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Durden · 04-29-2022, 12:18 PM

Jack Durden deserves to be in the Texas Renegades Hall of Fame, and I'm going to fight for his career.

Jack Durden started his career in the SHL on the New England Wolfpack, where he would play for only a season and a half. During his time there, he would put up 8 goals, 16 assists, and twenty-four points. Sadly, he would be negative 16 during this time. While things did not end well there, he was sent off to the Winnipeg Jets where he would play his final 7 games of the 27th season, where he would only score one goal, put up one assist, and be a plus 2 player. This would be the last time we would see Jack Durden in any jersey other than a Texas Renegades uniform.

Jack Durden WANTED to be a Renegade. After hearing from people who were on the team and drafted by the team, he knew it was the place he had to play, and the place he wanted to spend his entire career.

Durden would start off kind of slow in Season 28, scoring ten goals, seventeen assists, (for twenty-seven points), and finishing at a plus twelve. Texas would go on to have the best record in the league and lose in the playoffs to the Edmonton Blizzard, who would participate in the finals that season. Durden would be an embarrassment, putting up one assist, and going negative one in his 5 games played.

Season 29 would be Jack's coming out party, as he finished tied for second in points on the team. His ten goals, twenty-eight assists, and team-best plus sixteen would propel the team back into the playoffs. Once again, Texas would be outed by the Edmonton Blizzard, but this time, Jack Durden was a bright spot on the playoff team. He was tied for second in points at 8, scoring 3 goals and 5 assists. Sadly, he was a negative four and didn't help defensively enough to keep the team afloat.

Texas would be a middling team finishing third in their conference but still making the playoffs. Durden would again hit the thirty-eight point mark, this time putting up both 19 goals and 19 assists. A bright spot for him was his power play, being tied for first in power-play goals on the season with 8. Yet again (spotting a trend here?) the Blizzard would knock the Renegades out of the playoffs in just six games. Durden would only put up five points in those six games, not ca[italizing on his opportunities to help the team.

Season 31 would see Texas rise up again, finishing second in the conference. The team was stacked and six players would score 45 points or more in 50 games, one of them being Jack Durden. He would score 14 goals, 31 assists, and get to that 45-point mark. Surprise, surprise, Texas is eliminated in 6 by who other than the Edmonton Blizzard. Durden would disappear, only putting up 3 points in 6 games. Despite being a stacked team and doing so well, they wouldn't do well enough to kill their demons.

In season 32, the team would struggle. No one would hit a point per game pace, and Durden himself would put up three fewer points than the prior season. Despite continuing to train, he would fall from where he wanted to be. Season 32 statistics: ten goals, thirty two assists, negative three. It was a decent season in retrospect, but for Jack at the time, it smelled of nothing but disappointment. Despite tying Calgary for 59 points on the season, Texas would go golfing due to the difference in total wins. In Texas’ last game against Calgary, they would lose 5 to 3, cementing their season.

Season 33 would begin the trying times of the Renegades. Despite our efforts to compete, we just couldn’t. We would end up finishing again outside of a playoff spot, but this time, in dead last. This would lead to Texas getting the second overall pick the following season, but it was tough on all the players. Players would leave and Durden was set to soon lead the team. He recorded only 11 goals in season 33 but racked up 35 assists, good enough for 46 points. Still, he couldn’t lead the team to a championship.

Season 34 led to the Renegades finding increased success, and they finished just ahead of Calgary for a berth in the playoffs. Durden would finally achieve a point per game stat, getting 24 goals and 30 assists for 54 points in 50 games. Despite it being his best season, he finished tenth in overall scoring for the league. Nothing to sneeze at, but never enough. This performance would lead Texas into the playoffs, this time against the Los Angeles Panthers. After 7 tough games, the Renegades would make it to the second round for the first time since Durden’s first season with the team. Unfortunately, the Renegades would fall 4-2 to the Portland Admirals. Durden would have a poor showing, not helping the team with just 2 goals and 4 assists in the thirteen games played. Durden knew he had to get better.

Durden once again led his team in scoring in season 35, and the team barely squeaked into the playoffs. Durden again had a point per game season, with 22 goals, 33 assists, and 55 points. Durden was on fire during the season, but once again finished 10th in overall scoring. And sadly, the playoffs were another flub for the Renegades. An old rival in the Calgary Dragons would take Texas out 4-2 on the season, leading to yet another early departure. Durden would put up 5 points (2 goals 3 assists) in 6 games, but it wasn’t enough to get past the Dragons.

Season 36 was where the magic would finally happen. The race in their conference was tough, and Texas finished in third place with 63 points. Jack Durden would pull out all the stops and score 55 points in 50 games, (22 goals and 33 assists like last season) but got some amazing contributions from others on the team like Geoffrey Allen, Conklin Owen, Sven Karlsson, and Lord Vader. The Renegades were back in the playoffs, set on winning it all. And that’s just what they did. They first took on the Winnipeg Jets and beat them in the series 4 to 2. Their next test was against their rival the Calgary Dragons but somehow swept the top team in the league. The Renegades knew they could achieve this if they only pushed a little harder. They then got to their personality rivals at the time of the New England Wolfpack. The pack were number one in their conference but finished 4 points below Texas. Despite a tough battle, the Renegades would take it in 6, and run away with the Cup. Durden would not only win his first and only cup but would also win the Anton Razov trophy for being the Playoff MVP. He would wind up with 8 goals and 13 assists, good for 21 points in the 16 games played. This season would help cement a legacy for Jack Durden.

Season 37 was another tough one for the Renegades even though they made the playoffs. They earned 58 points to qualify for third in their conference and would be fifth in the league of 14 teams. Their goal differential was only a plus two which led to some problems in the playoffs. For the first time in a while, newly named captain Jack Durden would miss the point per game season scoring only 49 points in 50 games played. He would have nineteen goals and thirty assists which would be otherwise amazing but didn't get a ton of help on the back end to bring Texas where they needed to be. They would get outscored by a wide margin by the Winnipeg Jets in the first round of the playoffs which would cause them to lose the series four to zero. The Jets would go on to score 23 goals in those four games while the Renegades would only score nine. Durden would basically disappear on the ice getting one assist in the four games and being a negative three player.

Season 38 would be abysmal for the Texas Renegades as they would finish last in their conference with only 42 points which would be twelve points out of playoff contention. Overall they would finish twelfth in a fourteen team league. Durden himself would have a great season scoring 50 points in 50 games with 26 goals and 24 assists. However, with a lot of rookies on the team, the team fared poorly in the regular season. Many of the rookies were -10 to -20 players which just did not help the team achieve their goals.

Texas would fare better in season 39 but would still end up missing the playoffs. They had 54 points and the team that clinched the last spot in the conference had 56. Despite having more regulation or overtime wins, they were not able to pull together a good enough season to sneak into the playoffs. Durden would get a ton of help this season from Conklin Owen who scored 60 points in 50 games and Durden and himself would put up another 50 point season. He would have 31 assists and 19 goals with a plus 21 on the season.

Texas would finally get back into the swing of things with 70 points in the 40th SHL season. This would put Texas in second place for the conference and second place overall in the league, missing clinching the best record by a single point. Jack Durden would go on to have one of the best seasons of his career putting up 18 goals and 34 assists for a total of 52 points in just 50 games. However once again the Renegades just could not get it done in the playoffs. While they would beat the Calgary Dragons one to nothing in the first game, they would see a streak of 4 losses all by 2 goals. Jack would rack up only one goal and a negative four plus/minus in the five games played.

Jack Durden’s career was winding down and in season 41 he would once again see his beloved Renegades miss the playoffs. Despite doing so well the prior season the Renegades would win only 16 games for a total of 36 points on the season. This would put them in sixth in their conference and thirteenth in a fourteen team league. This would be a negative point in Jack Durden’s career as he would finish with only 38 points in 50 games, scoring 15 goals and 23 assists, and finishing with an abysmal negative 16. Durden was thinking about calling it quits because he just wasn't doing well.

If there's anything we know about Texas it's that they're consistent at being inconsistent. Despite having a terrible season, they would finish third in their conference in season 42 and would have the sixth best record in the league. While they finished with a -2 goal differential they were back in the playoffs and ready to try again. While Jack Durden didn't have the best season he finished with 35 points in 50 games, contributing 13 goals and 22 assists. Jack was still finding ways to help the team despite getting older and older. The Renegades would once again lose to the Calgary Dragons in the series, four to one. However, this ending is kind of bittersweet as the Dragons would go on to prove that they were the best team in the league that season by winning it all. Durden would do much better putting up four points in five games despite playing terribly on the defensive end.

And in season 43 we would get back to the flipping and flopping seeing Texas once again miss the playoffs. The team would hover right above .500 but it wouldn't be enough to crack the top four in the conference. Durden would continue to hover in the high 30s for his point total this season with 39 points, tallying 17 goals and 22 assists. Little did he know, Jack would only have two more seasons in the league.

Texas would miss the playoffs again in season 44. Despite playing well, Texas was in the tougher conference this season. They would have a plus 14 differential and would be the only team with a positive goal differential to miss the playoffs. Had the Renegades been in the other conference they would have finished third. That's the way things go sometimes! Durden would have one of the worst seasons of his career scoring only five goals, 16 assists, and tallying just 21 points in 50 games. While he was better defensively he did not rack up the offensive production he was known for.

In what would be Jack Durden’s last season the Texas Renegades would finish second in their conference with 67 points and would be second in the entire league as well. Jack knew it was time to hand the reins over to the younger players as he continued to put up poor performances. He would score only four goals and rack up 17 assists this season. In maybe any other season the Renegades would have gone on to win the cup and send Jack out on a positive note, but they lost to the Edmonton Blizzard in round 2 by a series total of four to three. Edmonton would go on to win the cup showing the juggernaut that they were this season. Durden would have a decent postseason scoring two goals, five assists, and seven points in the 11 games played.

Jack Durden would do his best throughout his entire career to make sure that the Texas Renegades were a successful SHL team. Through the ups and the downs, Jack would stand by his team and work to carry them into the playoffs as much as he could. He was not a fair-weather player and did not only stick around when he was doing well, or when the team was winning championships. I believe that it is a sad fact that Jack only had one championship in his career, but it was better knowing that he played his heart out for the Renegades and helped them be successful. While his career was not as successful as he hoped in terms of hardware, Jack Durden did finish his career at the top of the Renegade stats columns. While he was around and for almost an additional 20 seasons Jack Durden sat at the top of the goals leaderboard, the assists leaderboard, and the points leaderboard for the Renegades. While it is time to hand the reins of success over to the younger generation of those in Texas, Jack Durden belongs in the Texas Renegade Hall of Fame. It was an honor to be in that locker room and be a part of the legacy that is the Texas Renegades.

Congratulations to the current management (@Yagoyi) that have led Texas to where they are now, building up an amazing and consistent team. Also congratulations to Andreas Kvalheim @raymond3000 For breaking the records that I set and leading the Renegades into the future.

My heart will always be with Texas. Thanks for the memories.

*RashfordU* · 04-29-2022, 12:37 PM

Love reading about Durden!!

***luke*** · 04-29-2022, 12:38 PM

he isnt in the texas HOF?

Durden · 04-29-2022, 11:43 PM

04-29-2022, 12:38 PMluke Wrote: he isnt in the texas HOF?

Nope.

raymond3000 · 04-29-2022, 11:50 PM

@Yagoyi get this man into the HoF

***Yagoyi*** · 04-30-2022, 01:34 AM

induction date 5/2/22

BarnabasCollins · 04-30-2022, 10:26 AM

Same thing with Lidstrom, 16 seasons, top 5 in all time Texas points, all time Texas sb leader, retired top 12 all time d scorer, 16 seasons of loyalty in Texas and no HOF either. I feel ya bro.

Allegiant · 04-30-2022, 11:56 AM

S36 was great

Put him in the Texas HOF tf

Durden · 04-30-2022, 04:00 PM

04-30-2022, 10:26 AMBarnabasCollins Wrote: Same thing with Lidstrom, 16 seasons, top 5 in all time Texas points, all time Texas sb leader, retired top 12 all time d scorer, 16 seasons of loyalty in Texas and no HOF either. I feel ya bro.

Vliddy needs to be in the HoF before me. Absolute legend.

***Ohtaay*** · 04-30-2022, 08:15 PM

Lidstrom and Durden both deserve to be in Tex HoF.

Looking around the league though, many teams in the same spot as Texas - where team run HoFs just aren’t updated anymore.

With GM change over, every new GM is another layer of disconnect between players of the past. Then ultimately it just becomes a forgotten task.

***Anthique*** · 05-02-2022, 11:22 AM

Congrats for your amazing career!

I'm sure you will get the HoF as you deserve.

karlssens · 05-02-2022, 11:46 AM

I'm no renegade, but I agree ya boy Durden should be in there. On a side note I always felt him and my first player Nik Scholz had eerily similar careers.
- both drafted S25
- both traded once.
- both retired S45
- both entered the HoF S60
- 0.78 ppg (Durden) and 0.77 ppg (Scholz)

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