1978–79 Indianapolis Racers season

1978–79 Indianapolis Racers
Division 7th WHA
1978–79 record 5–18–2
Goals for 78
Goals against 130
Team information
Coach Pat Stapleton

The 1978–79 Indianapolis Racers season was the Racers' final season in the World Hockey Association (WHA). The team folded after only 25 games.

Offseason

Nelson Skalbania, the owner of Indianapolis Racers, signed the 17-year-old future super-star, Wayne Gretzky to, at that time, a whopping personal contract worth between 1.125 and 1.75 million dollars over 4 to 7 years. Skalbania, knowing that the WHA was fading, felt owning the young star was more valuable than owning a WHA team.

Regular season

This was the first season of Wayne Gretzky's professional career. The Racers' management knew that the team was going to fold due to poor attendance, and sold Gretzky to the Edmonton Oilers after eight games. Skalbania needed cash and liquidated his greatest asset to his old friend and former partner, Peter Pocklington, owner of the Edmonton Oilers. Pocklington purchased Gretzky and two other Indianapolis players, goaltender Eddie Mio and forward Peter Driscoll paying $700,000 for the contracts of the three players, although the announced price was actually $850,000.

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
xIndianapolis Racers 25 5 18 2 12 78 130 557
#Soviet All-Stars 6 4 1 1 9 27 20 77
#Czechoslovakia 6 1 4 1 3 14 33 107
#Finland 1 0 1 0 0 4 8 2

x-team folded during season #-played limited schedule

Game log

No. R Date Score Opponent Record
1LOctober 14, 19783–6 Winnipeg Jets (1978–79) 0–1–0
2LOctober 15, 19783–9 Birmingham Bulls (1978–79) 0–2–0
3WOctober 18, 19784–0 @ Quebec Nordiques (1978–79) 1–2–0
4LOctober 20, 19783–4 Edmonton Oilers (1978–79) 1–3–0
5LOctober 22, 19783–6 New England Whalers (1978–79) 1–4–0
6LOctober 27, 19782–4 @ Birmingham Bulls (1978–79) 1–5–0
7WOctober 28, 19783–2 Winnipeg Jets (1978–79) 2–5–0
8TOctober 29, 19783–3 @ Winnipeg Jets (1978–79) 2–5–1
9LNovember 3, 19783–6 @ New England Whalers (1978–79) 2–6–1
10TNovember 4, 19786–6 New England Whalers (1978–79) 2–6–2
11LNovember 5, 19782–6 @ Winnipeg Jets (1978–79) 2–7–2
12LNovember 8, 19780–4 @ Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79) 2–8–2
13LNovember 11, 19782–8 @ Quebec Nordiques (1978–79) 2–9–2
14LNovember 17, 19781–6 @ Edmonton Oilers (1978–79) 2–10–2
15LNovember 19, 19782–5 @ Winnipeg Jets (1978–79) 2–11–2
16LNovember 23, 19781–5 Winnipeg Jets (1978–79) 2–12–2
17LNovember 24, 19785–8 @ Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79) 2–13–2
18WNovember 25, 19786–3 Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79) 3–13–2
19LNovember 28, 19782–8 @ Edmonton Oilers (1978–79) 3–14–2
20WDecember 1, 19786–3 Birmingham Bulls (1978–79) 4–14–2
21LDecember 2, 19782–4 @ Birmingham Bulls (1978–79) 4–15–2
22LDecember 3, 19782–4 Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79) 4–16–2
23LDecember 7, 19784–9 Winnipeg Jets (1978–79) 4–17–2
24WDecember 10, 19786–4 Edmonton Oilers (1978–79) 5–17–2
25LDecember 12, 19784–7 New England Whalers (1978–79) 5–18–2

[1]

Player stats

Regular season

Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/- PPG SHG GWG
Stoughton, BlaineBlaine Stoughton RW 25 9 9 18 16-1830
Larway, DonDon Larway RW 25 8 10 18 39-2020
LeDuc, RichRich LeDuc C 13 5 9 14 14-220
Larose, ClaudeClaude Larose LW 13 5 8 13 0500
Parizeau, MichelMichel Parizeau C 22 4 9 13 4-100
MacGregor, GaryGary MacGregor C 17 8 4 12 0-1210
Leclerc, ReneRene Leclerc RW 22 5 7 12 12210
Morrow, DaveDave Morrow D/LW 10 2 10 12 29-1300
Sacharuk, LarryLarry Sacharuk D 15 2 9 11 25-1120
McLeod, AlAl McLeod D 25 0 11 11 22000
Greig, BruceBruce Greig LW 21 3 7 10 64-500
Nugent, KevinKevin Nugent RW 25 2 8 10 20-200
Inkpen, DaveDave Inkpen D 25 1 8 9 22-500
Hughes, JohnJohn Hughes D 22 3 4 7 48-1600
George, WesWes George LW 9 4 2 6 23-1110
St. Sauveur, ClaudeClaude St. Sauveur C 17 4 2 6 12-620
Gretzky, WayneWayne Gretzky C 8 3 3 6 0-300
Block, KenKen Block D 22 2 3 5 10-1100
Driscoll, PeterPeter Driscoll LW 8 3 1 4 17110
Moretto, AngieAngie Moretto C 18 3 1 4 2-610
Leroux, GerryGerry Leroux LW 10 0 3 3 2-400
Baltimore, BryonBryon Baltimore D 2 1 1 2 2-100
Burgess, DonDon Burgess LW 3 1 1 2 0-400
Morrison, KevinKevin Morrison D 5 0 2 2 0-1000
Irwin, GlenGlen Irwin D 24 0 1 1 124-1000
Magee, DeanDean Magee LW 5 0 1 1 10-200
Rollins, JerryJerry Rollins D 7 0 1 1 7-400
Inness, GaryGary Inness G 10 0 0 0 9000
Messier, MarkMark Messier C 5 0 0 0 0-400
Mio, EddieEddie Mio G 5 0 0 0 2000
Smith, GaryGary Smith G 11 0 0 0 8000
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SO
Inness, GaryGary Inness 609 10 3 6 1 51 5.02 0
Mio, EddieEddie Mio 242 5 2 2 0 13 3.22 1
Smith, GaryGary Smith 664 11 0 10 1 61 5.51 0
Team: 1515 25 5 18 2 125 4.95 1

[2]

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;

See also

References

  1. ↑ "1978–79 Indianapolis Racers Games". Hockey-reference.com. Retrieved 2009-06-04.
  2. ↑ "1978-79 Indianapolis Racers Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". hockey-reference.com. Retrieved 2009-06-04.
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