1959/60 WCEHL Season
     Following a season that saw a photo finish to qualify for The Gauntlet, hockey enthusiasts across the West and Midwest United States were more than willing to tune into CBS for the opportunity to watch the fastest growing league in the nation. 
 
And They All Fall Down

     When the season started, it was the Salt Lake Bees who looked like the heavy favorite to take home the regular season crown. They had just won a championship, and re-signed key pieces during the summer to keep their core together. This was until the world stood still 10 games into the season, when CBS viewers witnessed beloved Bee, Frank Olesen catch an edge and flail into the post of the opposing team’s net head first. 24-year-old, Oleson hit so hard that many in the concessions area thought a player had rung the post with a shot, returning only to see Olesen unconscious on the ice. The building went silent, while Olesen’s battle with a fresh IIIb concussion kept him out cold longer than production was willing to wait. A disgruntled CBS made the executive decision to stop broadcasting the game, opting to put on a rerun of “The Effulgence Zone”.
            
     Frank would not return for the season, but the terror was not over. Dog’s wrath would see no end, as the all-powerful creator decided to go for the WCEHL’s throat only two weeks later when Anastasio Moran had his hand slashed by French Friday using a player’s backup stick while Moran passed Long Beach’s bench. Moran would cause further damage when he finally lost the fight against his own reflection during his hospital visit. Moran would return 3 months later, and Friday has not been seen since.
 
     Long Beach ended up paying for Friday’s actions only a few games later when Joe Benoit and Billy McGorrie collided in open ice. Somehow, both suffered from a third degree MCL injury, and both would be shelfed for the remainder of the season.
 
Tantalizing Tales

     With the usual suspects removed from the narrative, unlikely teams and players saw their opportunity to claim the spotlight. The most impressive turnaround would belong to Arizona, who jumped to second after years in the shadows. Leadership and scoring for the Tribe came from veteran, Wayne Zimmerman, who produced a career high 49 points during the season. Other than the one outlier, Arizona severely lacked in offense, which made them thankful for Humana Hamana. The second overall pick shutdown the WCEHL, riding a .924 save percentage to his first Most Valuable Goalie acknowledgement.
     
     The only team that was capable of outpacing Arizona would be Salt Lake. With a 7-win gap, it might be more appropriate to say the Bees lapped the Tribe. Despite a slump following Olesen’s injury, Salt Lake arguably looked scarier than Long Beach did when they joined the league. 23-year-old, Einari Varonen quadrupled down this season, producing a stat line that beat his previous year’s for the fourth time in a row. This time his personal best of 35 goals and 58 points would also be the league’s best, earning the young Fin his first MVP award. Right behind Varonen sat his center, Larry Rogers, who had the luxury of playing support to the highest goal scorer in the league, resulting in 43 assist of his own. Lastly, if 110 combined points weren’t enough from the previously mentioned players, the Bees could fall back on Andress Riekstins and Norris Childress, both tallying over 30 points of their own.
 
     Unlikely faces could be found in the trenches this year, with California, San Diego and Sacramento battling for the remaining Gauntlet spots going into the final stretch. California was definitely the least likely of the bunch, but their high finish was no fluke. California struck gold with a booming line combination that included Art Savage, Art Ashley and Tylenol Kitchen. The trio started gaining attention during the final stretch, being dubbed the “Laissez-Faire Line” by CBS broadcasting due to the opposing team’s inability to interfere with the line’s production, resulting in “an on-ice monopoly”. The lines success led to a Rookie of the Year award for Kitchen and a Gauntlet berth for the Grizzlies only a year removed from the bottom of the WCEHL.
 
     In a battle of hard-nosed hockey, it would be Townsend and his clan of Canners who prevailed over recently relocated Sacramento. Both teams showed tremendous promise early, but seemed to fizzle once push came to shove. Sacramento’s shortcomings would not only earn them front row seats to the Gauntlet, but also resulted in a disgruntled Nico Tortellini. At this point, the 21-year-old Italian looks like the rawest talent hockey has seen to date, but his short temper and lack of interest in Sacramento has him sat in the middle of every trade rumor involving the organization. For those interested in keeping up with WCEHL goons, Tortellini now averages 120 penalty minutes a season, and that number jumps to 181 if you shed his first two seasons from the equation.
 
     Rounding out the league is our losers. Honestly, it is hard to not flat out feel bad for the trio of teams who were dominant only a year prior. On the bright side, TTHC and Long Beach might be able to write-off this year, citing excessive injuries to their greatest assets. Las Vegas, on the other hand, looked flat out miserable and desperate. Luckily, for the roster, the Flamingos had enough going on in the front office to overshadow on ice performance. 
 
     The most baffling move made by the youth focused team was the dealing of all seven draft picks to other organization for prospects with very low promise and 40-year-old, Smail Podrabsky. Shortly after acquiring the veteran, Smail joined the long list of players who had season ending injuries. This flustered Las Vegas, prompting more trades that brought three draft picks back to the Flamingos. Once trade deadline hit, the Flamingos realized they had a chance to push for a Gauntlet spot in a post-season that would not include some of the WCEHL’s known powerhouses. Based on this epiphany, Las Vegas decide to turn 180 degrees, redistributing all three draft picks brought in for forward depth. When the dust settled, Las Vegas landed a seventh-place finish in exchange for ten draft picks. Instead of standing at the podium when the second overall pick is announced, Las Vegas representatives will watch a Magnum hopeful pick up more firepower in a draft with some exciting options.
 
     When asked about the outcome that came from the questionable moves, Las Vegas general manager, “The House” claimed that, “Stumbles got his hands on the draft picks and went rogue”. When “The House” was told that draft picks are not tangible, the elusive GM gave a blank look, pointed to the sky and exclaimed, “WHAT’S THAT?!”, diverting the attention of reporters and disappearing before anyone had a clue. Stumbles was released by the Las Vegas Flamingos a day after the interview.



Sorry for the wait! Think it is getting very obvious that the art style of this story is in the middle of a transition, so it has just taken a little longer. Hope it is worth it!

With the new decade coming around, I wanted to open the floor to any questions. This isn't just restricted to the league itself, but also includes the entirety of the world in general. There have been a lot of events that show how much the world and league influence each other, but the reader is blinded to the big picture that the league is part of. Thought it might be a fun world building exercise, so bring whatever you got.
 

Last edited by Thehealthiestscratch (6/12/2021 4:29 pm)

Go Tribe, time to take out the Grizzles!

Osgiliath Guard wrote:

Do the Sens exist and are they any good?

 
The NHL doesn’t exist here. There’s backstory on the very first post of the thread that will direct you.

What does Canada think about the WCEHL?

THE 1959/60 GAUNTLET

#1 Salt Lake Bees vs #4 San Diego Canners
 
     The buzz from Salt Lake City could be heard by the Canners when they crossed the Utah border, and it was deafening. The major SLC sports franchises all decided to capture #1 in their respective leagues during the 1959/60 season, showing their dominance in not only hockey but also Box Soccrosse and Cleavecradle. Although the Land Sharks (Box Soccrosse) and Hoodoos (Cleavecradle) contributed to the Salt Lake madness, it was the hockey team that really got the worker bees rowdy.

     The Canners almost became a Gauntlet victim right from the start when the SLC crowd pushed the Bees to an early goal in game one. Eyes on the San Diego bench showed fear, shooting back and forth at each other as the loudest place in hockey overstimulated their senses. Luckily for the Canners, Rent Sutter is deaf in one ear, making him unaware and unphased by the bumbles. Rent would step on the ice and score 45 seconds later, settling his teammates down enough to get to work. The Bees would try to force skill on their opponents, but San Diego refused to play any game outside their own, physical strategy. Soon, the second goal came for the Canners, and Salt Lake collapsed. The Canners would strike again in the second, before Rent Sutter finished what he started with a goal that sealed the deal.

     SLC fans were unphased by game one, calling it a fluke and showing up to game two with more noise, not realizing that all of the Canners decided to make like Sutter and tune them out. This time the Canners would strike first, second and third before Norris Childress gave hope to Salt Lake late in the second period. Einari Varonen would also show his face for the first time in the series at the start of the third to drag SLC back within one goal, but this would be lost immediately as Jerry Townsend scored two to shut the door. A consolation goal was scored by the Bees in the last minute, but at that point half of the Canners were already on their bus, celebrating the history they had made.
 

 #2 Arizona Tribe vs #3 California Grizzlies

     With the other two teams in The Gauntlet wrapping things up early, all eyes shifted to the “Basement Series” between two unlikely foes. Arizona’s journey to this point has been painful, never really recovering after looking like they would be the WCEHL’s first dynasty, while California experienced an equally traumatic collapse not so long ago. No time to dwell on failures though, as the door to success opens for both franchises.

     It was the first playoff home game in a significant amount of time for Arizona, but nothing seemed out of place. The Teepee called for a win and the Tribe provided. Five different players would score for the Adobe and Turquoise on their way to a 5-1 demolition. The result caused a lot of fingers to be pointed in the California locker room, but none were at Flint Powell, who was only a hopeless victim of Arizona’s 39 shots. In the other crease, rookie Humana Hamana stole the show, collecting a .950 save percentage in a game where he only let one by.

     Game 2 would start the same, as Arizona bolted to a 2-goal lead in the first. With their backs against the wall, California would choose to fight, knotting the game up in the second with goals from Tylenol Kitchen and 37-year-old John Curry, who was in the process of desperately trying to grab a Magnum before his career faded. On life support, the Grizzlies would be jolted back to hopeful when Curry struck again in the third, insuring that the California team would live to see another day with a 3-2 win.

     Back in the Bay, it was do or die for both the Tribe and Grizzlies. Knowing this, Jed Diggins did everything in his power to give his boys an edge. This effort included the disbursement of free tickets to every individual who worked in Jed’s gold mines, even the industrial equipment. So, as the workers, power tools and excavators settled into their seats, the two teams decided that they would treat these fine workers to marathon hockey. Excitement peaked at puck drop when the Grizzlies scored 50 seconds in. This energy would hold for the rest of the game, as the two teams traded goals back and forth for three periods. When the dust settled, Sarge Surge had put up 2 goals to get his Tribe to 5, while Tapping dished out 3 assist to help the Grizzlies get 5 of their own. This meant that the series would be decided in overtime.

     Despite the fireworks that were set off in regulation, overtime would show a game that paced more like a chess match. Long after the heavy machinery ran out of gas and workers started to doze off, the third overtime would finally give an answer. With a minute left in the period, John Curry would use his last bit of energy to will the puck across the goal line as Humana Hamana’s pad only covered half of the rubber disc. The result was a good goal accompanied by winded complaints from every Tribe player, but the decision was already made. The California Grizzlies were heading back to the finals.

     Following the game, a reported was determined to get a word out of the mostly silent, if not just completely incoherent, Humana Hamana by asking about his uncharacteristic performance in net. After a lengthy period of rhythtic body rolls and moaning, Humana’s translator finally said, “Mmmmmmmmmmm the solar goo was thick, limiting my connection to home. I warned coach of this”. Humana proceeded to crab walk away from the reporter, while his translator stuck behind to scold the reporter for being so insensitive and unprofessional.
 
 
Author Notes: Sorry for being out so long, I have been working on something that will be released after the finals. Those with good eyes might notice glimpses of this work in the new series presentation. Until then, enjoy the Magnum Finals between the San Diego Canners and California Grizzlies. 

Last edited by Thehealthiestscratch (8/06/2021 9:14 am)