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9/21/2021 4:00 pm  #881


Re: Torland Hockey League: THL 2.0

Nice!  Well done for the Whales, 3 peats are remarkably rare!  Fact is, I could see them winning a 4th in a row very easily!  Definitely excited to see how next year plays out! 

 




 

9/21/2021 7:48 pm  #882


Re: Torland Hockey League: THL 2.0

Congrads Portarra Whales winning 3 championships in a row. Here hopes for a fourth in a row.

 

9/26/2021 3:15 am  #883


Re: Torland Hockey League: THL 2.0

1990 OFFSEASON

League News

It was a quiet offseason in the league office as Commissioner Pete Byrd and company prepared for a pivotal upcoming season as the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) would expire following the 1990 season. Among many topics to be discussed would be expansion, changes to the amateur draft and financial structure changes along with several TV deals to expand coverage of the THL in Torland and internationally. It was also rumored that a new uniform manufacturer was looking to score a huge deal for all league teams. Under previous CBA's, uniform manufacturer was left to team choice, typically Zeal or Apex, with some teams like the Whales still producing their own uniforms. With team apparel sales on the rise, the league will be looking to consolidate manufacturing to increase sales.

Notable Retirements


Fort Bevin legend and surefire Hall of Fame defenseman Pat Ossola retired after a stellar 17-year career with the Rockets. The Guilden native was drafted 1st overall by Fort Bevin in 1973 and ascended into a premier player in the league, leading the Rockets to their only Marcotte Cup championship in 1979. Ossola won Best Defenseman 4 times and was a two-time MVP while logging 9 All-Star appearances.

Dimitri Ranko, former Anchors and Herons forward retired after 18 years in the THL. The Serbian forward entered the league in 1972 and helped Port Alrene to a Marcotte Cup win as a rookie, notching an All-Star appearance. The 7-time All-Star joined Trowburgh in 1983 and helped lead the Herons to a pair of Cups, winning in 1983. Although Ranko never won heavier hardware, he was considered an elite if sometimes mercurial player.

Former Glaciers and Electrics goaltender Tim Sagendorf retired after a 17-year career. The two-time Best Goalie won a Cup with the Glaciers before joining the Electrics in 1984 and helping Kavalos to a Cup win in 1985. The Chasonne native was considered an elite goalie during his prime and made 4 All-Star appearances.

Other notable retirements were longtime Kodiaks defenseman Jerry O'Reilly, former Falcons and Bucks defenseman Ryan Devlin, and forward Jerry Haake who played for the Anchors and Swans and was famously one of the poster players for defection to the UHA. Haake won a Cup for Port Alrene and two Cups with the Swans under the UHA banner where he also was a League MVP in 1979. Haake's number 18 is unofficially retired in Vensessor.

Coaching Carousel

The Blazers cleaned house and fired Larry Weatherford and his whole staff. They hired Bruno Eaves to helm the team and stole away AC Joe Kellogg from the Wizards and installed Sid Myrick, former coach with the Kodiaks, to be the new GM.

The Bucks also cleared out their staff, firing Warren Barton. They hired Darren Jefferson and hired former Blazers AC Trent Everett to join the staff, who was also the Bucks HC for one season in 1979. Weatherford landed in Sina to assist Larry Barker build the Serpents. Warren Barton was hired by the Wizards to join Donnie Thomas' staff.

Notable Free Agents


In a massive free agent class, several huge names made moves around the league. One of the famed Three Buckaroos, Ray Parrino, was reportedly disgruntled with his salary as a Whale and despite coming off a third-straight championship, Parrino took a big 6-year offer from the Vensessor Swans to be their lead scoring option. The Whales signed former Rockets forward Jack Koeneman to replace him.

In Prestonburg, the hurt of losing showed in the leaving of their two biggest stars, forward Eric Jorgensen and defenseman Jan Mikulec. Jorgensen was signed to a 6-year deal by his hometown Captains to join a potent top line of Roszak and Martikainen. Kirkenport also signed former Anchors goalie Dennis Vanderbloem. The Kodiaks scored the services of the 30-year-old former best defenseman Mikulec who will join Max Kopecky on a loaded blue line.

The Wizards signed goalie Albert Beltrano from Sina's Indy League team and then signed former Glaciers forward Mark Kaczor to a 3-year deal to beef up their second line. The Kings signed two former Pioneers veterans in F Sten Zaal and D Thomas Nelissen to improve their depth.

Player Trades & Signings


The Kodiaks orchestrated a sign-and-trade for Heralds pending free agent F Quincy Ledoux, sending their 1991 1st-round pick and F Zack Haughney in exchange for his new contract. The experienced Ledoux joins the Romanov brothers on a rising Kodiaks squad.


1990 Amateur Player Draft

The '90 draft class was considered to be the deepest one in years, headlined by teenage phenom forward Bobby Kozun from Canaday in the Alrene Isles.

1 – YUB – F Bobby Kozun
Kozun has been the cream of the crop for years in high school and has only gotten better. He's a lethal scorer, easy skater and has high IQ and leadership skills. Kozun will help shape a young Falcons squad to a new era. Kozun will have a lot of early pressure on his young shoulders.

2 – SIN – F Rens Nylund (Sweden)
Losing Kedzierski hurts the progress of Sina's developing young core but Nylund can step in and taking that lead scoring role from a young age.

3 – ABR – F Josef Tyoma (Russia)
The roster has been decimated with turnover and the Bucks have to reset the clock by bringing a talent like Tyoma to handle scoring duties from a young age.

4 – PRE – D Valentin Stanek
The Blazers' window seemingly closed unexpectedly with the departures of Jorgensen and Mikulec and a cleaning of house. Stanek can be the first building block of a new regime.

5 – YBG – D Shane Streeter
The Glaciers have stuck to their “inside-out” formula for building their team and continue that with Streeter who is a fundamentally sound defenseman with a nice pop on the scoring stick.

6 – NAR – D James Myers
The Neptunes have a lot of aging veterans on their squad and are looking for solid replacements like Myers on the blue line.

7 – PA – G Felix Engberg (Sweden)
The Anchors always value the goaltender position and nab both need and BPA in this slot with the versatile and talented Engberg to replace Vanderbloem.

8 – FTB – G Chris Murphy
The Rockets have a ton of needs everywhere but fell in love with Murphy who is still raw despite being 19 years old.

9 – TRO – F Joe Houston
Age has caught up quickly to the Herons roster and with nearly the entire team on expiring contracts, Trowburgh goes with BPA here.

10 – DC – F John Mark Penny
It's been a bumpy ride for the Snappers getting back to the playoffs and snag the versatile forward “JMP” here to round out their middle depth.

11 – CHA – F Rob Carpenter
12 – PTP – D Roger Bridges
13 – KRK – F Tony Small
14 – QUE – D Mac Herrick
15 – BAN – F Shawn Ward
16 – KUR – D Will Barr
17 – VEN – F Stephen Ferrer
18 – AKB – F Steven Cook
19 – KIR – F Walt Lewis
20 – ALK – D Ed Brant
21 – KAV – D Ken Watson
22 – POR – F Daniel Hughes

Next: 1990 Identity Changes



AHS Admin. Creator of the THLPUCHWHA: Redux and Retroliga.
     Thread Starter
 

9/26/2021 3:52 am  #884


Re: Torland Hockey League: THL 2.0

1990 OFFSEASON (continued)

Hockey on the Mount (1990)


A brand new installment of Hockey on the Mount continues featuring matchups between a pair of '65 teams in Kirlow and Narva. The Electrics meet their fellow '72 expansion team in the Pioneers.


The Kodiaks lean into their brown and cream scheme, eschewing the blue and red they've used as their secondary colors. They bring back an old logo from the original Kodiaks squad and tone down the striping on the set for a more vintage look. The Neptunes counter with a truly unique sweater by traveling back in time to resurrect the cornflower blue from their early days. A diagonal lettered front is applied while their iconic extra wide striping is continued.

​Much to the dismay of the fans, the Pioneers bring back a fan favorite uniform in the orange with navy striping but curiously leave out the classic cowboy hat P logo from their early days and instead re-color their script face from their '85 set. The Electrics pay homage to their 1977 uniforms when the infamous accidental logo appeared, which has since become something of a fan favorite icon. Kavalos strips down their uniform to the basics, going with the full length yoke and yellow numbers with green trim.


1990 Team Identity Changes

Several teams changed up their looks for the '90 season, including an original team, an old UHA team, and a new team.

1990 Kurohara Killers


Previous Identity: 1982-1989 Kurohara Killers

The identity evolution in Kurohara continues with the deletion of another color from the palette, this time removing yellow entirely. The Killers weren't happy with their yellow heavy duds from 1982, despite winning a Cup the following year. They instead restructure their look in an all black and orange scheme that has been unused in the THL and bring in a new uniform design that follows a similar shoulder yoke style from previous years. Angled sleeve striping and reduced stroke widths complete a sleeker, bolder look for the Killers.

1990 Port Alrene Anchors


Previous Identity: 1978-1989 Port Alrene Anchors 

The Anchors surprised many by quietly introducing a new look, having held their previous design since 1978. The '78 design was notably oversized and busy while this new look goes in the opposite direction with slim lines, tighter typefaces and removal of extra elements such as the shoulder patches. The instances of the mustard secondary color is reduced to more prominently feature the primary brick color. The home front logo is switched to white with mustard trim, as are the numbers. The away sweater features the mustard in the striping in a sweater that doesn't offer much contrast. The fans seemed baffled by the new choices and the general sentiment seemed lukewarm at best.

1990 Sina Serpents


Previous Identity: 1983-1989 Sina Serpents

After coming into the league in 1983 with a wild identity and since wallowing in the basement of the Willard Division, the Serpents decided to streamline and update their look, particularly their primary logo which had received some criticism for the odd sickly looking spots on the snake. With several teams in the Willard featuring red shades such as Fort Bevin and Port Alrene and even the Whales now sporting red, Sina began their makeover by making the choice to embrace green as their primary color, with black as the secondary and demoting red all the down to tertiary status. The snake was changed to a single color, white for home and green for away. A cleaner striping was chosen along with a new font and number typeface to better match their logo aesthetic. The Serpents went a step further by adding a full-time alternate uniform in all-black that includes more red in both uniform and logo.


C&C much appreciated!
Hope y'all are enjoying some of the new offseason graphics and new team identities.



AHS Admin. Creator of the THLPUCHWHA: Redux and Retroliga.
     Thread Starter
 

9/26/2021 8:50 am  #885


Re: Torland Hockey League: THL 2.0

Definitely a busy offseason!  Lots of good stuff here!

Kirlow Kodiaks: This team is making some moves, (as they should), really liking what I'm seeing out of this team.  I wouldn't be at all surprised if they make it to the finals next year!

Hockey on the Mount: Always love these jerseys!  Kirlow vs. Narva absolutely fits that old school feel very nicely!  That old Kodiaks logo was a great one, glad to see it again!  I actually forgot the Neptunes used to feature the Cornflower blue, that wasn't a half bad color choice!   Portarra vs. Kavalos is a really nice looking combination of teams!  Kavalos showing Portarra how to respect a fan favorite old logo is pretty funny bringing back that goofy 1 year logo.   Good stuff!

Kurohara Killers: Yeah, this looks much simpler and cleaner for them!  They're funny, a lot of teams go on a journey with uniforms that get crazier and add more colors to their look over time.   Yet, Kurohara has literally done the exact opposite, subtracting colors as time's went on, (correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't they used to have black, orange, yellow, and green at one point?  I could be misremembering that).  The black and orange look is a hit for me!

Port Alrene: I like the effort to clean up a busy jersey.  Admittedly, I'll miss the shoulder pads and knocking mustard down to a tertiary color is a slight disappointment, (although at least it's still used).  It's definitely not a bad job done though, especially since I do think these changes work well for the home jersey at least.  The away jersey does look a little empty without the shoulder pads though.   Still works pretty well though.

Sins Serpents:  Now that the Serpents have been cured of their chicken pox, I'm excited to see if this change corresponds with a raise to the top of the league, ala Tampa Bay Devil Rays to Tampa Bay Rays suddenly going to the World Series right after a new look (and name) is introduced.   I'll always love green teams, so this is big hit for me that they choose green to be the clear primary color instead of having it clash a bit with red for supremacy.  Although I do miss the red, as it probably still could have been used more like it is in the alternate jersey for striping, although I understand why they made the change.   Speaking of which, really loving that alternate jersey!  Overall, my favorite update of the bunch, great job here!




 

9/26/2021 2:43 pm  #886


Re: Torland Hockey League: THL 2.0

Here come the 90s! Excited to see what the craziness brings to the THL, especially with that rumored league-wide manufacturer.

Hockey on the Mount: Fantastic, as always. I never really liked the Neptunes brand so this is the only miss for me, but bringing back the cornflower blue is awesome! That Kavalos jersey is probably my favorite and might be my favorite Electrics jersey yet. I always liked the accidental logo set.

Kurohara: I'm loving this update for the Killers! The removal of yellow has given this team its best look yet, I can imagine the inevitable orange alternate selling super well.

Port Alrene: Very solid update here, nothing to say, really.

Sina: Oh, this is it. Loving how well the green and black work together, the general removal of red does wonders for this team. I'm not loving the white snake (heh) on the alternate, I think a green snake and white outline would've done well, but still a solid look. I like that they've kept red around for the alternate as well.

 

9/26/2021 5:22 pm  #887


Re: Torland Hockey League: THL 2.0

I miss the cowboy hat logo for us. I would have thought we'd go for that for the Hockey on the Mount logo but I like the script jersey almost as much.



 
 

9/26/2021 8:14 pm  #888


Re: Torland Hockey League: THL 2.0

Loving all the new looks. The Hockey on the Mount jerseys look great and the changes were all positive I would say.

I'm a sucker for black and orange so the new colors for the Killers are a big yes from me.

The Anchors keep that classic feel you want with an original squad, but the changes are all improvements IMO.

The biggest hit of the offseason has to be the Serpents though. Leaning into green and black was definitely the right move, and the simplifications to the logo help it a lot. That black alt looks MEAN and the red accents really pop especially with the lack of it in the home and away



 

11/01/2021 10:25 pm  #889


Re: Torland Hockey League: THL 2.0

I hate to steer this thread off-topic, but...

Did the Beatles ever get a chance to play a show in Torland back in the 60's?

 

11/05/2021 1:47 am  #890


Re: Torland Hockey League: THL 2.0

I just have one question about the THL... does it use NHL sized rinks or olympic sized rinks? 

 

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