1977–78 WHA season


The 1977–78 WHA season was the sixth season of the World Hockey Association. Eight teams played 80 games each. The Avco World Trophy winner was the Winnipeg Jets.

League business

With a reduction of 3 teams from the end of the previous season, 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 plus two additional games against WHA teams outside the regular standings, tying one and losing the other four; while the Czechoslovakian team only won once and tied once, losing six. This is 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 come back to play the WHA teams the next year.
The best six teams qualified for the playoffs. However, instead of the standard schedule for a six-team playoff, the WHA came up with a unique twist. There were three quarterfinal series instead of two, with the teams paired top to bottom. The highest-seeded quarterfinal winner then received a semifinal bye and advanced directly to the finals, while the remaining two quarterfinal series winners played off in a single semifinal. All series were best four-out-of-seven games.

Regular season

The Howe family of Gordie and his sons Mark and Marty moved to the New England Whalers from the Houston Aeros. The trio helped the Whalers to the Avco Cup final.

Final standings

Player stats

Scoring leaders

Bolded numbers indicate season leaders
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes
PlayerTeamGPGAPtsPIM
Marc TardifQuebec Nordiques78658915450
Real CloutierQuebec Nordiques73567312919
Ulf NilssonWinnipeg Jets73378912689
Anders HedbergWinnipeg Jets77635912260
Bobby HullWinnipeg Jets77467111723
Andre LacroixHouston Aeros78367711357
Robbie FtorekCincinnati Stingers80595010954
Kent NilssonWinnipeg Jets8042651078
Gordie HoweNew England Whalers7634629685
Mark HoweNew England Whalers7030619132

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
PlayerTeamGPMinWLTGASOSV%GAA
Al SmithNew England Whalers55324630203174288.53.22
Joe DaleyWinnipeg Jets37207521111114188.33.30
Gary BromleyWinnipeg Jets39225225121124188.63.30
Jean-Louis LevasseurNew England Whalers2716551411291388.63.30
Ernie WakelyCincinnati – Houston57338128234192289.13.41

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.

Playoffs

Bracket

Avco World Cup playoffs

Quarterfinals

New England Whalers 4, Edmonton Oilers 1
GameDateVisitorScoreHomeSeries
1April 14Edmonton Oilers4–6New England Whalers1–0
2April 16Edmonton Oilers1–4New England Whalers2–0
3April 19New England Whalers0–2Edmonton Oilers2–1
4April 21New England Whalers9–1Edmonton Oilers3–1
5April 23Edmonton Oilers1–4New England Whalers4–1

Quebec Nordiques 4, Houston Aeros 2
#DateVisitorScoreHomeRecord
1April 16Quebec Nordiques3–4Houston Aeros0–1
2April 18Quebec Nordiques5–4Houston Aeros1–1
3April 20Houston Aeros1–5Quebec Nordiques2–1
4April 21Houston Aeros0–3Quebec Nordiques3–1
5April 23Quebec Nordiques2–5Houston Aeros3–2
6April 25Houston Aeros2–11Quebec Nordiques4–2

Winnipeg Jets 4, Birmingham Bulls 1
#DateVisitorScoreHomeRecord
1April 14Birmingham Bulls3–9Winnipeg Jets1–0
2April 16Birmingham Bulls3–8Winnipeg Jets2–0
3April 19Winnipeg Jets2–3Birmingham Bulls2–1
4April 21Winnipeg Jets5–1Birmingham Bulls3–1
5April 23Birmingham Bulls2–5Winnipeg Jets4–1

Semifinals

The top ranked quarterfinal winner received a bye into the finals.
New England Whalers 4, Quebec Nordiques 1
GameDateVisitorScoreHomeSeries
1April 28Quebec Nordiques1–5New England Whalers1–0
2April 30Quebec Nordiques3–2New England Whalers1–1
3May 3New England Whalers5–4Quebec Nordiques2–1
4May 5New England Whalers7–3Quebec Nordiques3–1
5May 7Quebec Nordiques3–6New England Whalers4–1

Avco Cup Finals

Winnipeg Jets 4, New England Whalers 0
#DateVisitorScoreHomeRecord
1May 12New England Whalers1–4Winnipeg Jets1–0
2May 14New England Whalers2–5Winnipeg Jets2–0
3May 19Winnipeg Jets10–2New England Whalers3–0
4May 22Winnipeg Jets5–3New England Whalers4–0

WHA awards

Trophies

All-Star Team