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High Stick King · 10-10-2021, 07:04 AM

SHL History for Dummies - Season 51 to 60+

Parts in Series

Part 1: Season 1 to 10
Part 2: Season 11 to 20
Part 3: Season 21 to 30
Part 4: Season 31 to 40
Part 5: Season 41 to 50
Part 6: This one

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This is the final part to my SHL History for Dummies series where I take a quick look at each season of the league and figure out who GM'd what team and what everyone's records were that year. The warning in the first part of the series still stands, this might be boring for a lot of you so apologies but I want cash and need to learn.

This should be the exciting decade since the sim engine and game amounts change (that I thought occurred last decade but that's why we are here, to learn). Seasons 41 to 50 had the league grow from 14 teams to 16 as well as had a bit more GM movement than seasons 31 to 40 did. At this stage we have 7 GMs who have taken over a team in the last decade who are still the current active owners of those teams. Of the 20 teams in the SHL as I write this, 14 of them exist at this point in the article. A few more exist as well but in different city locations or with different branding.

This decade should take care of all of that and we should be pretty well caught up by the end. So here we go:

Season 51 to 60

Season 51

League

League remains the same since S46 expansion season. Not even any GM positions changing.

Teams

Buffalo Stampede (27-21-2)
Calgary Dragons (26-20-4)
Chicago Syndicate (30-20-0)
Edmonton Blizzard (32-14-4)
Hamilton Steelhawks (31-15-4)
Los Angeles Panthers (21-25-4)
Manhattan Rage (26-18-6)
Minnesota Chiefs (19-29-2)
New England Wolfpack (21-22-7)
New Orleans Spectres (36-11-3)
San Francisco Pride (18-27-5)
Tampa Bay Barracudas (24-22-4)
Texas Renegades (19-29-2)
Toronto North Stars (21-26-3)
West Kendall Platoon (25-23-2)
Winnipeg Jets (22-24-4)

Winners

Cup: Hamilton Steelhawks
MVP: Tony Pepperoni of Edmonton
Goalie: Tommy Tuck of Edmonton
Defender: Tor Tuck of Los Edmonton

Overview

Hamilton Steelhawks win the championship, their clubs 4th championship (S11, S24, S26, and S51). What is really standing out to me is how well the two newest expansion teams have done. The S25 expansion clubs had some really lean seasons. I wonder if there was a difference in expansion rules or if there were a bigger player pool to draw from? No GM movement at all and very little the last couple seasons. Individual awards, the Tuck brothers (cousins, sisters, brother/sister -- I don't know, it is all an assumption on my part) win both the best goalie and best defender awards respectively as Edmonton sweeps the 3 awards. This is Tommy's 3rd best goalie award while it is the 2nd best defender award for Tor.

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Season 52

League

No changes from last season.

Teams

Buffalo Stampede (28-19-3)
Calgary Dragons (24-22-4)
Chicago Syndicate (29-16-5)
Edmonton Blizzard (29-18-3)
Hamilton Steelhawks (33-15-2)
Los Angeles Panthers (25-21-4)
Manhattan Rage (28-21-1)
Minnesota Chiefs (19-24-7) - SpartanGibbles replaces Shmurph as GM and becomes our 8th/9th current GM listed
New England Wolfpack (24-19-7)
New Orleans Spectres (25-18-7)
San Francisco Pride (31-12-7)
Tampa Bay Barracudas (16-30-4) - MCP replaces JSS as GM
Texas Renegades (20-26-4)
Toronto North Stars (24-19-7)
West Kendall Platoon (21-28-1)
Winnipeg Jets (24-26-0) - Muerto replaces StadiumGambler as GM and becomes our 8th/9th current GM listed

Winners

Cup: Manhattan Rage
MVP: Philipp Winter of Los Angeles
Goalie: Peter Larson of Manhattan
Defender: Tig Murphy of Hamilton

Overview

The Manhattan Rage win the championship, the clubs 4th cup (S22, S34, S38, and S52). Two teams sub 20 wins but still a competitive season overall. Three GM changes this season which is a big turnover compared to previous seasons with 2 of the GM's currently in those same roles as we speak (S61). All three individual award winners are first timers.

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Season 53

League

The league switches to the FHM sim engine.

Teams

Buffalo Stampede (35-14-1)
Calgary Dragons (31-14-5)
Chicago Syndicate (24-24-2)
Edmonton Blizzard (32-13-5)
Hamilton Steelhawks (40-7-3)
Los Angeles Panthers (35-11-4)
Manhattan Rage (25-22-3)
Minnesota Chiefs (12-33-5)
New England Wolfpack (42-7-1)
New Orleans Spectres (29-17-4)
San Francisco Pride (27-20-3)
Tampa Bay Barracudas (10-38-2)
Texas Renegades (9-41-0)
Toronto North Stars (6-41-3)
West Kendall Platoon (21-22-7)
Winnipeg Jets (22-25-3)

Winners

Cup: Hamilton Steelhawks
MVP: Ola Wagstrom of New England
Goalie: Johannes Leitner of New England
Defender: Poopity Scoop of Winnipeg

Overview

The Hamilton Steelhawks win the first championship on the FHM engine and their 2nd in 3 years. It is the clubs 5th total (S11, S24, S26, S51 and S53). And wow, where to start with this season. With the new sim engine, there is bound to be hiccups and this is by far the most lopsided season to date. I only recall one team (Edmonton) getting to the 40 win mark in the past and suddenly this season we have two teams with Hamilton at 40 and New England with 42 not to mention the 35 win Calgary team.

The poor Toronto, Texas, Tampa and Minnesota teams took the brunt of it. The individual awards are all first time winners again. League spreading the award wealth. I haven't commented on player names much but... Poopity Scoop? Who is responsible for that one? Definitely got a laugh out of me.

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Season 54

League

We have a team re-locating (not re-branding) from the West Kendall Platoon to the Baltimore Platoon.

Teams

Baltimore Platoon (15-33-2) - JR95 re-locates the team to Baltimore from West Kendall
Buffalo Stampede (41-7-2)
Calgary Dragons (26-19-5)
Chicago Syndicate (35-13-2)
Edmonton Blizzard (29-18-3)
Hamilton Steelhawks (38-10-2)
Los Angeles Panthers (33-17-0)
Manhattan Rage (29-17-4)
Minnesota Chiefs (13-34-3)
New England Wolfpack (28-21-1)
New Orleans Spectres (30-16-4)
San Francisco Pride (27-22-1)
Tampa Bay Barracudas (0-50-0)
Texas Renegades (26-19-5)
Toronto North Stars (11-37-2)
Winnipeg Jets (19-29-2)

Winners

Cup: New Orleans Spectres
MVP: Flacko Lagerfield of Hamilton
Goalie: Elizabeth Doyle of Buffalo
Defender: Parker Smeb of Chicago

Overview

New Orleans Spectres win their franchises 1st championship, the first of the S46 expansion clubs. That Tampa Bay record was so bad that I had to find a second source to make sure that it wasn't an error. Thankfully this alerted me to the fact that the SHL Index has this season (and last) so I can use that to continue on with my seasonal analysis.

Buffalo Stampede break the 40 win plateau with a 41 spot and thanks to the SHL Index I can now see conferences/divisions so I can see that Tampa Bay was in their conference but not division. Flacko Lagerfield wins his 2nd MVP award, his other in S48.

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Season 55

League

No changes from last season.

Teams

Baltimore Platoon (14-32-4)
Buffalo Stampede (40-10-0)
Calgary Dragons (31-13-6)
Chicago Syndicate (30-17-3)
Edmonton Blizzard (39-9-2)
Hamilton Steelhawks (33-14-3)
Los Angeles Panthers (19-29-2)
Manhattan Rage (36-10-4)
Minnesota Chiefs (12-38-0)
New England Wolfpack (27-16-7)
New Orleans Spectres (34-11-5)
San Francisco Pride (16-32-2) - Thatguy91 replaces Grapehead as GM and becomes our 10th/11th current GM listed
Tampa Bay Barracudas (8-42-0) - Trella replaces MCP as GM and becomes our 10th/11th current GM listed
Texas Renegades (28-19-3)
Toronto North Stars (10-39-1)
Winnipeg Jets (23-24-3)

Winners

Cup: Buffalo Stampede
MVP: Monkey D. Luffy of Buffalo
Goalie: Peter Larson of Manhattan
Defender: Karlstraße Scholz of Edmonton

Overview

The Buffalo Stampede win the cup, their franchises 3rd (S46, S48, S55). They also managed to hit that 40 win mark. Not surprising to see a new GM for Tampa Bay after that 0 win season last season. The league is still looking a little misshapen with some really good teams and some really bad ones at least compared to the previous decades I covered. Peter Larson wins his 2nd best goaltender award.

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Season 56

League

The league over-sees another expansion (first since S46) as two more teams are added bringing up the total to 18. The two new teams are the Atlanta Inferno and the return of the SHL to Seattle as the Argonauts. The Minnesota chiefs also have re-branded to become the Minnesota Monarchs.

Teams

Atlanta Inferno (25-22-3) - Founded by hotdog
Baltimore Platoon (10-37-3)
Buffalo Stampede (34-16-0)
Calgary Dragons (38-8-4)
Chicago Syndicate (37-9-4)
Edmonton Blizzard (32-17-1)
Hamilton Steelhawks (40-4-6)
Los Angeles Panthers (24-22-4) - FuzzSHL replaces Wasty as GM
Manhattan Rage (35-14-1)
Minnesota Monarchs (16-32-2) - SpartanGibbles re-brands the team from the Minnesota Chiefs to the Minnesota Monarchs
New England Wolfpack (25-23-2) - Kenvald replaces Ace as GM
New Orleans Spectres (28-15-7)
San Francisco Pride (4-42-4)
Seattle Argonauts (17-29-4) - Founded by notorioustig
Tampa Bay Barracudas (11-37-2)
Texas Renegades (34-16-0) - puolivalmiste replaces Dankoa as GM
Toronto North Stars (19-28-3)
Winnipeg Jets (21-26-3)

Winners

Cup: Hamilton Steelhawks
MVP: Theo Morgan of Hamilton
Goalie: Knox Booth of Los Angeles
Defender: Corey Kennedy of Chicago

Overview

The Hamilton Steelhawks win another championship, their 3rd in 5 years (another dynasty?). This is their 6th cup (S11, S24, S26, S51, S53, and S56). They also had another 40 win season as they really are starting to stand out in this decade. The San Francisco Pride struggled with only 4 wins on the season. Another one were there was a pretty big disparity between the top and bottom teams. Also a lot of GM turnover happened, besides adding 2 GMs from expansion, there were 3 other changes of management. Reminiscent of the earlier seasons.

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Season 57

League

The league changed sim engines in S53 and now they switch from a 50 game standard schedule to a 66 game schedule. No GM changes.

Teams

Atlanta Inferno (27-33-6)
Baltimore Platoon (13-48-5)
Buffalo Stampede (50-13-3)
Calgary Dragons (44-19-3)
Chicago Syndicate (51-12-3)
Edmonton Blizzard (44-16-5)
Hamilton Steelhawks (53-9-4)
Los Angeles Panthers (36-22-8)
Manhattan Rage (42-20-4)
Minnesota Monarchs (21-42-3)
New England Wolfpack (24-37-5)
New Orleans Spectres (22-41-3)
San Francisco Pride (12-53-1)
Seattle Argonauts (22-42-2)
Tampa Bay Barracudas (17-46-3)
Texas Renegades (44-20-2)
Toronto North Stars (34-26-6)
Winnipeg Jets (37-26-3)

Winners

Cup: Chicago Syndicate
MVP: Jimmy Slothface of Los Angeles
Goalie: Elizabeth Doyle of Buffalo
Defender: FR Finn-Rhys of Edmonton

Overview

The Chicago Syndicate win their first championship after being an expansion team in S46. With the new 66 games played per season, the "40 win" plateau is now 53 which the Hamilton Steelhawks managed to get. Poor Toronto plays in the division of death as the "Great Lakes" division has Hamilton, Chicago, and Buffalo in their division all with 50 or more wins while Toronto still has a great 34-26-6 season and missed the playoffs. Wow talk about grading on a curve.

13 wins is now the 10-win plateau from the 50 gp seasons and two teams hit that with the Baltimore Platoon (not often mentioned on the bad side of things since early in the league) with 13 wins and those San Francisco Pride with 12 wins who has been in the position too often. Elizabeth Doyle wins her 2nd career best goalie award.

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Season 58

League

The original Winnipeg Jets re-brand to the Winnipeg Aurora. No GM changes

Teams

Atlanta Inferno (30-34-2)
Baltimore Platoon (27-34-5)
Buffalo Stampede (42-18-6)
Calgary Dragons (44-19-3)
Chicago Syndicate (42-20-4)
Edmonton Blizzard (42-21-3)
Hamilton Steelhawks (50-13-3)
Los Angeles Panthers (29-31-6)
Manhattan Rage (34-36-6)
Minnesota Monarchs (23-36-7)
New England Wolfpack (25-37-4)
New Orleans Spectres (10-50-6)
San Francisco Pride (20-40-6)
Seattle Argonauts (24-38-4)
Tampa Bay Barracudas (26-38-2)
Texas Renegades (54-11-1)
Toronto North Stars (46-14-6)
Winnipeg Aurora (26-37-3) - Muerto re-brands the Winnipeg Jets to the Winnipeg Aurora

Winners

Cup: Hamilton Steelhawks
MVP: Karl Krashwagen of Baltimore
Goalie: Elizabeth Doyle of Buffalo
Defender: Adam Barron of Toronto

Overview

The Hamilton Steelhawks win another championship giving them 4 in the last 7 years and establishing them as a dynasty, I think the third now that I have pointed out in these series? That puts Hamilton at 7 cups (S11, S24, S26, S51, S53, S56, and S58) and within reach of Calgary and Edmonton's record 8.

As far as the season went, Texas had a great season with 54 wins. The division of death managed to have Toronto return the favour and cause Chicago Syndicate to miss the playoffs with a ridiculous 42-20-4 record and the leagues 2nd best goal dif at +110. Someone is going to die over this if it keeps up. The New Orleans Spectres only manage 10 wins, they haven't been at the bottom since their hot entrance into the league. The individual awards have Elizabeth Doyle receiving her 3rd career trophy for best goaltender.

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Season 59

League

No changes were made to the league.

Teams

Atlanta Inferno (25-35-6)
Baltimore Platoon (23-39-4)
Buffalo Stampede (50-13-3)
Calgary Dragons (42-20-4) - Mike Izzy replaces Steelhead77 as GM who leaves as the GM with the most championships at 6
Chicago Syndicate (49-15-2)
Edmonton Blizzard (34-26-6)
Hamilton Steelhawks (56-9-1)
Los Angeles Panthers (31-27-8)
Manhattan Rage (21-41-4)
Minnesota Monarchs (30-34-2)
New England Wolfpack (22-41-3)
New Orleans Spectres (12-49-5)
San Francisco Pride (26-35-5)
Seattle Argonauts (35-27-4)
Tampa Bay Barracudas (20-38-8)
Texas Renegades (49-15-2)
Toronto North Stars (44-17-5)
Winnipeg Aurora (25-37-4)

Winners

Cup: Texas Renegades
MVP: Theo Morgan of Hamilton
Goalie: Harry Carpet of Toronto
Defender: Augustus Wang of Buffalo

Overview

The Texas Renegades win the cup. This is the franchises 5th championship (S14, S20, S21, S36, and S59). Hamilton with a huge 56 win season and the Toronto North Stars feel it being denied entry to the playoffs with a 44-17-5 record... 5th best record in the entire league. NO PLAYOFFS FOR YOU! Brutal, my condolences, that is really a gut punch. To round off the regular season, the New Orleans Spectres are once again in the basement with only 12 wins. Theo Morgan gets his 2nd career MVP trophy.

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Season 60

League

The league sees a 2nd expansion period within this decade (some would argue 60 is a different decade but this is my article). The league expands from 18 teams to 20 now. The two new teams are the Montreal Patriots and the Philadelphia Forge.

Teams

Atlanta Inferno (34-27-5)
Baltimore Platoon (47-17-2)
Buffalo Stampede (51-10-5)
Calgary Dragons (38-21-7)
Chicago Syndicate (45-19-2) - SDCore replaces founder Velevra as GM
Edmonton Blizzard (34-26-6)
Hamilton Steelhawks (49-15-2)
Los Angeles Panthers (39-24-3)
Manhattan Rage (19-45-2)
Minnesota Monarchs (29-31-6)
Montreal Patriots (22-39-5) - Founded by Dankoa
New England Wolfpack (27-31-8)
New Orleans Spectres (14-50-2)
Philadelphia Forge (30-33-3) - Founded by Acsolap
San Francisco Pride (20-41-5)
Seattle Argonauts (31-26-9)
Tampa Bay Barracudas (29-31-6)
Texas Renegades (43-19-4)
Toronto North Stars (42-18-6)
Winnipeg Aurora (17-44-5)

Winners

Cup: Buffalo Stampede
MVP: Mitchell van der Heijden of Hamilton
Goalie: Luca Del Vecchio of Baltimore
Defender: Nicholas Owens of Buffalo

Overview

The Buffalo Stampede win the cup making it the 4th in franchise history (S46, S48, S55, and S60). Pretty good for a S25 expansion team. The division of death is no longer as the league switched up the teams. The New Orleans Spectres improved but finished at the bottom of the table again. All new individual award winners again and normally I wouldn't specifically point out a first time winner but Spack Jarrow's mentor Mitchell van der Heijden as MVP needs some love.

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Season 61

League

There are no changes from last season. I assume the GM page is updated so there are no changes to GMs.

Teams

Atlanta Inferno (32-30-4)
Baltimore Platoon (49-15-2)
Buffalo Stampede (46-16-4)
Calgary Dragons (34-26-6)
Chicago Syndicate (42-23-1)
Edmonton Blizzard (36-28-2)
Hamilton Steelhawks (57-8-1)
Los Angeles Panthers (31-29-6)
Manhattan Rage (9-56-1)
Minnesota Monarchs (30-30-6)
Montreal Patriots (20-40-6)
New England Wolfpack (36-24-6)
New Orleans Spectres (26-37-3)
Philadelphia Forge (30-27-9)
San Francisco Pride (28-31-7)
Seattle Argonauts (31-30-5)
Tampa Bay Barracudas (38-23-5)
Texas Renegades (49-15-2)
Toronto North Stars (33-29-4)
Winnipeg Aurora (3-58-5)

Winners

Cup: Hamilton Steelhawks (paint still wet, no banner yet)
MVP: TBD
Goalie: TBD
Defender: TBD

Overview

The Hamilton Steelhawks win the championship again. This is now the franchises 8th cup (S11, S24, S26, S51, S53, S56, S58, and S61) which ties them with Edmonton for the league record. They scorched the league in the regular season with 57 wins and pretty much established themselves as the biggest threat in the league at this point as far as I can tell (although I have no idea about roster ages and the nitty-gritty -- that's a different article). Manhattan Rage with 9 wins and Winnipeg Aurora with 3 are the teams who took a beating this season.

There are no award winners yet so I can't over analyze those, so it is finished.

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Season 51 to 60+ Overview

By far the most chaotic decade for the league since inception. I commented in another series that the league tends to go for expansion one decade then stabilize the next decade but the league really went all in the last 10 seasons. The league grew from 16 to 20 teams, changed sim engines, went from 50 games played to 66 in a season all in a relatively short timeframe. I wish I tracked the active/in-active player numbers each season. That would have really helped with the analysis.

The Hamilton Steelhawks winning the most recent championship really puts a stamp on this part of the series. Even though S61 is well into the next decade, it highlights just how dominant they've been the last 10 years after a relatively slow success rate at the beginning of their franchise.

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Epilogue

Alright, that was a task and a half but I'm glad I did it as I now have a much much better understanding of the league and how it got to where it is now. There were quite a few things I had wrong when I started this project.

The one that shocked me the most was how recent the sim engine change over was. I guess when you join a league and hear about something 10 seasons ago you kind of see that as a long time ago but then as I was processing season by season it felt like it took ages to get to that point and then boom I'm done the write-ups just when it happens.

Something else that stood out for me was the GM roles and how they became more stable with less turn-over. I know there are co-GM's that I didn't include but even so, the league settled down quite a bit after that initial decade.

Finally I just want to close out with stating how impressive it is to have a league that has completed all of its seasons for such a long period of time over different engines and I think forums. I'm new to sim leagues so I don't know if this is a common thing or not but the leagues I've been a part of in the past rarely ran as smoothly from a distant view like I just took here. Nice job on those of you who have helped it along the way.

Thanks for letting me spew my learning process out here.

Quote:Tools Used:
SHL Map History: https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/l...onswithMap

GM History: https://simulationhockey.com/showthread.php?tid=21052 <-- Note - it hasn't been updated for the most recent season

Award History: https://simulationhockey.com/showthread.php?tid=1715 <-- Note - it hasn't been updated since S59

Challenger Cup Champions forum: https://simulationhockey.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=223

and of course the SHL Index

[ 4,061 words ]

***mer*** · 10-10-2021, 08:14 AM

Great job working on this series! Incredibly helpful - didn’t realize how recent some teams/league changes are.

***bluesfan55*** · 10-10-2021, 02:05 PM

:eyes:

DeletedAtUserRequest · 10-10-2021, 06:33 PM

Real great series of threads… future looks bright for this member. +1

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SlashACM · 10-10-2021, 07:52 PM

In my unbiased opinion S54 was the best shl season ever

High Stick King · 10-10-2021, 08:12 PM

10-10-2021, 08:14 AMmer Wrote: Great job working on this series! Incredibly helpful - didn’t realize how recent some teams/league changes are.

Thanks, I am glad others are finding it somewhat useful. I also was surprised at how many of the changes were more recent. I kept waiting to change the Chiefs name each part but it didn't happen until right near the end. Same for Baltimore, I wasn't aware they were in West Kendall for as long as they were.

**brickwall35** · 10-10-2021, 10:19 PM

I would check in with you if I ever decided to do it, but I may copy this idea for SMJHL if I ever have free time.

High Stick King · 10-10-2021, 11:04 PM

10-10-2021, 10:19 PMbrickwall35 Wrote: I would check in with you if I ever decided to do it, but I may copy this idea for SMJHL if I ever have free time.

That would be great. I would love to see the same thing for the SMJHL, I honestly have no idea what season it started and its history. Hopefully it isn't too difficult to find the standings and all that information for the league.

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