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| Around the WCHL: October 2002 |
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Edited
by Phillip Brents Teams
included in this report: AnchorageAces After new ownership took over the WCHL team in July, it vowed to give Anchorage hockey fans a franchise unencumbered by the turmoil of recent seasons. The new bosses made sure to secure the heart and soul of the franchise by signing Larson and provide new coach Rod Davidson with a key team spiritual leader. “Dean’s been with this club through thick and thin,” said Aces General Manager Derek Donald. “He’s put up with all the tough times and he’s displayed incredible character. We’re extremely excited to have him back.” A 5-foot-8, 170-pound forward from Calgary, Alberta, Larson has played in Anchorage ever since he starred with the University of Alaska-Anchorage in the early 1990s. He posted 27 goals and 45 assists in 69 games for Anchorage in 2001-02. His 700 career points on 231 goals and 469 assists is among several WCHL records he holds. “I’m very happy to be back,” Larson said. “I love this team and this city and look forward to getting back on track by winning hockey games. I want this team to be back on top of the WCHL where it belongs.” While Larson returns, another Anchorage legend – Keith Street -- apparently will not. In an emotional moment to cap last season’s playoffs, a part of Aces history glorifying leadership, superior playing ability and entertainment found closure when the club formally retired Street’s No. 8 jersey. After his final seasons in 2001-02, Street ranked as the WCHL’s fifth best all-time goal leader (197 goals spanning six years, including playoffs), second among all-time assist leaders (334 assists) and third among all-time point leaders (531 points). He continues to hold Aces individual records for most points in one season (135 in 1998-99), most assists in one season (90 in 1997-98), most short-handed goals in one season (8 in 1996-97 and 1997-98) and is tied for most game winning goals in one season (8 in 1998-99) and most goals in one game (4 on Nov. 6, 1996). Street set individual
WCHL all-time records for most assists with 90 in 1997-98 (64-game schedule)
and 88 in 1998-99 (71-game schedule), most points with 135 in 1998-99 (
71-game schedule) and 120 in 1997-98 (64-game schedule), most shots with
356 in 1998-99 (71-game schedule) and longest consecutive point scoring
streak (15 goals and 58 assists in 30 games) He is tied for records with
most short-handed goals with eight in 1997-98 (64-game schedule) and 1995-96
(58-game schedule) and with seven in 1996-97 (64- game season). Bakersfield
Condors Kelly completed his first season at the helm of the Condors in 2001-2002 after arriving in Bakersfield from Topeka in the CHL. He became the third head coach in the franchise’s history and established himself by leading an improving Condors squad to a 32-35-5 record for 69 points and a fourth place finish in the WCHL Southern Division standings. The Condors were eliminated in four games by the San Diego Gulls in the Southern Division semifinals but not before Bakersfield set a team record for both goals against average and fewest goals allowed -- 36 goals less than the franchise’s previous record. The Condors finished the regular season by winning six consecutive games and posting a 10-1-1 mark in their final 12 games. They won their last seven regular season matches on home ice to tie a franchise record. One of the reasons for the team’s turnaround was the signing of Raymond as the team’s associate coach in February. Raymond guided the Phoenix Mustangs to a Taylor Cup championship during the 1999-2000 WCHL season. He served as the head coach of the Mustangs for two seasons as well as one season behind the bench of the Tucson Gila Monsters. Raymond was instrumental in bringing in new players to the Condors and helping the team attain its strong finish. “There’s no question that when Paul and Marty were brought together it turned this team around,” said Condors President and General Manager Matthew Riley. “We finished the season on such a positive note, that we’re all anxious to see what they can do for an entire season.” “When I look back at everything that happened last season,” Kelly said, “bringing in Marty was the best move we made. He was a great help to me on and off the ice, and I look forward to the same great relationship this season.” “The reception in Bakersfield with the fans and the players was so strong last season, that I wanted a chance to come back and try to win a championship,” Raymond explained. “I think coach Kelly and I make a great team. We both have the expertise and desire to win, and we work well together.” The Bakersfield franchise record for most wins in one season is 34, set during the 1999-2000 season when the club also posted its best regular season finish with 77 points and a second-place finish in the division standings. However, the Condors remain underachievers in another category: Bakersfield is 0-for-5 in five first-round playoff series – a dubious streak that is begging to be broken. With a solid
nucleus of holdover talent, the current Condors braintrust will be out to
chart new territory. Idaho
Steelheads
Olver snared his fourth WCHL Coach of the Year award in six years behind the bench in the league last season after leading the Idaho Steelheads to their second consecutive Taylor Cup Finals appearance and first Founders Cup title. Overall, it was the fifth consecutive WCHL championship series appearance for Olver and his sixth overall after guiding the Fresno Falcons to a runner-up playoff finish during the league’s inaugural 1995-96 campaign and later taking the fledgling Tacoma Sabercats franchise to three consecutive trips to the Taylor Cup Finals (and a 134-47-20 record), winning the league banner in 1999. As a reward, Olver either won or shared the WCHL Coach of the Year award three consecutive times between 1998-2000 while also earning the right to coach two WCHL All-Star teams. In two seasons in Idaho, all Olver has done is to make over a Steelheads club that had never posted more than 68 points in any of its three previous seasons and had never won a first-round playoff series and mold it into what has all the makings of the league’s latest dynasty. In two seasons under Olver, the Steelheads are 94-38-12 in the regular season play and have won four of six playoff series in which they have appeared. Olver led the Steelheads to a 47-16-7 record last season, establishing a team record with 102 standings points. Idaho also set new franchise record for most home wins (29), tying a WCHL record, and also tied the second longest streak in league history with an 18-game home winning streak. In his first season in Boise in 2000-2001, Olver guided the Steelheads to a 47-21-4 record and a trip to the 2001 Taylor Cup Finals. The squad set franchise best records for wins (47), points (98), home wins (27) and road wins (20). Despite the fame that goes with the WCHL Coach of the Year award, Olver (a former draft pick of the NHL Colorado Rockies) chooses to place the reason for his success on the players he coaches. “It is an honor to be named Coach of the Year,” Olver said in a team release. “This award really belongs to the players. They are the ones who went out paid the price night in and night out. It is a tribute to their success.” It is also tribute
to a man who In seven seasons, has won more than 260 regular season contests
and coached in 68 playoff games – second only to San Diego’s
Steve Martinson, owner of a record four Taylor Cup championships and 340
regular season wins in that same span. San
Diego Gulls But Martinson, who did build the league’s first dynasty from scratch, feels he has come up with a lineup this season that may top all previous Gulls squads in terms of talent load. “Right now, our depth is right back where it was when we were winning a lot of games. On paper, this is the best team we’ve had even though our salaries are down. Our younger players are better,” Martinson said. An affiliation agreement the Gulls signed with the AHL Hershey Bears (the primary minor league affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche) over the summer was a primary reason the team was able to regain some of the depth it had lost, according to Martinson, who called the agreement “significant.” The deal allows the Gulls to loan players to Hershey during the season. Four San Diego players – defensemen Marc Busenburg, forwards Rob Voltera and Sandro Sbrocca and center Sylvain Deschatelets – were invited to attend the Bears preseason training camp. Martinson said without the deal that he would not have been able to attract such desirable high caliber young talent to his team. “It’s much easier to go out and sign young players if they know they are going places where they have a chance to move up,” Martinson said. Mike Garrow, the WCHL’s 2001-2002 Rookie of the Year, who was acquired after the Colorado Gold Kings folded, was earmarked to attend the AHL Utah Grizzlies preseason training camp. The core talent of the Gulls remains in their veteran players, however, and Martinson feels he has recruited sufficient talent to make up for the loss of John Spoltore, the WCHL’s leading point-scorer last season with 113 points, and forward Mark Woolf, the WCHL’s top goalscorer in 2001-2002 with 50 goals. R.J. Enga, who finished second to Woolf in the scoring derby last season with 48 goals, was acquired after Colorado ceased operations. Dean Tiltgen, the third-leading scorer in the ECHL last season, was another bold offseason signing. Martinson feels he has two potential 50-goal scorers in Enga and Tiltgen. It’s consistency
that Martinson admires most. Enga comes to the Gulls after amassing 387
points (eighth all-time in the WCHL) in four seasons in Colorado, including
the 2000-01 campaign when he set career marks with 50 goals and 105 points.
Tiltgen, meanwhile, is coming off a career-best 78 points (40 goals, 38
assists) last season with the ECHL’s Pensacola Ice Pilots and has
four straight 30-goal seasons. |
FEATURE ARTICLES
AROUND
THE WCHL GAME RECAPS PROFILES IN HOCKEY PRESS RELEASES |
The
Anchorage Aces may have entered a new era, but the team that has called
Anchorage home since the mid-1930s was not about to forego tradition. After
making veteran gunner Kimbi Daniels and former 60-goal scorer Yvan Corbin
their initial two player signings, the “new era” Aces brought
back high-scoring center Dean Larson for an eighth season with the club.
Head
coach Paul Kelly and associate coach Marty Raymond both return for the 2002-03
WCHL season after laying the foundation for what promises to be both exciting
and fruitful future Condors campaigns. 
If
there has been one constant in the WCHL’s brief eight-year history,
it has been John Olver – the architect behind Taylor Cup Finals appearances
by three different teams and owner of four WCHL Coach of the Year awards.
San
Diego Gulls head coach and general manager Steve Martinson might not have
exactly started from scratch in building this season’s team but he
came very close to it after the Gulls suffered the largest turnover in personnel
in seven years of existence. Losses during the past offseason included both
the top point-maker and the top goalscorer in the WCHL in 2001-2002.