1977-78 WHA season

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

1 Regular season & Playoff format
2 Avco World Trophy playoffs
3 WHA awards
4 See also
5 References

[edit] Regular season & Playoff format

With a reduction of 4 teams from the start of the previous season, the WHA abandoned its divisional format and grouped the remaining 8 teams together. 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 semifinals, with the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th place teams opening in the quaterfinals), the WHA came up with a unique twist. There were three quarterfinal 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 quarterfinal winner then received a semifinal bye and advanced directly to the finals, while the remaining two quarterfinal series winners played off in the semifinals. All series were best four-out-of-seven games.

[edit] 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
Winnipeg Jets*	80	50	28	2	102	381	270	988
New England Whalers*	80	44	31	5	93	335	269	1255
Houston Aeros*	80	42	34	4	88	296	302	1543
Quebec Nordiques*	80	40	37	3	83	349	347	1185
Edmonton Oilers*	80	38	39	3	79	309	307	1296
Birmingham Bulls*	80	36	41	3	75	287	314	2177
Cincinnati Stingers	80	35	42	3	73	298	332	1701
Indianapolis Racers	80	24	51	5	53	267	353	1189

*qualified for playoffs

[edit] Scoring leaders

[edit] All-Star game

[edit] Avco World Trophy playoffs

QUARTERFINALS:

Winnipeg Jets defeated Birmingham Bulls, 4 games to 1

New England Whalers defeated Edmonton Oilers, 4 games to 1

Quebec Nordiques defeated Houston Aeros, 4 games to 2

SEMIFINALS:

New England Whalers defeated Quebec Nordiques, 4 games to 1

CHAMPIONSHIP:

Winnipeg Jets defeated New England Whalers, 4 games to 0

[edit] WHA awards

Avco World Trophy:	Winnipeg Jets
Gordie Howe Trophy:	Marc Tardif, Quebec Nordiques
Bill Hunter Trophy:	Marc Tardif, Quebec Nordiques
Lou Kaplan Trophy:	Kent Nilsson, Winnipeg Jets
Ben Hatskin Trophy:	Al Smith, New England Whalers
Dennis A. Murphy Trophy:	Lars Sjoberg, Winnipeg Jets
Paul Deneau Trophy:	Dave Keon, New England Whalers
Robert Schmertz Memorial Trophy:	Bill Dineen, Houston Aeros
WHA Playoff MVP:	Robert Guindon, Winnipeg Jets