Sweet!  I still remember your baseball project, which had a team in Waterdee, happy to see that city make a return to the Torland series!   Can't wait to see what these two teams look like!

NeoPrankster wrote:

I’m curious about when Maienzona will finally get a team.

Also, what cities are the smallest markets in the THL right now?

Maienzona is unique because it's a hotbed of other sports, mostly college basketball, baseball, and (American) football. San Ferrio is a huge city though, so I'd imagine mid-2000's but I don't have anything planned yet. The outcome of how Waterdee and Cobantle fare will probably very much influence how hockey expands further southeast.

By actual city population, Abrieden is the smallest city of those with THL teams, but they're directly part of the sprawling Bancana-Abrieden metropolitan area, similarly with Vensessor, another technically small city but part of the larger Prestonburg metro area. The smallest market currently is probably Quebel (33rd largest city), on the small Alrene Isle island where they compete with the much larger Port Alrene market to the southwest. Near the lowest ranked would also be Sina, though their city reputation is larger than life, being a sort of miniature Las Vegas of Torland. Kurohara is another smaller market that doesn't generate a ton of revenue. Quebel has the smallest fan base out of the group, and brings in the least revenue out of any team in the THL but they've also had a lot of sustained success on the ice so it hasn't been a problem yet.

GoosetavoMan wrote:

NeoPrankster wrote:

I’m curious about when Maienzona will finally get a team.

Also, what cities are the smallest markets in the THL right now?

 
I'm also curious about that, and I also want a team in the Cabriga Isles, tho I don't know if the Cabriga Isles are elligible, anyways, can't wait to see Iron City getting a team.

Welcome to the series! Cabriga is very similar to Maienzona in terms of sports. Mostly baseball and football with less emphasis on college basketball. Malvaton is a fairly large city and could support a team, along with Moriga, but interest in hockey has been minimal. Their close proximity to new hockey in Waterdee and Cobantle, however, could bring more interest in the future.

Steelman wrote:

GoosetavoMan wrote:

NeoPrankster wrote:

I’m curious about when Maienzona will finally get a team.

Also, what cities are the smallest markets in the THL right now?

 
I'm also curious about that, and I also want a team in the Cabriga Isles, tho I don't know if the Cabriga Isles are elligible, anyways, can't wait to see Iron City getting a team.

Welcome to the series! Cabriga is very similar to Maienzona in terms of sports. Mostly baseball and football with less emphasis on college basketball. Malvaton is a fairly large city and could support a team, along with Moriga, but interest in hockey has been minimal. Their close proximity to new hockey in Waterdee and Cobantle, however, could bring more interest in the future.

Thanks for the welcoming! I have already heard of Torland way back in their baseball days (I don't remember much but I do remember the San Estas Seals), then I went to this website and have been hooked on this series since.

Also, can't wait to see what Waterdee and Cobantle have in store with their identities.

Steelman wrote:

League Division Realignment

Byrd announced that with Waterdee and Cobantle joining the league, the divisions would be realigned for better geographic balance. Both new expansion teams would join the Elam Division along with Narva and Trowburgh. Dosa City and the Alko Barbarians would be moved to the Hatch Division while the Quebel Crusaders would be relocated to the Willard Division. Only the Rankin Division remained unchanged.

Willard: Anchors, Crusaders, Pioneers, Rockets, Serpents, Whales
Hatch: Barbarians, Blazers, Kodiaks, Snappers, Swans, Wizards
Elam: Captains, Cardinals, Dragons, Heralds, Herons, Neptunes
Rankin: Bucks, Electrics, Falcons, Glaciers, Killers, Kings

Pundits were astir that the realignment would provide too many competitive advantages and disadvantages for too many teams at one time but Byrd was adamant on reorganizing geographically.

Notable Retirements

Longtime Herons legend Mozzy Turk retired after an 18-year career in Trowburgh after being their 5th overall pick in 1974. The forward led the Herons to their only championship in 1983 where he was also named Finals MVP. Turk was a 7-time All-Star in the league and the team captain from 1977 until his retirement. His #28 jersey will certainly be retired in Trowburgh and he has a good shot at joining the Hall of Fame despite never winning more significant hardware during his career.


Longtime Rockets head coach Harry Nance retired after leading Fort Bevin for 20 seasons. Nance helped lead the team to a championship in 1979. The Ulrick native logged 10 playoff appearances and was considered a top-flight coach even if he never won any hardware.

Coaching Carousel

With two new teams joining the league, both the Cardinals and Dragons had to build a staff from scratch. Cobantle elected to go with a new face at General Manager in Marc Wilkins, formerly a head coach at Hemstrand. They hired Craig McMurray away from the reigning champion Kodiaks to be their head coach. McMurray previous coached the Glaciers and Serpents before joining Kirlow as an assistant. To complete their staff they hired an experienced minor league coach in Ned Musser to be McMurray's assistant. The Dragons, meanwhile, convinced John Otto to not renew his contract in Kurohara where his welcome had worn thin, and join a new team where he'd also share some team operations responsibility with young rising executive Mark Harper who will act as GM. They hired Monroe Forrest, previously of long tenure with the Rockets to be an assistant.

With the retirement of their only coach in team history in Harry Nance, the Rockets brought in former Herons coach Ken Delaney to helm the team. He had coached Trowburgh for 15 years. The Rockets hired Gabe Palmer to be the new GM. Much to the fans delight, they hired former legendary Rockets player Pat Ossola to be the new assistant coach.

The Herons hired a college coach in Andy Ford, previously tenured at UND. GM Ed Smalls hired veteran assistant Don Blackmon to bring experience to the bench.

Meanwhile the Killers also started fresh, hiring Frank Donovan, another collegiate coach, to helm the bench. Donovan had previously coached for Lecayne. Ray Dodd, of Guilden, was hired as AC.


1992 Expansion Draft

The new general managers and coaches for both expansion teams met at League HQ in Trowburgh for the Expansion Draft. A coin was flipped and Waterdee won the right to pick first. Each franchise had to give up one player after having 9 exceptions from which to work, giving the expansion teams 11 players each. Players with less than 3 seasons of professional experience were ineligible to be drafted. GM Mark Harper and HC John Otto chose forward Dean “Cinnamon” Ciraulo, 34, from the Electrics as their first pick. The Cardinals' Marc Wilkins chose former Swans and Pioneers forward Elisha Nadeau with their first choice.

Team 1: Waterdee Dragons

1 – F Dean Ciraulo (KAV)
2 – RW Mark Freeman (KRK)
3 – D Dirk McKenna (NAR)
4 – G Joseph Blunt (AKB)
5 – F Kirby Dorris-Johns (KUR)
6 – F Jerome Hamilton (PA)
7 – D Chad Angelo (QUE)
8 – F Mac Strong (PRE)
9 – D Colby Gaddis (ABR)
10 – D Gerald Neill (SIN)
11 – F Bobby Tripp (YBG)

Team 2: Cobantle Cardinals

1 – C Elisha Nadeau (VEN)
2 – G Randy Wiseman (BAN)
3 – F Mickey Coats (PTP)
4 – D Zach Flynn (POR)
5 – D Neal Caldwell (CHA)
6 – F Kris Gorecki (DC)
7 – C Tim Houston (FTB)
8 – D Roy Obenhaus (KIR)
9 – F Mo Lundquist (ALK)
10 – G Teddy Gruber (TRO)
11 – RW CC Baldwin (YUB)

Pre-Draft Breaking News

With the Bucks winning the lottery the pundits were astir as the two clearcut favorites were not Abrieden's biggest need, as they badly needed goaltending. With the free agency class being moved to after the draft, it further complicated Abrieden's decision-making as they were in a deep rebuild and it would be tough to attract any good goalies. The Neptunes, holders of the 6th-overall pick, offered young talent Jarkko Bergstrom in a package for the 1st-overall pick. The Bucks thought it over and decided Bergstrom was an excellent choice to build around and pulled the trigger on the deal.

Abrieden gets: G Jarkko Bergstrom, F Ruben Veronda, 1992 2nd-Round (30th) pick, 1993 1st-Round Pick (conditional)
Narva gets: 1992 1st-Round (1st) pick

Just before the draft began the Sina Serpents traded two first round picks for defenseman Fred Karrick from the Blazers, including their 1992 pick at 18th-overall.


(some of the graphics are redacted to not spoil any identity reveals later)

Up next: Team reveals begin

 
This is gonna get good. I can feel it.