1977–78 Winnipeg Jets season explained

League:	WHA
Season:	1977–78
Year:	1977
Team:	Winnipeg Jets (1972–1996)Winnipeg Jets
Record:	50–28–2
Division:	WHA
Divisionrank:	1st
Goalsfor:	381
Goalsagainst:	270
Avcocup:	yes
Next Season:	1978–79

The 1977–78 Winnipeg Jets season was the Jets' sixth season of operation in the World Hockey Association (WHA). The Jets, finalists in 1977, qualified first for the playoffs and the championship against the New England Whalers in the Final. It was the Jets' second Avco Cup win.

As of this is the most recent season any Winnipeg-based major professional hockey team has won a division championship, although the Jets would go on to defend the Avco Cup the following year (their last as a WHA organization before joining the National Hockey League).

Regular season

Final standings

Schedule and results

No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	W	October 12, 1977	7–3	@ Edmonton Oilers (1977–78)	1–0–0
2	W	October 13, 1977	5–2	Quebec Nordiques (1977–78)	2–0–0
3	W	October 15, 1977	5–4	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	3–0–0
4	W	October 16, 1977	9–1	Indianapolis Racers (1977–78)	4–0–0
5	L	October 21, 1977	2–5	New England Whalers (1977–78)	4–1–0
6	W	October 23, 1977	10–3	Birmingham Bulls (1977–78)	5–1–0
7	L	October 26, 1977	3–5	@ Indianapolis Racers (1977–78)	5–2–0
8	W	October 28, 1977	3–2	Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	6–2–0
9	W	October 30, 1977	5–2	Edmonton Oilers (1977–78)	7–2–0
10	W	November 2, 1977	6–3	@ Edmonton Oilers (1977–78)	8–2–0
11	W	November 4, 1977	4–2	@ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78)	9–2–0
12	W	November 5, 1977	6–1	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	10–2–0
13	W	November 9, 1977	4–3	Houston Aeros (1977–78)	11–2–0
14	L	November 11, 1977	2–3 OT	Quebec Nordiques (1977–78)	11–3–0
15	L	November 13, 1977	2–3	Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	11–4–0
16	L	November 15, 1977	6–7 OT	@ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78)	11–5–0
17	T	November 16, 1977	2–2	Birmingham Bulls (1977–78)	11–5–1
18	L	November 18, 1977	2–3	@ New England Whalers (1977–78)	11–6–1
19	W	November 19, 1977	6–4	@ Indianapolis Racers (1977–78)	12–6–1
20	L	November 22, 1977	2–4	@ Edmonton Oilers (1977–78)	12–7–1
21	L	November 27, 1977	3–4 OT	Birmingham Bulls (1977–78)	12–8–1
22	L	December 2, 1977	1–4	@ New England Whalers (1977–78)	12–9–1
23	L	December 3, 1977	5–6	@ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78)	12–10–1
24	L	December 4, 1977	2–3	Edmonton Oilers (1977–78)	12–11–1
25	W	December 7, 1977	5–2	Houston Aeros (1977–78)	13–11–1
26	L	December 9, 1977	3–4 OT	Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	13–12–1
27	W	December 11, 1977	7–1	Indianapolis Racers (1977–78)	14–12–1
28	W	December 13, 1977	5–1	Czechoslovakia (1977–78)	15–12–1
29	W	December 17, 1977	6–3	@ New England Whalers (1977–78)	16–12–1
30	W	December 18, 1977	7–3	New England Whalers (1977–78)	17–12–1
31	W	December 20, 1977	6–4	Soviet All-Stars (1977–78)	18–12–1
32	W	December 21, 1977	4–3	@ Houston Aeros (1977–78)	19–12–1
33	W	December 23, 1977	6–4	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	20–12–1
34	W	December 26, 1977	9–4	Quebec Nordiques (1977–78)	21–12–1
35	W	January 6, 1978	4–1	@ Edmonton Oilers (1977–78)	22–12–1
36	W	January 8, 1978	4–2	Indianapolis Racers (1977–78)	23–12–1
37	W	January 11, 1978	11–2	Birmingham Bulls (1977–78)	24–12–1
38	L	January 13, 1978	2–3	@ Houston Aeros (1977–78)	24–13–1
39	W	January 14, 1978	6–3	@ Indianapolis Racers (1977–78)	25–13–1
40	L	January 15, 1978	3–4 OT	Edmonton Oilers (1977–78)	25–14–1
41	W	January 18, 1978	5–1	Quebec Nordiques (1977–78)	26–14–1
42	T	January 20, 1978	4–4	New England Whalers (1977–78)	26–14–2
43	L	January 22, 1978	4–5	Indianapolis Racers (1977–78)	26–15–2
44	L	January 25, 1978	2–6	@ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78)	26–16–2
45	L	January 26, 1978	1–2 OT	@ Houston Aeros (1977–78)	26–17–2
46	L	January 28, 1978	5–8	@ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78)	26–18–2
47	W	January 29, 1978	8–4	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	27–18–2
48	W	January 31, 1978	7–2	@ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78)	28–18–2
49	W	February 4, 1978	7–5	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	29–18–2
50	W	February 5, 1978	4–3	Edmonton Oilers (1977–78)	30–18–2
51	W	February 8, 1978	9–0	Birmingham Bulls (1977–78)	31–18–2
52	W	February 10, 1978	10–2	Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	32–18–2
53	W	February 11, 1978	5–3	@ Indianapolis Racers (1977–78)	33–18–2
54	W	February 12, 1978	6–5	@ Houston Aeros (1977–78)	34–18–2
55	W	February 15, 1978	6–5	Edmonton Oilers (1977–78)	35–18–2
56	W	February 16, 1978	2–1 OT	@ New England Whalers (1977–78)	36–18–2
57	W	February 18, 1978	4–0	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	37–18–2
58	W	February 19, 1978	5–2	Quebec Nordiques (1977–78)	38–18–2
59	W	February 22, 1978	4–2	New England Whalers (1977–78)	39–18–2
60	W	February 24, 1978	7–2	New England Whalers (1977–78)	40–18–2
61	W	February 26, 1978	9–6	Houston Aeros (1977–78)	41–18–2
62	L	March 1, 1978	3–4	@ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78)	41–19–2
63	L	March 3, 1978	1–5	Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	41–20–2
64	L	March 4, 1978	6–8	@ Indianapolis Racers (1977–78)	41–21–2
65	L	March 5, 1978	3–4	Houston Aeros (1977–78)	41–22–2
66	W	March 9, 1978	6–5	Indianapolis Racers (1977–78)	42–22–2
67	W	March 11, 1978	7–4	@ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78)	43–22–2
68	W	March 12, 1978	3–2	Birmingham Bulls (1977–78)	44–22–2
69	W	March 15, 1978	8–4	Edmonton Oilers (1977–78)	45–22–2
70	L	March 17, 1978	2–6	@ Edmonton Oilers (1977–78)	45–23–2
71	W	March 19, 1978	5–3	Quebec Nordiques (1977–78)	46–23–2
72	W	March 22, 1978	5–3	@ New England Whalers (1977–78)	47–23–2
73	W	March 25, 1978	3–1	@ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78)	48–23–2
74	L	March 28, 1978	3–5	@ Houston Aeros (1977–78)	48–24–2
75	W	March 30, 1978	4–1	@ Indianapolis Racers (1977–78)	49–24–2
76	L	April 1, 1978	2–5	@ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78)	49–25–2
77	L	April 4, 1978	3–6	@ Houston Aeros (1977–78)	49–26–2
78	W	April 6, 1978	7–4	New England Whalers (1977–78)	50–26–2
79	L	April 7, 1978	2–4	@ Edmonton Oilers (1977–78)	50–27–2
80	L	April 9, 1978	4–5	Houston Aeros (1977–78)	50–28–2

Playoffs

Due to their victory over the Bulls, they earned a bye to the Finals while the other two Semifinal winners faced off against each other.

Winnipeg Jets 4, Birmingham Bulls 1

	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Record
1	April 14		3–9		1–0
2	April 16		3–8		2–0
3	April 19		2–3		2–1
4	April 21		5–1		3–1
5	April 23		2–5		4–1

Winnipeg Jets 4, New England Whalers 0 – Avco Cup Finals

	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Record
1	May 12		1–4		1–0
2	May 14		2–5		2–0
3	May 19		10–2		3–0
4	May 22		5–3		4–0

Player statistics

Regular season

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	+/-	PPG	SHG	GWG
	C	73	37	89	126	89	41	7	3
	RW	77	63	59	122	60	60	17	6
	LW	77	46	71	117	23	55	10	0
	C	80	42	65	107	8	27	18	0
	RW	77	30	30	60	42	4	7	0
	C	77	16	39	55	43	−12	3	1
	D	78	11	39	50	72	60	0	1
	LW	77	20	22	42	18	−1	0	4
	LW	71	20	21	41	16	12	3	0
	LW	47	18	16	34	30	7	5	0
	D	62	5	28	33	43	22	0	0
	C	55	12	19	31	16	2	2	0
	D	78	7	24	31	42	10	1	1
	LW	80	9	18	27	48	−4	0	0
	D	66	6	20	26	79	20	1	0
	D	73	4	22	26	52	19	2	0
	LW	57	9	16	25	39	−6	0	0
	D	49	14	7	21	29	5	2	0
	RW	21	8	9	17	2	9	0	0
	D	52	2	7	9	203	6	0	0
	D	19	1	4	5	2	17	0	0
	D	3	1	1	2	0	3	0	0
	G	37	0	2	2	2	0	0	0
	G	39	0	1	1	4	0	0	0
	D	12	0	0	0	2	−9	0	0
	D	3	0	0	0	0	−5	0	0
	C	5	0	0	0	2	−2	0	0
	G	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
	2252	39	25	12	1	124	3.30	1
	2075	37	21	11	1	114	3.30	1
	511	10	4	5	0	30	3.52	0
Team:	4838	80	50	28	2	268	3.32	2

Playoffs

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG
	RW	9	9	6	15	2			1
	C	9	1	13	14	12			0
	LW	9	8	5	13	5			2
	LW	9	5	7	12	9			0
	LW	9	8	3	11	12			2
	C	9	2	8	10	10			0
	D	9	0	9	9	4			0
	LW	9	4	4	8	2			1
	RW	8	3	4	7	17			0
	C	9	3	4	7	4			1
	LW	9	2	5	7	12			0
	D	9	0	5	5	6			0
	D	7	1	3	4	19			0
	D	7	0	4	4	7			0
	C	3	2	1	3	7			0
	D	9	1	2	3	0			0
	RW	5	2	0	2	0			1
	LW	4	1	1	2	8			0
	D	8	0	2	2	2			0
	D	2	1	0	1	0			0
	D	9	0	1	1	61			0
	G	5	0	1	1	20			0
	G	5	0	0	0	2			0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	GA	GAA	SO
	268	5	4	0	7	1.57	0
	271	5	4	1	13	2.88	0
Team:	539	9	8	1	20	2.23	0

^[1]

Draft picks

Winnipeg's draft picks at the 1977 WHA Amateur Draft.^[2]

Round		Player	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team (League)
1	3	Ron Duguay (C)		Sudbury Wolves (OHA)
1	8	Miles Zaharko (D)		New Westminster Bruins (WCHL)
3	28	Mark Lofthouse (RW)		New Westminster Bruins (WCHL)
4	37	Don Laurence (C)		Kitchener Rangers (OHA)
5	46	Bill Stewart (D)		Niagara Falls Flyers (OHA)
6	55	Ric Seiling (RW)		St. Catharines Fincups (OHA)
7	64	Jim Hamilton (LW)		London Knights (OHA)
8	72	Warren Holmes (C)		Ottawa 67's (OHA)
9	80	Mike Keating (LW)		St. Catharines Fincups (OHA)
10	88	Murray Bannerman (G)		Victoria Cougars (WCHL)

See also

• 1977–78 WHA season

External links

• Web site: 1977–78 Winnipeg Jets Games. Hockey-reference.com . 2009-05-06 .

Notes and References

1. Web site: hockey-reference.com . 2009-05-28 . 1977-78 Winnipeg Jets Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com.
2. Web site: 1977 WHA Amateur Draft . hockeyDB.com . December 18, 2018.