The Alltime Hockey Association

[G-Force]

AHA SHOOTOUT
five rounds of monthly news from around the league

1. In any kind of draft setup, all eyes are on the top pick. Wayne Gretzky hasn't disappointed. The Calgary center is third in the AHA in points through the first month of the season with 19 (6 G, 13 A) and the Stampede have done exactly that out of the gate, getting off to a league best 11-2-0 start.
   
   
2. Sure, the most focus was going to be on Gretzky, but Pierre Turgeon of the Portland Pioneers has been the most productive player thus far. Turgeon leads the league in assists (16) and points (23) and is a +7 as Portland leads the league in goals with 53. Unfortunately for them, they've also allowed the third most (45), trailing only the two cellar dwellers: Houston (47) and Montreal (46).
   
   
3. The Philadelphia Freedom sit atop the Eastern Conference despite being even in goals for/against thus far, having scored and allowed 41. Evgeni Malkin is tied for third with 7 goals and Ilya Bryzgalov is second in wins (6) and fourth in save percentage (.934). The Malkin/Howe/Heatley line has accounted for 19 goals. Mike Richter has struggled in net so far, particularly on the road, where he's 1-4 with a 3.76 goals against.
   
   
4. The Chicago Hitmen are going to have decision to make if this keeps up. Bill Ranford is a perfect 5-0 with a stellar .961 save percentage. Andy Moog has gotten seven starts, and is 2-4-1 with a .920 save percentage. Not bad by any means, but it's going to be hard to not give Ranford the bulk of the time if he stays hot.
   
   
5. A pair of major injuries: Seattle suffered a huge loss on opening night as Guy LaFleur had to be helped off the ice after suffering a torn hamstring. He's expected to be out for 2-3 months. The Indianapolis Engines lost a key cog in the preseason, as defenseman Doug Bodger tore his Achilles.
   
   GH
   

[G-Force]

AHA STANDINGS & LEADERS AS OF DEC. 1

[G-Force]

AHA SHOOTOUT DEC. 1
five rounds of monthly news from around the league

1. It didn't take long for Wayne Gretzky to shoot to his presumed place atop the AHA scoring list, putting up 31 points in 14 games in November to give him 50 through 27 games, a big reason the Calgary Stampede lead the Western Conference with 54 points.
   
2. The two conferences have set up very distinctly to this point, with the Eastern Conference showing more balance (the four teams in 2nd through 5th place are separate by five points) while the Western Conference is a clear three-team race, with three teams above 50 points and the other three having less than 40.
   
3. We noted before the season that the Seattle Storm had the oddest draft of any AHA squad, taking a goalie (Glenn Hall) in round 1 but not selecting a defenseman until the 11th round. So it is no surprise that the Storm have allowed the second most goals in the league (94). What is a surprise, though, is the fact they've also scored the second fewest (65).
   
4. The Chicago goaltending situation remains an oddity. Andy Moog has started 20 of the Hitmen's 27 games. He's lost 11. The Hitmen have lost 12. Bill Ranford leads the league in goals against (1.86) and save percentage (.952). One has to believe coach Claude Julien is going to reverse course here shortly.
   
5. On the injury front, Philadelphia suffered a major loss when Scott Niedermayer was diagnosed with a hip fracture that will keep him out for the rest of the season. Niedermayer had four goals and 14 assists in 23 games. Meanwhile, the Charlotte Pilots suffered a loss of their own as Drew Doughty (9 G, 18 A, +8) will miss about a month with a dislocated shoulder.
   
   GH

[pgd44]

Is there a quickstart for this ? It looks like you did a ton of work to create this. Looks like it would be a blast to play. I would love to try this is there was a quickstart somewhere to download.

Thank you for sharing this Dynasty
It is great to follow it.

[G-Force]

Originally Posted by pgd44

Is there a quickstart for this ? It looks like you did a ton of work to create this. Looks like it would be a blast to play. I would love to try this is there was a quickstart somewhere to download.

Thank you for sharing this Dynasty
It is great to follow it.

Sorry I hadn't been on here lately. Appreciate the kind words. I can upload the quickstart, the only thing is that I'll have to manually import new players each year and can't set that up in advance. So you'll really just have the guys who made the inaugural draft.


Appreciate you following along!

GH

[G-Force]

AHA STANDINGS & LEADERS AS OF JAN. 1

[pgd44]

Originally Posted by G-Force

Sorry I hadn't been on here lately. Appreciate the kind words. I can upload the quickstart, the only thing is that I'll have to manually import new players each year and can't set that up in advance. So you'll really just have the guys who made the inaugural draft.


Appreciate you following along!

GH

Thank you !!! Would love to try it out as well as follow it. Quick question. How do you manually import new players? Is there a database file you use? How would I go about that?

Thank you again for all of this.

[G-Force]

AHA SHOOTOUT JAN. 1
five rounds of monthly news from around the league

• Wayne Gretzky continues to make his mark on the AHA's inaugural season. The Calgary Stampede center posted 9 goals and 14 assists to take home Player of the Month honors, raising his season totals to 28-45-73, each leading the league.
  
• Portland Pioneers goalie Tiny Thompson earned Goalie of the Month honors including a stretch of three straight shutouts from Dec. 17-21 against Calgary, Los Angeles and Charlotte. Thompson appears to, for the time being at least, have taken the starting job from Mike Vernon.

• The Indianapolis Engines continue to set the pace in the Eastern Conference, holding a 9-point advantage over second-place Charlotte despite having played four fewer games. Their offense has been solid, led by Brian Bellows (21-23-44) and six guys between 25 and 30 points. But the goalie tandem of Olaf Kolzig (15-6-4, 2.30, .926) and Tuuka Raask (9-5-2, 2.15, .933) has been stellar to lead the way.
  
• Gretzky's Calgary squad has been outstanding, but still unable to take down the San Diego Condors, who hold the AHA's top record. The Condors have flown particularly high on the road, putting up an astounding 12-4-1 road mark. Lead goalie Patrick Roy (16-8-3, 2.40, .914) has been terrific, but the story here is Pekka Rinne, who has been otherworldly in a backup role (8-1-3, 1.94, .921). "They are the most complete team in hockey," one rival coach said. "To knock them off you're going to need to be pretty close to perfect."
  
• The Chicago Hitmen got stud defender Bobby Orr back from injury to close out the year on Dec. 30 and he was flying! Orr picked up a pair of assists and fired off a season-best 8 shots on goal in a 4-3 win over Philadelphia. The Hitmen currently hold that third and final Eastern Conference playoff spot.
  
  GH

[G-Force]

AHA STANDINGS & LEADERS AS OF FEB. 1

[G-Force]

AHA SHOOTOUT FEB. 1
five rounds of monthly news from around the league

• The separation between the top three and bottom three in each conference is clear at this point. In the Eastern Conference, Philadelphia trails Chicago by 16 points for the final playoff spot. Out West, 19 points separate third place Portland from fourth place Houston. As a reminder, the top three in each conference make the postseason, with the top seed in each getting a bye in the first round.
• It lasted only for two days, but Chicago's Alexei Yashin caught Calgary's Wayne Gretzky for the AHA lead in goals. Yashin posted 12 goals and 13 assists during a fabulous 13-game point streak that ended Jan. 16 against Indianapolis. He then picked up a point in five of the final six games of the month. Yashin may very well get to face off against Gretzky for the AHA Cup if current records hold to form.
• Struggles have led to a pair of coaching casualties in the AHA's inaugural season. The Seattle Storm fired coach Bruce Boudreau, who outside observers contend was hamstrung by an inaugural draft that virtually ignored defense, leading to a whopping 190 goals allowed through 57 games. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Peter Laviolette was shown the door as the Royals have been the league's worst team, damaged by an unfathomable 3-23-1 mark on the road while playing only two games below .500 at home. Marc Crawford replaces Boudreau in Seattle, while Glen Sather takes over in Los Angeles.
• The top 6 in +/- in the AHA come from the top lines of Indianapolis (Bryan Trottier, Wendell Clark and Brian Bellows) and Calgary (Wayne Gretzky, Owen Nolan and Gerard Gallant). Number 7? Frank Mahovlich or Portland, who is third in the league in goals and fifth in points. He'll get a chance to gain notoriety come the playoffs, as Portland is a virtual lock to make the postseason.
• Why have the New York Empire struggled? A lot of it comes down to special teams. The Empire are second in the league in penalty minutes, and worst - by a lot - in power play success, converting an abysmal 11.5%. Los Angeles is second worst at 15%.
  
  GH
  

[G-Force]

AHA STANDINGS & LEADERS AS OF MARCH 1

[G-Force]

AHA SHOOTOUT MARCH 1
five rounds of monthly news from around the league

• Shockwaves reverberated through the AHA with news that its leading man, Wayne Gretzky, was diagnosed with a detached retina after leaving a game Feb. 8 against the Chicago Hitmen. The league's leading scorer and best player for its best team, the announcement shifted the balance of power immediately as we come down the home stretch of the season. Gretzky is expected to miss just over two months, a timeline that from a distance sounds optimistic. If true, he could return sometime during the playoffs. But the playoffs just got much more interesting. Gretzky's Calgary Stampede are now mired in a 10-game losing streak - they'd lost only 18 games before Gretzky's injury - and may well lose a conference title that seemed sure to be theirs. If that happens, they'll need to play in the semifinal rather than get the bye to the conference final, and it seems unlikely Gretzky would be back for that. The AHA Playoffs are to begin April 4.
• With changes complete in Los Angeles and Seattle, the rumor mill has started gnawing away at New York's Mike Babcock. The Empire have slipped to the cellar of the Eastern Conference and have scored a league-low 155 goals with several players considered to be vastly underperforming, most notably Steve Yzerman, who has only 8 goals in 50 games. Babcock will likely finish the season, but change could come swiftly after the campaign concludes.
• The injury to Gretzky means someone else will win the league scoring title. Portland's Pierre Turgeon and Chicago's Alexei Yashin each have 35, five behind Gretzky, who still leads in assists (57), one ahead of Yashin; and points (97), six ahead of Yashin.
• Adding to the production of Turgeon and Frank Mahovlich (34 goals) for a somewhat unheralded Portland squad has been the terrific work of defenseman Brian Leetch, who is fifth in the league in assists with 47.
• In the AHA inaugural season's final month, crunch time out West starts on March 11. Conference-leading Calgary faces Portland in a home-and-home and also faces San Diego FOUR times in the final six games. Portland and San Diego meet for the final time on March 2nd. In the East, Chicago and Indianapolis lock up twice more, on the 18th and 22nd.
  
  GH

[G-Force]

AHA FINAL STANDINGS & LEADERS

[G-Force]

ALLTIME HOCKEY ASSOCIATION PLAYOFF MATCHUPS


Eastern Conference

#2 Chicago Hitmen vs #3 Charlotte Pilots (Best of 5)

Winner faces #1 Indianapolis Engines for Conference Final (Best of 7)

Western Conference

#2 Portland Pioneers vs #3 Calgary Stampede (Best of 5)

Winner faces #1 San Diego Condors (Best of 7)

GH

[G-Force]

Eastern Conference Semifinal Preview

vs

Charlotte won season series 6-4-2

[G-Force]

Western Conference Semifinal Preview

vs

Calgary won season series 8-4

[G-Force]

Eastern Conference Semifinal Game One

vs

Charlotte held Chicago not only scoreless but shotless through the first 7 1/2 minutes of the game. And, while unable to break through themselves, Charlotte seemed to be controlling the game. But that changed when back to back penalties two seconds apart in the second period - the second a temper-driven high stick from Bobby Hull - gave the Hitmen a 5-on-3 advantage that resulted in the game's first goal as Michel Goulet found the back of the net past Martin Brodeur. Chicago seized the momentum and later in the period bagged a pair of goals within 89 seconds of each other, from Pierre Larouche and Alexei Yashin, to give the Hitmen a comfortable 3-0 lead after two. Yashin and Goulet would each tally another in the third and Bobby Orr would add a goal to go with his three assists en route to a 6-1 victory to give Chicago a leg up in the series.

Chicago 6, Charlotte 1 (Chicago leads series 1-0)

[G-Force]

Western Conference Semifinal Game 1

vs

Portland got nothing out of Pierre Turgeon and has to deal with Frank Mahovlich out for the rest of the season with a ruptured UCL, which would seem to be a recipe for opposition success. But Calgary lacks sympathy as they wait for the hopeful return of Wayne Gretzky, who has missed nearly two months. In the Western Conference semifinal opener, the leading man ended up being a player who played only three games during the regular season. Andy McDonald scored twice for Portland in the second period and assisted Jimmy Thomson's eventual third-period game winner as the Pioneers took the first game of the series, 4-2. Tiny Thompson made 35 saves in the win.

Portland 4, Calgary 2 (Portland leads series 1-0)

[G-Force]

Eastern Conference Semifinal Game Two

vs

Danny Gare broke the ice with just over a minute left in the first period and Charlotte was able to neutralize Chicago's attack, while demonstrating some firepower of their own. Martin Brodeur stopped all 22 shots he faced and Charlotte scored three times in the second period on Bill Ranford to even the Eastern Conference semifinal at a game apiece. Jordan Staal, Drew Doughty and Matt Cullen each scored in the second and Dave Taylor made it a 5-0 drubbing with a last second goal - literally - that the Hitmen surely won't forget when they take the ice for Game 3.

Charlotte 5, Chicago 0 (series tied 1-1)

[G-Force]

Western Conference Semifinal Game 2

vs

The return of Wayne Gretzky to the Calgary lineup after nearly two months figured to be a spark for the Stampede. But a game misconduct to Gerard Gallant for an illegal hit to the head in the first period but Calgary on its heels and let Portland storm to a 3-0 lead. The 5-minute power play netted three goals for the Pioneers over a two-minute stretch as Jaromir Jagr, Ray Shepard and Bill Quackenbush each tallied for Portland. Game 1 star Andy McDonald made it 4-0 before a pair of late-period goals from Bob Pulford and Owen Nolan sent it to the first intermission at 4-2. Todd Bertuzzi brought Calgary within a goal early in the second but Paul Martin tallied for Portland to make it 5-3. Nolan notched his second of the game, but Portland answered again, this time from Scott Mellanby, as Brian Leetch picked up his fourth assist of the game. Ryan Kesler would add a pair for the Pioneers in the third to build an 8-4 lead and Portland would cruise the rest of the way to take a commanding 2-0 series lead. Gretzky notched an assist but is clearly not 100 percent.


Portland 8, Calgary 5 (Portland leads series 2-0)