TRADE RUMOR: Crysta Pfeffer to Winnipeg?

Hey there GHL fans. Welcome back to the GHL Blog.

Today's post involves a rumor that, if true, could impact the future of 2 GHL franchises.



An insider on the Winnipeg Jets reported on Thursday, May 10th, 2018 that the Jets were in talks with the Boston Bruins on a possible transaction taking place on Free Agency Day, which is July 1st. The transaction, according to the Jets insider, involves Bruins goalie Crysta Pfeffer going to the Jets in exchange for Jets goalie Bob Essensa.

The Bruins, according to the Jets insider, are "looking for veteran talent in goal" and Essensa is the guy they've been looking for at a moderate price.

This transaction would most likely end the Crysta Pfeffer era in Boston. She has been the starter for the Bruins since the 2015-16 season. The only other team that she has played for was the Weld Central Rebels during her rookie season in 2014-15.

Pfeffer has earned 2 of her 3 Goalie-Of-The-Year awards with the Bruins, as well as earning 10 of her 17 goaltending records with Boston. She's considered by many to be the best goalie in the GHL. However, her Achilles Heel has always been the postseason, where she has not done well statistically. 2 consecutive losses in the Conference Final have made the Bruins impatient, and looking for change.

On the other side, Essensa could help with Boston's goaltending experience.

Bob Essensa was Winnipeg's starting netminder for the majority of the 2017-18 season. He earned 10 shutouts in a 13-win season. Despite missing the last month of the season due to injury, Essensa is still a legitimate option for any team looking for a veteran goalie. Boston would greatly benefit from this trade if Essensa stays healthy, especially in the playoffs.

What do you think? Will Boston pull the trigger on this trade and get Essensa, or will they keep Pfeffer and hope for change this way?

That'll do it for this post on the GHL Blog. I'm Mario Ardais, your GHL commissioner saying so long and keep your stick on the ice.

What's wrong with the Quebec Nordiques?

Hello hockey fans. Welcome to the GHL blog.

Tonight's second post is about a team that has traditionally been one of the GHL's title contenders, but now they seem to be bound for last place. That team is the Quebec Nordiques. 

The Quebec Nordiques were part of the GHL's second expansion in 2015, making up the then 72-team GHL before the expansion in 2017 which bumped the team count to 120.

Quebec started off well in their first-ever game, setting a new record for highest-scoring GHL game at the time, beating the Rocky Mountain Rage by a final score of 18-1.

Wayne Montana scored the first-ever goal for the franchise, and would go on to score a hat trick in the game.

Montana (Pictured above) was the team's first-ever captain, as well as the team's leading scorer in the 2015-16 season. He would play alongside players like Joe Sakic, Peter Stastny, Trevor Daley, Alex Galchenyuk, and Gabriel Landeskog. The 2015-16 Nordiques were stacked, finishing 5th in the North American Conference.

After a hard-fought 3-game series with the Hartford Whalers in the Wild Card round, they moved on to the 1st round to play the Boston Bruins.

Unfortunately, the Bruins were able to win the series in 3 games despite Quebec's early success in each of the 3 games.



The 2016-17 season saw major changes with Quebec. Captain Wayne Montana had left the team in order to save a dying roller hockey team that he owned, the Waterloo Wolverines. He brought the team into the GHL and signed a contract to play there. The Nordiques were also without Defenseman Trevor Daley, as he was placed on waivers and signed by the Pittsburgh Penguins.

However, Quebec persevered and made the playoffs for yet another season. They earned the 8th seed in the North American Conference, good enough for a 4th place Wild Card seed.

The Nordiques would eliminate the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Wild Card round, then moved on eliminate the New York Rangers in the 1st round. Quebec enjoyed more playoff success afterwards, beating the Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins on their way to their first-ever Global Hockey Championship appearance.

Unfortunately that's where the ride stopped for Quebec, as HRCA Inline Hockey swept them to win the Player's Cup.

So what's different with the Nordiques this year?

Well, there are many problems this year for the Nordiques. The first is their place in the standings.

As you can see, Quebec is below .500 and barely hanging on in their own division. This is where the second problem comes into play.

In the 2017 offseason, the Nordiques lost many key players. Adam Foote, Valeri Kamensky, Peter Forsberg, and Joe Sakic went to the Colorado Avalanche after the team entered the GHL. The Montreal Canadiens also took key players from the Nordiques, including Andrei Markov, Alex Galchenyuk, and Guy Lafleur. 

What Quebec is left with is a list of young, under-developed players who are being shoved into roles that former Nordiques players left behind. 

The one bright spot, however, is their first-overall draft pick, Lanzo Benedetti.

Lanzo Benedetti was selected 1st overall by the Nordiques in the 2017 draft from the University of Michigan. His abilities on the ice have been admirable, scoring 20 goals this season as of this post. He's paired on a line with Peter Stastny and Brandon Dubinsky, who the Nordiques were able to secure the rights to.

You would think this line would help the Nordiques win games right? Well unfortunately the teams they've been playing have learned how to shut down this line. Benedetti has been able to beat defensemen on his own, but not at the rate the team needs him to in order to win games.

The 3rd problem has to do with coaching.

Head coach Marc Crawford is in his 3rd year with the team. He was the first staff member hired by the Nordiques in November 2015. His record with the Nordiques is above .500, but that was with a loaded roster. Nowadays he's been struggling to put quality lines together with the remaining talent he's got. His contract is set to expire this season, and rumors have been going around that the organization won't give Crawford an option to renew his contract due to the team's lackluster performance.

To put it into perspective, here's Quebec's schedule that's been played so far:

Statistically, Quebec has outscored their opponents 71-59. Unfortunately the teams that Quebec has beaten have been low-ranking teams. The teams they've lost to are mostly at the top of the standings. To be fair, Quebec has a difficult schedule with the team they have right now. Rookies and young minor-leaguers are being outplayed by established veterans almost every night, especially in Montreal. That 9-1 loss came without Quebec's best players, as Benedetti and Dubinsky were out with injuries.

What do you think should happen with Quebec? Should they rebuild through the minor leagues or make a major trade to shake things up?

Well that does it for this post. Until next time, this is Mario Ardais saying so long folks and keep your stick on the ice.

The 2017-18 Season So Far

Hello hockey fans. Welcome to the GHL blog. Tonight's post is about the 2017-18 season so far.


This season marks the GHL's 10th anniversary, which was celebrated on October 5th, 2017.

The 10th Anniversary season kicked off that same day with the opening night matchup between HRCA Inline Hockey and the Colorado Select, who played in the first-ever GHL game on October 5th, 2008.

The Colorado Select repeated their performance 10 years ago by beating HRCA 3-1. The score from the first meeting in 2008 was 4-2 Colorado.


As of the end of November, here's how each team stands in their respective divisions.

NORTH AMERICAN CONFERENCE:

WORLD CONFERENCE:

Also, an event that happened earlier in the year was the induction for the GHL Hall Of Fame class of 2017.

And that does it for this post. Until next time, I'm Mario Ardais saying so long folks and keep your stick on the ice.

Catching Up On The Past 2 Seasons

Hello hockey fans. Welcome back to the GHL Blog.

We apologize for not giving you updates on the league for the past 2 seasons. The league's day-to-day operations were too hectic for blog posts to be written. So today I will recap the last 2 seasons.

The 2015-16 season ended with the Pittsburgh Penguins taking home the Global Hockey Championship, their first-ever in the GHL.

Pittsburgh beat Team France in a 2-game sweep to claim their first-ever Player's Cup.

The 2016-17 GHL season ended with another team winning their first-ever Player's Cup. HRCA Inline Hockey would win it this year, in a 2-game sweep over the Quebec Nordiques.

HRCA Inline Hockey became the first-ever GHL team outside of North America to win the Player's Cup.

Well we hope this clears things up in terms of who won the Player's Cup the past 2 seasons. We'll give you a recap of this season tomorrow. Until next time, This is Mario Ardais saying so long folks and keep your stick on the ice.

January 31st, 2016

Hello there GHL fans. Welcome to the new and improved GHL blog. Because we've been away for so long, let's get you up to date with that's been going on.

The GHL unfortunately folded in June of 2015 due to financial issues, but a large group of sponsors and buyers gave us the money we needed to continue. Now there are many changes to the GHL this season. We now have a grand total of 72 teams, half in Europe and half in North America. The conferences have split the teams into 3 tiers.

The GHL Lifetime Achievement award was awarded shortly after the GHL folded. The recipient was former Weld Central Rebels goalie Crysta Pfeffer. She broke many GHL goaltending records, including most consecutive shutouts, most consecutive wins, most goals by a goalie, most assists by a goalie, and is also the only GHL goalie to be undefeated.

Pfeffer, 18, signed with the Boston Bruins, one of our new GHL teams, on December 22nd, 2015. However, she was hospitalized the next day, and has been on the injured reserve list since then. She is expected to start soon, but a return date is uncertain.

The 2016 GHL All-Star Game will be played in Quebec City, QC this season, at the brand new Videotron Centre. There is currently a fan vote to see who will be in, and even though Crysta Pfeffer hasn't played a single game this season, she's one of the most-voted players to be in the All-Star Game.

However, the only evidence of her still in the GHL is her player picture taken on December 22nd, 2015.

Yeah we realize it's a little small, but it's the only one we can find.

Other GHL players, such as HRCA Inline Hockey's Steve Finn and Pittsburgh's Mario Lemieux have also been highly voted for to play in the All-star Game.


Reebok has also officially released the jerseys for the All-Star Game.

The GHL has also just opened its Hall of Fame, and the inductees were being voted for last night.

The inductees are officially in.

Well, that's all we have for today. We hope this post helps you all catch up. thanks for reading, and keep your stick on the ice.

Friday: December 12th, 2014

Hello Canada, and hockey fans in the United States and around the world. Welcome to the GHL blog.



The GHL is going through some scheduling conflicts as of this week. games have been postponed due to the event calendar in our GHL arenas being crammed with other events. We will now have to resort to some games being non-televised. Not all games will be non-televised, as we will have 2 of the week's 4 games being played. If we can find more games to broadcast, we will broadcast them.



moving on to some lighter news, the GHL has officially set up a D-League, or Development League, which will consist of 26 teams awarded to the following cities:

Anaheim
Boston
Buffalo
Calgary
Chicago
Dallas
Detroit
Edmonton
Florida
Hartford
Los Angeles
Montreal
New Jersey
New York (Long Island)
New York (New York City)
Ottawa
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Quebec
San Jose
St. Louis
Tampa Bay
Toronto
Vancouver
Washington
Winnipeg


We are well aware that most of these cities also host NHL teams, but the NHL has accepted our bids for the cities supporting NHL teams. Further information will be given at a later date.



Now we shift our focus on Team MTN. Dew's goaltending situation.

Team MTN. Dew, for those who don't know, is one of our original 12 teams, but was met by hockey purists as "nothing more than a publicity stunt meant to advertise". Off the ice, reaction to the team name was met with disgust, if not pure hatred. On the ice, the team played about as good as their small fanbase, winning only 2 games out of 42 in 2008-09. The reason was their goaltending. The "un-lovable losers" as GHL fans call them have 2 goalies splitting shifts throughout the season, Jim Park and Glenn Healy. Park's age is preventing him from being a legitimate star. At age 62, he is the oldest player in the GHL after Team Canada's Paul Henderson retired over the summer. Park has had very few good games. Glenn Healy has had to bail Park out on several occasions. However, Healy isn't much younger. At age 52, Glenn Healy has shown his age as well. Both goalies are subject to injuries. Last season the injuries were so severe to both goalies that the team's medical trainer had to play goal for the remainder of the season. Luckily, Team MTN. Dew made good use of the draft, signing younger goalies such as Ben Scrivens and Carter Hutton. Who's going to be the starter? No one really knows. We'll have to see when they take the ice for their opening night game.



That should do it for today's GHL blog post, so take care, and follow the GHL on Google+ and subscribe to our YouTube channel. And now we have a Facebook Page, so go check that out as well.

Warm Regards,
Mario Ardais
GHL commissioner

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2014

Hello Canada, and hockey fans in the United States and around the world. Welcome to the GHL blog.



Today we have more news on the allegations of Penguins star Evgeni Malkin.

Malkin was in court today to start his hearing. The charge is unsportsmanlike conduct and trying to intentionally injure another player. The jury's verdict proved him not guilty of any severe charge, and will walk away with a $500 fine for disturbing the peace within the league.



And now for some sad news. NHL legend Jean Beliveau passed away yesterday. He was 83 when he died. Some of our players put in their two cents on what they thought about his passing:



Colorado Eagles forward Riley Nelson said "I'm sad to hear such a great player die. He seemed healthy, so we didn't know if something was wrong. Hopefully he's in a better place now."


Team YouTube defenseman Glenn Featherstone said "Jean was one of the players I tried to model myself around. He was my idol growing up."


Pittsburgh Penguins star Mario Lemieux said "It's a sad day for hockey. Growing up in Montreal, I knew him along with Maurice Richard, Jacques Plante, and Guy Lafleur. I never thought Jean would go like this."







And now for more GHL news, which takes us to the expansion Denver Nationals.

The Nationals just signed former high school player Brady Sufat. Sufat has been on Denver's radar for the past month, and now a deal is put in place. He signed a 4-year, $250,000 deal with a $1 million signing bonus. Along with the signing, the Nationals have been put under the Reserve Clause, making the Nationals a permanently-owned team in the GHL.









Well there you have it folks. That's the GHL news for today. Take care, and follow the GHL on Google+ and subscribe to our YouTube channel.



Warm Regards,
Mario Ardais
GHL Commissioner