1977–78 New England Whalers season

The 1977–78 New England Whalers season was the Whalers' 6th season in the World Hockey Association (WHA). The Whalers finished 2nd in the league and lost in the Avco World Trophy Finals to the Winnipeg Jets 4 games to 0.
==Off-season==
The Whalers jerseys were the same design as in the 1974-75 season.
==Regular Season==
This season saw the debut of Gordie Howe and his sons Mark and Marty with the Whalers' franchise.
On December 7, 1977, Gordie Howe scored the 1000th goal of his professional career on goalie John Garrett of the Birmingham Bulls.
===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 	3–0 	@ Houston Aeros (1977–78) 	1–0–0
2 	W 	October 15, 1977 	5–2 	Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 	2–0–0
3 	L 	October 16, 1977 	2–6 	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	2–1–0
4 	T 	October 18, 1977 	2–2 	@ Indianapolis Racers (1977–78)	2–1–1
5 	W 	October 19, 1977 	6–3 	@ Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) 	3–1–1
6 	W 	October 21, 1977 	5–2 	@ Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) 	4–1–1
7 	W 	October 26, 1977 	7–1 	Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 	5–1–1
8 	W 	October 29, 1977 	7–2 	Houston Aeros (1977–78) 	6–1–1
9 	W 	November 1, 1977 	6–3 	@ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 	7–1–1
10 	W 	November 4, 1977 	4–3 	Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) 	8–1–1
11 	W 	November 6, 1977 	5–2 	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	9–1–1
12 	W 	November 8, 1977 	4–3 	@ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 	10–1–1
13 	W 	November 10, 1977 	5–3 	Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) 	11–1–1
14 	W 	November 12, 1977 	5–3 	Indianapolis Racers (1977–78) 	12–1–1
15 	W 	November 15, 1977 	6–4 	@ Indianapolis Racers (1977–78)	13–1–1
16 	W 	November 18, 1977 	3–2 	Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) 	14–1–1
17 	W 	November 20, 1977 	5–4 OT 	@ Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) 	15–1–1
18 	L 	November 22, 1977 	4–5 	@ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 	15–2–1
19 	T 	November 23, 1977 	3–3 	Indianapolis Racers (1977–78) 	15–2–2
20 	L 	November 25, 1977 	2–6 	Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 	15–3–2
21 	L 	November 26, 1977 	1–3 	Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) 	15–4–2
22 	T 	November 30, 1977 	3–3 	@ Houston Aeros (1977–78) 	15–4–3
23 	W 	December 2, 1977 	4–1 	Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) 	16–4–3
24 	L 	December 3, 1977 	2–5 	Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) 	16–5–3
25 	L 	December 6, 1977 	2–5 	@ Indianapolis Racers (1977–78)	16–6–3
26 	W 	December 7, 1977 	6–3 	@ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 	17–6–3
27 	W 	December 9, 1977 	2–1 OT 	@ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 	18–6–3
28 	W 	December 14, 1977 	7–2 	Soviet All-Stars (1977–78) 	19–6–3
29 	W 	December 16, 1977 	5–3 	Czechoslovakia (1977–78) 	20–6–3
30 	L 	December 17, 1977 	3–6 	Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) 	20–7–3
31 	L 	December 18, 1977 	3–7 	@ Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) 	20–8–3
32 	W 	December 23, 1977 	5–3 	Indianapolis Racers (1977–78) 	21–8–3
33 	W 	December 27, 1977 	8–1 	Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 	22–8–3
34 	W 	December 30, 1977 	6–2 	Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 	23–8–3
35 	W 	January 1, 1978 	4–3 OT 	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	24–8–3
36 	L 	January 4, 1978 	4–6 	Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 	24–9–3
37 	L 	January 6, 1978 	3–4 	@ Indianapolis Racers (1977–78)	24–10–3
38 	W 	January 7, 1978 	5–3 	Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) 	25–10–3
39 	L 	January 8, 1978 	4–5 	Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 	25–11–3
40 	W 	January 13, 1978 	2–0 	Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) 	26–11–3
41 	L 	January 14, 1978 	4–5 OT 	Houston Aeros (1977–78) 	26–12–3
42 	L 	January 18, 1978 	0–1 	@ Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) 	26–13–3
43 	T 	January 20, 1978 	4–4 	@ Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) 	26–13–4
44 	L 	January 21, 1978 	2–3 	@ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 	26–14–4
45 	W 	January 22, 1978 	6–3 	Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 	27–14–4
46 	L 	January 25, 1978 	7–8 OT 	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	27–15–4
47 	W 	January 27, 1978 	6–2 	@ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 	28–15–4
48 	W 	January 28, 1978 	3–0 	@ Houston Aeros (1977–78) 	29–15–4
49 	L 	January 29, 1978 	4–6 	@ Houston Aeros (1977–78) 	29–16–4
50 	W 	February 1, 1978 	4–3 	Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) 	30–16–4
51 	L 	February 3, 1978 	3–6 	Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) 	30–17–4
52 	L 	February 4, 1978 	4–5 	@ Houston Aeros (1977–78) 	30–18–4
53 	W 	February 11, 1978 	8–7 	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	31–18–4
54 	W 	February 14, 1978 	5–1 	Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 	32–18–4
55 	L 	February 16, 1978 	1–2 OT 	Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) 	32–19–4
56 	W 	February 18, 1978 	4–1 	@ Indianapolis Racers (1977–78)	33–19–4
57 	L 	February 21, 1978 	5–6 OT 	@ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 	33–20–4
58 	L 	February 22, 1978 	2–4 	@ Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) 	33–21–4
59 	L 	February 24, 1978 	2–7 	@ Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) 	33–22–4
60 	W 	February 26, 1978 	6–5 	@ Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) 	34–22–4
61 	L 	March 1, 1978 	3–4 OT 	Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 	34–23–4
62 	L 	March 3, 1978 	2–3 OT 	Houston Aeros (1977–78) 	34–24–4
63 	L 	March 4, 1978 	2–5 	Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 	34–25–4
64 	L 	March 5, 1978 	1–2 	@ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 	34–26–4
65 	L 	March 9, 1978 	4–6 	@ Houston Aeros (1977–78) 	34–27–4
66 	W 	March 10, 1978 	5–4 OT 	@ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 	35–27–4
67 	W 	March 14, 1978 	6–0 	Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 	36–27–4
68 	W 	March 15, 1978 	7–0 	Indianapolis Racers (1977–78) 	37–27–4
69 	W 	March 17, 1978 	6–2 	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	38–27–4
70 	L 	March 18, 1978 	3–5 	@ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 	38–28–4
71 	W 	March 21, 1978 	6–3 	Indianapolis Racers (1977–78) 	39–28–4
72 	L 	March 22, 1978 	3–5 	Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) 	39–29–4
73 	L 	March 24, 1978 	0–1 	Houston Aeros (1977–78) 	39–30–4
74 	W 	March 26, 1978 	5–3 	Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) 	40–30–4
75 	W 	March 29, 1978 	6–1 	Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) 	41–30–4
76 	W 	April 3, 1978 	8–6 	Houston Aeros (1977–78) 	42–30–4
77 	T 	April 5, 1978 	4–4 	@ Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) 	42–30–5
78 	L 	April 6, 1978 	4–7 	@ Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) 	42–31–5
79 	W 	April 10, 1978 	6–1 	Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) 	43–31–5
80 	W 	April 11, 1978 	6–3 	Indianapolis Racers (1977–78) 	44–31–5
==Playoffs==
===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
===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
===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.
Game	Date 	Visitor 	Score	Home 	Series
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 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable sortable"	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
# 	Player	Pos	GP	G 	A 	Pts	PIM	+/-	PPG	SHG	GWG
9 	 	RW 	76	34	62	96 	85 	46 	16 	0 	0
5 	 	LW 	70	30	61	91 	32 	30 	4 	0 	0
17 	 	C 	80	28	43	71 	46 	22 	4 	1 	0
12 	 	C 	75	32	35	67 	32 	17 	5 	0 	0
14 	 	C 	77	24	38	62 	2 	-4 	1 	5 	0
7 	 	D 	78	15	46	61 	118	17 	5 	0 	0
19 	 	RW 	79	27	29	56 	61 	15 	9 	0 	0
16 	 	LW 	68	30	24	54 	74 	12 	3 	0 	0
2 	 	D 	73	3 	41	44 	95 	36 	0 	0 	0
4 	 	C 	54	16	18	34 	4 	12 	2 	0 	0
3 	 	D 	80	6 	25	31 	88 	11 	2 	0 	0
10 	 	D 	79	11	18	29 	140	17 	0 	0 	0
23 	 	LW 	67	9 	20	29 	192	9 	0 	0 	0
11 	 	C 	48	9 	14	23 	27 	3 	0 	2 	0
8 	 	RW 	20	15	5 	20 	5 	8 	5 	0 	0
27 	 	RW 	51	11	9 	20 	21 	1 	1 	0 	0
18 	 	D 	75	10	10	20 	66 	10 	1 	0 	0
15 	 	RW 	25	8 	11	19 	14 	-2 	3 	0 	0
22 	 	D 	45	1 	13	14 	69 	21 	0 	0 	0
26 	 	C 	38	6 	7 	13 	11 	7 	1 	1 	0
21 	 	LW 	41	5 	5 	10 	22 	6 	0 	0 	0
6 	 	D 	27	1 	9 	10 	18 	6 	0 	0 	0
24 	 	D 	17	2 	1 	3 	11 	9 	0 	0 	0
1 	 	G 	55	0 	3 	3 	4 	0 	0 	0 	0
20 	 	C 	10	2 	0 	2 	2 	-2 	0 	0 	0
30 	 	G 	27	0 	0 	0 	2 	0 	0 	0 	0
Playoffs	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Scoring 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable sortable"	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Player 	Pos	GP	G 	A 	Pts	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG
 	C 	14	10	7 	17 	4 	0 	0 	1
 	C 	14	5 	11	16 	4 	0 	0 	1
 	D 	14	8 	7 	15 	18 	0 	0 	0
 	RW 	14	6 	6 	12 	16 	0 	0 	1
 	C 	14	5 	6 	11 	8 	0 	0 	0
 	RW 	14	5 	5 	10 	15 	0 	0 	2
 	C 	14	5 	4 	9 	8 	0 	0 	1
 	C 	13	2 	7 	9 	2 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	14	1 	8 	9 	4 	0 	0 	0
 	LW 	14	2 	4 	6 	4 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	14	1 	5 	6 	16 	0 	0 	1
 	D 	14	1 	4 	5 	37 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	14	0 	5 	5 	29 	0 	0 	0
 	RW 	13	1 	3 	4 	9 	0 	0 	0
 	LW 	12	2 	1 	3 	13 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	14	0 	3 	3 	8 	0 	0 	0
 	LW 	9 	1 	1 	2 	14 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	14	1 	1 	2 	13 	0 	0 	1
 	G 	12	0 	1 	1 	2 	0 	0 	0
 	C 	2 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	3 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
Note: Pos = Position; 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==
*Ben Hatskin Trophy (Best Goaltender): Al Smith
*Paul Deneau Trophy (Most Gentlemenly): Dave Keon
*Al Smith, Goalie, WHA First Team All-Star
*Rick Ley, Defense, WHA Second Team All-Star
==Transactions==
==Draft Picks==
New England's draft picks at the 1977 WHA Amateur Draft.
Round	# 	Player 	Nationality	College/Junior/Club Team (League)
1 	11	Ron Areshenkoff (C)	 	Medicine Hat Tigers (WCHL)
2 	15	Moe Robinson (D) 	 	Kingston Canadians (OHA)
2 	19	Randy Pierce (RW) 	 	Sudbury Wolves (OHA)
3 	23	John Baby (D) 	 	Sudbury Wolves (OHA)
5 	43	Brian Hill (RW) 	 	Medicine Hat Tigers (WCHL)
6 	52	Jim Korn (D) 	 	Providence College (ECAC)
==Farm Teams==
==Video==
Whalers-Aeros game from March 9, 1978.
WHA- New England Whalers vs. Houston Aeros – March 9, 1978
==See Also==
*1977–78 WHA season
==References==
* 
New England Whalers season, 1977–78
New England Whalers season, 1977–78
category:Hartford Whalers seasons
category:New England Whalers seasons