1977 WHA playoffs

The 1977 WHA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the World Hockey Association's 1976–77 season. For the first time ever, the best team in points for the regular season did not win the championship, as the Houston Aeros were trounced in the Semifinal round to end their three-year streak of reaching the Avco Cup Final by the Winnipeg Jets. The tournament concluded with the Eastern Division champion Quebec Nordiques defeating the Western Division champion Winnipeg Jets in seven games for their first and only Avco Cup championship.^[1] Serge Bernier was named the WHA Playoff MVP.^[2]

Now with two divisions again, WHA reverted back to the original playoff structure in which the top four teams in each division made the playoffs and faced each other in the first two rounds to set up the Avco Cup Final.

1. Houston Aeros, Western Division champions – 106 points
2. Winnipeg Jets – 94 points
3. San Diego Mariners – 85 points
4. Edmonton Oilers – 72 points

1. Quebec Nordiques, Eastern Division champions – 97 points
2. Cincinnati Stingers – 83 points
3. Indianapolis Racers – 80 points
4. New England Whalers – 76 points

Quebec had gone 8–2–1 against New England in the regular season.^[3]

Indianapolis had gone 5–4–1 against Cincinnati in the regular season.^[4] The two teams became part of history in Game 1. Cincinnati lost their starting goalie Jacques Caron during the warmup for Game 1 when he was hit by a puck in the ribs. He was replaced by rookie Norm Lapointe. Cincinnati had a lead in each of the first three periods but Indianapolis countered it with a goal of their own, with Reg Thomas tying the game for the Racers with 1:04 remaining in regulation that set up overtime. Game 1 went to three overtimes and ended in the wee hours of Easter morning, lasting a total of 108 minutes and 40 seconds, shattering the previous longest overtime game in WHA history (69:44, 1973); notably, the last 45 minutes of the game saw no penalties called on any player. The winning goal came after Mark Lomenda missed on a slapshot that saw the puck carom to Gene Peacosh, who lifted it right past LaPointe to end the game. It was the longest pro hockey game in 41 years.^[5][6][7] Caron started Game 2 but was pulled after giving up three goals in the first period, with Lapointe playing the rest of the series as goaltender.

Houston had gone 7–1–1 against Edmonton in the regular season.^[8]

The two teams split their eight regular season matchups.^[9] Ultimately, the home team wound up winning each game in the series.

Game 4 was a strange affair all around in San Diego. In the midst of a tripping penalty (as charged to Jet player Mike Ford) being nearly killed off, Norm Ferguson broke a late 4-4 tie with 1:45 remaining in the third period, doing so on a soft low shot from 15 feet away. Jets coach Bobby Kromm, enraged by referee Ron Ego that he felt "determined the outcome of the game", threw a plastic water jug at him and even kicked the door of the officials room and yelled at Mariners GM Ballard Smith. Various technical issues affected the organ (beer was spilled on it) and goal lights (white towels were to be waved for a goal), the clock (leading to Rudy Pilous being sat next to the timekeeper), and last of all, the mercury lights high above the ice, which went out in the third period. All in all, the game was delayed 35 minutes.^[10] Prior to Game 5, Daley stated to his team, "Tonight, fellas, give me one goal and I'll do the rest." Daley proceeded to have a shutout as Winnipeg led early in the first period and led on from there.^[11]

In the first ever Game 7 in Jets history, Winnipeg rode a busy first period on their way to victory.^[12] This was the only Game 7 hosted in the city of Winnipeg until the second Jets team hosted Game 7 in the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Quebec went 6–5 against Indianapolis in the regular season.^[13]

Houston had gone 4–3–1 against Winnipeg in the regular season.^[14] This was the fourth and final time these two teams met in the playoffs, as the two teams previously met in the 1973 Western Division Final, the 1974 Western Division Quarterfinals, and the 1976 Avco Cup Finals. Winnipeg ended Houston's chance to return for another Avco Cup appearance. This meant for the first time in WHA history, the team with the best regular season record did not reach the Avco Cup Final.

The series matched the defending champion Winnipeg Jets, as coached by Bobby Kromm versus the Quebec Nordiques, as coached by Marc Boileau. The two teams had split their six regular season matchups.^[15] 11,697 fans saw Game 1 in Quebec City. In Game 1, Joe Daley stopped 31 of 32 shots for Winnipeg, who scored on goals by Dan Labraaten and Willy Lindström to take the lead 2-0 in the second period. Quebec's top line of Real Cloutier, Marc Tardif, and Christian Bordeleau were neutralized, with Cloutier apparently so nervous that he did not appear for the last two minutes of the game. Among missed opportunities for Quebec, Cloutier had a no goal (as ruled by referee Bill Friday), Tardif hit a goal post and Steve Sutherland missed an open net by grazing the goalpost. Ulf Nilsson committed a tripping penalty with 1:57 to go in the game, but Daley and the Jets managed to kill the penalty.^[16] In a physical Game 2, Quebec responded furiously in Game 2 with a four-goal first period, with Steve Sutherland scoring two goals for the game and goaltender Richard Brodeur stopping all but one shot to even the series.^[17] Now in Winnipeg for Game 3, the Nordiques scored first when a pass in front of the net struck Curt Brackenbury's stick and bounced into the net for what ended up as the only goal for the Nordiques of the game. In the second period, Lindstrom and Labraaten delivered goals for Winnipeg to give them the lead. The third period saw doom for Quebec, which gave up four goals.^[18] Winnipeg led early in Game 4, carrying a 2–1 lead into the second period, but the Nordiques struck back, with Francois Lacombe tying the game less than two minutes into the second period. The go-ahead goal was set up on a penalty by Danny Lawson when he hooked Marc Tardif, who soon responded with a slapshot that grazed a defender's stick and rose over the glove of the Jets for the lead. Quebec nearly lost their goaltender Richard Brodeur in the second period when Bobby Hull crashed into him after being pushed by Steve Sutherland that saw Brodeur strike his head on the crossbar. Backup goaltender Serge Aubry was inserted into the game but only played 50 seconds before Brodeur returned.^[19] A second goal by Serge Bernier gave Quebec their last goal for a 4–2 victory; the loss ended Winnipeg's streak of 15 straight postseason wins at home, with their last home loss being Game 2 of the 1974 Western Division Semifinals. In the nationally televised (on CBC) Game 5, Quebec scored the first goal of the game four minutes in and scored three more in the span of ten minutes on their way to an 8–3 victory, with Real Cloutier scoring his first goal of the series in the barrage that saw the Bordeleau brothers (Chris and Paulin) each contribute two goals and an assist.^[20]

A loud Winnipeg crowd gave the team a two-minute standing ovation that had to see referee Bill Friday chase the team off the ice to get the national anthem started prior to the start of the television broadcast for Game 6. A tough first period saw the Jets lead 4-3, but the rest of the game saw Winnipeg dominate Quebec with hits and shots that saw them score four goals in the second and third periods each. Quebec coach Marc Boileau was incensed enough that Friday ejected him from the bench for his conduct with ten minutes to go in the game; he later told the press that with the circus being in town ten days prior, they "forgot to take back one of their clowns." Boileau received a $500 fine while Friday retorted that "I survived 12 years in that other league and five in this one, and I've never been fired. Can he say the same?" ^[21][22] 11,461 people were on hand to watch Game 7 in Quebec. A scoreless first period was credited by Quebec players as key to the rest of the game. Eleven seconds into the second period, Bob Fitchner stole a pass from Ulf Nilsson intended for Anders Hedberg and made a breakaway for a successful shot on Joe Daley to give Quebec the lead. Boileau's decision to use his three heavy defensemen in Curt Brackebury, Steve Sutherland and Fitchner to combat the Winnipeg "Hot Line" of Bobby Hull, Anders Hedberg and Nilsson, paid off, as the line was shut out. 59 seconds after the Fitchner goal, Marc Tardif scored a goal of his own to give Quebec a 2-0 lead as the goal barrage soon became apparent, with even an 80-foot shot by J.C. Tremblay saw Daley mishandle it for a resulting goal. The series-winning goal was scored by Real Cloutier at 6:29 in the second period as Quebec won 8–2. Serge Bernier had 14 goals (tied with teammate Real Cloutier) and a league-leading 22 assists for the postseason, which was a mark not matched for one postseason in the WHA or NHL. For his efforts, he was named WHA Playoffs MVP. Boileau publicly felt the championship was a vindication for him, as he had previously been fired by the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins a year earlier. ^[23][24][25]

These were the top ten skaters based on points.^[26]

1976–77 Quebec Nordiques

Postseason on Hockey Reference