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IMDB rating: 1.40 Plot: Fifteen year old Bobby Wyler is challenged to figure out who he is and what he believes before life gets complicated. He doesn’t succeed. His parent’s will is read, he falls in love and child services haul off his best friend. Now he must choose the path for his life before his circumstances choose it for him. |
Actors: Hinsky Alex,Castles Jhey,Griffith Adam,Holliday Les,Mazzocco Mark,Misenko Adam,Morvant Brian,Smith Jay,Stanley Kami,Tayek Robert,Thompson Marc,Warner Courtney,Comedy,
Does anyone have memories of the World Hockey Association of the 1970's?
I know the talent of the league was considered inferior to the NHL, but the WHA was able to get such standouts like Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull. The game was a little more wide open resulting in some higher scoring and introduced a 10 minute overtime period. It also brought professional hockey teams to such cities as Winnipeg, Houston, Indianapolis and Phoenix. With the more wide open style, does anyone think that WHA champions from any season such as the 75 Houston Aeros would have had a chance to beat NHL champions of that year the Philadelphia Flyers in a seven game series?
No, the WHA teams wouldn’t be able to beat an NHL team in a series of games. An All Star game might be different but as we know a successful team is much better than just it’s stars.
The WHA played a wide open exciting style of play but the calibre of play was much lower across the board than the NHL. The goaltenders were old has beens or young never will be’s. So the high scoring may have other roots not linked to the scorers’ prowess.
tomjc43 | Feb 02, 2010
Yes I remember the WHA, and no the 1975 Aeros would not have beaten the 1975 Flyers in a series.
D D | Feb 02, 2010
No, they would not have had the depth IMO…….although the team you mention had all three Howe’s, John Tonelli and Ron Grahame (Jon’s father and the answer to a great Ray Bourque trivia Q) who was concidentally not an "old has been" (25 at the time) nor a "young never will be" as he went 26-6-7 for the Bruins a couple of years later. He was the playoff MVP that year.
………….but come on, nobody could have beaten the 75′ Flyers……….ever….plus they had Bernie Parent in goal! 
Bob Loblaw Cinq | Feb 02, 2010
Contrary to Tom and Bob’s assertion, the WHA and NHL played 137 pre-season games between 1972 and 1977, the WHA had a record of 74-45-18. In 1978, the NHL chose not to play anymore exhibition games against the WHA
As for ‘getting’ Bobby Hull and Gordie Howe…..Howe was 44 when he played his first WHA game and had already retired and worked in Detroit’s front office for a year, and Hull was 32 and just coming out of his prime (and Frank Mahovlich, Jacques Plante, et all were also in their late 30s, early 40s).
I’m also not aware of this wide open play that you speak of, for the most part, the WHA was a slower game than the NHL with a lot more clutching and grabbing than the NHL. The 1975-76 season of the WHA was the highest scoring with 3975 goals scored in 562 games, or an average of 7.07 goals/game….that same season the NHL had an average of 6.98 goals/game (a difference of 1.4%).
To answer your final question, in most cases, the best WHA teams would have been swept by the best NHL teams in a winner take all final. The NHL was a top heavy league in the 70s and the best teams were the best teams, middling teams like St. Louis, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles were stuck in a rut below the Bruins, Canadiens, and Flyers….although Ken Dryden did have a losing record in 7 games against WHA competition (2-4-1, 19 goals against). The key thing to remember is that the two leagues NEVER met in a game that meant anything.
In 1972, the average rating given for the WHA around the NHL was a 90 (similar the score given to the Swedish Elite League today), and in the WHA’s last season, the average rating around the NHL was a 65-70 (just slightly higher than the AHL today which currently has a 57 rating), so the league did have quite a drop off in talent from the beginning to the end.
Those of us who were there at the time felt it was more of a pain than it was competition because the league had no rules/morals when it came to player acquisition (it was not uncommon for an agent to bring a WHA contract to an NHL player mid-season). Scouting players became more difficult because the NHL chose to honour agreements it had with the NCAA and CHL while the WHA never had any in the first place.
One key point, in 1972-73, the average salary in the WHA was 1.83x the average salary in the NHL. In 1978-79, minus Gretzky’s salary, the average salary in the WHA was $31,000 (about $100K in 2010 dollars), while the average NHL salary the same year was $56,000 (and a decent scout for the Blackhawks was making a living on $17,700 a year!) or about 0.54x the average NHL salary.
Like I'm Telling You Who I A | Feb 02, 2010
Not just Howe and Bobby Hull — it also got Frank Mahovlich, Dennis Hull (Bobby’s brother and a solid player in his own right), Dave Dryden (Ken’s brother, and also a very good goalie), Gerry Cheevers, Paul Henderson, Rejean Houle, and many other established NHL stars.
And last but not least … don’t forget Wayne Gretzky.
Phil Esposito was even approached by the WHA. He chose to stay loyal to the Boston Bruins. In an interview a year or two ago, Espo said he regrets not going to the WHA — they were offering a lot more money than the Bruins were paying him.
The WHA also was ahead of the NHL in bringing European stars over to North America. It wasn’t too long before the NHL caught on to the idea — nowadays, of course, European players are common in the NHL.
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Lady Wildcat | Feb 02, 2010