1977-78 • Franchise

1977-78 New England Whalers

Record: 44-31-5, 93 pts
Finish: 2nd, League
Playoffs: Lost in final round to Winnipeg
Coach: Harry Neale

Game Log ... (@ away game, * overtime)

no.	Date	Opponent	Score		w-l-t	pts	gf-ga	no.	Date	Opponent	Score		w-l-t	pts	gf-ga
1	Oct 12	@ Houston	3-0	W	1-0-0	2	3-0	41	Jan 14	Houston	*4-5	L	26-12-3	55	172-130
2	Oct 15	Birmingham	5-2	W	2-0-0	4	8-2	42	Jan 18	@ Edmonton	0-1	L	26-13-3	55	172-131
3	Oct 16	@ Cincinnati	2-6	L	2-1-0	4	10-8	43	Jan 20	@ Winnipeg	4-4	T	26-13-4	56	176-135
4	Oct 18	@ Indianapolis	2-2	T	2-1-1	5	12-10	44	Jan 21	@ Quebec	2-3	L	26-14-4	56	178-138
5	Oct 19	@ Edmonton	6-3	W	3-1-1	7	18-13	45	Jan 22	Quebec	6-3	W	27-14-4	58	184-141
6	Oct 21	@ Winnipeg	5-2	W	4-1-1	9	23-15	46	Jan 25	@ Cincinnati	*7-8	L	27-15-4	58	191-149
7	Oct 26	Quebec	7-1	W	5-1-1	11	30-16	47	Jan 27	@ Birmingham	6-2	W	28-15-4	60	197-151
8	Oct 29	Houston	7-2	W	6-1-1	13	37-18	48	Jan 28	@ Houston	3-0	W	29-15-4	62	200-151
9	Nov 1	@ Quebec	6-3	W	7-1-1	15	43-21	49	Jan 29	@ Houston	4-6	L	29-16-4	62	204-157
10	Nov 4	Cincinnati	4-3	W	8-1-1	17	47-24	50	Feb 1	Edmonton	4-3	W	30-16-4	64	208-160
11	Nov 6	@ Cincinnati	5-2	W	9-1-1	19	52-26	51	Feb 3	Edmonton	3-6	L	30-17-4	64	211-166
12	Nov 8	@ Birmingham	4-3	W	10-1-1	21	56-29	52	Feb 4	@ Houston	4-5	L	30-18-4	64	215-171
13	Nov 10	Edmonton	5-3	W	11-1-1	23	61-32	53	Feb 11	@ Cincinnati	8-7	W	31-18-4	66	223-178
14	Nov 12	Indianapolis	5-3	W	12-1-1	25	66-35	54	Feb 14	Quebec	5-1	W	32-18-4	68	228-179
15	Nov 15	@ Indianapolis	6-4	W	13-1-1	27	72-39	55	Feb 16	Winnipeg	*1-2	L	32-19-4	68	229-181
16	Nov 18	Winnipeg	3-2	W	14-1-1	29	75-41	56	Feb 18	@ Indianapolis	4-1	W	33-19-4	70	233-182
17	Nov 20	@ Edmonton	*5-4	W	15-1-1	31	80-45	57	Feb 21	@ Quebec	*5-6	L	33-20-4	70	238-188
18	Nov 22	@ Quebec	4-5	L	15-2-1	31	84-50	58	Feb 22	@ Winnipeg	2-4	L	33-21-4	70	240-192
19	Nov 23	Indianapolis	3-3	T	15-2-2	32	87-53	59	Feb 24	@ Winnipeg	2-7	L	33-22-4	70	242-199
20	Nov 25	Quebec	2-6	L	15-3-2	32	89-59	60	Feb 26	@ Edmonton	6-5	W	34-22-4	72	248-204
21	Nov 26	Edmonton	1-3	L	15-4-2	32	90-62	61	Mar 1	Quebec	*3-4	L	34-23-4	72	251-208
22	Nov 30	@ Houston	3-3	T	15-4-3	33	93-65	62	Mar 3	Houston	*2-3	L	34-24-4	72	253-211
23	Dec 2	Winnipeg	4-1	W	16-4-3	35	97-66	63	Mar 4	Birmingham	2-5	L	34-25-4	72	255-216
24	Dec 3	Cincinnati	2-5	L	16-5-3	35	99-71	64	Mar 5	@ Quebec	1-2	L	34-26-4	72	256-218
25	Dec 6	@ Indianapolis	2-5	L	16-6-3	35	101-76	65	Mar 9	@ Houston	4-6	L	34-27-4	72	260-224
26	Dec 7	@ Birmingham	6-3	W	17-6-3	37	107-79	66	Mar 10	@ Birmingham	*5-4	W	35-27-4	74	265-228
27	Dec 9	@ Birmingham	2-1	W	18-6-3	39	109-80	67	Mar 14	Birmingham	6-0	W	36-27-4	76	271-228
28	Dec 14	Soviet All-Stars	7-2	W	19-6-3	41	116-82	68	Mar 15	Indianapolis	7-0	W	37-27-4	78	278-228
29	Dec 16	Czechoslovakia	5-3	W	20-6-3	43	121-85	69	Mar 17	@ Cincinnati	6-2	W	38-27-4	80	284-230
30	Dec 17	Winnipeg	3-6	L	20-7-3	43	124-91	70	Mar 18	@ Quebec	3-5	L	38-28-4	80	287-235
31	Dec 18	@ Winnipeg	3-7	L	20-8-3	43	127-98	71	Mar 21	Indianapolis	6-3	W	39-28-4	82	293-238
32	Dec 23	Indianapolis	5-3	W	21-8-3	45	132-101	72	Mar 22	Winnipeg	3-5	L	39-29-4	82	296-243
33	Dec 27	Birmingham	8-1	W	22-8-3	47	140-102	73	Mar 24	Houston	0-1	L	39-30-4	82	296-244
34	Dec 30	Birmingham	6-2	W	23-8-3	49	146-104	74	Mar 26	Edmonton	5-3	W	40-30-4	84	301-247
35	Jan 1	@ Cincinnati	*4-3	W	24-8-3	51	150-107	75	Mar 29	Cincinnati	6-1	W	41-30-4	86	307-248
36	Jan 4	Quebec	4-6	L	24-9-3	51	154-113	76	Apr 3	Houston	8-6	W	42-30-4	88	315-254
37	Jan 6	@ Indianapolis	3-4	L	24-10-3	51	157-117	77	Apr 5	@ Edmonton	4-4	T	42-30-5	89	319-258
38	Jan 7	Cincinnati	5-3	W	25-10-3	53	162-120	78	Apr 6	@ Winnipeg	4-7	L	42-31-5	89	323-265
39	Jan 8	Birmingham	4-5	L	25-11-3	53	166-125	79	Apr 10	Cincinnati	6-1	W	43-31-5	91	329-266
40	Jan 13	Edmonton	2-0	W	26-11-3	55	168-125	80	Apr 11	Indianapolis	6-3	W	44-31-5	93	335-269

Player Scoring

pos.	#	Player	gp	g	a	pts	pim	+/-	ppg	shg	sog	sc%	gp	g	a	pts	pim
C	12	Antonovich, Mike	75	32	35	67	32	+17	5	0	243	0.132	14	10	7	17	4
LW	21	Bolduc, Dan	41	5	5	10	22	+6	0	0	37	0.135	14	2	4	6	4
D	22	Butters, Bill	45	1	13	14	69	+21	0	0	37	0.027	-	-	-	-	-
LW	23	Carlson, Jack	67	9	20	29	192	+9	0	0	81	0.111	9	1	1	2	14
C	26	Carlson, Steve	38	6	7	13	11	+7	1	1	41	0.146	13	2	7	9	2
C	11	Carroll, Greg	48	9	14	23	27	+3	0	2	70	0.129	-	-	-	-	-
D	10	Hangsleben, Alan	79	11	18	29	140	+17	0	0	152	0.072	14	1	4	5	37
RW	9	Howe, Gordie	76	34	62	96	85	+46	16	0	163	0.209	14	5	5	10	15
D/F	5	Howe, Mark	70	30	61	91	32	+30	4	0	220	0.136	14	8	7	15	18
D	18	Howe, Marty	75	10	10	20	66	+10	1	0	146	0.068	14	1	1	2	13
C	14	Keon, Dave	77	24	38	62	2	-4	1	5	169	0.142	14	5	11	16	4
G	30	Levasseur, Louis	27	0	0	0	2	-	0	0	0	-	12	0	1	1	2
D	2	Ley, Rick	73	3	41	44	95	+36	0	0	106	0.028	14	1	8	9	4
LW	16	Lyle, George	68	30	24	54	74	+12	3	0	161	0.186	12	2	1	3	13
D	24	Maxwell, Bryan	17	2	1	3	11	+9	0	0	30	0.067	-	-	-	-	-
RW	27	Mayer, Jim	51	11	9	20	21	+1	1	0	57	0.193	-	-	-	-	-
RW	19	McKenzie, John	79	27	29	56	61	+15	9	0	135	0.200	14	6	6	12	6
C	20	Peloffy, Andre	10	2	0	2	2	-2	0	0	6	0.333	2	0	0	0	0
C	4	Pleau, Larry	54	16	18	34	4	+12	2	0	91	0.176	14	5	4	9	8
D	6	Plumb, Ron	27	1	9	10	18	+6	0	0	74	0.014	14	1	5	6	16
D	7	Roberts, Gordie	78	15	46	61	118	+17	5	0	135	0.111	14	0	5	5	29
C	17	Rogers, Mike	80	28	43	71	46	+22	4	1	204	0.137	14	5	6	11	8
D	3	Selwood, Brad	80	6	25	31	88	+11	2	0	109	0.055	14	0	3	3	8
RW	15	Sheehy, Tim	25	8	11	19	12	-2	3	0	43	0.186	13	1	3	4	9
G	1	Smith, Al	55	0	3	3	4	-	0	0	0	-	3	0	0	0	0
RW	8	Webster, Tom	20	15	5	20	5	+8	5	0	70	0.214	-	-	-	-	-

Goaltending

Goaltender	gp	min	ga	en	so	w-l-t	gaa	sog	sv%	gp	min	ga	w-l	gaa
Levasseur, Louis	27	1655	91	1	3	14-11-2	3.30	796	0.886	12	719	31	8-4	2.59
Smith, Al	55	3246	174	3	2	30-20-3	3.22	2306	0.885	3	120	14	0-2	7.00

Transactions

• Bryan Maxwell and Greg Carroll acquired from Cincinnati for rights to Mike Liut, May 1977
• Gordie Howe, Mark Howe and Marty Howe signed to contracts, Jun 1977
• Brett Callighen acquired from Edmonton for future considerations, Jun 1977. Traded back to Edmonton with Dave Dryden for Louis Levasseur, Sep 1977
• Jim Mayer signed to contract, Jul 1977
• Andre Peloffy, Al Smith signed to contracts, Aug 1977
• Greg Carroll traded to Cincinnati for Ron Plumb, Feb 1978
• Bryan Maxwell released, Feb 1978
• Tim Sheehy signed as free agent, Feb 1978
• Bill Butters waived, Mar 1978

Splits versus opposing teams, home and away, and by month

opponent	overall	gf-ga	home	gf-ga	away	gf-ga
Birmingham	9-2-0	54-28	4-2-0	31-15	5-0-0	23-13
Cincinnati	8-3-0	55-41	4-1-0	23-13	4-2-0	32-28
Edmonton	7-3-1	41-35	4-2-0	20-18	3-1-1	21-17
Houston	4-6-1	42-37	2-3-0	21-17	2-3-1	21-20
Indianapolis	7-2-2	49-31	5-0-1	32-15	2-2-1	17-16
Quebec	4-8-0	48-45	3-3-0	27-21	1-5-0	21-24
Winnipeg	3-7-1	34-47	2-3-0	14-16	1-4-1	20-31
Touring Teams	2-0-0	12-5	2-0-0	12-5	0-0-0	0-0
October	6-1-1	37-18	3-0-0	19-5	3-1-1	18-13
November	9-3-2	56-47	4-2-1	23-23	5-1-1	33-24
December	8-4-0	53-39	6-2-0	40-23	2-2-0	13-16
January	6-8-1	58-53	3-3-0	25-22	3-5-1	33-31
February	5-6-0	44-47	2-2-0	13-12	3-4-0	31-35
March	7-8-0	59-44	5-5-0	40-25	2-3-0	19-19
April	3-1-1	28-21	3-0-0	20-10	0-1-1	8-11

_______________________________________

Home • Credits & Legal Stuff

Reviews, Podcasts and Media

• Article: Color of Hockey: Alton White (The Hockey News), by William Douglas — March 8, 2020
• Review: US Sports History, by Rick Macales — Feb 6, 2021
• Podcast: Good Seats Still Available, by Tim Hanlon — Feb 28, 2021
• Podcast: Digital to Dice (Youtube), by Dave Gardner — July 3, 2022

WHA Fact Book, 2nd ed Book Details

Complete WHA, 11th ed Book Details

(c) Scott Surgent