1977–78 Indianapolis Racers season

The 1977–78 Indianapolis Racers season was the Racers' fourth season of operation in the World Hockey Association.

Ron Ingram (16–31–4) was Indianapolis' head coach until February 7 when he was replaced by player-coach Bill Goldsworthy."Goldsworthy named coach" The Montreal Star, February 8, 1978, p. F3.

Regular season

Final standings

Schedule and results

|1||W||October 12, 1977||5–4 || align="left"| @ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) ||1–0–0

|2||L||October 15, 1977||1–5 || align="left"| @ Houston Aeros (1977–78) ||1–1–0

|3||L||October 16, 1977||1–9 || align="left"| @ Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) ||1–2–0

|4||T||October 18, 1977||2–2 || align="left"| New England Whalers (1977–78) ||1–2–1

|5||T||October 21, 1977||4–4 || align="left"| Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) ||1–2–2

|6||W||October 25, 1977||5–4 || align="left"| @ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) ||2–2–2

|7||W||October 26, 1977||5–3 || align="left"| Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) ||3–2–2

|8||W||October 29, 1977||6–2 || align="left"| Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) ||4–2–2

|9||W||November 1, 1977||6–3 || align="left"| Houston Aeros (1977–78) ||5–2–2

|10||L||November 4, 1977||1–3 || align="left"| @ Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) ||5–3–2

|11||L||November 11, 1977||3–5 || align="left"| @ Houston Aeros (1977–78) ||5–4–2

|12||L||November 12, 1977||3–5 || align="left"| @ New England Whalers (1977–78) ||5–5–2

|13||L||November 15, 1977||4–6 || align="left"| New England Whalers (1977–78) ||5–6–2

|14||L||November 18, 1977||1–2 || align="left"| Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) ||5–7–2

|15||L||November 19, 1977||4–6 || align="left"| Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) ||5–8–2

|16||L||November 20, 1977||2–5 || align="left"| @ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) ||5–9–2

|17||T||November 23, 1977||3–3 || align="left"| @ New England Whalers (1977–78) ||5–9–3

|18||W||November 24, 1977||5–4 OT|| align="left"| Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) ||6–9–3

|19||L||November 26, 1977||5–7 || align="left"| Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) ||6–10–3

|20||L||November 30, 1977||0–3 || align="left"| @ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) ||6–11–3

|21||W||December 1, 1977||5–4 || align="left"| Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) ||7–11–3

|22||W||December 2, 1977||4–2 || align="left"| @ Houston Aeros (1977–78) ||8–11–3

|23||L||December 4, 1977||0–3 || align="left"| @ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) ||8–12–3

|24||W||December 6, 1977||5–2 || align="left"| New England Whalers (1977–78) ||9–12–3

|25||L||December 9, 1977||3–5 || align="left"| Czechoslovakia (1977–78) ||9–13–3

|26||L||December 10, 1977||3–5 || align="left"| @ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) ||9–14–3

|27||L||December 11, 1977||1–7 || align="left"| @ Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) ||9–15–3

|28||L||December 14, 1977||1–3 || align="left"| @ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) ||9–16–3

|29||T||December 15, 1977||3–3 || align="left"| Houston Aeros (1977–78) ||9–16–4

|30||L||December 18, 1977||3–4 || align="left"| Soviet All-Stars (1977–78) ||9–17–4

|31||L||December 22, 1977||1–4 || align="left"| Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) ||9–18–4

|32||L||December 23, 1977||3–5 || align="left"| @ New England Whalers (1977–78) ||9–19–4

|33||L||December 28, 1977||4–5 OT|| align="left"| @ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) ||9–20–4

|34||L||December 29, 1977||1–7 || align="left"| Houston Aeros (1977–78) ||9–21–4

|35||L||December 30, 1977||5–8 || align="left"| @ Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) ||9–22–4

|36||W||January 4, 1978||4–1 || align="left"| Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) ||10–22–4

|37||W||January 6, 1978||4–3 || align="left"| New England Whalers (1977–78) ||11–22–4

|38||W||January 7, 1978||2–1 OT|| align="left"| @ Houston Aeros (1977–78) ||12–22–4

|39||L||January 8, 1978||2–4 || align="left"| @ Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) ||12–23–4

|40||W||January 11, 1978||2–1 || align="left"| Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) ||13–23–4

|41||L||January 14, 1978||3–6 || align="left"| Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) ||13–24–4

|42||L||January 20, 1978||3–4 || align="left"| Houston Aeros (1977–78) ||13–25–4

|43||L||January 21, 1978||2–3 || align="left"| Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) ||13–26–4

|44||W||January 22, 1978||5–4 || align="left"| @ Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) ||14–26–4

|45||L||January 25, 1978||2–6 || align="left"| @ Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) ||14–27–4

|46||L||January 30, 1978||3–4 || align="left"| Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) ||14–28–4

|47||L||January 31, 1978||4–6 || align="left"| Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) ||14–29–4

|48||L||February 1, 1978||0–8 || align="left"| @ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) ||14–30–4

|49||W||February 3, 1978||5–4 OT|| align="left"| Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) ||15–30–4

|50||L||February 4, 1978||2–5 || align="left"| @ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) ||15–31–4

|51||W||February 5, 1978||6–1 || align="left"| Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) ||16–31–4

|52||L||February 11, 1978||3–5 || align="left"| Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) ||16–32–4

|53||W||February 15, 1978||9–6 || align="left"| Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) ||17–32–4

|54||L||February 17, 1978||4–5 OT|| align="left"| @ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) ||17–33–4

|55||L||February 18, 1978||1–4 || align="left"| New England Whalers (1977–78) ||17–34–4

|56||L||February 19, 1978||3–4 OT|| align="left"| @ Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) ||17–35–4

|57||L||February 25, 1978||5–7 || align="left"| @ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) ||17–36–4

|58||W||February 26, 1978||6–3 || align="left"| @ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) ||18–36–4

|59||W||March 1, 1978||5–1 || align="left"| Houston Aeros (1977–78) ||19–36–4

|60||W||March 3, 1978||8–6 || align="left"| @ Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) ||20–36–4

|61||W||March 4, 1978||8–6 || align="left"| Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) ||21–36–4

|62||W||March 5, 1978||4–2 || align="left"| Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) ||22–36–4

|63||L||March 8, 1978||4–5 OT|| align="left"| Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) ||22–37–4

|64||L||March 9, 1978||5–6 || align="left"| @ Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) ||22–38–4

|65||W||March 11, 1978||4–2 || align="left"| Houston Aeros (1977–78) ||23–38–4

|66||L||March 12, 1978||3–6 || align="left"| @ Houston Aeros (1977–78) ||23–39–4

|67||L||March 15, 1978||0–7 || align="left"| @ New England Whalers (1977–78) ||23–40–4

|68||L||March 16, 1978||2–5 || align="left"| @ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) ||23–41–4

|69||L||March 18, 1978||2–4 || align="left"| @ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) ||23–42–4

|70||T||March 19, 1978||3–3 || align="left"| @ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) ||23–42–5

|71||L||March 21, 1978||3–6 || align="left"| @ New England Whalers (1977–78) ||23–43–5

|72||L||March 24, 1978||0–4 || align="left"| @ Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) ||23–44–5

|73||L||March 28, 1978||3–4 OT|| align="left"| Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) ||23–45–5

|74||L||March 30, 1978||1–4 || align="left"| Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) ||23–46–5

|75||L||April 1, 1978||1–4 || align="left"| Edmonton Oilers (1977–78) ||23–47–5

|76||W||April 2, 1978||6–3 || align="left"| Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) ||24–47–5

|77||L||April 7, 1978||4–6 || align="left"| Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) ||24–48–5

|78||L||April 8, 1978||3–7 || align="left"| @ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) ||24–49–5

|79||L||April 9, 1978||7–9 || align="left"| Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) ||24–50–5

|80||L||April 11, 1978||3–6 || align="left"| @ New England Whalers (1977–78) ||24–51–5

Legend:

Player statistics Regular season Scoring Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/- PPG SHG GWG C 72 36 42 78 24−5700 D 75 17 40 57 49−32610 LW 56 25 21 46 1300500 RW 76 23 19 42 71−20100 LW 76 19 23 42 141−24100 C 70 13 27 40 47−13200 LW 49 15 16 31 44−11700 LW 28 14 16 30 12−15300 C 61 6 24 30 81−13100 RW 60 12 15 27 31−7200 RW 47 13 13 26 28−24500 D 77 1 25 26 34−39100 C 28 10 15 25 38−16300 LW 79 11 12 23 2−30200 D 79 2 21 23 79−35100 D 51 6 15 21 30−27300 RW 32 8 10 18 102000 C/LW 74 9 8 17 6−25220 D 54 1 15 16 86−17000 C 29 8 7 15 6−19130 D 44 2 13 15 18−17000 C 14 4 6 10 2−5000 D 24 1 9 10 24−5000 D 22 1 7 8 230000 C 19 1 7 8 6−4000 C 12 3 3 6 2−4000 RW 13 2 4 6 21100 LW 6 2 1 3 01200 C 8 1 2 3 0−5000 LW 6 0 3 3 73000 D 21 1 1 2 28−4000 D 3 0 1 1 01000 D 3 0 0 0 00000 G 52 0 0 0 420000 D 20 0 0 0 720000 G 12 0 0 0 00000 G 17 0 0 0 00000 G 12 0 0 0 60000Goaltending Player MIN GPW LTGAGAA SO 2850 52 14 30 4 200 4.21 0 900 17 6 8 0 64 4.27 0 584 12 3 7 0 41 4.21 0 539 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)15Doug Wilson (D)Ottawa 67's (OHA)216Wayne Ramsey (D)Brandon Wheat Kings (WCHL)435Dale McCourt (F)St. Catharines Fincups (OHA)544Mike Bossy (F)Laval National (QMJHL)653Rick Vasko (D)Peterborough Petes (OHA)762Brian Drumm (LW)Oshawa Generals (OHA)

See also 1977–78 WHA season

References