This season marked the fifth for the WHA, and it was marked by important changes – in particular, two teams decided to find new homes. In the off-season, the Toronto Toros moved to Birmingham, Alabama, and became the Birmingham Bulls. The second move proved a bit more problematic: The Cleveland Crusaders announced a move to South Florida, but it never happened. The team became, instead, a new version of the Minnesota Fighting Saints, but closed up shop after playing just 42 games. The remaining WHA teams finished out the season playing either 80 or 81 games as the cracks in the infrastructure were just beginning for a league that would close up shop by 1979.

The Avco World Trophy (the WHA’s equivalent to the Stanley Cup) winners for 1976/77 were the East Division champion Quebec Nordiques, which defeated the Winnipeg Jets four games to three in the only WHA finals that went a full seven games. It was a magic post-season for Quebec, as star Serge Bernier logged a record 36 points in 17 playoff games en route to being named MVP of the playoffs. It seemed inevitable that the Nordiques would enjoy a great post-season following sterling campaigns by right winger Real Cloutier, who logged a team-high 141 points (66 goals). Goalie Richard Brodeur earned 29 wins (GAA 3.45) in one of his best campaigns. More firepower came from Mark Tardif (109 points, 49 goals), Bernier (96 points), and Christian Bordeleau (107 points, 32 goals).  It was a magic season for the Quebec squad, which also represented Canada at the Izvestia Hockey Tournament in Moscow, but failed to capture a victory there.

The award-winning stars of the 1976-77 WHA season include familiar names to serious hockey fans and Strat gamers: Real Cloutier of Quebec emerged as the top scorer, logging 141 points (66 goals). Winnipeg was represented on the leaderboard by Anders Hedberg with a league-best 70 goals, as well as Ulf Nillson’s 85 assists. Ron Grahame of Houston was the top goaltender, logging four shutouts (in only 39 games) and a GAA of 2.74, earning a Ben Hatskin Trophy. Robbie Florek of Phoenix was named MVP following a magic season where he played 80 games and became the first American professional ice hockey player to be named WHA MVP – despite his squad’s last-place finish in the Western Division.

The two-division, 12-team WHA season saw Winnipeg make the playoff finals despite its second-place finish in the West; Houston earning a league-leading 50 victories (buoyed by Rich Preston’s 38 goals); an exciting underdog season for Indianapolis, which advanced in the first round of the playoffs over Cincinnati despite a sub-.500 record in the regular season; and San Diego’s upbeat campaign, which saw Andre LaCroix’ 117 points lead the squad. See if your coaching acumen can help one of these worthy contenders make their way to the finals.

The carded teams in SOM’s “six-pack” are Quebec, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Houston, Winnipeg, and San Diego. As always, the Windows roster will feature the entire WHA.

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