Grand Rapids Greased Lightning
Coach: Nick Klein
Seasons in League: 1995-Present
Career Records: 90-17-1, (13-5 in Playoffs)
Summary:
The early dynasty of the PFL, Nick's Greased Lightning have captured three championships and have been in all seven Patzer Bowls to date. He has outright won or shared in seven out of eight regular season championships to date. Despite having won three Patzer Bowls, the team has come up empty four consecutive years despite winning the regular season title each year.
1995:
The inaugural season saw the Greased Lightning start hot and run away with the Western Division championship with an 11-3 record, as well asthe outrightregular season ttle and the #1 playoff seed. After routing Matt Kane's Dayton Flyers 48-3 and beating Jesse Buist's team (who had won a then-record 8 straight games) 31-21 before winning the inagural Patzer Bowl over Laura Smits' Jackpot Jokers by a 34-17 score.
1996:
1996 started off very poorly for G.R. as Nick dropped the first two games. The team righted the ship though and did not lose again that year, finishing 12-2 for another Divisional and Regular Season title. Another sweep through the playoffs ended with a 31-21 Patzer Bowl II victory over his father Doug's Casnovia Lugnuts.
1997:
An "off year" by Greased Lightning standards. The team won a division championship, but only shared the regular season championship, losing on tiebreaks to their arch-rival, John Smits' Wahoo Indans. John came out ahead in the bg game as well, losing Patzer Bowl III by a 38-13 score.
1998:
The only year in which Nick has not at least shared in the crown, (they did not win a division either, as the league was not divided up that season) he finished a game behind Paul for the league's best record. He exacted revenge in the game that counted, winning 85-72.
1999:
The league started over in 1999, and with some solid drafting a good free agent pickups, Nick did the unthinkable, he ran the gamut and finish the regular season a perfect 13-0. The playoffs were far from that, however, as he lost in the Patzer Bowl to Travis Lampman's Yukon Icebreakers.
2000:
It was deja vu all over again. Nick ran the gauntlet in the regular season and lost to Travis in the Patzer Bowl.
2001:
The undefeated regular season streak ended at 30, thanks to a week 1 loss to Yukon, but the team rallied and finished strong, going 10-2-1 for another regular season championship. But yet again, the team came up short in the Patzer Bowl, losing a 112-109 nailbiter to Dave Silman's Alaskan Assassins.
2002:
For the first time in their existence, Grand Rapids did not make it to the championship game. It was also the first season that they did not win a game in the playoffs. A fourth consecutive regular season championship was hardly consolation for the PFL's original team.
Regular Season Records
1995: 11-3 (Won Regular Season Title; #1 seed)
1996: 12-2 (Won Regular Season Title; #1 seed)
1997: 10-4 (Shared Regular Season Title; #2 seed)
1998: 10-4 (Second Place; #2 seed)
1999: 13-0 (Won Regular Season Title)
2000: 13-0 (Won Regular Season Title)
2001: 10-2-1 (Won Regular Season Title)
2002: 11-2 (Won Regular Season Title)
Playoff Records
1995: 3-0 (Won Patzer Bowl)
1996: 3-0 (Won Patzer Bowl)
1997: 2-1 (Lost to Wahoo in Patzer Bowl)
1998: 2-0 (Won Patzer Bowl)
1999: 1-1 (Lost to Yukon in Patzer Bowl)
2000: 1-1 (Lost to Yukon in Patzer Bowl)
2001: 1-1 (Lost to Alaska in Patzer Bowl)
2002: 0-1 (Lost to Climax in Semifinals)