1969–70 WHL season explained

1969–70 WHL season
League:Western Hockey League
Sport:Ice hockey
Season:Regular season
Finals:Lester Patrick Cup
Finals Champ:Vancouver Canucks
Finals Runner-Up:Portland Buckaroos
Prevseason Year:1968–69
Nextseason Year:1970–71
No Of Games:72 (73[1])
No Of Teams:7
Top Scorer:Art Jones

The 1969–70 WHL season was the 18th season of the Western Hockey League. Seven teams played a 74-game schedule, and the Vancouver Canucks were the Lester Patrick Cup champions, defeating the Portland Buckaroos four games to one in the final series. The Salt Lake Golden Eagles joined the WHL as seventh team.

Prior to the start of the season the Vancouver Canucks were purchased by a group that was awarded a National Hockey League expansion team for the 1970–71 season, with plans to move the team to the NHL.

Teams

1969–70 Western Hockey League
Team City Arena Capacity
Denver SpursDenver, ColoradoDenver Coliseum8,140
Phoenix RoadrunnersPhoenix, ArizonaArizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum12,371
Portland BuckaroosPortland, OregonMemorial Coliseum12,000
Salt Lake Golden EaglesSalt Lake City, UtahSalt Palace10,594
San Diego GullsSan Diego, CaliforniaSan Diego International Sports Center12,920
Seattle TotemsSeattle, WashingtonSeattle Center Coliseum12,250
Vancouver CanucksVancouver, British ColumbiaPacific Coliseum15,038

Map of teams

Final standings

! scope="col" style="width:12em"
Team
1 72 47 17 8 334 219 102
2 72 42 23 7 322 241 91
3 72 33 29 10 263 242 76
4 73 30 35 8 240 260 68
5 73 27 34 12 252 257 66
6 72 24 37 11 250 316 59
7 72 15 43 14 240 366 44
bold - qualified for playoffs

Playoffs

The Vancouver Canucks defeated the Portland Buckaroos 4 games to 1 to win the Lester Patrick Cup.[2]

Notes and References

  1. At the end of regular season, Seattle Totems and Phoenix Roadrunners are tied with 66 points for 4th place. Both teams played an extra game to decide the last team to advance to the playoffs, which game is won by Seattle.
  2. Web site: 1969-70 WHL Playoff Results. www.hockeydb.com.