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! 

 

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

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!

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.

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?