The Hokkyo Bullets is my favourite set along with Vertlac Lumberjacks. Awesome work.

AJHFTW wrote:

The Hokkyo Bullets is my favourite set along with Vertlac Lumberjacks. Awesome work.

Thank you! It seems like the Bullets are the fan favorite so far. 

Without further ado, I proudly present the first season of the KLH! 



The first-ever season started off with a bang, as Friday, October 4th, 1968, the KLH officially began. As the season continued, it became clear what most had suspected: the Unions were the best team in the league. Their star goalie, Les Kilgore, was incredible this season, recording a save percentage of .949 and helping his team reach the top. On the opposite end of the spectrum was Sol's poor goalie Bob Fernandez, who was stuck behind a poor defense that allowed over 2000 shots that season, far and away the most in the league.

With all that said, however, Aoishi didn't have many standout players, instead, they put together a solid group of Bill Sanderson, Terry Knowles, and Luka Dimc, who took turns on the line to strike at the opposing goalie. 

Behind them were the Peacocks, who had the league leader in Assists, Leonid Yezhov. In front of the defenseman, Georgeville's "Triple Bees" line of Brandon Helmer, Brian Nielsen, and Brian Fitzgerald combined for 48 goals, easily one of the best for a first line. 

After the Peacocks were the fan favorite Bullets, whose Carlos Ortega was excellent for them, scoring 22 goals with 27 assists as Hokkyo just missed out on the playoffs by one game. 

Following them were the Lumberjacks, who had a good season, nothing special. However, they did have the only hat trick of the season: Rodger O'Branagan scored 3 against Sol during a game in a blowout victory. The team's chemistry is starting to come together and many think they could be a real threat in the future with Korean goalie star Gim Gu.

Newton had a bad season, finishing with 81 points, solidly out of the playoffs. With a middle-aged team, they'll be looking to get younger and better over the next couple years. One infamous record the Explorers set was individual penalty minutes: defenseman Oliver Rivera somehow managed 237 penalty minutes (the next-highest was 83). 

Finally, the paradox: Sol was bad. Like, really bad. Like, easily the worst team in the league bad. Despite that, they had who many consider to be the best player in the league, Bret Tiptoft. He led the league in goals (23), points (50), and shots (233), but everything else around him collapsed. Many have him pegged for the league's first MVP award, but no one is sure yet with Yezhov and Ortega's performances. 



So it'll be Aoishi and Georgeville in the playoffs! Despite some strong play from the Peacocks, they've been on a bit of a losing streak while the Unions have remained strong all year. The two teams split the series 6-6 in the regular season, but most experts are predicting Aoishi will take this one home.

NEXT: 1968 Kurosawa Cup Finals

Nice to see my adopted new team do well out of the gate. 

Also Gim Gu is a fantastic name.

1968-69 Kurosawa Cup Finals:



That's right, in a rough 7-game series, the Unions pulled through and clutched it out over the Peacocks.

Game 1 - GEO 2, AOI 1 - The first-ever Kurosawa Cup Final game got off to a quick start, as the visiting Peacocks struck first and quickly: 2:20 into the first period Shawn O'Lonnergan scored the first goal in the series, before providing an assist to Brandon Mullins in the third to put Georgeville up 2-0. Aoishi scored late in the third, but it was too little, too late, as the Unions lost game 1 on home ice. GEO 1-0

Game 2 - AOI 6, GEO 5 - This was a high-scoring affair, with the teams trading goals back and forth until it was tied 5-5 with 10 minutes left in the third. Suddenly, Aoishi forward Bill Sanderson sent it to Terry Dantzler, who put it in the net for the lead, which would end up winning them the game. TIE 1-1

Game 3 - AOI 7, GEO 4 - This was another rough night for the goalies, but it was close heading into the third. However, Georgeville gave up three goals and only scored one, losing the game and the series lead. AOI 2-1

Game 4 - GEO 2, AOI 1 - In what was almost a repeat of game 1, the Peacocks struck first in the first period and never gave up the lead, giving the home fans something to cheer about. TIE 2-2

Game 5 - GEO 4, AOI 3 - Back in Aoishi for the pivotal game 5, the Peacocks got off to a strong start, scoring 3 before the Unions could get one. Fighting off a fierce comeback, Georgeville found themselves one game away from winning it all with a chance to close it out at home. GEO 3-2

Game 6 - AOI 2, GEO 1 (OT) - It was a rough game in Georgeville, as players battled til the end to either stay alive or close it out. In the end, it was Aoishi who came out on top, scoring the winning goal in OT to force a game 7 at home.

Game 7 - AOI 3, GEO 2 (OT) - You couldn't ask for a more exciting game. Game 7, everything on the line, and two strong teams with something to prove. Both teams grabbed one goal in the 2nd, an extra in the third, and forced overtime. It was almost 5 minutes into OT when Aoishi got a breakaway, as Sergey Kozlov passed it to Tomas Sus, who flipped it to winger Chris Roy speeding down the ice, who put it through the goalie to win it all for the Unions. AOI 4-3

YOUR 1968-69 KUROSAWA CUP CHAMPIONS ARE: AOISHI UNIONS!

Awards:



After that exciting series, it was time to give out the season's awards. Georgeville star Leonid Yezhov cleaned up, winning Rookie of the Year, Best Defenseman, and MVP. Best Goalie went to Bullets goalie Chris Burns, and Jozef Morvay won Playoff MVP. The center was essential in creating shots for Aoishi.

And there it is! The first season of play has concluded! Is there anything you'd like me to improve in my write-ups? I'm all ears here, hockey is not my area of expertise. C&C Greatly Appreciated!

NEXT: 1969 Offseason

Section30 wrote:

Damn, so close

This about sums it up.