2001 Regular Season

We open the season in South Beach as the Seminoles raise their championship banner to the rafter of the MDBY Arena. With much of the same roster hitting the ice, the Seminoles are favourites to repeat, however that has proven to be a tall task as no team as repeated as champions in the history of the league.



Despite that, the Seminoles rolled through the Little Division, finishing almost 40 points up on second place Mount Faith. The Lake Hope Lions finished third, just missing the playoffs and unfortunately that is the end of head coach Spencer Baker with the Lions. After taking over in 1992, he led the Lions to their only championship, but the follow up has been poor. Still, he will go down in history with the Lions organization. The Kelly City Lakers finished 4th in the division, but somehow head coach Alex Loyal remains at the helm.

In the Wood Division, the Bayleigh Peach Kings won the division ahead of the Cayuga Saints who made a resurgence. Cayuga added Blackhawks all-star Marcel Carver and he carried the team on his back to the playoffs. Walker City and Central Valley finished 3rd and 4th but in only their second seasons, it is to be expected.



The playoffs in the East will feature Bayleigh hosting Cayuga while South Beach will look to start their title defense at home against Mount Faith.

In the West, the Fort Theory Generals return to the top of the Keen division and the playoffs after missing out in 2000. The Addition of Damarion Watkins from Dawn Mills was a huge boost to the offense and Yael Trujillo rounded back into form. The Montane Boarders finished 2nd, but ended up missing the playoffs by a single point as the Keen division will only send Fort Theory to the playoffs. Dawn Mills had a massive fall, missing the playoffs by a long shot but still finished ahead of 4th place Crystal Beach.

In the Nevin Division, the Anchor City Sharks circled the division to just edge out the Stars for top spot. Anchor City featured 4 rookies in 2001, lead by Elias Cobb who cracked the roster and never looked back. In 2nd was the aforementioned Bentley Stars who make the playoffs for a remarkable 10th straight season and have only missing once in the history of the league. The Brooklynn Blackhawks, who were fighting for their playoff lives until the final day of the season, edged out the Battlefield Braves by 1 point for the final spot and third place in the division. Brooklyn has now made the playoffs in back to back seasons and the franchise is starting to turn things around. Battlefield parted way with head coach Marcus Rogers after the season and will be looking to regroup next season.



The Western Conference Playoffs will feature the Fort Theory Generals hosting the Brooklynn Blackhawks, while the Anchor City Sharks will take on the powerhouse Bentley Stars.

In the YJDHL, the playoffs look like this:



Up next:
The 2001 Pacino Cup Playoffs!
The 2001 Belleau Cup Playoffs!

WJHL

North Division Finals
Finch Fighting Yorkies over Leaside Lobos in 5

South Division Finals
Rayoak Captains over McNicoll Millionaires

WJHL Finals
Rayoak Captains over Finch Fighting Yorkies in 7

Rayoak will represent the WJHL in the Belleau Cup tournament.

CJHL

East Division Final
Brooklynn Bats over Hillside Bucks in 6

West Division Final
Huxley Yaks over Oakland Machine in 7

CJHL Final
Huxley Yaks over Brooklynn Bats in 7

Huxley will represent the CJHL in the Belleau Cup tournament.

ECJHL

North Division Finals
Square Hill Stallions over Forest HIll Hawks in 7

South Division Finals
Goulding Park Pirates over Binford Diamonds in 5

ECJHL Final
Goulding Park Pirates over Square Hill Stallions in 5

Goulding Park will represent the ECJHL in the Belleau Cup tournament,

NMJHL

East Division Final
Miles Mountaineers over Rupert Royals in 4

West Division Final
Atticus Rock over Beckley Swordfish in 5

NMJHL Final
Atticus Rock over Miles Mountaineers in 6

Atticus will represent the NMJHL in the Belleau Cup Tournament

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In the pros, the conference finals were set and ready to take place to determine the Pacino Cup Finals for 2001.

Eastern Conference Finals
South Beach Seminoles vs. Cayuga Saints

The defending champions opened the series with back to back wins, 5-2 and 7-1 and it looked like it might end up being a cake walk for the Seminoles. In Game 3, Sawyer Cohen carried the Saints on his back, posting a 1-0 shutout after being outshot 45-18. Saints star Zachary Hudson buried the game winner late in the third to stun the Seminoles and cut the series lead in half.

In Game 4, the momentum carried over and the Saints ran the Seminoles out of the building in the first 2 period. Hit after hit, it was clear the Saints were going to drag the Seminoles into a war. Hudson scored 2 more and Marcel Carver scored the game winner in a 5-2 win.

Back in South Beach, the Saints upped the physicality again and took an early 2-0 lead before the Seminoles decided to fight back. In the second period, Saints tough guy Frederick Houghton dropped the gloves with Phoenix Osborn in one of the most memorable fights in league history. After 45 seconds of just punch after punch, Osborn blocked a wild swing and then knocked Houghton out cold with a short upper cut. The fight sparked the Seminoles who fought back to tie it in the third and won the game late on a point shot from Aidan Davis to take the game 6-5.

The Seminoles rolled into Game 6 with the momentum and didn’t look back, going up 6-1 in the third. The Saints added 2 really late but it was never close as South Beach heads to the finals for the second year in a row.



Western Conference Finals
Bentley Stars vs. Brooklynn Blackhawks

After taking Game 1 in a close 5-4 game, Giovani Dotson pulled out a huge game and shut out Brooklynn 3-0 to tie the series for the Stars. With the games getting tighter, the series shifted to Brooklynn where the Blackhawks fell behind 3-2 in the second period off of a pair of Stars goals from Johan Puckett. The Hawks would battle back in the third and take the lead 4-3 on a one timer from Alex Parker, but the Stars would not be denied. After tying the game minutes later, the Stars got a late powerplay and made the most of it. Julian Ball ripped a slapshot from the point through traffic and off the crossbar and in. The Stars held on and took a 2-1 series lead.

Game 4 was another tight affair with Brooklynn up 6-5 late, but the Hawks took another late penalty and the Stars struck again. Gabriel Dean tipped home a point shot to tie the game 6-6 and send it to overtime. Early in the overtime, the Hawks took another penalty on a Hayden Read high sticking call. But on the powerplay, the Stars made a brutal pass to the point which was picked off by Ben White. He would go end to end and bury a wrist shot five hole on a breakaway to give the Hawks the win and tie the series in a crazy game.

In Game 5, the Stars would double up the Hawks on an empty netter 4-2 before heading back to Brooklynn to finish the job. Orion Stevenson had his best game of the playoffs however, turning aside 35 of 37 shots as the Hawks tied the series 3-3 and headed back to Bentley to settle the series.

With everything on the line, the Stars and Blackhawks traded goals in the first and second period, tied at 2 going into the third. In the third, the powerplay for the Stars would strike again, as Elliott Wilkinson scored on a rebound to put the Stars up 3-2. The Hawks would call timeout and regroup and tie the game minutes later on a Caleb Hughes backhand that squeaked in. With the game tied, the Hawks looked for the kill and mounted the pressure, resulting in a powerplay of their own. Off the draw, Cole Thomas hit his d-partner Dominic Doyle with a pass and he wired it under the bar to take the lead. The Stars would scramble to try and tie it and ended up sending the Hawks in on a 2 on 1 where they would score again to go up 5-3 with 1:21 left. The Stars added a 4th with 9 seconds left, but couldn’t even get the puck into the Blackhawks zone again as Brooklynn beats Bentley for the second year in a row and head to the Pacino Cup Finals!



The South Beach Seminoles will look to be the first team to repeat as champions as they take on the Brooklynn Blackhawks!

Up next:
The 2001 Belleau Cup Tournament
The 2001 Pacino Cup Finals

Yorkland History Expanded

I got a PM asking me to answer a few questions and fill in the backstory of Yorkland, so I thought it would be a good time to go over some significant stuff from Yorkland’s past and a look into present day and the future.

Vincenzo Pacino was the first Prime Minister of Yorkland. While the United Provines of Amirah which controlled Yorkland has a royal family, Yorkland distanced themselves from the throne and thus the Prime Minister is the head of state. The split from Amirah was obviously volatile to say the least, so they tried to not bring their history over as much as possible.

When PM Pacino was assassinated, it was assumed that it was somebody who had ties to the UPA or Royal Family, but the killer was never caught. This lead to a major split within the country with half the country who felt Yorkland needed to get away from anything to do with UPA (trading, cross border travel, etc.) and half who felt the new nation needed to cautiously look to their past for help. When Pacino was killed, it left the country in a state of chaos.

Christopher Powell was appointed the 2nd Prime Minister in Yorkland history in 1951 but not by citizen vote as he was appointed by the leaders of the each individual states in Yorkland. The first few years were very basic. Powell didn’t want to make any big decisions and people grew tired of having him in charge. For two years, from 1954-1956, people protested and demanded a change in government. To his credit, Powell said that the people needed democracy and agreed that an individual term for a Prime Minister should be limited to 4 years. He agreed to an election … in 1959 as he argued he was now beginning a new term in office. He held office until 1960 when he didn’t run for office again.

With 4 years to build their platforms, a number of political parties began to form. The three major parties were the United Party, the Independence Party and the Freedom Party. Each had very different viewpoints and pushed their agendas for the next 4 years, which ultimately led to more divide in the country.

In 1960, Harrison Moore became the 3rd Prime Minister in Yorkland, leading the United Party to a narrow win and formed a minority government. Moore felt Yorkland needed UPA, and started to work on trade deals with Amirah. This led to the Yorkland-Amirah Free Trade Agreement, which allowed goods to be imported and exported through each country with no taxes of penalties. It was seen as a major step forward for the economy of Yorkland. Still, many in Yorkland felt Moore was in bed with Amirah and couldn’t believe that he would make a deal with a country who killed the first PM. Moore of course argued that the agreement was good for everybody and was the first major step for the country to heal.

Moore lasted 1 term though, and in 1964, Harry Roberts led the Independence Party to power and won a majority government. Moore immediately cancelled the Free Trade Agreement and upped the security forces at the border. Moore made it clear that he was only interested in helping Yorkland and nobody else. Jobs tanked in the country and people actually fled back to UPA for work. It was obviously a very short reign in office and made the people vow to not put a majority government in office moving forward.

In 1968, James Kennedy and the Freedom Party took power. Kennedy worked on relations with Amirah and began to see jobs in the country increase. Kennedy felt that Yorkland needed to remain focused on themselves but agreed to sit down with UPA to discuss restarting the Free Trade Agreement. PM Kennedy felt that UPA should have to pay something for their products to enter the country and talks halted. Things got ugly and UPA blocked any exports from Yorkland into the country. Tensions got heated and Kennedy teased starting another war in 1971 before the election, but ultimately was talked out of it by a young man in his party named Terry Jones. In the Summer of 71, Jones decided to leave the Freedom Party and formed the People’s Party Of Yorkland. While nobody felt they had a chance at success, the charismatic Jones rallied the people and shockingly won the election.

Terry Jones became the 6th Prime Minister in 1972 and immediately got the Free Trade Agreement put back into place. Within a few years, business in the country was expanding and with it the job market. They started to accept more immigrants than ever before and started to see an influx of residents moving from UPA to Yorkland. Jones was already seen as the most successful PM in history in his first term and won a second term and majority government, only the 2nd one in Yorkland’s history. Jones signed the Commercial Goods Act in 1977, which allowed businesses from other countries to open up shop in Yorkland with much smaller taxes and red tape if they agreed to hire Yorkland citizens to run the companies. Suddenly, business from everywhere was coming to Yorkland.

In 1979, Jones announced the construction of the Yorkland Rail System which would be a direct route from coast to coast that would build off an existing rail from the 1940’s. In 1980, Jones announced the building of the Yorkland International Airport and once again, it brought more business to Yorkland. With things going so smoothly and businesses making more money than ever, Jones took a risk and brought forth the Minimum Wage Act. This would of course force business to pay all employees a bare minimum salary. This was seen as a radical move and caused businesses to question his thinking, but once again it proved to be a major win across the people and Jones was elected to a third term.

With all the good Jones had done, the one thing missing in the country was sports. The UPA was flooded with sports leagues with rich history, but Jones argued that those were not funded by government and were funded by the Royal Family originally for their own entertainment. Jones refused to spend tax money on sport and would rather spend it on other things. It was hard to argue with Jones who had a glowing track record.

Jones would be elected for his 4th straight term and would appoint Alexander Cochrane as his Vice-PM. Cochrane was the same age as Jones when he took over the country and people saw him as the heir apparent. In 1986, Jones announced he would not be looking for a 5th term and would be retiring from politics, which opened the door for Cochrane to take over the party. While Jones was anti-government run sport, Cochrane was the opposite. His platform was run on using tax money to start and regulate sports which would in turn generate tax dollars in the country. It worked.

In 1988, Alexander Cochrane was voted the 7th PM in Yorkland history and led the PPY to their 5th straight term. He immediately began working on sports in the country and assigned the Yorkland Cultural Minister, Richard Paul, to begin looking at starting a hockey league, the one sport that had not taken off yet in UPA. 

The agreements were signed and with Richard Paul announced as the Commissioner of the YHL, everything moved forward. Businesses were given tax breaks if they funded teams. They would receive further tax breaks if they invested into arenas within the country. The tax breaks were so valuable, that businesses were lining up to get involved. With the league capping out at 10 teams to start, Cochrane and Paul brought forth the businesses they felt would help the league succeed immediately and began to plot the development of the league. The 10 cities chosen were the home base of these businesses and the league was off and running. 

With the success of the league and the benefits for business, Cochrane easily won a second election and remained Prime Minister. He brought forth the Association of Yorkland Football and began to push for more sports to be initiated within the country. With the tax breaks for sport in place and the infrastructure of the country growing, the population began to grow and grow and rural parts of the country began to become urban. Everybody was succeeding it seemed.

In 1999, PM Cochrane won his third straight election and brought the country forward yet again for his 4th term, tying him with Terry Jones for longest PM in Yorkland history. He appointed a young man named Adam John to be the Vice-PM. The country continued to grow, sports continued to be insanely popular and big business kept coming to the country. It was essentially status quo and everybody was fine with that.

Fast forward to present day in 2002. The relationship with Amirah is better than it has ever been. The FTA stands and the YHL is growing year after year. The UPA Network has even started to air YHL games on the countries funded TV station which is something nobody ever saw coming. But after 14 years in office, PM Cochrane has announced that he will not seek re-election in 2003 and will be turning over control of the PPY to Adam John. 

While things are stable in the country and John appears to be the next one in line, there are several new political parties that have established themselves and are pushing the agenda that 32 years of one party in control is too many.

The Freedom Party (led by Oscar Cole), the Independence Party (led by Guillermo Simpson) and the United Party of Yorkland (led by Adam Stewart) are all making waves and gaining traction, trying to convince the people that the country can be even better than it currently is. The biggest competition it seems however, is the new Party Of Tomorrow (led by Rayden Wilson.) The POT Party is a new age party who is very earth centric and wants to focus on the environment and easing up on some laws, such as the use of cannibis and lowering jail sentences. They likely do not have enough steam to overtake the PPY, but for the first time since the 70’s, the upcoming election appears to be in question and the future of the YHL will be directly affected by the results. If the PPY do not maintain their hold of government, it’s possible the YHL would not be controlled by the government moving forward and the owners would lose their tax breaks for owning teams. If those go away, owners may back away and ultimately the league might be in financial trouble.

Up Next:
2002 Off-Season

Sevsdast wrote:

Good to see this back! Nice history write up!

Thanks. I'm definitely keeping this going, just been swamped with work and 3 kids in lockdown which have cut into free time. This is a great creative outlet for me though.
 

2002 Off-Season And Entry Draft

The off-season began with a board of governors meeting to discuss the news that Prime Minister Cochrane was not seeking re-election and the very real possibility that the league could lose government backing and tax breaks. The owners all brought forth ideas on how to generate future revenue, but the general consensus was that the league was now self fulfilling and able to support itself without the tax breaks. The owners feel that ticket price increases will be necessary, but with a small increase overall the league will stay where it is in terms of revenue. This of course is all very early in the process as the league could still be backed by the government in the future.

The biggest news out of the meetings though, were that should things change, the owners brought forth the idea that they will no longer fund the YJDHL. This would be a massive blow the development of the league, but it may be necessary to stay afloat.

The draft took place and the 1st round of the draft looked as follows:



Up next:
The 2002 Regular Season