1973–74 Winnipeg Jets season

1973–74 Winnipeg Jets
Division	4th Western
1973–74 record	34–39–5
Goals for	264
Goals against	296
Team Information
General Manager	Annis Stukus
Coach	Bobby Hull
Captain	Ab McDonald
Alternate captains	Larry Hornung Dan Johnson
Arena	Winnipeg Arena
Team Leaders
Goals	Bobby Hull (53)
Assists	Chris Bordeleau (49)
Points	Bobby Hull (95)
Penalties in minutes	Freeman Asmundson (85)
Wins	Joe Daley (19)
Goals against average	Ernie Wakely (3.27)

<1972–73

1974–75>

The 1973–74 Winnipeg Jets season was the 2nd season of the Jets franchise in the World Hockey Association (WHA). The Jets finished 4th in the Western Division and lost in the Quarter-finals to the Houston Aeros 4 games to 0.

Off-season

Bobby Hull's 1974 jersey.

The Jets jerseys were the same design as in the 1972-73 season with the exception of the nameplate and the logo. The nameplates were no longer highlighted and the font was changed to a block style. The logo went from the slanted "JETS" with a small hockey player to a blue roundel which contained white "JETS" lettering with the "J" styled as a hockey stick and "WINNIPEG" in red below it. A small overhead picture of a blue jet inside a blue circle was placed to the left of the "JETS" lettering. This logo would remain unchanged except for a minor modification for the 1978-79 season.

Pre-season

Poster for the New York Golden Blades, Houston Aeros, Winnipeg Jets and New England Whalers mini-tournament on September 25, 1973.

In order to promote the New York Golden Blades, a four team mini-tournament featuring the Houston Aeros, Winnipeg Jets and New England Whalers was held at Madison Square Garden on September 25, 1973.

Regular Season

Final Standings

Western Division

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	PIM	Pts
Houston Aeros	78	48	25	5	318	219	1038	101
Minnesota Fighting Saints	78	44	32	2	332	275	1243	90
Edmonton Oilers	78	38	37	3	268	269	1273	79
Winnipeg Jets	78	34	39	5	264	296	673	73
Vancouver Blazers	78	27	50	1	278	345	1047	55
Los Angeles Sharks	78	25	53	0	239	339	1086	50

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, PIM = Penalties Minutes, Pts = Points
Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Game Log

Regular Season Results
No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	L	October 10, 1973	3-4 (OT)	@ Vancouver Blazers (1973–74)	0–1–0
2	L	October 12, 1973	4-6	@ Edmonton Oilers (1973–74)	0–2–0
3	W	October 14, 1973	6-3	Vancouver Blazers (1973–74)	1–2–0
4	W	October 17, 1973	3-1	@ New England Whalers (1973–74)	2–2–0
5	W	October 18, 1973	6-1	@ New York Golden Blades/New Jersey Knights (1973–74)	3–2–0
6	W	October 21, 1973	2-1 (OT)	Minnesota Fighting Saints (1973–74)	4–2–0
7	T	October 26, 1973	3-3	Toronto Toros (1973–74)	4–2–1
8	L	October 27, 1973	2-5	@ Minnesota Fighting Saints (1973–74)	4–3–1
9	L	October 30, 1973	1-4	@ Chicago Cougars (1973–74)	4–4–1
10	L	October 31, 1973	4-6	@ Cleveland Crusaders (1973–74)	4–5–1
11	W	November 2, 1973	3-1	New York Golden Blades/New Jersey Knights (1973–74)	5–5–1
12	W	November 4, 1973	8-2	Quebec Nordiques (1973–74)	6–5–1
13	T	November 6, 1973	2-2	@ Quebec Nordiques (1973–74)	6–5–2
14	L	November 7, 1973	2-9	@ New England Whalers (1973–74)	6–6–2
15	L	November 10, 1973	2-4	@ Cleveland Crusaders (1973–74)	6–7–2
16	W	November 11, 1973	6–2	Los Angeles Sharks (1973–74)	7–7–2
17	L	November 13, 1973	2-5	@ Vancouver Blazers (1973–74)	7–8–2
18	W	November 16, 1973	3-1	Edmonton Oilers (1973–74)	8–8–2
19	L	November 18, 1973	2-6	Toronto Toros (1973–74)	8–9–2
20	W	November 21, 1973	6-2	@ Cleveland Crusaders (1973–74)	9–9–2
21	L	November 23, 1973	3-4 (OT)	Vancouver Blazers (1973–74)	9–10–2
22	L	November 25, 1973	3-5	@ Minnesota Fighting Saints (1973–74)	9–11–2
23	L	November 27, 1973	4-5 (OT)	@ Los Angeles Sharks (1973–74)	9–12–2
24	T	November 28, 1973	4–4	@ Houston Aeros (1973–74)	9–12–3
25	L	November 30, 1973	2-5	Los Angeles Sharks (1973–74)	9–13–3
26	W	December 2, 1973	5-3	Quebec Nordiques (1973–74)	10–13–3
27	W	December 5, 1973	3-1	Edmonton Oilers (1973–74)	11–13–3
28	W	December 7, 1973	7-3	Toronto Toros (1973–74)	12–13–3
29	W	December 9, 1973	3-1	New York Golden Blades/New Jersey Knights (1973–74)	13–13–3
30	L	December 12, 1973	2-3	Houston Aeros (1973–74)	13–14–3
31	W	December 14, 1973	1-0	Los Angeles Sharks (1973–74)	14–14–3
32	L	December 16, 1973	2-3	Minnesota Fighting Saints (1973–74)	14–15–3
33	T	December 18, 1973	3-3	@ Chicago Cougars (1973–74)	14–15–4
34	L	December 19, 1973	0-10	@ Houston Aeros (1973–74)	14–16–4
35	W	December 22, 1973	2-0	@ New England Whalers (1973–74)	15–16–4
36	L	December 23, 1973	3-6	@ New York Golden Blades/New Jersey Knights (1973–74)	15–17–4
37	W	December 26, 1973	4-2	Chicago Cougars (1973–74)	16–17–4
38	W	December 29, 1973	4-3	@ Quebec Nordiques (1973–74)	17–17–4
39	L	December 30, 1973	2-5	@ Toronto Toros (1973–74)	17–18–4
40	W	January 1, 1974	4-3 (OT)	@ Edmonton Oilers (1973–74)	18–18–4
41	L	January 4, 1974	3-4	New England Whalers (1973–74)	18–19–4
42	L	January 6, 1974	1-7	@ Houston Aeros (1973–74)	18–20–4
43	L	January 8, 1974	1-4	@ Los Angeles Sharks (1973–74)	18–21–4
44	W	January 9, 1974	6-4	@ Vancouver Blazers (1973–74)	19–21–4
45	W	January 11, 1974	7-4	Edmonton Oilers (1973–74)	20–21–4
46	W	January 13, 1974	3-1	Chicago Cougars (1973–74)	21–21–4
47	W	January 18, 1974	7-3	Cleveland Crusaders (1973–74)	22–21–4
48	W	January 20, 1974	9-3	New York Golden Blades/New Jersey Knights (1973–74)	23–21–4
49	W	January 25, 1974	4-3	@ Edmonton Oilers (1973–74)	24–21–4
50	L	January 27, 1974	2-12	@ Minnesota Fighting Saints (1973–74)	24–22–4
51	W	February 1, 1974	4-0	Los Angeles Sharks (1973–74)	25–22–4
52	W	February 3, 1974	4-2	Chicago Cougars (1973–74)	26–22–4
53	L	February 5, 1974	1-3	@ Chicago Cougars (1973–74)	26–23–4
54	L	February 8, 1974	3-4 (OT)	Minnesota Fighting Saints (1973–74)	26–24–4
55	T	February 10, 1974	2-2	Houston Aeros (1973–74)	26–24–5
56	W	February 12, 1974	4-2	@ Los Angeles Sharks (1973–74)	27–24–5
57	L	February 13, 1974	1-5	@ Houston Aeros (1973–74)	27–25–5
58	L	February 15, 1974	1-7	@ Minnesota Fighting Saints (1973–74)	27–26–5
59	L	February 17, 1974	2-3 (OT)	New England Whalers (1973–74)	27–27–5
60	L	February 20, 1974	1-4	@ Edmonton Oilers (1973–74)	27–28–5
61	W	February 22, 1974	4-3	Toronto Toros (1973–74)	28–28–5
62	W	February 24, 1974	3-1	Chicago Cougars (1973–74)	29–28–5
63	L	February 26, 1974	1-7	@ Quebec Nordiques (1973–74)	29–29–5
64	L	February 28, 1974	0-3	@ Toronto Toros (1973–74)	29–30–5
65	L	March 1, 1974	0-4	Minnesota Fighting Saints (1973–74)	29–31–5
66	W	March 3, 1974	8-6	Quebec Nordiques (1973–74)	30–31–5
67	L	March 8, 1974	1-4	Cleveland Crusaders (1973–74)	30–32–5
68	L	March 9, 1974	4-5 (OT)	@ Chicago Cougars (1973–74)	30–33–5
69	L	March 11, 1974	2-10	@ New York Golden Blades/New Jersey Knights (1973–74)	30–34–5
70	L	March 13, 1974	3-4	@ Cleveland Crusaders (1973–74)	30–35–5
71	W	March 15, 1974	7-5	Vancouver Blazers (1973–74)	31–35–5
72	W	March 17, 1974	10-1	New England Whalers (1973–74)	32–35–5
73	L	March 22, 1974	2-4	Houston Aeros (1973–74)	32–36–5
74	L	March 24, 1974	3-6	@ Los Angeles Sharks (1973–74)	32–37–5
75	W	March 29, 1974	7-5	Houston Aeros (1973–74)	33–37–5
76	W	March 31, 1974	4-3 (OT)	Vancouver Blazers (1973–74)	34–37–5
77	L	April 3, 1974	5-6 (OT)	Edmonton Oilers (1973–74)	34–38–5
78	L	April 4, 1974	2-4	@ Vancouver Blazers (1973–74)	34–39–5

Playoffs

Houston Aeros 4, Winnipeg Jets 0

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Record
1	April 8	Houston Aeros	5–2	Winnipeg Jets	1–0
2	April 10	Houston Aeros	3–2	Winnipeg Jets	2–0
3	April 13	Winnipeg Jets	1–10	Houston Aeros	3–0
4	April 14	Winnipeg Jets	4–5	Houston Aeros	4–0

Player Stats

Forwards

Note: GP= Games played; G= Goals; A= Assists; PTS = Points; PIM = Points

#	Player	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
9	Bobby Hull	75	53	42	95	38
7	Christian Bordeleau	75	26	49	75	22
25	Fran Huck	74	26	48	74	68
11	Norm Beaudin	74	27	28	55	8
20	Ron Snell	70	24	25	49	32
17	Dan Johnson	78	16	21	37	20
16	Jean-Guy Gratton	68	12	21	33	13
14	Ab McDonald	70	12	17	29	8
22	Dan Spring	66	8	16	24	8
8	Ted Hargreaves	74	7	12	19	15
22	Freeman Asmundson	72	5	14	19	85
12	Dunc Rousseau	60	10	8	18	39
19	Milt Black	47	6	9	15	14
24	Kelly Pratt	46	4	6	10	50
18	Cal Swenson	25	5	4	9	2
	Bill Sutherland	12	4	5	9	6
15	Garth Rizzuto	41	3	4	7	8

Defencemen

Note: GP= Games played; G= Goals; A= Assists; PTS = Points; PIM = Points

#	Player	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
2	Bob Woytowich	72	6	28	34	43
4	Joe Zanussi	76	3	22	25	53
5	Larry Hornung	51	4	19	23	18
3	Bob Ash	60	2	18	20	30
10	Ken Stephanson	29	0	7	7	24
6	Jim Hargreaves	53	1	4	5	50

Goaltending

Note: GP= Games played; MIN= Minutes; W= Wins; L= Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals Against

#	Player	GP	MIN	W	L	T	SO	GAA
30	Ernie Wakely	37	2254	15	18	4	3	3.27
1	Joe Daley	41	2454	19	20	1	0	3.99
	Bill Holden	1	60	0	1	0	0	4.00

Awards and Records

• Bobby Hull, Left Wing, WHA First Team All-Star

Amateur Draft

Round	#	Player	Nationality	Drafted from
1	11	Ron Andruff (C)	Canada	Flin Flon Bombers (WCHL)
2	25	Keith Mackie (D)	Canada	Edmonton Oil Kings (WCHL)
3	37	Kelly Pratt (R)	Canada	Swift Current Broncos (WCHL)
5	63	Randy Smith (L)	Canada	Edmonton Oil Kings (WCHL)
6	76	Ron Kennedy (R)	Canada	New Westminster Bruins (WCHL)
7	89	Jeff Jacques (R)	Canada	St. Catharines Black Hawks (OHA)
8	101	Terry McDougall (C)	Canada	Swift Current Broncos (WCHL)
9	111	Russ Wiechnik (C)	Canada	Calgary Centennials (WCHL)
10	121	Mike Kennedy (C)	Canada	Kitchener Rangers (OHA)

Gallery

Fran Huck and Paul Hoganson in 1973-74 action.

References

• Winnipeg Jets Memorial Site
• Amateur entry draft on Hockey Database
• Jets on Hockey Database