Coach MacAdam Coach MacAdam

Gary Bernard Gary Bernard

Brian Craig Brian Craig

George Wood George Wood

Phil Handrahan Phil Handrahan

University of New Brunswick hired Don MacAdam as coach with the hope that he could turn their bad fortune of 1976-77 around. Most of the local players like Bob McSorley, Gerry Goodine, J.J. McInnis, Mark Rickard, and Gordie Tufts, along with Bobby Jones and Dave Wright went back to Junior hockey.

A big catch was grabbing goalie Gary Bernard from James M. Hill High School in Chatham. A near complete changeover in the roaster came as the Red Devils added Kevin Bolgar (Labrador City), Gordie Burns (MVHS), Jon Coster, Brian Craig (Ottawa), Bruce Dunville, Bruce Kierstead (Saint John 77s), Dan Mortimer (Gravenhurst, Ont.), Ed Pinder, Ian Pineau (PEI), John Pollabauer (Cap Pele) and Fred Slipp.
There was great relief when the Devils got great goal tending from Gary Bernard to beat Acadia 4-3 in the home opener, but they got a rude awakening the next night when St. Mary's administered a 12-1 spanking.

That debacle started an eight game losing streak that was ended by a 3-3 tie at home with Mt. A. From then on, MacAdam had the Devils play at a 4-6-1 pace that showed some signs of improvement.

UNB didn't have any of the scoring leaders, but George Wood (14-10) wasnt' far off. The team only managed to score 59 goals, but got decent production from Dave Kent (8-10) and Phil Handrahan (7-8). Dave Neill led in penalty minutes with 86, far ahead of Jon Coster (40). George Wood won the Corbett Medal as the oustanding Make Athlete of the Year for uNB.