1975-76 WHA Season

By Patrick Mondout

The 1975-76 season was the fourth regular season of the now defunct World Hockey Association (WHA). Before the season the Vancouver Blazers east to become the Calgary Cowboys and both the Cincinnati and Denver expansion franchises took to the ice with mixed results. The Winnipeg Jets won their first of three AVCO World Trophies.

An 80 game schedule was played to eliminate two teams from the playoffs (Denver and Minnesota eliminated themselves by disbanding). Edmonton's 27-49-5 record is one of the worst ever for a playoff team.

See also: Statistical Leaders for 1975-76, Complete League Attendance, 1975 WHA Draft

Key: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, PIM = Penalties in Minutes
* Indicates teams that qualifies for the playoffs
+ team stated season in Western Division when playing in Denver; transferred by league to Canadian Division shortly after moving to Ottawa. Suspended operations after 41 games and only three as the Ottawa Civics

AVCO World Trophy Playoffs

In the "best of five" first round, New England beat Cleveland 3 games to 0 and San Diego beat Phoenix 3 games to 2.

The Quebec vs. Calgary series turned ugly on April 11 when a 20 minute, bench clearing brawl broke out that left an unconscious Marc Tardiff - the WHA's leading scorer - in the hospital and out of the playoffs with Calgary's Rick Jodzio facing criminal charges. An estimated 20 policemen were needed to clear the ice and play did not begin again for another hour. Ten players were ejected.

Ulf Nilsson was named the AVCO Playoffs MVP for leading the Winnipeg Jets to the championship.

WHA All Star Game

The fourth annual World Hockey Association All-Star game was played January 13, 1976 in Cleveland, Ohio. Instead of East versus West as in previous games, the teams were the Canadians versus the Americans. The vastly superior Canadian side beat the Americans 6-1 in front of a crowd of 15,491 while Real Cloutier and Paul Shmyr were named Co-MVPs. Long time Houston Aeros coach Bill Dineen coached the Americans while Quebec's Jean-Guy Gendron coached the Canadians. These were the lineups for the game:

NOTES:
1 Injured: Did not participate

WHA Bibliography
The Rebel League: The Short and Unruly Life of the World Hockey Association by Ed Willes
The Complete Historical and Statistical Reference to the World Hockey Association by Scott Adam Surgent
WHA Pro Hockey '75 - '76 by Dan Proudfoot
WHA Media Guides (each team published one each year)

These and many other WHA items can be found at eBay - check our links on the far right of this page!