1973 AVCO Cup Championship Finals

1972-73

1972-73 New England Whalers, AVCO Cup Champions.

The first World Hockey Association Championship was claimed by the New England Whalers, who had compiled the league's best record during the season. The Winnipeg Jets, led by Bobby Hull, made a game effort but were easily cast aside in five games. New England's balanced attack included four goals from both Larry Pleau and Tom Webster. Larry Pleau's hat trick in the deciding game helped seal the championship for the Whalers.

Game Summaries

Game 1 • April 29, 1973 New England 7, Winnipeg 2 BOSTON: Norm Beaudin gave the Jets the early lead, but then New England roared back with seven unanswered goals to win the first-ever WHA championship series game. Tom Webster had two of the Whalers' goals. Winnipeg 1 0 1 - 2 New England 4 2 1 - 7 1st period: 1. Wpg: Beaudin (Bordeleau, Hull) 10:02; 2. NE: Ley (Dorey, Webster) 12:10; 3. NE: Webster (Williams, Hurley) 14:07; 4. NE: Earl (Sheehy, Green) 16:13; 5. NE: French 19:37. 2nd period: 6. NE: Webster (Williams, Hurley) 10:55; 7. NE: Williams (French) 16:01. 3rd period: 8. NE: Dorey (Sheehy, Earl) 3:45; 9. Wpg: Hull 11:07. Shots: Wpg: 14-9-7—27; NE: 7-13-5—25 Goaltenders: Wpg: Daley, NE: Smith.		Game 2 • May 2, 1973 New England 7, Winnipeg 4 WINNIPEG: The Jets took a 2-0 lead, gave it away to the Whalers, then scored twice again to build a 4-2 lead going into the third period. New England stopped toying with the Jets by scoring five times --- on just six shots --- in the final period to take the second game and a 2-0 series lead. New England 1 1 5 - 7 Winnipeg 2 2 0 - 4 1st period: 1. Wpg: Beaudin (Hull, Hornung) 0:33; 2. Wpg: Bordeleau (Hull, Beaudin) 19:20; 3. NE: Williams (Webster, Dorey) 19:46. 2nd period: 4. NE: Selwood (Williams) 1:47; 5. Wpg: Boyer (Rousseau, Zanussi) 5:59; 6. Wpg: Bordeleau (Hull, Woytowich) 7:37. 3rd period: 7. NE: Dorey (Williams, Webster) 2:19; 8. NE: Selby (Williams, Webster) 3:08; 9. NE: French (Ley, Sheehy) 9:03 10. NE: Cunniff (Byers) 10:16; 11. NE: French (Hurley, Pleau) 18:59 Shots: NE: 13-6-6—25; Wpg: 13-11-12—36 Goaltenders: NE: Smith, Wpg: Wakely.
Game 3 • May 3, 1973 Winnipeg 4, New England 3 WINNIPEG: Winnipeg finally won a game, but it wasn't easy. After the Jets built a 3-0 lead, the Whalers came back to tie the game with just over a minute to play in the game. However, Bobby Hull saved the day for the Jets by scoring the game winner with just 27 seconds on the clock. The win cut the Whalers' advantage to 2-1 in the series. New England 0 1 2 - 3 Winnipeg 2 1 1 - 4 1st period: 1. Wpg: Hull (Bordeleau, Beaudin) 15:23; 2. Wpg: McDonald (Beaudin, Hornung) 19:34. 2nd period: 3. Wpg: Johnson (Hull, Hornung) 5:21; 4. NE: Ley (Byers) 14:44. 3rd period: 5. NE: Green (Ley, Webster) 4:23; 6. NE: Sheehy (French, Dorey) 18:56; 7. Wpg: Hull (Beaudin, Ash) 19:33. Shots: NE: 12-4-11—27; Wpg: 8-14-6—26 Goaltenders: NE: Smith, Wpg: Daley.		Game 4 • May 5, 1973 New England 4, Winnipeg 2 BOSTON: For the third time in the series, Winnipeg scored first, but could not hold the lead. The Whalers came to life in the second period, scoring three times, and taking a 3-1 series lead. Mike Byers scored twice, while Tom Earl and Jim Dorey had two assists each. Winnipeg 1 0 1 - 2 New England 0 3 1 - 4 1st period: 1. Wpg: Hull (Bordeleau) 15:50. 2nd period: 2. NE: Pleau (Sheehy, Ley) 0:47; 3. NE: Byers (Earl, Dorey) 14:11 4. NE: Sheehy (Dorey, Selwood) 16:17. 3rd period: 5. NE: Byers (Earl) 7:17; 6. Wpg: Rousseau (Ash) 19:54. Shots: Wpg: 9-11-10—30; NE: 13-8-11—32 Goaltenders: Wpg: Wakely, NE: Smith.
Game 5 • May 6, 1973 New England 9, Winnipeg 6 BOSTON: Larry Pleau scored the hat trick and had an assist as New England erupted for nine goals to take down Winnipeg and win the first WHA Championship. Winnipeg 2 2 2 - 6 New England 5 1 3 - 9 1st period: 1. NE: Webster (Williams, Ley) 0:21; 2. NE: Pleau 4:43; 3. Wpg: Johnson (Sutherland) 7:07; 4. NE: G. Smith (Williams, Webster) 11:47; 5. NE: Ley 15:43; 6. Wpg: Beaudin (Hull) 17:53; 7. NE: Sheehy (Webster, Pleau) 18:41. 2nd period: 8. NE: Webster (Williams, Green) 0:15; 9. Wpg: Beaudin (Bordeleau, McDonald) 3:15; 10. Wpg: Black (Shmyr) 4:02. 3rd period: 11. Wpg: Woytowich (Swenson, Asmundson) 4:59; 12. NE: Pleau (Sheehy, French) 5:24; 13. NE: Pleau (Sheehy, French) 7:31; 14. NE: Byers (Green, Williams) 17:20; 15. Wpg: Asmundson (Swenson, Cuddie) 18:10. Shots: Wpg: 17-12-13—42; NE: 11-6-10—27 Goaltenders: Wpg: Daley, NE: Smith.

Shades of Heidi as TV Splits, by Dick Dew • The Hockey Spectator • May 18, 1973 Not since Heidi summarily replaced Joe Namath on the nation's television screens have the sports fans been so upset. When CBS decided to chop the Whalers-Jets World Hockey Association championship game with two minutes remaining, the TV viewers came flying out of their easy chairs and headed straight for the telephone. WNAC-TV, Channel 7 in Boston, bore the brunt of the barrage as irate viewers demanded, in vain, that the coverage of the hockey game at Boston Garden be resumed. But the network had elected to switch to a tennis telecast from Montreal and there was nothing the local station could do. The fans missed the final goal of the 9-6 New England victory and the wild postgame celebration. They didn't see WHA president Gary Davidson present the championship trophy to the Whalers and they lost out on captain Ted Green's triumphant tour of the Garden ice holding the cup aloft. In some respects, it was just as well that the viewers were spared a look at the postgame celebration. That's because it was marred by several hundred youngsters who poured over the fence even before the game had ended. In any event, thousands of disgruntled viewers tied up the television stations phone lines and called their local newspapers to complain. Which, as a WHA official noted, was a sign of progress in itself - though a rather painful one.

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