1978–79 WHA season
1978–79 WHA season | |
---|---|
League | Winnipeg Jets |
Runners-up | Edmonton Oilers |
The 1978–79 WHA season was the
During the season, an agreement was reached whereby four of the WHA's teams, the
Teams
1978-79 World Hockey Association | ||||
Team | City | Arena | Capacity | |
Birmingham Bulls | Birmingham, Alabama | Birmingham-Jefferson County Civic Center
|
16,723 | |
Cincinnati Stingers | Cincinnati, Ohio
|
Riverfront Coliseum
|
12,823 | |
Edmonton Oilers | Edmonton, Alberta
|
Northlands Coliseum | 16,000 | |
Indianapolis Racers | Indianapolis, Indiana
|
Market Square Arena | 15,993 | |
New England Whalers
|
Springfield, Massachusetts | Springfield Civic Center
|
7,627 | |
Quebec Nordiques | Quebec City, Quebec
|
Colisée de Québec | 10,004 | |
Winnipeg Jets
|
Winnipeg, Manitoba
|
Winnipeg Arena | 10,100 |
Regular season and playoff format
Playoff format: The top five teams in the league qualified for the playoffs. The fourth and fifth place teams started in a best-of-three quarterfinal series, while the top three finishers received byes into the semifinals. In the semifinals, the first place team played the 4th/5th winner, while second place played third place. Both semifinal series were best-of-seven. Since the second and third place teams knew they would be playing each other in the semifinals, they started their series while the 4th/5th mini-series was still going on. The finals, like the semifinals, were a best-of-seven.
Final standings
Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF= Goals for, GA = Goals against, Pts = Points
WHA Team | GP | W | L | T | Pts | GF | GA | PIM |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Edmonton Oilers | 80 | 48 | 30 | 2 | 98 | 340 | 266 | 1220 |
Quebec Nordiques | 80 | 41 | 34 | 5 | 87 | 288 | 271 | 1399 |
Winnipeg Jets |
80 | 39 | 35 | 6 | 84 | 307 | 306 | 1342 |
New England Whalers | 80 | 37 | 34 | 9 | 83 | 298 | 287 | 1090 |
Cincinnati Stingers | 80 | 33 | 41 | 6 | 72 | 274 | 284 | 1651 |
Birmingham Bulls | 80 | 32 | 42 | 6 | 70 | 286 | 311 | 1661 |
x Indianapolis Racers | 25 | 5 | 18 | 2 | 12 | 78 | 130 | 557 |
Soviet All-Stars | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | * | 27 | 20 | 77 |
Czechoslovakia | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | * | 14 | 33 | 107 |
Finland | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | * | 4 | 8 | 2 |
x-team folded during season
*-games counted in standings of the regular WHA teams
Player stats
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Real Cloutier | Quebec Nordiques | 77 | 75 | 54 | 129 | 48 |
Robbie Ftorek | Cincinnati Stingers | 80 | 39 | 77 | 116 | 87 |
Wayne Gretzky | Indianapolis Racers/ Edmonton Oilers |
80 | 46 | 64 | 110 | 19 |
Mark Howe | New England Whalers | 77 | 42 | 65 | 107 | 32 |
Kent Nilsson | Winnipeg Jets |
78 | 39 | 68 | 107 | 8 |
Morris Lukowich | Winnipeg Jets |
80 | 65 | 34 | 99 | 119 |
Marc Tardif | Quebec Nordiques | 74 | 41 | 55 | 96 | 98 |
Andre Lacroix | New England Whalers | 78 | 32 | 56 | 88 | 34 |
Peter Sullivan | Winnipeg Jets |
80 | 46 | 40 | 86 | 24 |
Terry Ruskowski | Winnipeg Jets |
75 | 20 | 66 | 86 | 211 |
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dave Dryden | Edmonton Oilers | 63 | 3531 | 41 | 17 | 2 | 170 | 3 | 89.0 | 2.89 |
Richard Brodeur | Quebec Nordiques | 42 | 2433 | 25 | 13 | 3 | 126 | 3 | 90.1 | 3.11 |
Jim Corsi | Quebec Nordiques | 40 | 2291 | 16 | 20 | 1 | 126 | 3 | 89.9 | 3.30 |
Al Smith | New England Whalers | 40 | 2396 | 17 | 17 | 5 | 132 | 1 | 88.3 | 3.31 |
Michel Dion | Cincinnati Stingers | 30 | 1681 | 10 | 14 | 2 | 93 | 0 | 87.3 | 3.32 |
All-Star series: Howe and Gretzky
A WHA all-star team played three games against Dynamo Moscow at Edmonton's Northlands Coliseum. The WHA All-Stars were coached by Jacques Demers, who asked Gordie Howe if it was okay to put him on a line with his son Mark Howe and with Wayne Gretzky .[2] In the first game, this line scored seven points, as the WHA All-Stars won by a score of 4–2.[2] In the second game, Gretzky and Mark Howe each scored a goal and Gordie Howe picked up an assist as the WHA won 4–2.[2] The line did not score in the final game but the WHA won by a score of 4–3.
Avco World Trophy playoffs
Playoff Bracket
Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||
1 | Edmonton Oilers | 4 | ||||||||||||
4 | New England Whalers | 3 | ||||||||||||
4 | New England Whalers | 2 | ||||||||||||
5 | Cincinnati Stingers | 1 | ||||||||||||
1 | Edmonton Oilers | 2 | ||||||||||||
3 | Winnipeg Jets | 4 | ||||||||||||
2 | Quebec Nordiques | 0 | ||||||||||||
3 | Winnipeg Jets | 4 |
Quarterfinals - New England Whalers 2, Cincinnati Stingers 1
# | Date | Visitor | Score | Home | Record |
1 | April 21 | Cincinnati Stingers | 3–5 | New England Whalers |
1–0 |
2 | April 22 | New England Whalers |
3–6 | Cincinnati Stingers | 1–1 |
3 | April 24 | New England Whalers |
2–1 | Cincinnati Stingers | 2–1 |
Semifinals - Winnipeg Jets 4, Quebec Nordiques 0
# | Date | Visitor | Score | Home | Record |
1 | April 23 | Winnipeg Jets |
6–3 | Quebec Nordiques | 1–0 |
2 | April 25 | Winnipeg Jets |
9–2 | Quebec Nordiques | 2–0 |
3 | April 27 | Quebec Nordiques | 5–9 | Winnipeg Jets |
3–0 |
4 | April 29 | Quebec Nordiques | 2–6 | Winnipeg Jets |
4–0 |
Semifinals - Edmonton Oilers 4, New England Whalers 3
# | Date | Visitor | Score | Home | Record |
1 | April 26 | New England Whalers |
2–6 | Edmonton Oilers | 1–0 |
2 | April 27 | New England Whalers |
5–9 | Edmonton Oilers | 2–0 |
3 | April 29 | Edmonton Oilers | 1–4 | New England Whalers |
2–1 |
4 | May 1 | Edmonton Oilers | 4–5 | New England Whalers |
2–2 |
5 | May 3 | New England Whalers |
2–5 | Edmonton Oilers | 3–2 |
6 | May 6 | Edmonton Oilers | 4–8 | New England Whalers |
3–3 |
7 | May 8 | New England Whalers |
3–6 | Edmonton Oilers | 4–3 |
Avco Cup Finals - Winnipeg Jets 4, Edmonton Oilers 2
# | Date | Visitor | Score | Home | Record |
1 | May 11 | Winnipeg Jets |
3–1 | Edmonton Oilers | 0–1 |
2 | May 13 | Winnipeg Jets |
3–2 | Edmonton Oilers | 0–2 |
3 | May 15 | Edmonton Oilers | 8–3 | Winnipeg Jets |
1–2 |
4 | May 16 | Edmonton Oilers | 2–3 | Winnipeg Jets |
1–3 |
5 | May 18 | Winnipeg Jets |
2–10 | Edmonton Oilers | 2–3 |
6 | May 20 | Edmonton Oilers | 3–7 | Winnipeg Jets |
2–4 |
The Oilers' Dave Semenko scored late in the third period of the deciding game, to record the last goal in the history of the WHA.[3] The goal was given up by the Winnipeg Jets Gary Smith.
WHA awards
Trophies
Avco World Trophy: | Winnipeg Jets
|
Gordie Howe Trophy: | Dave Dryden, Edmonton Oilers |
Bill Hunter Trophy: | Real Cloutier, Quebec Nordiques |
Lou Kaplan Trophy: | Wayne Gretzky, Edmonton Oilers |
Ben Hatskin Trophy: | Dave Dryden, Edmonton Oilers |
Dennis A. Murphy Trophy: | Rick Ley, New England Whalers |
Paul Deneau Trophy: | Winnipeg Jets
|
Robert Schmertz Memorial Trophy : |
John Brophy, Birmingham Bulls |
WHA Playoff MVP: | Winnipeg Jets
|
All-Star Team
Position | First Team | Second Team |
---|---|---|
Centre | Robbie Ftorek, Cincinnati | Wayne Gretzky, Edmonton |
Right Wing | Real Cloutier, Quebec |
Blair MacDonald, Edmonton |
Left Wing | Mark Howe, New England | Winnipeg
|
Defence | Rick Ley, New England | Dave Langevin, Edmonton |
Defence | Rob Ramage, Birmingham | Paul Shmyr, Edmonton |
Goaltender | Dave Dryden, Edmonton | Richard Brodeur, Quebec |
See also
- 1978–79 NHL season
- 1979 NHL Expansion Draft
- 1978 in sports
- 1979 in sports
References
Notes
Bibliography
- The Rebel League: The Short and Unruly Life of the World Hockey Association, p. 219, McLelland and Stewart, Toronto, ON, ISBN 0-7710-8947-3.
External links
1 Four of the WHA teams were admitted to the NHL as expansion franchises — the