"Add-O-Bee" -- oh, man. That tells me everything I need to know about Dust. I really dig the color scheme though.

Love the colors for Arizona, the logo works for the time and makes sense for the story, it'll be interesting to see what inevitably replaces it and how long that'll take.

WCEHL 1953/54 Season

     The puck dropped, hitting the ice as a Salt Lake and San Diego player both fought to win the WCEHL's first faceoff. This marked the start of… what most people gave a warm reaction to. While the league did not know what would follow, two of the worst teams to participate displayed a less than ideal performance to kick off the WCEHL’s journey. The following game between Las Vegas and California would recapture attention, and the league was back on track.
 
     The first half of the season showed a clear separation of skill between the top three and the rest, but there were only two playoff spots so things were still interesting. The Arizona Tribe dominated teams in the desert, offering an undesired travel plan for their guests and welcoming them at the door with Wayne Zimmerman and Andress Riekstins. Joe Benoit, who usually plays a more behind the scenes role for a captain, broke out of his defensive-forward game to participate as a dangerous passer in the offensive zone. Put all these factors together, and you get a team who found themselves 5 games ahead of the pack at game 21. They then hit a rut, and glided into the final day as the regular season champions.
 
     The other two that pulled away were Vegas and California, who battled it out until the end, even threatening Arizona's comfortable position for a moment. Vegas would eventually punch their ticket to the dance the final game of the year, but this did not come without controversy. When all things settled, it showed California with 20 wins and Vegas with 19. Diggins partied like it was 1899, and did not find out that his team had ended up third until he arrived in Arizona for game 1 of the WCEHL finals, but that is a story for another time. Vegas had claimed the spot with their tie total, giving them the one-point edge over the Grizzlies.
 
     Although their run was stopped short, the Grizzlies would not be stopped from leaving their mark on the first year of the WCEHL. Besides having a 10-point gap between them and the next, they also claimed the most dominant performance in the league from an individual. Billy McGorrie filled his promise of having the best mustache in the league, as well as being the most talented player to step on the ice. Big Bill put together a season that consisted of over 1.5 points per game, making him a consistent impact in any game. The Griz also produced the best GAA with Shawn Urbair, leading to the team claiming 5 of the top 6 individual awards given.
 
     In the next batch of teams were the Oakland Patriots, San Diego Canners and TTHC. The three were not bad, but knew they had been outclassed by the top early in the season. Oakland were mostly inconsistent, never finding footing to really take off, while San Diego started hot but ended up running into a gauntlet of games that included the top three teams for 7 straight competitions midway through the year. TTHC seemed like the outlier of the three, getting less credit due to their undesirable start. Local fans were quick to turn on their own team, but a 6-game win streak brought curiosity back around at the conclusion of the year.
 
     Lastly… with huge emphasis on last… there was Salt Lake. The team was not even competitive, but somehow were still supported through their struggles. Buzz called it “growing pains”, and fans believed him. The biggest news from the club was that they decided to add an away jersey mid-season, once Buissen learned that having two jerseys was standard, and not a hoax.


Quick Notes

• Arizona chewed bubble gum and kicked ass.
• Las Vegas and California create a rivalry based on one point.
• California’s Billy McGorrie questions if anyone played in the league besides himself.
• Oakland, San Diego and Two Towns get great seats to the battle of the top three.
• Salt Lake ended up with nose bleeds for that same battle… but they introduce another jersey, so that’s a plus. 

Last edited by Thehealthiestscratch (8/02/2020 6:21 pm)

Go Tribe! Vegas stands no chance

I'm bummed for McGorrie on just barely missing the playoffs. Hopefully the playoffs will expand once an 8th team is added. I'm rooting for Vegas in this one.

@Osgiliath Guard: Scratch explained it better than I could have. I've lived in southern culture my whole life and unfortunately experience a lot of that behavior. Even in Texas, which is permeated with Hispanic influence and culture, you still have your "real Texans" who refuse to acknowledge it and purposely do things like mispronounce "adobe" and such. It's a super light example of a much deeper issue. I won't clog up the thread here, but white-black prejudice isn't the only racism in the USA. In fact most of the blatant racism I've personally witnessed involves Hispanics and Native Americans. I personally know many Navajos and have spent time in the Navajo lands so I saw it firsthand. Being a white man with a big red beard, I was met with a lot of mistrust at first. But showing I cared and was interesting in their ways and customs helped. Humanity lacks empathy. Anyway, deep topic obviously, but hope that helps.