The Gump Worsley Memorial Hockey League is looking to fill some ownership vacancies as we head into the 2011-2012 regular season! Read on to find out more…
Archive for the ‘News’ Category
Bulldogs to Denver; Oregon Heads Down I-5
In DEN, News, SFS on August 1, 2011 at 11:16 am
The Midland Bulldogs are pulling up roots and heading to Denver, team officials have announced. The former ‘Dogs will be reborn as the Denver Spurs beginning in the 2011-2012 season.
In a long-rumored move, the Oregon Rugrats have also found a new home, heading down the coast to become the San Francisco Seals.
Midland and Vancouver Swap Forwards
In DEN, News, Transactions, VAN on July 2, 2011 at 9:28 am
The Midland Bulldogs and Vancouver Night Train have kicked off the summer with a center-for-winger swap.
The move sends pivot Tomas Plekanec to Vancouver, who are looking to recapture the ’09-’10 form of a team that was deep up the middle, for winger David Jones.
The Bulldogs are hoping that Jones, who has played 64 games over three seasons for Vancouver, gives them a top-six goal-scorer to play alongside the likes of Vincent Lecavalier, Danny Briere, Mike Richards, and Matt Duchene. Plekanec, meanwhile, is coming off a disappointing year (21 points in 61 games) but will likely see more icetime behind Jonathan Toews on the Night Train.
Checkers, Veterans Head List of Off-Season Player Releases
In BOS, DEL, GLP, NAS, News, SAL, SCA, SFS, STE, STL, Transactions, VAN, WIN on July 1, 2011 at 6:42 pmThe GWMHL has officially announced the list of player releases due to under-use, effective immediately. The list is headlined by veterans like Mike Modano, Adam Foote, and Chris Osgood, as well as two surprises – utility winger Tomas Kopecky, formerly of Delta, and center Darren Helm, who recently helped the Salem Wannabees to its second straight Gump Cup Finals.
All players who are now free agents who, if eligible, will be available in the pre-season Free Agent Draft.
The full list:
West Virginia Wins It All! River Rats Sweep Salem to Lift the 2011 Gump Cup!
In News, SAL, WVR on June 30, 2011 at 5:35 pmThe West Virginia River Rats, headed by original GWMHL member Jim Connell, have won their first-ever Gump Cup!
After shocking the Salem Wannabees – who were in the finals for the second straight year – at home in games 1 and 2, the River Rats took it to West Virginia and sealed the sweep in front of the home crowd. They won game 3 by the score of 5-2, then took the Gump Cup with a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory that saw Alex Semin score the cup-winning goal. Semin finished tied for the playoff scoring lead with linemate Sidney Crosby. Each had 24 points in 17 games.
We’d like to congratulate Jim – you won’t find a finer GM and better guy! Congrats! And thank you to all our members on another great GWMHL season!
You can catch up on all the action from the 2010-2011 Gump Cup Playoffs right here.
Series Preview: 2011 Gump Cup Final
In News on June 28, 2011 at 10:08 amSalem 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
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 pmThe 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
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
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
2011 Playoffs: Ding, Dong, the Hawks Are Dead
In News, PWH on June 3, 2011 at 8:07 amOne 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.
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