Astrologers might just have to invent a new zodiacal sign after the results of the 1999-2000 West Coast Hockey League’s Taylor Cup championship playoffs officially went into the books. Instead of shifting from the Age of Pisces to the Age of Aquarius, the WCHL -- in the least -- appears to have issued a trumpet call for the dawning of the Age of the Mustangs.

The Phoenix Mustangs, that is. As in the Taylor Cup champion Phoenix Mustangs.

The team to which some gave little credence at the onset of the WCHL’s Y2K campaign rewarded the city of Phoenix with its first professional ice hockey championship since the old Phoenix Roadrunners won back-to-back Western Hockey League titles in 1972-73 and 1973-74 by delivering a stunning four-game sweep of the defending champion Tacoma Sabercats in this year’s Taylor Cup Finals. The Mustangs become only the third team to hoist the Taylor Cup in celebration in the league’s five-year history -- joining a short but elite honor roll that includes the three-time champion San Diego Gulls (1996-97-98) and the 1999 champion Sabercats.

Phoenix defeated Tacoma, 6-5 in overtime, in Game 4 of the 2000 Taylor Cup Finals on May 14 to end the Sabercats’ one-year reign as league champions. The Mustangs did not squeak by postseason foes but boldly rode past opponents, placing an exclamation mark on their championship season (and, in the process, making believers out of early season skeptics) with their outstanding 10-2 playoff record. Tacoma, which advanced to its third consecutive Taylor Cup Finals after finishing runner-up to San Diego in 1998, finished with a final 6-4 playoff mark.

Midway through the season, many observers didn’t even feel the Phoenix club would last to see the postseason, with the franchise mired in both an attendance and, more specifically, performance funk. The Mustangs, who compete in the shadow of the National Hockey League’s Phoenix Coyotes, ranked at the bottom of the WCHL attendance averages heading into Y2K, drawing crowds in the 1,000 to 2,000 range for mid-week engagements and only slightly more for weekend dates. The team’s 5-12-3 mark out of the chute also likely had something to do with that.

But following a highly-publicized ice-clearing brawl December 30 in San Diego, the season began to crystallize for the Mustangs. Former Tucson Gila Monsters head coach Marty Raymond had taken over the reins as bench boss from Brad McCaughey just seven games before the suspended game against the Gulls. The spectacle in San Diego would serve as a dividing line for the season. Over the next three months, Raymond and the club’s brain trust would reshape the team’s roster, alternately jettisoning players who didn’t fit into Raymond’s system and bringing on board a cast of new characters -- mostly proven veteran talent -- who did see promise in Raymond’s master plan. The midseason changeover would prove to be the catalyst to a league championship.

"We focused on attitude," said Raymond. "We had a lot of people who weren’t focused and who weren’t giving the extra effort. The attitude was just mediocre. I told the guys that if they wanted to win, it wasn’t up to me but it was up to them. They would have to start doing some things that they hadn’t been asked to do before."

With a new directive in place, the Mustangs promptly set a new course -- upward in the South Division standings. The Phoenix entry finished the season 35-23-3 under Raymond’s leadership. Infused with a new sense of purpose, the Mustangs gathered momentum as the postseason drew closer, taking the league’s hottest regular season-ending streak -- 12-3-1 -- into the playoffs.

No one could put out the fire in the postseason. The Mustangs punctuated their remarkable playoff run by winning their final six games overall (a club season high) and winning all eight home playoff contests. The statistics clearly tell the story of a team on a mission. The Taylor Cup champions won 11 of their final 13 games overall, 18 of their last 23 and produced a prolific 22-5-1 mark (.803 winning percentage) in their final 28 games.

Besides the obvious payoff on the ice, the impact was also felt at the box office as well as the Mustangs averaged 4,700 fans following the conclusion of the NFL season to finish with a season average of 3,562 -- seventh best in the modest eight-team circuit.

Phoenix sped into the WCHL post-season, overtaking the faltering Fresno Falcons for third place in the division standings and making a run at the second place Bakersfield Condors. The Mustangs ended the season with a 31-35-6 record -- seven points ahead of fourth-place Fresno (27-38-7) and nine points behind their first-round playoff opponent, the Condors (34-29-9).

The Mustangs promptly pulled off the postseason’s first upset by grabbing home ice advantage in its first-round series against Bakersfield with a 5-4 win in the Condors’ nest. Bakersfield, enjoying its best-ever season on the ice both in terms of record and fan support, came back the next night with a 3-2 victory to event the teams’ best-of-five series at a win apiece but the ’Stangs had got what they came to California for -- a split in the series on the road. Phoenix captured the next two games on its home ice by scores of 7-0 and 4-2 to advance against regular season division champion San Diego.

The Mustangs had finished 32 points arrears of the Gulls (46-16-8) in the division standings and had lost the season series to San Diego overall (5-6-1). But the new-look Phoenix club had clearly captured the late season momentum, winning the last four games between the clubs -- including a rare win on the Gulls’ home ice in which the Mustangs rallied with five unanswered goals to turn the tables on the division leaders in an improbable-until-you-saw-it 8-6 victory.

Raymond’s club made its second sojourn to Southern California in the postseason a successful one by once again taking away home ice advantage from its higher-seeded playoff opponent with a 4-3 victory. The Phoenix win proved to be the deathblow for the Gulls, who had narrowly escaped premature postseason elimination at the hands of Fresno after the upstart Falcons had captured the first two games in that series, forcing San Diego to win the final three games to avoid an embarrassing end to its season.

The Gulls won Game 2 of the Southern Division Finals 5-2, snapping a 2-2 tie with three third-period goals, but the damage had already been done. The Mustangs would not lose another game in the Taylor Cup playoffs. The turning point in the series came in Game 3 -- a clutch 3-2 double overtime victory that handed the Arizonans a commanding 3-1 advantage against the Gulls. Veteran Sean Whyte scored the game-winning goal on a power play in what proved to be the second longest game in league history and the longest game in either of the two clubs’ respective histories (83:02). The Mustangs drove the final nail in the Gulls’ coffin the next night with an equally tight 3-2 win on a hat trick by ex-Gull Kevin St. Jacques to effectively end an era in WCHL history and, perhaps, open a new chapter.

San Diego had been party to all four previous Taylor Cup Finals -- winning the league’s first three playoff championships and finishing runner-up in its fourth trip.

The unheralded Mustangs, making their first odyssey into the WCHL championship territory, would be facing an experience-laden Tacoma squad that had set a number of impressive club and league records throughout the season and which would be making its third successive trip to the Taylor Cup Finals.

But the WCHL’s "New Kids on the Block" proved anything but pushovers. In fact, it was the Mustangs who did most of the pushing behind Playoff Most Valuable Player David Goverde.

Goverde and the Phoenix defense set the tone for this year’s Taylor Cup Finals with a 1-0 victory against the Sabercats 1-0 in Game 1 on May 9 in the Tacoma Dome. Goverde made 27 saves and Hugo Belanger, the WCHL’s regular season scoring leader, notched the only goal of the game on a power play at 4:12 of the third period. The Mustangs further turned the league on its collective ear by gaining an equally intrepid 5-2 victory in Game 2 the next night, also on foreign ice, as Tony Iob collected two goals and one assist.

It was back Arizona with the ’Stangs holding a commanding 2-0 series edge in the best-of-seven championship round and the opportunity to win the Taylor Cup in their own corral. Game 3 on May 12 proved to be the back-breaker in the series as Phoenix lassoed the ‘Cats for a 4-1 victory, holding the North Division champions to just three goals in three games. Phoenix delivered the coup de grace with a 6-5 overtime win two days later as Iob scored 8:01 into the extra period to deny Tacoma any hope of returning the series to the Pacific Northwest.

The Mustangs’ championship mettle? Nothing short of impressive. Overall, Phoenix rode to six one-goal victories, won two overtime contests and outscored opponents 46-29 with two shutout wins. The Mustangs posted a playoff-best four short-handed goals while also topping all WCHL postseason entrants in goals, assists, points and penalty minutes.

"I’m so proud of my team right now," Raymond was quoted after Game 4. "This team played with a lot of heart and desire and I couldn’t be happier right now."

Goverde, whose play could only be described as scintillating, won six consecutive games in the playoffs and captured nine of his final 10 starts while compiling 2.32 GAA and .931 save percentage in 12 games overall. He was especially brutal on opposing forwards in the Taylor Cup Finals, registering a 1.94 GAA and .939 SPCT. "About five or six of us left from the beginning of the season fought through -- no one thought that we could do it -- half the guys in this room didn’t believe," Goverde told the Phoenix press corps. "We stuck with a game plan. Coach (Raymond) stuck with his system and it’s unbelievable."

The Mustangs finished with five of the WCHL’s top six top playoff scorers. Iob led all postseason scorers with 8 goals and 9 assists, followed by Phoenix teammates St. Jacques (8 goals, 6 assists) and Belanger (5 goals, 9 assists), both tied with 14 points for the runner-up spot. Veteran Len Hachborn (3 goals, 10 assists) was tied for fourth place with Tacoma’s Dampy Brar (5 goals, 8 assists) while wily vet Daniel Shank (6 goals, 6 assists) followed with 12 points.

Shank, with more than 800 points in a career that includes 77 games in the NHL, had the game-winning goals in Game 2 and Game 3 of the Taylor Cup Finals.

The defanging of the Sabercats was quite an accomplishment. Tacoma entered the Taylor Cup Finals having swept its two earlier playoff series. Sabercats goaltender Blair Allison, the WCHL’s reigning two-time Outstanding Goaltender, carried a 1.40 GAA and .953 SPCT into the series against Phoenix. In dispatching both the Idaho Steelheads and Colorado Gold Kings, Tacoma had racked up an almost painful 26-9 goal-differential, including a 12-1 edge in goals in the Northern Division Finals against the Gold Kings.

Belanger, quoted in a club release, summed up the emotions of the Mustangs’ Cinderella-style ride to the Taylor Cup championship: "This was a great hockey team we played against. They fought us every bit of the way. It took our best efforts to beat them."