The Alltime Hockey Association

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2022 Season Notes

• The Portland Pioneers fell victim to the season's most significant injury when Jaromir Jagr went down with a torn UCL. Only three games into the season, the dynamic winger went down, not returning until February. The injury limited him to 17 games, in which he tallied 9 goals and 9 assists for 18 points. The Pioneers fell six points shy of a playoff berth.
• A pair of coaches were terminated at season's end. The Los Angeles Royals, 17 months after firing Peter Laviolette midway through the AHA's opening campaign, fired his replacement, Marc Crawford. A 12-point improvement wasn't sufficient to keep his job, and the team has now hired Jacques Martin to attempt and accelerate the Royals' growth. Meanwhile, in Houston, Glen Sather's one-year tenure is over as he suffered the same fate as Crawford, given a year to improve a team. Only Sather's squad regressed from 101 points to 91, leading to his ouster. Roger Neilson will get a chance to take right the ship in Houston.
• Calgary's Wayne Gretzky repeated as the league's points leader, tallying 116 points on the campaign. He notched 50 goals and 66 assists in the full season a year after losing 20 games to an eye injury during the AHA's inaugural campaign.
  
  up next, the postseason recap
  
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Eastern Conference Semifinal
Best of 5
Indianapolis Engines (41-31-8) vs Chicago Hitmen (45-29-6)

Game 1: Chicago 5, Indianapolis 2
Game 2: Indianapolis 4, Chicago 1
Game 3: Indianapolis 2, Chicago 1
Game 4: Chicago 5, Indianapolis 3
Game 5: Chicago 4, Indianapolis 3

Chicago's Bobby Orr scored twice 23 seconds apart in the first and assisted Alexei Yashin's eventual game-winner in the second period of the decisive Game 5. Yashin's fourth goal of the series made it 3-2 and Pierre Larouche tallied in the third to put Chicago up 4-2. The Engines' Peter Forsberg scored 9:20 into the third to bring Indianapolis within one but they couldn't slip another past Andy Moog, who made 30 saves to send the Hitmen to their second straight Eastern Conference Final.

Western Conference Semifinal

Best of 5
Seattle Storm (36-36-8) vs Calgary Stampede (43-25-12)

Game 1: Calgary 3, Seattle 2
Game 2: Calgary 4, Seattle 3 (OT)
Game 3: Seattle 8, Calgary 5
Game 4: Seattle 4, Calgary 2
Game 5: Calgary 4, Seattle 2

The defending champions were tested as Seattle's offense unloaded in games 3 and 4, getting four goals over two games from John Ogrodnick. But the Stampede got two goals and an assist from Calle Johansson in the decisive Game 5 and got 8 assists in the series from Wayne Gretzky to earn a trip to the Western Conference Final and a chance to continue on to defend their title.

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[G-Force]

Eastern Conference Final
Best of 7
Chicago Hitmen (45-29-6) vs Philadelphia Freedom (45-26-9)

Game 1: Chicago 2, Philadelphia 1
Game 2: Philadelphia 4, Chicago 2
Game 3: Philadelphia 5, Chicago 1
Game 4: Philadelphia 7, Chicago 2
Game 5: Philadelphia 6, Chicago 5

A wild, 7-goal third period in Game 5 may well serve as the coming out party for Philadelphia's Gordie Howe, whose potential has been talked about for two years and in a 20-minute stretch everyone finally understood why. Howe scored FOUR goals in the third period of the decisive game - after going scoreless in the first four - giving the Freedom a 4-1 series victory and a trip to the AHA Cup Final.

Western Conference Final

Best of 7
Calgary Stampede (43-25-12) vs San Diego Condors (44-26-10)

Game 1: San Diego 3, Calgary 0
Game 2: San Diego 5, Calgary 2
Game 3: Calgary 3, San Diego 1
Game 4: Calgary 3, San Diego 2
Game 5: Calgary 4, San Diego 1
Game 6: Calgary 3, San Diego 2

One point separated them in the standings during the 80-game regular season, so the expectation was a tight series. And tight it was, but in the end the defending champs showed championship mettle, locking down San Diego's attack with strong defense and terrific goaltending from Sean Burke, as the Condors managed only 6 goals over the final four games of the series, all losses, after taking a 2-0 series lead at home. Burke outplayed presumptive goaltender of the year Patrick Roy, who was good not great in the series. Now, the Stampede get a chance to repeat as champions!

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[G-Force]

AHA Cup Final
Best of 7
Calgary Stampede (43-25-12)

vs Philadelphia Freedom (45-26-9)

Game 1: Philadelphia 4, Calgary 2
Game 2: Philadelphia 3, Calgary 2
Game 3: Calgary 5, Philadelphia 2
Game 4: Philadelphia 5, Calgary 4 (2 OT)
Game 5: Philadelphia 4, Calgary 3 (OT)

The AHA has a new champion, as the Philadelphia Freedom bested the defending champion Calgary Stampede in a hard-fought and chippy series that saw three one-goal games, a pair that went to overtime, and the opening game was only a two-goal margin because of an empty netter late. But the Freedom got big plays when they needed them throughout the series, led by Gordie Howe's game-winner in double OT of Game 4 and Pat Verbeek's series clincher at 14:37 of OT in Game 5. They held scoring leader Wayne Gretzky to two goals in the series, both in Calgary's only win in Game 3, and got terrific goaltending from Mike Richter throughout the series as Barry Trotz's squad got the best of Scotty Bowman's crew to bring the AHA Cup to Philadelphia!

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[G-Force]

Alltime Hockey Association

2021-22 Awards


Most Valuable Player
Wayne Gretzky, Calgary Stampede
50 G, 66 A, 116 Pts, +29

Best Defenseman
King Clancy, San Diego Condors (2)
16G, 56 A, 72 Pts, +25

Best Goalie
Patrick Roy, San Diego Condors (2)
35-13-10, 2.15 GAA, .930 Sv %


Rookie of the Year
Andy Moog, G, Chicago Hitmen
36-16-5, 2.53 GAA, .926 Sv %

Playoff MVP
Gordie Howe, Philadelphia Freedom
8G, 8 A, 16 Pts, +12

Best Defensive Forward
Ryan O'Reilly, Houston Cottonmouths
29G, 46 A, 75 Pts, +15

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Lundqvist Goes First in Amateur Draft