1976–77 Birmingham Bulls season

1976–77 Birmingham Bulls
Division	5th Eastern
1976–77 record	31–46–4
Home record	22–15–3
Road record	9–31–1
Goals for	289
Goals against	309
Team information
Coach	Gilles Leger
Arena	Birmingham–Jefferson Convention Complex
Team leaders
Goals	Mark Napier (60)
Assists	Dale Hoganson (48)
Points	Mark Napier (96)
Penalty minutes	Lou Nistico (166)
Wins	John Garrett (24)
Goals against average	John Garrett (3.53)
←  1975–76 1977–78  →

The 1976–77 Birmingham Bulls season was the Bulls' first season of operation in Birmingham, Alabama after the Toronto Toros relocated from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Regular season

Final standings

Eastern Division

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	PTS
Quebec Nordiques	81	47	31	3	353	295	97
Cincinnati Stingers	81	39	37	5	354	303	83
Indianapolis Racers	81	36	37	8	276	305	80
New England Whalers	81	35	40	6	275	290	76
Birmingham Bulls	81	31	46	4	289	309	66
Minnesota Fighting Saints	42	19	18	5	136	129	43

Schedule and results

1976–77 regular season [1]
October Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 1 W October 8, 1976 4–2 Houston Aeros (1976–77) 1–0–0 2 L October 10, 1976 3–4 OT @ Quebec Nordiques (1976–77) 1–1–0 3 W October 12, 1976 6–2 Calgary Cowboys (1976–77) 2–1–0 4 T October 14, 1976 7–7 Cincinnati Stingers (1976–77) 2–1–1 5 L October 16, 1976 0–3 @ Houston Aeros (1976–77) 2–2–1 6 L October 17, 1976 1–6 @ Minnesota Fighting Saints (1976–77) 2–3–1 7 L October 19, 1976 5–6 OT Quebec Nordiques (1976–77) 2–4–1 8 W October 21, 1976 8–5 Houston Aeros (1976–77) 3–4–1 9 W October 23, 1976 3–1 @ Indianapolis Racers (1976–77) 4–4–1 12 L October 28, 1976 3–4 OT Edmonton Oilers (1976–77) 4–7–1 13 L October 30, 1976 4–5 @ New England Whalers (1976–77) 4–8–1
November Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 14 L November 2, 1976 3–4 OT San Diego Mariners (1976–77) 4–9–1 15 W November 4, 1976 5–3 Phoenix Roadrunners (1976–77) 5–9–1 16 L November 6, 1976 5–6 @ Quebec Nordiques (1976–77) 5–10–1 17 L November 9, 1976 3–4 @ Quebec Nordiques (1976–77) 5–11–1 18 L November 11, 1976 2–3 San Diego Mariners (1976–77) 5–12–1 19 L November 13, 1976 2–3 Edmonton Oilers (1976–77) 5–13–1 20 L November 16, 1976 4–5 New England Whalers (1976–77) 5–14–1 21 L November 17, 1976 4–6 @ New England Whalers (1976–77) 5–15–1 22 L November 19, 1976 0–4 @ Indianapolis Racers (1976–77) 5–16–1 23 W November 21, 1976 4–3 San Diego Mariners (1976–77) 6–16–1 24 W November 23, 1976 3–1 Calgary Cowboys (1976–77) 7–16–1 25 L November 25, 1976 3–5 New England Whalers (1976–77) 7–17–1 26 L November 27, 1976 1–2 @ Cincinnati Stingers (1976–77) 7–18–1 27 L November 28, 1976 1–3 Minnesota Fighting Saints (1976–77) 7–19–1 28 W November 30, 1976 3–1 Cincinnati Stingers (1976–77) 8–19–1
December Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 29 L December 2, 1976 3–4 Edmonton Oilers (1976–77) 8–20–1 30 L December 7, 1976 2–3 OT Indianapolis Racers (1976–77) 8–21–1 31 W December 10, 1976 5–3 @ Winnipeg Jets (1976–77) 9–21–1 32 L December 12, 1976 3–5 @ Edmonton Oilers (1976–77) 9–22–1 33 L December 15, 1976 5–6 @ Phoenix Roadrunners (1976–77) 9–23–1 34 W December 17, 1976 4–3 @ Houston Aeros (1976–77) 10–23–1 35 L December 18, 1976 2–6 @ New England Whalers (1976–77) 10–24–1 36 L December 19, 1976 2–3 OT @ Indianapolis Racers (1976–77) 10–25–1 37 W December 21, 1976 3–2 Quebec Nordiques (1976–77) 11–25–1 38 W December 22, 1976 6–2 @ Cincinnati Stingers (1976–77) 12–25–1 39 W December 26, 1976 6–2 Houston Aeros (1976–77) 13–25–1 40 L December 30, 1976 2–4 Minnesota Fighting Saints (1976–77) 13–26–1
January Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 41 L January 2, 1977 1–3 @ Minnesota Fighting Saints (1976–77) 13–27–1 42 W January 4, 1977 8–5 Phoenix Roadrunners (1976–77) 14–27–1 43 L January 7, 1977 1–7 @ Cincinnati Stingers (1976–77) 14–28–1 44 L January 9, 1977 1–4 @ Winnipeg Jets (1976–77) 14–29–1 45 W January 12, 1977 4–3 @ Minnesota Fighting Saints (1976–77) 15–29–1 46 L January 14, 1977 3–5 @ Houston Aeros (1976–77) 15–30–1 47 L January 16, 1977 2–5 @ San Diego Mariners (1976–77) 15–31–1 48 L January 21, 1977 1–6 @ Houston Aeros (1976–77) 15–32–1 49 W January 23, 1977 6–2 Indianapolis Racers (1976–77) 16–32–1 50 W January 27, 1977 3–0 Winnipeg Jets (1976–77) 17–32–1 51 W January 30, 1977 7–1 Cincinnati Stingers (1976–77) 18–32–1
February Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 52 W February 1, 1977 4–3 New England Whalers (1976–77) 19–32–1 53 W February 2, 1977 3–2 @ Cincinnati Stingers (1976–77) 20–32–1 54 W February 4, 1977 7–0 Quebec Nordiques (1976–77) 21–32–1 55 L February 5, 1977 2–5 @ Indianapolis Racers (1976–77) 21–33–1 56 L February 9, 1977 3–4 OT @ Phoenix Roadrunners (1976–77) 21–34–1 57 L February 12, 1977 2–3 OT @ San Diego Mariners (1976–77) 21–35–1 58 W February 16, 1977 7–2 Phoenix Roadrunners (1976–77) 22–35–1 59 W February 18, 1977 3–2 @ New England Whalers (1976–77) 23–35–1 60 T February 20, 1977 2–2 Indianapolis Racers (1976–77) 23–35–2 61 T February 22, 1977 4–4 Cincinnati Stingers (1976–77) 23–35–3 62 W February 24, 1977 10–6 Quebec Nordiques (1976–77) 24–35–3 63 L February 26, 1977 3–5 @ Quebec Nordiques (1976–77) 24–36–3 64 W February 27, 1977 4–0 @ Edmonton Oilers (1976–77) 25–36–3
March Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 65 L March 3, 1977 2–4 @ Calgary Cowboys (1976–77) 25–37–3 66 L March 6, 1977 2–5 @ Edmonton Oilers (1976–77) 25–38–3 67 W March 9, 1977 4–3 OT New England Whalers (1976–77) 26–38–3 68 W March 11, 1977 6–3 New England Whalers (1976–77) 27–38–3 69 L March 12, 1977 2–7 @ Indianapolis Racers (1976–77) 27–39–3 70 L March 13, 1977 4–7 @ Cincinnati Stingers (1976–77) 27–40–3 71 W March 15, 1977 4–2 Cincinnati Stingers (1976–77) 28–40–3 72 L March 17, 1977 2–5 Indianapolis Racers (1976–77) 28–41–3 73 L March 20, 1977 3–4 OT Winnipeg Jets (1976–77) 28–42–3 74 W March 22, 1977 7–4 Calgary Cowboys (1976–77) 29–42–3 75 W March 23, 1977 4–0 @ Phoenix Roadrunners (1976–77) 30–42–3 76 L March 24, 1977 2–6 @ San Diego Mariners (1976–77) 30–43–3 77 W March 27, 1977 7–3 Indianapolis Racers (1976–77) 31–43–3 78 L March 29, 1977 2–4 Cincinnati Stingers (1976–77) 31–44–3
April Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 79 L April 2, 1977 5–6 Winnipeg Jets (1976–77) 31–45–3 80 T April 5, 1977 4–4 @ Calgary Cowboys (1976–77) 31–45–4 81 L April 6, 1977 4–6 @ Edmonton Oilers (1976–77) 31–46–4
Legend:   Win (2 points)  Loss (0 points)  Tie (1 point)

Player statistics

Regular season
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/- PPG SHG GWG Mark Napier RW 80 60 36 96 24 16 9 1 6 Vaclav Nedomansky RW 81 36 33 69 10 −13 9 0 3 Peter Marrin C 79 23 37 60 36 −7 4 1 0 Lou Nistico C 79 20 36 56 166 −9 1 1 0 Dale Hoganson D 81 7 48 55 48 1 3 0 0 Paul Henderson RW 81 23 25 48 30 −9 1 0 0 Jeff Jacques RW 79 21 27 48 92 −1 1 0 0 Tim Sheehy RW 50 26 21 47 44 −2 7 0 0 John Stewart C 52 17 24 41 32 11 2 0 0 Richard Farda C 48 9 26 35 2 −23 1 0 0 Jim Turkiewicz D 80 6 25 31 54 5 0 2 0 Gavin Kirk C 29 9 18 27 34 −6 5 0 0 Jean-Guy Lagace D 78 2 25 27 110 −8 0 0 0 Frank Mahovlich LW 17 3 20 23 12 −1 2 0 0 Dave Gorman RW 52 9 13 22 38 2 0 1 0 Gord Gallant LW 34 4 13 17 62 8 1 0 0 Tom Simpson RW 25 7 6 13 10 −12 4 0 0 Pat Westrum D 34 1 11 12 48 8 0 0 0 Jean-Luc Phaneuf RW 30 2 7 9 2 −4 0 0 0 Gilles Bilodeau LW 34 2 6 8 133 1 0 0 0 Rick Cunningham D 63 0 8 8 75 −18 0 0 0 Terry Ball D 23 1 6 7 8 2 0 0 0 John Garrett G 65 0 3 3 21 0 0 0 0 Wayne Carleton LW 3 1 0 1 0 −2 0 0 0 Ray McKay D 19 0 1 1 11 −5 0 0 0 Peter Folco D 2 0 0 0 0 −3 0 0 0 Rich Hart D 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Paul Heaver D 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Keith Kokkola D 5 0 0 0 21 −3 0 0 0 Jim Marsh D 1 0 0 0 0 −3 0 0 0 Jerry Rollins D 8 0 0 0 17 −2 0 0 0 Buzz Schneider LW 4 0 0 0 2 −2 0 0 0 John Stewart LW 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dave Syvret D 8 0 0 0 0 −4 0 0 0 Wayne Wood G 23 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SO John Garrett 3803 65 24 34 4 224 3.53 4 Wayne Wood 1132 23 7 12 0 78 4.13 0 Team: 4935 81 31 46 4 302 3.67 4

^[2]

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

Birmingham's draft picks (selected while still known as the Toronto Toros) at the 1976 WHA Amateur Draft. ^[3]

Round	#	Player	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team (League)
1	8	Bjorn Johansson (D)	Sweden	Orebro IK (Sweden D1)
2	11	Kent Nilsson (F)	Sweden	Djurgardens IF (Elitserien)
2	21	Peter Lee (LW)	Canada	Ottawa 67's (OHA)
3	24	Paul Gardner (C)	Canada	Oshawa Generals (OHA)
4	35	Don Lemieux (D)	Canada	Trois-Rivieres Draveurs (QMJHL)
6	59	Dan Djakalovic (F)	Canada	Kitchener Rangers (OHA)
7	71	Mike McEwen (D)	Canada	Toronto Marlboros (OHA)
8	83	Mike Kitchen (D)	Canada	Toronto Marlboros (OHA)
9	94	Marc Desforges (F)	Canada	Chicoutimi Sagueneens (QMJHL)
10	105	Brian Dillon (F)	Canada	Oshawa Generals (OHA)

See also

• 1976–77 WHA season

References

1. "1976-77 Birmingham Bulls Schedule". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved April 8, 2025.
2. "1976-77 Birmingham Bulls Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". hockey-reference.com. Retrieved June 28, 2009.
3. "1976 WHA Amateur Draft". hockeyDB.com. Retrieved December 19, 2018.