The FUNHL

Omnivore Update

2012-02-14T09:06:00.000-08:00

Hey all,

As requested Mike ;-)

Note the baseline stats include Monday nights games which the Actual standings do not include. Also goalie stats are marginally off but you get the idea...

Not sure what to make of the fact that we are all more or less in the positive?

Dan

Post-WD2 FUNHL Week 20 Rosters

2012-02-13T13:52:00.001-08:00

Well, there are still Six teams (a mere 41 pt spread) in the hunt for the Predator Cup and only two Challenge Cup positions left that are not clinched mathematically. The difference between first and third is only 25 points, though the Great Whites need to be mindful of the teams behind them trying to hack at their lead are thus far unsuccessful. Now that WD2 is over, I am using the Grim Reaper logo this week. No more new players other than what is on your rosters and what trades you can endeavour to make.

Good luck all, in the trades you make, and if you don't try, it'll be over sooner than later. The Grim Reaper also represents the distinction between the contender and pretender. Again, good luck all.

Rosters will be posted here from emails.

Week 19 Stats

2012-02-13T11:48:00.001-08:00

Week 19 Stats So Far, The +/- is a Bitch Edition

2012-02-10T13:41:00.000-08:00

FUNHL Week 19 Rosters and Provisional WD2 Drops

2012-02-06T10:17:00.000-08:00

Well I don't think we have ever had 7 teams within 45 points going into WD2, or 6 within 33 points or 5 within 26 points and that includes a relative tie for 1st and 5th places.

Thank goodness the stats look good going INTO WD2 and the Challenge cup corrected as well. Doug has been under the gun All year (hence one line-up glyph was an actual gun).

Please submit your line-ups and your provisional drops for WD2 either in your email or on the blog. Cut and pastes will soon start.

I thought the old "I Want To Believe" was the appropriate tag-line poster this week with the stats still being so close.

Good Luck All!

Final Drops Due by Sat.Feb 11th at noon mst. WD2 STARTS AT 11AM MST ON Sun.Feb 12 at 11am mst on Sykpe. By the way, FUNHL trade deadline is by 6pm on Mon.Mar 5th.

Take Care.

Week 18 Stats and WD2 Draft Order

2012-02-06T09:41:00.000-08:00

Updated (and presumably more accurate) Stats as of Week 18's Saturday Night

2012-02-05T14:14:00.000-08:00

Ok, think we are more accurate now. Had discovered an error in Bob's stats that exposed some mistakes in a few other teams stats. The mistakes were not made in a particular week but rather the result of trades where I would neglect to blank out those weeks that a player was not on a team. The result would show up as a team playing 4 centers or 4 left wingers, even though at the time I did the week in question the stats were accurate. The spreadsheet however now would have a mistake in a previous week and hence the total would be off. Cam, one of the teams where I discovered the error, had thought something was up with his stats a few weeks ago but I couldn't see what the problem was until just recently - thanks for pointing it out.

I think we are good now but things should be good now but please if you do think something is off with your pts (either for a week or the overall total) let me know and I can try and double check. Now that I am more aware of the source of these sort of issues I am much quicker at finding the problem.

The changes in some of the stats has resulted in corrections to the Challenge Cup games and those corrections have also been made.

Week 18 final stats should be out tomorrow - don't forget to include your provisional drops in your line-ups.

Thanks again and thanks to Bob for posting all the line-ups to the Blog. It makes this sooooo much easier.

Week 18 FUNHL Line-ups

2012-01-30T07:24:00.000-08:00

Well, the All-Star break is over officially kicking off the second half of the season leading WD2 during Week 19 and then the 3 week run to our trade deadline.

As the Official stats are getting sorted, we are hitting the mid-game - will there be buyers and sellers or will hope spring eternal for all with desires of conquest.

Mr Pink wants a "cooler" name, but don't lose an ear...

Line-ups below, with the usual monday 6pm mst deadline...

Will be copied/pasted if sent by email...

Thanks

Unofficial - especially re Shadowmen - Week 17 Stats

2012-01-29T14:16:00.000-08:00

Hi guys. I have a little toddler who is now awake and trying to pull apart my laptop so I can't double check what is wrong with Bob's overall totals, but I am sure something is - what with all his trades. That said, I think the stats for the week are correct and, in fact, other that Bob's total number I think it is all good. I believe that Bob should be at about 555pts and in 4th place. Hopefully I can confirm where I made my mistake soon. There was one other adjustment that I had to correct with Chris' last couple of weeks where I forgot that he no longer had Hemsky and Stewart for the last two weeks - I only think I was out a couple of pts but in case anyone was wondering.

If anyone sees anything else amis, let me know.

Week 16 - Stats Are Done

2012-01-23T10:24:00.000-08:00

All-Star Short Week 17 for the FUNHL

2012-01-23T08:21:00.000-08:00

Well a short week 17 falls across the FUNHL as we have officially just crossed the midpoint of the NHL season.

Rosters will be placed below, emailed, or not...

"SO SAY WE ALL..."

WD2 Date finalized and other matters...

2012-01-22T15:42:00.000-08:00

As they say..."i could have been a contender"; maybe or maybe not.

A super close race relatively speaking as we hit a very short 3 gameday All-Star week.

The weekend afterwards is the superbowl.

So Allow for the greatest number of FUNHL GMs, the DC announces that WD2 will officially be on Sunday, Feb 12th at 11 AM MST on Sykpe.

Official Drops due by noon MST on Saturday, Feb 11th UNLESS catastrophic injury that occurs Saturday pm. (Giordano precedent in WD1)

NHL trade deadline is Feb 27th.

FUNHL trade deadline is Monday, March 5th at 6pm MST.

Buyers and Sellers BEWARE!

By the Way, VanReimsdyk-L PHI can bid now for week 17 as Weaver-D FLA...both without status and injured.

Any problem post here or email me

BC for the DC

FUNHL Week 16 Line-Ups

2012-01-16T12:14:00.000-08:00

The ALL-Star game is coming up as is WD2 (Feb4/5 - SuperBowl or Feb 11/12) - still undetermined...but NHL trade deadline is Feb 27th meaning the FUNHL trade deadline is Monday March 5th at 6 pm MST.

Alas The race is close still, but the spread is increasing. All of us are part of the Walking Dead, so be wary of your roster moves...

Posted Line-ups here from Email, etc

Week 15 - Here We Are, New Year Delay Edition

2012-01-16T10:30:00.000-08:00

Sorry that there were no mid-week updates for this week but work has been crazy busy.

Week 14 Stats - Something Positive Bruin for Wolves and Ramapithicines

2012-01-13T22:07:00.000-08:00

Hi guys, I can't explain how crazy busy the last few weeks have been and I know that there will be more of the same coming up. That said, I have a quiet night at home and a chance to get some of these stats out. I had no idea that we had a change in the Predator Cup leader slot last week or that the Wolves shot up half-way up the standings in one week but that is the power, and allure, of playing multiple players +/-. There are risks, to be sure, but right now playing your Bruins +/- seems like money in the bank.

FUNHL Week 15 Line-Ups

2012-01-08T11:19:00.000-08:00

DeathNote is a watchword when it comes to line-up decisions...Using +/- or picking your TG or dressing a certain player on hunch...hmmm...

We are halfway through the NHL season and the tides may be changing...

Rosters will be placed here from Email...

Week 13 Ends, Happy New Year

2012-01-02T14:20:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! -- FUNHL Week 14 Line-Ups

2012-01-02T10:00:00.000-08:00

So, we begin the new year with a tremendous close battle for top prize. Good luck to all in the final battle during this leap year...

Line-ups will be posted here.

Week 13 - Friday Night Stats

2011-12-31T06:22:00.000-08:00

Final games of 2011 are tonight.

Week 13 - Thursday Night Stats

2011-12-30T13:12:00.000-08:00

Week 13 Stats - Knights and Scourge quick off the mark

2011-12-29T10:11:00.000-08:00

Last Line-ups of 2011 - Week 13

2011-12-27T13:42:00.000-08:00

I guess we shall return to a classic image to end this year...The Severed Heads are slowly picking up steam and now own a 20 pt lead entering this week. Let's see if it grows or the group catches up... Emails pasted to the Blog. Thanks to Rob, Chris, Cam and Doug for their help as I was internet-free during part of the holidays...

Week 13 below...and happy new year!

Week 12 Stats - Merry Christmas Edition

2011-12-25T09:27:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone. Charlie is up having a nap (mommy and daddy are thinking of joining him) and Sophia is playing with Santa's latest contributions.

Here is hoping that everyone has a great day with family and friends.

Congrats to the Severed Heads and Great Whites for their respective Predator Cup and Challenge Cup leads. Congrats also to the Knights Templar who have coached their 10th placed Predator Cup team into a home-ice slot for the Challenge Cup playoffs.

Line-ups are due by Boxing Day at 6:00 Mountain - so if you are watching Canada-Finland, you are too late :-)

Challenge Cup Standings

2011-12-23T14:40:00.000-08:00

Here we are with the Challenge Cup Standings. The weekly totals may be different than what I had previously posted as I discovered errors along the way but if you have any questions, please ask. Week 12 concludes tonight so the standings are as of Week 11 with the ongoing game, a neutral site game, being the current score as of last night's games.

Happy Birthday Bob and Merry Christmas everyone.

Week 12 - Thursday Night Stats, Happy Birthday Bob Edition

2011-12-23T07:52:00.000-08:00

Week 12 - Wednesday Night, Head's Crest 400pts

2011-12-22T15:09:00.001-08:00

Week 12 - Tuesday Night Stats

2011-12-21T13:43:00.001-08:00

Week 12 Gets Underway

2011-12-20T14:53:00.000-08:00

I've corrected the Wolves' total from Week 11 (had neglected that they were playing a few +/- players). I also discovered that I was pulling M.Richards' TG pts from the wrong place - hence depriving Cam of 4.25pts of TG. That now has been corrected so Merry Christmas Cam.

I am going with Mike G's line-up from last week with the two changes he sent from his iPhone not the just e-mailed amount.

FunHL Xmas Edition - Week 12 Line-ups

2011-12-19T11:50:00.000-08:00

Well as most of our teams trudge across the snow like zombies during the pre-Xmas rush, one team woke up and the Severed Heads find themselves in 1st with somewhat of a lead...Congrats for now...

Week 12 Rosters will poster here...

Holy %*@# Did the Severed Heads Have A Good Week 11

2011-12-19T07:51:00.000-08:00

Ka-boom!

Saturday Night Special

2011-12-18T19:45:00.000-08:00

Utterly massive evening. I am almost breathless by the evening's events;

- Teemu Selanne returns to Winnipeg. Wow. Peggers blew the roof off for Selanne. All. Game. Long. He was clearly moved to tears by the events, but also managed to float a rainbow long bomb pass to spring Nik Hagman for a goal, and collect another assist along the way. He also made it clear in an interview this is his last season. Too bad. He leads the Ducks in scoring.

- The long dark nightmare is over! Kyle Turris was finally traded to Ottawa for David Rundblad and a 2nd rnd pick. Given that Rundblad was himself previously aquired by Ottawa for a 1st rnd pick, that makes the cost for Turris a 1st and a 2nd rnd pick. Overpay IMO. Calgary was a possible destination for him, so I'm glad to see it was Ottawa that got fleeced and not us.

- The most awesome goals of the night not involving Teemu Selanne were Henrik Zetterberg's picking the very top corner with a backhand laser beam, and Pavel Datsyuk's calculated tip. Just sick.

- Malkin goes supernova against the Sabres to the tune of 3 goals and 2 assists for 5pts.

Severed Heads Jump Into First With 40+pt Week After Friday Night!

2011-12-17T11:51:00.000-08:00

Bladerunners Retake Lead - Week 11 Stats

2011-12-16T15:20:00.001-08:00

Why the Sharks are playing poorly?

2011-12-15T13:48:00.000-08:00

Wednesday Night Stats

2011-12-15T13:02:00.000-08:00

Let me know if you see anything that looks wrong with these numbers.

Week 11 Shadow Falls Over League - Tuesday Night Stats

2011-12-14T15:18:00.000-08:00

Great start to the week for both the Shadowmen and the Severed Heads. Both rocket up the standings with the Shadowmen not leading the race.

Two changes to my final week 10 stats. I was not counting Miller's pts for week 10 (ooops) so Collin gains 1.81 pts. And though I'm not sure how or where, I apparently shorted Dan 5pts last week. I've double checked and can't see where I am was in error (which is rather disconcerting, I'm ok with making the mistakes but I like to know what I did wrong on this one I can't figure it out) that said, I have corrected his stats as well.

If anyone spots anything that looks amiss, let me know.

IIHF WJC Tickets

2011-12-14T14:24:00.000-08:00

Ok all - last attempt to find takers...
If you (or someone you know) would like tickets, or if you have XMas presents to buy for those difficult-to-please people :-) let me know. Otherwise I will likely be selling them through other channels. Happy to discount prices to face value if you want multiple tickets...

Ticket prices are per PAIR of tickets
Four tickets available except where noted

Monday, December 26, 2011
2 03:30 PM MT SWE - LAT A Preliminary Saddledome $40.00/pair
4 08:00 PM MT RUS - SUI A Preliminary Saddledome $40.00/pair (2 tix left only)

Tuesday, December 27, 2011
6 08:00 PM MT LAT - SVK A Preliminary Saddledome $40.00/pair

Wednesday, December 28, 2011
8 03:30 PM MT SUI - SWE A Preliminary Saddledome $40.00/pair
10 08:00 PM MT SVK - RUS A Preliminary Saddledome $40.00/pair (2 tix left only)

Thursday, December 29, 2011
12 08:00 PM MT RUS - LAT A Preliminary Saddledome $40.00/pair

Friday, December 30, 2011
14 03:30 PM MT SVK - SWE A Preliminary Saddledome $40.00/pair (2 tix left only)
16 08:00 PM MT LAT - SUI A Preliminary Saddledome $40.00/pair (2 tix left only)

Saturday, December 31, 2011
18 04:00 PM MT SUI - SVK A Preliminary Saddledome $40.00/pair
20 08:00 PM MT SWE - RUS A Preliminary Saddledome $40.00/pair

Monday, January 2, 2012
21 11:00 AM MT 4A - 5B - Relegation Saddledome $30.00/pair
22 03:00 PM MT *2A - 3B - Quarter-final Saddledome $90.00/pair
23 07:00 PM MT *2B - 3A - Quarter-final Saddledome $90.00/pair

Tuesday, January 3, 2012
24 11:00 AM MT 4B - 5A - Relegation Saddledome $30.00/pair
25 03:00 PM MT **1B - W(G22) - Semifinal Saddledome $130.00/pair (2 tix left only)
26 07:00 PM MT **1A - W(G23) - Semifinal Saddledome $130.00/pair (2 tix left only)

Wednesday, January 4, 2012
27 11:00 AM MT 5A - 5B - Relegation Saddledome $30.00/pair
28 03:00 PM MT 4A - 4B - Relegation Saddledome $30.00/pair
29 07:00 PM MT L(G22) - L(G23) - 5th Place Saddledome $30.00/pair

Thursday, January 5, 2012
30 01:30 PM MT L(G25) - L(G26) - Bronze Saddledome $140.00/pair (2 tix left only)

Finally Teemu returns to Winnipeg

2011-12-14T10:43:00.000-08:00

How big of a standing O will he get on saturday in the Peg?

FUNHL WEEK 11 LINE-UPS

2011-12-12T15:52:00.000-08:00

WELL AS THEY SAY...EVERYONE IS ON THE HUNT FOR FIRST!
THE DIFFERENCE OF 1ST TO 9TH IS 29 POINTS. SMALL COMFORT, INDEED! AND THE BEST WEEK WAS IN 10TH, NOW 36 BACK.

The hunt is on [hence this week's pic], but they also say that turnabout is fair play and the predators "poof" are Prey...

Line-ups here please

Bladerunners Lose Ground To Everyone Except Wolves But Remain In 1st - Week 10 Stats

2011-12-12T10:12:00.000-08:00

Down Goes Brown

2011-12-11T09:28:00.000-08:00

Down Goes Brown

Love the "How to be an NHL ironman post!

PS Check your email for msg re: IIHF

Week 10 - Friday Night Stats

2011-12-10T14:45:00.000-08:00

As usual, thanks to Bob for putting all the line-ups on the Blog. I think we are good to go now but if your numbers are different from mine, let me know and we will figure it out.

NHL approves new conference realignment format

2011-12-07T07:03:00.000-08:00

NHL approves new conference realignment format

Thoughts?
Personally I'd like to see a wild card after the top three teams in each new conference rather than simply the top four qualifying...

Omnivore Update

2011-12-06T06:03:00.000-08:00

Once again, minor variation to goalie stats. Looks like the Highlanders and GW's are leading on the strength of the draft and prospects, while the Bladerunners have improved through trade, as have the Cavemen to a lesser degree. Top team out of the gate before trades remains the Highlanders...

Post-WD1 FUNHL Week 10 Rosters

2011-12-05T15:37:00.000-08:00

With shiny new/ or not-so-new players, we begin the the 2nd part of this 3 act play we call the FUNHL and the race for the Predator...Some say this segment will be the make or break section of the season - or some of us will be caught tilting windmills, staring in the Village of the Damned (he he)

Enjoy the show...Special thanks to Doug and the stats as well as Brian and his spreadsheets...

Week 9 Stats - Bladerunners hold 12pt Lead, Great Whites with best week

2011-12-05T11:39:00.000-08:00

Great Waiver Draft everyone. The two outstanding stats issues that I knew of (Corey and Rob) have been addressed but if anyone spots anything else from before or ongoing, please let me know.

The big challenge for me now will be entering in all the post-WD changes but I will then get to work on bringing the Challenge Cup stats up to date. Thanks for everyone's patience.

Saturday Night - Bladerunners Cross 300pts

2011-12-04T09:30:00.000-08:00

Friday Night Stats

2011-12-03T08:28:00.000-08:00

Thursday Night Stats

2011-12-02T11:55:00.000-08:00

Here is what I have as of last night's games. Corey and Rob had suggested that I may have a couple of past numbers wrong. I haven't had a chance to double check those yet so if mistaken, the mistake remains.

I don't believe that the thought was that the numbers would impact on Waiver Draft Order. That said, please let me know if you think anything here is out of whack.

Off to a meeting out of the office. Later.

Week 9 Gets Underway - Monday Night Stats!

2011-11-29T12:19:00.000-08:00

As always, let me know if you spot something amis. For example, why did Crosby get a point last night when the Pens didn't play? Well they NHL has credited him with a second assist from Saturday's game in Montreal, which just showed up today. Voila. Back to my trial.

Omnivore Stats as of Week 8

2011-11-28T16:45:00.000-08:00

With slight inaccuracy to baseline goalie totals. Can't make Doug do ALL the work ;-)

Week 8 Stats and WD1 Draft Order

2011-11-28T14:28:00.000-08:00

Welcome back Mr. Crosby! Though the result is meaning I now draft 11th on Sunday, oh well that week was worth it. Now if only we can get some other sick-bay types like Markov to get back into the same sort of form...

I'm about to start a two day trial so I think it unlikely that I will be able to get nightly stats out (or start to get caught up on Challenge Cup or Omnivore stats) but this should get us through the weekend. Please let me know if you think I have made an error with respect to your stats (or someone else's) and we can try and work it out. Please let me know if you spot something that might impact WD draft order ASAP. Thanks again to Bob for posting the line-ups on the blog - can't tell you how huge a time-saver that is.

Talk to you on Sunday - trade lines are always open, unless you want Sid :-)

Week 9 Rosters and Provisional WD1 drop lists

2011-11-28T05:04:00.000-08:00

Well WD1 is upon us all...stats are more or less caught up, wd1 drops are due but these waiver drafts can be deceptive! One makes a wish, a pick and the evil Jinn (above) rather than nice Genies come to wreak havoc on your team...

Beware of your choices! Be Careful who you drop.

Week 9 LineUps are due Today...

WAIVER DRAFT 1 - Sunday Dec. 4, 2011

2011-11-27T11:06:00.000-08:00

So, via revised consensus, Sunday, Dec 4th will be the dated for WD1...

Time will be at 11 AM MST.

BECAUSE OF THE SUNDAY WD1, FINAL WD1 DROP LISTS ARE DUE BY SATURDAY, DEC 3RD AT NOON.

WD1 TRADE MORATORIUM ALSO OCCURS AT THAT TIME AND ENDS ONCE WE START WD1...

PROVISIONAL DROP LISTS WITH YOUR WEEK 9 LINE-UPS WOULD BE APPRECIATED.

NOW THAT WE HAVE OFFICIAL WEEK 7 STATS, AVERY-L NYR IS AWARDED TO MIKE G AND THE TEMPLAR FOR WEEK 9 SUBMISSIONS...

BY THE WAY, BRAVO! TO DOUG, FOR HIS MASTERFUL CATCH-UP AND THE ORDER FOR WD1 WILL BE BASED AS PER USUAL ON THE UPCOMING WEEK 8 STATS!

THX TO BRIAN FOR THE MASTER TEMPLATES AND CONGRATS! TO THE BLADERUNNERS FOR LEADING THE PACK CURRENTLY...

ANY COMMENTS, WE WELCOME...

BC FOR THE DC

The Hockey News: Tom Thompson's Column: Tom Thompson: Mario Lemieux comeback still greatest of all-time

2011-11-27T05:12:00.000-08:00

The Hockey News: Tom Thompson's Column: Tom Thompson: Mario Lemieux comeback still greatest of all-time

Revised Week 6 and now Week 7 Stats!

2011-11-25T15:27:00.000-08:00

Ok, one quick correction on Chris's totals (had the wrong name for one of his TGs but I think it is corrected now). This should get us to the point of any Waiver Wire bids for this week.

I will see if I can get up to date stats done before the weekend is out. Thanks again for everyone's patience and a big thanks to Bob for posting all the line-ups to the blog and to Brian for doing the "unofficial" stats to date (and for his promise to double check my work).

A big congrats to Brian who has not always had the best week but has been consistently solid enough to give him a very healthy 25pt lead on the pack as we move towards the Waiver Draft. Very impressive.

Week 6 Stats

2011-11-25T14:04:00.000-08:00

Ok, busy morning so I'm not caught up yet but I still have a chance to finish off the day in style. Here are the stats as of Week 6 and we are getting some separation as a few teams are poised to cross the 200pt mark while the Edge and the defending champions are sitting at the bottom. Nice week by the Fishies, BTW.

As always, please let me know if you notice any discrepencies between my numbers and the numbers you may have.

Revised Week 3 Stats and Week 4 Stats; and now Week 5 Stats

2011-11-24T10:54:00.000-08:00

Only one mistake that I quickly caught with Corey's stats from Week 3, posted below, I had him playing Chara and Meszaros for both points and +/-. Now they are correctly only for +/-. Collin gets hammered on his +/- call in Week 4 (Lydman goes -4 for a loss of 8pts, ouch!).

I also previously posted Rob with 3 TGs in Week 4 but that is now corrected.

More weeks to come, to be sure, but hopefully we are getting caught up quickly. In any event, let me know if you spot any other errors.

Week 3 Stats

2011-11-24T09:30:00.000-08:00

Ok, we are up to Week 3 now. As before, if you think that I have made an error here please let me know.

Week 1 and Week 2 Stats - Revised

2011-11-23T15:30:00.000-08:00

Big shout out to Corey for helping to identify an error with my goalie formula. I think I have it corrected now. As a result, we are stalled at Week 2 but I hope to keep plugging away at the stats moving forward. Please let me know if anyone sees any other mistakes or potential mistakes.

Week 2 Stats

2011-11-23T12:07:00.000-08:00

Ok, now we are cooking with gas. Here are week two stats. Haven't checked to see if anyone else has noticed any errors with my week one stats but I did notice that I had Dan playing two goalies in week one - that has now been corrected.

Back to the salt mines here but will try and get a couple more weeks out by the end of the day.

Week One Stats?!?! Really?

2011-11-23T10:19:00.000-08:00

I believe I have found away around a huge, and annoying, techincal issue with the Yahoo site and now have begun to churn the butter. Let me know if you see any errors along the way.

I can't fully convey how crazy busy I have been of late but know that I am as eager as everyone for stats to get out and get out soon. Now that I have this big issue resolved it is simply a question of inputting line-ups (which I am working on doing now - as it is far more enjoyable than what they pay me to do). Hopefully we should be caught up in very short order.

Again, please check your mileage - no body should know your stats better than you so please double check ASAP so we can correct my errors or (shudder) errors in the spreadsheet right away. Thanks again everyone for your patience.

Doug the Stats Guy

Updated Baseline

2011-11-22T13:25:00.000-08:00

Crosby vaults Highlanders into Baseline lead...

Week 8 LineUps...

2011-11-21T06:02:00.000-08:00

And here we go, 2 weeks to WD 1, now officially on Sun Dec 4th, time still TBA

Please insert available gun in mouth...he he

Seriously though, Week 8 rosters below from emails etc...

Finally is the wait over for El Sid?

2011-11-21T05:57:00.000-08:00

If you are back, Good Luck, Sid...

Updated Baseline

2011-11-17T07:11:00.000-08:00

Hey all - again aside from tiny inaccuracy to goalie stats, the FuNHL baseline...

Week 7 Line-Ups

2011-11-13T10:18:00.000-08:00

In memory of one the great all-time spy tv-series-MI-5 or Spooks closes on top after 10 seasons...

Now Week 7 Line-ups if you please for our game for the ultimate prize...

Waiver Draft now still a long 3 weeks off...

FUNHL News and Notes

2011-11-12T11:26:00.000-08:00

- Philadelphia vs Tampa's 1-3-1

I get it, everybody hates the trap, it's boring, and kills the fun in the game. But Philly's response to seeing the Bolts passively lineup in the neutral zone was far worse - they simply stayed in their own zone and refused to move the puck up the ice. The trap is as old as hockey, it's not illegal, and even the highest scoring teams use it on occasion, so the decision by the Flyers to try and embarrass the Bolts into attacking by making a boring defensive scheme even more boring - the hockey equivalent of pouting like a four year old, justifiably causes concern.

Just the Flyers being the typically dickish Flyers I guess.

The 'solution' is two-fold;

1. After 10 sec of dicking around in their own zone call a delay of game on the Flyers. Teams with the puck don't get to dictate the defense the other team uses. A second violation earns a bench minor on top of the delay of game.

2. If you really want the trap to disappear invent an 'illegal defense' penalty. But good luck with that. The NBA has experimented with illegal zone defenses to mixed and controversial results, and however you feel about the trap, it is nothing new or outrageous to retreat into the neutral and defense zones when you don't have the puck.

- Ovechkin's numbers have been in modest decline the last two years, but I'd argue he's a much more complete player now. As a rookie he could fly the zone and cherrypick whenever he wanted because they weren't competitive if he didn't. Now the team is a Cup favourite and Ovie is playing all 200ft of the rink. Bad for his stats, but better for his Cup chances.

- Tim Connolly is hurt again. Moving on.

- Uh oh, Mike Green is back on IR this time with a knee injury. I said previously that he needed a healthy year to guarantee another contract with the Caps, and I'm betting now he won't get one. I also don't think he'll finish the season as a Great White FP.

- Some pundits are getting down on the Mike Richards experience in LA, pointing to his lack of goal production as a sign of the apocalypse. The truth is you just need to look at Kopitar's numbers to see the benefit a back alley knife fighter like Richards brings. By checking the other teams top unit Kopitar now gets butter minutes against softer opposition, and the result is more production from Kopitar, especially at home where the home team gets last change. Richards is the Kesler to Kopitar's Hank Sedin.

- Who would make a better FP, Kopitar or Getzlaf?

- Kane or Giroux?

- I was sceptical that it could happen, but Ollie Jokinen as the Flames heavy lifting 2nd line center is working out. It's the first line center job (Morisson hurt/sucking, Stajan sucking, Backland hurt) that has been an utter disaster.

- I asked Kent Wilson (uber Flames blogger) three questions on last weeks Lowetide radio program;

1. How is the Flames 'slow motion' rebuild working out vs the Oilers 'scorched Earth rebuild'?
2. What do the underlying advanced stats say about Jokinen as the 2nd line center?
3. How has John Wisebrod influenced Feaster in the aquisitions if Byron, Horak, and Butler?

His answers;
1. He doesn't think the Flames are rebuilding yet (I disagree)
2. Jokinen's stats indicate his new role is working out well.
3. Doesn't know.

Go to Oilers Nation Radio and check out the Kent Wilson segment (segment #5) for Nov 5th for the full discussion.

- I think Feaster has already started the rebuild for several reasons;

1. The Regehr/Kotalik trade that brought back Butler and Byron gives the Flames two young pieces and a tonne of capspace, but it is not the type of trade you make when you are 'going for it'.

2. Feaster hired John Wisebrod away from the Bruins. Bringing in fresh eyes to oversee scouting and talent procurement was a definite necessity. The Flames have had a HORRIBLE farm and talent development system (from Kobasew in 2001 to Tim Erizon in 2010, Phaneuf is the only potential All-star, and Backland the only first rounder actually on the team), and all rebuilds start with the farm.

3.Feaster's first draft was a polar opposite to Darryl Sutter's. Can you see Sutter drafting an undersized Swiss scoring forward in the first round? How about Sutter selecting a pint sized (5'6") scoring machine like Gaudreau in the 4th? Never would have happened. Sutter liked coke-machine shaped (Pelech, Nemisz, Chucko) kids with scar tissue on their knuckles, and was allergic to taking guys who might actually be top line forwards (Backland being the exception - but lets be honest, how well has he actually turned out?)

4. Hagman on waivers, rather than Pierre Luc Letourneau-Leblond. Why? Because Hagman clears more capspace than PL3.

5. The Kyle Turris chase.

So as I said, the 'rebuild/retool' is already on.

- I think Feaster could take runs at everyone from Parise to Weber as the year goes on, but I actually think he'll find a way to end up with Spezza.

- Iginla will not be traded. He loves it in Calgary and mgt loves him, and he has a NMC. As much as the fans may want to think Iggy 'deserves a chance elsewhere', it isn't going to happen (it's also a backhanded way of saying 'I'd prefer to have some high draft picks'). He may never win a Cup, but I think he'll die with his boots on as a Flame.

- The Tim Erixon fiasco could turn out to be one of those rare deals that blow up completely....in our favour. Erixon is a real nice package defenseman in that he has size, speed, and both offensive and defensive ability. He reminded me of Wade Redden when I saw him play for Sweden (the Senator's verison of WR, not the AHL version). But he punked the Flames by stalling on a deal, and then asking to be moved at the last minute. Fine. F%#$ you Tim Erixon, but fine. In the trade to the Rangers Calgary got 2 2nd rnd picks, and Roman Horak. At the time of the deal I said 'two 2nds for a late first isn't a bad deal on paper, but Roman Who'?. Turns out that the 2 2nd rnd picks are Markus Granlund (another skill scoring forward - NICE!) and Tyler Wortherspoon (a project defensive defenseman, but late in the 2nd round is exactly when you should draft them *cough* Matt Pelech *cough*). But it's Horak who's already proved he may make the trade lopsided. Ticketed for the AHL to play with former linemate Ryan Howse (they were in Chilliwack together) Horak was no doubt a player already heavily scouted by the Flames. Now he's made the team (did not see that coming, I thought Byron might be closer), while Erixon finds himself out of the regular lineup in New York. Horak looked like a mercy pick up for the Abbottsford Flames to me at the time, but he's already better than Matt Stajan.

- Of the remaining big ticket signings in Nashville, I think Suter stays and they deal Weber. I also think the haul for Weber will be substantial, and may include a much needed scoring forward.

- The Bluejackets are just a mess. Whatever pain Flames fans feel at the moment, spare a thought for the lowly Jackets. They are currently trapped in that special region of hell where Freddy Brathwaite is your goaltender and Theo Fleury has to score 2pts every night by himself for the team to win. If the GM and coach are gassed, look for Nash to ask out.

- Says here the Bolts don't go past the first round without finding a #1 goalie younger than Gump Worsley to rely on.

- The injury to Enstrom's collar-bone pretty much seals all the hopes of making the playoffs that Winnipeg fans might have had into a ferro-concrete box, and then buries that box deep below the Earth's mantle.

- Which young core do you like better:

Colorado: Duchene, Stastny, Landeskog, E.Johnson, Varlamov,

Edmonton: Hall, Eberle, The Nuge, Paajarvi, Dubnyk

Islanders: Tavares, Okposo, Strome, De Haan, Montoya

Despite not having two first overall picks, I think the Av's have the best group of the three.

- If Jagr had played the last three seasons in the NHL he'd have well over 700 goals now. Watching him split the Toronto D in full flight to score on a breakaway was like stepping into a time machine, except the uniform was all wrong and there wasn't a mullet.

Not one, but two 'fear my wingspan' snipes to the top shelf. Pure concentrated Boneronium.

Week 6 Line-Ups

2011-11-12T05:15:00.000-08:00

I guess it was Gut Fawkes Week to start Week 6...Line-ups posted from the Blog for Doug...

Howling at the Moon

2011-11-10T22:26:00.000-08:00

Special analysis of the Wolves courtesy of the Nexus.

The Wolves are in a close battle vs the Bladerunners in week 1 of their Head to Head matchup (Wolves 15, Bladerunners 17.86 thru Thur). But are they really that good?

The Nexus contacted some in the know candidates and asked "What do you think of the Wolves?"

* Don Cherry - "A Frenchie is their best player. Ya, I love em"

* Darrell Dexter - 'We love the Wolves - they are our biggest contributor!"

* Alpaca Spokesperson - "Baaaaaaadddddd"

* Sherlock, Bladerunners spokesperson - "The Wolves? Are They that team from Newfoundland? Sorry, we don't know a lot about them"

Feel good story about Kipper

2011-11-10T16:04:00.000-08:00

http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2011/11/08/after-multiple-brain-surgeries-calgary-teen-receives-special-gift-from-miikka-kiprusoff

A typical feel-good read where Kipper does something really nice.

But the best part of the story is the kids goalie mask!

An Update On Stats

2011-11-07T11:01:00.000-08:00

Hi Gang,

I was hoping to start putting out the "Official Stats" as of this morning but the past week of working with the spreadsheet has finally exposed why I have been stymied in my efforts to replace the annoyingly unreliable CBSsportsline source with the far more reliable Yahoo.com.

I won't bore you with a long history of my spreadsheet but suffice it to say that a few years ago EPSN and the NHL sites moved from being able to copy and paste the entire list of players (and pts, pim and +/-, and the goalie equivilants) to only being able to do this for 15-25 players at a time. This change made the difference between a single copy and paste to 25+ copies and paste. Big change so I looked for an alternative. For some reason I wasn't able to get Yahoo to work for me so I went with CBSsportsline, and it worked quite well, most of the time, but would frequently be delayed - sometimes for days at a time - whenever American holidays (or Super Bowl Coverage) clearly preoccupied the good people at the CBSsportsline IT department. Frustration was frequent so I committed to doing what was needed to get Yahoo to work.

Last week I found out why Yahoo had been causing me such grief - the selfish bastards at Yahoo it want to so I can't do exactly what I have wanted to do all along.

Yahoo enters the player names into the first column of stats with a "space" before the name. That little addition is enough to trip up the Vlookup function that I have been using all these years on my spreadsheet. Now it doesn't do it all the time (not sure why that is) but does it enough that I will need to manually take a space away from each name (or at least each name that we need - approximately 216 names each calculations plus any +/- players). So much for saving me time :-( Once done, the problem is fixed but it probably makes the daily stats less likely, though I should be able to get the weekly stats done once we are all set up and ready to go.

Long story short - I'm working on it and I appologize for the delay.

Halloween Week 5 Line-Ups

2011-10-31T16:37:00.000-07:00

Something a little different (he he)

Copy and Pasted from Emails...

Baseline Through Sunday Oct 30th

2011-10-31T13:25:00.000-07:00

Everyone cracks the century mark...

Updated Baseline

2011-10-28T09:33:00.001-07:00

Waiver Drafts and Waiver Wires...

2011-10-27T17:50:00.000-07:00

Waiver Drafts

WD1

During week 9 = Sat, Dec 3 around 19 am mst place tba or skype...seems to the consensus

WD2

During Week 19 = Sat, Feb 11 same time seems to be the consensus.

By the way, the NHL trade deadline is FEB 27 meaning the FUNHL traded is the monday lineups are due a week after FEB 27th.

Waiver Wire

Rule 25 Plain Language version will be written to clarify issues.

JUST TO REVIEW:

Hi Cam,

Thanks for the endorsement of my interpretation.

There was some suggestion that we may want to revisit the waiver-wire rules in the off season and that may be a good idea but for now, thanks everyone for chipping in while I’ve been away. I normally don’t have the stats going until about week 4 but this year I will be a bit behind – sorry. That said, thanks Brian for helping out as you have been. I can say that I have been able to get the stats captured on time from Yahoo so once the spreadsheet is up and running I should have the right data to include, which is good, and hopefully we won’t have the same problems that we had last year with CBSportsline.com

One suggestion that Bob made that I want to put out there to also think about for next year would be changing the week start from Mondays to Wednesdays. We have Mondays as our week start because that was the “start” of the week when the stats would come out in the paper on Tuesday – as of Sunday evening. Talk about a relic from the past. Given that Mondays are frequently holidays with games starting in at noon, the idea of moving the start of the FunHL week to the middle of the week so that weekend injury updates are out, work holidays don’t interfere with internet access, NHL schedules line-up, etc. makes some sense to me and I just wanted to float the idea now so it doesn’t get lost.

Anyhow, up to my eyeballs in the work that I had left behind but wanted to pop in and let you know that I have survived my trip and look to get cracking on the stats here ASAP.

Doug

Douglas McLachlan
Barrister and Solicitor
Family Law Office - Edmonton
Direct Line: 780-427-4139

Note: This e-mail address is not a valid address for service pursuant to Rule 11.21 of the Alberta Rules of Court. If you need to serve legal documents on the Family Law Office, as lawyer of record, please do so by courier, recorded mail or fax.

From: Cameron Hilton [mailto:cameron.a.hilton@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2011 3:11 PM
To: Doug McLachlan
Cc: Collin Sanderson; Brian Wansleeben; Bob Chaudhuri; Cameron Hilton; Chris Erickson; Corey Milne; Darrell Mann; Dan Ross; Doug McLachlan; Mike Breakenridge; Mike Getta; Rob Woods
Subject: Week 3 Stats + Waiver wire results

Ok, I think I have a grip on this now having read Doug's explanation below:

- Dan gets both Filpulla and Gagne, as he bid on both and is the lowest team in the standings, and as such conditional bids aren't necessary given both players bid on are at different positions.

- Collin gets Steen (only bidder)

- The DC should review the language of the covenant on this issue and make a clarification reccomendation to be voted upon at next Entry draft.

- Given I and Doug are on the Dc (as statistician) barring an objection from Bob (unlikely based on my conversation with him the other night), or Mike Getta, the third member (sic). the DC effectively endorses Doug's evaluation/reading of the relevant rules on the matter. If there is an objection to his interpretation please let me know asap.

- Thanks should go to Brian for handling the waiver wire/stats in Doug's absence, and for his dilligence in trying to follow a tricky set of rules.

Cameron

-

On Tuesday, October 25, 2011, Doug McLachlan wrote:
> Hi guys,
>
> I think the confusion, while understandable, comes not for the waiver wire rule per se but from the rule on conditional waiver wire bids and an unfortunately drafted example.
>
> Essentially the conditional bid rule doesn't enter into it for Dan (but does for Collin re his conditional bid for Steen).
>
> As I read the rule there is on LWer being bid upon, Gagne, and the Great Whites get him. Simple.
>
> At center there are multiple bids for multiple players (Filpulla and Steen) so the conditional rules may come into play here - though since there is only one bid on Steen it actually doesn't matter. Again the GW's get Filpulla and, as the only bid, the Edge get Steen. No the Bladerunners do not win a bid here.
>
> The rule would have come into play had the Bladerunners put in a bid on Steen ahead of their bid for Filpulla - gaining his rights while everyone is squabbling over Filpulla, but not a factor here.
>
> Clear as mud, right?
>
> I think the rule is clear but the "clarification" example does just the opposite so I am agreed that we want to redraft this.
>
> Tired and dazed in Seattle now but should be home in a few more hours. Talk with you all soon.
>
> Doug
>
> Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device on the Bell network.
> Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau de Bell.
>

Any thoughts or comments on these issue please post here. Especially with respect to the upcoming WD1

Thank you,

Bob for the DC

Baseline Stats

2011-10-26T08:01:00.000-07:00

With slight inaccuracy to goalie stats...

FUNHL Rosters from Week 3 and Week 4

2011-10-25T16:34:00.000-07:00

Copying and Pasting from Weeks 3 and 4 to the Blog for Doug.

Meanwhile, many thanks to Brian for keeping the ravenous hordes of GMs with unofficial stats...

Good Luck Doug...

'Unofficial' Week 3 Stats through Sat, Oct 22

2011-10-23T12:56:00.000-07:00

Just testing to see how this will turn out on the Blog - I think as a big mess...as I don't know how to format on the blog. Sorry!

Pred TEAM Thru Wk 2 WK 3 TOTAL H to H Commentary on Head to Head

1st Bladerunners 53.91 36.71 90.62 2-0 trying to avoid a loss vs Edge
2nd Knights Templar 47.01 36.75 83.76 1-1 guaranteed a tie vs Wolves..could still win!
3rd Scourge 38.81 42.84 81.65 2-1 win vs Barbarians
4th Ramapithicines 49.59 31.67 81.26 2-0 close game vs Pers Vend!
5th Shadowmen 50.56 29.85 80.41 2-1 lose vs Highlanders
6th Highlanders 45.96 33.70 79.66 2-1 win vs Shadowmen
7th Edge 42.5 36.20 78.70 0-2 guaranteed a tie vs Blade..could still win!
8th Wolves 41.69 36.49 78.18 0-2 close game but not looking good vs KT
9th Barbarians 48.02 28.77 76.79 2-1 lose vs Scourge
10th Severed Heads 47.66 27.69 75.35 2-0 Fowler needs big Sun vs Fish
11th Pers. Vendetta 39.60 34.74 74.34 0-2 trying to hold off the Ramapithicines!
12th Great Whites 34.95 31.70 66.65 0-2 close game but a 'probable' win vs Sev Hds

Funny? Sad? Both?

2011-10-14T17:10:00.000-07:00

At first I thought it was April 1 and this was a joke....

-------

DiPietro out indefinitely with concussionFriday, 10.14.2011 / 12:16 PM / News
NHL.com

The New York Islanders announced Friday that goaltender Rick DiPietro will be out indefinitely due to a concussion.

DiPietro suffered the injury Wednesday when he was hit in the mask by a puck during practice.

DiPietro did not play in any of the Islanders' first three games.

The oft-injured netminder has played just 39 games the last three seasons due to an assortment of injuries. In 26 games last season, he went 8-14-4 with a 3.44 goals-against average and .886 save percentage.

DiPietro, who turned 30 last month, is in his 11th season. In 307 games, he has 127 wins, a 2.84 GAA and .903 save percentage.

Young and the Jets

2011-10-11T09:32:00.000-07:00

Corey was in Lethbridge on Sunday and we had the chance to hang out the local watering hole and discuss hockey and watch the afternoon games on a big screen while quaffing pints of Guiness on tap. Good times.

Naturally with the Jets home opener on the tube, the subject of our conversation eventually turned to them, and Corey mentioned that Neil Young was involved with one of the other 'Welcome Back Jets' type of ceremonies.

I'm not the biggest Neil Young fan, and when I was younger I was openly dismissive of the folk rocker. Then in 1993, I saw this video of Neil Young and Pearl Jam blitzing the MTV music awards and my opinion changed forever.

When I asked if Corey had seen it, he said 'nope' - so here it is, IMO the greatest Neil Young moment ever recorded.

Here's my breakdown of it's awesomeness;

- Neil's had some great bands to back him up in his life time, but he has never had a band with more sheer muscle than the grunge gods Pearl Jam.

- I'm fairly certain that for the purposes of this performance Pearl Jam's drummer has been possessed by the soul of 'Animal' from the Muppet Show. At no time is his face ever visible through the flailing hair.

- The bands before Neil and Pearl Jam were your normal collection of fake pop music acts. Neil and the band arrive like a slab of raw meat on the stage. The contrast could not have been more stark.

- Like Bruce Springsteen's 'Born in the USA', 'Keep on Rockin' in the Free World' sounds like an anthem, but has the lyrics of an ironic protest song. It was Neil's giant 'FU' to the first President Bush, and he gets to deliver this middle-finger on a well-watched MTV special and backed up by one the world's most famous bands.

- Eddie Vedder (charismatic lead singer of Pearl Jam) doesn't get a lot of face-time other than one extended set of vocals, and some backup. He doesn't play guitar so for most of the song he bounces his head and gazes at his shoes. On a related note, there is a brand of alternative pop music that relies on long droning guitar segments and minimal lyrics that is called 'shoegazer' for precisely this kind of behavior from its performers.

- Neil gets not one, not two, but three extended guitar solos. The final one being the kind of feedback drenched squealing characteristic of punk acts like Sonic Youth, and simply not what one would expect from a folk musician. Neil proves again that there are no tools in the toolbox he hasn't mastered.

- Neil was already world famous and rich when the members of Pearl Jam were born, yet he is more relaxed and mobile than Vedder by an order of magnitude. Neil looks like he could play forever, while Vedder looks like he may have OD'd on valium.

- Mutton chops baby! This is pre X-men movies, and yet Neil is killing it Wolverine style in a way Hugh Jackman can never hope to achieve.

- In guitar solo #2 Neil and the Pearl Jam axman get into a bit of cock-measuring. Something tells me the guitar player for PJ will be showing this clip to his grandkids with a giant smile splitting his face.

- Having smacked the piss out of the audience in a way that can't ever be repeated, they proceed to smash their instruments. These pieces of wood and metal have achieved the pinnacle - better to destroy them at the top of their game.

- Vedder proves he has both a sense of humour and rythym - when the chaos starts at the end of the song, Vedder whips the mike-stand up in a high arc and slams it repeatedly on the stage - in time to the music. Once the chaos is complete, he takes a piece of the mike stand and just hands it someone in the crowd. Thanks Eddie!

- In the pull back shot that ends the video you can see that roughly a third of the audience had just seen the most incredible live performance they were ever likely to in their entire lives and this crushing fact has blown all the synapses in the brains - these are the ones jumping up and down, crying and cheering. Another third was talking and milling around animated by what they had seen. Perhaps asking their neighbour 'who is this Neil Young guy playing with Pearl Jam? He's not bad'. The remaining third are too stunned at hearing live music for the first time in their lives to adequately process the event.

Week 2 Line-Ups and Bids for Week 3

2011-10-11T08:52:00.000-07:00

I am merely placing ALL the emailed line-ups to BLOG for Doug's ease for stats whilst he is Finland...

Many thanks to Brian for Master updates with BIDS

I've cut and pasted the emailed line-ups in the comments section.

good luck and check out dan's mock omnivore link

Score

2011-10-07T09:25:00.000-07:00

Here is the link to "Score"'s website.

The film was released on opening night of the 2010 TIFF. Hit the theatres later in October.

www.scoreahockeymusical.com

FunHL Week 1 Line-ups

2011-10-06T14:46:00.000-07:00

Many of you have already sent yours out by e-mail and I will try and repost them here but if you could double check I have done so correctly - not a bad idea.

"The Best Bad Idea We Ever Had"

2011-10-06T10:17:00.000-07:00

A truly legendary road trip

FUNHL Draft: News and Notes

2011-10-05T09:06:00.000-07:00

Thanks again to everyone who helped make the draft such a success - and to Rob for providing the DVDs of an unknown Canadian direct to video hockey movie. Perfect.

- The biggest surprise at the draft could have been Darrell taking brother Daniel over Henrik Sedin. The PV had an FP at LW already, and Henrik's points are typically a mirror image of Daniel's - so you'd expect he would spread the talent around and select Hank to start the draft. But he didn't. This necessitated him taking centers Krejci and Ribeiro later on, making the PV the official 'Team Donut' (no centers) for the upcoming year. Either that, or 'Team Karl Marx' as a Sedin/Zetterberg LW is just sick.

- The Daniel over Hank decision could have been the biggest shock, but it wasn't even on the Richter scale compared to what happened at pick #3. The Knights Templar had set up their offseason well by moving FP's around. First they shuttled Nash off to the Wolves for Parise. Then they moved Parise on to the Heads for Heatley, and finally they swapped Heatley out for Brodeur. All of which garnered them prospects, RFA's and picks, and set them up to ditch Brodeur and take a new FP at pick #3. A virtually textbook example of how to setup for a rebuild. The first name out of his mouth was Carey Price - which made sense, and forced the Great Whites to match. What happened next though, blew minds. With FP in waiting Ryan Getzlaf still on the board, and with his linemate Corey Perry already in hand, the betting money was that the Knights would go 'all in' on Anaheim and take the hulking playmaker capable of 90+pts and backup TG minutes. It was like it was fated to be. So when he announced 'Milan Lucic' instead you could hear a pin drop, and feel the earth rotate under your feet. Lucic? A 50-60 pt guy in a good year who will goon it up for over a 100PIM is widely considered a solid TG pick, one that would have been matched by the Heads if taken anytime after the 2nd round, but 3rd overall? Ahead of Getzlaf? Jaws simply dropped.

- Leaving aside the shock value, was it really a bad pick? He's the right age (23-24), his points have been steadily climbing (he was on a 70pt pace at the halfway mark - not including his PIM), and he does seem to be a lock for the extra 25pts that come with climbing the 100PIM barrier. But...there are a lot of 'but's here...TG's are notoriously erratic for a variety of reasons, they get hurt more often, they don't get reliable PP time, etc. Lucic has never had a dominate offensive season in junior, or the NHL - he's been good, but never great. That all said, if Lucic continues to progress it could be a monster pick - it just doesn't seem likely to happen (Lucic is already the very rare player whose NHL totals are better than his junior). More to the point, the Knights are likely looking at Lucic being a two year experiment, one that will either bear fruit, or be corrected when Matt Duchesne's contract comes up. Not necessarily a bad pick, but definitely an unexpected one.

- I get on his case for being a slow drafter capable of turning every pick into a monument of indecision, but Collin never hesitated in the first and immediately scooped up Getzlaf as his #2 center behind Thornton. With a solid D-corps, Ovechkin on the wing, and a trade that brought them some solid depth at RW, The Edge may have the best team they have ever iced. They should be a contender - book it.

- Another team that had a very solid draft IMO was the Barbarians. Running Kopitar and B.Richards down the middle gives them a center corps that will have the PV and Great Whites green with envy.

- This year will give us a chance to test out some different GM philosophies, namely, can you win a Cup by having a dominant blue-line / elite goaltender, but only average forwards. The Great Whites have arguably the two best offensive d-men in the game in Green and Doughty supplemented by high-end prospects Myers and Kulikov, and Kevin Bieksa as the #5. It's a killer D-corps. But the forwards they run out are...underwhelming. Tavares would be a nice #2 or #3 on many teams, but for the GW's he'll have to be The MAN. Injured forwards like Kesler and Sharp will need to return and then return to form quickly in order to be effective, and an awful lot is riding on Marion Gaborik being a healthy game-breaker on RW. Fascinating to see how this all plays out for them.

- In contrast, the Severed Heads (again) invested heavily in their forward spots, taking Kane, Lecavalier, and Mike Richards with their first three picks to go with FPs Malkin and Parise. This is a common strategy for the team, but with Fowler and Karlsson capable of moving up from the prospect ranks to bolster the defense corps, it has the possibility of paying off. Squish the Fish in weeks 2-3 will be a fascinating chance to test the opposing philosophies of the Great Whites and Severed Heads.

- One of the questions I had before the draft was how the Highlanders would handle the injury to Crosby. The answer; they didn't. Roy and Bouchard are decent depth players at pivot, and Roy in particular could post very good numbers if he stays healthy, but the Highlanders don't have a true #1 to play on the top line till Crosby returns. A lengthy absence could see the kilted-dirt-farmers plunge in the standings.

- One of the more bizarre draft day events was the plummet of Tim Thomas down the draft board. A 100pt goaltender last year, he managed to get drafted behind at least 7 goaltenders who had fewer points than he did last year, including Backstrom in Minnesota who's 56 points made him roughly half as good as Thomas was.

- Both the Wolves and Ramapithicines have LW's that on paper look...well, terrible. Until you factor in their prospects. Neal should slot in ahead of Steve Ott (himself a bit of a mystifying pick for where he went), and for the Wolves both Benn and Kulemin can be slotted into active roster spots. Neither will have a LW that is actually really good, but they certainly improve with the prospect additions.

- The weakness of the Bladerunners should be screamingly obvious - RW. They have solid talent and or depth at every position except that one. Chris Stewart leads the way of a decidedly mediocre group. How bad is it? David Jones has an active roster spot.

- Looking over the champion's roster from the ED, I have to say they look good, but not 'frighteningly good'. My big problem is they appear to be solid at every position (especially RW, a position that could have been a big weakness for them but for some very intelligent drafting), but the bottom of the roster looks to be thin - at every position. A trade for 3rd line and blueline support could see them legitimately contend for a back-to-back title.

- Brian once again killed at the prospect draft. With 5 first round picks he took; the best player available from this years draft (Landeskog), the best player available from next years draft (Yakupov), the most likely best player available from the year after that (Mackinnon), the best non-drafted goaltender (Bernier), and a decent defense prospect (Hamilton). That's four of five being 'bests'. Scarey stuff.

- One player that got overlooked at the prospect draft was winger Zac Dalpe in Carolina. Some of the Puck Daddy prognisticators have him as Calder material.

- My early bet for top pick at the WD is newly minted Red Wing, Fabian Brunnstrom.

- Brayden Schenn-C P4 Pha is exhibit 'A' for why drafting a player in advance of their ED year can backfire. Schenn was just sent back to the AHL, and as a P4, his time has all but run out.

- Has a prospect fallen as far as Cody Hodgson? Once an elite prospect pick, he's battled injuries and ice-time issues, the former WJC scoring star has finally made the Canucks roster. His reward is a 4th round selection as a P1 by the Shadowmen who were by their own admission sifting through the detritus. Doug has suggested that he no longer seems like a top six forward and that he maxes out as an AHL all-star.

- One of the reasons why the Jagr selection was a good one for the Shadowmen; he knew he could extract maximum value for the 39 year old KHL refugee from the Severed Heads. Its been more than a decade since anyone other than the Heads owned Jagr's rights, so it was a given that they would be motivated buyers.

Injury Gods Get Head Start Savaging Severed Heads

2011-09-28T11:48:00.000-07:00

Severed Heads lw James van Riemsdyk is the latest to join the ranks of Head's players selected for "upper/lower body" interest by the hockey injury gods. He joins rw Patrick Kane and c Sam Gagner on the list. "Everyone is just fine and will be ready to go by the start of the season," insisted GM Cam Hilton, "this is all precautionary. We have a fine relationship with not only the hockey injury gods but all delusional, unverifiable supernatural creations."

Agents for the three players have been insisting that they really are not Severed Heads and would ask that the wrath of the injury gods turn their attention to players who are clearly under long-term Severed Heads contracts.

Challenge Cup Schedule 2011-2012

2011-09-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Here is your Challenge Cup Schedule for the upcoming season.

The games get underway on October 6th with the defending Challenge Cup and Predator Cup Champs facing off against the Great Whites in one of 6 neutral site matches to start the year. The second set of neutral site games will happen in the week leading up to Christmas, week 12. The FunHL All-Star Game will occur during the three days leading up to the NHL All-Star break, which is week 17. Other than these weeks the Challenge Cup schedule will once again feature a series of home and home matches through the season against each and every team not playing neutral site games for a total of 20 games for each team this season. Top four teams will then square off in two best of three semi-finals with the Challenge Cup going to the winner of the best of three held during the final three weeks of the NHL Regular Season ending no later than Saturday April 7th.

Let's drop the puck!

Gretzky Trick Shots

2011-09-13T08:33:00.001-07:00

The Great One shows off his skillshttp://www.collegehumor.com/video/6607070/trick-shots-with-wayne-gretzky

FUNHL News and Notes

2011-09-12T15:24:00.000-07:00

- Dustin Byfuglien was recently arrested for boating while intoxicated. Which is bad enough, but at the weigh in at the station he tipped the scales at brontosaurian 286lbs. Maybe you should cut back on the gravy and lard milkshakes Buff.

- Personally, I adore the new Jets uniforms. Way less garish than the rags worn by the team in its Atlanta version or even those of the Jets in their previous incarnation. Leafs fans who complain that it looks too much like their unis are just jealous. A maple leaf and a fighter jet? A uni full of win.

- As long as we're on the Jets, the Zach Bogosian for Sam Gagner rumours won't die, and they probably shouldn't. Bogosian is lodged firmly behind both Rafalski-clone Enstrom and the aforementioned North American Competitive Eating runner up Dustin Byfuglien for powerplay time. He's also watched as draft compatriots Doughty and Pietrangelo have assumed larger roles with their respective teams and developed into full-fledged stars. Gagner was been gradually given more responsibilities with the Oilers and is primed for a break out, but he's not a #1 center, and will never be a good #3 with his lack of size and foot-speed. He's now got The Nuge, Horcoff and Belanger to compete with for ice-time and linemates, and when you add in the possibility that fleet-footed wingers with size like Paajarvi or Hall could be converted to pivot and Gagner's skillset, while intriguing, becomes redundant. The fact is the Jets have a gaping hole at center that Gagner could fill, and the Oilers have a similar sized chest wound on defense that Bogosian would slot into. It makes too much sense. So of course, it won't happen.

- Mike Green had better have a terrific, injury free year, or his spot on the cash-strapped team could be in jeopardy. The Caps have John Carlson developing nicely next to Karl Alzner, and full package D-man Dmitri Orlov as a top prospect. With his cap-hit being likely to land in the $6m range, a poor year, or one with large injury gaps could spell the end of his time as a Capital.

- Have two players gone in opposite directions as fast as Wojtek Wolski and Matt Moulson? Wolski was a first round pick with a full tool box (size, speed, offensive ability), who is in danger of flushing himself out of the league. Moulson wasn't a first rounder, spent oodles of time in the minors bouncing from team to team, has cleared waivers even when he's landed somewhere, and yet has emerged as a repeat 30 goal winger on the Islanders despite limited ability.

- Another year another 'who is the LA Kings starting goaltender' question. Quick has earned the job, but Bernier is now too good to stay just a back-up. It's not like Quick is some ancient hanger-on either, he's supposed to have lost the starting position already, but keeps having good-to-great seasons. The two could very well end up platooning this season - which is probably good for the Kings - but bad for poolies.

- Not a single one of the Highlander players changed positions with the release of the Bible. The only GM who has that distinction.

- The Kessel trade from Boston to Toronto still looks to end up as record levels of unfair, but I note that Kessel still looks to be among the top possible draftees at (an albeit weak) RW, while Seguin and Hamilton are not by any means guaranteed contributers for the Bruins.

- What is the over-under on the Knights Templar releasing Heatley and making Getzlaf his new FP? Would he be blowing his brains out to do this? (Darrell seems to do OK owning the Detroit FPs).

- As long as I'm in a betting mood, which prospect defenseman in St Louis gets more points; Shattenkirk or Pieterangelo?

- The Scourge have; Grabner, Glennie, Neidereitter, and Tarasenko as P2 Rightwingers.Thats a lot of prospect talent for one position - and keep in mind that Skinner is likely not to remain a center after this season, and you have the makings of a trade.

- Here are the top netminders from last year by FUNHL points:

Rinne	Nsh	104
Price	Mtl	101
Lundqvist	NYR	100
Thomas	Bos	100
Luongo	Vcr	98
Quick	LA	92
Fleury	Pit	92
Ward	Car	88
Bryzgalov	Pha	86
Crawford	Chi	83
Lehtonen	Dal	82
Niemi	SJ	82

I think that is about as flat as I have ever seen it with only 22 points in difference between top and bottom.We've had seasons where there were 20+pts between the top goalie and #2.

Here are some free-for all questions:

- Is Rinne a legit FP candidate? He's got the size, the stats (tied for top place in league scoring), he's the right age, and he has awesome young Norris candidates in front of him (Weber/Suter). However he also has; a backup who is as big (Lindback) - and might be as good, an impending contract situation that could blow up and see him traded, and the two Norris possibles in front of him have similar contract issues that could see either of them moved on. Would this be any question if he played at another position? No. But goalies are a strange and curious breed, even for poolies.

- If you are not hot for Rinne as an FP, what about Price?

- If you are Darrell and have Ward as your RFA at what round do you match? My guess is anything before the RFA rounds he passes. Any bids after, he matches.

- Is the flatlining of goaltenders at between 80 and 100pts part of a long term trend, or just a weird one-off? Given how our stats work, as the offense in the NHL dries up the scoring stat we use for goalies also drops - and the result of these two in combination is that it compresses goaltenders closer together. To me it looks like a trend.

- Two interesting names not on the list: Kiprusoff and Brodeur.

Russian plane crash decimates KHL Lokomotiv

2011-09-07T09:26:00.000-07:00

Russian plane crash decimates KHL Lokomotiv team, former Canuck Pavol Demitra dead

Say RIP to: Pavol Demitra, Josef Vasicek, Karel Rachunek, Ruslan Salei, Karlis Skrastins, and Swedish goalie Stefan Liv if initial reports are correct...

Also coach Brad McCrimmon...

:-(

Crosby press conference tomorrow

2011-09-06T13:52:00.000-07:00

I think he is pulling the plug on the season. Any other guesses?

Covenant 2011 Edition?

2011-09-05T12:27:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Since the links to documents are no longer, and since there have been revisions in recent years, anyone able to update and post the Covenant rules? Also for clarification, when is it allowed to trade PrD picks for the 2012 draft? On draft day before the ED starts?

Thanks!

Dan

Updated History of TheFUNHL

2011-09-02T11:40:00.000-07:00

History of the FunHL

Please see the last seven pages for the final ranking histories from 1991 to 2011.

Rev. End Season 20 -> entering two decades ED2011 starts Season 21.

Cameron - Founder of TheFUNHL’s Intro (From the Blog)

“A month or so later I was briefed on the rules of the hockey draft I would be entering while drinking beers at the apartment of the pool manager - Steve, who I worked for. The teams would be 22 players, and you had to draft a minimum of 8 defensemen and three goaltenders. Each week you would dress 9 forwards, 6 defensemen, and two goalies. Trades were allowed (even encouraged), and stats would be kept from the moment the trades were negotiated (i.e., if I traded you Robitaille for Turgeon, at noon on Wednesday, the Wednesday nights games would be effected). Goaltenders were scored in a way I had never heard of before as they received 5pts for a shutout, but lost a point for every goal scored on them in a game. I thanked the hockey gods I was not responsible for stats keeping. Each GM was expected to name their team after themselves in a humorous way. Wayne Flaman's team became the 'Flaming Flaman's', a fellow named Joel called his team the 'Joel's Autos', etc. After a Letterman sketch popular at the time, I christened my team the 'Late-Night Thrill Cams'. The beer was cold, and it was good times all around. A month or so later I walked into a Sheraton Cavalier conference room with a raised dais at the front. Barry and his fellow league commissioner sat a table at the front with a ghetto blaster on it. To inaugurate our first draft the commish cheerfully pushed play on an ancient cassette tape and I was introduced to 'Frankenstein' (and later 'Godzilla' by BOC) for the very first time. Three months into that first hockey pool season I found myself in first place. A couple of weeks after that I missed a waiver draft (in my mind I tell myself because I was with a girl, but it was more likely I just forgot), and the league decided to kick me out and refund my entrance fee. A few weeks after that I had my last shift as a life-guard with them and resigned. I may have been a little bitter.

That summer I approached Dan and Doug with my ideas for how to improve the template they had given to me. Sort forwards by position, add tough guys, etc. Not long thereafter the FUNHL was officially born. I can't say I like the song all that much, and I never went out of my way to listen to it again. But reading the Klosterman column I was transported back to that room in the Cavalier with the cheesey low-fi sound pumping out of the boom-box. “Frankenstein created quite the monster that day.””

The FunHL has survived so many seasons despite the full recent season lost to the NHL Lockout, because of the dedication and c ommittment of the group dynamic and it is a rather impressive accomplishment and this history attempts to detail some of the highs (and lows) of those past seasons and the franchises that have made the FunHL the world's most popular virtual hockey league. No other is as complex, competitive or as fun.
Before the Beginning
The oldest franchise in the FunHL is the Severed Heads, though they were not called that at the time. GM Cam Hilton's team was part of a one-year league structured much like the FunHL. While the basics were similar, the league itself was rife with corruption and the Severed Heads left the league in the spring of 1990.

The Severed Heads brain trust still felt that the principles of this other league could be replicated in a new form and the foundation of the FunHL was laid. The winner’s trophy was aptly named the Predator Cup. The league would consist of GMs specifically sought out for their love of hockey, moral integrity and the mistaken belief that they would be easy marks for the Severed Heads management. It only took him a decade to finally win it…

FunHL Award Winners

Predator Cup - FunHL Champions -20!

2011 The Scourge
2010 The Bladerunners
2009 Personal Vendetta
2008 Severed Heads
2007 Highlanders
2006 Bladerunners
2005 Season Cancelled
2004 Personal Vendetta
2003 Ramapithicines
2002 Personal Vendetta
2001 Severed Heads
2000 Severed Heads
1999 Bladerunners
1998 Shadowmen
1997 Ramapithicines
1996 Great Whites
1995 Shadowmen
1994 Great Whites
1993 Highlanders
1992 Highlanders
1991 Great Whites

Challenge Cup – Head-to-Head Champion (Runner-up) - 12

2011 Scrourge (Personal Vendetta)
2010 Bladerunners (Personal Vendetta)
2009 Personal Vendetta (Bladerunners)
2008 Severed Heads (Personal Vendetta)
2007 Highlanders (Bladerunners)
2006 Bladerunners (Personal Vendetta)
2005 Season Cancelled
2004 Personal Vendetta (Bladerunners)
2003 Dogs (Severed Heads)
2002 Personal Vendetta (Knights Templar)
2001 Severed Heads (Ramapithicines)
2000 Personal Vendetta (Severed Heads)
1999 Great Whites (Personal Vendetta)

Omnivore Award – Most Improved Team -14

2011 The Scourge
2010 Bladeunners
2009 Wolves
2008 Severed Heads
2007 Highlanders
2006 The Dogs
2005 Season Cancelled
2004 Ramapithicines (+133.25 pts)
2003 Bladerunners (+121.72 pts)
2002 Wolves (+69.66 pts)
2001 Severed Heads (+195.72 pts)
2000 Bladerunners (+154.76 pts)
1999 Shadowmen (+143 pts) – omnivore calculations changed
1998 Shadowmen (+272.56 pts)
1997 Wolves (+104 pts)

Triple Crown Winners – Predator, Challenge and Omnivore Victors in the same year-4

2001 Severed Heads
2007 Highlanders
2010 Bladerunners
2011 Scrouge

Herbivore Trophy - Worst Franchise in the FunHL -9

2011 Barbarians
2010 Lost Boys
2009 Edge
2008 Knights Templar
2007 Edge
2006 Knights Templar
2005 Season Cancelled
2004 Dogs
2003 Barbarians
2002 Severed Heads
2001 Barbarians
2000 Wolves
1999 Collective
1998 Edge
1997 Severed Heads

Franchise Snap-Shots (Active Teams)

Bladerunners
G.M. Brian Wansleeben

Joined League: 1995-96, Transferred Franchise (Originally Paladins)
1st Player Selected: Pavel Bure, RW, Vancouver
Best Finish: Predator Cup Champions 1999, 2006, 2010
Challenge Cup Record: 82 Wins, 42 Losses (Playoff Record: 3 Wins, 8 Losses)
Awards: Omnivore Plaque 2000, 2003, 2010

Edge
G.M. Collin Sanderson

Joined League: 1990-91, Original Franchise
1st Player Selected: Mark Messier, C, Edmonton
Best Finish: Third Place 1995
Challenge Cup Record: 50 Wins, 74 Losses (Playoff Record: None)
Awards: Herbivore Trophy (Worst Team in League) 1998

Great Whites
G.M. Dan Ross
Joined League: 1990-91, Original Franchise
1st Player Selected: Patrick Roy, G, Montreal
Best Finish: Predator Cup Champions 1991, 1994, 1996
Challenge Cup Record 63 Wins, 60 Losses, 1 Tie (Playoff Record: 4 Wins, 2 Losses)
Awards: Challenge Cup Champion 1999

Highlanders
G.M. Douglas McLachlan
Joined League: 1990-91, Original Franchise
1st Player Selected: Steve Yzerman, C, Detroit
Best Finish: Predator Cup Champions 1992, 1993
Challenge Cup Record: 71 Wins, 53 Losses (Playoff Record: 0 Wins, 6 Losses)

Knights Templar
G.M. Mike Getta
Joined League: 1994-95, Expansion Franchise (Zephyrs Dissolution Draft)
1st Player Selected: Eric Lindros, C, Philadelphia
Best Finish: Third Place 2000, 2002
Challenge Cup Record: 57 Wins, 67 Losses (Playoff Record: 3 Wins, 3 Losses)
Awards: Herbivore Trophy 2006

The Lost Boys
G.M. Richard Birt
Joined League: 2006-07, Replacement Franchise (formerly the Barbarians)
1st Player Selected: Sergei Gonchar, D, Pittsburgh
Best Finish:
Challenge Cup Record:
Awards:

Personal Vendetta
G.M. Darrell Mann
Joined League: 1993-94, Expansion Franchise (Promoted From Minors)
1st Player Selected: Ed Belfour, G, Chicago
Best Finish: Predator Cup Champions 2002, 2004, 2009
Challenge Cup Record: 73 Wins, 53 Losses (Playoff Record: 12 Wins, 3 Loss)
Awards: Challenge Cup Champions 2000, 2002, 2004, 2009

Ramapithicines
G.M. Corey Milne
Joined League: 1991-92, Expansion Franchise
1st Player Selected: Brett Hull, RW, St.Louis
Best Finish: Predator Cup Champions 1997, 2003
Challenge Cup Record: 61 Wins, 62 Losses, 1 Tie (Playoff Record: 3 Wins, 3 Losses)
Awards: Omnivore Plaque 2004

The Scourge
G.M. Chris Erickson
Joined League: 2006-07, Replacement Franchise (formerly the Dogs)
1st Player Selected: Pavel Datsyuk, C, Detroit
Best Finish: Predator Cup, 2
Challenge Cup Record:
Awards:

Severed Heads
G.M. Cam Hilton
Joined League: 1990-91, Original Franchise
1st Player Selected: Mario Lemieux, C, and Pittsburgh
Best Finish: Predator Cup Champions 2000, 2001
Challenge Cup Record: 73 Wins, 51 Losses (Playoff Record: 8 Wins, 5 Losses)
Awards: Challenge Cup Champion 2001
Omnivore Plaque 2001
Herbivore Trophy (Worst Team in League) 1997, 2002

Shadowmen
G.M. Bob Chaudhuri
Joined League: 1993-94, Expansion Franchise
1st Player Selected: Pat Lafontaine, C, and Buffalo
Best Finish: Predator Cup Champions 1995, 1998
Challenge Cup Record: 48 Wins, 76 Losses (Playoff Record: 0 Wins 2 Losses)
Awards: Omnivore Plaque 1998, 1999

Wolves
G.M. Rob Woods
Joined League: 1990-91, Original Franchise (Did Not Play 1991-92)
1st Player Selected Sergei Makarov, RW, Calgary
Best Finish: Second Place 1996
Challenge Cup Record: 61 Wins, 63 Losses (Playoff Record: 0 Wins, 2 Losses)
Awards: Omnivore Plaque 1997, 2002
Herbivore Trophy (Worst Team in League) 2000
Franchise Snap-Shots (Inactive Teams)

Barbarians
G.M. Mike Breakenridge

Joined League: 2000-2001, Transferred Franchise (Originally Collective)
1st Player Selected: Valeri Bure, RW, and Calgary
Best Finish: Seventh Place 2006
Challenge Cup Record: 28 Wins, 52 Losses (Playoff Record: None)
Awards: Herbivore Trophy (Worst Team in League) 2001, 2003
Final Season: 2005-2006 (Became the Lost Boys)

Collective
G.M. Jen Wees (Replaced G.M. Shane Norndon during 1995-96 Season)

Joined League: 1995-96, Transferred Franchise (Originally "Nightmare")
1st Player Selected (By G.M. Norndon): Thereon Fleury, RW, and Calgary
1st Player Selected (By G.M. Wees, 1996-97): Pavel Bure, RW, Vancouver
Best Finish: Fifth Place 1997
Challenge Cup Record: 13 Wins, 29 Losses (Playoff Record: None)
Final Season: 1999-00 (Became Barbarians)

Demons
G.M. Martin

Joined League: 1990-91, Original Franchise
1st Player Selected Wayne Gretzky, C, Los Angeles
Best Finish: Third Place 1991
Final Season: 1990-91

Dogs
G.M. Bill Donaldson

Joined League: 1997-98, Transferred Franchise (Originally Puck U)
1st Player Selected: Dominik Hasek, G, Buffalo
Best Finish: Second Place 2003
Challenge Cup Record: 61 Wins, 63 Losses (Playoff Record: 4 Wins, 2 Losses)
Awards: Challenge Cup Champions 2003
Omnivore Plaque 2006
Herbivore Trophy (Worst Team in League) 2004

"Nightmare", (Actual Team Name Lost)
G.M. Danny Nasser

Joined League: 1994-95, Expansion Franchise (Zephyrs Dissolution Draft)
1st Player Selected: Doug Gilmour, C, Toronto
Best Finish: Twelfth Place 1995
Final Season: 1994-95 (Became Collective)

Paladins
G.M. Bartek Nagorski

Joined League: 1990-91, Original Franchise (Did Not Play 1993-94)
1st Player Selected: Pierre Turgeon, C, Buffalo
Best Finish: Second Place 1993
Final Season: 1994-95 (Became Bladerunners)

Puck-U
G.M. Mike Mitsch (Assistant G.M. Arin Sen, 1990-91)

Joined League: 1990-91, Original Franchise
1st Player Selected: Denis Savard, C, Chicago
Best Finish: Fourth Place 1991, 1992, 1996
Final Season: 1996-97 (Became Dogs)

"Vipers", (Actual Team Name Lost)
G.M. Michelle Delarue

Joined League: 1991-92, Expansion Franchise
1st Player Selected: Brian Leetch, D, NY Rangers
Best Finish: Fifth Place 1992
Final Season: 1991-92

Zephyrs
G.M. Kirk Wankle

Joined League: 1993-94, Expansion Franchise (Promoted From Minors)
1st Player Selected: Mario Lemieux, C, Pittsburgh
Best Finish: Fifth Place 1994
Final Season: 1993-94 (Became "Nightmare" and Knights Templar)

Season By Season Synopsis
Season One (1990-91)

1st Pick Overall: Edge -- Mark Messier (Center, 63 pts)
1991 Predator Cup Champions: The Great Whites, G.M. Dan Ross

The FunHL's first season consisted of eight franchises drafting teams of 23 free-agent players (with 9 defensemen to today's 8) signed to single season contracts. The method for calculating stats has remained almost unchanged since the beginnings of the league, rewarding players for point production and designating a single player, later two, as the team's tough-guy.

Prior to the start of the league's inaugural season, the decision was made to reward superior defensive play, as calculated by the ‘+/-‘ statistic, with points as an alternative to offensive production. Goaltending stats were calculated on a nightly basis in a complicated system that gave a goaltender one point per complete game played and up to four additional points for a shutout. While goalies could not lose you points under the system, having a goaltender replaced part way through a game resulted in him receiving no points. This was a system that was bad news for those GMs who had their goaltender coached by Mike Keenan.

The first ever draft in the FunHL went as follows:

1st Edge (then Blades) -- Mark Messier (C, 63 pts)
Coming off a career season of 129pts, Messier seemed the perfect choice to GM Collin Sanderson as he scanned through the newspaper prior to making his selection. Sadly, Messier would only play 53 games and finished the year with a mere 63 pts.

2nd Great Whites -- Patrick Roy. (G)
GM Dan Ross was the target of no small amount of ridicule as he examined his computer-generated draft sheets but Ross and his Great Whites would have the last laugh by correctly assessing the vital importance of goaltending prior to selecting Vezina Trophy winner Roy. The Great Whites' run to victory was further aided by the selection of John Cullen, who had a career year in Pittsburgh while filling in on the Penguins top line during Lemieux's injury.

3rd Demons -- Wayne Gretzky (C, 163 pts)
The question asked by most GMs prior to the draft was Gretzky or Lemieux? The Demons guessed correctly and took Gretzky's Hart Trophy performance to the bank.

4th Severed Heads (then the Machine) -- Mario Lemieux (C, 45 pts)
Lemieux was, and remains, a favorite of GM Cam Hilton. The Severed Heads were no doubt ecstatic at the prospect of getting Lemieux so late in the draft; however as a harbinger of things to come Super Mario played only 26 games. His 45 points constituted an amazing personal total but Lemieux's injured back would deny the Severed Heads a chance at the league’s inaugural championship, as they finished second.

5th Highlanders (then the Highland Clansmen) -- Steve Yzerman (C, 108 pts)
Yzerman's play would go some way to mitigating other rookie draft-day blunders such as selecting Darren Puppa in net and enforcer Brian Curran, who had just retired unbeknownst to the Highlander management, as the team’s intended tough guy. The Highlanders would only finish fifth that year but the learning process would pay dividends the following season.

6th Wolves (then the Scepters) -- Sergei Makarov (RW, 86 pts)
Makarov's sophomore performance wasn't enough to overcome the criticism directed towards GM Rob Woods, which continues even to this day, for taking such an unproven commodity so early.

7th Paladins -- Pierre Turgeon (C, 79 pts)
GM Bartek Nagorski never had any doubt as to the name or character of this former franchise. Loyal fans still clamor for the gleaming silver and midnight black colours of their favorite team. The Paladins were satisfied with the selection at the time but in hindsight Turgeon's 79 points was eclipsed by both third rounder Cam Neely (RW, 91 pts) and fourth rounder Joe Sakic (C, 109 pts). The Paladins, with the Severed Heads, hold the distinction of consummating the first trade in the FunHL swapping right winger Tomas Sandstrom for left winger Martin Gelinas.

8th Puck U (then the No-Names) -- Brett Hull (RW, 131 pts)
The front office disputes between GM Mitsch and one-year assistant, Sen, were evident right from the start. The team had the first wrap-around and selected St. Louis Blues right-winger Brett Hull and Chicago Black Hawks center Denis Savard, each player the first choice of each GM. The Puck U philosophy of "Get More" was embodied, however, in the play of Hull who would lead all right wingers in scoring that season.

The Great Whites would win the inaugural league championship in 1991 as the winning tradition of the Great Whites franchise began.

Season Two (1991-92)

1st Pick Overall: Puck U -- Wayne Gretzky (Center, 121 pts)
1992 Predator Cup Champions: The Highlanders, G.M. Douglas McLachlan

By the second season, the league had clearly established itself as the standard other virtual leagues would compare themselves to. Even so, change was to affect the FunHL. The number of defensemen drafted per team dropped from nine to eight. The goaltending stats began what would become an almost annual tinkering. The system remained, in that goalies couldn't lose you points but had to play the entire game, however the most a shutout could earn you was reduced to 4 pts.

There were also changes in the franchises themselves. The Demons disbanded and GM Woods went on an extended tour of the South Pacific, resulting in the Wolves temporarily leaving the league. GM Mitsch of Puck U made little effort to diminish the laconic atmosphere surrounding the franchise other than announcing that the team's nickname would be "The Sens", in honour of fired assistant GM Arin Sen. Of greater significance was the incorporation of two new franchises. The first was under the guidance of the league's first female GM, Michelle Delarue, but it would have little lasting impact on the league as her franchise did not return the following season. The second team, The Ramapithicines, have become one of the most successful and popular FunHL franchises, expansion or otherwise. GM Corey Milne had a rough initiation to the league but had the foresight to construct the first of the truly modern Virtual arenas named, what else, The Cave.

GM Ross was the first to face the difficult task of defending the league championship and the pressure proved too great. Risky draft picks such as right winger Jari Kurri, just returned from a year in Italy, and sophomore defenseman Rob Blake, whose production fell from 46 to 20 pts during an injury plagued season, were part of the problem. A lopsided draft day trade with the Highlanders for goaltending help may have illustrated the real change between years one and two - other GMs were improving.

The Severed Heads (in season two called the Dynamo) would, again, finish second in the league standings on the strength of goaltender Patrick Roy's 2.36 GAA. However, the cruel irony of fate would reward the Highlanders with the league's scoring champion, Mario Lemieux and his 131 pts. The Highlanders victory run was strengthened by drafting the top enforcer, Mike Peluso, and his 408 PIMs as well as the waiver draft acquisition (taken with the final pick on the urging of Ramapithicine GM Milne) of eventual Calder Trophy winner Pavel Bure and his 60 pts, the vast majority of which were garnered in the last half of the season.

The Highlanders, recognizing the importance of the league and its heritage, chose to take the cash award given to the league champions and purchase the trophy that became the Predator Cup. While the second team to win the league championship, the Highlanders and their fans were the first to hoist the Predator Cup itself. That task completed, the defense of the Cup became the next order of business.

Season Three (1992-93)

1st Pick Overall: Wolves -- Mario Lemieux (C, 160 pts)
1993 Predator Cup Champions: The Highlanders, G.M. Douglas McLachlan

The months leading up to the start of the FunHL's third season were filled with much discussion concerning the proper method of calculating goaltending points. The method finally adopted was the system still in use today: calculating points based on GAA and minutes played. The first benchmark was set at 4 pts for a shutout.

The third season also saw the return of the Wolves franchise (re-christened the Merlins) fresh from their tour of Australia. There was no rust as far as Woods' drafting talent was concerned, selecting Mario Lemieux shortly after winning the lottery to select first. Edge GM Collin Sanderson would follow Woods' lead and embark on a similar tour to Australia and New Zealand. The day-to-day management of the Edge franchise was left to assistant GM Tom Muir. In honour of the arrangement, the franchise was to be temporarily nicknamed the Gemini’s.

The Highlanders may have won their first Predator Cup on the strength of solid drafting but the repeat victory was the result of skillful trading and no small amount of pure luck. The first major trade was the acquisition of Lemieux from the Wolves, for center Dale Hawerchuck (C, 96 pts). Next, the Highlander management gambled that the media rumours of an early retirement for the injured Wayne Gretzky were premature and managed to acquire his rights from the Paladins for San Jose Sharks rookie Ray Whitney. Gretzky returned in the second half of the season to register 65 pts in 45 games.

The biggest deal, however, took place on New Year's Eve. Severed Heads GM Hilton made a huge bid for Lemieux offering, among other inducements, the rights to Patrick Roy and rookie right winger Teemu Selanne. Selanne had been on a record setting pace prior to the trade, but the Highlanders couldn't contain their glee as Selanne's production actually increased following the swap, ending up with a phenomenal 76 goals and 132 pts on route to the Calder Trophy. The trade would only make sense if Lemieux could continue to produce at his torrid pace, but shortly after the trade he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease and missed over 20 games. Once again Lemieux, and other gods, chose to mock Hilton and indeed all Severed Heads fans. The Heads would finish third.

Despite the great trades and good fortune, the final race for the Cup was one of the closest in league history. The Highlanders had led continuously from the first week thanks to left winger Wendel Clark who had 12pts in his first three games. With two weeks to go in the season, the Paladins (who had been chasing closely all year) pulled ahead by 2 pts. In the final week the Tartan Army refused to surrender and was able to out pace Nagorski's challengers to win the championship by a mere 6 pts. In so doing The Highlanders became the first franchise to win the Predator Cup back-to-back.

Season Four (1993-94)

1st Pick Overall: Zephyrs -- Mario Lemieux (C, 37 pts)
1994 Predator Cup Champions: The Great Whites, G.M. Dan Ross

Changes would seem to be the only constant in the FunHL and that was certainly true of the fourth season. In terms of rule changes, the most significant would have to be the introduction of prospect players. Initially each franchise drafted two prospects, and had their rights for two years plus an option. This season also witnessed a one-year experiment with the trading of entry draft picks for the upcoming season. Of course goalie stats were adjusted again. A shutout was now worth 3.5 pts, the first time that a decimal would be used as a shutout benchmark.

The composition of the league had also changed. The Paladin franchise left the league for the season. However, the league expanded to ten teams with the granting of another expansion franchise, the Shadowmen (GM Bob Chaudhuri), and the promotion of two minor league teams: the Zephyrs (GM Kirk Wankle) and the Personal Vendetta (GM Darrell Mann). The Zephyrs were unable to maintain fan interest when, after 22 games, first overall pick Lemieux decided to sit out the season and rest his back. The franchise sadly finished the year managed out of the League Office. The Personal Vendetta, conversely, were incredibly successful in their inaugural season challenging for the lead and finishing second overall.

The most revolutionary management philosophy was that employed by Shadowmen GM Chaudhuri, who announced their intention to "do things differently" by breaking with convention and using their first three picks in the entry draft to select three centers. He would then use his final pick to “spike” rookie center Peter Forsberg so that the Great Whites couldn't draft him as their first prospect. The Great Whites consoled themselves by selecting Paul Kariya.

The fourth year's first round went as follows:

1st Zephyrs -- Mario Lemieux (C, 37 pts)
2nd Personal Vendetta -- Ed Belfour (G, 119 pts)
3rd Severed Heads -- Kevin Stevens (LW/TG, 88 pts/126.75 pts)
4th Shadowmen -- Pat Lafontaine (C, 18 pts)
5th Edge -- Rick Tocchet (RW/TG, 40 pts/73 pts)
6th Highlanders -- Luc Robitaille (LW, 86 pts)
7th Wolves (called the Hydras) -- Mark Recchi (RW, 107 pts)
8th Ramapithicines -- Pavel Bure (RW, 107 pts)
9th Puck U -- Brian Leetch (D, 79 pts)
10th Great Whites -- Patrick Roy (G, 129 pts)

The Highlander plan to three-peat was derailed by several factors, not the least of which was an inability to replicate the phenomenal good fortune in the trade market that had surrounded the franchise the previous season. Despite becoming the first franchise to trade a first round entry draft pick, to the Ramapithicines, the "win big" trade that had propelled the squad to victory in the past never materialized. Highlander fans had to settle for a third place finish, but they were spared the distressing collapse of the rival Severed Heads who finished dead last. The acquisition of two moderately high entry draft picks, and the potential value of them, was sufficient to spare GM Hilton's position but the lackluster play on the ice cost the coaching staff their heads.

The Great Whites weren't shy about trading entry draft picks themselves; trading a 6th rounder to the Severed Heads, but it wasn't the abandonment of the future entry draft picks that brought home the Predator Cup so much as a late season deal that saw prospect Paul Kariya go to the Edge for a package of high-octane defensemen. The victory by the Great Whites, their second in four years, was a blast for all "Fin Fans", but the loss of Kariya was something that many in the Great Whites organization would have regretted had he not been later reacquired. While not playing in the year he was drafted, Kariya would score 39 pts in 47 games following the NHL lockout and in his option year (where he would be drafted in the 22nd round), and Kariya scored 50 goals and tallied 108 pts!

While the race between the "Old Guard" pair of Sharks and Scots was one way of looking at season four, another would be to focus on the emergence of the new challengers. The Ramapithicines, in pulling the trigger on the entry draft trade with the Highlanders, had shown themselves eager to win - not just compete. But the rookie GMs was the real story of year four. The Zephyrs' management problems should not diminish their early season successes, as they went into the mid-season waiver draft leading the league. The Personal Vendetta quietly went about drafting an excellent squad and then nursed their talents to a solid second place finish, the best showing ever by an expansion franchise in its inaugural season.

Oh yes, we were also witness to the arrival of the Shadowmen and the ceaseless tinkering and trading of GM Chaudhuri. Drafting Lafontaine, Steve Yzerman and Adam Oates with his first three picks was only the beginning, almost immediately he was able to consummate a deal with GM Mitsch, a feat amazing in and of itself. The deal was of the sort that would justify Puck U's brain trust never again venturing into the trade market. The Shadowmen exchanged Lafontaine for Maple Leafs center Doug Gilmour; year-end stats were 18pts for Lafontaine to 111 for Dougie Gilmour!

Season Five (1994-95)

1st Pick Overall: Knights Templar -- Eric Lindros (C, 70 pts)
1995 Predator Cup Champion: The Shadowmen, G.M. Bob Chaudhuri

With the unprecedented success of last season's new franchises, it was understandable that the league saw fit to expand anew. The Zephyrs had exploded, true, but the Shadowmen and the Personal Vendetta had demonstrated an ability to out-play more established clubs. Therefore the league was expanded by two more teams, the Knights Templar (GM Mike Getta) and the "Nightmare" (GM Danny Nasser), a cruel nickname bestowed upon the franchise by quickly disillusioned fans who took to heckling the squad whenever possible. With the return of the Paladins, the FunHL was set to become a league of twelve.

The rapid expansion of the league raised the issue of whether or not there was now a shortage of quality players, particularly defensemen. Suggestions were made to reduce the number of drafted defensemen to seven, or even six, per team. In the end, the decision was made to keep the number of rearguards unchanged. The one-year experiment with trading entry draft picks ended, with mixed opinions. The issue would remain dormant for a few seasons. With league expansion a move came to expand the number of prospects from two to four.

The most significant hockey development that season was the NHL Lockout, reducing the number of games played to 48. The FunHL responded by attempting to sign many of these stars to exclusive contracts but these offers were declined. The second most significant development was the announcement by Mario Lemieux that he would not play that season in order to rest his back. This announcement created a dilemma; does one select a player that you know will not produce this season or allow him to slip to the prospect round where someone would surely have his rights for three seasons? The task fell to Ramapithicine GM Corey Milne to select the center with his 22nd round pick. The Highlanders, holding the first pick in the prospect draft, selected Radek Bonk instead. As a sign that the universe is just, at least to non-Severed Heads fans, the Ramapithicines' Cup-winning year was made possible by the acquisition of Lemieux in the second round of the 1996-1997 draft (the year which would have been Lemieux's option year had he been allowed to slip to the prospect rounds).

The fifth season's first round went as follows:

1st Knights Templar -- Eric Lindros (C, 70 pts)
2nd Puck U -- Pavel Bure (RW, 43 pts)
3rd Shadowmen -- Brian Leetch (D, 41 pts)
4th Wolves (still the Hydras) -- Brendan Shanahan (LW/TG, 41 pts/ 75 pts)
5th Ramapithicines -- Keith Tkachuk (LW/TG 51 pts/ 89 pts)
6th Paladins -- Wayne Gretzky (C, 48 pts)
7th Edge -- Al MacInnis (D, 28 pts)
8th Ramapithicines (from the Highlanders) -- Gary Roberts (LW, 4pts)
9th Great Whites -- Jaromir Jagr (RW, 70 pts)
10th "Nightmare" -- Doug Gilmour (C, 33 pts)
11th Personal Vendetta -- Sergei Fedorov (C, 50 pts)
12th Severed Heads -- Luc Robitaille (LW, 42 pts)
17th Highlanders (their 1st pick) -- Pat Lafontaine (C, 27 pts)

During the summer between seasons four and five, Shadowmen GM Chaudhuri, on a visit to the planned site for the new Mausoleum, suddenly fell into a month-long coma. The entire league was shocked by the development but their fears would prove to be unfounded when, shortly upon regaining consciousness, Chaudhuri sought to be updated on the events in the hockey world during his "time away". The broad smile and laughter that greeted his hearing the news of the NHL's Clark for Sundin trade convinced all who knew him that the Bob, and the Shadowmen, were truly back.

Next came the business of drafting and managing a championship team. The Mausoleum might just as well been named the phone booth, as Chaudhuri seemed to constantly be manning the phone lines in-order to improve his squad. Prior to season five, franchises had relied on drafting well and making a handful of major trades which provided the fuel for explosive charges towards the Cup. The Shadowmen, under Chaudhuri, turned that strategy on its head. Everything was tradable, at any time, and often before the players involved had even dressed for the Shadowmen once. Players, no matter how they performed, seemed destined to find new homes shortly after receiving their jersey. The fans at the Mausoleum didn’t need a program to keep up, they needed a stock ticker.

Those fans, while denied any real loyalty and affection to the players, couldn’t help but appreciate the success shown by this revolving door strategy. The team kept making gains, all season long. "Micro-managing" had done its part, as the Shadowmen became the first expansion franchise to win the Predator Cup. Captain Trevor Linden, acquired in a trade from the Highlanders, commented on his GM’s style. "They called him crazy, but I appreciate the madness - we get the summer to be nuts with this Cup!"

To hammer home the point that the expansion teams were becoming new powerhouses in the league, The Personal Vendetta repeated as league runners-up. While, unable to keep pace with the constant dealings of the Shadowmen, a solid draft year (including 91pts from Vendetta favorite, goalie Ed Belfour) put the team in a position to challenge had the Shadowmen phones been disconnected.

Of the original franchises, the Edge enjoyed their best season ever - a third place finish. GM Sanderson traditionally selected a solid defense corps and this year was no exception with Bourque and Suter leading the way. The Severed Heads rebounded from an atrocious previous year, and finished a respectable fourth. Their fans took pleasure in returning the previous season’s taunts back towards the Highlander faithful; who witnessed the team’s worst showing ever - 11th. The Highlanders were spared the indignity of finishing dead-last on account of the unmitigated disaster that was the "Nightmare". GM Nasser, the subject of much pre-draft speculation as to his qualifications, actually began his tenure well. Picks of Gilmour (33 pts) and right winger Alexander Mogilny (47 pts) were solid, given the lockout. He also apparently knew the value of goaltending, nabbing Dominik Hasek (96 pts) with his third selection, however the desire to lock-up a solid tandem between the posts saw the rookie GM use his fourth round pick to choose a second goalie in John Vanbiesbrouck (71 pts). While a solid netminder, the move essentially put the team an entire round behind their competitors in acquiring forwards and defensemen. It was a situation that the franchise wasn’t able to overcome throughout the season. With fan support all but gone by seasons end, the "Nightmare" was over.

Season Six (1995-96)

1st Pick Overall: Puck U -- Eric Lindros (Center, 115 pts)
1996 Predator Cup Champion: The Great Whites, G.M. Dan Ross

The previous season witnessed the beginning of a new era and an ending to another. The Shadowmen entered the year as defending Predator Cup Champions, heralding in a dawn of daring new methods and successful new franchises, the old guard had to grudgingly accept the arrival of these Young Turks. So what now? It was a question expressed by many GMs throughout the league. The Shadowmen win had completely upended the way people thought about their teams. Would this be the end of player loyalty? Were they only to become commodities to be mechanically bid upon and exchanged? While it would be unfair to characterize the Chaudhuri method as mechanical, he may be the GM most willing to play a hunch, other GMs felt that were they to try and follow his example they would have to surrender too much of the heart that makes up a franchise. Lurking, in the shallow waters off the coast however, was an older franchise with a different philosophy awaiting the chance to try it out in this new era. The Great Whites and a young prospect phenom were about to make their presence known.

As far as rule changes, the league remained relatively constant. There was the annual adjustment of goaltending statistics; the shutout benchmark was lowered to 4. There was also the introduction of a second waiver-draft. However the radical changes were still a year away.

One team, the Paladins, were forced to leave the league as they were unable to compete without a more modern, e-mail friendly, facility. The franchise was sold to new investors and renamed the Bladerunners (GM Brian Wansleeben). The new owners inherited a solid management group and a stable of interesting prospects, most notably right winger Ziggy Palffy.

The fifth season exposed the "Nightmare" to be simply awful and the league, eager to remain at twelve franchises, either had to grant a new expansion team or the old team had to find new ownership. The later was the course of action taken when the franchise was handed over to GM Shane Norndon. The circus that surrounded the franchise in year five had nothing on what would occur under Norndon’s brief tenure. A questionable draft was followed by a series of ill-advised trades and sloppy week-to-week management. By midseason, the franchise was floundering amid a host of serious allegations directed towards the GM which forced the league to intervene.

The franchise sought out the services of noted FunHL commentator Jen Wees as their interim GM. Noted for her outrageous fashion sense and love of blood sport, Wees quickly dispensed with the suggestion she would be an "interim" GM. Setting about to repair the considerable damage of the previous two brain trusts, the franchise was renamed the Collective and a team-centered approach was implemented. Within weeks, the improvement was visible to fans and to teams around the league. By season’s end, Wees would pull the franchise out of the league cellar, finishing 15 pts ahead of the "old but new" Bladerunners.

The sixth season’s first round went as follows:

1st Puck U -- Eric Lindros (C, 115 pts)
2nd Wolves (still Hydras) -- Brendan Shanahan (LW/TG, 78 pts/109.25 pts)
3rd Severed Heads -- Sergei Zubov (D, 66 pts)
4th Great Whites -- Jaromir Jagr (RW, 149 pts)
5th Knights Templar -- Keith Tkachuk (LW/TG, 98pts/137 pts)
6th Highlanders -- Paul Coffey (D, 74 pts)
7th Edge -- Al MacInnis (D, 61 pts)
8th Shadowmen -- Ray Bourque (D, 82 pts)
9th Bladerunners -- Pavel Bure (RW, 13 pts)
10th Collective -- Theoren Fleury (RW/TG, 96 pts/124pts)
11th Ramapithicines -- Brian Leetch (D, 85 pts)
12th Personal Vendetta -- Alexander Mogilny (RW, 107 pts)

The strategy of constant and rapid trading, which had been the driving force behind the Shadowmen win proved difficult to pursue from Montreal, where the Shadowmen had relocated to. The defending champions would settle for a rebuilding season and an eighth-place finish. While the two franchises with rookie GMs battled it out in the league’s basement, the struggle at the top of the pool was between four original franchises and their veteran GMs. Puck U, under the guidance of GM Mitsch, had their best season in recent memory. The minimalist trading style did not have the detrimental effect many predicted and the team would finish with 1014pts, good for fourth place. GM Woods, and his squad, had long been criticized for drafting well but trading atrociously. In this season, the in-house war between scouts and upper management was finally resolved. The Wolves had their best finish ever, second place, and more importantly had regained the respect of the rest of the league.

The Highlander management had been savagely criticized for the previous season’s disaster so a rapid turn-around was needed to satisfy the demands of team supporters. Even so, GM McLachlan attributed much of the previous season's problems to simple bad luck (notably the injury to first draft selection Lafontaine) as opposed to poor management. With that history in mind, the Highlander draft table must have experienced a strong sense of deja vu when Mario Lemieux jumped to the top of the Highlander draft list. Lemieux’s status was very much in question, rumours of an impending retirement were very much in the foreground, and so he had slipped to mid-way through the third round. Accepting the risk, the Highlanders took Lemieux and were rewarded with a 161 pt performance. The Highlanders would finish a respectable third.

The eventual champions, however, were never seriously challenged by anyone. The Great Whites had managed to win their second Predator Cup in part due to trading away prospect Paul Kariya to the Edge. They then reacquired his rights during the next season as the Edge tried to make a run of their own. In the option year of his contract, the Great Whites were able to select Kariya, and his 108 pts, in the final round of the draft. The impact of Kariya was undeniable, the Great Whites finished ahead of the second-place Wolves by almost the same amount, 112 pts. The drama may have been missing from the final result, but fans of the team had no complaints as the franchise celebrated an unprecedented third Predator Cup in six seasons. To this date, no FunHL franchise has every won three league championships.

Season Seven (1996-97)

1st Pick Overall (1st FP): Highlanders -- Jaromir Jagr (RW, 95 pts)
1997 Predator Cup Champion: The Ramapithicines, G.M. Corey Milne
1997 Omnivore Plaque: The Wolves, G.M. Rob Woods (+104 pts)
1997 Herbivore Trophy (Worst Team): The Severed Heads, G.M. Cam Hilton

Change is a recurring theme in the history of the FunHL and in its seventh season that theme reached a deafening crescendo. On the franchise front, no teams left or joined the league, which was a first. The league itself, however, would change significantly. The FunHL introduced a pair of new awards to compliment the Predator Cup. The Omnivore Plaque would be awarded to the GM who most improved his team from the entry draft. The league also introduced the Herbivore Trophy, given to the franchise finishing last as a permanent reminder of a job poorly done.

There were also changes to the rules themselves, changes that would alter the league in a fundamental way. The league adopted the notion of franchise players (FPs), players who were signed to long-term contracts potentially keeping a player with a given franchise for many years. Player representatives felt that the trade turmoil caused by the Shadowmen, among others, was unfair to the league’s elite and felt that this move might make for more stability. Ironically, but not surprisingly, the Shadowmen would be involved in the first trade of an FP when they shipped Paul Kariya to the Severed Heads for goalie Jim Carey and other players. The other major rule change was that once again GMs were free to trade entry draft picks in the upcoming season. Fans and commentators had long been able to recount a franchise's past, now they had much more material with which to speculate about its future.

For GMs, the introduction of FPs created a series of questions. Do you continue to take the best player available even knowing that in a few years he might be well past his prime? What positions would be the most important to secure for the long-haul? What about Lemieux? The talented, oft injured super-star, had announced that this was to be his final season, if drafted as an FP he would need to be replaced next season. The rules on replacing one’s FP were seen as very costly so the decision would not be an easy one for any franchise.

The seventh season’s first two rounds (the FP rounds) went as follows:

1st Highlanders -- Jaromir Jagr (RW, 95 pts)
2nd Shadowmen -- Paul Kariya (LW, 109 pts)
3rd Ramapithicines -- Keith Tkachuk (LW/TG, 86 pts/143 pts)
4th Personal Vendetta -- Peter Forsberg (C, 86 pts)
5th Wolves (finally settling on a team name) -- Eric Lindros (C, 79 pts)
6th Great Whites -- Martin Brodeur (G, 136 pts)
7th Edge -- Brian Leetch (D, 78 pts)
8th Collective -- Pavel Bure (RW, 55 pts)
9th Bladerunners -- Teemu Selanne (RW, 109 pts)
10th Knights Templar (still the Rubber Duckies) -- John Leclair (LW, 97 pts)
11th Puck U -- Joe Sakic (C, 74 pts)
12th Severed Heads -- Jim Carey (G, 51 pts)

13th Severed Heads -- Brendan Shanahan (LW/TG, 88 pts/120.75 pts)
14th Puck U -- Alexander Mogilny (RW, 73 pts)
15th Knights Templar -- Sergei Fedorov (C, 63 pts)
16th Bladerunners -- Chris Osgood (G, 78 pts)
17th Collective -- Theoren Fleury (RW/TG, 67 pts/93 pts)
18th Edge -- Sandis Ozolinsh (D, 68 pts)
19th Great Whites -- Nicklas Lidstrom (D, 57 pts)
20th Wolves -- Roman Hamrlik (D, 40 pts)
21st Personal Vendetta -- Mats Sundin (RW, 94 pts)
22nd Ramapithicines -- Mario Lemieux (C, 122 pts)
23rd Shadowmen -- Petr Nedved (LW, 71 pts)
24th Highlanders -- Sergei Zubov (D, 43 pts)

One of the reasons cited by Lemieux to explain his early retirement was that the game of hockey had become less free-flowing and overly defensive. The drop in scoring definitely had a considerable effect on the pool in this year as no team finished with more than 1000 pts. Nevertheless, it never hurts to have the league scoring champion on your team which the Ramapithicines would. He, along with fellow FP Tkachuk overpowering performance (52 goals and 228 PIM), brought the Predator Cup back to the cheers and manic drum beat of thousands of "Knuckle draggers" gathered at the Cave entrance.

The most serious challenge faced by GM Milne's squad was mounted by the always dangerous Great Whites. The Great Whites had hopes of replicating the Highlanders back-to-back championships in the early 90s, but there was also a commitment to make full use of this first batch of FPs to secure a long-term dominance. By passing up on Lemieux, who Great Whites' management felt would be too much of an injury risk even were he not set to retire, GM Ross went with strong goaltending in Brodeur and blue-line power in Ozolinsh. Even so, they came tantalizingly close to winning a fourth cup falling just short in the closing weeks of the season.

In a year which saw the introduction of two new awards, the races surrounding them proved as interesting as the race for the Predator Cup itself. The Omnivore award had been envisioned as a compliment to the Predator Cup in that trades, the most obvious aspect of a GM’s duties, were an integral element of most successful FunHL seasons. Yet as the Ramapithicines marched towards their first championship the most important status reports were not delivered to the Cave by the scouting staff but by Lemieux's doctors. As long as the Penguin's health remained good, the motivation to engage in full-scale trading was never that great and the Omnivore was given to GM Woods and his Wolves. It was a fitting tribute to their solid third place finish.

At the other end of the spectrum, there was a great battle to avoid last place between Puck U, the Bladerunners and the Severed Heads. Puck U had relocated to the Out of Calgary Conference along with the Shadowmen and the Highlanders which some felt made trade talk more difficult. For GM Mitsch, a traditionally reluctant trader, this ought not to have had the impact it apparently did. More important than the lack of trading though, was the more general lack of involvement in the day-to-day management of the franchise. With no one at the wheel, it wasn't surprising that Puck U went so badly off course. Tenth place was actually flattering. It was a disappointing finish for a franchise which usually managed to remain in the middle of the FunHL standings. It would also prove to be GM Mitch’s final season in the FunHL; the franchise would return to Calgary under new ownership the next year and be reborn as the Dogs.

The Bladerunners had finished dead last in 1995-1996 and GM Wansleeben vowed to never again earn that dubious honour, especially since the new Herbivore Trophy would immortalize the disaster. Thus the whole organization committed itself from top-to-bottom to improvement. The foundations were laid in the selection of Selanne and Osgood as FPs. Osgood's selection might be the more questionable of the two, but there was a long-term view behind the pick and management has maintained that vision as the Bladerunners were the last franchise to trade or replace an original FP. In the end, the rebuilding process would take more than one season as they could only improve to 11th place, one better than the preceding year.

The Severed Heads had entered the season with considerable optimism, poised to pick their two FPs at the wrap-around that optimism did not appear ill-placed. Vezina Trophy winner Carey and power-forward Shanahan were the team’s franchise players coming out of the draft. GM Hilton openly boasted that he may have succeeded in drafting the best 1-2 punch of any team other than the Ramapithicines, who of course had Lemieux. Then, as has happened so often in the history of this seemingly cursed franchise, the wheels began to fall off. Shanahan's season was disappointing and by December it was clear that Carey was not FP material. A different tact was ultimately decided upon - Severed Heads management urged fans to "wait until next year" and then set about finding the tools that would strengthen the franchise for years to come. First came the trade with the Shadowmen, where Carey was unloaded for left winger Kariya and by the season's end the Severed Heads had managed to acquire right winger Jagr, also in a deal involving the Shadowmen. Hilton had managed to get the first and second FPs taken and he vowed that he would not trade either. The Severed Heads had conducted a major overhaul and felt ready to take on the future. Before the future arrived, though, they had the unenviable task of being the first winner of the Herbivore Trophy. It would be the second time the franchise had finished dead last, but this time the occasion would be recorded for all to see.

Season Eight (1997-98)

1st Pick Overall: Ramapithicines -- Ziggy Palffy, FP, (RW, 87 pts)
1998 Predator Cup Champion: The Shadowmen, G.M. Bob Chaudhuri
1998 Omnivore Plaque: The Shadowmen, G.M. Bob Chaudhuri (+143 pts)
1998 Herbivore Trophy (Worst Team): The Edge, G.M. Collin Sanderson

By the commencement of the FunHL’s eighth season, the league said good bye to Mike Mitch and original franchise Puck U. While the team never became a truly elite franchise, they were almost always a solid and dependable team that was respected by their opponents. GM Mitch’s almost irrational love of the Boston Bruins was a defining characteristic as was his well-earned reputation as one of the most difficult GMs to trade with in the history of the League. “Get more” was the team’s unofficial motto and that trading strategy may have helped Puck U from making too many devastating trading errors but it also probably also closed other opportunities that might have lifted the franchise to the next level. In their stead, GM Bill Donaldson was handed the reins of the newly christened Dogs and a new chapter in the FunHL’s history was born.

After the monumental rule changes that were introduced the previous season, no significant changes were made entering season eight. One aspect of the new rules that would be tried out for the first time in season eight was FP replacement. In addition to the anticipated replacement of the now retired Mario Lemieux by the Ramapithicines, two other franchises, the Collective (firmly under the control of GM Jen Wees) and the Personal Vendetta, would be replacing FPs. The entry draft also saw the consequences of the reintroduction of entry draft pick trading as the Highlanders would have three selections in the first round while the Shadowmen would not make their first selection until the fourth round.

The eighth season's first round went as follows:

1st Ramapithicines -- Ziggy Palffy, FP, (RW, 87 pts)
2nd Wolves -- Patrick Roy (G, 103 pts)
3rd Edge -- Wayne Gretzky (C, 90 pts)
4th Collective -- Janne Niinimaa, FP, (D, 43 pts)
5th Knights Templar -- Theoren Fleury (RW/TG, 78 pts/ 127.25 pts)
6th Dogs -- Dominik Hasek (G, 134 pts)
7th Bladerunners -- Valeri Kamensky (LW, 66 pts)
8th Severed Heads -- Darryl Sydor (D, 46 pts)
9th Highlanders (from Shadowmen) -- Brett Hull (RW, 72 pts)
10th Highlanders (from Personal Vendetta) -- Adam Graves (LW, 35 pts)
11th Highlanders -- Ray Bourque (D, 48 pts)
12th Great Whites -- Peter Bondra (RW, 78 pts)
14th Personal Vendetta (1st pick, from Highlanders) -- Bryan Berard, FP, (D, 46 pts)
38th Shadowmen (1st pick, from Highlanders) – Vincent Damphousse (C, 59 pts)

Franchise Player Performances (with teams they started the season with):

Collective – Janne Niinimaa (D, 43 pts) and Sergei Zubov (D, 57 pts)
Bladerunners – Teemu Selanne (RW, 86 pts) and Chris Osgood (G, 113 pts)
Dogs – Joe Sakic (C, 63 pts) and Alexander Mogilny (RW, 45 pts)
Edge – Brian Leetch (D, 50 pts) and Nicklas Lidstrom (D, 59 pts)
Great Whites – Martin Brodeur (G, 145 pts) and Sandis Ozolinsh (D, 51 pts)
Highlanders – Mats Sundin (RW, 74 pts) and Peter Nedved (C, 0 pts)
Knights Templar – Sergei Fedorov (C, 17 pts) and John Leclair (LW, 87 pts)
Personal Vendetta – Bryan Berard (D, 46 pts) and Peter Forsberg (C, 91 pts)
Ramapithicines – Ziggy Palffy (RW, 87 pts) & Keith Tkachuk (LW/TG 66 pts/ 102.75 pts)
Severed Heads – Paul Kariya (LW, 31 pts) and Jaromir Jagr (RW, 102 pts)
Shadowmen – Pavel Bure (RW, 90 pts) and Eric Lindros (C/TG, 71 pts/ 104.5 pts)
Wolves – Roman Hamrlik (D, 26 pts) & Brendan Shanahan (LW 57 pts, 95.5 pts)

The task of defending the Predator Cup is always a daunting one, even more so when your star Franchise Player, Mario Lemieux, retires from hockey. The Ramapithicines had known to expect this risk when they selected him the year before and, Predator Cup in hand, spent the off season scouring their lists to select a worthy replacement. The 1st overall selection, a reward for their success the previous season, made that task a little easier and Ziggy Pallfy’s 87 pts were a respectable showing. Unfortunately the loss of picks in the second and fourth rounds (admittedly G.M. Milne did have two selections in the third round) combined with less than stellar performances by key players resulted in a disappointing ninth place finish.

The O.C.C., or Out of Calgary Conference, was a term first tossed around in 1995 with the Shadowmen’s move to Montreal. Once the trail was blazed however, others would soon follow. One of the great myths about the O.C.C. was that it was impossible to win the Predator Cup from outside the city of the League’s birth. This notion wasn’t simply based on civic pride but an understandable acknowledgement of the challenges of managing a FunHL franchise using e-mail and long-distance phone lines. The task had proven too great for The Shadowmen two seasons previously as they sought to win a back-to-back championship from La Belle Province, but a lot can change in two years and The Shadowmen were about to explode the myth. Oh, and while they were at it the Shadowmen and their G.M. Bob Chaudhuri would, yet again, re-write the book on team management.

The Shadowmen entered the 1997-98 entry draft at a bit of a disadvantage. In addition to the challenges posed by distance, they were still dealing with the consequences of the previous season’s trades. Initial FPs Paul Kariya and Peter Nedved had been moved and, following a series of deals, the Shadowmen entered the Entry Draft holding the rights to Eric Lindros and Pavel Bure. Both would contribute solid production however not all of it would be for the Shadowmen – both would be gone by the next Entry Draft. If the first Shadowmen victory was a tribute to micro-management, the 1997-98 mantra was “Fight the Future”. At the start of the 1997-98 Entry Draft the Shadowmen had managed to trade their first 3 selections. A major challenge for others was but a minor obstacle for the Shadowmen, he would simply have to trade his way out of it – which he did.

The Shadowmen were locked in an unprecedented trade war with the Severed Heads. The gap between first and second would ultimately be only 14pts, one of the tightest races in years, but with the ability to trade entry draft picks it was also one of the most expensive Predator Cup races ever. When the dust finally settled, 89 entry-draft picks would end-up in another GMs’ hands – there are only 264 picks in the whole draft so this was a staggering 33% of picks that had moved. The front-runners were the most affected of course. The Shadowmen would end up trading their first 14 selections away. Their highest pick by the end of the year was another 15th rounder originally belonging to the Bladerunners. At the following season’s entry draft a trade of FPs with the Bladerunners gave the Shadowmen a 3rd round selection with which they would select a new FP, but the damage was immense – “Fight the Future” indeed.

The Severed Heads felt that they needed to fight fire with fire so they too began to trade entry draft futures for present day assets. The damage wrought was almost as devastating for the Heads as they dealt away 8 of their top 9 picks leaving the team to begin selecting players the following season in the 10th round. The one asset that the Severed Heads refused to part with was their first round selection. With the gap between the two teams so close, it was a decision that in all likelihood cost the team a Predator Cup win. Ironically, after holding onto the selection all season long they would trade the pick, which turned out to be the first overall, during the off season to the Bladerunners. Ultimately the Shadowmen improved themselves by over 140 pts (winning the Omnivore in the process) and edged out the Severed Heads to win their second Predator Cup – the first team not based in Calgary to ever win the Cup. Of course there was still the little matter of the bill.

Season Nine (1998-99)

1st Pick Overall: Bladerunners -- Dominick Hasek (G, 104 pts)
1999 Predator Cup Champion: The Bladerunners, G.M. Brian Wansleeben
1999 Challenge Cup Champion: The Great Whites, G.M. Dan Ross
1999 Omnivore Plaque: The Shadowmen, G.M. Bob Chaudhuri (+272.56 pts)
1999 Herbivore Trophy (Worst Team): The Collective, G.M. Jennifer Wees

With the start of the FunHL’s ninth season, a new wrinkle was introduced along with a new award – the Challenge Cup. Initially the head-to-head competition was only unofficially connected to the league but the rivalries produced by the season-long schedule of teams competing directly against each other was enough to ensure that the Challenge Cup season and playoffs became part of the weekly pulse of the league. Teams would play a 20 game (some seasons a 21 game) regular season schedule of weekly games against the other teams in the league with the winner being the team who scored the most points that week. The top four teams at the end of the regular season would play in a best of three semi-finals and then final for the Challenge Cup.

The ninth season’s first round went as follows:

1st Bladerunners (from Severed Heads) – Dominik Hasek (G, 104 pts)
2nd Ramapithicines (from Personal Vendetta) – Scott Niedermayer (D, 46 pts)
3rd Bladerunners – Mike Modano (C, 81 pts)
4th Dogs – Brett Hull (RW, 58 pts)
5th Highlanders – Ed Belfour (G, 89 pts)
6th Ramapithicines – Brendan Shanahan (LW, 58 pts)
7th Wolves – Peter Bondra (RW, 55 pts)
8th Edge – Rod Brind’Amour (LW, 74 pts)
9th Collective – Patrick Roy (G, 74 pts)
10th Knights Templar – Jason Allison, FP, (C, 76 pts)
11th Great Whites – Jeff Friesen (LW, 57 pts)
12th Great Whites (from Shadowmen) – Wayne Gretzky (C, 62 pts)
26th Personal Vendetta (1st pick) -- Saku Koivu (C, 44 pts)
31st Shadowmen (1st pick, from Wolves) -- Alexi Yashin, FP, (C, 94 pts)
114th Severed Heads (1st pick, from Wolves) -- Matais Ohlund (D, 35 pts)

Franchise Player Performances (with teams they started the season with):

Collective – Sergei Zubov (D, 51 pts) & Janne Niinimaa (D, 28 pts)
Bladerunners – Teemu Selanne (RW, 107 pts) & John Leclair (LW, 90 pts)
Dogs – Pavel Bure (RW, 16 pts) & Alexander Mogilny (RW, 45 pts)
Edge – Mats Sundin (C, 83 pts) & Brian Leetch (D, 55 pts)
Great Whites – Martin Brodeur (G, 85 pts) & Sandis Ozolinsh (D, 32 pts)
Highlanders – Zigmund Palffy (RW, 50 pts) & Eric Lindros (C, 93 pts)
Knights Templar – Jason Allison (C, 76 pts) & Roman Hamrlik (D, 32 pts)
Personal Vendetta – Peter Forsberg (C, 97 pts) & Brian Berrard (D, 34 pts)
Ramapithicines – Keith Tkachuk (LW, 68 pts) & Joe Sakic (C, 96 pts)
Severed Heads – Paul Kariya (LW, 101 pts) & Jaromir Jagr (RW, 127 pts)
Shadowmen – Alexi Yashin (C, 94 pts) & Chris Osgood (G, 66 pts)
Wolves – Sergei Fedorov (C, 63 pts) & Nicklas Lidstrom (D, 57 pts)

The Shadowmen began their defense of the Predator Cup at a distinct disadvantage. The franchise was still physically distant from the rest of the league and the pantry, at least with respect to Entry Draft picks, was essentially empty. A repeat of their winning performance would be difficult to reproduce. Indeed, avoiding the Herbivore Trophy would be a challenge in its own right. The solution, of course, was to keep digging. GM Chaudhuri continued to trade future picks for present players such that by the next ED, his first selection was not made until the 10th round and the earliest selection from his own picks wouldn’t be made until the 12th round. This time around, the magic would not repeat itself and the Shadowmen were only able to finish 7th. They were able to substantially improve their standing from draft day winning their second-straight Omnivore Award with an amazing improvement of over 272 pts! No team in the history of the Omnivore, before or since, had every improved more than 200 pts making this one record that may never be broken. Still, the team finished 7th and was only 130 pts out of last so the accomplishment was tempered with the reality that the defending champs had a lot of work to do.

The last year’s runners up, the Severed Heads, were similarly entering the season hobbled from the previous season’s trading and would not make their first selection until the 10th round. Unfortunately that disadvantage undermined one of the best seasons ever by a combined FP pair as both Paul Kariya and Jaromir Jagr clocked in with plus 100 pt seasons. There is no question GM Hilton and all Heads fans were thrilled with the performance of the two cornerstones of the franchise but had to be somewhat disappointed with the 6th place finish. They did, however, finish ahead of the Shadowmen in 7th.

For every pick traded away by those making a run, an extra pick would be given to those teams stocking up for the following year. The Great Whites, Ramapithicines, Bladerunners all had an extra selection in the first round and almost everyone seemed to have exchanged a pick or two in the hopes of catching lightning in a bottle for the season to come. With their two selections in the first round, the Ramapithicines selected two solid performers in Scott Niedermayer and Brendan Shanahan. With Keith Tkachuk continued contributions and a return to form from fellow FP Joe Sakic the Ramapithicines seemed poised to make a run at the top but never were able to get the whole team pulling in the same direction and finished a respectable fourth.

The Personal Vendetta had always drafted well, which was good because their first selection was in the 3rd round, Saku Koivu. The Vendetta could always rely on their FP duo of Peter Forsberg and Brian Berrard to provide a strong starting position and, with a little luck; they might have made a stronger move up the standings. While consistently solid, the team never demonstrated the explosiveness shown by championship caliber teams and the Personal Vendetta had to settle for a third place finish. They did have one shot at some hardware however making it to the Challenge Cup finals.

Their opponents in the finals, the Great Whites, were also vying for bragging rights in the newest FunHL competition. The Great Whites actually finished the Challenge Cup regular season in second place. They would face off against the third place Bladerunners in the semi-finals while the league-leading Personal Vendetta played the fourth place finishers, the Shadowmen who in spite of the challenges they faced were successful enough when they needed to be to make the playoffs. Both semi-finals were decided in only two games and the Great Whites, led by the goaltending of Martin Brodeur, faced off against the Personal Vendetta in the best of three final. The Great Whites didn’t hesitate to take the play to their opponents and were able to take the final in two straight. The Great Whites’ management was charged with selected a trophy and selected a gleaming crystal as the new Challenge Cup. Wining has been a Great White tradition since the beginning of the FunHL and with the newest trophy safely secured in the Great White trophy case, that tradition continues.

The Great Whites may have won the Challenge Cup but the Predator Cup remains the pinnacle in the FunHL and as good a season as they had, they were a distant second to the Bladerunners in that race. The Bladerunners began their quest in fine fashion selecting goaltender Dominik Hasek with the first pick overall, acquired from the Severed Heads. Hasek’s 104 pt performance between the pipes proved a fine complement to the FP performances of Teemu Selanne (107 pts) and John Leclair (90 pts). The trading frenzy of the previous season was one of the aspects of the team’s success as the Bladerunners had two picks in the first, second and third rounds of the Entry Draft. They were also willing to trade picks away as they would enter the next year’s entry draft selecting their first player in the 10th round and wouldn’t have a pick of their own until the 11th. All in all however, the team was consistently solid and consistently solid performances win championships. The Bladerunners while technically an original franchise but they had never experienced such success in their previous incarnation as the Paladins and given the disappointment from only three seasons previously, when the team finished dead last, the celebration of Bladerunner fans was all the sweeter.

Season Ten (1999-00)

1st Pick Overall: Edge – Dominick Hasek, (G, 44 pts)
2000 Predator Cup Champion: The Severed Heads, G.M. Cam Hilton
2000 Challenge Cup Champion: The Personal Vendetta, G.M. Darrell Mann
2000 Omnivore Plaque: The Bladerunners, G.M. Brian Wansleeben (+154.76 pts)
2000 Herbivore Trophy (Worst Team): The Wolves, G.M. Rob Woods

The FunHL was entering its tenth season and the sense of myth and lore surrounding the league had firmly taken hold. The league’s most successful franchise was the 3-time champion Great Whites. The Highlanders held the distinction as the only back-to-back champions. The expansion team curse had been dispelled, aptly, by the Shadowmen – twice – as well as the Ramapithicines. Now the Bladerunners had hoisted the cup for the first time. Two great myths remained: no married GM had ever won the Predator Cup and the Severed Heads were cursed to never do so. Maybe, just maybe, the hockey gods might relent this season…or at least blink.

The tenth season’s first round went as follows:

1st Edge (from Bladerunners) – Dominik Hasek (G, 44 pts)
2nd Great Whites (from Personal Vendetta) – Chris Pronger, FP, (D, 62 pts)
3rd Severed Heads – Mike Modano (C, 81 pts)
4th Severed Heads (from Shadowmen) – Ed Belfour (G, 84 pts)
5th Personal Vendetta (from Great Whites) – Theoren Fleury (RW, 64 pts)
6th Edge (from Wolves) – Tony Amonte (RW, 84 pts)
7th Wolves (from Edge) – Rod Brind’Amour (C, 22 pts)
8th Collective – Brendan Shanahan (LW, 78 pts)
9th Knights Templar – Peter Sykora (RW, 68 pts)
10th Severed Heads (from Highlanders) – Scott Niedermayer (D, 38 pts)
11th Dogs – Al MacInnis (D, 39 pts)
12th Ramapithicines – Sergei Samsonov (LW, 45 pts)
15th Highlanders (1st pick) – Steve Yzerman (C, 79 pts)
113th Shadowmen (1st pick, from Collective) – Patrick Marleau (C, 40 pts)
115th Bladerunners (1st pick, from Wolves) – Brian Rolston (LW, 31 pts)

Franchise Player Performances (with teams they started the season with):

Collective – Sergei Zubov (D, 42 pts) & Mats Sundin (C, 73 pts)
Bladerunners – Temmu Selanne (RW, 85 pts) & John Leclair (LW, 77 pts)
Dogs – Pavel Bure (RW, 94 pts) & Alexi Yashin (C, 0 pts)
Edge – Roman Hamrlik (D, 45 pts) & Brian Leetch (D, 26 pts)
Great Whites – Martin Brodeur (G, 91 pts) & Chris Pronger (D, 62 pts)
Highlanders – Nicklas Lidstrom (D, 73 pts) & Eric Lindros (C, 59 pts)
Knights Templar – Jason Allison (C, 28 pts) & Sandis Ozolinsh (D, 52 pts)
Personal Vendetta – Peter Forsberg (C, 51 pts) & Brian Berrard (D, 30 pts)
Ramapithicines – Keith Tkachuk (LW, 43 pts) & Joe Sakic (C, 81 pts)
Severed Heads – Paul Kariya (LW, 86 pts) & Jaromir Jagr (RW, 96 pts)
Shadowmen – Sergei Fedorov (C, 62 pts) & Janne Niinimaa (D, 33 pts)
Wolves – Zigmund Palffy (RW, 66 pts) & Chris Osgood (G, 58 pts)

The defending Predator Cup Champion Bladerunners entered the tenth season with a familiar problem, like the Shadowmen the year before there wasn’t much left in reserve upon which to mount a Cup defense. The race to victory had been fueled, in large part, by trading away the team’s future and as the Entry Draft approached, so did the bill collectors. Much as the Shadowmen before them, the Bladerunners opted for a familiar solution – keep going. They would not trade their first three picks, or their FPs, but almost anything else was on the table if it could spare them the shame of finishing last. In truth they did quite respectably in finishing fifth on route to winning their first Omnivore Award.

The inspiration for the Bladerunners’ strategy, the Shadowmen, were still reeling from the after effects of their Cup run two years prior and showed no signs of slowing down the trade frenzy that had gripped the management team. Indeed, what else could they do if they wanted to finish out of the basement? The team began to trade its future away and by the end of the season had traded all but six of their own selections away in various deals – the earliest remaining pick being in the fifteenth round. The Shadowmen would, just prior to the 2000-2001 Entry Draft, acquire a second round pick with which the would select a new Franchise Player but the “fight the future” game plan was still being employed. The Shadowmen would finish a disappointing ninth and in spite of their extensive efforts were only 30 some points out of last place. Sooner or later, the “fight the future” strategy would have to be abandoned for no other reason than there was increasing less and less future to fight.

While the Shadowmen chose to swim against the current of their own creation in a bid to repeat, their closest rivals from that cup run decided on a different strategy. The Severed Heads’ management determined that the price of making a Cup run necessitated trading away future assets for current gains. It may produce a feast or famine situation but if one could “cycle” their teams in alternating years they might be able to improve their chances of winning, something that the Severed Heads were desperate to do. They set about doing exactly that. While continuing to hold on to their two FPs, the Severed Heads had managed to consistently trade up in the draft so that on draft day they owned three picks in the first round, and two picks in each of the second, third and fourth rounds. As the year progressed they further expanded on their advantage by trading away Entry Draft picks from the upcoming Entry Draft. The combination was exactly the plan for success that had eluded the Severed Heads for all these years, the narrow, bitter defeats – a distant memory. The championship had finally arrived home to the league’s oldest franchise and the curse was lifted. The Severed Heads were, finally, Predator Cup Champions.

The closest challengers to the eventual Predator Cup Champions as the season wore on were the Personal Vendetta. The Vendetta management was not oblivious to the new strategy of fire-sale trades to fuel a run and the team known for its drafting demonstrated a keen eye for trading those same picks. Eventually they would trade their first 6 selections in the following year’s entry draft. If this was the new game, the Vendetta was willing to play. Even so, the gap from first to second of some 80+ pts was actually flattering to the Vendetta who made up considerable ground in the final weeks of the year as the Severed Heads tried to prepare the team for a possible Cup defense the following season. One consequence of this late season retrenchment by the Severed Heads was that the Challenge Cup playoffs became a surprisingly close contest.

The Heads, not surprisingly, had the league’s best record entering the playoffs and faced off against the fourth place Highlanders in the semi-finals, a fine accomplishment merely to make the playoffs as the team would finish 7th in the Predator Cup race. The contest, in spite of the bitter rivalry between the two franchises, was a mismatch and the Severed Heads moved on to the final winning two straight. The Personal Vendetta had a similarly easy time defeating the Dogs in two straight setting up their second straight trip to the finals. With the class of the league distracted by preparations for next season, the Personal Vendetta finished the task left undone last season and won their first major FunHL award, the Challenge Cup. As satisfying as the Predator Cup win was for the Heads’ management and fans, the same could be said of the Vendetta’s management and fans – the great drafts had finally been converted to end of season success. Moving forward into the league’s second decade, both franchises longed for more.

Season Eleven (2000-01)

1st Pick Overall: Highlanders (from Personal Vendetta) – Mike Modano (C, 84 pts)
2001 Predator Cup Champion: The Severed Heads, G.M. Cam Hilton
2001 Challenge Cup Champion: The Severed Heads, G.M. Cam Hilton
2001 Omnivore Plaque: The Severed Heads, G.M. Cam Hilton (+195.72 pts)
2001 Herbivore Trophy (Worst Team): The Barbarians, G.M. Mike Breakenridge

With the FunHL’s founder poised to defend the Predator Cup for the first time, an era had come to an end. Another change was to occur when GM Jen Wees announced that she would no longer be able to manage the Collective franchise. A new GM was sought out and Mike Breakenridge agreed to man the helm of the franchise. The team was rechristened the Barbarians and the first order of business was to remold the team in the new GM’s image. Trading away their first round selection, the plan was to completely overhaul the direction of the franchise. Coming off a career year, speedy winger Valeri Bure was tabbed by the new GM, in the fourth round, as the franchise’s newest FP. For better or worse, the Barbarians were coming.

The eleventh season’s first round went as follows:

1st Highlanders (from Personal Vendetta) – Mike Modano (C, 84 pts)
2nd Great Whites – Pierre Turgeon (C, 82 pts)
3rd Highlanders (from Dogs) – Roman Turek (G, 66 pts)
4th Severed Heads – Mark Recchi (RW, 77 pts)
5th Dogs (from Knights Templar) – Luc Robitaille (LW, 88 pts)
6th Bladerunners – Tony Amonte (RW, 64 pts)
7th Ramapithicines – Ed Belfour (G, 22 pts)
8th Wolves – Pavel Demitra (RW, 45 pts)
9th Highlanders (from Edge) – Oleg Tverdovsky (D, 53 pts)
10th Great Whites (from Shadowmen) – Ray Whitney (LW, 34 pts)
11th Bladerunners (from Barbarians) – Sergei Zubov (D, 51 pts)
12th Highlanders – Martin Straka (LW, 95 pts)
33rd Edge (1st pick) – Patrick Elias, FP, (LW, 96 pts)
43rd Barbarians (1st pick, from Bladerunners) –Valeri Bure, FP, (RW, 55 pts)
73rd Personal Vendetta (1st pick) – Sami Kapanen (RW, 57 pts)
125th Knights Templar (1st pick) – Milan Hejduk, FP, (RW, 79 pts)

Franchise Player Performances (with teams they started the season with):

Barbarians – Valeri Bure (RW, 55 pts) & Jason Allison (C, 95 pts)
Bladerunners – Teemu Selanne (RW, 72 pts) & John Leclair (LW, 12 pts)
Dogs – Pavel Bure (RW, 92 pts) & Eric Lindros (C, 0 pts)
Edge – Patrick Elias (LW, 96 pts) & Marion Hossa (RW, 75 pts)
Great Whites – Martin Brodeur (G, 85 pts) & Chris Pronger (D, 47 pts)
Highlanders – Nicklas Lidstrom (D, 71 pts) & Alexi Yashin (C, 88 pts)
Knights Templar – Milan Hejduk (RW, 79 pts) & Sandis Ozolinsh (D, 44 pts)
Personal Vendetta – Peter Forsberg (C, 89 pts) & Sergei Fedorov (C, 69 pts)
Ramapithicines – Keith Tkachuk (LW, 79 pts) & Joe Sakic (C, 118 pts)
Severed Heads – Paul Kariya (LW, 67 pts) & Jaromir Jagr (RW, 121 pts)
Shadowmen – Mats Sundin (C, 74 pts) & Brian Boucher (G, 6 pts)
Wolves – Zigmund Palffy (RW, 89 pts) & Brian Leetch (D, 79 pts)

The Highlanders had a problem. They hadn’t won a championship in a long, long time. Indeed most GMs in the league had never witnessed a Highlander victory as it was so distant. Entering the 2000-01 season, the Highlanders management team sought to put an end to the drought. The quest began the previous season with focus being the Entry Draft. Previously, three years previously to be exact, the Highlanders had accumulated multiple picks in the first round of the Entry Draft in an effort to make their run but while most of those selections were solid it did not result in the post-draft domination many had expected. This year the Highlander’s vowed to do it differently. Not only had GM McLachlan accumulated picks at the high end of the draft, three selections in the first round and two more in the second, he had also shed his low end picks in an effort to improve his depth. As a result, the Highlanders were finished the, non FP portion, of their draft in the fourteenth round while most GMs were still filling out their active line-up. Now the question became, could they translate a solid draft into a legitimate run for the Predator Cup.

The defending Predator Cup champions were committed to securing a win of their own, back-to-back championships was a feat accomplished only once before in league history by, none other than, the Highlanders. As the previous season’s romp to the Cup came to a close the Severed Head’s management was keenly aware that the trades of Entry Draft picks which had built their win had also put at risk their prospects for defending the championship. GM Hilton had seen the tailspin that the Shadowmen had fallen into after their win in 1998 and had no desire to repeat it. As a result, prior to officially winning their Cup, efforts were made to repair the damage. Still down many top end selections, the Severed Heads stocked up on mid-level picks, such as three selections in the seventh round, to try and stem the tide.

As the season wore on both the Highlanders and the Severed Heads engaged in the, now ritual, scorched earth policy of trading draft picks for the upcoming year’s Entry Draft, the Highlanders would ultimately trade away their first six selections while the Severed Heads would trade away their first thirteen. The Highlander’s starting FPs, Alexi Yashin at 75pts and Nicklas Lidstrom with 59 pts, were evenly matched with the Severed Heads’ pair: Jaromir Jagr at 79pts and Paul Kariya at 57pts. Even so, one team needed one more weapon to finish the deal. Just such a weapon was preparing to be unleashed.

As the 2000-01 Entry Draft came to a close a significant decision was being made two time-zones away. The rumours would begin to filter out in the weeks that followed that a possible comeback was in the offing. Mario Lemieux was on skates, working out and was aiming to return to hockey. Lemieux was not selected in the 2000-01 Entry Draft or the Prospect Draft that followed, why should he be – he had retired, but by the time the second waiver draft had arrived the anticipation of Lemieux’s intended return to the FunHL created a palpable buzz amongst hockey fans everywhere. When he finally stepped onto the ice that season he didn’t appear to have lost a step notching a phenomenal 76 pts, 35 of them goals, in a mere 43 games. His contribution could clearly tip the balance in the fight for first and many teams made a bid for his services. The Severed Heads had a cruel history with Mario Lemieux dating back to the first season in the league, but also knew that not having Lemieux in one’s line-up was even more devastating than having him go down injured. The Head’s management made a pitch to the Knights Templar GM, then in last place and in possession of the first pick in the second waiver draft where Lemieux was selected. The move gave the Knights enough to hold off the Barbarians in the race to avoid the Herbivore Trophy and the draft picks were partly responsible for the Knights’ impressive third place finish the following season. For the Severed Heads, a trio of Penguins would lead the charge to the finish: Jaromir Jagr, Alexi Kovalev and Mario Lemieux.

The ultimate victory by the Severed Heads came down to the final weekend. The Highlanders had pulled 8 points ahead going into the final week but that lead had been eroded by the final weekend into a horserace. Lemieux and company had a stellar Saturday and by the end of the weekend the Severed Heads had pulled back into the lead by a mere 12 points, one of the closest Predator Cup races in history. The Severed Heads’ made a fair amount of history that season in winning the FunHL’s first “triple crown” by winning the Predator Cup, Omnivore Award and Challenge Cup all in the same season. The Heads’ +195.72 points in the Omnivore race was the second highest improvement in the Award’s history. In winning the Challenge Cup, the Severed Heads made history again as they defeated the Ramapithicines 2 games to 1 in the Challenge Cup finals, the first playoff series to ever go all three games. It was a storybook season for the league’s oldest franchise; what could possibly go wrong?

Season Twelve (2001-02)

1st Pick Overall: Dogs – Mario Lemieux, FP, (C, 31 pts)
2002 Predator Cup Champion: The Personal Vendetta, G.M. Darrell Mann
2002 Challenge Cup Champion: The Personal Vendetta, G.M. Darrell Mann
2002 Omnivore Plaque: The Wolves, G.M. Rob Woods (+69.66 pts)
2002 Herbivore Trophy (Worst Team): The Severed Heads, G.M. Cam Hilton

The Severed Heads were now two time champions having just completed a season for the ages. The repeat championship was unlikely but a third straight championship would be decidedly unlikely as their first selection in the draft wouldn’t even begin until the 135th player, Ron Francis. A steep climb to be sure. The first round in the 2001 Entry Draft was dominated by teams making multiple selections: the Dogs, Edge, Personal Vendetta, and Knights Templar all had two picks in the first round while the Bladerunners would have three picks. Not surprising as again over 50% of all picks had been exchanged by the time the Entry Draft had taken place. While there was a growing sense of dissatisfaction with the amount of Entry Draft pick trading, the changes to the system would not be made for another year. This year, the rules would remain.

The twelfth season’s first round went as follows:

1st Dogs (from Great Whites) – Mario Lemieux, FP, (C, 31 pts)
2nd Edge – Mark Recchi (RW, 64 pts)
3rd Dogs – Martin Straka (LW, 9 pts)
4th Bladerunners – Alexi Kovalev (RW, 76 pts)
5th Personal Vendetta (from Shadowmen) – Dominick Hasek (G, 86 pts)
6th Knights Templar – Jeremy Roenick (C, 67 pts)
7th Knights Templar (from Ramapithicines) – Brendan Shanahan (LW, 75 pts)
8th Bladerunners (from Severed Heads) – Doug Weight (C, 49 pts)
9th Bladerunners (from Barbarians) – Owen Nolan (RW, 63 pts)
10th Great Whites (from Wolves) – Petr Sykora (LW, 48 pts)
11th Personal Vendetta – Markus Naslund (LW, 90 pts)
12th Edge (from Highlanders) – Olaf Kolzig (G, 49 pts)
61st Highlanders (1st pick) – Peter Worrell (LW, 9 pts)
82nd Ramapithicines (1st pick) – Radek Bonk (C, 70 pts)
84th Barbarians (1st pick) – Pavel Brendl (RW, 1 pt)
112nd Shadowmen (1st pick, from Barbarians) – Joe Thornton, FP, (RW, 68 pts)
130th Wolves (1st pick) – Brad Isbister (LW, 38 pts)
135th Severed Heads (1st pick, from Ramapithicines) – Ron Francis (C, 77 pts)

Franchise Player Performances (with teams they started the season with):

Barbarians – John Leclair (LW, 51 pts) & Jason Allison (C, 74 pts)
Bladerunners – Temmu Selanne (RW, 54 pts) & Mats Sundin (C, 80 pts)
Dogs – Pavel Bure (RW, 69 pts) & Mario Lemieux (C, 31 pts)
Edge – Patrick Elias (LW, 61 pts) & Marion Hossa (RW, 66 pts)
Great Whites – Martin Brodeur (G, 98 pts) & Chris Pronger (D, 47 pts)
Highlanders – Nicklas Lidstrom (D, 59 pts) & Alexi Yashin (C, 75 pts)
Knights Templar – Milan Hejduk (RW, 44 pts) & Sandis Ozolinsh (D, 52 pts)
Personal Vendetta – Peter Forsberg (C, 0 pts) & Sergei Fedorov (C, 68 pts)
Ramapithicines – Keith Tkachuk (LW, 75 pts) & Joe Sakic (C, 79 pts)
Severed Heads – Paul Kariya (LW, 57 pts) & Jaromir Jagr (RW, 79 pts)
Shadowmen – Joe Thornton (C, 68 pts) & Brian Leetch (D, 55 pts)
Wolves – Zigmund Palffy (RW, 59 pts) & Eric Lindros (C, 73 pts)

As noted above, the Severed Heads had created a difficult situation for themselves. Two successive Predator Cup runs had all but devastated the franchise’s entry draft. While they had previously been able to rely on their Franchise Players to provide a boost to the team’s fortunes that pillar of strength for the defending champions was weakened by an average performance by Jaromir Jagr, 79pts, and a disappointing 57pts from Paul Kariya. The fall of the Severed Heads was steep and had; from first to worst. A second Herbivore Trophy for the Heads and the third time that the franchise had been worst in the league would lead some to question the franchise’s status in the pantheon of the FunHL. Two-time champion to be sure, but a franchise with a mixed legacy.

Headed in the opposite direction, one of the worst teams from the previous season, the eleventh-placed Knights Templar, would have a Cinderella season in 2001-02. The franchise equaled its best performance ever, third place, in the Predator Cup as well as making their first, and as yet only, appearance in the Challenge Cup playoffs ending the season also in third place. In the Challenge Cup semi-finals against the Bladerunners the Knights pulled out a gutsy win in a series that went the full three games. Their reward was a shot at the Challenge Cup where they faced the favoured Personal Vendetta in the final. The series was also pushed to the full three games and while the Personal Vendetta would end up winning their second Challenge Cup, the Knights Templar proved themselves to be a worth, and stubborn, opponent.

The Personal Vendetta had built a reputation as one of the best drafting teams in the FunHL, their run in 2001-02 demonstrated that they could trade with the same level of talent. The groundwork had already been laid the previous season as the Vendetta would enter the 2001-02 draft with additional picks in the first, second, third, fourth and fifth rounds. One area of concern was the fate of Vendetta franchise player Peter Forsberg who would ultimately not play during the season. He needed to be moved and eventually Nicklas Lidstrom was acquired for Forsberg’s rights. Lidstrom’s presence helped stabilize an already strong Vendetta blue line. However it was the trading of future Entry Draft picks which, yet again, fueled the championship run. Following the template laid out by previous champions, the Vendetta began to deal away their future with a speed that belied the cold calculation behind each move. In the end the Personal Vendetta would trade away their first eleven selections in the 2002-03 Entry Draft. Such a commitment translated into a 1000 plus points and the first Predator Cup victory. Coupled with their second Challenge Cup win GM Darrell Mann had good reason to celebrate.

Season Thirteen (2002-03)

1st Pick Overall: Dogs -- Marcus Naslund (LW, 104 pts)
2003 Predator Cup Champion: The Ramapithicines, G.M. Corey Milne
2003 Challenge Cup Champion: The Dogs, G.M. Bill Donaldson
2003 Omnivore Plaque: The Bladerunners, G.M. Brian Wansleeben (+121.72 pts)
2003 Herbivore Trophy (Worst Team): The Barbarians, G.M. Mike Breakenridge

Enough! The cry had become deafening. The trading frenzy of Entry Draft picks had become so distorting to the pool that even the last few defenders of the existing system agreed that changes were needed. As picks for the 2002-03 season had already been exchanged, those trades would be honoured, but Entry Draft picks for the following season, along with Waiver Draft picks, could no longer be exchanged. A new system of free agents and restricted free agents would be incorporated instead.

Under the new rules, the first eight rounds of the Entry Draft would see the selection of free agents who would remain with a team, if not traded, for that season only. A team’s two Franchise Players would be selected in the 9th and 10th rounds of the Entry Draft unless they were being replaced in which case they would be replaced with the first and, if necessary, second round selections. Players selected in the 11th and subsequent rounds would be restricted free agents (Rafts) allowing teams to match bids for their services in the next year’s Entry Draft. Along with increasing the number of prospects per team to eight, the hope was that teams could retain more of a continuing identity year to year.

The thirteenth season’s first round went as follows:
1st Dogs – Marcus Naslund (C, 104 pts)
2nd Severed Heads – Todd Bertuzzi (RW, 97 pts)
3rd Dogs (from Bladerunners) – Jerome Iginla (RW, 67 pts)
4th Dogs (from Personal Vendetta) – Alexi Kovalev (RW, 77 pts)
5th Dogs (from Wolves) – Brendan Shanahan (LW, 68 pts)
6th Severed Heads (from Shadowmen) – Mike Modano (C, 85 pts)
7th Barbarians – Sergei Gonchar (D, 67 pts)
8th Ramapithicines – Sergei Samsonov (LW, 11 pts)
9th Dogs (from Great Whites) – Rob Blake (D, 45 pts)
10th Barbarians (from Edge) – Patrick Roy (G, 83 pts)
11th Ramapithicines (from Knights Templar) – Sergei Zubov (D, 55 pts)
12th Barbarians (from Highlanders) – Thereon Fleury (RW, 33 pts)
15th Bladerunners (1st pick, from Edge) – Bill Guerin (RW, 50 pts)
20th Wolves (1st pick) – Tony Amonte (RW, 51 pts)
21st Knights Templar (1st pick, from Personal Vendetta) – Alex Tanguay (LW, 67 pts)
22nd Highlanders (1st pick, from Bladerunners) – Roman Chechmanek (G, 93 pts)
27th Shadowmen (1st pick, from Bladerunners) – Simon Gagne (LW, 27 pts)
61st Edge (1st pick, from Highlanders) – Craig Conroy (C, 59 pts)
88th Great Whites (1st pick) – Martin Skoula (D, 25 pts)
98th Personal Vendetta (1st pick, from Severed Heads) – Sergei Fedorov (C, 83 pts)

Franchise Player Performances (with teams they started the season with):

Barbarians – John Leclair (LW, 28 pts) & Jason Allison (C, 28 pts)
Bladerunners – Marion Hossa (RW, 80 pts) & Mats Sundin (C, 72 pts)
Dogs – Sandis Ozolinsh (D, 44 pts) & Mario Lemieux (C, 91 pts)
Edge – Patrick Elias (LW, 57 pts) & Paul Kariya (LW, 81 pts)
Great Whites – Martin Brodeur (G, 108 pts) & Chris Pronger (D, 4 pts)
Highlanders – Joe Thornton (C, 101 pts) & Alexi Yashin (C, 65 pts)
Knights Templar – Milan Hejduk (RW, 98 pts) & Brian Leetch (D, 30 pts)
Personal Vendetta – Nicklas Lidstrom (D, 62 pts) & Sergei Fedorov (C, 83 pts)
Ramapithicines – Keith Tkachuk (LW, 55 pts) & Joe Sakic (C, 58 pts)
Severed Heads – Eric Lindros (C, 53 pts) & Jaromir Jagr (RW, 77 pts)
Shadowmen – Peter Forsberg (C, 106 pts) & Teemu Selanne RW, 64 pts)
Wolves – Zigmund Palffy (RW, 85 pts) & Pavel Bure (RW, 30 pts)

The Personal Vendetta began their defense of the Predator Cup from deep within the pack. They had traded their first 11 draft picks away and the first selection they would be able to make was their own FP, Sergei Fedorov, taking him in the 9th round. All in all the season could have been far more difficult than it proved to be. While never threatening to actually repeat, the Vendetta’s sixth place finish was certainly respectable in light of some of the historical post-win let downs previous champions had endured.

One of the closest races in 2002-03 was the race to avoid the Herbivore. The Great Whites would take the fight down to the wire in one of the worst performances in Great Whites history but would still manage to maintain a 7 point lead over the eventual last-place finishers and Herbivore “winners”, the Barbarians. It was a fate made all the more disappointing as the Barbarians entered the season with such high hopes and three selections in the first round of the Entry Draft. The Barbarians’ second Herbivore, a dubious accomplishment shared with only the Severed Heads, actually fails to demonstrate the full extent of the Barbarians’ futility. The team’s best finish as the Barbarians, reached on two occasions, was only eleventh. The franchise also owns one other Herbivore title from its days as the Collective and had previously finished in last place as Danny Nasser’s “Nightmare”. The franchise, in all its incarnations, has only finished better than 11th on two occasions: 1996-97 as the Collective the team finished 5th and in 1998-99, again as the Collective, the team finished 8th. The Barbarians have some considerable history to overcome and their long-suffering fans can only hope that the transformation from perennial doormat to contender begins soon.

The Bladerunners would finish third in 2002-03, almost 90 points out of first; however the third place finish belies the monumental effort put forth to reach that level. The Bladerunners had fallen short of the Personal Vendetta the previous season but in their effort to reach the top they traded away many Entry Draft picks. Indeed going into the 2002-03 Entry Draft the Bladerunners had traded away all but three of their original picks. While they had managed to salvage some selections in the early rounds, for example two picks in the second round, they clearly entered the season at a distinct disadvantage. The prohibition on trading Entry Draft picks allowed for no quick solution to the problem but GM Brian Wansleeben rose to the challenge and improved his team from draft day some 120+ points on route to the franchise’s second Omnivore Award, a distinction shared by only the Shadowmen and the Wolves.

The battle for the Predator Cup would come down to two teams. The Dogs entered the season as the prohibitive favorite with 5 picks in first round of the Entry Draft. The Ramapithicines countered with two selections of their own in the first round but as one of those selections, left winger Sergei Samsonov faltered with an injury plagued 11 point season, the lead that the Ramapithicines ultimately amassed was a testament to the skill of their GM, Corey Milne. As the season began to wind down the Dogs had begun to make up ground by increasingly making use of plus-minus selections. One of the oldest rules in the FunHL, the plus-minus player was intended to reward defensive players in a manner reflective of their contribution to their teams by giving points at a rate of twice their plus-minus rating for the week. Typically, GMs would play one or two of their defenseman plus-minus if they were short of purely offensive contributors on defense but GM Donaldson had begun to push the envelope playing players regardless of their position or perceived defensive shortcomings. It was the only way to cut into the Ramapithicines lead, and it was beginning to work. The strategy was fraught with risk, but it was a risk the Dogs were prepared to take.

The Dogs had been a consistently strong team, as demonstrated by their first-place standing in the Challenge Cup regular season. So when the Dogs dispatched the Ramapithicines two games straight in the Challenge Cup semi-final, the win was made all the sweeter as the Predator Cup race was also tightening. The Dogs would win the Challenge Cup finals with a two game sweep of the Severed Heads, the first FunHL Award ever won by the Dogs. Could they close the gap enough to win the Predator Cup too? Entering the final week the decision was made to throw caution to the wind. GM Donaldson would play all his players plus-minus.

Truthfully there was nothing to lose by making the gamble. The Challenge Cup was secured and the only way the gap between them could realistically be made up would be to have the sort of monster week only a plus-minus gamble could produce, and maybe he could goad the Ramapithicines to gamble too and play many of his players plus-minus as well. What followed would become legend. As each day passed during the final week the Dogs continued to close the distance on the frontrunner. The insurmountable lead that the Ramapithicines had built up of 50 pts over the course of a season was at risk of being overcome in the final days of the season. In the end the gamble fell a mere 5 points short and while the Ramapithicines celebrated their second Predator Cup. However, it was the unbelievable effort by the Dogs that many would remember and become legend.

Season Fourteen (2003-04)

1st Pick Overall: Personal Vendetta – Todd Bertuzzi (RW, 60 pts)
2004 Predator Cup Champion: The Personal Vendetta, G.M. Darrell Mann
2004 Challenge Cup Champion: The Personal Vendetta, G.M. Darrell Mann
2004 Omnivore Plaque: The Ramapithicines, G.M. Corey Milne (+133.25 pts)
2004 Herbivore Trophy (Worst Team): The Dogs, G.M. Bill Donaldson

The chaos was finally over. For the first time since the 1996 Entry Draft, every franchise would be selecting its own picks. It was a surreal change in how the Entry Draft had been conducted and it also affected how GMs felt about their franchises. If victory was going to be based on solid drafting and building a solid core then it was imperative to make sure that one started with a pair of Franchise Players that one had confidence in. Entering the 2003-04 Entry Draft, that was not the case for all GMs and no less than five FPs were replaced in the Draft – the most new FPs to enter the league since FPs were introduced in 1996.

The fourteenth season’s first round went as follows:

1st Personal Vendetta – Todd Bertuzzi (RW, 60 pts)
2nd Edge – Markus Naslund (LW, 84 pts)
3rd Barbarians – Ilya Kovalchuk, FP, (LW, 87 pts)
4th Ramapithicines – Sergei Gonchar (D, 58 pts)
5th Dogs – Sergei Samsonov, FP, (LW, 40 pts)
6th Severed Heads – Mike Modano (C, 44 pts)
7th Highlanders – Dominick Hasek (G, 18 pts)
8th Wolves -- Jerome Iginla, FP, (RW, 73 pts)
9th Great Whites – Pavel Demitra (C, 58 pts)
10th Knights Templar – Brendan Shanahan (LW, 53 pts)
11th Shadowmen – Ed Jovanovski, FP, (D, 23 pts)
12th Bladerunners – Glen Murray (RW, 60 pts)

Franchise Player Performances (with teams they started the season with):

Barbarians – Ilya Kovalchuk (LW, 87 pts) & Mats Sundin (C, 75 pts)
Bladerunners – Marion Hossa (LW, 82 pts) & Joe Sakic (C, 87 pts)
Dogs – Sergei Samsonov (LW, 40 pts) & Mario Lemieux (C, 9 pts)
Edge – Patrick Elias (LW, 81 pts) & Paul Kariya (LW, 36 pts)
Great Whites – Martin Brodeur (G, 112 pts) & Chris Pronger (D, 54 pts)
Highlanders – Joe Thornton (C, 73 pts) & Temmu Selanne (RW, 32 pts)
Knights Templar – Milan Hejduk (RW, 75 pts) & Sandis Ozolinsh (D, 16 pts)
Personal Vendetta – Nicklas Lidstrom (D, 38 pts) & Peter Forsberg (C, 55 pts)
Ramapithicines – Sergei Fedorov (C, 65 pts) & Alexi Yashin (C, 34 pts)
Severed Heads – Keith Tkachuk (LW, 71 pts) & Jaromir Jagr (RW, 74 pts)
Shadowmen – Ed Jovanovski (D, 23 pts) & Brendan Morrison (C, 60 pts)
Wolves – Zigmund Palffy (RW, 41 pts) & Jerome Iginla (RW, 73 pts)

The defending Predator Cup champion Ramapithicines had the arduous task of repeating and it was not an easy task. While their win the previous season had not deprived them of Entry Draft picks, they were still at a bit of a disadvantage having traded other assets over the course of the previous season. Their familiar FP stalwarts, original FP Keith Tkachuk long-time Ramapithicine veteran Joe Sakic, had been traded during the run and their replacements, Sergei Fedorov and Alexi Yashin, had poor seasons. Even so, the Ramapithicines certainly went out to improve their team and while the effort would only secure an 8th place finish in the Predator Cup race the 133 point improvement was enough to win the franchise the Omnivore Award.

The most amazing story from the 2003-04 season was the phenomenal season of the Personal Vendetta. In a feat never before witnessed in the FunHL, the Personal Vendetta under the guidance of GM Darrell Mann went wire to wire. Not only did the Vendetta win the Predator Cup, they did it with virtually no additional effort. The team that Mann had drafted was essentially the same as the team that finished the season. The team did not improve, through trades, line-selections or prospect promotions over the course of the year – and it didn’t need to. To draft, from a cold start, a team that could best all comers, trades or no, was unprecedented – and more than a little frightening. From the first days of the FunHL the mantra was that you had to trade to win. The Personal Vendetta had exposed this to be a complete fabrication and other GMs were forced to take note. It was not that the Personal Vendetta were the best team every week, the weren’t and indeed they lost seven games in the Challenge Cup regular season, but they were always able to maintain their overall lead and, when the season got near the close, the team became unbeatable winning the semi-finals over the Highlanders in a two game sweep. In the Challenge Cup finals the Vendetta would face off against the Bladerunners. It was the first time that the top two teams in the Predator Cup race would meet in the finals of the Challenge Cup. In the end the Personal Vendetta were simply too much and went on to another two game sweep to win their third Challenge Cup title in six seasons. The Personal Vendetta’s season was, by all measures, phenomenal and the accomplishments would cement their status as one of the greatest FunHL franchises ever. Of course,, No Omnivore nor Triple Crown.

Season Fifteen (2004-05)
1st Pick Overall: The Dogs – Alex Tanguay (LW, 0 pts)
2005 Predator Cup Champion: Not Awarded
2005 Challenge Cup Champion: Not Awarded
2005 Omnivore Plaque: Not Awarded
2005 Herbivore Trophy (Worst Team): Not Awarded

As the 2004-05 Entry Draft approached there were storm clouds gathering over the FunHL’s fifteenth season. The threat of a lockout of NHL players was a very real possibility and there was some suggestion that the Entry Draft ought to be postponed until the labour impasse was resolved. A review of the league’s Covenant and the experience of 1994-95 season, which had a shortened season of its own, made the decision to hold the Entry Draft an easy, albeit controversial one. While the Entry Draft would be held, many GMs felt that a labour disruption was inevitable and that the season might be lost or at the very least be severely truncated. Choosing to turn lemons into lemonade many GMs saw the pending impasse as an opportunity to do some significant housecleaning and continued with the Franchise Player turnover that had begun the previous season. This year there were Eight FPs who were replaced including some daring and controversial selections such as Dan Heatley by the Severed Heads, Roberto Luongo by the Shadowmen, Zdeno Chara by the Ramapithicines and Alexander Ovechkin by the Edge. As controversial as these selections may have been, the real question was – would any of it matter? For the Edge, IT WAS INSPIRED!

The fifteenth season’s first round went as follows:
1st Dogs – Alex Tanguay (RW, 0 pts)
2nd Shadowmen – Roberto Luongo, FP, (G, 0 pts)
3rd Highlanders – Vincent Lecavalier (C, 0 pts)
4th Knights Templar – Markus Naslund, FP, (LW, 0 pts)
5th Severed Heads – Dan Heatley, FP, (RW, 0 pts)
6th Bladerunners – Sergei Gonchar (D, 0 pts)
7th Personal Vendetta – Todd Bertuzzi (RW, 0 pts)
8th Edge -- Alexander Ovechkin, FP, (LW, 0 pts)
9th Ramapithicines – Zdeno Chara, FP, (D, 0 pts)
10th Barbarians – Daniel Alfredsson (RW, 0 pts)
11th Wolves – Martin St. Louis (RW, 0 pts)
12th Great Whites – Martin Havlat (RW, 0 pts)

Franchise Player Performances (with teams they started the season with):
Barbarians – Ilya Kovalchuk (LW, 0 pts) & Keith Tkachuk (LW, 0 pts)
Bladerunners – Marion Hossa (LW, 0 pts) & Joe Sakic (C, 0 pts)
Dogs – Sergei Samsonov (LW, 0 pts) & Alex Tanguay (LW, 0 pts)
Edge – Patrick Elias (LW, 0 pts) & Alexander Ovechkin (LW, 0 pts)
Great Whites – Martin Brodeur (G, 0 pts) & Chris Pronger (D, 0 pts)
Highlanders – Joe Thornton (C, 0 pts) & Ed Jovanovski (D, 0 pts)
Knights Templar – Milan Hejduk (RW, 0 pts) & Markus Naslund (LW, 0 pts)
Personal Vendetta – Nicklas Lidstrom (D, 0 pts) & Peter Forsberg (C, 0 pts)
Ramapithicines – Zdeno Chara (D, 0 pts) & Marty Turco (G, 0 pts)
Severed Heads – Dan Heatley (RW, 0 pts) & Jaromir Jagr (RW, 0 pts)
Shadowmen – Roberto Luongo (G, 0 pts) & Scott Niedermayer (D, 0 pts)
Wolves – Mats Sundin (C, 0 pts) & Jerome Iginla (RW, 0 pts)

In the end, no season would be played. There were glimpses of hope throughout the season, including one February night when media reports surfaced that a tentative deal had been struck but they turned out to be optimistic. The FunHL had decided to plan for the worst case scenario and preserve what they could. RFA rights would continue as if no Entry Draft had been held. Prospects would not “age” in terms of their four-year prospect cycle. It was an imperfect solution to a far from perfect situation. It was a black season for hockey and for the FunHL. No awards would be issued and in their stead a blank plate would remain for the season that was lost. One could only hope the wait would be rewarded in 2005-06.

Final Predator Cup Standings (2004-05):
Season Cancelled – Lock-Out

Season Sixteen (2005-06)

1st Pick Overall: The Dogs – Sergei Gonchar (D, 58 pts)
2006 Predator Cup Champion: Bladerunners
2006 Challenge Cup Champion: Bladerunners
2006 Omnivore Plaque: The Dogs
2006 Herbivore Trophy (Worst Team): Knights Templar

After the seemingly endless depression of no hockey – a psychiatric termed “Acute Hockey Withdrawal” began to take hold of the 12 GMs…Some started following the Swiss or Swedish Elite Leagues with a little Russian SuperLeague to catch Ovechkin or Malkin Highlights, not to mention the rumours of the new rising star in the Q, “Sid the Kid”, a Highlander prospect. However, with the impasse gone, a new CBA and rule changes in the NHL, would be the harbinger for rule changes in season seventeen of the FUNHL. Texas Hold’Em Poker became the game to watch.
The question remained, was it going to be fun again? A resounding YES!

While the Bladerunners finally won the Challenge Cup they were much happier with their 2nd Predator Cup winning by a nere 10 points over the Personal Vendetta

One could argue the race at the top separating 1st from 2nd but 10 pts was exciting but the 7-way fight to avoid the Herbivore was compelling. The Shadow found themselves in last at WD2 and the Highlanders in 10th.The Edge were determined not to be stigmatized by another scurvy “Herby” nor were neither the Dogs nor the Barbarians and of course the Shadow quickly started micro-managing a solution.

However, no could anticipate the Knights drop from WD2 that precipitated the most dramatic fall in FUNHL history. Sitting in 3rd place overall, the team slipped into a downward spiral free-falling into dead-last in a matter of 6 short weeks. Thus proving the axiom that bottom could drop out on anyone at anytime! The tragedy of decapitation befell the Knights just as it did their true life last Grand Master, Jacques de Moley, in the 13th century -The Templar’s final leader until Mike Getta.

The 1st round selections were:

The Dogs – Sergei Gonchar - 58
Great Whites – Mario Lemieux – 22 ret.
Personal Vendetta – Daniel Alfredsson 103
Highlanders – Todd Bertuzzi - 101
Bladerunners – Vincent Lecavalier - 75
Ramapithicines - Zigmund Palffy – 42 ret.
Severed Heads – Mark Recchi - 64
Shadowmen – Brad Richards - 91
Barbarians – Martin St. Louis - 61
Rob Woods – Pavel Datsyuk - 87
Edge – Sergei Zubov - 71

Franchise Player Performances (with teams they started the season with):

Barbarians – Ilya Kovalchuk (98pts, LW) & Keith Tkachuk (36pts, LW)
Bladerunners – Marion Hossa (92pts, LW) & Joe Sakic (87pts, C)
Dogs – Sergei Samsonov (53pts, LW) & Alex Tanguay (78pts, LW)
Edge – Patrick Elias (45pts, LW) & Alexander Ovechkin (106pts, LW)
Great Whites – Martin Brodeur (68pts, G) & Chris Pronger (56pts, D)
Highlanders – Joe Thornton (125pts, C) & Ed Jovanovski (33pts, D)
Knights Templar – Milan Hejduk (58pts, RW) & Markus Naslund (79pts, LW)
Personal Vendetta – Nicklas Lidstrom (80pts, D) & Peter Forsberg (75pts, C)
Ramapithicines – Zdeno Chara (87pts, D) & Marty Turco (62pts, G)
Severed Heads – Dan Heatley (103pts, RW) & Jaromir Jagr (123pts, RW)
Shadowmen – Roberto Luongo (38pts, G) & Mats Sundin (78pts, C)
Wolves – Jerome Iginla (67pts, RW) & Scott Niedermayer (63pts, D)

Season Seventeen (2006-07)

1st Pick Overall: Severed Heads - Mikka Kiprusoff, G
2007 Predator Cup Champion: Highlanders
2007 Challenge Cup Champion: Highlanders
2007 Omnivore Plaque: Highlanders
2007 Herbivore Trophy (Worst Team): The Edge

The season began a new with rule changes, prospect draft changes and goalie stats returning to 4.0-GAA X games (in minutes) played.

Sadly, we also saw the departure of two teams, both due to logistical problems. Both the Barbarians and the Dogs left the FUNHL and the search for two GMs as replacements became urgent to maintain the league equilibrium at 12. The first GM chosen took over the Barbarian franchise and transformed its team name to The Lost Boys, under the stewardship of Richard Birt. OTR he joked that the team was going to “wander back to civilization”. At the last moment, less than a week before the entry draft, the second GM was found and approved to replace the Dogs franchise. GM Chris Erickson renamed his team the Scourge and looked forward to the FUNHL challenge. Again, all were happy that the league was whole again.

The seventeenth season is becoming a fierce battle involving almost 8 teams for first. Historic! The FUNHL has also become electronic with its new BLOG at www.theFUNHL@blogspot.com

Team profiles, logos, punditry, unofficial stats, official links and commentary pervade this interactive e-resource.

The 1st round selections were:

Severed Heads – Mikka Kiprusoff, G
Knights Templar – Daniel Sedin, LW
Highlanders – Daniel Alfredsson, RW
Bladerunners – Simon Gagne, LW
Shadowmen – Brad Richards, C, FP
The Lost Boys – Sergei Gonchar, D
The Scourge - Pavel Datsyuk, C
Ramapithicines - Todd Bertuzzi, RW
Great Whites – Jonathon Cheechoo, RW
Edge – Oli Jokinen, C
Wolves – Henrik Zetterberg, LW
Personal Vendetta – Daniel Briere, C

Franchise Player Performances (with teams they started the season with):

Bladerunners – Marion Hossa (LW) & Roberto Luongo (G)
Edge – Patrick Elias (LW) & Alexander Ovechkin (LW)
Great Whites – Martin Brodeur (G) & Chris Pronger (D)
Highlanders – Joe Thornton (C) & Ed Jovanovski (D)
Knights Templar – Milan Hejduk (RW) & Markus Naslund (LW)
The Lost Boys – Ilya Kovalchuk (LW) & Joe Sakic (C)
Personal Vendetta – Nicklas Lidstrom (D) & Peter Forsberg (C)
Ramapithicines – Zdeno Chara (D) & Marty Turco (G)
The Scourge – Matt Sundin (C) & Alex Tanguay (LW)
Severed Heads – Dan Heatley (RW) & Jaromir Jagr (RW)
Shadowmen – Brad Richards © & Patrick Marleau ©
Wolves – Jerome Iginla (RW) & Scott Niedermayer (D)

The Highlanders after being mocked since their wins back in the early 1990s took a page off the Shadowmen’s playbook, trading more, but not as carelessly as the Shadow, and got his revenge in spades -> the triple crown winning all 3 major awards and avoided injuries elegantly…the 2 new GMs felt their way through the FUNHL but finished without the last place tag, which unfortunately fell on the Edge again.

Quickly I shall summarizes the last 3w season…

In Season 19, The Personal Vendetta dominated on his way to his 3rd Predator Trophy

In Season 20, The Bladerunners became the 5th team to win 3 Predator Cups BUT also the third to win the Triple Crown!

In Season 21, The Barbarians returned to the FUNHL taking The Lost Boys spot and Then – YET, A new beginning as the Scourge not only became 1st time winner of the Predator Cup in a long time (only 7 teams had previously won) but also claimed the triple crown –its 4th winner.

We still need the Challenge cup history updated for the records

Below the History of the FUNHL via final rankings per year:

The History of the FUNHL

The FUNHL began with 8 teams in 1990-1991, back then there was only one trophy that mattered, and that was the predator cup. The winner that year was Dan Ross, who managed his team named the Great Whites. The standings for that year are as follows:

1. The Great Whites
2. Severed Heads
3. The Demons
4. Puck U
5. Paladins
6. The Wolves
7. The Edge
8. The Highlanders

In 1991-1992 there were still only 8 teams; however the Highlanders, suffering the ignominy of finishing last in the first year of the pool, returned with a vengeance and won the pool, leaving the Severed Heads as bridesmaids yet again. We lost the Demons and the Ramapithicines took charge, as well the Wolves took a one year sabbatical and the Vipers were in the league for that one year. The standings for that year are as follows:

1. The Highlanders
2. The Severed Heads
3. The Great Whites
4. Puck U
5. The Paladins
6. The Ramapithicines
7. The Edge
8. The Vipers (For one year covering for the Wolves)

In 1992-1993, the Highlanders became the first team ever to win back to back Predator Cup trophies in the league. While there will still only 8 teams, some of the teams that are in the league today remain. The Wolves were back from their year long sabbatical, and the Paladins came a close second by 12 points (The second closest finish until much later). The final standings of this year were as follows:

1. The Highlanders
2. The Paladins
3. The Great Whites
4. The Severed Heads
5. Puck U
6. Ramapithicines
7. The Wolves
8. The Edge

In 1993-1994, changes were in the winds for the FUNHL as expansion occurred from 8 to 10 teams. The Personal Vendetta from the “kiddy pool” and the Zephers to replace the Paladins for one year entered the fray as well as the Shadowmen as recommended by the Great Whites. As the year went on, the Personal Vendetta and the Shadowmen redefined certain aspects of how either trading or drafting were done, nevertheless in the end, it was the Great Whites who came through with their second Predator Cup victory, matching the Highlanders.

The final standings for that year are as follows:

1. The Great Whites
2. The Personal Vendetta
3. The Highlanders
4. The Shadowmen
5. The Edge
6. Ramapithicines
7. Puck U
8. The Wolves
9. The Zephers
10. The Severed Heads

In 1994-1995, the expansion moment continued to 12 teams. The Zephers left as the Paladins returned, however, from the “kiddy pool”, the Knights Templar and the Nightmare were recruited. Following their debut, the year before the Shadowmen finished first to claim their first Predator cup, as the Personal Vendetta placed second again. The final standings for this year are as follows:

1. The Shadowmen
2. The Personal Vendetta
3. The Edge
4. The Severed Heads
5. The Great Whites
6. Ramapithicines
7. Puck U
8. Knights Templar
9. The Paladins
10. The Wolves
11. The Highlanders
12. The Nightmare

In 1995-1996, the Nightmare and the Paladins left the pool, replacing the Nightmare were a team named the Collective, and replacing the Paladins were the Blade Runners. After the Shadowmen’s victory, the Great Whites quickly recaptured their lost Predator Cup trophy.

The final standings for this year are as follows:

1. The Great Whites
2. The Wolves
3. The Highlanders
4. Puck U
5. Personal Vendetta
6. Ramapithicines
7. The Knights Templar
8. The Severed Heads
9. The Shadowmen
10. The Edge
11. The Collective
12. The Blade Runners

In 1996-1997, the concept of franchise players (2 per team) was introduced and welcomed a new name to the Predator cup trophy. The standings were as follows:

1. The Ramapithicines
2. The Great Whites
3. The Wolves
4. The Edge
5. The Collective
6. The Highlanders
7. The Knights Templar
8. The Shadowmen
9. Personal Vendetta
10. Puck U
11. The Bladerunners
12. The Severed Heads

In 1997-1998, the Shadowmen became the 3rd team to win the two or more Predator cups. We also saw the departure of Puck U from the FUNHL and they were replaced by The Dogs (of war). The final standings are as follows:

1. The Shadowmen
2. The Severed Heads
3. Personal Vendetta
4. The Blade Runners
5. The Great Whites
6. The Dogs
7. The Knights Templar
8. The Highlanders
9. The Ramapithicines
10. The Wolves
11. The Collective
12. The Edge

In 1998-1999, yet a new team placed its name on the Predator cup as the Blade Runners won their first trophy. The final standings are as follows:

1. The Blade Runners
2. The Great Whites
3. Personal Vendetta
4. The Ramapithicines
5. The Highlanders
6. The Severed Heads
7. The Shadowmen
8. The Wolves
9. The Edge
10. The Knights Templar
11. The Dogs
12. The Collective

In 1999-2000, after founding the league the Severed Heads finally got to put their name on the trophy long after the FUNHL’s creation. The final standings are as follows:

1. The Severed Heads
2. Personal Vendetta
3. Knights Templar
4. The Dogs
5. The Bladerunners
6. The Ramapithicines
7. The Highlanders
8. The Collective
9. The Shadowmen
10. The Great Whites
11. The Edge
12. The Wolves

In 2000-2001, the Severed Heads became the second team to ever win the Predator cup back to back which had not been done in ten years when there were only 8 teams, which made the feat that much more impressive now that the league had 12 teams competing. On another note, sadly the Collective left, and were replaced by the Barbarians. The standings were as follows:

1. The Severed Heads
2. The Highlanders
3. The Ramapithicines
4. The Wolves
5. The Bladerunners
6. The Great Whites
7. Personal Vendetta
8. The Dogs
9. The Edge
10. The Shadowmen
11. The Knights Templar
12. The Barbarians

In 2001-2002, the Personal Vendetta finally won their first Predator cup trophy, bridesmaids no more, having finished either second or third multiple times since they joined the league; they finally put together a team that dominated and ran virtually untouched from the draft to the end of the year in first place. The final standings were as follows:

1. The Personal Vendetta
2. The Bladerunners
3. The Knights Templar
4. The Highlanders
5. The Edge
6. The Great Whites
7. The Shadowmen
8. The Wolves
9. The Dogs
10. The Ramapithicines
11. The Barbarians
12. The Severed Heads

In 2002-2003, we witnessed a photo finish ending that will probably never be duplicated; the Ramapithicines won their second Predator cup but not without drama – while they were leading by a good 60 points over the Dogs, during the last week however, the Dogs in a fit of desperation, played every member of their team +/-. They finished second by 5 points. The final standings are as follows:

1. The Ramapithicines
2. The Dogs
3. The Bladerunners
4. The Severed Heads
5. The Highlanders
6. The Personal Vendetta
7. The Knights Templar
8. The Edge
9. The Shadowmen
10. The Wolves
11. The Great Whites
12. The Barbarians

In 2003-2004, the Personal Vendetta claimed their second Predator cup. The final standings are as follows:

1. The Personal Vendetta
2. The Bladerunners
3. The Highlanders
4. The Severed Heads
5. The Knights Templar
6. The Shadowmen
7. The Great Whites
8. The Ramapithicines
9. The Wolves
10. The Edge
11. The Barbarians
12. The Dogs

In 2004-2005, tragically it was a sad year for hockey as the FUNHL lost out their players and the season was cancelled.

In 2005-2006, the Bladerunners won their second Predator cup. The final standings are as follows:

1. The Bladerunners
2. The Personal Vendetta
3. The Severed Heads
4. The Great Whites
5. The Wolves
6. The Highlanders
7. The Ramapithicines
8. The Dogs
9. The Barbarians
10. The Shadowmen
11. The Edge
12. The Knights Templar

In 2006-2007, the Highlanders were back with a vengeance, and fifteen years after winning their back to back predator cups, they won their third trophy. Both the Barbarians and the Dogs left the league for different reasons, and they were replaced by the Lost Boys and the Scourge. The standings were as follows:

1. The Highlanders
2. The Bladerunners
3. The Great Whites
4. The Shadowmen
5. The Knights Templar
6. The Wolves
7. The Personal Vendetta
8. The Ramapithicines
9. The Severed Heads
10. The Lost Boys
11. The Scourge
12. The Edge

In 2007-2008, the Severed Heads quickly got serious when they saw the Highlanders rebound and subsequently also won their third Predator cup. They caught the Wolves, who had a tremendous start to the year, and then witnessed the Knights Templar dropping from the top 3 teams to last in a matter of the last 6 weeks of the season. The final standings were as follows:

1. The Severed Heads
2. The Wolves
3. The Bladerunners
4. The Highlanders
5. The Ramapithicines
6. The Personal Vendetta
7. The Edge
8. The Shadowmen
9. The Scourge
10. The Great Whites
11. The Lost Boys
12. The Knights Templar

In 2008-2009, the Personal Vendetta became the 4th team to have won 3 predator cup trophies. The final standings were as follows:

1. The Personal Vendetta
2. The Highlanders
3. The Severed Heads
4. The Bladerunners
5. The Shadowmen
6. The Ramapithicines
7. The Scourge
8. The Knights Templar
9. The Wolves
10. The Great Whites
11. The Lost Boys
12. The Edge

In 2009-2010, the Bladerunners deciding not to be outdone won the predator cup also for a 3rd time. The final standings were as follows:

1. The Bladerunners
2. The Highlanders
3. The Knights Templar
4. The Personal Vendetta
5. The Shadowmen
6. The Scourge
7. The Edge
8. The Great Whites
9. The Ramapithicines
10. The Wolves
11. The Severed Heads
12. The Lost Boys

In 2010-2011, we have a brand new winner of the predator cup as the Scourge was victorious. The Lost Boys gave up their franchise to the returning Barbarians. The final standings were as follows:

1. The Scourge
2. The Bladerunners
3. The Personal Vendetta
4. The Shadowmen
5. The Severed Heads
6. The Great Whites
7. The Knights Templar
8. The Highlanders
9. The Edge
10. The Ramapithicines
11. The Wolves
12. The Barbarians

This year upcoming, we shall see if the Scourge can make it two in a row or whether we have a brand new victor or a team claiming the Predator cup for the 4th time as we have 5 teams who have won it 3 times and two teams who won it twice.

While the Predator cup has been the gold standard for victory in the FUNHL, over time we have added other recognitions for competition of teams playing each other head to head (The challenge cup), the team that finished last (The herbivore), and the team that improved the most from the draft (the omnivore). Of those trophies, the omnivore has had two types of calculations and started in 1995-1996 season. Its first two winners were the Wolves and the Shadowmen under the old system and then calculations were revised and such that it has been won under new system by the Shadowmen, the Scourge, the Severed Heads, the Dogs, the Ramapithicines, the Highlanders, once each, and the Wolves and the Bladerunners twice each since it came into existence. In terms of the challenge cup, the winners have been the Dogs, the Great Whites and the Scourge once, and the Highlanders, the Bladerunners, and the Severed Heads twice, and the Personal Vendetta have won it four times.

These three trophies are part of a greater recognition called the Triple Crown. Only four teams have won all three trophies in the same year; they are the Severed Heads in 2001, the Highlanders in 2007, the Blade Runners in 2010, and last year the Scourge in 2011.

Despite the fact that five teams have won the Predator Cup three times (the Severed Heads, the Blade Runners, the Highlanders, the Great Whites, and the Personal Vendetta) neither the Great Whites nor the Personal Vendetta have ever won the Omnivore. Two time winners of the Predator Cup are the Shadowmen, the Ramapithicines, and the Scourge last year, breaking the clique around Predator Cup winners.

Unfortunately, another trophy has been given out over the last 15 years (as opposed to the Omnivore which was given for the last 15 years but realistically under the new system, for the last 13 years, and the Challenge Cup which has been given out for the last 13 years).

The Herbivore has been awarded to the following teams the Lost Boys, the Collective, and the Wolves have received this trophy once each, while the Dogs, the Severed Heads, and the Knights Templar have each won it twice each, whilst the Edge and the Barbarians have unfortunately been a three time recipient of this ignoble award.

As we enter the 21st year of the Predator Cup with only 20 victors due to one year of the NHL lockout, but with new awards such as the Omnivore and the Challenge Cup, as well as the Herbivore. This upcoming year is going to be exciting to see who breaks through.

Your FUNHL historians,
Bob (most recent revisions, 02/09/2011), Doug and Brian

End of an Era

2011-08-31T10:05:00.000-07:00

The Severed Heads since the FP era began can be defined by less than a handful of players; Jaromir Jagr, Paul Kariya, Evgeni Malkin, and Dany Heatley.

Eight years ago Heatley was acquired from the Highlanders for Nikolai Zherdev and Joni Pitkanen. Heatley was only available because he had recently wrecked his car, his knee and killed his best friend. Nevertheless, Heads mgt were confident he would fit in well with the team.

After the dust settled on his crash, Heatley was an instant hit with the team, posting back to back 50 goal/100 point seasons as a member of the Ottawa Senators.

He would later be a key component in the Heads successful Cup run just a few years back.

Nagging injuries the last couple of seasons in San Jose limited his effectiveness, and the recent trade to Minnesota means a fresh start for him.

Heads Mgt wishes him all the best with his new team the Knights Templar, and announce that upon the completion of his career, the Severed Heads will add his number to our Pantheon of Heroes.

Sail on Dany, sail on.

PS: Welcome back Zach Parise. We missed you.

ED 2011-12 1ST ROUND PREDICTIONS

2011-08-30T06:23:00.000-07:00

AND HERE WE GO!

PHANEUF AND BRODEUR FP DROPS

1. PV PICKS LW D.SEDIN
2. KT BIDS ON STAMKOS [MATCHED] PICKS C GETZLAF
3. SHADY PICKS C H.SEDIN FP
4. EDGE BIDS ON RW GIROUX [MATCHED], BIDS ON RW KANE [MATCHED] PICKS C KOPITAR
5. RM PICKS C DATSYUK
6. WLF MATCHES RW GIROUX
7. SEV MATCHES RW KANE
8. BARB BIDS ON G PRICE [MATCHED] PICKS LW SEMIN
9. GW MATCHES G PRICE
10. SCR. PICKS B.RICHARDS
11. BL MATCHES C STAMKOS FP
12. HL D LETANG
13. HL D VISNOVSKY

THERE IS A CERTAIN PREDICTION FOR RND 1...

ANY COMMENTS?

Crosby

2011-08-26T14:50:00.010-07:00

It appears he is still dizzy with headaches. Last i heard he was walking around Pittsburg wondering where all the Timmy's went.

At what point does Doug start contemplating a new FP and what value does he have at this point? I think its a real possibility he may not play this season even if his symptoms go away.

What are your thoughts??

Hockey News Bible

2011-08-17T08:56:00.001-07:00

I recieved my electroninic copy of the bible yesterday.

Horrible organization. Team order in the bible is by estimate on how they will finish in the conference. Ech!!!!

Only had time to look at my players....a few switches

Frolik LW from RW
Laich C from LW
Giroux RW from C
Leino LW for RW
Schroeder C from RW
Nyquist C from RW

Happy Birthday to Bladerunner GM

2011-08-14T16:28:00.001-07:00

another year old. Keeping this old man company as the oldest in the group

It Has Begun...

2011-08-14T07:31:00.000-07:00

Picked up the Hockey News' Ultimate Pool Guide yesterday.

Gentlemen, start your engines.