Hello citizens of the SHL, my name is Waters, and I will today be writing about the Hamilton Steelhawks. I love the Hamilton Steelhawks for many reasons. For one, it has provided me with a home for nearly 4 years of my real life. No matter what I have needed, the Steelhawks have been there, a rock. But they’ve been a rock in more ways than one, being the type of rock you can lean on, and the type of rock that can cause great pain. I have been a part of the last 20 seasons of the Hamilton Steelhawks, from inside the team and even during my short time outside. I have been privy to every single thing you could imagine, but the Steelhawks history goes even farther than that. It goes back to Season 1, and it spans the entire history of the SHL. While you could write the story of many cup runs, many greats and many controversies without the blue and white (sometimes yellow too), you can’t write the history of this league without the Hamilton Steelhawks. The Steelhawks are a storied franchise, marred by controversy from day 1 to the present. I will be taking you through the early part of this history, and may finish it at a later point. Here is the first chapter of the Hamilton Steelhawks.
Chapter 1 - The Start of Something Mediocre For A Bit - S1-S6
It’s very hard to find accurate information on the first years of the Hamilton Steelhawks, much like every other team. However, we do know a few things about Season 1. For one, they were pretty goddamn bad.
The SHL began with 6 teams: Calgary Dragons, Winnipeg Jets and the Wisconsin Monarchs(today the Tampa Bay Barracuda) in the West, and the Toronto Stars (they later decided that they were specifically stars of the north kind, a huge change), Hamilton Steelhawks and West Kendall Platoon to the East. Here are how the East standings shook out:
East:
West Kendall Platoon 65 points
Toronto Stars 49 points
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Hamilton Steelhawks 37 points
The Hamilton Steelhawks missed the playoffs handily in their first season. It is important to understand that, at this time, the teams played 40 games instead of today’s 50, making the Platoon’s total all the more ridiculous. Their record was 30-5-5. They dropped points in 5 games. Getting back on topic, the Steelhawks were very clear of the playoffs in a weird system where it was more difficult to miss than to make. The Jets managed to overcome the monstrous Platoon and win the inaugural cup. So, why did the Steelhawks suck? We can look at the inaugural draft to know who started with the team, but I’ll give you a quick rundown of what this team was before we go exploring, using Argarbargar’s League of Accomplished Players document, updated through S49, to take a look at who won awards at any point in their career and also happened to be on this team.
There were 13 players in this document that were drafted in S1. It’s a little hard to get an accurate team history for these players, as Season 1 and 2 straight up do not show up in the Bojo Box. However here is what we do know:
The Vancouver Nightmare, who lasted for two seasons, dressed more of these 13 players than the Hamilton Steelhawks.
There is a huge amount of context involved with that stat: the 3 players who played for the Nightmare won almost all of their awards during their time with the Dragons, before and after what I assume was some kind of expansion project featuring many former Dragons before they returned to their home after the team failed miserably. One of the 3 players who counts as part of the Nightmare, Joe Frankenberg, won a single award, a season 1 turd ferguson. Also, the Nightmare technically lasted for 5 seasons, being the Ice Wolves for 3 seasons previously. What is undeniable however, is that 3 is more than 2.
2 is the number of players on this 13 player list that played for the Hamilton Steelhawks. The first was Scott Stevens, who would stick with the team from S1-S5 outside of a brief Vancouver Ice Wolves stint in S3. The other was Jeff Dar, who played three (3) games for the team. Three games. Registering 0 points.
Both of these players are legends, having their names on trophies today, but neither of them were legends with the team. Stevens enjoyed the first year of his prime with the Steelhawks, but quickly moved on and enjoyed a decent career with the Panthers. Jeff Dar only played 3 games.
So let’s start taking a look at the roster. With their first pick, they owned the 3rd overall pick in the inaugural draft and chose Eliseo Zamora. Eliseo Zamora was a pretty mediocre player who never really did much, scoring at about a 30 point pace by today’s standards. Who did they pass on?
4. Winnipeg Jets (via CAL) - Jay McDonald
Oh. Well, it happens. I’m sure they didn’t suffer too much more -
7. Toronto Stars - Jeff Dar
Ok, so a couple of guys who have their names on a trophy. I’m sure they picked up a great piece in round 2.
So he didn’t win awards.
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img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/oa-dGKBvbwQvfeJEgeMdbqJ7VC_83AgDGgeMVTB5sMTonaG_TbVQximRQAxVtMrWPVV9sFpm2cbwxuhWskpZ9xdAyVWyL9xei7CPPz4[/img]
He doesn’t have any stats in the Bojo Box. Bojo Box records stats from season 3 onwards, so he didn’t last until season 3. Huh. Well, who did they pass on this time?
12. Winnipeg Jets - Sergei Karpotsov
15. Hamilton Steelhawks - Shane Kelley
17. West Kendall Platoon - Sarmad Khan
I’m starting to see why this team wasn’t very good.
Wait a second, who is that with the 34th pick?
34. Hamilton Steelhawks - Ron Mexico
Ron Mexico? Oh my god. Ron fucking Mexico. 85 point scorer Ron Mexico. The god of the inflation era. But why doesn’t he show up on Argar’s sheet as a former Steelhawk?
Huh.
And don’t even ask who Pekka Jarmuth and Harvey Singh are. I don’t know either.
There’s really not much else to say, except hilariously, after reading the thread, it seems like the general consensus is that Winnipeg got absolutely fleeced.
Anyways, both these players did in fact play for the Hamilton Steelhawks in Season 1. This trade happened midway through the first season. The expectation was that Singh would greatly improve the offense, and Jarmuth was a strong defensive piece. Let’s see how things shook out in Season 2.
S2
Season 2 featured one expansion team in the East, the Manhattan Rage, and one in the West, the Edmonton Comets. Surely these expansion teams would give the Steelhawks someone to beat up on, with their upgraded roster and strong piece in Harvey Singh.
West Kendall Platoon 64 points
Toronto Stars 40 points
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Hamilton Steelhawks 36 points
Manhattan Rage 30 points
Well, they actually did worse, but they were closer to the playoffs. The Rage were genuinely competitive. But it didn’t matter, the team was rebuilding. They’d get their guys in that year’s draft. They traded Sharpe and Zamora during S1 and the offseason, and had gotten some picks in return. Let’s take a look at the haul.
Their first pick, the first overall pick, was Drayson Williams. Drayson Williams is somehow not in the Bojo Box, though they used him as a trade piece very quickly. Their second pick, acquired in the Zamora return, was Patrick Perry. He did not win awards, and was traded pretty much immediately as well. They then drafted Cole Allen, also not in the Bojo Box. After that, they picked up Ron Bolt, who had a solid career, mostly outside Hamilton of course. Mike Honcho was drafted right before their fifth pick. He won many awards. Their fifth pick was Brendon Ozales. I think you can figure out the rest. Also, these 5 picks were all in the first two rounds.
To be fair to Daco, the GM at the time, this class sucked massive ass. Other than Honcho, there really wasn’t a truly great player available. Still, the Steelhawks invested a ton in this class, and got almost nothing out of it. They got pretty much nothing out of trading pretty much everything they had.
It happens. You bet everything and the community cards just don’t give you what you want. You came up broke. They realized their mistake quickly enough, and traded 2 of the busts they picked to try and get a return within a season of drafting them, but it didn’t do much for them. Perry got two firsts, both of which they flipped and got not much in return. Drayson got Eliseo Zamora. Wait. They packaged that with one of the firsts in the Perry deal. So they traded Zamora initially for:
Riley Raycroft
Patrick Perry
Taldon Shepard
And a 1st they flipped later for pretty much nothing.
And they then traded for him again using:
Drayson Williams
A pick that would turn into nothing.
Perry sucked, Shepard sucked, Williams sucked, but Riley Raycroft was really good. Like, way too good. Toronto got fleeced in the Zamora trade. Raycroft was a monste-
We can’t see S2 stats, so let’s take this with a grain of salt. I mean, Cattermole is probably a shutdown defenseman, Raycroft probably sucked, it’s hard to say without the numbers in front of us.
I give up.
S3-
Let us move on to season 3 before i lose my mind. The Steelhawks now, according to their GM, have a strong top 6, a great D corps. Let’s see if they’ve figured it out this time.
S3: 15-21-4
They did not. Let’s take a look at the rest of the East.
West Kendall Platoon 61 points
Manhattan Rage 51 points
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Hamilton Steelhawks 34 points
Toronto North Stars 33 points
Well, the team regressed. Very sad. Let’s quickly take a look at how the Rage did in their first real run, being a second year team. Great job from Spangle I’m sure.
S3: Lost Round 1 4-2 to Hamilton Steelhawks
…
West Kendall Platoon 61 points
Manhattan Rage 51 points
Hamilton Steelhawks 34 points
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Toronto North Stars 33 points
I want to talk about playoffs a lot, but you’ll notice that the Steelhawks made it by one point, and it’s mostly due to a massive mid-season trade.
This was massive at the time, and it was a huge talking point. Walec and Moose were bit-part defensive players, and the picks turned into Kody Clute and Jack Crasher (if you don’t know about Jack Crasher, please look up the Jack Crasher rule in the rulebook, or try to look for him on the site. One of the greatest stories the SHL has to offer). In return, they acquired Jon Maxfield, a rookie defenseman that would enjoy a great prime outside of Hamilton, a pretty average player, and Scott Stevens. One of the greatest defensemen in SHL history. Stevens had already been a steelhawk, and he returned, as mentioned before, for only a few seasons.
However, you could definitely say this put Hamilton over the hump, and they managed to make it.
The Steelhawks had their worst season, but for some reason,it was decided that there would be a 6 team playoff. They won round 1.
The 15 win Steelhawks had a date in the East finals against the most dominant team in SHL history at that point. 3 straight 60 point seasons. Monsters. Defending cup champions.
Game 1 started how you’d expect. Gregory Lazaro buried the first goal midway through the first period. Lazaro was never a star, but he was a Platoon lifer and legend. He stepped up at big times, and this was one of those times. 16 seconds later, he won a draw in the Steelhawks zone and passed it to Alex Reay.
Alex Reay was the man who won everything in the first season. He had declined in Season 3, and wouldn’t really see a comeback to form, but when faced with this shot, he buried it.
Steelhawks in a 2-0 hole. Shots are 10-1 to finish the first period.
3-0.
Then Reay took a penalty.
3-1. Taldon Shepard off of Ron Bolt and Eliseo Zamora assists.
3-2. Josh Hockridge off of Zach Dooley and Taldon Shepard assists.
3-3. Tyler Seguin off of Aaron Brown and Raymond Lindsay assists.
They came back. Game 1 was headed to overtime.
You’ll notice the name Taldon Shepard comes up twice. Who is that?
In my defense, I wrote that about Taldon Shepard before I knew about Taldon Shepard.
Shepard was a nobody, He was a Steelhawks lifer who never had more than the 25 points he had in S3. He was a cog in a very badly oiled machine. And yet, Taldon Shepard had 10 points in 7 playoff games, including 2 tonight. 6 of those points were goals.
After a magnificent glove save from the Steelhawks goalie, Zamora lined up for a draw. He won it, sent it to Ron Bolt. Bolt carried it up the ice and dished it…
Who else but Taldon Shepard.
The Steelhawks ended up winning this series in 5, taking down the juggernaut and managing to make the finals. In those finals, they were stomped by an Edmonton Comets team that managed 62 points, and would end up with a ridiculous 72 the next season. As they should’ve. The Steelhawks had no reason to end up where they were. But they did. They made the playoffs because of a pretty stupid change, and made it by only a point. And yet, they went all the way, going out the way they should’ve in the first place.
Raymond Lindsay was their first pick in that year’s draft. He became one of the greatest players in SHL history. Unlike the hall of famers before him that had played Steelhawkey, as I like to call it, he did most of it in Hamilton. They had their bright light, their future star, and they decided they’d make the moves to capitalize. They traded a package of picks to pick up Will Secord and Ronan O’Keefe in the Season 4 first round, who wouldn’t contribute immediately but would be ready for when the core was strong. The Steelhawks were a good team, but they needed a piece of the puzzle.
They traded for Dylan Kearns Jr, one of the better shutdown defensemen in the league. He retired after the season. One of the picks they traded turned into Kain Webb.
That makes… 5 hall of famers that couldve been Steelhawks? 4? It’s a lot. These guys fucked up a lot, and they seemed to be getting almost nothing of value back.
S4
The Steelhawks won more than they ever had in the regular season that year, posting their first winning season.
Manhattan Rage 45 points
West Kendall Platoon 45 points
Hamilton Steelhawks 45 points
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Toronto North Stars 40 points
Thankfully for the Steelhawks, it was again a 6 team playoff. They managed to make it despite 3 teams being tied for the top of the standings, but they were stomped in round 1 by the Platoon, who had their worst regular season so far turn into a cup run.
The Hamilton Steelhawks were a promising team, with a nice young core, coming off a pretty crushing loss, but remaining optimistic. Being a pretty awful team to start off their history, and having lost the opportunity to field already a handful of seperate hall of famers, they probably had a long way to go.
They wouldn’t have another losing season for over 4 real life years.
S5
Season 5 was a coming out party for the team. They finished 28-12-4, in what was for the first time a 44 game season decided due to expansion, easily clinching a playoff spot. Somehow, they did it while making no major moves in the offseason. This was a period of unrest for the franchise, as they went through multiple GMs before finally finding a stable man in raymond3000, the member behind Raymond Lindsay. This stability possibly created the foundations for this big improvement, as the team finished atop the East standings for the first time in franchise history.
Just kidding lmao platoon are still monstrous
West Kendall Platoon 69 points
Hamilton Steelhawks 60 points
Toronto North Stars 51 points
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Manhattan Rage 50 points
Minnesota Chiefs 20 points
Clearly the expansion rules were just not fair.
Anyways, the Rage miss the playoffs by the slimmest of margins despite easily having a winning record, and the Steelhawks face their biggest rivals, the north stars, in round 1.
The Steelhawks-North Stars rivalry has not really been a point of contention until season 5. The Steelhawks sucked while the Stars were ok, and while the Steelhawks have been not awful for the last 2 seasons, the North Stars have struggled. However, for the first time, they faced in the playoffs during the first round of S5 playoffs. And boy, did they not disappoint.
Game 1 was a pretty easy North Stars win, as they jumped out to an early lead and never really came close to letting it go, winning 4-2.
Game 2 had a controversial start, as the expected start time of 7pm was put into question when the head official had this to say: Will start around 7 pm est unless I decide it starts later then that.
He later said: I did in fact decide to start later than that.
Anyways, game 2, like game 1, was a pretty easy win, but for the other team, as the Steelhawks got an early 3-0 lead and held on to win 4-1.
Game 3 starts as if its a pattern, with the Stars taking a 2-0 lead, only for Tyler Seguin to bring one back for the Steelhawks and make it 2-1 midway through the 3rd. However, great goaltending from Toronto's Serge Niles allowed the Stars to hold on and grab the empty netter to win 3-1. it also featured this beautiful early SHL interaction:
great stuff from those guys, you could tell this was a high intellect league back in the day.
Game 4 is another stomping, but a pattern-breaking one as Toronto takes both games at home, winning 5-1 and taking a 3-1 lead in the series.
Obviously, if they lost in 5, I wouldn't be talking about this in such great detail.
Game 5. The Hamilton Steelhawks are on their last legs as they head back home. They need to win. Markus Kaitala has been completely outplayed by the opposing goalie. Yes, the team in front of him hasn't been great, but he can do better, and he knows it. He starts the game in Hamilton with a chip on his shoulder. Kaitala played 3 years in Hamilton, and according to the Bojo Box, had a 3 year career. If he lost, he'd be retiring pretty below average.
Naturally, he wasn't ready to go.
Markus Kaitala (HAM), 30 saves from 30 shots - (1.000), W, 2-3-0, 60:00 minutes
Game 6?
Markus Kaitala (HAM), 21 saves from 22 shots - (0.955), W, 3-3-0, 60:00 minutes
Just like that, the series was anybody's to win. Game 7 was on the horizon. For Hamilton, this was for a chance to show that they could beat the monsters in West Kendall and go back to the finals, this time a winning team instead of a flukey one. For Toronto, this was for a chance to finally have some playoff success under their belts after 4 seasons combined for a grand total of 3 playoff wins.
No game up to this point had been particularly close. The first period ended scoreless. The second period started with the end.
1. Hamilton Steelhawks , Raymond Lindsay 3 (Mikey Broomfield, Roberto Martucci) at 6:03
2. Hamilton Steelhawks , Ron Bolt 1 (Roberto Martucci, Zach Dooley) at 6:39
3. Hamilton Steelhawks , Tyler Seguin 4 (Ronan O'Keeffe) at 15:36
With Kaitala playing the series of his life, there was no way this lead was loseable.
S5: Lost Round 1 4-3 to Hamilton Steelhawks
The Steelhawks are given a chance to take down the giants.
And they get destroyed.
S5: Lost East Finals 4-1 to West Kendall Platoon
The Platoon won cup number 2 with a sweep. The rest of the east had combined to win a grand total of 0 cups in the first 5 seasons of league history, and only a single eastern conference pennant. Only the Steelhawks seemed capable of ending the team's dominance in the east. Onto S6.
S6
Hamilton Steelhawks 63 points
Wow that's pretty good great work guys
Wait sorry? What's that? The league just decided this season would have 60 games? 63 points actually isn't that good at all?
Platoon 67 points
Rage 65 points
Chiefs 65 points
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Hamilton Steelhawks 63 points
Toronto North Stars 63 points
Unfortunately, in what has to be the closest conference ever, just ridiculous how close this is, both the Steelhawks and the North Stars miss out by just 2 points, the Platoon win the conference by just 2 points. The Chiefs improve a ridiculous amount and manage to make the playoffs over two very strong teams. A big reason the Steelhawks missed that year was the trade of Ronan O'Keeffe. O'Keeffe wasn't immensely valuable offensively, but he was clearly a valuable spark. Once he left, and also changed his name to the drastically different Ronan O'Keefe, (just one f! wow!) he broke out, and immediately following the trade, posted 43 points in 60 games after only 14 points in 50 the previous season. They got a massive haul for the player, but very unsurprisingly given their track record, none of these guys panned out. Anton Wagner was very good, and he was acquired in the trade, but obviously, when i say he was very good, i mean he was very good after he left Hamilton. Kyler Lange wasn't great except for a weird breakout year in Las Vegas followed by immediate retirement. Viola was never more than a bit part player. The rest of the picks acquired in the trade were shipped. Not even the picks they shipped were very good. There was an S7 pick from Manhattan that turned into Tobias Mortensen, who wasn't great, and then the other one was just some guy named Benjamin Wong.
To be completely fair to the Steelhawks, in that S8 draft, they passed on Wong to pick Darian Scherbluk, who they'd trade just as he entered his prime and who would become a legend for their biggest rivals, and Mario Balotelli, who had 8 career points.
That'll be the end of Chapter 1, hope you guys enjoyed. If there is a next part, we will be taking a look at how the Hamilton Steelhawks emerged from the rubble and finally managed to be the best.
Great article!
I think Drayson Williams is probably the biggest first overall pick bust ever, unless something happened while I was gone. I joined like a third of the way through Season 2 and I'm pretty sure he was already inactive by that point lol.
Jarmuth and Singh were members who I recognize from the VHL, and I'm pretty sure both of them have made hall of fame players (or at least very good players) over there.
Taldon Shepard was LX_Theo's player, who was NWJHL (SMJHL) commissioner early on so it was a good pick at the time. I remember him being very active for a couple seasons but he went inactive (idk when) so that probably explains his lack of success.
Past players:
(S3) C/D - Turd Ferguson (HOF)
(S7) LW - Anton Wagner
(S13) RW - Christian Bauer
(S18) D - Turd Ferguson, Jr.
(S30) D - William Goddard