NOLA Team History Update - Printable Version +- Simulation Hockey League (https://simulationhockey.com) +-- Forum: League Media (https://simulationhockey.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=610) +--- Forum: SHL Media (https://simulationhockey.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=46) +---- Forum: Graded Articles (https://simulationhockey.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=545) +---- Thread: NOLA Team History Update (/showthread.php?tid=139150)

NOLA Team History Update - ZodiacEXE - 09-30-2024 One of the things I love doing in sim leagues is going through my team’s history page. There’s a lot to be learned by looking back at our past: learning about old legends, seeing the ups and downs of the franchise over time, and of course seeing what kind of numbers are at the top of the list for the current era. Unfortunately, the New Orleans Specters team history page cuts off at S59– that only covers three seasons that used the current 66-game schedule! What self-respecting index-diver wouldn’t take a closer look and try to provide a few updates? ...Eventually. Starting off with management, the S59 cutoff left the Specters history page with Overdoo just starting his tenure as Co-GM. This would turn out to be a shorter tenure, as after S60 he would depart to manage a new expansion team in the SMJHL: the Regina Elk (known today as the Thunder Bay Walleye). So in S61, the founding and current GM of the Specters JKortesi brought on Pythonic, who has held the role through S78 and has been doing a fantastic job of it! Overdoo (S59-S60) Pythonic (S61-Present) Unfortunately there’s no easy way for me to research captain changes as far as I’m aware, so we’ll be skipping that for now. As much as I’d like to recognize the leaders of the team, 19 seasons is a lot of history to dig through without some structure to it (like with the fighting project I did shortly after joining and the leaderboards coming up soon). Thanks to the portal though, awards were fairly easy to find! Sadly nothing to add in terms of Challenge Cup wins or other team awards, but we do have a few individual award winners to add to the team history page! In S63, Filip Lund (Nictox) drew the ire of the refs more than anybody else in the league to bring home NOLA’s first Turd Ferguson Trophy. That performance would be next repeated by a Specter in S73 when Filip Lund (SimmiZ) would bring home the Ferguson. Patya Perevalov (natedoeshockey) would bring home a less dubious honor in S67 by winning the Aidan Richan Trophy for most improved player– a big step on a team that had pretty much moved sideways from the previous season. Lester Oiduser (mystick) showcased their defensive chops to win S74’s Bojo Biscuit Trophy, and most recently Bernard Lodge (UptownCord) gave a complementary performance in front of the net in S77 to earn the John McBride Trophy! Turd Ferguson Trophy - Jean-Locke Zidane - Nictox (S63) Aidan Richan Trophy - Patya Perevalov - natedoeshockey (S67) Turd Ferguson Trophy - Filip Lund - SimmiZ (S73) Bojo Biscuit Trophy - Lester Oiduser - mystick (S74) John McBride Trophy - Bernard Lodge - UptownCord (S77) Like I said earlier, the current cutoff only covers three seasons of the 66-game era of the SHL. 19 seasons have passed since, meaning only 13.6% of that era is recorded on the Specters Team History Page. As a result, there are a lot of records and leaderboard changes to go through. I’ll try to just hit the highlights and not bloat this article too much. Starting with regular season records, New Orleans has seen some highs and lows during the 66-game era. Given the state of the rebuild when the league shifted away from 50 games, it’s probably not too surprising that the worst seasons are already represented in the pre-S60 history. S60 saw the team earn just 30 points, but was still a slight improvement over the 26 point regular season posted just two years prior. The vast majority of seasons paint the picture of a solid team getting point totals in the 70s and 80s with the occasional few seasons of rebuild. Not the level of the absolute top competing teams, but a very solid team nonetheless. S60: 14 - 50 - 2, 30 points S61: 26 - 37 - 3, 55 points S62: 20 - 41 - 5, 45 points S63: 30 - 32 - 4, 64 points S64: 36 - 25 - 5, 77 points S65: 31 - 29 - 6, 68 points S66: 40 - 19 - 7, 87 points S67: 43 - 21 - 2, 88 points S68: 32 - 29 - 5, 69 points S69: 42 - 22 - 2, 86 points S70: 35 - 25 - 6, 76 points S71: 37 - 26 - 3, 77 points S72: 23 - 40 - 3, 49 points S73: 28 - 33 - 5, 61 points S74: 34 - 27 - 5, 73 points S75: 31 - 34 - 1, 63 points S76: 38 - 24 - 4, 80 points S77: 40 - 23 - 3, 83 points S78: 35 - 27 - 4, 74 points Total: 986 - 878 - 138, 2110 points There are a few milestones that may or may not have gone uncelebrated hidden in the following list as well: The franchise earned its 1000th point during S64. During the opening game of the season, the Specters defeated the Monarchs 3-1 on home ice to earn the franchise’s 1000th (and 1001st) point. S66 marked the franchise’s first 80+ point season, netting 87 on a record of 40 wins and 7 OT losses. Granted this was partially due to the new, longer schedule, but it’s still a milestone. The team has gone on to have four more 80+ point seasons in the years since. The franchise earned its 2000th point during S77. In a late November game against the Syndicate in New Orleans, the Specters defeated Chicago 6-3 to earn franchise point #2000 (and #2001). In the upcoming S79 season, the team is likely to record the franchise’s 1000th win since only 24 are needed to reach the milestone. Unfortunately the playoffs have not been kind to the bayou over the previous seasons. After returning in S63 from consecutive playoff absences, the Specters have never missed a trip to the postseason in 16 seasons. However, in only five of those seasons has the team won a series and advanced to the second round. Furthermore, all five of those division championship appearances have ended in a loss (including a gut-wrenching game 7 against the Aurora in S69). There’s a lot of heartbreak (and some controversy) among these records, so for the most part I’ll let it speak for itself. The only milestone I’ll add is that NOLA won its 100th franchise playoff game in S75 as the deciding game 6 victory in a series against Winnipeg. S60: Did Not Qualify S61: Did Not Qualify S62: Did Not Qualify S63: Loss to CHI 0-4 S64: Loss to TEX 2-4 S65: Loss to WIN 3-4 S66: Beat WIN 4-1 || Loss to CHI 0-4 S67: Beat CHI 4-3 || Loss to WIN 0-4 S68: Loss to CHI 1-4 S69: Beat CHI 4-3 || Loss to WIN 3-4 S70: Loss to CHI 3-4 S71: Loss to CHI 1-4 S72: Loss to WIN 0-4 S73: Loss to EDM 2-4 S74: Loss to TEX 3-4 S75: Beat WIN 4-2 || Loss to TEX 1-4 S76: Loss to WIN 0-4 S77: Loss to MIN :monarachs: 3-4 S78: Beat MIN 4-1 || Loss to TEX 1-4 Total: 110-140 Up next is the team leaderboards. Posting all of them would bloat the article by so so much, so instead I’ll just hit the leaders in each category. Note that these are all limited to the 66-game era with minimums for rate stats and certain stats not tracked until S66 when the league switched to FHM8. Of note are that none of the SKATERS GOALS: 46 scored by Atticus Hale in S69 and Patya Perevalov in S70 ASSISTS: 66 tallied by Xavier Doom in S66 POINTS: 96 total scored by Xavier Doom once again in S66 +/-: +36 recorded by Patya Perevalov in S77 PIM: 169 minutes from Jean-Locke Zidane in S63 HITS: 455 laid by Valstislav Malik in S62 SHOTS: 282 taken by Patya Perevalov in S70 SHOT%: 22.73% efficiency from Xavier Doom in S66 (min. 125 shots taken) BLOCKS: 378 shots blocked by Lyle Odelein III in S59 (one of only two records still standing from the pre-S60 seasons) TOI: 1616 minutes logged by Xavier Doom in S70 POWER PLAY POINTS: 40 total scored by Giannis Kroustis in S71 SHORTHANDED POINTS: 10 total scored by Atticus Hale and JR Frankenstero, surprisingly both in S73 GWG: 10 scored by Vlastislav Malik in S67 (not tracked until S66) FOW: 812 wins by Xavier Doom in S66 (not tracked until S66) FO%: 58.22% by Videl Valor in S69 (not tracked until S66, minimum 1000 faceoffs taken) GOALIES WINS: 29 wins by Bernard Lodge in S77 SAVE%: 0.924 efficiency from Jon St. Ark in S62 (minimum 20 games played) GAA: 2.52 allowed by Iorek Byrnison in S68 (minimum 20 games played) SHUTOUTS: 4 recorded by Olli Saarinen Jr in S57 (the second record to survive from before this update), Jon St. Ark in S65 and S68, and Bernard Lodge in S77. That’s the extent of the research I was able to do for updating the New Orleans Specters team history page. A few notable exclusions from later in the page are career stats (which would be a very time-consuming task to research retroactively), draft history (which I would want more info on player career paths before putting into an article), and team awards (which I haven’t done too much looking into). However, having the team records, individual awards, and single-season stat leaderboards is definitely a good start for people like me who enjoy diving into some team history! Thanks for reading![/b][/b] RE: NOLA Team History Update - JKortesi81 - 09-30-2024 Great work! RE: NOLA Team History Update - Huck24 - 09-30-2024