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Series Preview: 2011 Gump Cup Final

In News on June 28, 2011 at 10:08 am

Salem Wannabees (53-22-7) vs. West Virginia River Rats (51-22-9)



When the Portland Winterhawks were ousted in the first round, it guaranteed that a different team would hoist the Gump Cup for the first time since 2006.


Now, with the conference finals in the books, we know that whatever teams wins it all in 2011 will be champs for the very first time in franchise history.


The Salem Wannabees and West Virginia River Rats are two elite teams looking to put 16 seasons of futility behind them. Salem made the finals last year but fell to the Portland dynasty, while the River Rats haven’t been this far since 2002-2003.


The series featuring two teams that stack up very well. Both boast deep, balanced defense corps. Salem probably has a slight edge up front, West Virginia in goal. It’ll be a doozy.


Season Series 

Although the Salem narrowly earned home ice advantage in the final, that’s could prove misleading: the Wannabees and River Rats met only twice in the regular season and the home team lost both times. Salem hammered the Rats in West Virginia but were facing backup Brent Johnson, while the Rats topped the ‘Bees in Salem. Two high-scoring games and an interesting wrinkle for this final series.


Salem 7 at West Virginia 5
West Virginia 6 at Salem 4


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Draft Lottery 2011: Nashville Grabs Top Pick; South Park Moves Up

				In DEL, GLP, IHS, NAS, News, WIN on June 25, 2011 at 12:46 pm

				

					
The 2011 GWMHL Draft Lottery, which determines the order of the first twelve picks in the first round of the 2011 Rookie Draft, was held today with several GMs were in attendance for the real-time announcement, waiting to see win big – and hoping their teams didn’t tumble.


The Nashville Knights took the number one overall pick. No surprise, since the Knights finished dead last in the 2010-2011 regular season. That gave them the best shot at the top choice and the hockey gods delivered.


The second pick was a surprise. The South Park Cows‘ new ownership will have a chance to make a major stamp on the team with the number two pick. The Cows moved all the way up from sixth.


The Altoona Railroaders, who were second-to-last in the regular season and are currently vacant, slotted in at third overall.


The draft order for the first round of the 2011 Rookie Draft will be as follows:


1. Nashville

2. South Park

3. Altoona

4. Ice Harbor

5. Delta

6. Oregon

7. Vancouver

8. Baltimore

9. Boston

10. San Diego

11. Midland

12. Sterling

13. El Dorado

14. Farmington

15. South Carolina

16. Charleston

17. Saint Louis

18. West Virginia

19. Portland

20. Salem



		
	
														

			


			

					

				

				
2010-2011 Milestone Roundup

				In GLP, PWH, SFS, Special Features, WVR on June 16, 2011 at 5:34 pm

				

					
Today we wrap up our look at some of the individual milestones reached in 2010-2011.


Of course, Portland’s Jarome Iginla hit 500 goals and teammate Martin Brodeur became the all-time leader in career wins. But Iginla was, in fact, one of four players – along with fellow Winterhawk Joe Thornton, South Park’s Nicklas Lidstrom, and Oregon’s Mike Modano – to crack 1000 career points this year.


In Lidstrom’s case, it’s especially noteworthy: he’s the all-time points leader for defensemen and is the first blueliner in league history to break 1000. He now sits at 1006 in his career and shows few signs of slowing down.


Meanwhile, it was a watershed moment when Ice Harbor’s Keith Tkachuk, the league’s leader in career goals and points, hung them up. He wasn’t the only retiree of note. The season also saw the swan song of West Virginia defenseman – and one-time Tkachuk teammate – Scott Niedermayer, who is second all-time in points for a defensemen with 885.


Recent Midland release Bill Guerin (446 career goals, 11th all-time), Delta’s Slava Kozlov (830 points, 20th all-time), and free agent Rod Brind’amour (952 points, 15th all-time) also announced their retirement. The Boston Banshees’ Paul Kariya – 10th all-time with 449 goals – is also likely going to hang them up.


Lots more all-time leaders, from the very best to disasters of Kent Mandervillian proportions, can be found here.

														

			


			

					

				

				
The 5 Biggest Letdowns of 2010-2011

				In BOS, CHA, Special Features, STE, STL, VAN on June 11, 2011 at 8:34 am

				

					
Who doesn’t like a feel-good story? When a player breaks through and makes a difference, it makes for good headlines… to bury in the sports pages next to the cricket scores.


Because if there’s one thing we all like more than a feel-good story, it’s a tale of misery and woe. An 82-game car wreck.


Failure is fun.


So here it is – the companion to our profile of the biggest breakthroughs of 2010-2011 in the form of five brilliantly disastrous performances from the season gone by.


5. Justin Williams, Charleston Chiefs


Williams has had all kinds of injury trouble in recent years, but the Charleston winger is a lot better than the four – four! – goals he scored in 38 games this year. The Chiefs needed a big bounce-back season from him after a one-goal 2009-2010, and he quadrupled that output, so… success?


4. Cam Ward, Saint Louis Blues


Saint Louis was one of the league’s best teams for much of the season, so it’s weird to list their starting goaltender. But Ward just wasn’t very good. His .901 save percentage – a big drop from last season – doesn’t say “starter on a league-leading team” and if it wasn’t for Scott Clemmensen’s 15-5-2 record, the Blues might have struggled to make the post-season at all.


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Series Preview: Plante Final

				In News on June 6, 2011 at 3:32 pm

				

					
#1 Salem Wannabees (53-22-7) vs. #2 Charleston Chiefs (43-26-13)




There could have been two first-round upsets in the Plante Conference and instead there were none. But both Salem and Charleston were pushed to the absolute limit in their respective series – seven hard-fought games that put their regular season success to the test.


While Salem is coming off a series that saw a hot goaltender put a kink in their vaunted offense, the Chiefs actually scored pretty well in the opening round – and have a weapon in net as well in Miikka Kiprusoff, whose .919 is the best save percentage of any goalie left in the playoffs. But several key Chiefs are going to need to get it going to get past Salem – notably Rick Nash, who has just one goal in seven game. If the Wannabees can shut down Steven Stamkos – and they have a blueline that could do it – they’re going to the finals. 


Season Series 

Salem had the decided advantage in the six games these teams played against each other during the regular season. They won 4, and pasted the Chiefs twice in Charleston. The Chiefs did steal one in Salem late in the season, though, and they’ll need to recapture that spirit to have any chance in this series.


Salem 8 at Charleston 4
Salem 5 at Charleston 1
Salem 1 at Charleston 1 (OT)
Charleston 4 at Salem 5
Charleston 3 at Salem 2
Charleston 1 at Salem 4


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Series Preview: Sawchuk Final

				In News on June 5, 2011 at 4:09 pm

				

					
#2 West Virginia River Rats (51-22-9) vs. #4 Farmington Fighting Saints (40-34-8)




What does a Sawchuk Final feel like when it doesn’t involve Portland? After five long years, we’ll finally find out. And we’re in for a great series. The match-up between West Virginia and Farmington has a little everything – and is a lot more evenly matched than you might think. The Fighting Saints are riding high on the momentum from a stunning six-game upset of the Winterhawks in the first round. The River Rats, meanwhile, went down to the wire with Saint Louis.


While the Fighting Saints deployed both of their netminders in the first round, neither Jose Theodore (4 games, 5.00, .843) nor Niklas Backstrom (2 games, 4.00, .899) held up especially well against the Portland attack – and the Rats have plenty of that. The River Rats also have the edge in veteran leadership on the back end in the form of future Hall of Famer Scott Niedermayer. But nobody’s scored more in these playoffs than Mikael Samuelsson, who had 9 goals in just six games.


Season Series 

The River Rats had a much better regular season record, but the season series between these two teams was, incredibly, deadlocked at four wins apiece. Both succumbed to blowout losses on home ice and neither team managed consecutive wins in their eight games against each other.


West Virginia 6 at Farmington 4
West Virginia 2 at Farmington 4
West Virginia 8 at Farmington 2
West Virginia 0 at Farmington 3
Farmington 1 at West Virginia 6
Farmington 4 at West Virginia 3
Farmington 3 at West Virginia 4
Farmington 8 at West Virginia 2


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All-Time Greats, Part 2: Teemu Selanne

				In EDH, Special Features on June 4, 2011 at 2:04 pm

				

					
When Ice Harbor’s Keith Tkachuk hung them up this year, he did  it with his name in the GWMHL record books as the league’s all-time leader in goals and points. But Tkachuk’s records aren’t safe – not as long as El Dorado winger Teemu Selanne is still in the hunt.


This season, Selanne passed Joe Sakic on the all-time points list, is just four behind Brendan Shanahan and 13 behind Jaromir Jagr. He notched his 600th career goal this season, and trails Shanahan by just two. Tkachuk is still 36 goals ahead – but the lead is in sight.


Selanne was the first overall draft pick in the first-ever GWMHL Rookie Draft in 1993. Since then, he’s been one of the league’s most consistent offensive performers – all with the same franchise. He’s scored 50 goals four times and 40 twice. And the scary part? He’s still good. Hobbled by injuries this year, he still managed 26 goals in 54 games.


Selanne was also been a key player in one of the most fascinating dramas to unfold in Gump Cup history.


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2011 Playoffs: Ding, Dong, the Hawks Are Dead

				In News, PWH on June 3, 2011 at 8:07 am

				

					
One of the biggest questions heading into this post-season was who, if anyone, could do the impossible and unseat the Portland Winterhawks.


Winners of four straight Gump Cups, the ‘Hawks quietly put together another great regular season and looked poised to keep their dynasty going. Their scorers were clicking. Their blueline was about as good as it’s ever been. And they had Martin Brodeur.


That all came crashing down this week as the Winterhawks were ousted in the first round by the Sawchuk Conference’s bottom seed, the Farmington Fighting Saints.


It took six games – but the Saints won twice in Portland and made Brodeur look fallible. The winningest goalie in GWMHL history finished the series with horrible numbers, including a 4.87 GAA and a save percentage of just .835. Farmington’s netminding was no great shakes, either – it was a high-scoring series – but they got it where it counted. Mikael Samuelsson led the way with 9 goals, including a hat trick in the deciding game.


The Fighting Saints now await the winner of the other Sawchuk semifinal, either Saint Louis or West Virginia. And the Winterhawks have a long, long off-season to think about what went wrong. For the first time since 2006, the GWMHL will crown a new champ.


Click here to see all the latest 2011 playoff results!

														

			


			

					

				

				
Does Darryl Sydor Hold the Most Unbreakable GWMHL Record?

				In SFS, Special Features on May 31, 2011 at 8:31 am

				

					
"Hee hee. I'm famous."


In a record-breaking year that saw some of this league’s all-time greats put their names into the history books, one name went neglected.


Darryl Sydor.


The defenseman, who announced his retirement this year, has the distinction of the worst career plus-minus in the GWMHL.


In fact, so amazing was Sydor’s defensive ineptitude throughout his career that no other player is even close. His -350 puts him 158 ahead of… uh… behind… former teammate Frantisek Kaberle.


Sydor’s statistical dominance is virtually unchallengeable.


Sydor’s GWMHL career ended this year with that ultimate indignity – being released by the Oregon Rugrats at mid-season. Fortunately, the Rugrats’ Nick Boynton and Matt Cullen have the worst career plus-minus numbers of all active players, so there’s something for fans to cheer for.


What were those relocation rumors again?


Worst Career Plus-Minus


Darryl Sydor      -350
Frantisek Kaberle -192
Nick Boynton      -183
Darcy Tucker      -183
Matt Cullen       -166

														

			


			

					

				

				
Milestone: Iginla Joins 500 Goal Club

				In News, PWH on May 28, 2011 at 12:02 pm

				

					
Portland Winterhawks winger Jarome Iginla has become just the 6th player ever to join the 500 goal club.


He now has 502 career goals, two more than Brett Hull, and sits at 5th all-time.


Iginla joined the Portland dynasty in 2007 as part of a landmark 7-player trade. He instantly became a part of one of the most potent lines in league history with Joe Thornton and Ilya Kovalchuk.


Iginla’s led the GWMHL in points three times and holds the all-time single season record with 171 in the 2008-2009 season – a campaign that also saw him score 81 goals. He’s one of the best pure goal scorers in the league, and if he wasn’t a lock for the Hall of Fame before, he sure is now.


Career Goals (through 2010-2011)


1  Keith Tkachuk      659
2  Brendan Shanahan   625
3  Teemu Selanne      623
4  Jaromir Jagr       534
5  Jarome Iginla      502
6  Brett Hull         500
7  Mats Sundin        463
8  Peter Bondra       461
9  Sergei Fedorov     460
10 Paul Kariya        449