GWMHL

Archive for the ‘STL’ Category

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

Advertisement

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

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!

St. Louis Leading The Way After First Quarter

In News, STL on January 10, 2011 at 10:59 am

With 20 games in the books, the St. Louis Blues lead the league with a 14-6-0 record. But a number of teams are close behind, including the surprising Baltimore Crab (12-5-3) and the less-surprising West Virginia River Rats (11-4-5).

Thanks to a single record-breaking game, Patrick Marleau of the Salem Wannabees leads the league in points (36 points, including 21 goals) but he’s followed closely by a couple of familiar faces, the Portland Winterhawks‘ Jarome Iginla and Ilya Kovalchuk. Surprises so far? Oregon‘s Wojtek Wolski (32 points), St. Louis’ Jussi Jokinen (28 points), and Vancouver‘s Rene Bourque (18 goals).

Sterling‘s Tim Thomas is off to a red-hot start between the pipes, boasting a 1.79 GAA and .945 save percentage in 10 games. More impressive might be South Carolina netminder Evgeni Nabokov, who’s started all 20 games for the Fire Ants and already has 5 shutouts.

%d bloggers like this: