Video: This Date in Whalers History, May 6, 1973 -- New England Whalers Win WHA Championship

New England Whalers WHA 1972-73 Highlite Video in its entirety

Box Score

1st 2nd 3rd Final Winnipeg 2 2 2 6 New England 5 1 3 9
1st Period Scoring:
New England	Webster	0:21	Williams	Ley
New England	Pleau	4:43
Winnipeg	Johnson	7:07	Sutherland
New England	G. Smith	11:47	Williams	Webster
New England	Ley	15:43
Winnipeg	Beaudin	17:53	Hull
New England	Sheehy	18:41	Webster	Pleau
2nd Period Scoring:
New England	Webster	0:15	Williams	Green
Winnipeg	Beaudin	3:15	Bordeleau	McDonald
Winnipeg	Black	4:02	Shmyr
3rd Period Scoring:
Winnipeg	Woytowich	4:59	Swenson	Asmundson
New England	Pleau	5:24	Sheehy	French
New England	Pleau	7:31	Sheehy	French
New England	Byers	17:20	Green	Williams
Winnipeg	Asmundson	18:10	Swenson	Cuddie
Goalies:
Winnipeg	Daley
New England	Smith
Shots: 1st 2nd 3rd Final Winnipeg 17 12 13 42 New England 11 6 10 27

1972/73: Led by former Boston University Coach Jack Kelley, and playing in the historic Boston Garden the New England Whalers hit the ice for the first time playing in the upstart World Hockey Association, on October 12th, rallying from a 2-0 deficit to beat the Philadelphia Blazers 4-3. While other WHA teams spent their money on NHL stars the Whalers decided to go after solid steadier players, and it paid off as they would go on to finish with a league best 46-30-2 record. In the playoffs the Whalers would make quick work of the Ottawa Nationals advancing to the semifinals in 5 games. In the semifinals the Whalers would dominate again as they beat the Cleveland Crusaders in 5 games to advance to the very first AVCO Cup Finals. In the finals the Whalers would shut down the highflying Winnipeg Jets in 5 games to emerge as the first champions of the WHA.