1978–79 Indianapolis Racers | |
---|---|
Division | 7th WHA |
1978–79 record | 5–18–2 |
Goals for | 78 |
Goals against | 130 |
Team Information | |
General Manager | Pat Stapleton |
Coach | Pat Stapleton |
Arena | Market Square Arena |
Team Leaders | |
Goals | Blaine Stoughton (8) |
Assists | Al McLeod (11) |
Points | Blaine Stoughton Don Larway (18) |
Penalties in minutes | Glen Irwin (124) |
Wins | Gary Inness (3) |
Goals against average | Eddie Mio (3.22) |
<1977–78 |
The 1978–79 Indianapolis Racers season was the Racers' 5th and final season in the World Hockey Association (WHA). The team ceased operations after only 25 games.
Off-season[]
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.
The Racers jerseys were the same design as in the 1977-78 season.
Regular Season[]
This was the first season of Wayne Gretzky's professional career and he scored 3 goals and 3 assists in 8 games.
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 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[]
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
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, PIM = Penalties in Minutes
Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.
Game Log[]
Regular Season Results | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | R | Date | Score | Opponent | Record |
1 | L | October 14, 1978 | 3–6 | Winnipeg Jets (1978–79) | 0–1–0 |
2 | L | October 15, 1978 | 3–9 | Birmingham Bulls (1978–79) | 0–2–0 |
3 | W | October 18, 1978 | 4–0 | @ Quebec Nordiques (1978–79) | 1–2–0 |
4 | L | October 20, 1978 | 3–4 | Edmonton Oilers (1978–79) | 1–3–0 |
5 | L | October 22, 1978 | 3–6 | New England Whalers (1978–79) | 1–4–0 |
6 | L | October 27, 1978 | 2–4 | @ Birmingham Bulls (1978–79) | 1–5–0 |
7 | W | October 28, 1978 | 3–2 | Winnipeg Jets (1978–79) | 2–5–0 |
8 | T | October 29, 1978 | 3–3 | @ Winnipeg Jets (1978–79) | 2–5–1 |
9 | L | November 3, 1978 | 3–6 | @ New England Whalers (1978–79) | 2–6–1 |
10 | T | November 4, 1978 | 6–6 | New England Whalers (1978–79) | 2–6–2 |
11 | L | November 5, 1978 | 2–6 | @ Winnipeg Jets (1978–79) | 2–7–2 |
12 | L | November 8, 1978 | 0–4 | @ Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79) | 2–8–2 |
13 | L | November 11, 1978 | 2–8 | @ Quebec Nordiques (1978–79) | 2–9–2 |
14 | L | November 17, 1978 | 1–6 | @ Edmonton Oilers (1978–79) | 2–10–2 |
15 | L | November 19, 1978 | 2–5 | @ Winnipeg Jets (1978–79) | 2–11–2 |
16 | L | November 23, 1978 | 1–5 | Winnipeg Jets (1978–79) | 2–12–2 |
17 | L | November 24, 1978 | 5–8 | @ Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79) | 2–13–2 |
18 | W | November 25, 1978 | 6–3 | Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79) | 3–13–2 |
19 | L | November 28, 1978 | 2–8 | @ Edmonton Oilers (1978–79) | 3–14–2 |
20 | W | December 1, 1978 | 6–3 | Birmingham Bulls (1978–79) | 4–14–2 |
21 | L | December 2, 1978 | 2–4 | @ Birmingham Bulls (1978–79) | 4–15–2 |
22 | L | December 3, 1978 | 2–4 | Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79) | 4–16–2 |
23 | L | December 7, 1978 | 4–9 | Winnipeg Jets (1978–79) | 4–17–2 |
24 | W | December 10, 1978 | 6–4 | Edmonton Oilers (1978–79) | 5–17–2 |
25 | L | December 12, 1978 | 4–7 | New England Whalers (1978–79) | 5–18–2 |
Playoffs[]
- The Racers ceased operations before the post season.
Player Stats[]
Regular Season[]
- Scoring
Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | +/- | PPG | SHG | GWG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Blaine Stoughton | RW | 25 | 9 | 9 | 18 | 16 | -18 | 3 | 0 | |
Don Larway | RW | 25 | 8 | 10 | 18 | 39 | -20 | 2 | 0 | |
Rich LeDuc | C | 13 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 14 | -2 | 2 | 0 | |
Claude Larose | LW | 13 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
Michel Parizeau | C | 22 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 4 | -1 | 0 | 0 | |
Gary MacGregor | C | 17 | 8 | 4 | 12 | 0 | -12 | 1 | 0 | |
Rene Leclerc | RW | 22 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
Dave Morrow | D/LW | 10 | 2 | 10 | 12 | 29 | -13 | 0 | 0 | |
Larry Sacharuk | D | 15 | 2 | 9 | 11 | 25 | -11 | 2 | 0 | |
Al McLeod | D | 25 | 0 | 11 | 11 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Bruce Greig | LW | 21 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 64 | -5 | 0 | 0 | |
Kevin Nugent | RW | 25 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 20 | -2 | 0 | 0 | |
Dave Inkpen | D | 25 | 1 | 8 | 9 | 22 | -5 | 0 | 0 | |
John Hughes | D | 22 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 48 | -16 | 0 | 0 | |
Wes George | LW | 9 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 23 | -11 | 1 | 0 | |
Claude St. Sauveur | C | 17 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 12 | -6 | 2 | 0 | |
Wayne Gretzky | C | 8 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 0 | -3 | 0 | 0 | |
Ken Block | D | 22 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 10 | -11 | 0 | 0 | |
Peter Driscoll | LW | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 17 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
Angie Moretto | C | 18 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | -6 | 1 | 0 | |
Gerry Leroux | LW | 10 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | -4 | 0 | 0 | |
Bryon Baltimore | D | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | -1 | 0 | 0 | |
Don Burgess | LW | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | -4 | 0 | 0 | |
Kevin Morrison | D | 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | -10 | 0 | 0 | |
Glen Irwin | D | 24 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 124 | -10 | 0 | 0 | |
Dean Magee | LW | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 10 | -2 | 0 | 0 | |
Jerry Rollins | D | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 | -4 | 0 | 0 | |
Mark Messier | C | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -4 | 0 | 0 | |
Eddie Mio | G | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Gary Inness | G | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Gary Smith | G | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
- Goaltending
Player | MIN | GP | W | L | T | GA | GAA | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gary Inness | 609 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 51 | 5.02 | 0 |
Eddie Mio | 242 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 3.22 | 1 |
Gary Smith | 664 | 11 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 61 | 5.51 | 0 |
Team: | 1515 | 25 | 5 | 18 | 2 | 125 | 4.95 | 1 |
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
Awards and Records[]
- The Racers did not win any awards this season.
Transactions[]
Draft Picks[]
Farm Teams[]
Gallery[]
Video[]
Wayne Gretzky scores the first two goals of his professional career, October 20, 1978.
See Also[]
References[]
- ↑ 1978–79 Indianapolis Racers Games. Hockey-reference.com. Retrieved on 2009-06-04.
- ↑ 1978-79 Indianapolis Racers Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com. hockey-reference.com. Retrieved on 2009-06-04.
1978–79 WHA season by team | |
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Birmingham • Cincinnati • Edmonton • Indianapolis • New England • Quebec • Winnipeg |