1977-78 WHA Season

The 1977-78 WHA season was the sixth season of the World Hockey Association (WHA). Eight teams played 80 games each. The Winnipeg Jets defeated the New England Whalers 4 games to 0 in the Finals to win their 3rd Avco World Trophy.

Regular Season
With a reduction of 3 teams from the end of the previous season (the San Diego Mariners, Phoenix Roadrunners, and Calgary Cowboys folded), 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, tying one and losing the other four, plus winning two exhibition games. The Czech team only won once and tied once, losing six. This was 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 return to play the WHA teams the next year.

On December 7, 1977, Gordie Howe scored the 1000th goal of his professional career on goalie John Garrett of the Birmingham Bulls.

Playoff Format
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 Semi-finals, with the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th place teams opening in the Quarter-finals), the WHA came up with a unique twist. There were three Quarter-final 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 Quarter-final winner then received a Semi-finals bye and advanced directly to the Finals, while the remaining two Quarter-finals series winners played off in a single Semi-final. All series were best four out of seven games.

Scoring Leaders
Bolded numbers indicate season leaders

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes

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

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.

Semi-finals
The top ranked Quarter-finals winner (Winnipeg) received a bye into the Finals.

Winnipeg Jets 4, New England Whalers 0
The Finals matched the Winnipeg Jets and New England Whalers, who had both won the AVCO World Trophy once. Al Smith played Games 1, 3 and 4 in net for the Whalers while Gary Bromley and Joe Daley alternated games for the Jets with Bromley starting Game 1. Game 1 was scoreless until the third period when the Jets depth scoring paid off with Bob Guindon marking twice and Peter Sullivan netting the winner. The Jets depth scoring was again the story of Game 2 as Dan Labraaten, Lyle Moffat and Bob Guindon staked the Jets to a 3-0 lead. The Jets first line finally scored as Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson piled on Whalers goalie Jean-Louis Levasseur as the Jets won 5-2. The Jets dominated Game 3 as Willy Lindström had a Hat trick and Kent Nilsson scored twice and added 2 assists in a 10-2 romp. Game 4 saw the Whalers take their only lead of the series as Mike Antonovich and Rick Ley scored, taking a 2-0 lead into the second period. Anders Hedberg took over, scoring twice and setting up 2 goals, including the series winner by Bobby Hull as the Jets swept the series four straight. Game 4 was the last game for the Hull-Nilsson-Hedberg line as the Swedes jumped to the New York Rangers. Bob Guindon was named the WHA Playoff MVP.

Video
Whalers-Aeros game from March 9, 1978.