The 1979–80 WHL season was the 14th season for the Western Hockey League. Eleven teams completed a 72 game season. The Regina Pats won the President's Cup.

Contents 1 League notes 2 Regular season 2.1 Final standings 2.2 Scoring leaders 3 WHL Playoffs 3.1 First round 3.2 Division semi-finals 3.3 Division finals 3.4 WHL Championship 4 All-Star game 5 WHL awards 6 See also 7 References

[edit] League notes

• The Edmonton Oil Kings relocated to Great Falls, Montana to become the Great Falls Americans, however the team only lasted 28 games, as the Americans ceased operations on December 16, 1979.
• The WHL abandoned the three division format, opting instead for a two division format of eight teams in the East and four in the West.

[edit] Regular season

[edit] Final standings

East Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA
x Regina Pats	72	47	24	1	95	429	311
x Calgary Wranglers	72	43	27	2	88	376	319
x Medicine Hat Tigers	72	37	30	5	79	344	315
x Billings Bighorns	72	37	34	1	75	326	284
x Brandon Wheat Kings	72	33	37	2	68	319	343
x Lethbridge Broncos	72	28	39	5	61	329	349
Saskatoon Blades	72	27	40	5	59	331	382
Great Falls Americans1	28	2	25	1	5	73	186

West Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA
x Portland Winter Hawks	72	53	18	1	107	398	293
x Victoria Cougarss	72	51	21	0	102	349	226
x Seattle Breakers	72	29	41	2	60	297	364
New Westminster Bruins	72	10	61	1	21	244	443

¹Folded mid-season

[edit] Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalties in minutes

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Doug Wickenheiser	Regina Pats	71	89	81	170	99
Tim Tookey	Portland Winter Hawks	70	58	83	141	55
Barry Pederson	Victoria Cougars	72	52	88	140	50
Kelly Kisio	Calgary Wranglers	71	65	73	138	64
Jim Dobson	Portland Winter Hawks	72	66	68	134	179
Ryan Flockhard	Regina Pats	65	54	76	130	63
Gord Williams	Lethbridge Broncos	72	57	65	122	92
Darren Veitch	Regina Pats	71	29	93	122	118
Brian Varga	Regina Pats	70	39	79	118	97
Doug Morrison	Lethbridge Broncos	68	58	59	117	188

[edit] WHL Playoffs

[edit] First round

• Regina defeated Lethbridge 4 games to 0
• Brandon defeated Calgary 4 games to 3
• Medicine Hat defeated Billings 4 games to 3

[edit] Division semi-finals

Round Robin format

• Medicine Hat (3–1) advanced
• Regina (2–2) advanced
• Brandon (1–3) eliminated

• Victoria (5–3) advanced
• Seattle (4–4) advanced
• Portland (3–5) eliminated

[edit] Division finals

• Regina defeated Medicine Hat 4 games to 1
• Victoria defeated Seattle 4 games to 0

[edit] WHL Championship

• Regina defeated Victoria 4 games to 1

[edit] All-Star game

There was no All-Star game in 1979–80.

[edit] WHL awards

Most Valuable Player: Doug Wickenheiser, Regina Pats

Top Scorer - Bob Clarke Trophy: Doug Wickenheiser, Regina Pats

Most Sportsmanlike Player: Steve Tsujirua, Medicine Hat Tigers

Top Defenseman - Bill Hunter Trophy: Dave Babych, Portland Winter Hawks

Rookie of the Year - Jim Piggott Memorial Trophy: Grant Fuhr, Victoria Cougars

Top Goaltender - Del Wilson Trophy: Kevin Eastman, Victoria Cougars

Coach of the Year - Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy: Doug Sauter, Calgary Wranglers

Regular season Champions - Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy: Portland Winter Hawks

[edit] See also

• 1980 Memorial Cup
• 1980 NHL Entry Draft
• 1979 in sports
• 1980 in sports

[edit] References

• whl.ca
• 2005–06 WHL Guide

Preceded by 1978–79 WHL season

WHL seasons

Succeeded by 1980–81 WHL season