WHA game summary from April 9, 1976

Team	1	2	3	F
Cleveland Crusaders (35-41-5)	1	1	1	3
New England Whalers (34-40-7)	3	1	1	5
New England Whalers lead, 1 game to 0   (best of 5)

1: NE , Ralph Backstrom 1 (Dan Bolduc, Bob McManama), 1:13
   NE , Gordie Roberts 1 (Tommy Earl, Garry Swain), 3:15
   NE , Nick Fotiu 1 (Tommy Earl, Thommy Abrahamsson), 9:57
   CLE, Rich Leduc 1 (Jim Harrison), 19:11
2: CLE, Wayne Connelly 1 (Tom Edur, Ron Ward), 1:00
   NE , Larry Pleau 1 (Rosaire Paiement, Tom Webster), 10:07
3: NE , Mike Rogers 1 (Fred O'Donnell, Alan Hangsleben), 6:23
   CLE, Danny Gruen 1 (Gary Jarrett, Tom Edur), 8:30

Penalties:

1: Paul Baxter, CLE 2:32
   Alan Hangsleben, NE 3:00
   Paul Baxter, CLE 7:30
   Alan Hangsleben, NE 11:18
   Fred O'Donnell, NE 11:18
2: Gordie Roberts, NE 2:35
   Gordie Roberts, NE 2:35
   Russ Walker, CLE 2:35
   Russ Walker, CLE 2:35
   Gary Jarrett, CLE 4:07
   Russ Walker, CLE 12:09
   Brad Selwood, NE 12:09
3: Barry Legge, CLE [minor, misconduct] 9:48
   Rick Ley, NE 11:02
   Rosaire Paiement, NE 17:38

Penalty time: CLE: 24 minutes
              NE : 16 minutes

Shots: CLE: 10-10-11-31
       NE : 10-16- 7-33

Goalies: CLE: Bob Johnson (L, 0-1-0)
         NE : Bruce Landon (W, 1-0-0)

Attendance: 8,417