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WHL 1989 (postseason p.3, teams finished p.2)


JCRGraphix

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The year is 1989.

The Berlin Wall is still standing, George H.W. Bush is president of the US, Maxis released SimCity, and Michael Jackson is named the King of Pop. In an effort to build a better relationship with the quickly crumbling USSR, the 1989-90 NHL season is cancelled, and the first and only season of the World Hockey League is played. There are 4 divisions: American, Canadian, European, and Soviet with 5 teams each competing for the Peace Cup. The American, Canadian, and European divisions hold a draft, selecting players from the NHL and minor leagues, while the Soviet division selects players from the Soviet Union.

A 38-game regular season is played followed by a playoff. The second and third place teams in each division compete in the first round before taking on the division champions for the quarterfinals.

I will release each team along with their regular season results, and then once all teams are released, I will release the playoff results, and eventually the winners of the Peace Cup.

The first team up are the Soviet Division champs: the Moscow Stars. This team is led by goaltender Vladislav Tretiak and scoring leaders Alexei Tkachuk and Alexander Semak.

Stars.png


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Next up, named after the famous yearly festival, the Stockholm Jazz, led by scoring leaders Ron Francis and Thomas Steen with Reggie Lemelin in net. Although the Jazz have bright and fun uniforms, they had a dark and dreary season.

jazz.png


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Okay, this is a fantasy, but: In the spring of 1989 the Calgary Flames won their only Stanley Cup wearing red uniforms almost identical (logo aside) to these Moscow Stars. The NHL of that era had 21 teams by itself- who sat out for this?

Use the rules of heraldry for more effective sports logos! i.e. keep it simple, use good contrast...

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Up next are the Houston Apollos. After a solid 20-11-7 season, the Apollos finished 3rd in the American Division grabbing the last playoff spot. The Apollos are led by Steve Yzerman and Ray Bourque with Daren Puppa in goal.

The logo is a bold H with an Apollo rocket in the negative space, and with the perspective on the letter it could be an A as well...

apollos.png


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You've seen one Soviet, one European, and one American team, so what's next? You guessed it... A Canadian one. The Calgary Cowboys' name was inspired by the old WHA franchise as well as the Calgary flag. The Cowboys were one team that tried hard to keep the nucleus of their NHL team together, and it was not a bad idea. The Cowboys ended up with a 17-18-3 record on their way to the last Canadian playoff spot. The team was led in scoring by Joe Nieuwendyk and Doug Gilmour with Mike Vernon in goal.

COWBOYS.png


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Up next, we go back out to Saint Petersburg (Leningrad in 1989) for the Leningrad Admirals. Saint Petersburg is an important port on the Baltic Sea, and was also an important strategic naval place. The Admirals get their colors from the Soviet Navy's uniforms. The Admirals had a very good season going 20-11-7 thanks to the outstanding goaltending of young Latvian netminder Arturs Irbe. Their scoring was led by Evgeny Shtepa and Andrei Khomutov.

I kind of figured this would happen eventually, but I finally ran into a player I couldn't find a decent picture of, so Evgeny Shtepa is the default player model. It's pretty difficult to find many pictures of Soviet players from that time.

admirals.png


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Up next, from the UK, are the London Kings. The Kings did fairly well finishing first in a relatively weak European Division. The Kings were led in scoring by Dale Hawerchuk and Adam Oates. Some solid goaltending was provided by Andy Moog. Moog's mask he wore before his famous bear mask, works perfectly with the colors changed!

kings.png


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Will there be teams in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Toronto, Amsterdam, Paris, Vancouver or Seattle?

Why yes in fact there will be... At least in a few of those...

The Los Angeles Bombers are named after all of the warplanes built in the Los Angeles area during World War II. The logo depicts a B25 Mitchell, one of America's finest bombers, built in Los Angeles by the North American Aviation company. Although the Bombers had some fantastic scoring led by Wayne Gretzky and Luc Robitaille, the overall team play was less than stellar leading to a 16-18-4 record just missing the playoffs. The Bombers were backstopped by goalie Kelly Hrudey, seen here with his trademark mask, and bandana.

bombers.png


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So, what are the teams playing for? Here's a look at the hardware...

peace%2Bcup.png

Also, as with any league, there are awards given to players who stand out. The Turk Broda Award is named after the famous Ukrainian goaltender who was one of the greatest to play the position. This award is given at the end of the season to the best back-up goaltender. The goalie must play in less than half of his team's games to be nominated for this award.

The first nominee, from the Houston Apollos, is Sam St. Laurent.

BRODA%2Bstlaurent.png


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The next team up had the best record in the league going 26-8-4. The Montreal Maroons used the fantasy draft to load up on all of the French Canadian talent including goalie Patrick Roy and scoring leaders Stephane Richer and Mario Lemieux. Since Montreal is a city with such amazing hockey tradition, the Maroons wore throwbacks to their original NHL jerseys.

MAROONS.png


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The award for the best defenseman is named after one of the greatest to play the game, Eddie Shore. One of the nominees for this award decided to come back from retirement after taking one year off. Denis Potvin's play helped lead the Montreal Maroons to the best record in the league.

SHORE%2Bdenispotvin.png


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Just Curious will there be a Boston Team?

Unfortunately since there are only 5 slots available for the US, Boston was not selected.

No team in Boston, so you put teams in hockey hotbeds like Houston and LA? :therock:

Where are the other teams going--Miami, Atlanta, Las Vegas, and New Orleans?

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Just Curious will there be a Boston Team?

Unfortunately since there are only 5 slots available for the US, Boston was not selected.

No team in Boston, so you put teams in hockey hotbeds like Houston and LA? :therock:

Where are the other teams going--Miami, Atlanta, Las Vegas, and New Orleans?

I will reevaluate the American teams. I didn't realize there would be such a major deal about Boston not being included. The teams that are posted are already in though.


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Up next from the Soviet Division are the Prague Emperors. Prague was at one time the capital of the Holy Roman Empire. Their identity reflects that. The team is led in scoring by seventeen year old phenom Jaromir Jagr and Peter Bondra. Dominik Hasek's excellent goaltending helped them to an impressive 23-10-5 record.

One of the things I'm really trying hard to do is to create designs that you would realistically see on ice in 1989. In the research I did for this team, I found that Czech hockey players often do not have the same numbering traditions we do in North America. In fact, Dominik Hasek wore number 9 while playing with Pardubice, as well as here.

emperors.png


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