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GHL Power Standings
Will Cox III presents: THE GHL TEAM OF THE WEEK
Players of the Week
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GHL Power Rankings
     The Top 10 Teams in GHL(as of Dec 1st, 1999)

LW	TW	Team	Pts	Last 10	Comments
2	1	Royal	33	8-1-1	TWENTY GAMES.....ONE LOSS.   Only 1 player shows up in league leader for points (Fedorov is 20th).  This team's commitment to defense(a stingy 1.85 goals per game allowed) and its depth make it unstoppable.
4	2	Hurricanes	27	7-0-4	The featured team in Will Cox's Team of the week report are led by Selanne and Yashin.
3	3	Bearcats	27	3-4-3	This team can only improve with the GHL's MVP added to the roster.  Surprisingly weak last 10 games could see the Cats slide in the rankings.
1	4	Storm	20	4-6-0	The Storm are dropping fast.  The champs have incredible talent and depth but lack chemistry. When they are good they are great as shown by being the only team to knock off the Royals this season.
7	5	Ice Dawgs	25	6-4-0	This surprising team in still moving up the Power Rankings.  They are riding some incredible goaltending(see Tender of the Week), some solid line combinations, and great defense.  GM Blaine Kemp must surely be early favorite for GM of the Year.
6	6	Lumberjacks	21	5-4-1	Last issue, I said they need to be consistent to make the playoffs and consistent they have been.  Have not moved in the rankings, but Coach King must be proud of his guys consistent work ethic.
9	7	Wolverines	21	7-3-0	Wolve's improve 2 spots of last issue.  As last issue said, these guys can score but not defend.  They have yet to beat a team with over a .500 record.  Lets see what they will do when their schedule toughens up.
-	8	Odyssey	21	5-4-1	Where did these guys come from?  Out of the Rankings last issue, the Odds have gotten points 5 out of the last 6 games.  No big guns on this team and average goaltending, the players on this squad have simply bought into Coach Milbury's game plan and stick to their roles.
5	9	Humpbacked	18	3-6-1	The biggest dropper in the Rankings this week.  The Humptys have been playing some atrocious offence.  Look for them to be out of the rankings next week if they cannot improve their league worst 2.60 goals for per game average.
-	10	War Pigs	19	5-4-1	The Pigs have been consistent.  Hull has come out from nowhere last year to lead this club.  This team has to play like it did against the Royals in last years playoffs more consistently if it wants to move up in rankings.

NOTE: Earthquake drop out of rankings from 8th last week and Arsenal drop out from 10th.
 
 

WILL COX III presents: THE GHL TEAM OF THE WEEK
(EDITOR NOTE: GHL NEWS is proud to announce the signing of Will Cox III.  We welcome Will to the paper
and look forward to his article which will analyze the success/failure of a particular GHL team each issue.)
 

Hello, and welcome to the second edition of the GHL's Team Report. I, your journalist, Will Cox III am still working hard on keeping this newspaper going along with our Editor-In-Chief, Keith Grienke. This week, our focus will be placed on the current second place team of the CANADIAN conference, The Wellington Hurricanes. Their 8 wins 5 loses and 2 ties are good enough for 18 points and second place in the conference. They are a healthy 6-3-1 in their last 10. They, as most would expect, are being led in scoring by team leaders, Teemu Selanne with 21 points +5 and Alexei Yashin with 17 points +2. Also, no surprise to anyone, Lidstrom has racked up 13 points +7. Other highlights are between the pipes with Dominik Hasek playing steady, but not Hasek like. In addition, im limited playing time, Jocelyn Thibault has played very well with just a 1.11 GAA over 3 games played and a .960 Save percentage. One notable addition is also the shooting percentage of Glen Murray, he has racked up an amazing 40% shooting percentage. Selanne is fourth in the league in star points just 8 points out of first with 24. There are two major problems with the make-up of this team for next season, no Yashin, and basically no Hasek. How much will this effect the Hurricanes? Only time will tell the answer to this question! The Hurricanes have been rumored to be looking to move these two playrs for anything and everything. Who will accept these players? Probably someone who is weak at gol or center and who is in a tight playoff race coming down the stretch. Another problem the Hurricanes are facing is a beyond dissapointing powerplay. They rank dead last in the league with a 6.0 power play conversion percentage...I'm sure this will be looked into by the experienced GM Jessica Moreau. That is all for this week, and until next time...remember, only a hockey guru can tell you, how many points Mr. Maxim Afinogenov of the Buffalo Sabres has, off the top of his head!                                                                                     William Cox III

WEEKLY HONOURS
 

Tenderizer of the Week:  John Vanbiesbrouck The Beezer is leading the Ice Dawgs out of last year's doldrums to the playoffs in Year 4.  Johnny V is tied for league lead in SO with 2 and is 2nd and rising in Save Percentage(.918).   More importantly, Beezer is stealing games away from the opposition and is currently the #2 tender in Star Points(26).

Hot Shot of the Week:  Joe Sakic Joe Sakic could be seen racking up the points since last issue.  In the ten games since last issue, Sakic has added 16 points to his totals.  Included in those 16 were a remarkable night against the Odyssey in which he and linemate John Leclair teamed to record 5 point a piece.  Sakic has added an amazing 8 goals and 8 assists this week for 15g,11a and 26 points total.  Not only a hot shot, Sakic continues to lead the Storm, getting 2 pts and a +2 in the Storms improbable victory over the streaking Royals.

Goon of the Week:  Rich Pilon Bearcats fans love this guy.  Known as much for his off-ice chicanery as on the ice, Pilon is racking up the minutes this year.   Says Pilon,"I love to see an opposing guys whimpering on the ice after I crush him in a fight, with a hit, butt-end to the groin, slash.....I don't care what it takes, as long as I leave them whimpering !!!"  With 83 PIM in only 16 games, Pilon has left a lot of guys "whimpering" this year including Adam Deadmarsh who lost an early season fight to Pilon.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK:   Chris Pronger - Amazing Dman leads by example. Chris Pronger is a stalwart on the Royals blueline.  He is the epitome of the Royals' players' commitment to defense.   Chris was an amazing +14 since last issue.  He also added 10 pts in that same time period to give him 17 points total (3g, 14A).    Pronger sits 5th in the GHL for points by a defenseman and leads the league with an astounding +18 in 20 games.   (ED NOTE:  OK,OK....I promise not to pick another Dman next week as the POW, but as a Dman myself, I know that D wins the games !!! :)  )

GM Dean Belanger of the Edmonton Bearcats had enough.  After the last GHL NEWS, Belanger placed a bounty on the heads of any War Pigs player.   What happened?  The Pigs faced the Wolverines the next night.  For those who don't read their emails, GM Grienke had just finished bashing GM Matt Banks' Wolverines easy schedule.   The result?  Wolverines punish the Pigs in an all out war which left two Wolverines hospitalized and Mats Sundin wondering what hit him as he was injured for 3 games.   Rumour has it that Belanger immediately sent Banks a cheque for $100,000 for knocking out the Pigs top player.   Did Banks spend the money on Free Agents? Improvements to his arena?  NO....word on the street is that there was a huge run on Pokeman cards in the Middleton area last week.  (ED NOTE:  Matt...you should have spent some of that cash on some Defense!!) GM Grienke is calling on THE COMMISH for an immediate investigation into this despicable premeditated assault and indefinite suspensions for both GMs.

Ryan Barkhouse kicked out of house!!!!   GM Al Barkhouse has kicked Ryan out of his house.   Grapevine says that he has been stealing Royals' secrets.  Says Ryan,"I need to know what the Royals are doing to win game after game.  I figured Pop was manipulating the computer somehow and one day he caught me while he was editing a game score.  I asked him what he was doing.  He came at me, threw me against the wall, and then out of the house."  When Big Al was approached on the subject, he stated,"That whiner child of mine!!! It was time he faced the world on his own!! His Earthquake were an embarassment to this household.  I did not hit him, Ryan is clumsy.  I was SIMMing the days games, turned around and he fell into the wall."   Well, there is two sides to every story.  Which one is true??

News and Notes!!! Many trade rumours these days......War Pigs' Hull...Abyss' Lindros.....Ice Dawgs' Turgeon...Royals' Palffy....Any Arsenal centerman...Avalanche's Joe Nieuwendyk.....are just a few of the big names that have been involved in recent trade talks. .........   Hey...How about Bobby Holik he was rececently dealt to the Wolves and lasted all of 12 minutes in his Wolves' debut.  GM Banks is not impressed. He claims he got previously damaged goods in his deal.........What is with the Arsenal?? Look no further than Anson Carter. He is leaving GM Bailey shaking his head with his 80 for scoring and only 2 goals and 6 pts. Just another case for the growing argument that higher passing numbers mean more than higher scoring numbers in FHL SIM leagues.  Other cases include the Pigs' Brett Hull and the Storm's Adrien Aucoin.

Svoboda out Indefinitely Petr Svoboda out indefinitely with a hernia?? This guy could not have got this injury playing hockey as he has never ever had any contact on the ice.  That is why Lumberjack GM John Walker is considering suspending Svoboda's contract. Walker claims that Svoboda got the injury from "knocking boots with too many Lumberjack groupies." Svoboda maintains that he got it from too much on the weight machine." Walker sneers,"As if Svoboda has seen a weight machine in his life.  I mean ....does Svoboda even have shoulders??"

Until Next Issue........HOW BOUT DA PIGS !!!!

GRIENK
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