1980–81 NASL Indoor season

North American Soccer League -1980–81 Indoor Season-
Season	1980–81
Champions	Edmonton Drillers
Premiers	Chicago Sting
Matches played	171
Goals scored	1,998 (11.68 per match)
Top goalscorer	Karl-Heinz Granitza (42 goals)
Average attendance	5,146
	← 1979–80 1981–82 →

The 1980–81 season was the North American Soccer League's second indoor soccer season.

Overview

A total of 19 of a possible 21 NASL teams participated. New York and Montreal (who was moving from Philadelphia) were the only hold-outs this indoor season. Just as the season was getting underway, the Jacksonville Tea Men relocated from New England.[1] Teams played an 18-game regular season. The four Canadian teams were realigned into one division and forced to play only one another during the regular season. This was due to early season litigation which restricted NASL teams' travel between the U.S. and Canada.[2] The Edmonton Drillers won the championship in a two-game finals-sweep of the Chicago Sting. This was the Drillers' first, and only, NASL indoor title. Kai Haaskivi of Edmonton won both the regular season and playoff MVP awards.[3][4]

Regular season

W = Wins, L = Losses, GB = Games Behind 1st Place, % = Winning Percentage, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against[5]

Eastern Division	W	L	GB	%	GF	GA
Atlanta Chiefs	13	5	–	.722	97	75
Tampa Bay Rowdies	9	9	4	.500	126	120
Jacksonville Tea Men	8	10	5	.444	96	102
Fort Lauderdale Strikers	1	17	12	.056	58	125

Central Division	W	L	GB	%	GF	GA
Chicago Sting	13	5	–	.722	146	103
Minnesota Kicks	12	6	1	.667	93	73
Detroit Express	7	11	6	.389	90	106

Southern Division	W	L	GB	%	GF	GA
California Surf	10	8	–	.556	104	118
Tulsa Roughnecks	9	9	1	.500	111	113
Dallas Tornado	7	11	3	.389	110	125
San Diego Sockers	6	12	4	.333	106	121

Northern Division	W	L	GB	%	GF	GA
Vancouver Whitecaps	11	7	–	.611	91	96
Edmonton Drillers	10	8	1	.556	128	109
Calgary Boomers	10	8	1	.556	100	94
Toronto Blizzard	5	13	6	.278	101	121

Western Division	W	L	GB	%	GF	GA
Los Angeles Aztecs	11	7	–	.611	118	99
Portland Timbers	10	8	1	.556	110	93
San Jose Earthquakes	10	8	1	.556	118	115
Seattle Sounders	9	9	2	.500	106	98

Playoffs

Bracket

First Round Best-of-3					Semifinals Best-of-3					Championship Series Best-of-3


P1	Chicago Sting	6	8(OT)	–

W2	Portland Timbers	2	7	–
					P1	Chicago Sting	8	5	4

					E1	Atlanta Chiefs	3	9	2
E1	Atlanta Chiefs	10	5(OT)	–

C2	Minnesota Kicks	8	4	–
										P1	Chicago Sting	6	4	–

										N2	Edmonton Drillers	9	5	–
N2	Edmonton Drillers	8	10	–

W1	Los Angeles Aztecs	3	6	–
					N2	Edmonton Drillers	9	6	–

					C1	Vancouver Whitecaps	7	4	–
C1	Vancouver Whitecaps	0	8	4

S1	California Surf	3	5	0

1st round

If a playoff series is tied after two games, a 15 minute, tie breaker mini-game is played.

Higher seed		Lower seed	Game 1	Game 2	Mini-game	Attendance
Edmonton Drillers	-	Los Angeles Aztecs	8–3	10–6	x	February 16 • L.A. Sports Arena • 1,621 February 19 • Northlands Coliseum • 4,310
Vancouver Whitecaps	-	California Surf	0–3[6]	8–5	4–0	February 18 • Long Beach Arena • 472 February 21 • Pacific Coliseum • 8,496
Atlanta Chiefs	-	Minnesota Kicks	10–8	5–4 (OT)	x	February 16 • Met Center • 6,354 February 20 • The Omni • 6,150
Chicago Sting	-	Portland Timbers	#6–2	8–7 (OT)	x	February 17 • Chicago Stadium • 3,254 February 19 • Chicago Stadium • 6,286

#Scheduling conflicts at the Portland Coliseum forced both games to be played in Chicago.[7]

Semi-finals

Higher seed		Lower seed	Game 1	Game 2	Mini-game	Attendance
Vancouver Whitecaps	-	Edmonton Drillers	7–9	4–6	x	February 24 • Northlands Coliseum • 3,420 February 28 • Pacific Coliseum • 11,758
Chicago Sting	-	Atlanta Chiefs	8–3	5–9	4–2	February 25 • The Omni • 9,187 February 28 • Chicago Stadium • 12,376

Championship Finals

Higher seed		Lower seed	Game 1	Game 2	Mini-game	Attendance
Chicago Sting	-	Edmonton Drillers	*6–9	4–5	x	March 2 • Edmonton Gardens • 5,089[8] March 7 • Chicago Stadium • 16,257

*Scheduling conflicts at the Northlands Coliseum forced Game 1 of the Finals to be moved across the street to the Edmonton Gardens.[9]

Championship match reports

March 2, 1981 Game 1	Edmonton Drillers	9–6	Chicago Sting	Edmonton, Alberta
8:30 P.M. (MST)	Raduka 3:09' Guðmundsson 9:09' (Haaskivi) Haaskivi 11:58' (Guðmundsson, Raduka) Haaskivi 19:35' (James, Guðmundsson) Haaskivi 21:45' (Sweeney, de Luca) Oostrom 24:53' (Haaskivi, Guðmundsson) Haaskivi 34:56' (Raduka, Guðmundsson) Haaskivi 51:03' (Sweeney, Oostrom) Haaskivi 58:23' (Guðmundsson, Oostrom)	Report	Hall 15:31' (Peter, Granitza) Hall 23:06' (Glenn, Steele) Simanton 26:05' (Granitza, Ryan) Long 34:18' (Granitza) Fajkus 40:08' (Steele, Glenn) Simanton 53:54' (Granitza, Spalding)	Stadium: Edmonton Gardens] Attendance: 5,089

March 7, 1981 Game 2	Chicago Sting	4–5	Edmonton Drillers	Chicago, Illinois
2:00 P.M. (CST)	Granitza 12:28' (Ryan, Fajkus) Steffenhagen 23:59' (Simanton, Glenn) Hall 32:33' (Mishalow) Peter 58:54' (Hall)	Report	Sweeney 31:15' (Goossens) Knight 37:57' (Haaskivi) Oostrom 40:14' (Haaskivi) Guðmundsson 46:53' Oostrom 58:49' (Haaskivi)	Stadium: Chicago Stadium Attendance: 16,257 Referee: Toros Kibritjan (USA)

1980–81 NASL Indoor Champions: Edmonton Drillers

Post season awards

Most Valuable Player: Kai Haaskivi, Edmonton
Finals MVP: Kai Haaskivi, Edmonton

gollark: * haevpoot

gollark: Idea: execute on GPU‽

gollark: Oh, you mean duckduckgoing "apgoucher" and pulling up some results which are relevant.

gollark: What exact thing?

gollark: https://stackoverflow.com/users/5130486/adam-p-goucher

References

"Tea Men are leaving N.E. for new home in Florida". The Day. November 17, 1980. p. 28. Retrieved October 24, 2016 – via Google News Archive Search.
Conklin, Mike (March 3, 1981). "Sting may be in for a surprise in finals". Chicago Tribune. p. 3, Sec 5. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
"Timbers-Sounders Game Opens NASL Indoor Season". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. December 3, 1981. p. 15-B. Retrieved October 24, 2016 – via Google News Archive Search.
https://www.newspapers.com/image/199434807/?terms=NASL%2Bindoor%2BHaaskivi
1983 Official North American Soccer League Guide
Jones, Graham L. (February 19, 1981). "Surf Beats Whitecaps, 3–0". Los Angeles Times. p. III-12. Retrieved December 20, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
Conklin, Mike (February 16, 1981). "Sting home for playoff opener". Chicago Tribune. p. 3, Sec 4. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAdBFlMvZts
Conklin, Mike (March 3, 1981). "Finn star peppers Sting with 6 goals, Edmonton wins". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, Sec 5. Retrieved 21 December 2016.

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[1] "Tea Men are leaving N.E. for new home in Florida". The Day. November 17, 1980. p. 28. Retrieved October 24, 2016 – via Google News Archive Search.

[2] Conklin, Mike (March 3, 1981). "Sting may be in for a surprise in finals". Chicago Tribune. p. 3, Sec 5. Retrieved 22 December 2016.

[3] "Timbers-Sounders Game Opens NASL Indoor Season". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. December 3, 1981. p. 15-B. Retrieved October 24, 2016 – via Google News Archive Search.

[4] ttps://www.newspapers.com/image/199434807/?terms=NASL%2Bindoor%2BHaaskivi

[5] 1983 Official North American Soccer League Guide

[6] Jones, Graham L. (February 19, 1981). "Surf Beats Whitecaps, 3–0". Los Angeles Times. p. III-12. Retrieved December 20, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.

[7] Conklin, Mike (February 16, 1981). "Sting home for playoff opener". Chicago Tribune. p. 3, Sec 4. Retrieved 22 December 2016.

[8] ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAdBFlMvZts

[9] Conklin, Mike (March 3, 1981). "Finn star peppers Sting with 6 goals, Edmonton wins". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, Sec 5. Retrieved 21 December 2016.

North American Soccer League (1968–1984)
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