{"id":7031,"date":"2021-10-25T23:29:21","date_gmt":"2021-10-25T23:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.straybaseball.com\/mwhl\/?p=7031"},"modified":"2021-10-27T16:33:44","modified_gmt":"2021-10-27T16:33:44","slug":"mwhl-on-solid-footing-our-charter-members","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mwhl.straybaseball.com\/?p=7031","title":{"rendered":"MWHL – On solid footing – Our charter members"},"content":{"rendered":"
Heading into our 6th season …………  boy time flies fast.  Once the auction is complete, we will allow about a week for everybody to sort things out, and then get another season going. Let’s see if the Bathgate Rangers can successfully defend their title. It has not been done in the history of the MWHL.<\/div>\n
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Speaking of history …………<\/div>\n
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One sign of the health of a league is the tenure of its members. We have one new member (welcome to Zach Creinin and his Pittsburgh Miners), one member at 1 year, three at 3 years, four at 4 years, and seven charter members with 5 years of membership. Given the turmoil of the past 2 years, we’ve been very fortunate with our low turnover. I’d say we are on solid footing heading into our 6th year.<\/div>\n
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When we talk about a solid foundation, we should talk about our charter members. Over 100 weeks of play. 6 auctions. 6 prospect drafts. They, for many reasons, are a big reason the league is a success. And here are 2:<\/div>\n
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John Niespodzianski – Jagr Mullets<\/strong> – W 256 – L 120 – OL 34 – 546 Pts – The Mullets have the most wins and points of any franchise in the history of the MWHL. They’ve made the playoffs in 4 of the 5 seasons, winning the Metro Division 4 of the 5 years, best of any team in the league. In back to back seasons (2018-19 and 2019-20) Jagr compiled a cummulative 117-41-6 record and 240 points. Unfortunately the playoffs have not been as kind to John as Jagr has only made it to the conference finals once, where brother Chris brought his season to and end in an exciting 7 game set. Mike Haley is also on John’s enemies list, as Thunder Bay has ended 2 playoff runs for the Mullets (2016-17 and 2020-21).   John’s best prospect picks include Patrick Laine (2x All Star), Andrei Svechnikov (Calder 7th pl.), Kirill Kaprizov (Calder 1st, All Star), only picking sooner than 12th once in 5 drafts. <\/div>\n
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Chris Niespodzianski – Brentwood Bandits<\/strong> – W 235 – L 146 – OL 29 – 499 Pts – The Bandits share occupancy in the Metro Division with brother John and his Mullets. The Bandits have the 2nd best total of wins and points in the MWHL. They have made it to the playoffs in 3 seasons, and have won the Metro Division title once. Playoffs have been a good place for the Bandits as they have won 2 Prince of Wales Trophies and one Stanley Cup (2018-19), defeating George Skiles and his California Regulators in a tight 4-3 series. The Bandits sport a nifty 23-18 record in the post season, but more importantly they hold a 1-0 Stanley Cup advantage over the Mullets.  When it comes to finding new talent, Chris has picked William Nylander (Calder 6th), Ilya Sorokin, Zack Aston-Reese, and Dylan Cozens, with the curse of continued success, his earliest pick in any draft being 10th.<\/div>\n
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Residing in the Pacific Division are two members who between them, have 4 appearance in our League Championship game, and amazing success there. Entering their 6th seasons are George Skiles and Mike Lassman, 2 more of the cornerstones for the MWHL:<\/div>\n
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George Skiles – California Regulators<\/strong> – W 219 – L 163 – OL 28 – 466 Pts – When it comes to banners in the rafters, California gots ’em. 3 Pacific Division Titles, 2 Western Conference Titles, and one really big one, for the very first League Championship (beating the defunct Hampton team, 4 games to 2). The Regulators have made the playoffs 4 years of their existence. This is not a team you want to meet in the first round, because they have never been defeated there, winning all 4 series, and compiling an impressive 16-5 record before advancing to 4 Western Finals. In the Western Final, they have won 2, over Toledo and Wausau. California’s 36 post-season wins are the most of any franchise in the League.  George’s best prospect finds include Matt Barzal (Calder 1st), Jordan Kyrou, Filip Zadina, having had only one pick in the first 10 selections.<\/div>\n
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Mike Lassman – Alamo Defenders<\/strong> – W 212 – L 164 – OL 34 – 458 Pts – This is the team with more Cups than anybody – 2. If it wasn’t California winning the Pacific Division, it was Alamo. 2 Division Titles, 2 Western Conference Titles, and most importantly, 2 Stanley Cups. Every time they have made it to the Western Conference Title Series, they have won it (beating California and Toledo). The same applies to their Stanley Cup appearances, winning both, 4-3 over Hampton, and 4-2 over Brentwood. Alamo is 25-18 in the post-season, but more importantly, has only lost one post-season series, and is 16-9 in the final two rounds of post-season play. Take this team down in the first round if you get the chance. Mike’s 25 post-season wins are second to only one guy who runs the California team, but I know he prizes those 2 Stanley Cups more.   With only 1 pick in the first 9 selections, ever, Mike has still been able to find Charlie McAvoy (2 x All Star) and Jacob Chychrun (AS) in the prospect pool.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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These 3 guys combined efforts to give the MWHL life. A big Thank You to Stray Corrado, Bill Schindel and Mike Haley.<\/div>\n
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Stray Corrado – Chicago Cosa Nostra<\/strong> – W 180 – L 202 – OL 28 – 388 Pts – After struggling the first 3 seasons, Chicago made the playoffs 2 seasons ago with 99 points, and then just missed making the playoffs last year by 3 points. Things are trending up for the Cosa Nostra. In their only playoff appearance, Chicago missed advancing to the Western Conference finals by 1 game, losing 4 games to 3 to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Alamo. Stray’s prospect picks include Pierre Luc Dubois (Calder 6th), Alex DeBrincat (2x AS), Rasmus Dahlin (Calder 3rd).<\/div>\n
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Stray and Bill go back longer than they will admit. They’ve launched 2 baseball leagues, and now 2 hockey leagues. Stray is responsible for, and is a real wizard at, the league website and most of the visuals. He creates team logos in the blink of an eye. And how many of us could get our wife to run a 5-hour live auction with a bunch of lunatics on the chatty side. Not me. Many, many, many hours from Stray has given rise to 4 leagues which bring great happiness and frustration to something like 70 sports fanatics.<\/div>\n
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Bill Schindel – Bathgate Rangers<\/strong> – W 188 – L 189 – OL 33 – 409 Pts – After 4 years of missing out, Bathgate finally made the playoffs last season, and proceeded to capitalize in the biggest way. Running off a 12-4 record, like a hot knife through butter, Bill and the Rangers roared to the Eastern Division Title over Thunder Bay (4-1) and then knocked off Bucks Creek in the Cup, 4-2.  Bill’s propect picks include Ivan Provarov (AS), Jake Oettinger (2.36 GA), Nico Hischier (Calder 7th), and K’Andre Miller (Calder 12th).<\/div>\n
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Per Bill, the idea for the MWHL came during baseball trade talks with Stray. It went from how about we start a hockey league, to buying the PC Action game and trying it out, and then they were on their way. Somehow Bill got roped into doing a lot of heavy lifting as the guy creating the database, and all the spreadsheets you interact with each season. In addition, Bill, along with Stray’s wife Stacy, runs the live auction, and then Bill alone, finishes it off with the e mail auction. He also is the trade guru, checking each trade for legality, and moving that action along. Where would we be without him? I know my part would be much much harder. <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Mike Haley – Thunder Bay Nor’Westers<\/strong> – W 215 – L 168 – OL 27 – 457 Pts – Thunder Bay has made the playoffs in 3 seasons, each time as a wild card team. Amazingly, their opponent in the first round every season, was the Jagr Mullets. The Nor’Westers have had the upper hand against Jagr, winning 2 of 3 series. Their fortunes in the Eastern Conference Finals have not been good, losing both times 4-1, first to Hampton in 2017, and then last year to Bathgate. Plan on seeing Mike’s team sniffing the playoffs, as their prospect list includes Ilya Samsonov, Jack Hughes, Kaapo Kakko. <\/div>\n
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When it comes to the inception of the MWHL, Mike spent countless hours creating the first version of the League Guide which, with a few modifications, is still in use today. Not a trivial piece of work.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Heading into our 6th season …………  boy time flies fast.  Once the auction is complete, we will allow about a week for everybody to sort things out, and then get another season going. Let’s see if the Bathgate Rangers can successfully defend their title. It has not been done in the history of the MWHL. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mwhl.straybaseball.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7031"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mwhl.straybaseball.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mwhl.straybaseball.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mwhl.straybaseball.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mwhl.straybaseball.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7031"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mwhl.straybaseball.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7034,"href":"https:\/\/mwhl.straybaseball.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7031\/revisions\/7034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mwhl.straybaseball.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mwhl.straybaseball.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mwhl.straybaseball.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}