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| 07-08 Associated Press Ranking: 1st |
| 07-08 Regular Season Finish: 1st |
| 08-09 Associated Press Ranking: |
| 1st |
| Last years defending regular season champions were the lucky ones in the SHL Randomized Draft Lottery getting the rights to the first overall pick in the draft. Iceholes GM Derek Berg used it wisely to pick Alexander Ovechkin first overall. A marketing campaign in Bergland has been placed all over the billboards in the city with the words �got ovechkin?� The scary thing is Ovechkin won�t be a one man show in Bergland. They also picked up sniper Rick Nash and set-up-men Nicklas Backstrom, Brad Richards, and Tomas Plekanec. Iceholes GM Derek Berg did his homework over the off-season and it paid off picking up youngsters Kyle Opkoso, Fabian Brunnstrom, and Mikkel Boedker. Look for all three of these rookies to make an impact in the SHL this year. The Iceholes goaltending is rated second best with last years league leader in shut-outs Pascal Leclaire and veteran Marty Turco slated to take the majority off the load between the pipes this year. Expect nothing less than a repeat of last years regular season first place finish in Bergland. |
| Regular Season History 2007-2008: 1st |
| 07-08 Associated Press Ranking: 2nd |
| 07-08 Regular Season Finish: 4th |
| 08-09 Associated Press Ranking: |
| 4th |
| Regular Season History 2002-2003: 3rd 2003-2004: 2nd 2005-2006: 4th 2006-2007: 3rd 2007-2008: 4th |
| 07-08 Associated Press Ranking: 3rd |
| 07-08 Regular Season Finish: 5th |
| 08-09 Associated Press Ranking: |
| 3rd |
| Regular Season History 2002-2003: 2nd 2003-2004: 1st 2005-2006: 1st 2006-2007: 4th 2007-2008: 5th |
| 07-08 Associated Press Ranking: N/A |
| 07-08 Regular Season Finish: N/A |
| 08-09 Associated Press Ranking: |
| 7th |
| Regular Season History |
| 07-08 Associated Press Ranking: 5th |
| 07-08 Regular Season Finish: 2nd |
| 08-09 Associated Press Ranking: |
| 2nd |
| Regular Season History 2006-2007: 5th 2007-2008: 2nd |
| 07-08 Associated Press Ranking: 9th |
| 07-08 Regular Season Finish: 11th |
| 08-09 Associated Press Ranking: |
| 12th |
| Regular Season History 2003-2004: 7th 2005-2006: 7th 2006-2007: 9th 2007-2008: 11th |
| 07-08 Associated Press Ranking: 7th |
| 07-08 Regular Season Finish: 11th |
| 08-09 Associated Press Ranking: |
| 10th |
| Regular Season History 2002-2003: 4th 2003-2004: 3rd 2005-2006: 3rd 2006-2007: 6th 2007-2008: 11th |
| 07-08 Associated Press Ranking: 8th |
| 07-08 Regular Season Finish: 3rd |
| 08-09 Associated Press Ranking: |
| 5th |
| Regular Season History 2002-2003: 5th 2003-2004: 4th 2005-2006: 2nd 2006-2007: 2nd 2007-2008: 3rd |
| 07-08 Associated Press Ranking: 10th |
| 07-08 Regular Season Finish: 6th |
| 08-09 Associated Press Ranking: |
| 9th |
| Regular Season History 2005-2006: 6th 2006-2007: 7th 2007-2008: 6th |
| 07-08 Associated Press Ranking: 11th |
| 07-08 Regular Season Finish: 8th |
| 08-09 Associated Press Ranking: |
| 8th |
| Regular Season History 2002-2003: 1st 2003-2004: 6th 2005-2006: 9th 2006-2007: 12th 2007-2008: 8th |
| 07-08 Associated Press Ranking: 12th |
| 07-08 Regular Season Finish: 12th |
| 08-09 Associated Press Ranking: |
| 6th |
| Regular Season History 2006-2007: 10th 2007-2008: 12th |
| questions? coments? let them be heard on... |
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| Previous Seasons Associated Press Power Rankings: |
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| . |
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| 07-08 Associated Press Ranking: N/A |
| 07-08 Regular Season Finish: N/A |
| 08-09 Associated Press Ranking: |
| 11th |
| Regular Season History 2005-2006: 5th 2006-2007: 11th 2007-2008: N/A |
| Last Year: 14-7-2 The Grrrowl had a early playoff exit to the hands of the eventual Copenhagen Cup Champion, Dionland Twisters. |
| Last Year: 18-3-2 Regular season dominance capturing the Regular Season Title only to lose out in the semi-finals to the Dionland Twisters. |
| Last Year: 13-8-2 Squeaking into the playoffs and winning their second Copenhagen Cup creating the greatest cinderella story in SHL history. |
| Last Year: The Markerville Six Guns will be the only expansion team of the 2008-2009 season. |
| Last Year: 14-7-2 Finishing in second place was a big accomplishment for Fort Mac unfortunately they were upset in the semi's by Brantown. |
| Last Year: 5-17-1 A lackluster squad that could only put together five wins on the year allowed the Leafs to finish in second last. |
| Last Year: 5-15-3 A poor start and finish to the season enabled the Falcons to miss the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. |
| Last Year: 16-5-2 The Slammers found themselves in the finals for the third straight year failing for the second consecutive year to win the cup. |
| Last Year: 9-7-7 Gregville finished strong making the playoffs by the skin of their teeth only to lose out in the quarter-finals to Brantown. |
| Last Year: 10-11-2 RumpyVill was in playoff contention up until the late weeks of the season making it the third straight year they missed the playoffs. |
| Last Year: 0-20-3 Congratulations Marktown on becoming the first team in SHL history to not win a single game in the regular season. |
| Last Year: The Natives folded last season only to return and recover the Olchowyville Leafs franchise. |
| Fort Macfie Gangbang |
| Dionland Twisters |
| Scott City Grrrowl |
| Bergland Iceholes |
| Adamville Falcons |
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| Obtaining the tenth selection in the draft is not something most teams could acquire immense talent with; however, the Fort Macfie Gangbang organization was able to do so. Selecting last years first overall pick in the draft in the first round, in the tenth overall position this year was huge for the Gangbang. They were then able to attain Daniel Alfredsson; with the emphasis the SHL places in shorthanded offensive production this was a huge pick up. Daniel Briere, Joe Sakic, and Marc Savard will all compliment the offence in Fort Mac glowingly. The defense is above average with all top four defensemen expected to finish with 40+ points. The only question mark in Fort Mac is goaltending. Peter Budaj and Kari Lethonen are average at best. If rookie Steven Stamkos performs and the Gangbang are willing to give up some offense for a solid number one goalie in a transaction of some sort look for them to finish in second place again. |
| Evgeni Malkin was no doubt last season�s unofficial SHL sophomore of the year; Slammers GM Brandon Allen expects even more out of Malkin this year after selecting him fourth overall in the first round. The Slammers who seem every year to sneak under the radar into a top four spot in the regular season could just be that devious again. For the last three seasons the Slammers have reached the Copenhagen Cup Final; however, they have only managed to capitalize once in their first appearance back in 2005-2006 to win the Cope Cup. The Slammers have a brilliant goaltending duo in Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Cristobal Huet. The Slammers defense is made up of playmakers. They are going to have depend on Malkin�s scoring touch on the power play in order to match last years third place finish. But with last years finish being the worst in three years look for Allen to maneuver his team into the playoffs and keep the streak alive of the Slammers never missing the playoffs in franchise history. |
| Brantown Slammers |
| The Twisters selected Jarome Iginla in the first round for the second consecutive year. If they want to travel the same path as last season and regain the Copenhagen Cup they are on the right track. Twister GM Dion Berg has surrounded Iginla with talent with a list that includes Ryan Getzlaf, Anze Kopitar, Ales Hemsky, and Alex Tanguay. The Twisters have put together a solid d-core led by Dan Boyle who had an injury abbreviate his 07-08 campaign. Some experts believe the Twisters took a bit of a gamble picking up Carey Price in the third round. Price has some excellent back up coverage if you are willing to label Rick DiPietro and Tomas Vokoun as back-ups. The goaltending looks pretty solid. Overall the Twisters are built like they have been for the past five seasons. With last season being the teams worst finish in franchise history in fifth place you can anticipate mastermind GM Dion Berg has put together another brilliant squad. If Carey Price stands tall between the pipes for the Twisters look for them to cause some damage. |
| For the first time in SHL history a team selected two goalies in the first and second round. The Grrrowl selected Martin Brodeur fifth overall in the first round and then drafted Mikka Kiprusoff twentieth overall in the second round. It is a gutsy move by Grrrowl GM Scott Macfie but with goaltending counting towards 30% of league scoring it could pay off. Scott City was lucky enough to see Martin St. Louis still available in the third round and snatched him up quickly. St. Louis has potential to finish with 100 points and the Grrrowl need it if they want to contend for the Copenhagen Cup. The Grrrowl are hoping for a lot of things this year; they are hoping Patrice Bergeron can rebound from the concussion he suffered last year which made him miss the majority of the season. The Grrrowl took a bit of a gamble picking up Todd Bertuzzi in the middle of the draft. If it pays off and Bert� puts up some big numbers the Grrrowl should have no problem continuing their streak of making the playoffs every season since the SHL was created. |
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| Everyone in the SHL was excited to see last years last place team pick up some talent in this years draft. Ilya Kovalchuk was selected in the first round by the Petes. They then picked up Martin Havlat in the second round. The Petes combined the new talent with old faces such as netminder Cam Ward, team captain Ryan Smyth, and veteran Rod Brind�Amour. With Dion Phaneuf and Sheldon Souray on the blue line quarterbacking the power play as an explosive unit the Petes could be dangerous. They will win more games than last year in the first threes weeks of the season. If Petes GM Mark Peterson doesn�t make any stupid moves over the course of the season the Petes could be in playoff contention and possibly make their first playoff appearance in franchise history. With a brand new state-of-the-art arena in downtown Marktown (Copenhagen Place) and a new head coach (Vladislav Tretiak) look for a fresh start from the most losing franchise in Saskatchewan Hockey League history. |
| The expansion Six Guns have a lot of expectations to live up to since the last two regular seasons finished with an expansion team being in first place. They also have expectation to live up to for the fact that a SHL team that has a General Manager with the last name of Macfie has never missed the playoffs in the history of the league. Unfortunately for the Six Guns they got the worst luck in the Random Draft Lottery being allotted the final pick in the first round. There is good news with that though, they are able to pick up two solid players in a row and that they did. They picked up Jason Spezza twelfth overall in the first round and Pavel Datsyuk thirteenth overall in the second round. The Six Guns were also able to pick up two defensemen to lead the blue line in Mike Green and Brian Campbell. The Six Guns goaltending is a little shaky. Waiting until the sixth round to pick up a goalie (Jose Theodore) might have been a rookie mistake by GM Mark Macfie. Theodore�s numbers weren�t great last year but they are going to have to rely on sophomore G Mike Smith to perform big if they want to contend for a playoff spot. Look forward to seeing the Six Guns being around the middle of the pack for the majority of the year and possibly make a run for a spot in the playoffs. |
| Marktown Petes |
| Markerville Six Guns |
| RumpyVill Roughousers |
| RumpyVill GM Trent Rumpel loves Joe Thornton. He has been a member of the Roughousers now for four of his six SHL seasons. Whether GM Rumpel has put together a forward line-up to support Thornton is another question. He is backed up by middling veterans Olli Jokinen, Pety Sykora and Ray Whitney. However, throw into the mix youngsters Paul Stastny and Milan Michalek and if the chemistry is right the �Housers could possibly end their streak of missing the playoffs for three straight years. The defensive core is rock-solid. The �Housers power play according to last years stats could be ranked as the best in the league. They acquired dynamite penalty killer Patrick Sharp early in the draft and this could pay off huge for the �Housers. Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist will need some support from Martin Biron and Dan Ellis but whether or not that will happen is debatable. There are a lot of questions in RumpyVill; look for them to have a chance of being last year�s version of the Gregville Assassins that maybe, just maybe could sneak into the playoffs. |
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| Gregville Assassins |
| The Assassins, being the host of the 08-09 draft prepared remarkably. The Assassins picked up Henrik Zetterberg in the first round and built the teams foundation around him. The Assassins picked up the first defensemen in the draft in the second round, future hall-of-famer Nicklas Lidstrom. Gregville snuck into the playoffs last year in the last week of the regular season and they may be built to do the same this year. In order to do so Simon Gagne who had an injury shortened campaign last year is going to have to put up some big numbers. They are also going to have to look at the lackluster blue line behind Lidstrom to contribute. The �tendys in Gregville are of good quality. All three goalies the Assassins picked up in the draft Ryan Miller, Nicklas Backstrom, and Manny Legace are going to be able to steal some wins for Gregville. The Assassins are going to have to depend on a lot of offence with the exception of Zetterberg and Lidstrom but don�t look forward to them making the playoffs again this year. |
| The Falcons organization was a little rattled after their worst finish in franchise history last year enabling them to miss the playoffs for the first time ever. They rebounded in this years draft by selecting Dany Heatley seventh overall in the first round. Heatley will be attached to Alexander Frolov and Nathan Hornton this year with GM Adam Wilkinson hoping this trio can dangle. The Falcons selected two goalies in the second and third round of the draft, Roberto Luongo and Marc-Andre Fleury respectively. Luongo nor Fleury had spectacular seasons last year but both of them have extra-large potential to finish in the top five in the league in wins. GM Wilkinson is hoping with them (Luongo and Fleury) in the blue and yellow Falcon uniform they can stop a lot of rubber between the pipes for Adamville. The Falcons defense is rated average. Brian Rafalski will direct most of the action at the point with veteran Chris Pronger there to help him out. Kyle Turris could be a big bright spot for the Falcons if he lives up to his hype he generated in the junior and college ranks. The Flacons have a respectable line-up but foresee them missing the playoffs for the second straight year. |
| If the Natives needed a blessing upon their return to the SHL after a one year leave of absence they certainly got that when they were awarded the second pick in the Draft. Natives GM Travis Nutting did what any other SHL GM would do with the second pick after Ovechkin was selected, picking up Sidney Crosby. Sid the Kid only played in 53 games last year and some experts predict he will finish ahead of Ovechkin in this years scoring race. The Natives were also able to pick up some snipers to accommodate Crosby. The Natives picked up Marian Gaborik, Eric Staal, and Patrick Kane in rounds two, three, and four respectively. Nut Town�s problem is going to be they have one of the weakest point men brigade in the league. The goaltending is simply the run of the mill. Goalies Ilya Bryzgalov and Martin Gerber are not sensational by any means and could also cause some what should be one goal games to turn into three or four goal games. Remember the Natives finished in eleventh place in their last active season in the SHL and with the same management team in place don�t look for them to improve too much. |
| Questions in the off-season left Leaf faculty members wondering if they would have a job this fall. Sure enough the Leafs have returned for their fifth straight season. The Leafs are the longest serving SHL team to never make the playoffs. GM Adam Olchowy acquired some raw talent in this years draft selecting the second goalie to go in the draft eleventh overall, Evgeni Nabokov with their first round pick. They selected Chris Osgood in the third round to make their goaltending foundation solid. Marian Hossa, Daniel Sedin, and Jason Pominville are going to have to lead the Leafs offensively. On the blue line the Leafs indisputably have the worst defensive line up in the league. With D Matt Niskanen�s twenty six points being the teams highest point getter defensemen from last year. Expect another long season Leafs fan, with Evgeni Nabokov being the only bright spot anticipate for the Leafs to finish in the cellar. |
| SCOTT CITY, TC -- The Associated Press (AP) has released its third annual Saskatchewan Hockey League Power Rankings. The AP has for two consecutive years predicted accurate results on how the SHL regular season will span out. Following the SHL Draft the AP breaks down teams strengths and weaknesses to determine how they predict they will finish in the regular season. For the past two seasons an expansion team has finished in first place in the regular season. Will the AP give the nod for first overall to the Markerville Six Guns to see if they can make it a third consecutive year or will they give it to defending Copenhagen Cup Champions the Dionland Twisters or maybe possibly the Bergland Iceholes will repeat as Regular Season Champions. The Associated Press Power Rankings is a must read. |
| Nut Town Natives |
| Olchowyville Leafs |