AVCO WORLD TROPHY
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World Hockey AssociationThe World Hockey Association (French: Association mondiale de hockey) was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (NHL) since the collapse of the Western Hockey League in 1926. Although the WHA was not the first league since that time to attempt to challenge the NHL's supremacy, it was by far the most successful in the modern era. The WHA tried to capitalize on the lack of hockey teams in a number of major American cities and mid-level Canadian cities, and also hoped to attract the best players by paying more than NHL owners would. The WHA successfully challenged the NHL's reserve clause, which had bound players to their NHL teams even without a valid contract, allowing players in both leagues greater freedom of movement. Sixty-seven players jumped from the NHL to the WHA in the first year, led by star forward Bobby Hull, whose ten-year, $2.75 million contract was a record at the time. The league took advantage of drafting young players, as the NHL amateur draft at the time stipulated players had to be at least 20 years old to be drafted (in 1974, the NHL moved the age to 18 to compete with the WHA for that year only). The WHA took the initiative to sign European players, most famously with Václav Nedomanský, the first Czechoslovak to defect to North America to play hockey in 1974; the initiative to sign European players ushered in a new era in North American hockey. Other noted names to enter the WHA in later years included Gordie Howe, who elected to return to hockey at age 45 with the Houston Aeros in 1973 to play with his sons Mark and Marty. In the seven seasons of giving out the Avco World Trophy, one of (or both) the Winnipeg Jets and Houston Aeros made the Final in each year, with Houston winning twice and Winnipeg winning three times. The WHA was chronically unstable, with franchises occasionally relocating or folding in the middle of the season. It had an acrimonious relationship with the NHL, resulting in numerous legal battles, as well as competition for control of players and markets. In spite of this, merger talks began almost immediately. NHL owners voted down a 1977 plan to merge six WHA teams (the Edmonton Oilers, New England Whalers, Quebec Nordiques, Cincinnati Stingers, Houston Aeros, and Winnipeg Jets) into the NHL before a 1979 merger was approved. The final WHA game was played on May 20, 1979, as the Jets defeated the Oilers to win their third Avco World Trophy. As a result, the WHA ceased operations, and four teams joined the NHL for the 1979–80 season: the Edmonton Oilers, New England (renamed Hartford) Whalers, Quebec Nordiques, and Winnipeg Jets. Of these four teams, two of the three Canadian teams — the Nordiques and Jets — eventually moved south to Denver and Phoenix, respectively. The Whalers later moved from Hartford to Raleigh, North Carolina, and were renamed the Carolina Hurricanes. The Oilers are the only WHA merger team to retain both their original nickname and city.
Avco World TrophyThe Avco World Trophy, also known as the Avco Cup, is the playoff championship trophy of the defunct World Hockey Association, which operated from 1972 until 1979. The trophy's naming rights were sold to the former Avco Corporation (a name originally derived from "Aviation Company"), a defense contractor who bought the rights to advertise their consumer finance division. The trophy was mocked by some for its corporate sponsorship and never developed anything approaching the significance and sentiment of the Stanley Cup, its National Hockey League rival. Still, the cup's design was often seen as creative in that it involved a freely-floating etched crystal globe embedded in the "stem" of the cup. The cup was designed by Frank Bonnerkopf of Boise, Idaho. The trophy was donated to the new league in 1972 along with approximately $500,000 by the Avco Financial Services Corporation, and became the first major sports league championship trophy to bear the name of a private corporation. Three Avco trophies exist; besides the one that is on display at the Hockey Hall of Fame, the others are in Winnipeg at the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, and in the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame in Halifax. The trophy was retired after the WHA ceased operations in 1979. Led by Bobby Hull, the Winnipeg Jets claimed the trophy on three occasions, including the final league championship against Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers. Gordie Howe and the Houston Aeros vied for the trophy three times, winning twice. The Avco Trophy in fact may have been most famous, or perhaps infamous, in its absence. When the New England Whalers won the league's inaugural championship in 1973 the trophy had not yet been completed, and the Whalers were forced to skate their divisional championship trophy around the ice surface. Seven players skated for three Avco World Trophy-winning teams in the WHA playoffs: Joe Daley, Ted Green, Bob Guindon, Bill Lesuk, Lyle Moffat, Lars-Erik Sjoberg, and Peter Sullivan. All but Green did so as members of the three Winnipeg Jets championship teams, whereas Green did so with the 1972-73 Whalers and the first two Jets championship teams. Green was the first to win the Trophy with multiple teams. Bobby Hull is commonly cited as winning the Avco Trophy three times with the Jets as well, but he did not play in the 1979 playoff run due to injury.
Houston Aeros (WHA)The Houston Aeros were a professional ice hockey team in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972 to 1978.
1972–73 WHA seasonThe 1972–73 WHA season was the first season of the World Hockey Association (WHA). Twelve teams played 78 games each. The league was officially incorporated in June of 1971 by Gary Davidson and Dennis A. Murphy and promised to ice twelve teams in various markets around Canada and the United States. The league championship trophy, the Avco World Trophy, was donated by AVCO Financial Services Corporation along with $500,000. The New England Whalers won the first Avco World Trophy.
1978–79 WHA seasonThe 1978–79 WHA season was the seventh and final season of the World Hockey Association (WHA). Prior to the start of the season, the Houston Aeros folded leaving seven teams to start the season. Only six would finish however, as the Indianapolis Racers folded after 25 games on December 15, 1978. The remaining six teams each played 80 games, including one game each per team against a Soviet All-Star squad and the Czechoslovak National Team, the second consecutive year for this arrangement. The Soviet team won four of their six games and tied another; the Czechoslovak team only won once and tied once against four losses. In addition, because the Racers had folded after playing an odd number of games, the Edmonton Oilers played the Finnish National Team (with future Oiler Jari Kurri) once at home so as to allow each of the six surviving WHA teams to play 80 regular season games. The Oilers won by a score of 8–4, a result which in itself made no difference by the end of the regular season which Edmonton won by an 11–point margin over the Quebec Nordiques. During the season, an agreement was reached whereby four of the WHA's teams, the Edmonton Oilers, Quebec Nordiques, Winnipeg Jets and New England Whalers would be admitted to the National Hockey League (NHL) as expansion teams for the 1979–80 NHL season, and the WHA would cease operations. The Cincinnati and Birmingham franchises were paid a sum to fold.
AvcoAvco Corporation is a subsidiary of Textron, which operates Textron Systems Corporation and Lycoming.
List of Edmonton Oilers seasonsThe Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The team is a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Oilers began as a charter member of the World Hockey Association (WHA) in 1972, and were known as the Alberta Oilers for their first season after their Calgary counterparts were unable to play. The Oilers were a middle of the road team, failing to win a single playoff series until their seventh, and final, season in the WHA. In that last year, the Oilers lost to the (Jets) in the last Avco World Trophy final. In 1979, the Oilers, along with the Jets, the Hartford Whalers and the Quebec Nordiques joined the NHL following the dissolution of the WHA. They would quickly find success, first by shocking the Montreal Canadiens in 1980–81, then by finishing atop the Smythe Division each of the next five years. After falling to the New York Islanders in their first Stanley Cup Finals in 1982–83, the Oilers would achieve what is generally regarded as the last dynasty in NHL history by capturing five Stanley Cups in seven years between 1984 and 1990. The Oilers have not since been able to duplicate that level of success since, however, they did capture their seventh Conference title in 2005–06. Their run took them to the seventh game of the Stanley Cup Finals, which they lost to the Carolina Hurricanes.
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