WHA Hockey.TV: A Tribute to the Legends of the World Hockey Association by Mark Willand

Daily Box Score: March 20, 1975 -- Whalers Lose to Winnipeg Jets, 6-3

Winnipeg 6
New England 3

First Period
1. New England, Carleton 32 (Webster, Hurley) 10:03
Penalties: Selwood,NE 6:01; Ketola,Wpg 8:27; Ley,NE 19:47

Second Period
2. Winnipeg, Hedberg 43 (Bergman, Hull) 1:08
3. New England, Climie 20 (Caffery, Webster) 3:52
4. Winnipeg, Spring 17 (Johnson, Bergman) 15:02
Penalties: O'Donnell,NE 4:07; Gruen,Wpg 4:32; Beaule,Wpg 10:40

Third Period
5. Winnipeg, Hull 69 (Beaule) 11:30
6. Winnipeg, Hedberg 44 (Hull, Ford) 16:04
7. Winnipeg, Miller 6 (Young, Hornung) 17:08
8. New England, Byers 18 (Carleton, Blackburn) 17:36
9. Winnipeg, Hedberg 45 19:59
Penalties: none

Shots on Goal By
Winnipeg ......... 10 12 13 - 35
New England ... 20 12 10 - 37

Goal - Daley, Winnipeg; Smith, New England

Video -- WHA Winnipeg Jets Tribute: "Raise Your Glasses"

Winnipeg Jets WHA Tribute: "Raise Your Glasses" - KISS

Video: Winnipeg Jets Top Quebec 12-3, 1977 Playoffs

Winnipeg Jets Beat Quebec 12-3 in game 6 of 1977 playoffs

Video: Bobby Hull 1974 Team Canada Feature

Bobby Hull Discusses his farm, the new Swedes and Team Canada.

Video: Marc Tardif and Bobby Hull Interview 1977 Avco Cup Finals

Bobby Hull (Winnipeg) and Marc Tardif (Quebec) prior to Avco Playoff Final game #7

Video: Houston Aeros vs. Winnipeg Jets, Jan. 26,1978

The Aeros top the Jets in overtime.

Terry Ruskowski, "The Game I'll Never Forget", the Winnipeg Jets Win Final Avco Cup

The Game I'll Never Forget - Terry Ruskowski recalls game that won the World Hockey Association's Avco Cup Hockey Digest,  Feb, 2001  by Chuck O'Donnell .

Terry Ruskowski The perennial leader recalls how a team once divided came together to, win the final Avco Cup title I HAD ONE OF THE WORST injuries of my career--a hyperextended shoulder or a sprained shoulder or something--during the 1979 World Hockey Association Finals. Whatever-I had done to my shoulder, I had trouble just putting on my Winnipeg Jets jersey because I couldn't raise my arm over my head. Someone had checked me into the boards during our Finals series with the Edmonton Oilers. My shoulder was so sore, I sat out Game 5. There were a couple of days between Game 5 and Game 6, so the trainers worked on it nonstop. They treated it with therapy and messaging and all that.

Before Game 6, coach Tom McVie approached me in the locker room. "Can you play?" McVie asked. I was a young kid back then. I didn't know any better so I just looked at him. "Oh yeah, I can play," I said. It didn't matter that I could barely move my arm, I was going to play in Game 6--although I knew that there was no way I would be able to play if the series had to go the distance. It was pretty amazing that we were just one victory away from winning the Avco Cup considering everything we had been through that season. What a weird year. In November, Bobby Hull retired. Then, our captain, defenseman Lars-Erik Sjoberg, was lost for a chunk of the season with an injury. Veteran defenseman Ted Green retired. When the Indianapolis Racers folded during the season, that left only six teams in the league, and every team was really good.

We were hovering in the middle of the pack for most of the season. One of our biggest problems was that the team was splint into two factions. On one side of the room, you have the Jets On the other side, you had all the players the Jets obtained when the Houston Aeros folded. John Ferguson was brought in as the team's new general manager. Eventually Ferguson's patience ran thin and coach Larry Hillman was fired. Ferguson brought in McVie with about 40 games remaining in the season.

Willy Lindstrom: Winnipeg Jets "Mr. Clutch"

Winnipeg Jets Right-winger Willy Lindstrom was an exciting combination of speed and scoring during his four seasons in the WHA.  Perhaps the WHA's most underrated player, Lindstrom was superior in the post-season, notching 22 goals in 38 WHA playoff games.

Born in Grunnis, Sweden, "The Wisp" excelled for five years with Vastra Frolunda. He also spent parts of two seasons on the national team and played at the World Championshios in 1974 and 1975. Lindstrom signed as a free agent with the WHA's Winnipeg Jets in July 1975 and was a top goal scorer for four seasons. In 1977, he was the Co-MVP of the WHA All Star game.

The clever forward remained on the Jets when they joined the NHL in 1979-80. He recorded four consecutive 20-goal seasons as the young club was one of the fastest in the league. In March 1983, Lindstrom was traded to the Edmonton Oilers for scrappy centre Laurie Boschman. He was a role player on his new squad but recorded 22 goals in 1983-84 and helped the club win two consecutive Stanley Cups in 1984 and 1985.

In October 1985, he was picked up on waivers by the Pittsburgh Penguins and scored 24 goals over two seasons. After sitting out the 1987-88 season, he played two years with Brynas IF Gavle of Sweden before announcing his retirement.

Legends of Hockey.net

WHA Profile: "Terrible" Ted Green, New England Whalers 1972-73

Ted Green with Jack Kelly

He was known around the hockey world as “Terrible” Ted Green, tough-looking defenceman from Manitoba who liked to mix it up with the best the NHL could throw at him. Green finished his NHL career with 1,029 penalty minutes over 11 seasons, all with the Bruins, and another 304 with the New England Whalers and Winnipeg Jets of the World Hockey Association.

In the WHA, Green won three Avco Trophies with New England and Winnipeg.

At 5-foot-11 and 185 pounds, Green was not big, but he was robust. He had made a name for himself as a member of the 1959 Winnipeg Braves, who won the Memorial Cup that year. The Bruins, a horrible team at the time, scooped him up in time for the 1960-61 season, when he played but one game. By the next season, he was a regular and played 66.

Green amassed more than 100 penalty minutes in six of his seasons with the Bruins before a life-threatening, stick-swinging incident with Wayne Maki in an exhibition game, kept him out of the 1969-70 season and left him with a metal plate inside his head.

His teammates did vote him a complete share of Stanley Cup money for that year. He had required three operations to survive and the left side of his body was paralysed. He donned his familiar No. 6 and returned to form the next season, finishing with 42 points in 78 games, among his best seasons offensively in a career that saw him selected to the NHL’s second-all-star team in 1968-69 when he had 46 points and 99 penalty minutes in 65 games.

In 1972, he did win a Stanley Cup with the Bruins, but was gone by the next season to the upstart WHA. Green, who now wore a trademark big white helmet, won an Avco Cup with the Whalers and then returned home to play for the Jets, where he won two more WHA championships (1975-76 and 1977-78) playing at Winnipeg Arena. He finished his NHL career with 48 goals and 206 assists for 254 points in 620 games along with 180 points in 452 WHA games.

Anders Hedberg - 1975 Article - "An Outspoken View of Pro Hockey"

In is this 1975 article, Winnipeg Jet Anders Hedberg discusses his hockey career from childhood to the WHA.  Click on the images/pages on the left to enlarge the article.