WHA 1972/73

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The 1972/73 season was the World Hockey Association's (WHA) first regular season .

Eighteen and a half months had passed since April 1971, when the World Hockey Association was formally established, when the puck first took center stage on October 11, 1972. Until then, promises, announcements, disappointments and setbacks were the focus. The first games were played by the Alberta Oilers at the Ottawa Nationals (final score: 7: 4) and the Cleveland Crusaders against the Québec Nordiques (2: 0). All teams intervened in game operations by October 13th. At the selected locations, Boston , Chicago , Los Angeles , Minneapolis , New York City and Philadelphia were in direct competition with a team from the National Hockey League in exactly half of the locations . With Edmonton , Ottawa , Québec and Winnipeg , Canada tried to open up new markets, as there was traditionally a particularly strong interest in ice hockey. With Cleveland and Houston , two teams were in cities that had not yet appeared on the map of great ice hockey.

The first winner of the Avco World Trophy were the New England Whalers , who could clearly prevail with 4–1 against the Winnipeg Jets in the finals.

The stars of the first season all came from the NHL. The most popular were Bobby Hull (Winnipeg Jets), who was banned from the 1972 Summit Series because of his move to the WHA , defenseman JC Tremblay (Québec Nordiques) and goalkeepers Bernie Parent (Philadelphia Blazers) and Gerry Cheevers (Cleveland Crusaders ). The move from Derek Sanderson , a player with very high media coverage, to the Philadelphia Blazers also caused a stir . But his guest appearance ended after only eight games for financial reasons. In addition, some players who had not made the big breakthrough in the NHL or who were dissatisfied in their teams managed to develop into the top players of the WHA.

2,479,679 spectators watched the 468 games in the first season, an average of 5,298 per game. The NHL had approximately 13,750 at the time.

Regular season

mode

The twelve WHA teams were divided into two divisions of six teams each. In total, each team played 78 season games in the course of the regular season , 39 of them on home ice and 39 on that of the opposing team. In contrast to the common method in Europe of playing the same number of games against each team in the course of the season, the WHA teams competed against each other differently often. Teams belonging to the same division played against each other eight times during the season. Six games were played against each team in the other division. In addition, each team played two more games against a “regional neighbor”. These team pairs were Alberta and Winnipeg, Chicago and Minnesota, Cleveland and Philadelphia, Houston and Los Angeles, New England and New York, and Ottawa and Québec.

At the end of the regular season, the four best-placed teams from each division qualified for the playoffs , which took place after the regular season and were played in the knockout system . If two or more teams were tied, the larger number of games won counted first. If there was also equality here, a decision game was played.

Closing tables

Eastern Division

Abbreviations: GP = games, W = wins, L = defeats, T = draws, GF = goals scored, GA = goals conceded, Pts = points, Zø = average spectators
Explanations: The position within the conference is shown in brackets;     = Playoff qualification,     = division winner

Eastern Division GP W. L. T GF GA Pts Zø
New England Whalers 78 46 30th 2 318 263 94 6,981
Cleveland Crusaders 78 43 32 3 287 239 89 5,287
Philadelphia Blazers 78 38 40 0 288 305 76 4,358
Ottawa Nationals 78 35 39 4th 279 301 74 3.226
Québec Nordiques 78 33 40 5 276 313 71 6,923
New York Raiders 78 33 43 2 303 334 68 5,868

Western Division

Western Division GP W. L. T GF GA Pts Zø
Winnipeg Jets 78 43 31 4th 285 249 90 6.102
Houston Eros 78 39 35 4th 284 269 82 4,616
Los Angeles Sharks 78 37 35 6th 259 250 80 5,982
Minnesota Fighting Saints 78 38 37 3 250 269 79 5,855
Alberta Oilers 78 38 37 3 269 256 79 3,828
Chicago Cougars 78 26th 50 2 245 395 54 4,589

Best scorer

Besides Bobby Hull, who missed 15 games and was to be expected as the top star of the league here, even top scorer André Lacroix, who a few years earlier with the best scorer was Philadelphia Flyers was and Christian Bordeleau, the same with the St. Louis Blues had succeeded no surprise as a top scorer. Everyone else in the top 10 had NHL experience too. But while Lawson, Webster, Labossiere and Carleton were able to flash her, Ward, Beaudin and Caffery were still completely blank pages.

Abbreviations: GP = games, G = goals, A = assists , Pts = points, PIM = penalty minutes; Bold: Season best

player team GP G A. Pts PIM
André Lacroix Philadelphia 78 50 74 124 83
Ron Ward new York 77 51 67 118 28
Danny Lawson Philadelphia 78 61 45 106 35
Tom Webster New England 77 53 50 103 89
Bobby Hull Winnipeg 63 51 52 103 37
Norm Beaudin Winnipeg 78 38 65 103 15th
Christian Bordeleau Winnipeg 78 47 54 101 12
Terry Caffery New England 74 39 61 100 14th
Gord Labossiere Houston 77 36 60 96 56
Wayne Carleton Ottawa 75 42 49 91 42

Best goalkeeper

Abbreviations: GP = games, TOI = ice age (in minutes), W = wins, L = defeats, OTL = overtime / shootout defeats , GA = goals conceded, SO = shutouts , Sv% = shots saved (in%), GAA = Conceded goal; Bold: Season best

player team GP TOI W. L. T GA SO ATM
Gerry Cheevers Cleveland 52 3144 32 20th 2 149 5 2.84
Joe Daley Winnipeg 29 1718 17th 10 1 83 2 2.90
Russ Gillow los Angeles 38 1892 17th 13 2 96 2 2.91
Wayne Rutledge Houston 36 2163 20th 14th 2 110 0 3.05
Jack Norris Alberta 64 3702 28 37 3 189 1 3.06

Playoff

mode

After the first four teams had qualified from each division, start the knock-out system discharged play-offs . The division winners met fourth in the division semifinals, while the teams in second and third played the other semifinals.

The winning teams met in the division finals. The two divisional playoff winners met in the finals of the Avco World Trophy .

All series in each round were played in best-of-seven mode, which means that a team needed four wins to reach the next round. The higher ranked team had the first two games at home, the next two the opposing team. If no winner emerged from the round up to then, the home law changed from game to game. The higher-ranked team had a home advantage in games 1, 2, 5 and 7, i.e. four of the maximum seven games.

In the finals, the team started to score more points in the regular season with a home game. Two away games followed before going home for two games. Had the games been necessary, an away game and a home game would have followed.

For games that were tied after the regular playing time of 60 minutes, overtime followed . The thirds continued to last 20 minutes and the game continued until one team scored the first goal.

Playoff tree

  Semifinals division Division Finals final
                           
  E1 New England Whalers 4th        
E4 Ottawa Nationals 1  
E1 New England Whalers 4th
  E2 Cleveland Crusaders 1  
E2 Cleveland Crusaders 4th
E3 Philadelphia Blazers 0  
E1 New England Whalers 4th
  W1 Winnipeg Jets 1
W1 Winnipeg Jets 4th    
W4 Minnesota Fighting Saints 1  
W1 Winnipeg Jets 4th
  W2 Houston Eros 0  
W2 Houston Eros 4th
  W3 Los Angeles Sharks 0  

Division Semifinals (Round 1)

The tied teams of the Minnesota Fighting Saints and the Alberta Oilers from Edmonton met on April 4, 1973 in a playoff for fourth place in the Western Division in Calgary Alberta . Minnesota won the game 4-2.

Eastern Division

New England Whalers (1) vs. Ottawa Nationals (4)
date Away team Home team Note
7th of April Ottawa 3 6th New England
April 8th Ottawa 3 4th New England 1OT
9th April New England 3 4th Ottawa
12. April New England 7th 3 Ottawa
April 14th Ottawa 4th 5 New England 1OT
New England wins the series 4-1.

The favored Whalers clearly prevailed with 4: 1. They had to go into overtime twice, but Brit Selby (3:37) and Mike Byers (5:47) each ended after a short time. After a disappointing average attendance of just 3,226, Ottawa decided to move to Toronto for the playoffs. After the two games were attended by a total of 8,820 spectators, the decision was made to move completely for the coming season.

Cleveland Crusaders (2) vs. Philadelphia Blazers (3)
date Away team Home team Note
4. April Philadelphia 2 3 Cleveland 1OT
7th of April Philadelphia 1 7th Cleveland
April 8th Cleveland 3 1 Philadelphia
11 April Cleveland 6th 2 Philadelphia
Cleveland wins the series 4-0.

In the first game, the Crusaders had to go into overtime, where they released Ron Buchanan after 9:49 minutes. A clear win in the second game laid the foundation for the sweep .

Western Division

Winnipeg Jets (1) vs. Minnesota Fighting Saints (4)
date Away team Home team Note
April 6th Minnesota 1 3 Winnipeg
April 8th Minnesota 2 5 Winnipeg
10th of April Winnipeg 4th 6th Minnesota
11 April Winnipeg 3 2 Minnesota 1OT
April 15th Minnesota 5 8th Winnipeg
Winnipeg wins the series 4-1.

After two expected home wins, the Jets had to admit defeat in their first game in Minnesota. The Saints also kept up well in the next game, but in overtime it was the top scorer of the playoffs Norm Beaudin who secured victory for the Jets after 3:12 minutes. Back home, Winnipeg made everything clear.

Houston Eros (2) vs. Los Angeles Sharks (3)
date Away team Home team Note
April 25 los Angeles 2 7th Houston
April 27 los Angeles 4th 2 Houston
April 29 Houston 2 3 los Angeles
April 1st Houston 3 2 los Angeles 1OT
3rd of April los Angeles 3 6th Houston
April 1st Houston 3 2 los Angeles
Houston wins the series 4-2.

In the second game, the Sharks managed to surprise with a win in Houston and after a home win they went into the overtime of the fourth game with great expectations. Houston's Murray Hall scored the winning goal after 3:38 minutes for the Eros, who were able to prevail in the coming encounters.

Division Finals (Round 2)

Eastern Division

New England Whalers (1) vs. Cleveland Crusaders (2)
date Away team Home team Note
April 18 Cleveland 2 3 New England
April 19th Cleveland 2 3 New England
April 21 New England 5 4th Cleveland
April 22 New England 2 5 Cleveland
26th of April Cleveland 1 3 New England
New England wins the series 4-1.

The favored team from Boston didn't have much trouble with the Crusaders, who could be defeated in five games.

Western Division

Winnipeg Jets (1) vs. Houston Eros (2)
date Away team Home team Note
20th of April Houston 1 5 Winnipeg
April 22 Houston 0 2 Winnipeg
April 24th Winnipeg 4th 2 Houston
26th of April Winnipeg 3 0 Houston
Winnipeg wins the series 4-0.

Houston only scored three goals in the four games. The dominance of the jets was too great, and they easily made it to the finals in four games.

Avco World Trophy Championship

New England Whalers (1) vs. Winnipeg Jets (1)
date Away team Home team Note
April 29 Winnipeg 2
N. Beaudin ( C. Bordeleau , B. Hull ) 10:02
B. Hull 51:07 		7
R. Ley ( J. Dorey , T. Webster ) 12:10
T. Webster ( T. Williams , P. Hurley ) 14:07
T. Earl ( T. Sheehy , T. Green ) 16:13
J. French 19th : 37
T. Webster (T. Williams, P. Hurley) 30:55
T. Williams (J. French) 36:01
J. Dorey (T. Sheehy, T. Earl) 43:45 		New England
2.May New England 7
T. Williams ( T. Webster , J. Dorey ) 7:46 pm
B. Selwood (T. Williams) 21:47
J. Dorey (T. Williams, T. Webster) 42:19
B. Selby (T. Williams, T. Webster) 43:08
J. French ( R. Ley , T. Sheehy ) 49:03
J. Cunniff ( M. Byers ) 36:01
J. French ( P. Hurley , L. Pleau ) 58:59 		4
N. Beaudin ( B. Hull , L. Hornung ) 0:33
C. Bordeleau (B. Hull, N. Beaudin) 19:20
W. Boyer ( D. Rousseau , J. Zanussi ) 25:59
C. Bordeleau ( B. Hull, B. Woytowich ) 27:37 		Winnipeg
May 3rd New England 3
R. Ley ( M. Byers ) 34:44
T. Green (R. Ley, T. Webster ) 44:23
T. Sheehy ( J. French , J. Dorey ) 58:56 		4
B. Hull ( C. Bordeleau , N. Beaudin ) 15:23
A. McDonald (N. Beaudin, L. Hornung ) 19:34
D. Johnson (B. Hull, L. Hornung) 25:21
B. Hull ( N. Beaudin, B. Ash ) 59:33 		Winnipeg
5th of May Winnipeg 2
B. Hull ( C. Bordeleau ) 15:50
D. Rousseau ( B. Ash ) 59:54 		4
L. Pleau ( T. Sheehy , R. Ley ) 20:47
M. Byers ( T. Earl , J. Dorey ) 34:11
T. Sheehy (J. Dorey, B. Selwood ) 36:17
M. Byers ( T. Earl) 47:17 		New England
May 6th Winnipeg 6
D. Johnson ( B. Sutherland ) 7:07
N. Beaudin ( B. Hull ) 17:53
N. Beaudin ( C. Bordeleau , A. McDonald ) 23:15
M. Black ( J. Shymr ) 24:02
B. Woytowich ( C. Swenson , D. Asmundson ) 44:59
D. Asmundson (C. Swenson, S. Cuddie ) 58:10 		9
T. Webster ( T. Williams , R. Ley ) 0:21
L. Pleau 4:43
G. Smith (T. Williams, T. Webster) 11:47
R. Ley 3:43
T. Sheehy (T. Webster , L. Pleau) 18:41
T. Webster (T. Williams, T. Green ) 20:15
L. Pleau (T. Sheehy, J. French ) 45:24
L. Pleau (T. Sheehy, J. French) 47:31
M. Byers (T. Green, T. Williams) 57:20 		New England
New England wins the series 4-1 and the Avco World Trophy .

With the New England Whalers, the team that had collected the most points in the regular season won the title in the first season of the WHA. The foundation stone was laid with an away win in the second game of the playoffs. It was only really close when the Winnipeg Jets won in Game 3. Bobby Hull scored the winning goal two seconds before the end of regular time. In the last game, the Whalers, who took the lead after 21 seconds, made things clear early on. Five goals in the first period showed the Jets that it should be the last game of the season.

The top scorer of the playoffs came from the ranks of Winnipeg. Norm Beaudin secured the title with two goals in the last game and fought off Tom Webster's attack , who came close to him with four points in the last game.

Avco World Trophy Winner

The 20 players in the Whalers consist of two goalkeepers, five defenders and 13 attackers. Only three players who were used during the season were not part of the winning team. Mike Hyndman (Chicago Cougars) and Dick Sarrazin (Los Angeles Sharks) had been transferred within the WHA before the playoffs and Ric Jordan was not immortalized on the trophy, although he had played several games in the finals.

In addition to head coach and general manager Jack Kelley , the following players were engraved on the Avco World Trophy, the championship trophy of the WHA:

Avco World Trophy winner New England Whalers

New England Whalers logo

Goalkeepers: Bruce Landon , Al Smith

Defenders: Jim Dorey , Ted Green ( C ), Paul Hurley , Rick Ley , Brad Selwood

Attackers: Kevin Ahearn , Mike Byers , Terry Caffery , John Cunniff , John Danby , Tommy Earl , John French , Larry Pleau , Brit Selby , Tim Sheehy , Guy Smith , Tom Webster , Tommy Williams

Head Coach and General Manager: Jack Kelley

Best scorer

Abbreviations: GP = games, G = goals, A = assists , Pts = points, PIM = penalty minutes; Bold: Season best

player team GP G A. Pts PIM
Norm Beaudin Winnipeg 14th 13 15th 28 2
Tom Webster New England 15th 12 14th 26th 6th
Bobby Hull Winnipeg 14th 9 16 25th 16
Tim Sheehy New England 15th 9 14th 23 13
Jim Dorey New England 15th 3 16 19th 41
Larry Pleau New England 15th 12 7th 19th 15th

WHA Awards and trophies awarded

The new trophies were named after some of the founders of teams and important people from the organization of the WHA.

Award player team
Gary L. Davidson Trophy Bobby Hull Winnipeg Jets
Bill Hunter Trophy André Lacroix Philadelphia Blazers
Lou Kaplan Trophy Terry Caffery New England Whalers
Ben Hatskin Trophy Gerry Cheevers Cleveland Crusaders
Dennis A. Murphy Trophy JC Tremblay Québec Nordiques
Howard Baldwin Trophy Jack Kelley New England Whalers
Paul Deneau Trophy Ted Hampson Minnesota Fighting Saints

WHA All-Star Teams

WHA First All-Star Team

Abbreviations: GP = games, G = goals, A = assists , Pts = points, W = wins, SO = shutouts , GAA = conceded goals

player position team GP G A. Pts
André Lacroix center Philadelphia Blazers 77 51 67 118
Danny Lawson Winger Philadelphia Blazers 78 61 45 106
Bobby Hull Winger Winnipeg Jets 63 51 52 103
JC Tremblay defender Québec Nordiques 76 14th 75 89
Paul Shmyr defender Cleveland Crusaders 73 5 43 48
player position team GP W. SO ATM
Gerry Cheevers goalkeeper Cleveland Crusaders 52 32 5 2.84

WHA Second All-Star Team

Abbreviations: GP = games, G = goals, A = assists , Pts = points, W = wins, SO = shutouts , GAA = conceded goals

player position team GP G A. Pts
Ron Ward center New York Raiders 77 51 67 118
Tom Webster Winger New England Whalers 82 43 59 102
Gary Jarrett Winger Cleveland Crusaders 77 40 39 79
Jim Dorey defender New England Whalers 75 7th 56 63
Larry Hornung defender Winnipeg Jets 77 13 45 58
player position team GP W. SO ATM
Bernie Parent goalkeeper Philadelphia Blazers 63 33 2 3.61

literature

  • Scott Adam Surgent: The Complete Historical and Statistical Reference of the World Hockey Association 1972-1979 Xaler Press, 1995. ISBN 0-9644774-0-8 . Pages 71–114

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Scott Surgent: The World Hockey Association Factbook. 2010, p. 238, ISBN 978-0-9644774-8-3