quebec Nordiques	1-2
4	April 21	Houston Aeros 	0–3 	Quebec Nordiques	1-3
5	April 23	Quebec Nordiques	2–5 	Houston Aeros 	3-2
6	April 25	Houston Aeros 	2–11 	Quebec Nordiques	2-4
====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
===Semi-finals===
The top ranked Quarter-finals winner (Winnipeg) received a bye into the Finals.
 
====New England Whalers 4, Quebec Nordiques 1====
Game	Date 	Visitor 	Score	Home 	Series
1 	April 28	Quebec Nordiques 	1–5 	New England Whalers	0–1
2 	April 30	Quebec Nordiques 	3–2 	New England Whalers	1–1
3 	May 3 	New England Whalers	5–4 	Quebec Nordiques 	2–1
4 	May 5 	New England Whalers	7–3 	Quebec Nordiques 	3–1
5 	May 7 	Quebec Nordiques 	3–6 	New England Whalers	1–4
===Avco World Cup Finals===
====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
==WHA Awards==
Avco World Trophy: 	Winnipeg Jets
Gordie Howe Trophy (MVP): 	Marc Tardif, Quebec Nordiques
Bill Hunter Trophy (Scoring Leader): 	Marc Tardif, Quebec Nordiques
Lou Kaplan Trophy (Rookie of the Year): 	Kent Nilsson, Winnipeg Jets
Ben Hatskin Trophy (Best Goaltender): 	Al Smith, New England Whalers
Dennis A. Murphy Trophy (Best Defenseman): 	Lars Sjoberg, Winnipeg Jets
Paul Deneau Trophy (Most Gentlemenly): 	Dave Keon, New England Whalers
Robert Schmertz Memorial Trophy (Coach of the Year):	Bill Dineen, Houston Aeros
WHA Playoff MVP: 	Robert Guindon, Winnipeg Jets
==All-Star Teams==
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 Sjöberg, Winnipeg	Rick Ley, New England
Defence 	Al Hamilton, Edmonton 	Barry Long, Winnipeg
Goaltender	Al Smith, New England 	Ernie Wakely, Houston
==Gallery==
1977-78 Birmingham Bulls.jpg|1977-78 Birmingham Bulls.
77-78EdmOil.jpg|1977-78 Edmonton Oilers
==Video==
Whalers-Aeros game from March 9, 1978.
WHA- New England Whalers vs. Houston Aeros – March 9, 1978
Jets-Aeros game from April 4, 1978.
WHA Houston Aeros - Winnipeg Jets 78-79
Nordiques-Aeros Quarter-finals Game 5, April 23, 1978.
WHA- Houston Aeros vs. Quebec Nordiques, Game 5, 1978 Quarterfinals
==References==
*WHA Database
*HockeyDB
Category:1978 in hockey
Category:List of WHA Seasons