| 1972–73 WHA season | |
|---|---|
| League | Winnipeg Jets |
| WHA seasons | |
| → | |
The 1972–73 WHA season was the
The WHA's inaugural player draft was held in
The first WHA games, on October 11, 1972, were won by the
The WHA was split into two divisions, the Eastern Division and the Western Division. Each division sported six teams. The New England Whalers led the Eastern Division and had the best record in the league. The other playoff qualifiers in the East were Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Ottawa. The
GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes
Teams that qualifies for the playoffs are highlighted in bold
| GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | PIM | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New England Whalers | 78 | 46 | 30 | 2 | 318 | 263 | 858 | 94 |
| Cleveland Crusaders | 78 | 43 | 32 | 3 | 287 | 239 | 1095 | 89 |
| Philadelphia Blazers | 78 | 38 | 40 | 0 | 288 | 305 | 1260 | 76 |
| Ottawa Nationals | 78 | 35 | 39 | 4 | 279 | 301 | 1067 | 74 |
| Quebec Nordiques | 78 | 33 | 40 | 5 | 276 | 313 | 1354 | 71 |
| New York Raiders | 78 | 33 | 43 | 2 | 303 | 334 | 900 | 68 |
| GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | PIM | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Winnipeg Jets |
78 | 43 | 31 | 4 | 285 | 249 | 757 | 90 |
| Houston Aeros | 78 | 39 | 35 | 4 | 284 | 269 | 1363 | 82 |
| Los Angeles Sharks | 78 | 37 | 35 | 6 | 259 | 250 | 1477 | 80 |
| Minnesota Fighting Saints | 78 | 38 | 37 | 3 | 250 | 269 | 843 | 79 |
| Alberta Oilers | 78 | 38 | 37 | 3 | 269 | 256 | 1134 | 79 |
| Chicago Cougars | 78 | 26 | 50 | 2 | 245 | 295 | 811 | 54 |
Bolded numbers indicate season leaders
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes
| Player | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andre Lacroix | Philadelphia Blazers | 78 | 50 | 74 | 124 | 83 |
| Ron Ward | New York Raiders | 77 | 51 | 67 | 118 | 28 |
| Danny Lawson | Philadelphia Blazers | 78 | 61 | 45 | 106 | 35 |
| Tom Webster | New England Whalers | 77 | 53 | 50 | 103 | 89 |
| Bobby Hull | Winnipeg Jets |
63 | 51 | 52 | 103 | 37 |
| Norm Beaudin | Winnipeg Jets |
78 | 38 | 65 | 103 | 15 |
Chris Bordeleau |
Winnipeg Jets |
78 | 47 | 54 | 101 | 12 |
| Terry Caffery | New England Whalers | 74 | 39 | 61 | 100 | 14 |
| Gord Labossiere | Houston Aeros | 77 | 36 | 60 | 96 | 56 |
| Wayne Carleton | Ottawa Nationals | 75 | 42 | 49 | 91 | 42 |
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
| Spieler | Team | GP | Min | W | L | T | GA | SO | SV% | GAA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gerry Cheevers | Cleveland Crusaders | 52 | 3144 | 32 | 20 | 2 | 149 | 5 | 91.2 | 2.84 |
| Russ Gillow | Los Angeles Sharks | 38 | 1892 | 17 | 13 | 2 | 96 | 2 | 88.7 | 2.91 |
| Wayne Rutledge | Houston Aeros | 36 | 2163 | 20 | 14 | 2 | 110 | 0 | 90.7 | 3.05 |
| Jack Norris | Alberta Oilers |
64 | 3702 | 28 | 37 | 3 | 189 | 1 | 90.2 | 3.06 |
The WHA held its first all-star game on January 6, 1973, in Quebec City. The attendance of 5,435 was lower than expected, perhaps because it was locally televised and Quebec City was hit by a major snow storm. The East defeated the West 6–2. Wayne Carleton of the Ottawa Nationals was named the game MVP.
During the all-star break, the WHA Players' Association was officially formed, with Curt Leichner of Portland as general counsel and Bill Hicke of the Alberta Oilers as president.[5]
Compared to the thrilling race in the West Division, the playoffs were unexciting in that the team with the better record won every series and only one series went beyond 5 games. That was the West semifinal between Houston and Los Angeles. After getting blown out in game one in Houston by a score of 7–2, Los Angeles rallied to win game two 4–2 and even the series. The Sharks then won a thrilling game three in L.A. 3–2. Game 4 was the turning point of the series. The teams headed into overtime tied at 2; a Houston goal would even the series while a Los Angeles goal would give the Sharks a commanding 3–1 series lead. The Aeros scored in overtime to even the series, then won game 5 in Houston, 63. Game six in L.A. was another thriller, with Houston scoring in the final minutes to win the game 3–2 and win the series.
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||
| E1 | New England | 4 | ||||||||||||
| E4 | Ottawa | 1 | ||||||||||||
| E1 | New England | 4 | ||||||||||||
| Eastern Division | ||||||||||||||
| E2 | Cleveland | 1 | ||||||||||||
| E2 | Cleveland | 4 | ||||||||||||
| E3 | Philadelphia | 0 | ||||||||||||
| E1 | New England | 4 | ||||||||||||
| W1 | Winnipeg | 1 | ||||||||||||
| W1 | Winnipeg | 4 | ||||||||||||
| W4 | Minnesota | 1 | ||||||||||||
| W1 | Winnipeg | 4 | ||||||||||||
| Western Division | ||||||||||||||
| W2 | Houston | 0 | ||||||||||||
| W2 | Houston | 4 | ||||||||||||
| W3 | Los Angeles | 2 | ||||||||||||
New England Whalers defeated the Winnipeg Jets, 4 games to 1. The Whalers defeated the Jets 9–6 in the deciding game in Boston on May 6, 1973,[6] with Larry Pleau scoring a hat trick. Upon their win, The Avco World Trophy had not yet been completed. As a result, the Whalers skated their victory lap with their divisional trophy.[7]
| Avco World Trophy: | New England Whalers |
Gary L. Davidson Award : |
Winnipeg Jets
|
| Bill Hunter Trophy: | Andre Lacroix, Philadelphia Blazers |
| Lou Kaplan Trophy: | Terry Caffery, New England Whalers |
| Ben Hatskin Trophy: | Gerry Cheevers, Cleveland Crusaders |
| Dennis A. Murphy Trophy: | J. C. Tremblay, Quebec Nordiques |
| Paul Deneau Trophy: | Ted Hampson, Minnesota Fighting Saints |
| Howard Baldwin Trophy: | New England Whalers
|
| Position | First Team | Second Team | Third Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| Centre | Andre Lacroix, Philadelphia | Ron Ward, New York | Winnipeg
|
| Right Wing | Danny Lawson, Philadelphia | New England |
Winnipeg
|
| Left Wing | Winnipeg |
Gary Jarrett, Cleveland | Wayne Carleton, Ottawa |
| Defence | J. C. Tremblay, Quebec | New England |
New England
|
| Defence | Paul Shmyr, Cleveland | Winnipeg |
New England
|
| Goaltender | Gerry Cheevers, Cleveland | Bernie Parent, Philadelphia | New England
|
The following is a list of players of note who played their first major professional game in 1972–73 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):
The following is a list of players of note who played their final major professional game in 1972–73:
| Eastern Division | |
|---|---|
| Western Division | |
| See also |
|
