A Written History of the D.H.H.L.
From some guys that were there when it happened....
In The Beginning:
The Die Hard Hockey League was conceived by two hls2 league loving guys, Wayne Trainor and Ryan Miller. Both we're GM's in David Easton's Trans World Hockey League.
So the story goes that on the evening of November 22, 2002, Ryan and Wayne we're casually chatting. Ryan suggested that Wayne should start another hls2 league, as he figured there was enough interest for it.
What went on: First off, Ryan put together a ratings set, however, in the end, a different set of ratings were used, as it was felt by all (including Ryan) that the other set was the best for starting a fantasy league.
Next, there was a discussion involving Head Honcho Wayne Trainor, Co commish Ryan Miller, hls2 Veteran Peter Nilsson, and new guy (hardcore nut like Ryan, with some good ideas), Glen Trainor, aka, Wayne's brother. The discussion concerned many things, mostly rules. For example, Ryan and Glen (hardcore nuts) wanted to hold a live draft on mIRC, Wayne said he did not want to be there for 15 hours. Ryan and Glen still wanted it! Kidding! A plan to do the draft via e-mail was devised. Peter came up with the idea of the "Created Player". A retirements issue was settled, and Peter said he could write a program to deal with the retirements for the league. Wayne came up with some minor additions to this rule! A FA system like the TWHL's was to be used, with unused FAB's turning into TC's afterward. Many exciting rule changes!
Wayne came up with a brilliant system of devising who would select first in the draft, it involved the Lotto 6/49 numbers, in which the total of the drawn numbers on a particular night would select the winner, each franchise were given all the numbers that the total could be at random, whoever had the right one would get first pick, it was a lottery using the actual lottery to pick the winner. Genius!
DHHL1
The preseason was played between Christmas and New Years. Due to some technical difficulties, the idea of starting on January 1st, 2003 with regular season games was delayed a day. Things kicked off on the 2nd. The fast and furious pace of the league had some GM's falling in love with it immediately, while others were left with their heads spinning.
DHHL1 was the season that saw the league go with hidden streaks for awhile. Thanks to Brian Howe(Platinum Computing), who made us a program which allowed streaks to be visible. His program was used for most of the season, until Peter Nilsson was finally able to explain to Wayne how to get Tim Chan's League Manager working. A big thanks to the NSHL commish Gord Payne who sent us a patch that helped immensely.
The inaugural draft went very well, although the commish did have to call Ryan Miller once and tell his lazy ass to send in picks. In what looks to be a brilliant move, the first pick in DHHL history, Mario Lemieux(Magnus Nilsson-Denver) went on to win the scoring title in the first season, registering 101 points. The Peterborough Smoke Eaters(Wayne Trainor) wrapped up the President's Trophy and amassed an impressive 110 points. Mario Lemieux was also named the League's MVP in season 1.
As with any fledgling league, there was some growing pains. GM Slava Kaganov(Kharkiv Knights) goes down in infamy as the first GM to make the mistake of leaving the DHHL. He left after 20 games, hls2 just not being his sim of choice. Texas GM(Cliff Whalen) was happy about this outcome though; this opened up a team for his brother Stephen Whalen to step in and take over. The surprise came when co-founder, Dropout Boy Miller left his team around the Game 40 mark, saying he needed even more time to drink and fail classes. We welcomed Pat Herrington to the league at this point, as Pat had been waiting for a team in the inaugural draft, and technical difficulties left him without one.
Playoffs saw the rise of the Winnipeg Masteurhaters(Darryl Chase). Despite finishing 4th in the division, the WM, as they have affectionately become, defeated the Denver Dwarves(Magnus Nilsson) and Soo Sabrecats to set up a championship series against the PSE(Peterborough Smoke Eaters, Wayne Trainor). Sedsey's team continued their improbable success, beating the PSE in 6 games and claiming the first ever Die Hard Cup. The finals were played in an amazingly short amount of time, as Sedsey and Wayne met on icq and played game after game until the series was done. WM goalie Roberto Luongo was the winner of the Conn Smythe award.
Offseason saw some changes. One of the filthy Swedes, Patrick Strom(Dakar) left the league due to time constraints stemming from his new job in Stockholm. Patrick is missed, and the Commish still talks with him via ICQ when Patrick is drunk. Always a good time if you get a chance to speak with him. Soo GM David also left the league at this time, saying he had too much on the go. DHHL welcomed Matt Campbell as he took over the Soo franchise, and renamed them the Bancroft Rockhounds, after discovering we already had a team in Peterborough. Dropout Boy Miller returned to the D as well, blaming some drunken stupidness on his 40 game absence. He took the Dakar team and renamed them the Moncton Mustangs. Stephen Whalen made a lot of people happy when he moved the Kharkiv team(Karkic, Karriv, Kakiv, Krapcic--just some of the misspellings I remember) and transformed them in to the Hearst Moose. Detroit Lions owner Matt Larson figured Detroit was too far away and moved them even closer to home and they became the Westland Otters.
DHHL2
The league took on some real life in season 2 as it moved to differentiate itself a little more from its original base, the TWHL. Due to some serious contract stacking and dumping, the free agent draft was killed in the first real rule change to the DHHL. A waiver draft was designed in its place to keep some parity in the league. Almost all GM's were unanimous in their praise for this move.A shocking move at the halfway point of the season, as league commish, and co-founder, Wayne Trainor, decided to relinquish the control of the winningest team in DHHL history, the Peterborough Smoke Eaters,to a new GM, Tim Kastelle. Tim was known to many of the league's GM's already, and after a few people begging to get the PSE, and giving Tim their team, and the huge uproars of "Bring Back Wayne", started by Sedsey, died down, Tim fit into things like a glove(not the OJ variety).
Regular season saw the PSE run away with the President's Trophy again. The second pick overall in the inaugural draft, Todd Bertuzzi(Peterborough-Tim Kastelle), led the league in scoring. This might lead people to believe that DHHL3 should be led in scoring by Jose Theodore(3rd pick ever in the draft), but that is not likely. Peterborough(Wayne/Tim) led the league with 116 points, breaking the record set the season before. The bad Trainor brother, Glen(rapist/Corporate America), led his Miami team to a 102 point season, becoming the only other franchise to reach the 100 point barrier thus far.
Expansion rumblings began in earnest, as the 12 team league was looking pretty stable.
Playoffs saw the magic of Darryl Chase(Winnipeg Masteurhaters) again. Despite finishing in third place in his division, the WM, knocked off the Denver Dwarves(4th overall), the Miami Dream(2nd overall) and the Peterborough franchise(1st overall) to claim their second Die Hard Cup. The finals featured a rematch between Winnipeg and Peterborough and Winnipeg was victorious in 7 games. Bobby Clarke was a near unanimous choice for the Conn Smythe.
As the season came to a close, the new waiver draft, and also the entry draft, were held via email, to get them done as quickly as possible. Expansion was on the horizon as 4 new teams were going to be awarded franchises....
DHHL3
DHHL3 saw the birth of the expansion teams. Montreal(Mayhem), Atlantic Canada(Schooners), Orlando(Seals) and
Niagara Falls(Rapids) were all welcomed to the league. Season 3 also marked the birth of 4 divisions from the
previous 2. Nilsson and Miller, names of the co-founders, and previous division names now became Conference
names. Bettman, Tagliabue, Stern and Selig are the new division names. One expansion team was placed in each
division.
Scoring leader was Hakan Loob of the Denver Dwarves. Loob became the first ever CP(created player) to lead
the league in scoring. In what I find to be simply incredible, Ron Francis finished second in league scoring
for the 3rd season in a row. He is the career leader in points to date easily. Echo Bay's Akhmar Jabaar
Jenkins returned to the press box, leaving way for Mike Vigilante. Peterborough's Cary Coupal retired to league
offices and was replaced by Charles Darwin. There was other CP changes as well, as Chad LaRose debuted in
Detroit and the expansion teams all added their guys to the mix.
Of special note, new CP Dave Snuggerud of the Niagara Falls Thunder shattered the league record for goals with
63. Add to this that Loob had broken the points record, Darwin the PIM record, and Derek Morris of Denver the
assist record, DHHL3 could be termed a record breaking season. Bryan McCabe rewrote the record book for
defenseman. Peterborough improved for the third season in a row, but were bested by one point(122-121) in the
race for the President's Cup by th Denver Dwarves. Rumors began that the President's Cup was possibly a curse,
and this may have gained even more lore when in the finals,after dispatching of the "Only Champs", Winnipeg
Masteurhaters and then the Hartford Whalers, the Peterborough Adjustable Spanners, in their 3rd trip to the
finals in as many seasons, finally brought the cherished DIEHARD CUP home, winning the exciting finals in
7 games over Denver.
Texas, Moncton and Niagara Falls were all very impressive in playing well over where they were expected to be.
If I have to choose one, Echo Bay, with jenkins watching from the stands, were the disappointment of the season
in my eyes.
Expansion was a half and half kind of thing. GM Jason Stein of Niagara Falls lasted all of 5-6 games before
taking off to play with himself again. Orlando GM Jeff Weiss lasted a bit longer, going strong until about the
55 game mark before packing things in. All the GM's from DHHL2 did stick arouond through DHHL3, so stability
might be coming to the league. After running two teams for awhile, league offices finally found a GM for
Niagara Falls in the person of Steve Vendetti. As season 3 ended and the offseason began, Orlando was still
being run by a trained monkey in league offices.
There was a few more rule changes in DHHL3. A sliding scale of sorts was used for the 16 team waiver draft,
results on that will not be known until after DHHL4. Offseason rule changes saw the adding of players to
rerate lists effective after DHHL4, as well as the renaming of awards should they be won 3 times by the same
player. Season records are also out for the league now, as well as career stats thanks to the efforts of
Tim, Peter and Wayne. Individual game records will someday be done, when Wayne gets real bored.
DHHL4 season was looming with the league taking on a character of its own.
DHHL4
DHHL4 began with a pretty decent core croup of gms. And by the time the season ended, of course that was
changed once again. Napanee's GM only lasted a little over half a season before being replaced with an obsrvant Trey
Bishop. His real taking over of the tam will begin in DHHL5. The rest of the league's gms made it through to
the end of the season at least. And then the dreaded 10 minutes it takes to vot for awards kicked in. Long
story short, two more gm's were removed. Drop Out Boy Ryan Miller left to get drunk, no one knows if former
Hearst GM Stephen is still alive. Welcome to Paul and Michelle who were added just in time for the offseason
drafts. Michelle is the first female GM in DHHL history.
Immediately police were called in to keep an eye on Corporate America's rapist tendencis. DHHL agred to
never let Miami and Cornerbrook sit next to each other at drafts.
During the season itself, Winnipeg's Bobby Clarke was the cram of the frop in DHHL4. He led the league in goals
and points. He won the Art Ross trophy easily, He also picked up both the Hart and Lester Pearson awards too.
He became the first player to win an award unanimoously(Hart). Bancroft Rockhounds' Adrian Aucoin became the
league's newest superstar. And won the Norris trophy for his efforts.
Playoffs resulted in a new champion being crowned. Last year's finalists Peterborouh and Denver were both
dispatched, along with first time finalists Hartford, by the new champions, the Portland Grave Diggers.
Portland brought home the championship to league co-founder Peter Nilsson. Peter also picked up the GM of
the Year trophy in leeague balloting. It was a magic season for the G Diggers as they also won the Presidents
Cup in the regular season as well, finally breaking the curse of the Presidents Trophy.
The waiver draft took place and the commish got a laugh, as within minutes of finding out the rsults, 3 of
the 4 "Top 4 teams" screamed "F*CK". This is a great sign that it is working.
Entry draft was still to go while this was being written, and DHHL4 was hours from coming to a close. DHHL5
was set to go with many firsts to come. First female GM, first season starting without a Miller, etc..
DHHL5
DHHL5 ran smoothly for the most part. Playing a full season without a Miller was a good thing I guess.(Okay, no more Miller jokes). GM Paul I can't even remember his last name lasted almost no time(ok,it was Guilbeault), before recent TWHL firee Steve Wright took over. This gave the Ottawa franchise instant respect. If it didn't, then them making the playoffs in a three way dogfight with Denver and Portland did. Portland became the first team in history to win the Cup and fail to make the playoffs the following season. GM Trey Bishop of the newly named New England Napalm got into a heated war of words with Winnipeg GM Sedsey. The battle will be remembered for some nice comments, hilarious all the way around and for the fact that Bishop went AWOL after the season. Serial Killer may be on the loose, more on that in DHHL6 history I guess.
Miami also missed the playoffs, gaining chuckles from around the league. Rapists don't always finish first was the motto of that story. The playoffs saw two firsts in league history. The Denver Dwarves won their first DIE HARD Cup, beating the finalists for second season in a row Hartford Whalers. The Whalers won the Presidnets trophy with 104 regular season points. Hartford was so downtrrodden over losing the finals again they packed up their belongings to Middle Earth and will now play out of Esgaroth. DHHL5 also saw what was, depending on your mood, either a loved or hated song sung by the Dwarves Board of Directors. It was original, no one can argue that.(I found it hilarious). DHHL 1 & 2 finalists Peterborough and Winnipeg were in the thick of things again before bowing out in the semifinals to the eventual finalists.
Saku Koivu of Denver led the scoring parade with 101 points. He was the overwhelming choice as league MVP. In a tightly contested Pearson award, Niagara Falls Rapids defenceman Ed Jovanovski took it home adding the Norris with it. GM of the year voting saw Denver GM Magnus Nilsson win by a vote over Niagara's Steve Vendetti and Atlantic Canada's George McIntyre. Thank God when we saw the stupidity pulled by McIntyre in the offseason. Most GM's have questions and concerns when rerates come around. Not many send in the completely wrong list,(opposite of what they want), and not realize it until it is too late. This is a classic and adds the words "pulling a George" to DHHL lexicon. Pulling a George means doing something completely stupid. Even Coupal had to move McIntyre ahead of Kastelle on his list of the top bird brained GM's in DHHL. Atlantic had some players who were primed for some fantastic rerates, including at least one 9/9 winger, but Schooners GM George protected him. LMAO. Ok, kids, no drinking when making rerate lists. Atlantic could have been a powerhouse in DHHL6. They are solid, but not what they may have, could have, should have been.
The Lasse Kinch award went to Juss Dooit of Winnipeg for the 2nd season in a row. He, Jenkins(Echo Bay) and the Gellar/Black combo of Portland remain the only names inscribed on the award. They are each there twice.
Bobby Clarke, the self proclaimed greatest player in DHHL history, finally surpassed Ron Francis in league all time scoring as well. Francis has nothing left to argue about now at all. Clarke was passed by Peterborough's Todd Bertuzzi and Oleg Tverdovsky in playoff scoring though.
DHHL5 entry draft saw the first superstar institued into the entry draft. Carlo Colaicovo was snapped up 1st overall by Echo Bay and they are hoping for big things from him in DHHL6.