The upstart West Virginia River Rats didn’t make it easy, but the El Dorado Lynx weathered a late push and closed out their series in six games with a 4-2 home win to take the 2021 championship.
It’s been nine years since Lynx superstar Alex Ovechkin last hoisted the cup. The winger scored a crucial third-period goal in the deciding game to help stave off West Virginia’s comeback bid.
Congratulations to the Lynx and their GM, Chuck Shaeffer, on an excellent season and playoffs!
The matchup is set for the 2020 Gump Cup: the El Dorado Lynx and Boston Banshees will face off in a best-of-seven series to determine this year’s top team.
The league will crown a champ other than the Salem Sabercats for the first time since 2016. El Dorado last won it all in 2012, while Boston is looking for its first championship since 1998, back when it was the Kansas City Copperheads and under different ownership.
Despite the long drought, the Banshees have an air of destiny about them heading into the series. They swept both Vancouver (no real surprise) and Delta (a much bigger one) on the road to the finals, following a magnificent 57-17-8 regular season that saw them lose just five games on the road. Still, the team is no doubt haunted by its two straight finals losses in 2017 and 2018.
The Lynx, meanwhile, came into the playoffs as the third seed in their conference, and gutted out wins against the higher seed in two straight seven-game series. And they’re doing it on the backs of unlikely heroes like Derek Ryan (who leads the team with 15 points) and Jeff Petry. As the underdogs, they may be able to take the Banshees by surprise.
The series begins this week in Boston.
The series: (2) Parry Sound (52-18-12) vs. (3) El Dorado (48-24-10)
Scoring leaders:
Parry Sound: Pastrnak (82, 38-65-103), McDavid (82, 42-54-96), Dadonov (74, 35-51-86), Kuznetsov (79, 30-44-74), Rakell (77, 30-34-64)
El Dorado: O’Reilly (81, 28-62-90), Granlund (76, 30-57-87), Ovechkin (82, 43-35-78), Petry (82, 16-54-70), Keller (82, 23-37-60)
Goalies:
Parry Sound: Rinne (57gp, 39-12-6, 2.38, .928, 6so)
El Dorado: Rask (49gp, 32-10-6, 2.39, .923, 7so)
Players to watch:
Parry Sound: Overshadowed somewhat by the team’s star centres, David Pastrnak put up a marvelous season, breaking the 100-point barrier and leading the entire league in assists with 65.
El Dorado: Jeff Petry finished second among defensemen with 70 points, an offensive explosion the team hopes will continue into the postseason.
The Parry Sound Orrsmen finished second overall with two fewer wins than it managed in ’17-’18. But a stunning loss in five games to Salem in the conference finals should have the Orrsmen hungry for a decisive opening round this year. Unlike the previous season, Parry Sound relied heavily on a single goaltender, offseason acquisition Pekka Rinne, and he was magnificent during the regular season. Some consistency in goal may be just what the doctor ordered this time around.
But it won’t be easy. After three seasons of missing the playoffs, the El Dorado Lynx are back and should make for a very tough opponent for the Orrsmen. The team didn’t make as many splashy acquisitions as its counterpart, but the biggest — centre Ryan O’Reilly — paid off in spades, as he skated to an eye-opening 90 points, with good defensive play to boot. Nobody in the league can match Parry Sound’s McDavid-Matthews-Kuznetsov trio down the middle, but O’Reilly gives the Lynx a chance of shutting one or two of them down. And the Lynx have a red-hot Finnish goalie of their own in Tuukka Rask. It’s going to be a hell of a series.
Head-to-head regular season record:
Tied 3-3-2. This should dispel any notion that this isn’t a closely matched series, as these teams fought each other to a .500 head-to-head record on both El Dorado and Parry Sound ice.
Welcome to part 2 of our season previews: a look at the Plante’s West division, which includes not one but two bonafide cup contenders. You can read our preview of the Plante East here.
Baltimore Crab
Last Season’s Finish: 47-29-6 (3rd in conference); lost in 1st round
Notable Arrivals: F Sidney Crosby, D Kevan Miller
Notable Departures: F Jonathan Drouin
After being stunned in the first round, the 2017 champs must have known they needed something to keep up with the Joneses. And they did it in a big way, flipping three draft picks and young forward Jonathan Drouin for Sidney Crosby. Already a powerhouse up front, Crosby instantly becomes the Crab’s best player and will likely centre a first line with Vladimir Tarasenko and one of Filip Forsberg or Jaden Schwartz on his wings. No team scored more in 2017-18, and the goals should flow freely again this season. Add to that a strong top-4 D, headlined by Brent Burns and Ryan McDonagh, and you have a contending recipe. The only wild card is in goal, where Roberto Luongo and Philipp Grubauer will duke it out for the starting role. Can either of them be the go-to guy over a long season and playoffs?
Verdict: Contender
Charleston Chiefs
Last Season’s Finish: 29-45-8 (8th in conference); missed playoffs
Notable Arrivals: D Haydn Fleury, D Andreas Borgman
Notable Departures: F Anze Kopitar, F Cody Eakin, F Chris Kunitz, D Luke Schenn, G Kari Lehtonen
The Chiefs’ promising season was totally undone by injuries to Jonathan Quick and Steven Stamkos. But with both vets back in the saddle, fans’ expectations may have been high — until the team unloaded Anze Kopitar. Talented prospects Casey Mittelstadt and Dylan Sikura aren’t quite ready to make the jump, outside of Viktor Arvidsson there isn’t much to get excited about on the wings, and the blueline is a bit thin after Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Morgan Rielly. Even with Stamkos and Brayden Point still patrolling the middle, the Kopitar deal took the Chiefs from a bubble team to a rebuilder.
Verdict: Rebuilding
El Dorado Lynx
Last Season’s Finish: 37-34-11 (6th in conference); missed playoffs
Notable Arrivals: F Ryan O’Reilly, F Darren Helm, D Jonas Brodin, D Alexander Edler
Notable Departures: F Teuvo Teravainen, F Torrey Mitchell, D Johnny Oduya, D Dennis Seidenberg
The Lynx have been living life on the bubble for what seems like forever now. Shrewd drafting has stocked the forward ranks with a host of exciting talent around Alexander Ovechkin: Clayton Keller, Kyle Connor, Mikael Granlund… the list goes on. It’s one of the most exciting winger groups in the league. And the Lynx can usually count on one of Tuukka Rask or Carey Price to have an “on” year. Most notably, El Dorado went out and addressed its two biggest weaknesses through trades, grabbing a top-line centre to step in for injury-plagued Ryan Kesler (Ryan O’Reilly) and acquiring Alex Edler and Jonas Brodin to fill out a less-than-stellar defense corps. The Lynx still don’t have a star puck-mover on the back end and that may cost them, but now have the pieces to make a serious run. This is squarely a playoff-bound team.
Verdict: Playoffs
Great Lakes Pilots
Last Season’s Finish: 28-49-5 (9th in conference); missed playoffs
Notable Arrivals: F Jonathan Drouin, F Nolan Patrick, F Jason Pominville, D Madison Bowey
Notable Departures: F Sidney Crosby, F Ryan Getzlaf, F Jussi Jokinen, F Brian Gionta, F Nail Yakupov
The writing was on the wall for the Pilots after a very disappointing season: It’s rebuild time. They jettisoned Crosby for Drouin and picks, then parted ways with Ryan Getzlaf too, and grabbed highly touted Nolan Patrick in the first round. It’s a promising, if painful, start. But progress will be slow. While the Pilots’ D, led by Jacob Trouba, Jake Gardiner, and Erik Johnson, is pretty solid, and the team expects Andrei Vasilevskiy to be a high-end starter for years to come, much of the team’s young talent — Patrick, Ryan Donato, Jesse Puljujarvi, Tyson Jost — is at least a season or two away from contributing to a competitive top 6. Led by Tomas Hertl, Vladislav Namestnikov, and Drouin, the Pilots will find goals and wins hard to come by in 2018-19. Especially in this division.
Verdict: Rebuilding
Parry Sound Orrsmen
Last Season’s Finish: 52-24-4 (1st in conference); lost in 2nd round
Notable Arrivals: F Evgeni Dadonov, F Blake Comeau, F Brandon Dubinsky D John Moore, D Thomas Hickey, G Pekka Rinne, G Curtis McElhinney
Notable Departures: F T.J. Oshie, D Braydon Coburn, D Ben Lovejoy, G Jimmy Howard
The league’s best team during the regular season was left reeling after being bumped in the conference finals by Salem. One reason may have been a distracting goalie platoon. The Orrsmen nipped that in the bud early in the offseason when they acquired veteran Pekka Rinne from Vancouver to take sole possession of the starter’s job, and then signed veteran backup Curtis McElhinney. Parry Sound still has the best top 9 in the entire league, led by Connor McDavid, Evgeni Kuznetsov, and Auston Matthews down the middle, and David Pastrnak‘s emergence as a top sniper makes it a truly deadly group. The Orrsmen went big at the Free Agent Draft, picking up several roleplayers who should contribute to a cup run. The defense is still lacking oomph, especially if rumours of health issues for Kevin Shattenkirk are true. But that won’t be enough to stop this powerhouse. This team wants the cup.
Verdict: Contender
In a pair of moves, the El Dorado Lynx have signalled that they’re going all-in on the upcoming season. First, the Lynx acquired veteran rearguard Alex Edler from the Vancouver Night Train, along with a 4th round pick (70th overall), for El Dorado’s 2nd round rookie pick in 2018 (29th overall). Edler leaves as the third highest-scoring defenseman in Vancouver franchise history.
Then, the Lynx swung an even bigger move, sending their 1st round pick in 2018 (9th overall) and forward Teuvo Teravainen to the rebuilding South Side Renegades for centre Ryan O’Reilly, defenseman Jonas Brodin, and South Side’s 2nd round pick (21st overall). The move simultaneously solidifies El Dorado’s shaky blueline but also provides a top-line centre to fill in for injury-plagued Ryan Kesler.
With retirement on the way and his rights on the verge of being relinquished for good, we bid adieu to one of the GWMHL’s all-time greats.
The El Dorado Lynx‘s Teemu Selanne was unquestionably one of the best offensive players in league history. After 21 seasons, all with the same franchise, Selanne is 1st all-time in both goals and points, and 4th in assists. Those records may fall in the next season or three — Jarome Iginla is 69 goals behind while the ageless Jaromir Jagr trails Selanne by just 38 points — but none of that matters today. Selanne, who began his GWMHL career as the first overall pick in the league’s first ever draft, retires a legend.
Selanne now passes the mantle to Jagr, who is now the only remaining active player from the inaugural GWMHL season.
Selanne’s legacy in a nutshell:
Check out our first retrospective about the Finnish Flash right here.
Year Name GP G A PTS +/- PIM 93-94 Rochester Chenes Royale 84 73 39 112 -25 55 94-95 Rochester Chenes Royale 42 26 19 45 -1 26 95-96 Rochester Chenes Royale 74 27 29 56 8 12 96-97 Rochester Chenes Royale 79 20 34 54 8 22 97-98 Morgan Hill Lynx 80 59 42 101 17 56 98-99 Morgan Hill Lynx 75 50 33 83 19 50 99-00 Morgan Hill Lynx 75 55 40 95 30 38 00-01 Morgan Hill Lynx 79 40 34 74 29 20 01-02 Morgan Hill Lynx 73 31 47 78 45 44 02-03 Morgan Hill Lynx 82 35 30 65 19 66 03-04 Morgan Hill Lynx 82 24 28 52 28 38 04-06 El Dorado Lynx 78 11 8 19 -22 44 06-07 El Dorado Lynx 80 48 64 112 16 76 07-08 El Dorado Lynx 82 57 55 112 32 12 08-09 El Dorado Lynx 26 12 19 31 7 18 09-10 El Dorado Lynx 69 29 35 64 -11 56 10-11 El Dorado Lynx 54 26 34 60 21 16 11-12 El Dorado Lynx 73 32 54 86 11 37 12-13 El Dorado Lynx 82 25 52 77 18 64 13-14 El Dorado Lynx 46 14 17 31 2 24 14-15 El Dorado Lynx 59 3 7 10 -4 10 Totals 1,474 697 720 1,417 247 896
The El Dorado Lynx have sent winger Andrei Kostitsyn to conference rivals, the Denver Spurs. In return, the Lynx pick up journeyman forward Chris Thorburn and a 4th round pick.
Just one point separates the Spurs (24-14-2) from the Lynx (23-14-3) in the Plante. Will Kostitsyn have an impact on a squad that’s thin on the wing? Time will tell.
There were few big surprises on draft day in terms of players selected, but several GWMHL teams still managed to make ripples with some bold trades.
The Delta Sturgeons kicked things off by selecting dynamic centre Ryan Nugent-Hopkins first overall, but then the Boston Banshees – who had moved up several spots in the draft lottery – decided to make some noise. Boston dealt the second overall pick to the San Francisco Seals for the Seals’ first rounder (7th overall, Ryan Ellis) and power forward Milan Lucic. To no one’s surprise, the Seals took Gabriel Landeskog with the pick.
Other moves included Delta dealing forward Valtteri Filppula to the El Dorado Lynx for El Dorado’s first rounder (15th, Brendan Smith), Boston flipping a third rounder to the Lynx for steady defender Matt Greene, and the Ice Harbor Storm trading some picks to the Great Lakes Pilots for a selection next year.
Round 1
1. Delta – F Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
2. San Francisco (from Boston) – F Gabriel Landeskog
3. Charleston – F Sean Couturier
4. Ice Harbor – D Adam Larsson
5. Pittsburgh – D Slava Voynov
6. Baltimore – F Mark Scheifele
7. Boston (from San Francisco) – D Ryan Ellis
8. Winnipeg – F Sven Baertschi
9. Farmington – F Ryan Johansen
10. Great Lakes – D Jake Gardiner
11. Denver – F Carl Hagelin
12. Saint Louis – F Jaden Schwartz
13. South Carolina – F Matt Read
14. Nashville – D Justin Faulk
15. Delta (from El Dorado) – D Brendan Smith
16. Portland – F Brett Connolly
17. West Virginia – F Andrew Shaw
18. Sterling – F Mika Zibanejad
19. Vancouver – F Zack Kassian
20. Salem – F Gustav Nyquist
Round 2
21. Delta – F Marcus Foligno
22. Ice Harbor – D Erik Gudbranson
23. Pittsburgh – D Stefan Elliott
24. Baltimore – F Cam Atkinson
25. San Francisco – F Cory Emmerton
26. Winnipeg – D Jared Cowen
27. Farmington – F Craig Smith
28. Charleston – F Cody Eakin
29. Great Lakes – F Tommy Wingels
30. Denver – D Tim Erixon
31. South Carolina – F Gabriel Bourque
32. Saint Louis – D Simon Despres
33. Boston – D Alexei Emelin
34. Nashville – D Roman Josi
35. El Dorado – F Brandon Saad
36. Portland – D David Rundblad
37. West Virginia – D David Savard
38. Sterling – D Dmitry Orlov
39. Vancouver – F Devante Smith-Pelly
40. Salem – G Allen York
Round 3
41. Delta – G Matt Hackett
42. Ice Harbor – F Peter Holland
43. Pittsburgh – F Reilly Smith
44. Baltimore – F Scott Glennie
45. San Francisco – D Raphael Diaz
46. Winnipeg – G Thomas Greiss
47. Farmington – F David Ullstrom
48. Charleston – D Brayden McNabb
49. Great Lakes – D Erik Gustafsson
50. Great Lakes – (from Denver via Ice Harbor) – F Marcus Kruger
51. South Carolina – F Louis Leblanc
52. Saint Louis – D Alexander Urbom
53. El Dorado (from Boston) – D Mattias Ekholm
54. Nashville – F Tyson Barrie
55. El Dorado – F Dwight King
56. Portland – D Matt Donovan
57. West Virginia – F Roman Horak
58. Sterling – F Carter Ashton
59. Vancouver – F Corey Tropp
60. Salem – D Dylan Olsen
Round 4
61. Delta – D Paul Postma
62. Great Lakes (from Ice Harbor) – F Anton Lander
63. Pittsburgh – F Akim Aliu
64. Baltimore – F Tomas Vincour
65. San Francisco – G Ben Scrivens
66. Winnipeg – D TJ Brennan
67. Farmington – F Carl Klingberg
68. Charleston – G Anders Nilsson
69. Great Lakes – F Joakim Andersson
70. Denver – D Calvin de Haan
71. South Carolina – F Aaron Palushaj
72. Saint Louis – F Nick Johnson
73. Charleston (from Boston) – D Marc-Andre Bourdon
74. Nashville – G Richard Bachman
75. El Dorado – F Jason Zucker
76. Portland – G Anton Khudobin
77. West Virginia – F Kaspars Daugavins
78. Sterling – D Matt Taormina
79. Vancouver – F Jimmy Hayes
80. Salem – D Cade Fairchild
The El Dorado Lynx, a franchise that won it all in 2004 only to miss the playoffs for five straight seasons, are your new Gump Cup Champions!
The Lynx beat the defending champs, the West Virginia River Rats, in seven games: a hard-fought back-and-forth series with no shortage of intrigue. For one, the River Rats were missing leading scorer Sidney Crosby since game 4.
The Rats opened the scoring in game 7 with an unassisted tally by Eric Staal, his 10th of the postseason. West Virginia made it 2-0 as the second period was windown down – this time thanks to Corey Perry.
The Lynx wouldn’t get onto the board until early in the third. With El Dorado defenseman Eric Brewer serving a penalty, the Lynx managed to confuse the Rats’ powerplay unit and take advantage, with Vern Fiddler feeding veteran Jamie Langenbrunner for the shorthanded goal.
2-1 was the score until the last minutes of regulation, as Andrei Kostitsyn beat Ryan Miller, assisted by brother Sergei and Fiddler, to tie the game at two.
That set the stage for the most exciting situation in hockey: overtime in game 7. The home team was reeling from El Dorado’s late-game attack. Just three minutes in, Alex Ovechkin fed Christian Ehrhoff, who dished to one-time first overall pick Tuomo Ruutu, acquired by El Dorado in 2010. The winger made no mistake, beating Miller cleanly and earning the right to hoist the Gump Cup.
Plante Conference Semifinals
#1 Salem Wannabees (54-16-12) vs. #4 South Carolina Fire Ants (34-40-8)
Another year, another Salem powerhouse. Once again, no team was better in the regular season – or even really very close. The Wannabees have it all: scoring, defense, goaltending. That’ll make for a tough slog for a plucky, often-undermanned South Carolina, whose sub-.500 record was still enough to snag the last playoff spot.
Season Series: Salem won 4-1-1
#2 Sterling Eagles (44-24-14) vs. #3 El Dorado Lynx (43-27-12)
This is the Eagles’ first playoff appearance since 2006-2007 and they have goaltending to thank for it. Tim Thomas will lead the way for a team that allowed just 157 goals during the regular season (no other team had fewer than 200). The Lynx, meanwhile, finished just four points back of Sterling, so it’ll be tight — especially if the ageless Teemu Selanne plays the way he did all year. Of note: both teams averaged under 2 goals per game against each other during the regular season, and they even played to a 0-0 tie.
Season Series: Tied 2-2-2
Sawchuk Conference Semifinals
#1 Vancouver Night Train (49-26-7) vs. #4 Nashville Knights (39-32-11)
After finishing with just 72 points last season, the Night Train bounced back and captured the conference crown, narrowly avoiding a first-round series against Portland. The Night Train weren’t exactly dominant all year but found a way to win, largely thanks to Jonathan Toews and a cast of clutch scorers. The question is, can Pekka Rinne get his act together? And will Nashville be able to overcome their paper-thin D, as they did for much of the season?
Season Series: Vancouver won 6-1-1
#2 West Virginia River Rats (46-27-9) vs. #3 Portland Winterhawks (45-29-8)
The two highest-scoring teams of the regular season [check Salem] go head-to-head in the opening round. Can the Winterhawks get their dynasty back on track against the reigning Gump Cup champs? Crosby, Thornton. Staal, Spezza. Perry, Iginla. Vanek, Kovalchuk. This should be fun for everyone but the goaltenders.
Season Series: West Virginia won 4-1-1
Gump Worsley Memorial Hockey League 