GWMHL

Archive for the ‘Special Features’ Category

What Got Us Here: 5 Trades That Shaped Today’s GWMHL

In GLP, SAL, SCA, Special Features, WIN, WVR on June 29, 2011 at 6:16 pm

With trading set to reopen once the finals are done and back-room talks already ramping up, it’s a good time to look back at some of the bigger deals in recent years – the moves that shook the GWMHL, shifted the balance of power, and got us where we are today.

GMs haven’t exactly been shy about moving marquee names, but these five game-changing trades are different: their effect is still being felt in the GWMHL today.

5. South Carolina trades Dany Heatley, Braydon Coburn, and Rich Peverley to Salem for Loui Eriksson, Jeff Carter, and Tomas Kaberle (2010)

Why? Heatley, Peverley and Coburn are all producers for the Fire Ants, there’s no question. Heatley, in particular has scored 38 and 40 goals as a Fire Ant, and the trade is pretty equal when you consider each team’s needs at the time.

But the move came at a time when the Wannabees were turning into serious contenders. If there’s a move that made its current run to the Gump Cup Finals possible, it’s this one. Eriksson has already had two 40-goal years for the Wannabees, and tallied 119 points this season. Carter had a down year behind Pavel Datsyuk and Nicklas Backstrom but is only a season removed from 54 goals. And Kaberle took a deep defense corps and made it ridiculous.

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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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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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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

The 5 Most Surprising Breakthroughs of 2010-2011

In BAL, PWH, SFS, Special Features, STL on May 28, 2011 at 10:46 am

Every year, players rise, players fall. Here are five who unexpectedly broke through in the 2010-2011 regular season, shattered their own career numbers, or otherwise made a difference.

5. RW Tyler Kennedy, Saint Louis Blues

Cast as a roleplayer, Kennedy found himself playing with some of Saint Louis excellent group of centres and delivered with a rock-solid 24 goals. Of those, 5 were game-winners.

4. RW Alexandre Burrows, Baltimore Crab

Burrows’ stock has been rising every season, but nobody saw his 49-goal 2010-2011 performance coming. The agitator led the Crab in scoring on a team that also features names like Evgeni Malkin, Daniel Sedin, and Anze Kopitar. Burrows also led the team in plus-minus and scored 8 shorthanded goals.

3. D Lubomir Visnovsky, Portland Winterhawks

Visnovsky is an excellent offensive defenseman – he’s shown it before and has even cracked the 70-point barrier a couple of times. But he added goal-scoring to his resume in 2010-2011, exploding in the second half to finish with 27 goals – more than any other defenseman in the league.

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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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5 Draft Day Near-Rejects Who Made It Big

In DEN, FFS, PIT, Special Features, STE, WIN, WVR on May 21, 2011 at 11:48 am

There’s no art to the late-round draft steal. You take a deep breath and pray… and probably release your pick before he ever plays a game. While quite a few serviceable players have squeaked into the high seventies in the GWMHL Rookie Draft over the years – especially goaltenders – rare is the player taken in the last few picks who makes a real impact.

But here are five taken in the final 10 slots of their respective drafts who defied the odds and made an impact.

5. LW Kyle Calder, 77th overall in 2000 by Staten Island

Winger Calder never lived up to his potential, more or less settling into a 10-15 goal groove for the Staten Island Gems and San Diego Gulls early in his career. But he makes our list for one reason alone: possibly the most surprising single campaign in league history. In 2006-2007, Calder went on a sudden tear, scoring 60 goals and amassing 110 points with the Gulls.

He disappeared just as quickly, chasing his breakthrough with 8 goals total over his next three seasons, then obscurity.

Year   Name                       GP    G    A  PTS  +/-  PIM
01-02  Staten Island Gems         24    0    2    2  -13   10
02-03  Staten Isle Gems           81   14   35   49    0   79
03-04  Staten Island Gems         82   12   13   25   -6   36
04-06  San Diego Gulls            40   13   12   25    4   15
06-07  San Diego Gulls            79   60   50  110   23   52
07-08  San Diego Gulls            69    5   10   15  -12   30
08-09  San Diego Gulls            64    2    5    7  -21   20
09-10  San Diego Gulls            61    1    9   10  -11   18
                  Totals         439  106  127  233  -25  242

4. G Olaf Kolzig, 76th overall in 1994 by Tidewater

Kolzig was taken last overall by Portland in ’94, and he’d be much further up the list if his career numbers – a career goals against average way on the wrong side of 3.00 – weren’t so shaky. But Kolzig was a solid starter in the GWMHL for many seasons, despite playing for some struggling teams. He gets major points for longevity.

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All-Time Greats, Part 1: Keith Tkachuk

In IHS, Special Features on May 13, 2011 at 10:03 am

In 2009-2010, Ice Harbor Storm winger Keith Tkachuk overtook Jaromir Jagr for the GWMHL all-time lead in points and passed Brendan Shanahan for career goals.

Tkachuk will retire at the end of this season. And although this season’s edition of the Storm – a rebuilding squad that’s on its way to missing the playoffs – might not have been able to provide the perfect last hurrah for the winger, he still hangs them up with a Gump Cup in 1999 and well over 600 goals and 1300 points to his name. He’s the first GWMHL player to break either of those barriers and one of the best players the league has seen.

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Milestone: Martin Brodeur Becomes Winningest Goalie

In PWH, Special Features on May 10, 2011 at 11:49 am

A major record fell this season with very little fanfare. Time to right that wrong.

Portland Winterhawks starter Martin Brodeur has taken over the lead in career wins by a goaltender in the GWMHL, surpassing former Winterhawk Dominik Hasek. Brodeur also became the first netminder to break the 400-win barrier. As of the fourth quarter, Brodeur has 416 career wins to Hasek’s 395. The only other active goaltender in the top five is South Park‘s Roberto Luongo with 292.

It’s a bittersweet milestone – many would have liked to have seen Brodeur hit it with the El Dorado Lynx franchise, with whom he played 15 seasons and won three Gump Cups before being traded to Portland at the 2010 draft. But when the team moved to El Dorado, the team went into rebuild mode and Brodeur was shipped out for Tuomo Ruutu. Of course, it works out for everybody – the Lynx shore up their forward corps and Brodeur gets another shot at a championship.

You can find more historical stats on the League History page. Stay tuned – we’ve got a lot of seasons yet to add!

Current Career Win Leaders

1	Martin Brodeur		416
2	Dominik Hasek		395
3	Curtis Joseph		365
4	Roberto Luongo		292
5	Patrick Roy		274