1977–78 Indianapolis Racers season

1977–78 Indianapolis Racers
Division	8th WHA
1977–78 record	24–51–5
Goals for	267
Goals against	353
Team information
Coach	Ron Ingram, Bill Goldsworthy
Captain	Ken Block
Alternate captains	Barry Wilkins Rusty Patenaude Rosaire Paiement

Regular season

Final standings

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF= Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points

WHA Team	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
Winnipeg Jets	50	28	2	102	381	270	988
New England Whalers	44	31	5	93	335	269	1255
Houston Aeros	42	34	4	88	296	302	1543
Quebec Nordiques	40	37	3	83	349	347	1185
Edmonton Oilers	38	39	3	79	309	307	1296
Birmingham Bulls	36	41	3	75	287	314	2177
Cincinnati Stingers	35	42	3	73	298	332	1701
Indianapolis Racers	24	51	5	53	267	353	1189
Soviet All-Stars	3	4	1	7	27	36	120
Czechoslovakia All-Stars	1	6	1	3	21	40	87

Game log

Regular season schedule
No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	W	October 12, 1977	5–4	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	1–0–0
2	L	October 15, 1977	1–5	@ Houston Aeros (1977–78)	1–1–0
3	L	October 16, 1977	1–9	@ Winnipeg Jets (1977–78)	1–2–0
4	T	October 18, 1977	2–2	New England Whalers (1977–78)	1–2–1
5	T	October 21, 1977	4–4	Quebec Nordiques (1977–78)	1–2–2
6	W	October 25, 1977	5–4	@ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78)	2–2–2
7	W	October 26, 1977	5–3	Winnipeg Jets (1977–78)	3–2–2
8	W	October 29, 1977	6–2	Birmingham Bulls (1977–78)	4–2–2
9	W	November 1, 1977	6–3	Houston Aeros (1977–78)	5–2–2
10	L	November 4, 1977	1–3	@ Edmonton Oilers (1977–78)	5–3–2
11	L	November 11, 1977	3–5	@ Houston Aeros (1977–78)	5–4–2
12	L	November 12, 1977	3–5	@ New England Whalers (1977–78)	5–5–2
13	L	November 15, 1977	4–6	New England Whalers (1977–78)	5–6–2
14	L	November 18, 1977	1–2	Birmingham Bulls (1977–78)	5–7–2
15	L	November 19, 1977	4–6	Winnipeg Jets (1977–78)	5–8–2
16	L	November 20, 1977	2–5	@ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78)	5–9–2
17	T	November 23, 1977	3–3	@ New England Whalers (1977–78)	5–9–3
18	W	November 24, 1977	5–4 OT	Edmonton Oilers (1977–78)	6–9–3
19	L	November 26, 1977	5–7	Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	6–10–3
20	L	November 30, 1977	0–3	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	6–11–3
21	W	December 1, 1977	5–4	Quebec Nordiques (1977–78)	7–11–3
22	W	December 2, 1977	4–2	@ Houston Aeros (1977–78)	8–11–3
23	L	December 4, 1977	0–3	@ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78)	8–12–3
24	W	December 6, 1977	5–2	New England Whalers (1977–78)	9–12–3
25	L	December 9, 1977	3–5	Czechoslovakia (1977–78)	9–13–3
26	L	December 10, 1977	3–5	@ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78)	9–14–3
27	L	December 11, 1977	1–7	@ Winnipeg Jets (1977–78)	9–15–3
28	L	December 14, 1977	1–3	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	9–16–3
29	T	December 15, 1977	3–3	Houston Aeros (1977–78)	9–16–4
30	L	December 18, 1977	3–4	Soviet All-Stars (1977–78)	9–17–4
31	L	December 22, 1977	1–4	Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	9–18–4
32	L	December 23, 1977	3–5	@ New England Whalers (1977–78)	9–19–4
33	L	December 28, 1977	4–5 OT	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	9–20–4
34	L	December 29, 1977	1–7	Houston Aeros (1977–78)	9–21–4
35	L	December 30, 1977	5–8	@ Edmonton Oilers (1977–78)	9–22–4
36	W	January 4, 1978	4–1	Birmingham Bulls (1977–78)	10–22–4
37	W	January 6, 1978	4–3	New England Whalers (1977–78)	11–22–4
38	W	January 7, 1978	2–1 OT	@ Houston Aeros (1977–78)	12–22–4
39	L	January 8, 1978	2–4	@ Winnipeg Jets (1977–78)	12–23–4
40	W	January 11, 1978	2–1	Quebec Nordiques (1977–78)	13–23–4
41	L	January 14, 1978	3–6	Winnipeg Jets (1977–78)	13–24–4
42	L	January 20, 1978	3–4	Houston Aeros (1977–78)	13–25–4
43	L	January 21, 1978	2–3	Edmonton Oilers (1977–78)	13–26–4
44	W	January 22, 1978	5–4	@ Winnipeg Jets (1977–78)	14–26–4
45	L	January 25, 1978	2–6	@ Edmonton Oilers (1977–78)	14–27–4
46	L	January 30, 1978	3–4	Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	14–28–4
47	L	January 31, 1978	4–6	Edmonton Oilers (1977–78)	14–29–4
48	L	February 1, 1978	0–8	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	14–30–4
49	W	February 3, 1978	5–4 OT	Quebec Nordiques (1977–78)	15–30–4
50	L	February 4, 1978	2–5	@ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78)	15–31–4
51	W	February 5, 1978	6–1	Birmingham Bulls (1977–78)	16–31–4
52	L	February 11, 1978	3–5	Winnipeg Jets (1977–78)	16–32–4
53	W	February 15, 1978	9–6	Quebec Nordiques (1977–78)	17–32–4
54	L	February 17, 1978	4–5 OT	@ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78)	17–33–4
55	L	February 18, 1978	1–4	New England Whalers (1977–78)	17–34–4
56	L	February 19, 1978	3–4 OT	@ Edmonton Oilers (1977–78)	17–35–4
57	L	February 25, 1978	5–7	@ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78)	17–36–4
58	W	February 26, 1978	6–3	@ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78)	18–36–4
59	W	March 1, 1978	5–1	Houston Aeros (1977–78)	19–36–4
60	W	March 3, 1978	8–6	@ Edmonton Oilers (1977–78)	20–36–4
61	W	March 4, 1978	8–6	Winnipeg Jets (1977–78)	21–36–4
62	W	March 5, 1978	4–2	Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	22–36–4
63	L	March 8, 1978	4–5 OT	Quebec Nordiques (1977–78)	22–37–4
64	L	March 9, 1978	5–6	@ Winnipeg Jets (1977–78)	22–38–4
65	W	March 11, 1978	4–2	Houston Aeros (1977–78)	23–38–4
66	L	March 12, 1978	3–6	@ Houston Aeros (1977–78)	23–39–4
67	L	March 15, 1978	0–7	@ New England Whalers (1977–78)	23–40–4
68	L	March 16, 1978	2–5	@ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78)	23–41–4
69	L	March 18, 1978	2–4	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	23–42–4
70	T	March 19, 1978	3–3	@ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78)	23–42–5
71	L	March 21, 1978	3–6	@ New England Whalers (1977–78)	23–43–5
72	L	March 24, 1978	0–4	@ Edmonton Oilers (1977–78)	23–44–5
73	L	March 28, 1978	3–4 OT	Edmonton Oilers (1977–78)	23–45–5
74	L	March 30, 1978	1–4	Winnipeg Jets (1977–78)	23–46–5
75	L	April 1, 1978	1–4	Edmonton Oilers (1977–78)	23–47–5
76	W	April 2, 1978	6–3	Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	24–47–5
77	L	April 7, 1978	4–6	Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78)	24–48–5
78	L	April 8, 1978	3–7	@ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78)	24–49–5
79	L	April 9, 1978	7–9	Birmingham Bulls (1977–78)	24–50–5
80	L	April 11, 1978	3–6	@ New England Whalers (1977–78)	24–51–5

Player stats

Regular season
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/- PPG SHG GWG Claude St. Sauveur C 72 36 42 78 24 −5 7 0 0 Kevin Morrison D 75 17 40 57 49 −32 6 1 0 Peter Driscoll LW 56 25 21 46 130 0 5 0 0 Rusty Patenaude RW 76 23 19 42 71 −20 1 0 0 Kevin Devine LW 76 19 23 42 141 −24 1 0 0 Michel Parizeau C 70 13 27 40 47 −13 2 0 0 Reg Thomas LW 49 15 16 31 44 −11 7 0 0 Claude Larose LW 28 14 16 30 12 −15 3 0 0 Rosaire Paiement C 61 6 24 30 81 −13 1 0 0 Rene Leclerc RW 60 12 15 27 31 −7 2 0 0 Blaine Stoughton RW 47 13 13 26 28 −24 5 0 0 Ken Block D 77 1 25 26 34 −39 1 0 0 Rich Leduc C 28 10 15 25 38 −16 3 0 0 Don Burgess LW 79 11 12 23 2 −30 2 0 0 Barry Wilkins D 79 2 21 23 79 −35 1 0 0 Daryl Maggs D 51 6 15 21 30 −27 3 0 0 Bill Goldsworthy RW 32 8 10 18 10 2 0 0 0 John French C/LW 74 9 8 17 6 −25 2 2 0 Dave Fortier D 54 1 15 16 86 −17 0 0 0 Bobby Sheehan C 29 8 7 15 6 −19 1 3 0 Gilles Marotte D 44 2 13 15 18 −17 0 0 0 Lynn Powis C 14 4 6 10 2 −5 0 0 0 Dave Inkpen D 24 1 9 10 24 −5 0 0 0 Bryon Baltimore D 22 1 7 8 23 0 0 0 0 Hugh Harris C 19 1 7 8 6 −4 0 0 0 Brad Rhiness C 12 3 3 6 2 −4 0 0 0 Frank Spring RW 13 2 4 6 2 1 1 0 0 Charles Constantin LW 6 2 1 3 0 1 2 0 0 Ray Adduono C 8 1 2 3 0 −5 0 0 0 Dale Smedsmo LW 6 0 3 3 7 3 0 0 0 Bill Prentice D 21 1 1 2 28 −4 0 0 0 Dave Dornseif D 3 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 Bill Blackwood D 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Gary Inness G 52 0 0 0 42 0 0 0 0 Glen Irwin D 20 0 0 0 72 0 0 0 0 Peter McDuffe G 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Eddie Mio G 17 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jim Park G 12 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SO Gary Inness 2850 52 14 30 4 200 4.21 0 Eddie Mio 900 17 6 8 0 64 4.27 0 Jim Park 584 12 3 7 0 41 4.21 0 Peter McDuffe 539 12 1 6 1 39 4.34 0 Team: 4873 80 24 51 5 344 4.24 0

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals
      MIN = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts;

Draft picks

Indianapolis's draft picks at the 1977 WHA Amateur Draft.

Round	#	Player	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team (League)
1	5	Doug Wilson (D)	Canada	Ottawa 67's (OHA)
2	16	Wayne Ramsey (D)	Canada	Brandon Wheat Kings (WCHL)
4	35	Dale McCourt (F)	Canada	St. Catharines Fincups (OHA)
5	44	Mike Bossy (F)	Canada	Laval National (QMJHL)
6	53	Rick Vasko (D)	Canada	Peterborough Petes (OHA)
7	62	Brian Drumm (LW)	Canada	Oshawa Generals (OHA)

See also

• 1977–78 WHA season