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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

Oregon Rugrats Sold; Move to Bay Area Rumored

In News, SFS on May 27, 2011 at 12:43 pm

The Oregon Rugrats, under receivership and league control for what seems like forever, have a new owner. Mike Jordan has taken control of the team, which has just wrapped up a 29-44-7 season in which they allowed the second most goals in the league. Rumors are already swirling that the team could be moving to San Francisco in the off-season. Stay tuned!

First Round Preview: Plante Conference

In News on May 26, 2011 at 9:34 pm

#1 Salem Wannabees (53-22-7) vs. #4 El Dorado Lynx (36-35-11)

 

A late surge propelled the Lynx past the Sterling Eagles on the last day of the season. Their reward? A series against the league’s best team in Salem. The Wannabees boast perhaps the deepest forward corps in the league, including Patrick Marleau, who notched 77 goals in the regular season. The Lynx have some firepower – and a brick wall in net in Tuukka Rask – but they’ll need more than Alex Ovechkin up front to get by Salem.

Season Series
In six meetings – all in the first quarter – the season series between these two teams was 2-2-2. Unfortunately for El Dorado, they were outscored pretty handily in some of those games, including a record-setting 8-goal game for Marleau.

Salem 3 at El Dorado 4
Salem 1 at El Dorado 4
Salem 2 at El Dorado 2 (OT)
El Dorado 1 at Salem 1 (OT)
El Dorado 6 at Salem 12
El Dorado 0 at Salem 5

Top Scorers – Regular Season

Salem

LW Patrick Marleau    82  77  57  134
RW Loui Eriksson      82  42  77  119
C  Nicklas Backstrom  69  21  54   75
D  Dan Boyle          76  18  45   63
C  Pavel Datsyuk      78  28  30   58

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First Round Preview: Sawchuk Conference

In News, Special Features on May 25, 2011 at 9:50 am

#1 Portland Winterhawks (52-23-7) vs. #4  Farmington Fighting Saints (40-34-8)

 

Here they are again. The Portland Winterhawks, thanks to a late-season surge from wingers Ilya Kovalchuk and Jarome Iginla, recaptured the season conference title. But the Farmington Fighting Saints came up big late in the schedule, too, and have three 40-goal scorers in Bobby Ryan, Mikael Samuelsson, and Dustin Penner. Make no mistake – if Farmington prevails over the four-time Gump Cup champ, it will be an upset for the ages.

Season Series
A power imbalance, you say? Not so fast. In their 6 meetings during the season, Portland barely came out ahead at 3-2-1, and one of those wins needed overtime. Both teams scored in bunches, promising an exciting playoff series.

Portland 2 at Farmington 5
Portland 1 at Farmington 5
Portland 6 at Farmington 5 (OT)
Farmington 4 at Portland 4 (OT)
Farmington 7 at Portland 9
Farmington 1 at Portland 5

Top Scorers – Regular Season

Portland

LW Ilya Kovalchuk    71  52  67  119
RW Jarome Iginla     82  62  55  117
C  Joe Thornton      76  18  73   91
D  Lubomir Visnovsky 73  27  45   72
C  Jason Spezza      60  29  42   71

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Sidney Crosby Captures Scoring Crown

In News, SAL, WVR on May 24, 2011 at 11:21 am

It took until the final days of the regular season, but West Virginia River Rat Sidney Crosby has captured the GWMHL scoring title for 2010-2011.

Crosby edged out the Salem Wannabees‘ Patrick Marleau in the fourth quarter, finishing with 136 points to Marleau’s 134. Not only is it Crosby’s first scoring title – it’s the first time the star centre has led his own team in scoring. His 84 assists lead the league.

It’s no surprise that Marleau couldn’t match his record-setting early-season pace. But he still finishes with an incredible league-leading 77 goals – matching the totals of last year’s leader, Midland‘s Zach Parise.

Amazing Race: Teams Vying for Last Playoff Spots

In News on April 22, 2011 at 2:00 pm

With 18 games to go and teams vying to make the top four in their conferences and move on to the post-season, things are heating up in a big way. The 2010-2011’s final quarter is going to be a doozy.

Plante Conference

Salem and South Carolina have solid leads over their respective divisions, but Sterling and Charleston aren’t very far behind. With Baltimore falling off since a hot start, the race to watch is between El Dorado and Sterling: can Alex Ovechkin and the Lynx make up the 3-point deficit for the last playoff berth? The Eagles host El Dorado for three games in the last quarter – they could make all the difference.

PLANTE CONFERENCE
1.  SALEM           86
2.  SOUTH CAROLINA  83
3.  CHARLESTON      74
4.  STERLING        71
    ---
5.  EL DORADO       68
6.  BALTIMORE       61
7.  SOUTH PARK      59
8.  SAN DIEGO       57
9.  MIDLAND         53
10. ALTOONA         38

Sawchuk Conference

The Sawchuk is a conference of extremes:  St. Louis, Portland, and West Virginia are all playoff locks – but behind them are a number of sub-.500 teams hunting for the final spot.

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St. Louis Blues Under New Ownership

In News, STL on April 21, 2011 at 8:52 am

The GWMHL’s St. Louis Blues franchise, which had been under league control, has a new owner in Jeff Meyerhoff. Jeff takes on this team just as it seems poised for a deep Gump Cup run. Welcome, Jeff!

2011 Mid-Season Free Agent Draft Results

In News, Transactions on March 6, 2011 at 5:02 pm

A handful of teams made use of the 2011 Mid-Season Free Agent draft to shore up their lineups – but the results will likely have no bearing on this year’s playoffs. Oregon got things started by adding solid defender Colin White, Altoona opted for vet presence with Owen Nolan, and Nashville took a flyer on minor leaguer Mike Santorelli.

Read on for the complete round-by-round results.

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2010-11 Season Hits Halfway Mark

In News on February 20, 2011 at 12:15 pm

The GWMHL has reached the midway point of its 2010-11 season, and although most of the top teams from last year are still competing for divisional crowns, including league-leading Salem (26-11-3), South Carolina, West Virginia, and Portland, some dark horses have emerged. Among them: the Baltimore Crab, with a strong 23-13-4 record and a real shot at a decent playoff position, and the St. Louis Blues, looking for revenge after last year’s first-round disappointment.

There’s no secret to Salem’s record: offense, offense, offense. They have the top powerplay in the league (28.9%, nearly 6% better than the next-closest team) and are being led by Patrick Marleau, who has already reached the 40-goal plateau.

South Carolina’s Evgeni Nabokov leads all the major goaltending categories as he looks to lead the Fire Ants into the post-season. See some of the key statistical leaders after the jump!

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Night Train Deal Niittymaki

In NAS, News, Transactions, VAN on January 17, 2011 at 10:22 am

The Vancouver Night Train have dealt goaltender Antero Niittymaki to the Nashville Knights. In exchange, the Night Train get Nashville’s third round rookie pick in 2011.

It was no surprise the Train shipped Niittymaki out, as he’d fallen to third on the depth chart behind the younger Pekka Rinne and Ondrej Pavelec. In fact, the only surprise is that Vancouver would trade him to a division rival in Nashville. But both teams are faltering this season, so it’s a low-risk move all around.