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Edited: November 4, 2004. |
The Seattle Tsunami is a member of the 14-team
World Strat-o-matic Hockey League (WSHL) that actually runs as two
independant leagues, the World League and North American League
(NAL). At the conclusion of the two playoffs, the winners of each
league's championship play one another in a best of seven series for
the Molsen Cup. Seattle plays in the NAL's Western Conference,
Orr Division. In their brief history, they selected Marian Hossa with the second overall pick in the first dispursal draft. Deciding on drafting a core of young talented players, Seattle's first season was filled with many bumps and bruises. The Tsunami finished in 12th place overall, and last in their division. Since teams may only carryover 14 players from their roster from season to season, Seattle was able to transfer some of the league's top young players in Marian Hossa, Roberto Luongo, Ladislav Nagy, Mike Van Ryn and Simon Gagne. With a powerful offense in place, the team concentrated on improving their defense during the off-season and 2004 entry draft. With the third overall pick, they grabbed veteran Brian Leetch to help their blueline out for the year. They ended up passing on some potential young all-stars in order to compete for this year's championship. The decision seems to be working as they rocketed to first place after the first bi-week with a record of 8-2-0-0. But can their luck hold out over the course of an 82-game schedule? It's a question that will be answered in 72 games. |