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***Jexter*** · 03-13-2024, 07:25 PM

A Brief History of Malamutes

THE YUKON MALAMUTES

As the soon to be not “newest” team in the SMJHL, we will explore the history of the Yukon Malamutes (in brief) from its beginnings as a relocated franchise in S65 to its near future after S75. We will be examining a team that is looking to breakout of their mold and achieve greatness for the first time under its new franchise banner as we ditch the old format and welcome two new teams to the league. Some of the Basics here: Yukon used to be the Anaheim Outlaws, but were relocated and rebranded under the leadership of Patrice Nadeau @Fluw. Nadeau has been the sole GM for the entirety of Yukon’s existence.

S65
Relocated from Anaheim in S65, Yukon began its existence as perfectly average, like a Dursley would want. They finished the regular season with a record of 30-30-6 and right in the middle of the standings at 8th place. The Yukon scoring title of the S65 season was tied between Billy Blazes and Jayson Aittokallio at 53 points and some other notable names that were on this inaugural roster were Oles Kobliska and Lord Farquaads. After being drafted first overall by Yukon, Kobliska would end up being a Rookie First Team All Star this season, earning them the honor of being the first player to achieve any All Star standing from the Malamutes or any end of the year recognition. Meanwhile, Farquaads would become the first 2k TPE player the Malamutes ever produced. The Malamutes would defeat the Regina Elk in the first round of the playoffs after a 7-game series (note that seven games in the first round will be a running theme in this article) and then would lose to Detroit in the second round 4-1 as Detroit would go on to win the Four Star Cup. This season was a solid start for the Dogs, and perhaps a perfect template of what is to come for the new team.

S66
The Malamutes would have one of their best regular seasons ever in their second go around with a record of 45-19-2. Oles Kobliska would lead the team with 88 points and would be the first Malamute to win the Jared Hanson and the Alex Light, while being nominated for the Jack Cross and Ideen Fallah. Kobliska would be a first team all-star while Isabella Bouchard, Reed Kobo and Billy Blazes would be second team all stars. Lucas Percy and Patches the III would also make the All Star Game, setting a franchise record for the most players from the team to make the All Star Game with 6. Yukon would miss out of a first-round bye due to a 1-point difference between them and the Colorado Raptors. Despite the solid season, the Malamutes would lose in the first round of playoffs to the Newfoundland Berserkers in a seven-game series.

S67
Yukon fell back down to earth a little bit with a middling season and a record of 35-29-2.
The sole recipient of regular season awards would be Billy Blazes, who was the top scorer with 83 points and was a second team All Star. Billy Blazes was the first team captain in the Malamutes’ history, but this would be his last season. On the grand scale, not much else of note happened this season. The Malamutes would have a little revenge in beating Colorado in the first round in, again, 7 games before bowing out to the Citadelles in, you guessed it, 7 games in the second round.

S68
33-30-3 was the final tally of the Malamutes this season (IMPORTANT NOTE: that totals 69 points, nice). After being named team captain for their last season, Oles Kobliska was back on top of the Malamutes with 75 points. Their last hurrah of this iteration of the Malamutes would have similar postseason success. Yukon would again beat the Raptors in the first round, this time in 6 games and again lost in the second round to Detroit in a sweep.

S69
Despite the very nice season, with the departure of key assets, the Malamutes would have their worst season in their existence with a record of 19-46-1. Don Aven would lead with 49 points while rookie Sydney Shaw would be named team captain as a fellow rookie Alvin Wong was also taken in the first round of the SMJHL draft. Despite the poor performance, the Malamutes would make the playoffs and lose in the first round in 6 games to the Citadelles.

S70
The Malamutes bounced back spectacularly and finished with a respectable 31-28-7 with 69 points (nice). Alvin Wong would lead the team with 63 points. Team captain Sydney Shaw would age out this year as well. Future team captain Furious Chicken would be selected in the first round with the 13th overall pick. Alvin Wong, Theodore Svatos and Sven Petterson would get All Star nods. The Malamutes would defeat the Knights in the first round of the playoffs with, surprise, a 7-game series and then defeated the Raptors in the second round with a 4-0 sweep, moving onto the Semifinals for the first time as a franchise. Here, the great rivalry with Maine would truly start. Maine would topple the Malamutes in 6 games.

S71
With an amazing season that saw them end with a record of 45-18-3, the Malamutes were led by the 1-2 punch of Ray Alexander and Theodore Svatos who both had 81 points. Coming off of a great S70, Alvin Wong was named the 4th team captain. Back to having the bye, the Malamutes defeated the Elk in the second round 4-1 and were again beaten by Maine in the Semifinals in another 6-game series. Maine would go on to win the Four Star Cup in a sweep.

S72
The Malamutes would have a record of 35-30-1, led by, again, Theodore Svatos with 91 points. Svatos would in fact take the goal title this season, the first Malamute to win such an award. This season would also see Sydney Shaw win the Alexis Metzler, the only Malamute to win the top defender award in the SMJHL. Meanwhile, team captain Alvin Wong would age out. The Malamutes would have five players make the All Star Game, the second most in team history (Svatos, Sven Petterson, Jim Wen, Jordan Tanner, and Sydney Shaw). Yukon would beat Anchorage in 7-games in the first round (everybody, act shocked it went to 7) and then beat Vancouver in the second round in 5-games. They met Maine for a third time in a row in the semifinals where the Timber would win a 7-game series.

S73
This season would see the Malamutes in an easy division where they would take the bye despite a record of 30-33-3. Svatos would lead the Malamutes for a third and final time with 71 points. The 5th team captain, Svatos would age out of the SMJHL and leave the Malamutes after attaining the franchise records of goals and points with 142 goals and 299 points. This season would see one of the largest Yukon draft hauls in a long time, despite not having a first-round pick.
The Malamutes would make the Semifinals for the fourth straight season, losing to the Berserkers after beating the Battleborn in a 7-game series.

S74
In their tenth season, the Malamutes would get a record of 35-26-5, losing out on the first-round bye to their rivals in Maine. The 6th and most recent team captain would be named in defender Kristian Seppanen. Sophomore winger, Langston Hardison-Laurent would lead the Malamutes with a franchise record 95 points in a season, including another franchise record of 55 goals in a season. Langston Hardison-Laurent would also be the first Yukon recipient of the Raymond Lindsay and the Ideen Fallah and the second to receive the Alex Light, the Roberto Martucci, and the Jared Hanson. Squidwardo Tentacles would get an All Star nod alongside Langston Hardison-Laurent. The Malamutes would beat the Regina Elk in, of course, 7 games in the first round before getting swept by the Falcons who would again go on to win the Cup.

S75
In the most recent season, Yukon would finish first in their division to get a bye, with a record of 36-26-4. Langston Hardison-Laurent led the Dogs again with 84 points. In their last J season, Captain Seppanen broke the Franchise record for blocked shots, assists by a defender and points by a defender. This would also be the last season for Jim Wen, the franchise leader for wins by a goalie. After the bye week, the Malamutes faced their rivals in the Maine Timber in the second round and ended up losing yet again in 6 games. They took the lead with a promising home stint, but lost it in the end as the Malamutes say good riddance to playing Maine early in the playoffs (probably) with the playoff format going to the wayside. The almost permanent kryptonite for the Malamutes will persist as Maine continues to have Yukon’s number, especially in Overtime situations.

The Overall Records of the Yukon Malamutes
Now we are dive into the all-time winning records of Yukon. Remember when I said that the Malamutes’ average start in the league was very indicative of their existence? Well, the Dogs have an average regular season placement of 8th place and have an overall record of 374-315-37 with an average points percentage of .550. They have an overall goal differential of +96 over the regular season. In the playoffs, the Malamutes have a record of 58-61. As of this date, the Malamutes have only lost in the playoffs to 4 different teams (Quebec City, Newfoundland, Maine, and Detroit).

Yukon has faced the Great Falls Grizzlies and the Regina Elk the most in the regular season and have winning records against both of them. In the regular season, the Malamutes have been the best against the Great Falls Grizzlies, winning 62% of their meetings, while fittingly they have the worst record against the Maine Timber with a 37% winning percentage.

In the playoffs, the Malamutes have faced the Maine Timber the most out of any other team with 25 meetings and have never won a series against the Timber. The Malamutes have also never won a series against Detroit or Newfoundland, but have the most series wins against Colorado and Regina with 3. Meanwhile, in the playoffs, they have never faced the Carolina Kraken, the Great Falls Grizzlies, or the St. Louis Scarecrows.

As just a little addendum, the Malamutes have had the first overall pick twice in their history, which they would use on Oles Kobliska (who, incidentally, was also the first ever draft pick by Yukon) and Sydney Shaw. Kobliska would be a J League points leader and a Challenge Cup winner eventually on Edmonton and Shaw would win defensive player of the year and be picked first overall again in the SHL draft. Both would also be team captains with Yukon. Of all Malamutes taken in the first round of the SHL draft, the Toronto has taken the most with 4, followed by Edmonton with 3. Two of the Malamutes’ biggest SMJHL Draft steals came in the same year and in the same round. Both Kaarlo Koivunen (one of the best defenders who has graced the Malamutes) and Langston Hardison-Laurent were selected in S73 in the 4th round. In the same draft, the Malamutes also picked up Squidwardo Tentacles who was picked in the second round and became one of the highest single season earners in league history and two more defensive stalwarts in Newton “Lizard” Campbell and Jaxson Reaper.

In the coming seasons, the future of the Malamutes is uncertain. With at least five players leaving the team due to age outs, including their starter goalie, their captain and one of their alternate captains, and the team losing at least one other player to the expansion draft, the Malamutes will have a lot to replace next season. While the ability to be a main contender will be gone for them after this season, the perennial playoff threats will likely still be around with their solid core. Over the course of their existence, the Malamutes have been rising in prominence in the league, from first round threat to multiple semifinal appearances. With the changes coming to the playoff format next season, it will be interesting to see how that changes the fortunes of Malamutes.

WC: 2067

**leafsftw1967** · 03-13-2024, 08:49 PM

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