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.

DHHL6

The league's first Superstar pick Carlo Colaicovo was everything he was supposed to be. The Echo Bay defenseman was a unanimous selection as the DHHL rookie of the year. He simply outclassed all those other rookies. Saku Koivu once again won the art Ross Trophy and the HArt Trophy and can now possibly lay claim to being the greatest DHHL player ever. WM's Bobby Clarke has been holding the distinction, and continues to lead in Die Hard Cups 2-to-1 but Koivu has become a powerhouse. The Denver Dwarves won the President's trophy and needed to do so to simply win their division. Also in their division, the strongest in DHHL history, was eventual 2nd place overall Peterborugh Adjustable Spanners and the 4th overall Niagara Falls Rapids. The Rapids were left watching the postseason from the sidelines despite their great regular season.

DHHL6 saw league offices controlling New England for themajority of the season. However, the league looks to have found a veritable goldmine in Jazz Matthews. Early reports have him being active on all accounts and very knowledgeable about the simulator. This may finally be the season where DHHL will see the teams with the same GM's that start the season end the season.

Miami and Winnipeg both missed the playoffs, setting off celebrations around many places in the league. Miami is the team that closely resembles the NHL's NYR. Great on paper, shitty on the ice. Winnipeg continues to suffer from very bad farm happenings and actually saw some guy called Dipshit coach the farm team while Sedsey evaded authorites on charges of he being a serial killer. No official arrests were ever made although Sedsey, Gary Coupal and Ron McLean, among others, were all questioned in connection with the rash of murders that was set off by the killing of former New England GM Trey Bishop.

League awards saw the LAsse Kinch award be renamed to the Jenkins award, as Echo PR spokesperson, "pimp daddy, bitch smacking, A A Jenkins, won the prestigious award for a third time in 6 seasons. The amount and quality of PR's improved greatly near the end of the season and it would be great to see it last the entire season. Perhaps some regular contributuions will be seen from Gary Coupal now that he has returned to league offices for the upcoming season.

The playoffs saw the league's top 2 teams meet in the first round and Peterborough used the momentum built up from knocking off the President's trophy and then defending champion Dwarves to march to their 2nd Die Hard Cup. In the finals, we saw the Hartford-Esgaroth-Hartford team lose in the finals for the third consecutive time. 3 was not a charm for the Eagles/Whalers. Bancroft racked up a ton of points in defeating Atlantic Canada and taking Peterborough to the limit. Portland was edged in 7 games by Esgaroth and Texas knocked off Ottawa before succumbing to Esgaroth. Peterborough's Evgeny Nabokov won the Conn Smythe trophy. In what has become an annual ritual of speed play during the playoffs, all three rounds were over in 6 days, 1 hour and 43 minutes.

DHHL7

DHHL7 saw the Denver Dwarves outclass the rest of the league from start to finish. They built up an insurmountable lead in the overall standings and despite some rough stretches were full value for the amazing 117 pt season they put together. The 117 pts. were the 3rd most in DHHL history and the most ever with the exception of the DHHL3 season, when expansion took place. Niagara Falls and Miami also eclipsed the century mark with 105 and 102 pts respectively in their battle for the Selig division title.

Niagara may have won the regular season title but they were heartbroken as the Dream team knocked them out in the playoffs. Despite a scare Denver handled Atlantic Canada in their matchup.

In the other divisions, division winner Hartford bowed out to what has become a traditionally playoff power, the Bancroft Rockhounds. Peterborough was able to skate by Texas in the Stern, the Tornadoes possible tired from a season long battle with the Winnipeg Masteurhaters for the last playoff spot. Both teams finished with 88 points but Texas had more wins. PAS were looking to repeat but were shoved aside in the semis by the Miami Dream. Denver got by the Rockhounds. Onto the finals, where the Dwarves became the latest team to crush the Dream fans hopes as they defeated Miami in 6 games and the Dwarves celebrated with another Cup winning song. This is Denver's 2nd championship in 3 years.

The Provost PAnthers beat all the other teams in the race for futility. Star prospect Eric Staal was their prize there. Mario Lemieux of Denver edged Adrian Foster of the Hartford Whalers for the scoring title. Foster did manage to win the HArt Trophy as league MVP however. Dynamite Kid of the Montreal Mayhem was the runaway winner of the Pearson award. We saw a tie for the Calder Trophy between Michigan's Alexander Steen and Echo Bay's Dustin Brown.

GM Amrit Sandhu finally got some hardware to put in his trophy case. Not a playoff appearance or anythiung like that, buyt he was named the GM of the year. Sammy Brodeur of Provost won for PR's for the SPR's.

AS the DHHL7 drafts were concluded and the next season approached, the league was saddened by the loss of GM Jazz Matthews of Provost. The team looked to be near turning the corner and were now to be moved to Capreol. Orlando also welcomed the former Michigan team in their 2nd go round as a DHHL city.

The playoffs were over in record time; 4 days, 17 hours and 8 minuntes.

DHHL8

DHHL8 saw the return of Commissioner Trainor to the fold of GM's. He took over the beleaguered Provost franchise and moved it to Capreol, handing the reigns of things over to Gary Coupal. Somethign must have been magic there as Coupal marched the team all the way to the Die Hard Cup. The team went from last overall in DHHL7 to th echampionship in year 8, showing that anything is possible in DHHL play.

Also proving that point was the fact the the Texas Tornadoes were the Presidents Cup winner, and as we all know they are run by a Whalen. Scott Gomez led the Texas run, winning both the Art Ross and Hart Trophies in what can simply be called his career season.

In the playoffs, Texas destroyed Bancroft, Hartford over Echo Bay, Portland over the WM and Capreol over Montreal in a tightly fought 7 game series. Hartford knocked off Texas in 5 and Capreol swept through the Grave Diggers. A brand new first time champion was a guarantee as newcomers Capreol matche dup with the DHHL's answer to the Buffalo Bills, the Hartford franchise. And once again, in a record 4 th trip to the finals, the Whalers found a way to lose. Pandemonium erupted in Capreol. Coupal himself, and Todd Bertuzzi shared the playoff lead with 25 points apiece.

Norris balloting was one of the closest ever with Kim Johnsson of Capreol beating M Dandenault of Cornerbrook by one measly vote. Portland had a couple of great rookies. Eric Stall, acquired from Capreol in part of the Bertuzzi happenings, and teammate Andrei Katsitsyn finished 1-2 in calder balloting.

GM Trainor of Capreol swung a big trade for Bertuzzi that went a long way to getting the Cup to capreol. Eric Stall was the price, as he went to Portland, and the prize from that trade was used to grab a Bertuzzi.

Marty Turco of Texas was the unanimous choice for the Vezina trophy. Tony Amonte won the Conn Smythe Award.

There was no Lasse Kinch Award in DHHL8. There was simply too much apathy to bother awarding anyone with the award.

Playoffs were over in a new record time, but I have lost track of it since they happened. Unfortunately this part of the league was not kept up to date. The DHHL8 and 9 histories are actually being written while DHHL11 has just kicked off, meaning the memories of the aging commish are not what they once were. "Note from website commish. time for playoffs were 4 days 17 hours and 13 mins."

DHHL9

DHHL9 could be termed the start of new rules. Everythign in th eleague was looked at and the league came up with numerous new features, including a reset of farm rerates, a new way of lookign at retirements, and a complete review of where everything was going. It was needed and it turned out for the best.

Franchises started moving around the globe again and with apathy running through the Orlando/Michigan franchise, the Commish decided to remove original GM Matt Larson from having franchise rights. Mike Robinson of Thunder Bay stepped in and immediately let it be known that he would be moving th efranchise to Thunder Bay as soon as possible. His activity was a breath of fresh air to the league.

Miami Dream and Glen Trainor ran away with the Presidents Trophy in DHHL9. Capreol was a distant second. Capreol beat Winnipeg, Miami over Portland, Montreal over Toronto and Peterborough over Cornerbrrok in round 1 of the playoffs. Toronto and Corny had been division champions but home ice never helped them in the playoffs. We had semis matched up with Capreol against Miami, and Montreal against Peterborough. Capreol and Montreal were two of the 4 DHHL3 expansions and this marked the first time two expansion teams had made it to the league semis. Peterborough and Miami represented the original franchises. The originals did not fare so well. Despite not having home ice in either series, Capreol and Montreal steamrolled over the originals and after dual semifinal sweeps, Montreal and Capreol met in the finals for what was hoped to be a great rematch of the 7 gmae series they had gone the season before.

What happened in the finals was weird. Capreol won the cup. Or did they? The league said they did, the gms congratulated them, and then to the surprise of many, it was noted that Capreol had played some suspended palyers. The league decided to replay the end of the series and the Montrela Mayhem came out on top in Game 7. Mayhem were the champs.

John Trainor of Miami was the dual Art Ross/Hart Trophy winner for DHHL9, reprising the role Gomez played in year 8 for Texas. In the end however, the regular season greatness was once again erased quickly by their semi final exit in a sweep. To his credit, Trainor also won the Lester PErson Award, one upping Gomex from DHHL8.

Top GM was Micheel of Cornerbrook. Stephane Yelle was a deserving winner of the Conn Smythe award, leading the Mayhem to the Die Hard Cup. The Lasse Kinch Award reappeared and Juss Dooit was the runaway winner of it in DHHL9.

With the end of DHHL9, the league reviewed where it stood again, and with heavy hearts, removed another long standing GM, Matt Campbell of Bancroft. The effort just was not there anymore. As a bonus, the team found what appeared to be a very solid GM in Andrew Drummond, who began to prepare the team for a move to Nepal, of all places. Katmandu to be exact.

DHHL10

DHHL10 emerged with what appeared to be a solid crop of GM's. This was a point proven when all of them were still remaining at the end of the season. The one thing most remembered in this season may well be the flurry of activity that happened at the trading deadline, in what was a complete reversal of the past few seasons deadlines.

Echo Bay died a death as their GM Mark Brashear could no longer stomach their ineptitude. He bitchslapped A A Jenkins to the curb and moved the team to Waco Texas, signed up some Branch Davidians to run the concessions and started a war of words with Texas GM Cliff.

The charge of Trades was kicked off when Winnipeg GM Sedsey Chase elected to stack his team with streaking players rather than take a chance on a shake. With 4 teams, Winnipeg, Miami, Montreal and Capreol, all thinking they had a chance at a Cup, streaking players saw their value go through the roof and there was trades galore around the league. If one trade were to stand out among others, picking up the players who were 1st and 3rd in league scoring at the time from Thunder Bay by GM W. Trainor of Capreol was an astute move.

Stu Barnes, recently acquired by Capreol won the Art Ross but the Hart for league MVP went to Miami's Brad May. This removal of the Hart from the point leader may have been a good thing though as unlike the past two seasons, the Art Ross winner continued to produce in the playoffs, and Barnes was a large part of Capreol's run to their championship, and also third consecutive final.

After facing nemesis Montreal in round 1, and once again having to endure another 7 torturous games with them, Capreol moved through the semis easily, beating PAS in 5 games and once again destroyed the elder Trainor's Dream in straight games. Goaltender Tomas Vokoun was the Conn Smythe winner, running a perfect 8-0 record in the playoffs.

Karel Rachunek of the Atlantic City team was the rookie winner, garnering an impressive 14 of the 16 ballots cast.

Offseason things in DHHL10 went extremely well. ALL GM's got thier ballots and rerate lits in on time and it appeared as though the core of GM's in the league would allow the team to once again think about expansion. At least the 16 in place look to be very solid.

During the offseason, retirements began to hit hard around the league. Every franchise saw the loss of 3 players to the pastures. Team began moving all over the place. Atlantic C goes to Troy, Hartford skipped the obvious choice of Buffalo and went to Ocho Rios, Niagara Falls decided Whitby would be better and Lethbridge headed to Whitefish, Montana.

As this recap goes to print, the league offices with the great help of Portland GM and assistant commissioner Peter Nilsson finally got around to the chore of updating the league's website, rules and history. Things definitely are looking bright in the DHHL today.

DHHL11

Things as usual changed in DHHL11. The apparent crop of full time GM's hit a bit of a snag and the expansion plans were put on hold for a while longer. The regular season itself was absolutely incredible, with maybe the greatest battle ever for the President's Trophy. Eventually the Mayhem of Montreal(110 points) outlasted Capreol(109) , Miami(105) and Winnipeg(105) to take that trophy. Waco brought up the rear with 51 points but you could certainly feel that the turning of the corner was about to happen with them in a big way.

Trevor Linden won the Art Ross Trophy but his spectacular season was overshadowed by what will be the best single season we may have seen in DHHL history. Kurt Sauer, blueliner with the Capreol Cobras rewrote the record book for defensemen, and finished but one point behind Linden for the Art Ross.  His 36-76-112 totals are the kind of things that may not be seen again for seasons. In what can only be described as fitting, Sauer took home the Hart Trophy and Linden got the Lester Pearson award.

The playoffs were their own incredible story as the Katmandu Hellcats took advantage of their breakthrough season and started knocking off favored teams all over the place. First they beat Winnipeg, then pushed by Montreal and met up with the league's burgeoning powerhouse, and defending champion Capreol Cobras. Despite being given little or no chance by all the pundits the Hellcats surged ahead and in a thrilling 7 game series Katmandu were the kings.

Andrew Drummond found all kind of hardware this season. Coach of the year, GM of the year, another PR award and the Die HArd Cup to top everything off. It was as much a dream season for Katmandu as it was for Kurt Sauer.

Offseason moved along fairly quickly and the expansion talks heated up again. This time a specific plan was put into place that would see new teams joining the fold in a few years time. But will the dream ever become reality?

DHHL12

Capreol and Denver. Denver and Capreol.  A battle ensued all season long to see who would come out on top. In the end, 112 points gave the title to the Cobras by a mere 2 points over the Denver Dwarves. Saku Koivu outlasted all others in winning his third Art Ross Trophy. He was the only player to pass the century mark and his 101 points gave him the scoring title by 4 over Texas Tornado Andrew Cassels.

Niklas Lidstrom won almost every award possible for a defenseman with 87 points. He then decided to leave things at the top of his game and retired. DHHL12 in fact would mark the retirement of some very big names indeed. The Hall of Fame would need oil to get the door ready for all those members who were looking to get in. Oleg would be alone no more.

In the playoffs, a blast from the past resurfaced. Having been written off by some as no longer being an elite club, the Adjustable Spanners proved all their doubters wrong and marched their way to an unprecedented 3rd Die Hard Cup. In the finals, the Cobras of Capreol were the victims again, this time going down in a hard fought 6 game series. Andrew Raycroft was nothing short of spectacular for the PAS in winning the title and he was justly rewarded with the Conn Smythe trophy.

The HOF got much bigger in this offseason as Oleg Tverdovsky finally found some friends worthy of sharing wall space with him. Bobby Clarke, the instrumental heart and soul of the first two Die Hard cup winners moved into the Hall of Fame and was joined at the induction ceremony with long time Denver Dwarve, two time Die Hard Cup winner Bryan McCabe. McCabe, at his retirement was the all time leading point getter among defenseman in DHHL history. Niklas Lidstrom retired as mentioned at the top of his game, after his career season, and that may have been the necessary memory to leave in the voters' eyes as he was vote din as well. Brian Boucher, long time netminder of Miami, and record holde rin most goaltending categories was in, as was reliable centerman Mike Modano. These 5 were all joined by the first person to get into the hall in the press category, the often controversial, never boring Juss Dooit.

As the league went into its offseason, a few GM's were replaced and lo and behold, the expansion talks actually put some meat on the plate this time around. If all goes according to plans, next season will be the last the DHHL sees as a 16 team league.

DHHL13

DHHL13 saw the league finally realize that expansion would come. The league announced that DHHL13 was indeed the last season as a 16 team league.

Miami ran out in the regular season and once again won the President's Trophy and once again found the postseason dance too hard for their liking. Miami was eliminated in the semis by the always pesky Capreol Cobras. The Cobras ran their consecutive appearances in the finals to 6. This time the Portland Grave Diggers, after knocking off favored Waco and Denver, provided the opposition. The Cobras proved to be too much and went rolling over the Diggers in straight games, to win their 3rd Die Hard Cup.

Sean Bergenheim was named the Conn Smythe winner as playoff MVP. His linemate Stu Barnes was runner-up. In the regular season, Stu Barnes of Capreol became only the 3rd player to hit the 60 goal plateau in DHHL history(Snuggerud-DHHL3 and Clarke-DHHL4) , and the first to do so since DHHL4. He had a magical season that saw him win not only the Richard, Ross and Esposito trophies based on stats, but also being voted as both the Hart and Pearson award winners. Barring any kind of complete collapse next season, Stu Barnes will become the first player in DHHL history to go over 1000 points.

Drake Berehowsky of Miami set the standard for blueliners and was a near unanimous winner of the Norris. Hartford's Steve Valiquette won the Vezina.

As the season came to a close teams began to feel the pinch of retirements as numerous talented players called it quits. Shanahan and Ference in Hartford, Roenick(Winnipeg), Chelios(Thunder Bay), long standing star center Ron Francis of Miami, Sanderson in Portland. Waco lost Fedorov and Jovanovski, Hossa bid adieu to the Dwarves, Capreol lost stalwarts Foote and Nagy, Montreal Zetterberg and Woolley. Toad Suck also felt the pinch when the number 2 overall pick from the league's inaugaral draft, Todd Bertuzzi, elected to call it a career as well.

With such talent retiring, a few things were obvious.  Things would be shook up next season, and we were likely to see new inductees into the HOF.Adam Foote, Sergei Fedorov and Todd Bertuzzi were all inducted into the Hall of Fame, bringing the number of members in the Hall to 10.

DHHL14 looms, with new franchises coming into the league in Detroit, Buffalo, Port Perry, and Hell Norway.

DHHL14

DHHL14 had a serious error that affected things as the league was about halfway through the season. Most affected by this were Montreal and Waco which seemed to be the class of the league. The league computer saw a vicious virus that not only affected the hard drive but also the disk the league was saved on. Numerous things were attempted and after the longest delay in league history, the season was forced to start over again. Once again, the commish apologizes to all for the error.

DHHL14 sees the return of many GM's who had previously been in the league. Expansion teams Port Perry(Steve Vendetti) and Hell(Patrick Strom) were returning GM's. The league finally saw the end of any further George or Ryan attempts. The expansion teams went through some growing pains, and by the time all was said and done, Buffalo(Matt Larson) had a returning GM as well. Ronald Smith in Detroit was the only new GM standing. Hell lost Strom early in their start and JP Zdancewicz took over Hell. Look for them to move for DHHL15. St Johns got a new GM as well, with hls2 vet Chris Inkpen taking them over and throwing some scares at teams as the playoffs began and the Cod fish learned to win, taking 14 of their last 16 games.

The season itself saw a great 3 way race which tailed to 2 and then 1 team in the race for top dog in the regular season. Miami, Waco and Capreol battled things out for the overall title for quite some time. Miami eventually left it to the Cacti and the Cobras to decide things and Capreol got unbelievably hot down the stretch, outlasting the Cacti and setting the league record for points in a season as well with 126, breaking the longstanding Denver season from DHHL3.

Individual awards fell everywhere as well as the Cobras offense accounted for 463 goals, and had the top 4 scores in the league. Three of them(Sean Bergenheim, Stu Barnes and Mikael Holmqvist) all  broke the 117 point record held by John Trainor. Bergenheim smashed the DHHL3 63 goal season of Dave Snuggerud with a 66 goal campaign. Six players broke the 100 point plateau, the most ever in league history.

Playoffs were a different story, as defense and goaltending came to the forefront. The Waco Flaming Cacti used defense all the way through the playoffs and were awarded with their first ever Die Hard Cup. After beating the Port Perry Power and Katmandu Hellcats to get to the semis, the Cacti used solid goaltending from the stud Cam Ward to knock off the offensive power of Capreol. It also ended the Cobras run of trips to the finals.

The opposition in the finals for the Cacti was the Peterborough Adjustable Spanners, who quietly put together an impressive 101 point season. That was only good for 5th overall as 5 teams managed the 100 point plateau(Capreol-126, Waco-114, Miami-105, Toad Suck-101). The PAS got by Denver and Thunder Bay before handing a surprise to the favored Miami Dream despite the injury to superstar rookie Simon Gamache. The PAS simply ran out of gas in the finals, falling in 5 games to the Waco Flaming Cacti.

Playoff MVP went to goaltender Cam Ward of the Waco Flaming Cacti. He was absolutely instrumental throughout the playoffs, especially in the semis shutting down the offensive juggernaut and defending champion Cobras.

Sean Bergenheim was a near unanimous choice for the Hart Trophy after his record breaking season. The only vote not goign to him went to Pearson winner Bibby Heenan of the Toasters of Toad Suck. A very close vote in the Norris saw Hale of Hartford edge Waco's Carlo by one vote. Waco's GM beat Capreol's GM by one vote,  then the reverse happened in the Adams voting for coach of the year.

Montreal Mathem's Dion Phaneuf proved he was the league's tough guy, winning the Ogie award for most pims for the second consecutive season. PAS star rookie Simon Gamache was picked as the top freshman on 17 of 19 ballots. St John's, with new GM Chris Inkpen saw a couple of individual awards with CP Twist getting the Selke and tender Bacashihua winning the Vezina over Capreol's Sauve.

PR's were up quite a bit this season, and The Ram(Katmandu) and Dusty Bottoms(Waco) shared the PR award.

Retirements were varied throughout the league, with some teams bidding farewell to star players. Miami saw Andrew Cassels retire after a career season, Denver lost star scorer Mario Lemieux, Katmandu lost center Jason Spezza. As hard as these teams will have to work to replace those players, the biggest loss in the league may well end up being Capreol's heart and soul, Stu Barnes. The DHHL's all time leading scorer, with over 1100 career regular season points has decided to accept a coaching position with the Cobras. Current coach Gary Coupal will remain a playing assistant coach.

DHHL15

DHHL15 saw some turnover as new GM's were inserted in various places around the league. Miami managed to outlast Montreal and Peterborough to win the Commissioner's Cup. Waco was also over 100 points in the season as well. Andy Hilbert of Peterborough was the only player to reach 100 points for the regular season, and was awarded by winning the Art Ross and Hart trophies for his spectacular play.

Offense took a dramatic downturn in season 15. No team approached the 463 goals put up by last season's Cobras. Waco was the only team to crack the 400 plateau, finishing the season with 407 goals. The Miami Dream were the best defensive team, a stingy 250 goals against allowed in the DHHL15 season.

Hayley Wickenheiser of the Port Perry Power and Montreal Mayhem's Stephane Yelle shared the Pearson award, as both were instrumental to their team's successes. Mayhem's Mike Komisarek edged PAS's Nick Boynton in Norris balloting. Dominic Pittis of the Detroit Red Wings was a runaway winner in the Calder race. He was named rookie of the year on 13 of the 17 ballots league wide. Thunder Bay's ANdy Chiodo won the league's Vezina trophy.

The league's close races were reflected in the executive side of balloting around the league, as both the GM and coaches of the years awards were shared. Thunder Bay and Miami shared the GM award, while Peterborough and Montreal shared the coaching award.

As the playoffs turned around, a move made at the deadline paid off for the Miami Dream, as the recently acquired Peter Bondra went on to become the Playoff MVP and lead the Dream to their first ever DHHL championship. Strangely enough, after hoisting the cup, Bondra decided he had had enough hockey and hung up his skates for good.

There was some other notable players retiring around the league as well, especially in the cases of long time stalwarts Mats Sundin of PAS, Jagr of Waco and Eric Lindros of Texas.

In the playoffs, the dream knocked off the Princeton team first, followed by a hard fought 7 game battle with the Hartford Whalers. They then upended the suddenly very competitive Halifax team before meeting up with the always tough Montreal Mayhem in the league finals. Eventually the Dream outlasted Montreal to win the Die Hard Cup in 6 games.

New GM's began to be implemented as the offseason lasted a week or so longer than usual as there were a few openings and many teams changing cities as DHHL16 beckoned.

DHHL 16

DHHL 16 will be remembered as a season of change. One of the founding fathers of the league left at the end of the season. More on that in a bit. The season itself was a little lower scoring than the gravy days of DHHL11-13. Brian Sutherby of the Miami Dream won the scoring title with 108 points, giving him a 7 point edge on Los Angeles's (formerly Capreol) teammates Mikael Holmqvist and Derek Roy. Roy was acquire din a big trade halfway through the season from Thunder bay. Thunder Bay got stud winger Sean Bergenheim who finished 6th in league scoring in the deal, and Bergenheim played a very large part in their playoff run.

Sutherby won the Hart Trophy, youngster Zach Parise of the Denver Dwarves grabbed the Pearson in the closest vote there of all time. Waco's Steve Halko took home the Norris for top D and KAtmandu's Marc Denis was named top goaltender. Rookie of the year was near unanimous for Winnipeg's Bobby Ryan, even though Ryan missed numerous games due to a slight gaffe midseason by the GM. Ryan still led all rookies in scoring with 65 points in 59 games played.

New GM's were put into place in such exotic locales as the previously mentioned LA and we also saw the birth of the Freshwater Firestarters. And then their death at the end of the season. Along with a couple of long time GM's in HArtford/Esgaroth/Hartford/Ocho Rios/HArtford GM Pat Herrington. Pat actually grew up and quit smoking all of his spare time away and realized he had no time for hls2 anymore.

The other loss was founding member Peter Nilsson. Peter was an integral part of setting up the league. A great big thanks to go out to him always, for everything he has added to the league. He will be sorely missed.

Playoffs were played at a leisurely pace, at least in comparison to other DHHL playoff rounds. It took about a week for the Thunder Bay Thunder to capture their first ever championship. It was one of the best DHHL finals in quite some time,  the first 7 gamer since DHHL11. The Thunder did manage to outlast the LA Ice Thugs though and the playoff MVP was Mikhail Yakubov, who led all scorers in the post season with 29 points.

Offseason dragged on a tad longer than usual, searches made for new GM's one found to take over Portland, moving them to Calgary in preparation for DHHL17. A new chatroom was also added to the league website just before DHHL17 preseason began.

DHHL17