1978–79 AHL season

The 1978–79 AHL season was the 43rd season of the American Hockey League. The league inaugurates the Ken McKenzie Award, for the most outstanding marketing executive, showing its commitment to marketing and public relations.

Nine teams were scheduled to play 80 games each. The Maine Mariners repeated as first overall in the regular season, and won their second consecutive Calder Cup championship.

Team changes

• The Hampton Gulls do not resume operations.
• The New Brunswick Hawks join the AHL as an expansion team, based in Moncton, New Brunswick, playing in the North Division.
• The Binghamton Dusters switch divisions from North to South.

Final standings

Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; Pts = Points;

North	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA
Maine Mariners	80	45	22	13	103	350	252
New Brunswick Hawks	80	41	29	10	92	315	288
Nova Scotia Voyageurs	80	39	37	4	82	313	302
Springfield Indians	80	33	38	9	75	289	290

South	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA
New Haven Nighthawks	80	46	25	9	101	346	271
Hershey Bears	79	35	36	8	78	311	324
Binghamton Dusters	79	32	42	5	69	300	320
Rochester Americans	80	26	42	12	64	289	349
Philadelphia Firebirds	80	23	49	8	54	230	347

Scoring leaders

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

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Bernie Johnston	Maine Mariners	70	29	66	95	40
Wayne Schaab	Maine Mariners	80	41	50	91	43
Kirk Bowman	New Brunswick Hawks	80	26	56	82	44
Bobby Sheehan	New Haven Nighthawks	70	33	48	81	26
Rick Meagher	Nova Scotia Voyageurs	79	35	46	81	57
Dave Lumley	Nova Scotia Voyageurs	61	22	58	80	160
Claude Noel	Hershey Bears	76	30	50	80	27
Dale Lewis	New Haven Nighthawks	76	29	51	80	20
Rocky Saganiuk	New Brunswick Hawks	61	47	29	76	91
Andre Peloffy	Springfield Indians	77	28	48	76	138

• complete list

Calder Cup playoffs

	Division Semifinals					Division Finals					Calder Cup Final
	North Division					1	Maine	4
	2	New Brunswick	2			3	Nova Scotia	2
	3	Nova Scotia	3								N1	Maine	4
											S1	New Haven	0
	South Division					1	New Haven	4
	2	Hershey	1			3	Binghamton	2
	3	Binghamton	3

Trophy and award winners

Team awards

Calder Cup Playoff champions:	Maine Mariners
F. G. "Teddy" Oke Trophy Regular Season champions, North Division:	Maine Mariners
John D. Chick Trophy Regular Season champions, South Division:	New Haven Nighthawks

Individual awards

Les Cunningham Award Most valuable player:	Rocky Saganiuk - New Brunswick Hawks
John B. Sollenberger Trophy Top point scorer:	Bernie Johnston - Maine Mariners
Dudley "Red" Garrett Memorial Award Rookie of the year:	Mike Meeker - Binghamton Dusters
Eddie Shore Award Defenceman of the year:	Terry Murray - Maine Mariners
Harry "Hap" Holmes Memorial Award Lowest goals against average:	Pete Peeters & Robbie Moore - Maine Mariners
Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award Coach of the year:	Parker MacDonald - New Haven Nighthawks
Fred T. Hunt Memorial Award Sportsmanship / Perseverance:	Bernie Johnston - Maine Mariners

Other awards

James C. Hendy Memorial Award Most outstanding executive:	Harry Sinden
James H. Ellery Memorial Awards Outstanding media coverage:	Eddie St. Pierre, Moncton, (newspaper) Arnie Patterson, Nova Scotia, (radio) Jack O'Neil, Springfield, (television)
Ken McKenzie Award Outstanding marketing executive:	Roy Mlakar, New Haven Nighthawks

See also

• List of AHL seasons

References

• AHL official site
• AHL Hall of Fame
• HockeyDB