100 POINT CLUB
In the history of the Los Angeles Wolves, only 2 players have eclipsed the magical 100 point plateau. The always incredible long time captain Marcel Dionne, who has done twice, and most recently, Ruslan Salei. Here are some quick recaps of their accomplishments.
TWHL 5 Marcel Dionne 47goals-53 assists-100 points
Marcel became the first player in Wolves history to score 100 points in a
season. In what was a lackluster 500 season by the team, Dionne was the go to
guy all season long and won the TWHL's Lester B. Pearson award as player most
valuable to his team for the second time in his career (first one being in
TWHL3). LA's 37-37-6 record was not even enough to get them into the playoffs.
However, when you beat your nearest teammate by nearly 30 points in the scoring
race, your value to your team can not be overlooked.
TWHL 6 Marcel Dionne 59goals-46 assists-105 points
Only a single season after becoming the first Wolf to ever score 100 points in a
season, Dionne once again ascended those lofty heights and this time came very
near the magical 60 goal plateau, that has only happened once in TWHL history.
He settled for an incredible 59 goal season, added 46 assists and finished with
a team record 105 points. This time around the team faired much better with a 93
point season, and for the first time in team history, the Wolves finished higher
than 4th in the tough ALI, when they claimed the TWHL6 division title. They
continued on their tear in the playoffs, knocking off Vancouver and Toronto
before losing in the conference finals to the Mexico Burritos. No Pearson for
Dionne in year 6, but he did win his second Jari Kurri award, for most goals,
the Cuervo Gold award for 3 star selections league wide, the Charlie Simmer
award for power play goals and the Bag-O-Beer award for most 3 star selections
in team games. It was a career season for Captain Marcel.
TWHL 8 Ruslan Salei 42goals-62 assists-104 points
Ruslan Salei was moved
to the center position in training camp after 7 seasons of playing defense in
the TWHL. He was needed there after the Wolves had traded away Saku Koivu. This
was a case of a match made in heaven. Salei was pure gold for the Wolves, and he
went on to a career season that saw him notch career highs in all categories,
finishing with 42 goals, 62 assists and 104 points. The team struggled most of
the season, if not for Salei, the 86 points they had that squeezed them into the
playoffs just ahead of the Chicago Cougars might not have transpired. Salei was
awarded the Lester B. Pearson award as the player judged to be most valuable to
his team. He was the runaway winner, named on 15 of the 20 ballots and a full 13
votes ahead of the nearest runner-up(15-2). The 15 votes represented a new
record for most ballots in the Pearson balloting. Unfortunately the team lost a
hard fought series in the playoffs.