1978–79 New England Whalers season

The 1978–79 New England Whalers season was the seventh season of the Whalers' franchise. This was the final season in the World Hockey Association, which ceased operations after the season. The Whalers (along with the Winnipeg Jets, the Edmonton Oilers, and the Quebec Nordiques) were admitted to the National Hockey League as expansion teams. The Whalers (as part of the agreement suggested by the Boston Bruins) changed their name to the Hartford Whalers. The Whalers made the playoffs, with only five teams participating in the postseason. Don Blackburn took over the team as coach before the season ended, and he became the first coach of the team in the NHL.

1978–79 New England Whalers
Division4th WHA
1978–79 record37–34–9
Goals for298
Goals against287
Team information
General managerJack Kelley
CoachBill Dineen (33-29-9)
Don Blackburn (4-5-0)
CaptainRick Ley

Offseason

Regular season

Final standings

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF= Goals for, GA = Goals against, Pts = Points

WHA Team GP W L T Pts GF GA PIM
Edmonton Oilers8048302983402661220
Quebec Nordiques8041345872882711399
Winnipeg Jets8039356843073061342
New England Whalers8037349832982871090
Cincinnati Stingers8033416722742841651
Birmingham Bulls8032426702863111661
xIndianapolis Racers2551821278130557
#Soviet All-Stars64119272077
#Czechoslovakia614131433107
#Finland10100482

x-team folded during season #-played limited schedule

Schedule and results

No. R Date Score Opponent Record
1WOctober 15, 19786–5@ Quebec Nordiques (1978–79)1–0–0
2WOctober 17, 19782–1@ Edmonton Oilers (1978–79)2–0–0
3TOctober 18, 19784–4@ Winnipeg Jets (1978–79)2–0–1
4WOctober 21, 19787–1Quebec Nordiques (1978–79)3–0–1
5WOctober 22, 19786–3@ Indianapolis Racers (1978–79)4–0–1
6WOctober 24, 19782–1@ Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79)5–0–1
7LOctober 26, 19785–8@ Quebec Nordiques (1978–79)5–1–1
8LOctober 27, 19784–6Winnipeg Jets (1978–79)5–2–1
9LOctober 29, 19784–7Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79)5–3–1
10WNovember 3, 19786–3Indianapolis Racers (1978–79)6–3–1
11TNovember 4, 19786–6@ Indianapolis Racers (1978–79)6–3–2
12LNovember 5, 19784–5@ Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79)6–4–2
13WNovember 9, 19786–1Edmonton Oilers (1978–79)7–4–2
14WNovember 11, 19782–1Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79)8–4–2
15TNovember 14, 19785–5@ Birmingham Bulls (1978–79)8–4–3
16TNovember 15, 19784–4@ Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79)8–4–4
17LNovember 17, 19781–7@ Birmingham Bulls (1978–79)8–5–4
18LNovember 18, 19782–3Birmingham Bulls (1978–79)8–6–4
19WNovember 22, 19785–2Winnipeg Jets (1978–79)9–6–4
20WNovember 25, 19785–2Birmingham Bulls (1978–79)10–6–4
21WNovember 26, 19789–3Birmingham Bulls (1978–79)11–6–4
22LNovember 29, 19782–4@ Winnipeg Jets (1978–79)11–7–4
23LDecember 1, 19782–8@ Edmonton Oilers (1978–79)11–8–4
24WDecember 3, 19787–0@ Edmonton Oilers (1978–79)12–8–4
25TDecember 5, 19782–2@ Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79)12–8–5
26WDecember 7, 19785–3Edmonton Oilers (1978–79)13–8–5
27LDecember 9, 19784–7Soviet All-Stars (1978–79)13–9–5
28WDecember 12, 19787–4@ Indianapolis Racers (1978–79)14–9–5
29WDecember 16, 19782–1Quebec Nordiques (1978–79)15–9–5
30TDecember 17, 19784–4@ Quebec Nordiques (1978–79)15–9–6
31WDecember 23, 19784–3Birmingham Bulls (1978–79)16–9–6
32WDecember 27, 197810–4Czechoslovakia (1978–79)17–9–6
33WDecember 29, 19785–0Birmingham Bulls (1978–79)18–9–6
34LDecember 30, 19781–2@ Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79)18–10–6
35WJanuary 7, 19795–4Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79)19–10–6
36LJanuary 13, 19790–3Edmonton Oilers (1978–79)19–11–6
37LJanuary 14, 19792–4Winnipeg Jets (1978–79)19–12–6
38LJanuary 18, 19792–4Quebec Nordiques (1978–79)19–13–6
39WJanuary 20, 19793–1Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79)20–13–6
40LJanuary 23, 19791–5@ Edmonton Oilers (1978–79)20–14–6
41LJanuary 26, 19794–5@ Birmingham Bulls (1978–79)20–15–6
42WJanuary 28, 19798–6Winnipeg Jets (1978–79)21–15–6
43WJanuary 30, 19795–2Winnipeg Jets (1978–79)22–15–6
44WFebruary 2, 19794–1Quebec Nordiques (1978–79)23–15–6
45TFebruary 3, 19792–2@ Birmingham Bulls (1978–79)23–15–7
46WFebruary 6, 19795–3@ Quebec Nordiques (1978–79)24–15–7
47WFebruary 10, 19797–2Winnipeg Jets (1978–79)25–15–7
48LFebruary 11, 19792–5@ Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79)25–16–7
49LFebruary 14, 19794–7Birmingham Bulls (1978–79)25–17–7
50LFebruary 16, 19792–4Edmonton Oilers (1978–79)25–18–7
51WFebruary 17, 19794–1Quebec Nordiques (1978–79)26–18–7
52WFebruary 18, 19797–1@ Winnipeg Jets (1978–79)27–18–7
53LFebruary 20, 19792–8@ Edmonton Oilers (1978–79)27–19–7
54LFebruary 21, 19792–5@ Winnipeg Jets (1978–79)27–20–7
55WFebruary 23, 19795–4 OTQuebec Nordiques (1978–79)28–20–7
56LFebruary 24, 19790–6@ Quebec Nordiques (1978–79)28–21–7
57LFebruary 25, 19795–7Winnipeg Jets (1978–79)28–22–7
58TFebruary 27, 19791–1@ Edmonton Oilers (1978–79)28–22–8
59WMarch 2, 19794–1@ Winnipeg Jets (1978–79)29–22–8
60LMarch 4, 19793–4 OTCincinnati Stingers (1978–79)29–23–8
61LMarch 9, 19791–3Quebec Nordiques (1978–79)29–24–8
62WMarch 11, 19792–1@ Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79)30–24–8
63WMarch 13, 19794–3@ Birmingham Bulls (1978–79)31–24–8
64LMarch 15, 19793–4 OTBirmingham Bulls (1978–79)31–25–8
65TMarch 16, 19795–5@ Birmingham Bulls (1978–79)31–25–9
66LMarch 18, 19791–4Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79)31–26–9
67WMarch 20, 19797–6 OT@ Quebec Nordiques (1978–79)32–26–9
68WMarch 23, 19795–3Quebec Nordiques (1978–79)33–26–9
69LMarch 24, 19793–4Birmingham Bulls (1978–79)33–27–9
70LMarch 27, 19791–3@ Birmingham Bulls (1978–79)33–28–9
71LMarch 30, 19791–3Edmonton Oilers (1978–79)33–29–9
72LApril 1, 19793–5Edmonton Oilers (1978–79)33–30–9
73WApril 4, 19794–2@ Winnipeg Jets (1978–79)34–30–9
74LApril 6, 19792–7@ Edmonton Oilers (1978–79)34–31–9
75LApril 8, 19794–6@ Winnipeg Jets (1978–79)34–32–9
76WApril 10, 19795–2@ Quebec Nordiques (1978–79)35–32–9
77WApril 12, 19794–0Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79)36–32–9
78LApril 14, 19790–4Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79)36–33–9
79LApril 15, 19791–4Edmonton Oilers (1978–79)36–34–9
80WApril 17, 19793–2@ Quebec Nordiques (1978–79)37–34–9

Playoffs

New England Whalers 3, Cincinnati Stingers 0 - Preliminary Round

GameDateVisitorScoreHomeSeries
1April 21Cincinnati Stingers3 – 5New England Whalers1–0
2April 22New England Whalers3 – 6Cincinnati Stingers1–1
3April 24New England Whalers2 – 1Cincinnati Stingers2–1

Edmonton Oilers 4, New England Whalers 3 - Semifinals

GameDateVisitorScoreHomeSeries
1April 26New England Whalers2 – 6Edmonton Oilers0–1
2April 27New England Whalers5 – 9Edmonton Oilers0–2
3April 29Edmonton Oilers1 – 4New England Whalers1–2
4May 1Edmonton Oilers4 – 5New England Whalers2–2
5May 3New England Whalers2 – 5Edmonton Oilers2–3
6May 6Edmonton Oilers8 – 4New England Whalers3–3
7May 8New England Whalers3 – 6Edmonton Oilers3–4

Player statistics

Regular season

Scoring
Player GP G A Pts PIM
Mark Howe77426510732
Andre Lacroix7832568834
Mike Rogers8027457231
Dave Keon792243652
Gordie Roberts79114657113
Warren Miller7726234944
Mike Antonovich6920274735
John McKenzie76192847115
Gordie Howe5819244351
George Lyle5917183554
Alan Hangsleben77101929148
Rick Ley7372027135
Marty Howe669152431
Ron Plumb784162033
Jordy Douglas516101615
Brad Selwood424121647
Jim Warner41691520
Blaine Stoughton3693122
Larry Pleau2866126
Jack Carlson3427961
Dave Inkpen4107715
Al Smith4003335
Jeff Brubaker1200019
John Garrett410006
Pierre Roy10002
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SA SV SV% SO
John Garrett249641201741493.5811801031.8742
Al Smith239640171751323.311124992.8831
Team:489280373492813.4523042023.8783

Playoffs

Scoring
Player GP G A Pts PIM
Dave Keon1039122
John McKenzie10371010
Mike Antonovich1053814
Andre Lacroix104480
George Lyle935825
Mike Rogers102682
Warren Miller1008828
Blaine Stoughton74374
Mark Howe64266
Jordy Douglas1040423
Gordie Howe103144
Ron Plumb91340
Rick Ley904411
Gordie Roberts1004410
Larry Pleau102130
Al Hangsleben1012312
Marty Howe90118
Dave Inkpen50114
Jeff Brubaker300012
John Garrett80000
Al Smith40000
Jim Warner10000
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SA SV SV% SO
John Garrett447843324.300
Al Smith153412124.710
Team:6001055444.400

[1]

See also

References

  1. "1978-79 New England Whalers Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". hockey-reference.com. Retrieved May 27, 2009.
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