1974 WHA playoffs


The 1974 WHA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the World Hockey Association's 1973–74 season. The second postseason tournament of the league, it featured four teams each of the Western and Eastern Division competing against each other for the right to play for the Avco World Trophy. The Houston Aeros, bolstered by Gordie Howe and his two sons Mark and Marty, dominated the first two rounds, losing just twice on their way as the Western Division champion. In the Eastern Division, the Chicago Cougars pulled off a string of upsets that saw them win in seven games for both rounds as the fourth seed in their bracket to reach the Avco Cup Final. In the Finals, the Aeros swept the Cougars in four games for their first Avco Cup championship.

Playoff seeds

The top four teams in each division made the playoffs.

Eastern Division

  1. New England Whalers, Eastern Division champions – 90 points
  2. [1973–74 1973–74 Toronto Toros season|Toronto Toros season|Toronto Toros] – 86 points
  3. Cleveland Crusaders – 83 points
  4. Chicago Cougars – 81 points

Western Division

  1. [1973–74 Houston Aeros (WHA)|Houston Aeros season|Houston Aeros], Western Division champions – 101 points
  2. [1973–74 1973–74 Minnesota Fighting Saints season|Minnesota Fighting Saints season|Minnesota Fighting Saints] – 90 points
  3. [1973–74 1973–74 Edmonton Oilers season|Edmonton Oilers season|Edmonton Oilers] – 79 points
  4. [1973–74 1973–74 Winnipeg Jets season|Winnipeg Jets season|Winnipeg Jets] – 73 points

Division Semifinals

Eastern Division Semifinals

(E1) New England Whalers vs. (E4) Chicago Cougars

The series matched Chicago, a team that had a negative goal differential with the Whalers, who had the 2nd best defense with a 5th best goal attack to go along with home-field advantage; the teams split the eight games played between them in the regular season. As decided in February, the Whalers played their postseason games in West Springfield, Massachusetts.
The Whalers won Game 1 after rallying from a 3-1 deficit in the first period. The Whalers won the first two games. Mike Byers shot the puck from the top of the faceoff circle that deflected off the skate of John French past the goalie to win Game 2 in overtime. The Cougars struck back with a dominant first period in Game 3. In Game 4, Chicago pulled their goalie with less than 40 seconds remaining to put six forwards on the ice and Duke Harris checked the puck and slid it to his teammate Bob Sicinski in the corner to get it to Jan Popiel, who put it past New England for the tying goal with 0:34 remaining. Ralph Backstrom ended the game with his overtime goal.
The teams traded wins on the road to set up a Game 7 in Springfield. Despite trailing 2-1 in the third period and even seeing their player/coach Pat Stapleton ejected, the Cougars rallied with three goals in the third period. As it turned out, Game 6 was the last playoff game played by the franchise at the International Amphitheatre, as the next home game would be moved to Randhurst Twin Ice Arena due to unforeseen commitments made at their venue. After the events of Game 7, the Whalers would stay in Springfield for parts of the next season before settling in Hartford.

(E2) Toronto Toros vs. (E3) Cleveland Crusaders

Cleveland went 5-3 against Toronto in the regular season.

Western Division Semifinals

(W1) Houston Aeros vs. (W4) Winnipeg Jets

Houston had gone 5–1–2 against Winnipeg in the regular season.
After the first two games, Winnipeg goaltender Joe Daley and his backup Ernie Wakely each came down with pneumonia. Winnipeg was forced to loan a goalie, which resulted in them receiving Frank Blum from the Toronto Toros. In Game 3, Larry Lund led the attack for the Aeros, scoring four goals to set a new postseason record for goals that was not broken for five years. In total, Blum allowed fourteen goals in the resulting two games for the Jets as they were swept. This would be the first of four times the Aeros and Jets would face each other in the playoffs.

(W2) Minnesota Fighting Saints vs. (W3) Edmonton Oilers

Edmonton went 5–3 against Minnesota in the regular season.

Division Finals

Eastern Division Finals

(E2) Toronto Toros vs. (E4) Chicago Cougars

Both teams played their games away from their usual homes: The Cougars, left with no choice due to commitments for a production of Peter Pan while team president Walter Kaiser did not want to pay the $75,000 to get the International Amphitheatre ready for hockey again. As such, they played at Randhurst Twin Ice Arena while the Toros elected to play their postseason games at Maple Leaf Gardens. Chicago had gone 5–2–1 against Toronto in the regular season.

Western Division Finals

(W1) Houston Aeros vs. (W2) Minnesota Fighting Saints

Minnesota had scored the most goals in the league while Houston had scored the 2nd most, but Houston had the best defense in the league compared to Minnesota. Houston had gone 5–3 against Minnesota in the regular season. Game 2 was marred by a fight that saw Saints winger Gord Gallant ejected in the second period after getting into an altercation with Gordie Howe of the Aeros. When trying to get into the dressing room, him and several of his teammates got into a shoving match with fans. The result was that the two teams were sent to take a considerable break before playing the remaining five minutes of the second period as the beginning of the third period.
Game 4 set an attendance record for a WHA game with over 17,000 in attendance; no WHA playoff game would ever top the game in attendance.

Avco Cup Final

(W1) Houston Aeros vs. (E4) Chicago Cougars

The series matched the Houston Aeros, as coached by Bill Dineen against the Chicago Cougars, as coached by player-coach Pat Stapleton. Houston had gone 4–2 against Chicago in the regular season.
The Aeros, having lost only one playoff game leading to the Finals, had eleven days off from their last game prior to the Final, while Chicago had six days of rest. The Final matched two brothers with Jan Popiel for Chicago and Poul Popiel for Houston. The New York Times, noting the Cougars playing their home games at a suburban shopping‐center ice rink with the Randhurst Twin Ice Arena, called the Final a "Supermarket Series". Ironically, the same production that forced Chicago out of their arena was now in Houston that forced Game 3 and 4 to be hosted by the Aeros rather than Game 1 and Game 2. All games were played at 8:30pm EST.
3,000 fans attended the inaugural game in Chicago. Houston took the lead early in Game 1, but Chicago threatened late and tied the game in the third period before the Aeros scored with four minutes remaining to take the lead again and win. The next three games saw Houston dominate and never trail at any moment on their way to a sweep. 9,874 fans attended Game 3 in Houston, Texas, the first professional hockey championship game in the state. In Game 4, to a crowd of 9,874 fans in Houston, Murray Hall scored the series-winning goal at 16:55 in the first period as Houston utilized a three-goal first period to bury the Cougars 6–2. This was the first professional sports championship for Houston since the Houston Oilers won the AFL in 1961. Gordie Howe, noting the chance he got to have to play with his sons Mark and Marty, stated at the time that the Avco Cup championship probably meant more to him than the four Stanley Cups he had won with Detroit.

Statistical leaders

Skaters

These were the top ten skaters based on points. Bold denotes the statistical leader.
PlayerTeam
Houston Aeros14 91423 56
Chicago Cougars 18 514 19 4
Houston Aeros149 1019 4
Minnesota Fighting Saints1110 818 16
Houston Aeros148 917 18
Houston Aeros133141734
Houston Aeros14791620
Houston Aeros1496156
Chicago Cougars18961516
Houston Aeros141141522

Goaltending

These were the top eight goaltenders in terms of minutes.
PlayerTeam
Houston Aeros1435386351.9090842
Chicago Cougars1138318280.8810614
Toronto Toros1025287262.9131539
Chicago Cougars1034254220.8660486
New England Whalers721240219.9131399
Minnesota Fighting Saints725256231.9020 372
Cleveland Crusaders518196178.9080303
Minnesota Fighting Saints514161147.913 0289

Championship roster

'''1973–74 Houston Aeros'''