Retired Reaper Tributes - Jason Woolley

In this, the first installment of a series of tributes to retiring Reaper players, we wish a fond farewell to a veteran of the RHL wars, Jason Woolley.

Jason Woolley is as old as the RHL itself, and then some. He began play in RHL 1 splitting time between the Boston Bandits and the Spartans of Southern Calgary. He remained a Spartan until RHL 5 when he joined the Aviators, the team with whom he would spend the majority of his career. He remained with the Aviators until RHL 8 when he joined the San Jose Killer Bees partway into the season. RHL 8 marked a career high point for Jason Woolley. He set a career high in goals with 13 in that season, and a career high in playoff points with 7. RHL 8 also marked Jason Woolley's only RHL Kings Cup Championship, and the only one for the San Jose Killer Bees.

Jason continued moving around, splitting time three ways in RHL 9, between the Roadkill, Aviators, and Spectres. It marked his second tour with the Aviators, despite being only 30 games. The Spectres would be the team he ended the season with, although a first round knock out was a far cry from his championship the year before.

Woolley was a Saskatoon Fun Boy in RHL 10, a Tampa Bay Celtic Ray for both their years in existence (RHL 11 and 12), a member of the Wicked Ale in RHL 13 and then he became a member of the Airdrie T-Men in RHL 14. It would mark his first playoff appearance since RHL 10. RHL 15 was spent injured before joining the Capones and Thundercats in RHL 16. He finally joined the Guelph Reapers, his final team in his stellar RHL Career. He retired on several high notes. Despite not being wanted elsewhere in the RHL, the Reapers gave him a late season chance and he made use of it. Despite just playing in 9 games, Woolley netted 2 assists. The final points of his regular season career. For Woolley, it gave him 351 career points, hitting the 350 point mark before his career ended. But that was just the start for Woolley. He became a regular for the Reapers in the playoffs, and played in all 7 games netting 4 points. He ends his career with 35 career playoff points.

Woolley proved in his final games that older low rated players with experience can be quite useful. Jason ended his career with 6 points in 16 games as a Reaper, and a plus 2 on a weaker highly negative team. Those are stellar numbers for any defenseman, but especially one so far on the end of his career.

Woolley will be missed, as there remain fewer and fewer RHL original year players left.

History of the Guelph Reapers

It is time to re-educate the RHL, its GMs and all those who are interested on the beginnings for the Guelph Reapers, the team name, franchise location and logos. The common belief is the Guelph Reapers began as an RHL Expansion team. Nothing could be further from the truth. Now someone might claim to be a huge expert, and say that the team began in another league called the IHHHL. They are closer to the truth, and still way off. The Guelph Reapers actually began as a franchise way back in 1997 in the now defunct MRHL as a farm team. I set forth to create a unique team name, something never used before, and something near and dear to me. Since the MRHL was an NHL team pro league, the only creative outlet was in naming your farm team. I chose the Reapers over my second choice, the Slayers. The main reason was my love of the image of the Reaper, and yes a fixation with death. Not a morbid way, just having seen all my family die (save for my Mom and Brother) while in school, and thus at young ages, I found myself at funeral homes frequently in early years. To better understand that which seemed so confusing, frustrating and fearful I did what most kids do... ask questions and read on the topic. Having grown up in the religious side as a regular every week Catholic church attendee, I needed something to associate to death away from the Church. I refused to believe death which is sad and painful is something I wanted linked to my faith. Life eternal yes, death no. So for death I pictured a villain, as most comic book fans do. The Reaper was the easiest fictional face to put to death, and to blame for each loss. Ironically the fixation grew and by the time I began fantasy hockey, I actually admired the form of the Reaper. I collect Reaper sculptures, and similar such figures and toys (such as Soul Taker from the Spawn line). The Slayer came from the same line of thinking, but the opposite end. The Slayer (not specifically vampire slayer but along the lines) was the protector who fought demons and monsters like the Reaper I had made. Unfortunately for the Slayer, my fixation with the ghostly image of the Reaper was far more striking and the team became the Reapers (sorry Sarah Michelle Gellar). The location of Guelph was simply because I was living in Guelph, attending University in Guelph when I created the team (between 1996-2000). From their early beginnings in the downtown Guelph arena to the Eaton Centre Plaza, where a major new state of the art facility was built in 1999 in downtown Guelph (true story), the Reapers were the MRFHL farm champions in their 2nd year. In 1999 the team would move up in the professional ranks. Then the team hit the pro ranks. The 1996 IHHHL Champions, the East Lansing Spartans were in need of a new GM. The team had struggled since winning in 1996, missing the playoffs three straight years. Revenues were down, attendance was down and the new owners hired GM Steve Gandour and moved the team to Guelph. With his ties with the City, Steve owning the team name rights, the Guelph franchise became known as the Reapers. Now the IHHHL had one rule for all teams, a mandatory logo. With a relocating franchise, the Spartans logo would no longer be sufficient. At that time, the team held a contest for team logo ideas, and commissioned a sketch artist frequented by the league to facilitate the winning design at the time into a logo. Thus, the first logo for the Guelph Reapers was created way back in 1999. The original Reaper Logo looked like this...



At the time, the logo was considered one of the most innovative and unique team logos in pro sports, and unlike so many other team logos, it was clearly not a copy from any other pro sports league, truly a unique logo. The Reapers took great pride in their creation, and awarded the fan who sent the idea with seasons tickets. The logo in case it won't load depicts a gray hooded Reaper wielding a scythe that curves into a hockey stick on the bottom, and has the usual scythe blade on the top. The Logo was done in Black and Red, with Blood red in the background, and a lighter more child friendly / animated style of blood red Grim Reapers text in big letters, with little of Guelph on the bottom.

The team went on to great success in the IHHHL. Though it never won a title in the league, it drafted in its tenure the likes of Rick Nash, Nikolai Zherdev, Alexander Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Roberto Luongo, Alexander Semin, Zach Parise, Jack Johnson and more top end talent then any team in past history. However before the core of these players had developped, I had left the league as GM. The league still exists to this day, and so do the Reapers under the management of William Kinnaird. The Reapers logo still remains the original logo first designed in 1999. The league can be viewed at http://www2.hawaii.edu/~dwayne/index.html. Will has done an amazing job keeping the team intact that I built, and it keeps getting better. It was a thrill to allow him to keep the team name when I left over four years ago now, and a sign of great respect for the organization and the city that he maintains it still.

The Guelph Reapers however made their biggest pro impact as most people know it when they joined the RHL as an expansion team in RHL 14. At that time, I submitted our team logo when I joined to the league to put on the site. Realizing the league had a logo page, I was glad to have my own logo up against the other RHL logos, proud of it as still nearly a decade later one of the most unique in pro sports. The team went on to have great success in the RHL, winning its league in only its 2nd year, which if it had not been a split league could have beaten the Rovers record of third year championship. The Reapers also have been a playoff team in every season since joining, an accomplishment rare and to be proud of.

Most recently, I commissioned a new logo to be designed by another graphics art design firm. This logo which was built now going on a year ago, remains not yet in use. It will be primarily used as a third logo, as most franchises in pro hockey tend to do. The third logo, a year old now but never released to the league is...



For those who can't see it (in case again it won't load) it is a triangle standing on a single point, with a screaming reaper skull in a blue/gray cloak charging (as if on attack in battle) scythe in hand, the top blade of the scythe making the top of the triangle, with the word Reapers in big blue/gray/black animated letters along the top, and Guelph all in black on the background of the silver scythe.

The Reapers enter their fifth year in the RHL this season. They enter their 10th season (a decade of hockey) in the IHHHL this season. The team celebrates a Dozen Years of fantasy hockey as the Guelph Reapers this year, and celebrate its 10 year annivesary of their logo next year. All in all this team has a wonderful history, and yes RHL, we do and always have, had a logo.

This will be posted on my blog, to honour the team's history

BREAKING NEWS - Lecavalier Deal Details

We have just gotten wind of the Lecavalier trade details and you will hear it here first.

Exclusive to the BLOG Verse, the deal sees the Reapers package off first round dispersal pick Kimmo Timonen, along with their first in next years draft, AVI 2nd this years draft and Patrik Berglund for Vinnie Lecavalier and cash.

It is believed that the Reapers had held out to ensure they kept their first this year (12th overall) feeling confident their first next year would be no better even if there were no expansion teams where this year there were 3.

The pick will likely be used to replace the depletion of youth with Berglund's departure. That means the Reapers will have lost only a 2nd round prospect from this years list of futures to move up and select Vincent Lecavalier. Berglund however will be terribly missed, as he brought a plethora of skills to the table, and even though he would not have been in the RHL this year or next year, his potential down the line in a few years is quite high.

Lecavalier is arguably the best forward in the game, and comes with a locked in contract for 2 years at a not too exorbatant price. He will be the face of the franchise for the next 2 years at least, and will have plenty of talent along side him up front.

Reporting for your Reapers,

Sal Trachan

Reapers Interesting Stories

Heading into RHL 18, the Reapers have many interesting stories for the fans and team to watch.

Amongst the many stories is the goaltending glut controversy the team faces. Not wanting to lose Craig Anderson in the expansion draft, the team had little choice as they had to protect the two goalies they felt could be most useful, both for long term value and for ability to play regular amounts of games.

Even with Anderson gone, there remains yet a glut in net. Ryan Miller who backstopped the team last year to an unlikely playoff spot is a bit of a fan fave. However he is commanding an astronomical salary for his skills and the Reapers are unlikely to keep their RFA, even unlikely to meet his demand to retain rights.

Alex Auld has been a Reaper for two seasons now, posting amazing numbers. However Auld's ratings have plummetted and he is unlikely to make the team next year. Still he has a contract that keeps him locked up into RHL 19 which makes moving him difficult.

The two dispersal pickups are the most likely to share duties in net this year. Manny Legace and Martin Gerber both post decent if not great numbers. Both goalies have reasonable salaries, and the two should be stable enough on the back end with the offense in front of them to win some big games.

The next question is on the blueline. The team enters free agency with two contracted dmen for next year. All their others are RFAs or UFAs. The gaps require major attention. Who they will go after is a different question. The team if they can shed some large salary may make a big pitch, but it is believed instead they will try a platoon of solid but not spectacular dmen this year. The emergence of Travis Roche is huge for the team, in a time when they need dmen worse then ever.

Travis is also one of those interesting stories for the Reapers entering RHL 18. Originally drafted in the Reapers first ever Entry Draft, Roche sat and sat and sat and sat awaiting his chance to make the lineup. Now more then 4 years after being drafted, he will get to play in his first game. Roche has developped his skills nicely entering into this season, though many feel he has no long term value. Still for an original Reaper and the first that they drafted in that first year to make the team, it is a great story. The Reapers just didn't think it would take 4 years before any of the 12 picks they had that inaugural year would crack their lineup.

Another intriguing story is the return of two more original Reapers. Niko Kapanen was a Reaper for their first year, then left, then came back last year to have a career season. Unfortunately he has seen his stock plummet over the summer, but the Reapers opted to keep him on out of respect for his history with the organization. Also, Radim Vrbata is in a similar boat but on a different side of the lake. Vrbata was an original Reaper who had success his first year, then struggled and last year returning to the Reapers was quite brutal. However he has turned his career around, looks to be much more useful this season and could be a key piece for the Reapers next year as well.

Finally the last of the interesting scenario's takes place with Teemu Selanne. Teemu was to be an initial pick of the Reaper organization in their first ever expansion draft. Right up until the deadline, the team had him pencilled in. In the last minute the team had a change of mind, and forfitted the pick. Now, over four years later, Selanne finally arrives in Guelph where he nearly ended up so many seasons ago. This time he is welcomed with open arms as the team locked up the UFA to be instantly, and hopes he can bring in added scoring to their lineup.

Last year the scoring was limited to one line. Shane Doan, Martin Straka and Niko Kapanen were the majority of the offensive attack. All three return this year, but the additions of Vincent Lecavalier, Jiri Hudler and Teemu Selanne will give the Reapers two dynamic offensive lines to hopefully offset for their shortfalls on D and maybe in goal.

This season promises to be a more exciting one, with higher scoring games.

By the way, as an exclusive to the BLOG Verse faithful, rumour has it that the Reapers will be trying to resign Peter Forsberg in auction to return him to the team where he had so much success for two seasons. More on that to follow.

Reporting for your Reapers,

Sal Trachan

Reapers Surprising Many at the Draft

Going into the Dispersal draft, the Reapers were the team that looked in complete rebuild. With no number one netminder locked into contract, only one dman of note contracted, and only three forwards capable of being regulars contracted, the team looked like it was set to explore youth only in the dispersal draft. Indeed, GM Gandour admits after sitting down with his committee that was the plan.

"Darren Madill and I had some closed door sessions discussing strategies," GM Gandour admitted, "and while we laughingly said even in rebuild Lecavalier would have to be our first overall choice, we knew he would not make it. So we went on creating our list as if we had every pick in the draft. Who would we take first overall, second overall, third overall, etc. The result was a master list, and a strategy. Looking at our position, we realized that the three or four top end superstars we targetted would not slip to 12th, and by that point we had much deeper lists of younger players with ratings. Our strategy was laid out for us from our homework. We were going to focus on a rebuild with pieces already RHL ready."

"We had eyed Joffrey Lupul as a player that might be available that we would take at 12th," Darren Madill added, "it was our plan anyway. Names like Hudler, Lupul, Hartnell, Malone, Ranger, Krejci, Frolik, Kostitsyn, Komisarek and Varlamov were the guys we targetted, hoping to land two of them in the first two rounds. We knew by round 3 that these players would be gone, and we were correct. Krejci was the top name on our list in round 3, the only one left from the above, but he went before our 12th overall selection."

"Something interesting happened though," GM Gandour admitted. "We were contacted with the possibility of moving up to first, taking the first overall pick in the dispersal draft. We were so stunned we had no plan for this. In no scenario we had ran had we ever thought we could piece together an offer fitting of Lecavalier. We had laughed off the likelihood of he being our first round pick, but then it was suddenly a possibility. I called Darren right away."

"Steve was on the phone to me at my office pesturing me for a good half hour while I was trying to work!" Darren laughingly admitted. "I was so torn by the talks. Yes, we both had agreed that Lecavalier hands down was the best player in this draft, and no matter what we had in mind... if we picked first he would have been our pick. Some teams would say 'we are rebuilding so even first overall we would take a vanek' or such, but we knew even if we had committed to taking only 1st year players, if we had the first pick we would not have passed on Lecavalier. The debate for me was never whether we should get Lecavalier, rather it was would getting Lecavalier for this package be a good deal?"

"Darren brought up a great point," Steve continued. "He said that yes, if we picked first overall we would take Vincent Lecavalier. But we weren't picking first overall. In that scenario we get the best player. In this scenario, we would sacrifice more then just a vanek or lupul selecting lecavalier. We would lose picks and a prospect. The goal as Darren said of a Dispersal draft is to improve your team at no cost, this is the one chance to do so without any compensation, monetary or trade. If we did this, we waste our first round pick by acquiring an asset, rather then just adding one for nothing. However I looked at it and said, every team will improve in the dispersal draft. The key is not to improve, but to improve more significantly then the other teams will do. If that costs us some future assets, but we walk away with a player no one else got, then lets do it."

"It was a long back and fourth talk, but eventually we agreed the price was just a tad too high." Steve continued. "So we contacted the Browns and told them we could not pay that price. Luckily however we were able to continue the line of conversation open, and compromise. It was a very small compromise, but we both felt it was just enough to justify accepting the deal."

The compromise, as with the return, remains unknown at this time. However the fact is the Reapers added Vincent Lecavalier in Round one. However then they made an about face in round 2.

"We never strayed from our plan," GM Gandour said, "which was to follow our master list. The strategy we anticipated unfolding was a rebuild, as we saw a lot more young names that intersted us then veteran names. Lecavalier was not a vere from the plan, it was right in line with our plan, just never expected to be in play. In Round 2 we knew there was no vet we wanted as much as we wanted Jiri Hudler. Hudler is the typical type of skilled forward we want to build this team around. He will work well with Hudler developping together as both will be Reapers for a while."

"Hudler had a great playoff last year," Darren added, "and we identified him as a major player in this draft who had still some upside. Landing him in round 2 was very good for our club."

By round three as stated above the top name on the list was David Krejci. With him out of play before the team picked, the Reapers master list still had a superstar on it!

"When we made the list," GM Gandour continued, "we had a couple superstars at the top, and then a long list of good young guys, then a few more superstars not as valueable as the young guys but more valueable then taking a project wild card prospect... or a steady but unspecatacular prospect... and it so happened that one of them was still there at a time where our top young player on the list was a Paille or Chipchura, a player projected to be a third liner with potential as a second liner if he remains on a weak club and all goes extraordinarily well. Teemu Selanne however we knew what we were getting."

"The list had dwindled down for the top end youth in round 2," Darren admitted, "and coming into round 3 it was third liners, fourth dmen and these guys didn't have huge untapped potential."

With Teemu Selanne, the team lept to sign him to a contract. Selanne who made 3.3 last year was only asking for a 100,000 raise this year despite his nice improvement for the upcoming year. In adding Selanne, the team still has over 6 mil to spend to reach the leagues min spending policy.

With three rounds down, the Reapers now have their top two lines set entering next year.

Radim Vrbata - Vincent Lecavalier - Shane Doan
Jiri Hudler - Martin Straka - Teemu Selanne

The team has its eye heading into rounds 4, 5, 6 and 7 on filling in depth spots on its roster. However the team did say they have their eye on someone special with the upcoming pick.

"There is one guy left we REALLY want to land," Darren admitted, "and if we get him we would feel extremely lucky. We had him going in the second round on our list. He would be a great fit for our club."

"I would love to land this one guy," Steve admitted, "the top name on our list has been on our list since the beginning, and was a 2nd rounder for our list. If we land him we feel we add another key piece to our team."

With 4 picks to come, there are a few superstar names still out there, but the salaries likely will prevent them from going until the last picks if at all.

Peter Forsberg, Mike Peca, Jaromir Jagr and Todd Bertuzzi could all slip right out of the draft due to outrageous salary demands. Still any team landing them could certainly make use of them immediately.

Reporting for your Reapers,

Sal Trachan

A Sneak Peak at Expansion

The Reapers protection list won't be released for several days yet, but yours truly is breaking it here first.

I have had a sneak peak at the protection lists for your Guelph Reapers.

No surprises really here, as the team has so few contracted players that it can leave only UFAs available and protect all its contracted assets. The only noticeable event here is the Reapers with perhaps Ryan Miller as their franchise goalie, have left him UNPROTECTED. Miller, RFA this offseason, was left off their lists while the team seems to be leaning towards protecting either 2 goalies (Auld and Anderson) or deciding which one. No matter who it is, Miller will be available come the expansion draft.

The only other noteable exposed is Adrian Aucoin. Aucoin is UFA so it is not that noteable, but a bit of a surprise since the team did chose to date to protect other UFAs such as Wayne Primeau. The final list will depend on remaining selections, but until that point we will have to wait.

Reporting for your Guelph Reapers,

Sal Trachan

Reapers Trade Up In Dispersal Draft

Their is a new face of the franchise, as once again the Reapers have managed to snag their man in the dispersal draft. In their expansion year the Reapers took Pavel Kubina first in a weaker dispersal draft. In their next year, they snagged the face of the franchise for two years in Roberto Luongo first overall in a dispersal draft. Now breaking news from Guelph has the team trading up in this years, the deepest dispersal draft in RHL history, for Vincent Lecavalier!

Deals are not allowed to be announced until after the trade embargo, so much like the NBA this one won't be official for a while, but the word has already leaked out and none of the parties involved is denying this report.

What was dealt remains to be seen, but it is firmly believed that the package involved several picks and a prospect.

Reporting for your Reapers, breaking all the news worth breaking,

Sal Trachan

Reapers Clinch: Streak Survives Another Year

Only in the RHL can 5-0 lead to an even more significant 4-0.

Well the Guelph Reapers extended their win streak to 5 game with an impressive 4-0 victory over the Vulcan Mind Melds. The game also marked a historic moment for the Guelph Reapers. With the 4-0 win, the team has secured a playoff spot for the 4th year in a row, every year the team has been in existence.

Lets review the past two victories. The Reapers left Calgary having swept the mini series and taken 3 in a row contests. The team then headed to Albany to take on the injury riddled Strap Hangers. The Hangers were without their number one goalie, Antero Niittymaki. This would prove a huge break for the Reapers.

The Reapers would open the scoring just 35 seconds into the game. Niko Kapanen capitalized on a giveaway by Sean Hill to go in on the breakaway. Kapanen roofed a sweet shot right under the crossbar on his backhand for his 17th goal of the season. The Strap Hangers however would even the score just past the 5 minute mark of the period. Former Reaper Michael Nylander netted his 16th of the year, from Jan Bulis and Andrew Hutchinson to tie the game and that tie would last for the next 28 minutes of the game. At the 13 minute mark of the 2nd, the Strap Hangers would once more find the twine. Mark Rycroft's 4th of the season from Ville Nieminen and Trevor Linden would give the Strap Hangers their first lead of the game. Mike Ricci would net his 4th of the year before the period was out, to extend the lead to 3 to 1. Mark Rycroft and Sergei Samsonov assisted on the insurance tally. Things looked bad for the Reapers heading into the third period, down 3-1. However something very strange happened. Early in the third, Philippe Sauve the Strap Hangers netminder left the game for unknown reasons. It is believed it was personal reasons, as no injury was reported to the league. With Nittymaki already out, and no third goalie, Sean Hill went into the goal for one play. Sean Hill was perfect, stopping the only shot he faced while in net. Yet for some reason, the Strap Hangers then put Dmitri Kalinin in net. Kalinin only faced 6 shots, but he was far from perfect as the Reapers began their comeback. Mike Leclerc netted his 12th of the season from Garnet Exelby and Trevor Letowski to cut the lead to 3-2. Shane Doan would net his 33rd of the year, with just over a minute and a half left in the game. Wayne Primeau and Pavel Kubina would assist on the Powerplay marker that tied the game. But the heart breaking goal for Strap Hangers fans happened with 35 seconds left in the game. Wayne Primeau would net his 6th of the year from Kevin Dallman and Pierre Dagenais to give the Reapers the win. Miller earned his 4th save in a row since returning from his stint on the bench. Kalinin took the loss, allowing 3 goals on 6 shots.

The Reapers with the win were given an opportunity to secure a playoff spot last night. One of the two teams still in contention, the Mind Melds of planet Vulcan flew their spaceships down to Guelph to take on the Reapers. At stake, the playoffs. The Reapers clearly knew what they had to do, this game was all Guelph.

The Reapers opened the scoring late in the first. Trevor Letowski scored his 9th goal of the year from Serge Aubin and Mike LeClerc to give the Reapers the 1-0 lead. Just 33 seconds into the second period, the Reapers doubled their lead. Joel Bouchard netted his 3rd of the season from Jason Woolley and Radim Vrbata. The Reapers added another marker 7 minutes later to make it 3-0. Mark Hartigan who has been absolutely on fire as of late, netted his 8th of the season from Radim Vrbata and Pavel Kubina. Finally the Reapers rounded out the scoring late in the third as Mark Hartigan netted his 2nd of the game, and 9th of the season. Shane Doan drew the only assist on the Powerplay marker. The Reapers peppered Nabokov with 42 shots. Ryan Miller stopped all 22 shots for the shutout victory.

Of note the Reapers have four games remaining to wind out their season. They must face the Falcons tonight, in Cleveland. Then they will return home to face the Roadkill and the Spectres before ending their season on the road in Waterloo against the Roadkill once more.

Mark Hartigan's 2 goals give him 6 goals and 8 points in the 5 game stretch. Miller's shutout victory brings him to 5 straight wins, he is undefeated since coming out of the press box.

The Reapers now can afford to rest their players a bit more with the playoffs secure, to prepare for a playoff run. With only one active injury, and that player pretty much set to return, the team will do its best to stay healthy for the remainder of the year.

Reporting for your Reapers,

Sal Trachan

Reapers Win Three In A Row: Week In Review

Playoff fever is quickly heating up for the Reapers fans of Guelph. Only a week ago the team was in danger of falling out of the playoffs. However that has changed thanks to the Reapers past week.

The Reapers have won three straight, including two against the heated rival Vampyres to extract some minor revenge for back to back blow out losses to the team two weeks ago.

The week started with the Reapers hosting the Penetrators. Ryan Miller as predicted return to the nets after Alexander Auld's horrible stretch offset his two big shutout victories.

In the first period the Penetrators took the lead thanks to Joe Sakic's 23rd of the season. The Reapers however turned fortunes around from their past two week stretch in which specialty teams killed them. On a powerplay in the first period, Shane Doan netted his 31st goal of the season from Mark Hartigan and Kevin Dallman to tie the game. The second started with another Reapers powerplay opportunity. Once more, the Reapers hit the twines thanks to Mark Hartigan's 4th of the season. Kevin Dallman and Pierre Dagenais drew the assists that gave the Reapers a 2-1 lead. The Penetrators would come back to tie it in the third thanks to their own powerplay marker. Brian Rolston's 36th of the season from Rod Brind'Amour and Andrei Meszaros squared the game at 2 a piece. However the Reapers would get another Powerplay only seconds later. Less then 30 seconds after the Penetrators tied the game, Shane Doan would net his 2nd goal of the game. For Doan, the second powerplay marker, his 32nd goal of the year was the game winner. Pierre Dagenais and Niko Kapanen assisted on the goal and the Reapers held on for the 3-2 win. For Ryan Miller in his first start in a while, he netted the win stopping 33 of 35 shots in the game. The three powerplay markers for the Reapers were tied for the most for the team this season.

The Reapers were thrilled to have beaten the Penetrators but the real challenge awaited, one the team wanted for pride as much as all else. The Vampyres came into Guelph with the Reapers number. The team had man handled Guelph in their last home and away and looked to do the same in this home and away set. However Ryan Miller was in net, and the Vampyres would not have Alex Auld to feast on this time. The Reapers opened the scoring two minutes into the first. Niko Kapanen netted his 16th of the season from Shane Doan and Martin Straka. The lead would hold into the second. Just 48 seconds into the second period Andrew Brunette would tie the game on the powerplay. Brunette's 22nd from Chris Pronger and Ryan Whitney tied the game and the tie would hold until the third. Midway into the third it looked like the Reapers were going to repeat history as the Vampyres netted the goal to break the tie. Henrik Sedin's 19th from Marek Zidlicky and Fedor Tyutin gave the Vampyres a 2 to 1 lead with just over 10 minutes to go in the game. The Reapers however were not about to accept defeat on this night. A second over two minutes later the Reapers struck on the powerplay to tie the game again. Mark Hartigan's 5th from Radim Vrbata and Pavel Kubina gave the Reapers new life. Less then 35 seconds later, the Reapers hit the back of the net again to take the lead! Mark Hartigan netted his 2nd goal of the game, 6th of the season from Radim Vrbata and Adrian Aucoin to give the Reapers the 3-2 lead. However the Vampyres were determined not to let the game slip away. With under five minutes left in the game, Dustin Penner netted his 4th of the season from Chris Pronger and Daniel Cleary to deadlock the game once more. The Reapers however not to be outdone came back once more. With just over three minutes to go in the game, Mike LeClerc freshly off the IR netted his 11th goal of the year, the game winner, from Serge Aubin and Trevor Letowski. The Reapers held on behind Ryan Miller's 30 saves for the win. Miller had won 2 in a row after his rest. The Reapers had won two in a row including the crucial home match against the hated rival Vampyres.

The Reapers then went on the road into Calgary to face the Vampyres to try to extract more revenge for the embarassment of the prior home and away. Spurred on by the momentum from their home game, the Reapers opened the scoring on the road. Mark Hartigan netted his 7th goal of the season, again on the powerplay, from Shane Doan and Pierre Dagenais. Just over a minute later however, the Vampyres would tie the game in front of their home crowd. Ryan Smyth's 31st goal of the year from Andrew Brunette and Brian Campbell tied the game at ones. Much like most of this series has been, the back and forth play continued. The Vampyres would take the 2-1 lead this time. Marek Zidlicky netted his 7th goal of the season from Brian Campbell and Vaclav Prospal on the powerplay. Before the first period could end however, the Reapers struck back. Martin Straka's 11th of the season tied the game. Shane Doan and Niko Kapanen assisted on the marker that sent the teams to the dressing rooms deadlocked once more. In the second, the Reapers took over the game. Adrian Aucoin netted his 4th of the season from Mike LeClerc and Pavel Kubina to give the Reapers a one goal lead. Less then a minute after that, the Reapers did the unthinkable in this series. They ADDED AN INSURANCE MARKER AGAINST THE VAMPYRES IN CALGARY. Wayne Primeau netted a powerplay marker, his 5th goal of the season. Mark Hartigan and Grant Stevenson assisted on the goal to give the Reapers a 4-2 lead heading into the third. The Vampyres came out on fire in the third, pasting Miller with shots and great scoring chances. Miller stood his ground until with exactly 4 minutes remaining in the game, the Vampyres cut the lead back to one. Scott Gomez's 29th of the season on the powerplay from Vaclav Prospal and Marek Zidlicky made the game a nailbiter. Ryan Miller however would stop 18 of 19 shots in the period to help the Reapers to their third straight win, 4-3.

The Reapers really came together as a team during this recent stretch. The 6 powerplay goals in their last 3 games has been a testament to their improved Specialty teams. Ryan Miller stepped right up after sitting for two weeks, as he went 3-0-0, allowing just 8 goals on 104 shots in the 3 games. His .923 Save Percentage along with 2.67 GAA solidified the teams Playoff hopes as they went from 1 point ahead of 9th to 7 points ahead of 9th in just three games.

WHO's HOT: Since our last update, Mark Hartigan has truly caught fire. His past three games he has netted 4 goals, and 6 points. 3 Powerplay markers and 5 powerplay points lead the way for his stellar week. Shane Doan has been nearly as hot, with 2 PPG and 5 points in his past 3 games. Doan also had a GWG. Niko Kapanen and Pierre Dagenais both had 3 points in the past three games, for Dagenais it gave him a four points in four game stretch since his long ride in the press box. Speaking of returns, Adrian Aucoin and Mike LeClerc both have two game point streaks going since returning from IR two games ago.

WHO's NOT: Serge Aubin has been a -2 in the three wins, and was held to one assist. Not great numbers for a historically reliable defensive forward. Pavel Kubina continues to struggle to score, though he did get two assists in the past three games.

Reporting for your Reapers,

Sal Trachan

Reaper Milestones Tracker: Franchise Records

Below are the Reapers team milestones. Any name with an asterik is still active for the Reapers. Some milestones needed much extrapolating since things like SHP, PPP don't show on the site. I had to search game by game. It did uncover something interesting, I have 3 SHG this year, but only was given credit for two. Weird.

Oh well, I counted the third in here.

This took a lot of work, so enjoy.

RHL Reapers Team Milestones

Career Team Leaders

Games Played
Pavel Kubina 182* (51 to date = 233)
Trent Klatt 132
Alexei Morozov 132
Jim Dowd 122
Steve Thomas 120
Pavel Brendl 119
Peter Forsberg 116
Radim Vrbata 116* (57 to date = 173)
Rob Blake 103
Alyn McCauley 98

Chasers
Niko Kapanen 66 (57 to date = 123)
Cory Cross 65 (18 to date = 83)
Garnet Exelby 39 (21 to date = 60)
Shane Doan 37 (57 to date = 94)
Pierre Dagenais 32 (11 to date = 43)
Martin Straka 0 (57 to date = 57)

Goals
Peter Forsberg 47
Alexander Korolyuk 41
Pavel Kubina 36* (3 to date = 39)
Steve Thomas 29
Alexei Morozov 27
Alyn McCauley 27
Radim Vrbata 26* (10 to date = 36)
Sergei Fedorov 25
Trent Klatt 22
Pavel Brendl 22
Brian Savage 20

Chasers
Cory Cross 14 (2 to date = 16)
Pierre Dagenais 11 (1 to date = 12)
Shane Doan 10 (30 to date = 40)
Niko Kapanen 4 (15 to date = 19)
Adrian Aucoin 2 (3 to date = 5)
Martin Straka 0 (10 to date = 10)

Assists
Peter Forsberg 77
Pavel Kubina 62* (23 to date = 85)
Alexei Morozov 60
Sergei Fedorov 49
Rob Blake 48
Alexander Korolyuk 39
Trent Klatt 38
Scott Stevens 37
Alyn McCauley 30
Scott Walker 24
Radim Vrbata 24* (15 to date = 39)

Chasers
Cory Cross 21 (3 to date = 24)
Shane Doan 18 (19 to date = 37)
Niko Kapanen 10 (28 to date = 38)
Adrian Aucoin 6 (7 to date = 13)
Pierre Dagenais 4 (6 to date = 10)
Garnet Exelby 3 (2 to date = 5)
Martin Straka 0 (39 to date = 39)

Points
Peter Forsberg 124
Pavel Kubina 98* (26 to date = 124)
Alexei Morozov 87
Alexander Korolyuk 80
Sergei Fedorov 74
Rob Blake 62
Trent Klatt 60
Alyn McCauley 57
Radim Vrbata 50* (25 to date = 75)
Scott Stevens 46
Steve Thomas 46
Pavel Brendl 44

Chasers
Cory Cross 35 (3 to date = 38)
Shane Doan 28 (49 to date = 77)
Pierre Dagenais 15 (7 to date = 22)
Niko Kapanen 14 (43 to date = 57)
Adrian Aucoin 8 (7 to date = 15)
Martin Straka 0 (49 to date = 49)

+/-
Peter Forsberg 53
Pavel Kubina 45* (-8 to date = 37)
Cory Cross 43* (-7 to date = 36)
Scott Stevens 41
Sergei Fedorov 37
Alexander Korolyuk 37
Alexei Morozov 36
Rob Blake 35
Alyn McCauley 27
Trent Klatt 26
Curtis Leschyshyn 25
Magnus Arvedson 23
Scott Walker 21

Chasers
Shane Doan +9 (-4 to date = 5)
Adrian Aucoin +7 (-13 to date = -6)
Pierre Dagenais +6 (-3 to date = 3)

PIM
Jason Strudwick 281
Jody Shelley 215
Adam Mair 212
Jason Wiemer 202
Brad Brown 197
Pavel Kubina 185* (80 to date = 265)
Brad May 137
Rob Blake 113
Steve Thomas 107
Peter Forsberg 102
John Jakopin 101

Chasers
Cory Cross 76 (28 to date = 104)
Garnet Exelby 67 (24 to date = 91)
Radim Vrbata 48 (18 to date = 66)
Shane Doan 36 (73 to date = 109)
Adrian Aucoin 12 (74 to date = 86)
Steve Eminger 0 (70 to date = 70)

PPG
Alexander Korolyuk 16
Sergei Fedorov 9
Peter Forsberg 9
Pavel Kubina 7* (0 to date = 7)
Pavel Brendl 6
Michael Nylander 5
Brian Savage 5
Steve Thomas 5
Petr Nedved 5
Alyn McCauley 5
Radim Vrbata 5* (1 to date = 6)

Chasers
Cory Cross 4 (0 to date = 4)
Shane Doan 3 (14 to date = 17)
Pierre Dagenais 3 (0 to date = 3)
Grant Stevenson 0 (4 to date = 4)
Trevor Letowski 0 (4 to date = 4)
Rory Fitzpatrick 0 (3 to date = 3)

PPP
Peter Forsberg 28
Alexander Korolyuk 27
Pavel Kubina 27* (10 to date = 37)
Alexei Morozov 25
Sergei Fedorov 21
Michael Nylander 13
Rob Blake 12
Brian Savage 12
Scott Stevens 12
Alyn McCauley 12

Chasers
Cory Cross 11 (0 to date = 11)
Radim Vrbata 11 (6 to date = 17)
Shane Doan 8 (20 to date = 28)
Pierre Dagenais 4 (3 to date = 7)
Niko Kapanen 0 (14 to date = 14)
Martin Straka 0 (13 to date = 13)

SHG
Trent Klatt 3
Radek Dvorak 3
Jan Hrdina 3
Steve Thomas 2
Scott Walker 2
PJ Axelsson 2
Magnus Arvedson 2

Chasers
Shane Doan 1 (0 to date = 1)
Radim Vrbata 0 (1 to date = 1)
Kevin Dallman 0 (1 to date = 1)
Pavel Kubina 0 (1 to date = 1)

SHP
Radek Dvorak 5
Magnus Arvedson 5
Trent Klatt 4
Sergei Fedorov 4
Rob Blake 4
Mattias Timander 4
Alyn McCauley 4
Scott Walker 3
PJ Axelsson 3
Jan Hrdina 3
Jonathan Girard 3

Chasers
Shane Doan 2
Pavel Kubina 2 (2 to date = 4)
Cory Cross 1
Kevin Dallman 0 (1 to date = 1)
Serge Aubin 0 (1 to date = 1)
Konstantin Koltsov 0 (2 to date = 2)
Radim Vrbata 0 (1 to date = 1)
Dave Andreychuk 0 (1 to date = 1)
Mike LeClerc 0 (1 to date = 1)

GWG
Alexander Korolyuk 12
Peter Forsberg 9
Pavel Brendl 6
Alexei Morozov 5
Alyn McCauley 5
Michael Nylander 4
Trent Klatt 4
Sergei Fedorov 4

Chasers
Shane Doan 3 (2 to date = 5)
Pavel Kubina 3 (0 to date = 3)
Radim Vrbata 2 (1 to date = 3)
Pierre Dagenais 2 (0 to date = 2)
Cory Cross 1 (1 to date = 2)
Adrian Aucoin 1 (0 to date = 1)
Niko Kapanen 1 (4 to date = 5)
Trevor Letowski 0 (2 to date = 2)
Jamie Heward 0 (2 to date = 2)

SOG
Pavel Kubina 386* (103 to date = 489)
Rob Blake 309
Radim Vrbata 301* (116 to date = 417)
Alexei Morozov 243
Sergei Fedorov 227
Alexander Korolyuk 227
Trent Klatt 206
Steve Thomas 203
Scott Stevens 196
Peter Forsberg 194

Chasers
Shane Doan 132 (238 to date = 370)
Pierre Dagenais 112 (21 to date = 133)
Cory Cross 110 (12 to date = 122)
Niko Kapanen 44 (124 to date = 168)
Martin Straka 0 (106 to date = 106)
Adrian Aucoin 34 (87 to date = 121)
Wayne Primeau 0 (102 to date = 102)

BS
Pavel Kubina 125* (31 to date = 156)
Curtis Leschyshyn 80
Scott Stevens 41
Brad Brown 30
Marek Malik 21
Dave Karpa 17
Mattias Timander 17
Don Sweeney 15

Chasers
Steve Eminger 0 (20 to date = 20)
Serge Aubin 0 (14 to date = 14)

HITS
Trent Klatt 312
Peter Forsberg 276
Pavel Kubina 245* (85 to date = 330)
Scott Stevens 234
Rob Blake 198
Alexei Morozov 181
Steve Thomas 171
Jim Dowd 163
Sergei Fedorov 149
Jason Wiemer 134

Chasers
Radim Vrbata 104 (53 to date = 157)
Cory Cross 97 (14 to date = 111)
Shane Doan 92 (178 to date = 270)
Niko Kapanen 60 (121 to date = 181)
Garnet Exelby 54 (16 to date = 70)
Martin Straka 0 (101 to date = 101)
Wayne Primeau 0 (97 to date = 97)

FO%
Sergei Fedorov 65%
Travis Green 57.4%
Brian Swanson 55.5%
Claude Lapointe 51.7%
Robert Reichel 51.0%
Jan Hrdina 50.0%

Chasers
Wayne Primeau 0% (59.7% to date = 59.7%)
Pavel Kubina 0% (50.0% to date = 50.0%)
Garnet Exelby 0% (50.0% to date = 50.0%)

S%
Peter Forsberg 24.2%
Alexander Korolyuk 18.0%
Scott Walker 16.9%
Scott Mellanby 16.6%
Alyn McCauley 14.6%
Jim Dowd 14.6%

Chasers
Grant Stevenson 0% (22.0% to date = 22.0%)
Alex Burrows 0% (33.3% to date = 33.3%)
Cory Cross 12.7% (16.7% to date = 13.1%)
Shane Doan 7.5% (12.6% to date = 10.8%)
Rory Fitzpatrick 0% (17.6% to date = 17.6%)

DEFENSE GOALS LEADERS
Pavel Kubina 36* (3 to date = 39)
Rob Blake 14
Cory Cross 14* (2 to date = 16)
Scott Stevens 9
Jonathan Girard 7
Jason Strudwick 6
Mattias Timander 4

Chasers
Adrian Aucoin 2 (3 to date = 5)
Jamie Heward 0 (4 to date = 4)
Kevin Dallman 0 (4 to date = 4)
Rory Fitzpatrick 0 (3 to date = 3)

DEFENSE POINT LEADERS
Pavel Kubina 98* (26 to date = 124)
Rob Blake 62
Scott Stevens 46
Cory Cross 35* (5 to date = 40)
Curtis Leschyshyn 23
Jonathan Girard 22
Mattias Timander 18

Chasers
Adrian Aucoin 8 (10 to date = 18)
Joel Bouchard 0 (16 to date = 16)
Steve Eminger 0 (13 to date = 13)
Kevin Dallman 0 (12 to date = 12)
Jamie Heward 0 (11 to date = 11)






Season Team Leaders

Goals
Alexander Korolyuk 33 (RHL 16)
*SHANE DOAN 30 (RHL 17)*
Peter Forsberg 29 (RHL 15)
Sergei Fedorov 25 (RHL 16)
Radim Vrbata 20 (RHL 14)
Steve Thomas 18 (RHL 14)
Peter Forsberg 18 (RHL 16)
Scott Walker 18 (RHL 15)
Alyn McCauley 18 (RHL 16)
Pavel Kubina 17 (RHL 16)
Brian Savage 15 (RHL 15)
Pavel Kubina 15 (RHL 15)
*NIKO KAPANEN 15 (RHL 17)*
Cory Cross 14 (RHL 16)
Alexei Morozov 14 (RHL 16)

Assists
Peter Forsberg 54 (RHL 15)
Sergei Fedorov 49 (RHL 16)
*MARTIN STRAKA 39 (RHL 17)*
Alexei Morozov 34 (RHL 16)
Rob Blake 32 (RHL 15)
*NIKO KAPANEN 28 (RHL 17)*
Alexei Morozov 26 (RHL 15)
Scott Walker 24 (RHL 15)
Alyn McCauley 24 (RHL 16)
Pavel Kubina 24 (RHL 15)
Pavel Kubina 24 (RHL 16)
Peter Forsberg 23 (RHL 16)
Alexander Korolyuk 23 (RHL 16)
*PAVEL KUBINA 23 (RHL 17)*
Trent Klatt 21 (RHL 15)
Cory Cross 21 (RHL 16)
Magnus Arvedson 21 (RHL 15)
Petr Nedved 20 (RHL 16)

Points
Peter Forsberg 83 (RHL 15)
Sergei Fedorov 74 (RHL 16)
Alexander Korolyuk 56 (RHL 16)
*SHANE DOAN 49 (RHL 17)*
*MARTIN STRAKA 49 (RHL 17)*
Alexei Morozov 48 (RHL 16)
*NIKO KAPANEN 43 (RHL 17)*
Scott Walker 42 (RHL 15)
Alyn McCauley 42 (RHL 16)
Peter Forsberg 41 (RHL 16)
Pavel Kubina 41 (RHL 16)
Alexei Morozov 39 (RHL 15)
Pavel Kubina 39 (RHL 15)
Radim Vrbata 39 (RHL 14)
Rob Blake 38 (RHL 15)

+/-
Pavel Kubina 46 (RHL 16)
Cory Cross 43 (RHL 16)
Sergei Fedorov 37 (RHL 16)
Peter Forsberg 34 (RHL 15)
Pavel Kubina 31 (RHL 15)
Alyn McCauley 28 (RHL 16)
Magnus Arvedson 23 (RHL 15)
Curtis Leschyshyn 22 (RHL 15)
Scott Stevens 21 (RHL 16)
Scott Walker 21 (RHL 15)
Alexei Morozov 21 (RHL 16)
Alexander Korolyuk 21 (RHL 16)
Rob Blake 20 (RHL 15)
Scott Stevens 20 (RHL 15)

PIM
Jason Strudwick 270 (RHL 14)
Jody Shelley 215 (RHL 14)
Jason Wiemer 202 (RHL 14)
Brad Brown 197 (RHL 14)
Adam Mair 135 (RHL 14)
Brad May 123 (RHL 14)
Jon Jakopin 101 (RHL 14)
Todd Simpson 99 (RHL 15)
*PAVEL KUBINA 80 (RHL 17)*
Adam Mair 77 (RHL 15)
Cory Cross 76 (RHL 16)
*ADRIAN AUCOIN 74 (RHL 17)*
*SHANE DOAN 73 (RHL 17)*
PJ Axelsson 72 (RHL 16)
Steve Thomas 71 (RHL 14)

PPG
*SHANE DOAN 14 (RHL 17)*
Alexander Korolyuk 13 (RHL 16)
Sergei Fedorov 9 (RHL 16)
Peter Forsberg 7 (RHL 15)
Michael Nylander 5 (RHL 14)
Brian Savage 5 (RHL 15)
Petr Nedved 5 (RHL 16)
Radim Vrbata 5 (RHL 14)
Pavel Brendl 5 (RHL 16)
Cory Cross 4 (RHL 16)
Pavel Kubina 4 (RHL 15)
*GRANT STEVENSON 4 (RHL 17)*
*TREVOR LETOWSKI 4 (RHL 17)*

PPP
Sergei Fedorov 21 (RHL 16)
Peter Forsberg 21 (RHL 15)
Alexander Korolyuk 21 (RHL 16)
*SHANE DOAN 20 (RHL 17)*
Alexei Morozov 15 (RHL 16)
*NIKO KAPANEN 14 (RHL 17)*
*MARTIN STRAKA 13 (RHL 17)*
Michael Nylander 12 (RHL 14)
Cory Cross 11 (RHL 16)
Pavel Kubina 11 (RHL 15)
Radim Vrbata 11 (RHL 14)
Alexei Morozov 10 (RHL 15)
*PAVEL KUBINA 10 (RHL 17)*

SHG
Trent Klatt 3 (RHL 16)
Radek Dvorak 3 (RHL 14)
Jan Hrdina 3 (RHL 16)
Steve Thomas 2 (RHL 14)
Scott Walker 2 (RHL 15)
PJ Axelsson 2 (RHL 16)
Magnus Arvedson 2 (RHL 15)

SHP
Radek Dvorak 5 (RHL 14)
Magnus Arvedson 5 (RHL 15)
Trent Klatt 4 (RHL 16)
Sergei Fedorov 4 (RHL 16)
Mattias Timander 4 (RHL 16)
Alyn McCauley 4 (RHL 16)

GWG
Alexander Korolyuk 9 (RHL 16)
Peter Forsberg 8 (RHL 15)
Alyn McCauley 5 (RHL 16)
Sergei Fedorov 4 (RHL 16)
*NIKO KAPANEN 4 (RHL 17)*

SOG
*SHANE DOAN 238 (RHL 17)*
Sergei Fedorov 227 (RHL 16)
Radim Vrbata 225 (RHL 14)
Rob Blake 193 (RHL 15)
Radek Dvorak 170 (RHL 14)
Alexander Korolyuk 158 (RHL 16)

BS
Pavel Kubina 56 (RHL 14)
Curtis Leschyshyn 44 (RHL 16)
Pavel Kubina 39 (RHL 15)
Curtis Leschyshyn 36 (RHL 15)
Brad Brown 30 (RHL 14)
*PAVEL KUBINA 31 (RHL 17)*
Pavel Kubina 30 (RHL 16)
Scott Stevens 25 (RHL 15)
Marek Malik 21 (RHL 15)
*STEVE EMINGER 20 (RHL 17)*

HITS
*SHANE DOAN 178 (RHL 17)*
Trent Klatt 171 (RHL 16)
Peter Forsberg 160 (RHL 15)
Sergei Fedorov 149 (RHL 16)
Scott Stevens 143 (RHL 15)
Trent Klatt 141 (RHL 15)
Jason Wiemer 134 (RHL 14)

FO%
Sergei Fedorov 65.0% (RHL 16)
Travis Green 59.9% (RHL 15)
*WAYNE PRIMEAU 59.7% (RHL 17)*
Brian Swanson 55.5% (RHL 14)
Travis Green 53.4% (RHL 16)
Claude Lapointe 51.7% (RHL 15)
Robert Reichel 51.0% (RHL 14)

S%
*ALEX BURROWS 33.3% (RHL 17)*
Peter Forsberg 26.4% (RHL 16)
Peter Forsberg 23.0% (RHL 15)
*GRANT STEVENSON 22.0% (RHL 17)*
Alexander Korolyuk 20.8% (RHL 16)
Pavel Brendl 20.7% (RHL 15)

DEFENSE GOALS LEADERS
Pavel Kubina 17 (RHL 16)
Pavel Kubina 15 (RHL 15)
Cory Cross 14 (RHL 16)
Rob Blake 8 (RHL 16)
Jonathan Girard 7 (RHL 14)
Rob Blake 6 (RHL 15)
Scott Stevens 6 (RHL 15)
Jason Strudwick 6 (RHL 14)

DEFENSE POINT LEADERS
Pavel Kubina 41 (RHL 16)
Pavel Kubina 39 (RHL 15)
Rob Blake 38 (RHL 15)
Cory Cross 35 (RHL 16)
*PAVEL KUBINA 26 (RHL 17)*
Scott Stevens 25 (RHL 15)
Rob Blake 24 (RHL 16)
Jonathan Girard 22 (RHL 14)
Scott Stevens 21 (RHL 16)

Reaper Milestones Tracker: RHL Careers

The Reapers have several players approaching Milestones. This issue will focus on the Career Milestones current Reapers are approaching.

My thanks in advance to Martin and RHL Analysis for the data up til this year, and the rest I extrapolated myself.

Entering the season, we had several Reapers approaching milestones. Here are the players, the milestones, and how close they are or if they achieved it.

Pavel Kubina 8 goals shy of 100 career (3 so far)
Pavel Kubina 6 assists shy of 200 career (ACHIEVED - 23 so far)
Pavel Kubina 14 points shy of 300 career (ACHIEVED - 26 so far)
Martin Straka 37 assists shy of 300 career (ACHIEVED - 39 so far)
Martin Straka 28 points shy of 500 career (ACHIEVED - 49 so far)
Shane Doan 38 goals shy of 200 career (30 so far)
Mike LeClerc 2 goals shy of 50 career (ACHIEVED - 10 so far)
Serge Aubin 16 goals shy of 50 career (5 so far)
Serge Aubin 22 points shy of 100 career (15 so far)
Pierre Dagenais 10 goals shy of 50 career (1 so far)
Jason Woolley 6 goals shy of 100 career (0 so far)
Jason Woolley 1 point shy of 350 career (ACHIEVED - 1 so far)
Trevor Letowski 19 goals shy of 100 career (8 so far)
Trevor Letowski 16 points shy of 200 career (12 so far)
Adrian Aucoin 35 points shy of 400 career (10 so far)
Dave Andreychuk 11 goals shy of 350 career (1 so far)*
Dave Andreychuk 19 points shy of 700 career (7 so far)*

* - Free agent cut from roster

So congratulations to Pavel Kubina on reaching 200 career assists, 300 career points. Congratulations to Martin Straka on reaching 300 career assists, and 500 career points. Congratulations on Mike LeClerc hitting 50 career goals, and to Jason Woolley for hitting 350 career points.

Week in Review: History Reap-eats Itself

Week in Review for the Guelph Reapers is brought to you this week by Spam. Not quite meat, and likely to bring you face to face with the Reaper.

For this week's Week In Review we will review 7 games due to an email glitch that caused the league to send out 5 days worth of games in one night.

Going back to day 94, the Reapers went head to head with the Rovers, their long time rival. It marked the first start (and actually first minutes) all year played by Alex Auld. Until that point, Ryan Miller had played every second of every game. It also marked the last game Ryan Miller played as a Reaper as of this post.

"One of the things I was anxious to do upon resuming my duties" GM Gandour admitted, "was to get Auld some key playing time. He has been a very patient goalie for us, and deserves a nice long look. After the six to nothing loss the game before, it made sense to make the move for the game versus my favourite rival, the Rovers."

Despite the hunch, the Reapers would get pummeled in the game. The Rovers rode three point nights by Patrice Bergeron and Olli Jokinen to a 7 to 2 victory. The Reapers were in trouble right out of the gate. Pavel Kubina got a penalty right off the faceoff at 2 seconds into the game. Eight seconds later, 10 seconds into the game, Serge Aubin added another penalty to give the Rovers a 2 man advantage for near 2 minutes right out of the gate. Glen Murray capitalized for his 26th of the year a minute fourty four into the contest. Still on the powerplay, Joe Thornton netted his 16th seconds before the second penalty was to expire to take an early 2 to nothing lead. Before the four minute mark of the period hit, the Rovers hit the back of the net yet again, with Jokinen scoring his 25th of the year. The Reapers would manage to hold the Rovers off the score sheet though for the rest of the first, and even mount a small comeback in the second. Niko Kapanen scored his 14th of the year at the half way mark of the period. Under 90 seconds later, on the powerplay Kapanen set up Shane Doan for his 28th goal of the season and the Reapers were within one heading to the third period. However the sudden turn around would die there. Just over 8 minutes into the final frame, the Rovers would restore their two goal lead. Olli Jokinen's second goal of the game, and 26th of the season made it a 4-2 game. Jon Michel Liles would restore the three goal lead with his 8th of the year minutes later, and goals by Zybenek Michalek (his 7th) and Patrice Bergeron (his 20th) rounded out the routing of the Reapers.

Alex Auld in his first start of the year, not having played in nearly a year was undeniably shakey. Still being left alone to face 42 shots in his first start spoke volumes of his team letting him down. In the end, Auld finished with 35 saves in the loss.

On Day 96, The Reapers returned home to host the Falcons. Again Alex Auld got the start and again the Reapers lost, but this time it was a closer contest.

Once again the Reapers surrendered the first goal early into the contest, and once again an early penalty lead to the goal. Shane Doan's penalty 1 minute and 26 seconds in led to Sidney Crosby's 30th goal of his rookie season. Once again the Reapers made a comeback in the 2nd period. Wayne Primeau netted his 4th goal of the year, from Martin Straka just over a minute into the 2nd frame to knot the game at ones. However the Falcons would restore their lead later in the 2nd period, as Petr Cajanek scored just his 2nd goal of the season. The Reapers managed to tie the game up again early in the third, thanks to Shane Doan's 29th goal of the season, and second goal in as many nights, with Straka adding another assist. However then once again penalty trouble cost the Reapers, as Letowski got a minor, and the Falcons would restore their lead for good on Milan Hejduk's 27th goal of the season. Petr Cajanek added an insurance marker with 30 seconds to go in the game, surprisingly not on an empty net, for his 3rd of the year, and 2nd of the game. Alex Auld made 28 saves on 32 shots in the loss.

Day 98 saw a turn around in fortunes for the Reapers. The Thundercats came to town, but on this night the team came together better then they had in any day since the return of GM Gandour.

Once again the Reapers started out with penalty trouble. Another early first period penalty, this time by Cory Cross, had fans anxious once again. Only this time they killed off the penalty, and managed to capitalize on a powerplay of their own in the first. Radim Vrbata, one of the original Reapers and their leading scorer in the inaugural season, netted his 8th goal on the year, from Joel Bouchard and Pavel Kubina to give the Reapers a first period lead! In the second, the Reapers extended that lead with another power play tally. Shane Doan scored his 30th goal of the season, and extended his goal scoring streak to three games, with Mark Hartigan and Pavel Kubina drawing the assists. The Reapers were not done yet, as in the third Niko Kapanen netted his 15th goal of the season, from Kevin Dallman and Shane Doan to round out a three to nothing victory. Alex Auld got the shutout, his first win of the year, stopping all 22 shots he faced.

Day 99 saw the Reapers rushing out on the road to face the Cougars the very next night after playing at home. The Reapers were looking to build on their complete team victory the night before.

In a disturbing trend, the Reapers once more started the first period with an early penalty. However once more the team killed it off, thanks in large part to the amazing play of Alex Auld. Auld coming of his first win and shutout of the season was standing on his head early, and was the reason the game was tied at 0 after the first period. In the Second Period, for the second game in a row, the Reapers would open the scoring. Cory Cross netted his first goal of the season, a far cry from his numbers last year. Alex Burrows and Serge Aubin drew the helpers as the Reapers would take a 1-0 lead. Once again Alex Auld stood on his head as the Reapers offense continued to struggle to get chances. The Reapers behind Auld managed to hold onto the 1-0 lead into the third. In the third period once again the Reapers offense was missing in action, and Auld faced a barrage of chances from the opposition. Not helping the fact was the Reapers would get 6 minor penalties in the third period, including being down two men with just over 6 minutes to go, and facing a 4 on 3 disadvantage for the final minute and a half of the game! Alex Auld once again stood on his head, took this team by the horns and rode it to his second straight shutout victory! The Reapers 1-0 win, Auld's 2nd win on the year and 2nd in a row, extended Auld's shutout streak to over 120 minutes. In four starts now, Auld had shown management results for the faith they had put in him. However things were not about to get any easier for the netminder.

On Day 101, the Reapers travelled to face the Capones coming off back to back shutout victories. Not surprisingly, Alex Auld got the call in nets once again.

Once again the Reapers got into early penalty trouble, with three minor penalties spanning from 4 minutes into the game, up to 7 minutes in. Once again however, Alex Auld stood on his head. Auld faced 18 shots in the first period alone, once again stopping them all and leaving the opposition frustrated. Unfortunately this time the overwhelming attack became too much. Just shy of the 5 minute mark of the second period, Alexei Kovalev netted his 15th of the season from Staal and DeVries to give the Capones a 1-0 lead and end Alex Auld's shutout streak. During the streak that lasted over 145 minutes, Auld stopped 73 consecutive shots, both franchise records surpassing Luongo's old marks of 138 minutes of shutout hockey and 64 consecutive shots stopped. The Reapers would come back to tie the game midway in the second frame. Radim Vrbata would net his 9th goal of the season, with Jason Woolley and Cory Cross drawing the helpers. However the Capones would take the game over from there. They added 15 shots in the second to the 18 they had in the first, and restored their lead on the RHL leading goal scorer Ilya Kovalchuk's 57th goal of the season, a powerplay marker from Spezza and Alfredsson. Down two to one entering the third, the Reapers hopes of a comeback were quickly dashed. Auld was peppered with another 22 shots in the third, and gave up two early tallies. Ilya Kovalchuk netted his 58th goal of the season 2 minutes into the frame for some insurance, from Alfredsson and McKee. Just over three minutes later, Kovalchuk completed the natural hat trick, netting his 59th goal of the season, and third in a row in this game. Alfredsson and Pitkanen drew helpers on the goal that gave the Capones a strong 4-1 lead. A minute later the Reapers would cut into that lead, as Grant Stevenson netted his 8th goal of the season from Jamie Heward and Martin Straka. The powerplay marker cut the lead to 4 to 2. However despite more superb play from Auld to shut the Capones down the rest of the way, the Reapers could not generate much offense in the face of such an overwhelming attack. The Reapers fell 4 to 2. Alex Auld stopped an incredible 51 of 55 shots in the loss, and was the games third star. In the last three games, Auld had stopped 104 of 108 shots for a remarkable 963 save percentage, and been a games star in every game. For those reasons Alex Auld was a no brainer to start the game once again the following night, at home. However his remarkable numbers on the year were about to get crushed. On the year, including the two losses he started with (one giving up 7 goals to the Rovers), he had stopped 166 of 181 shots, for a very strong 917 Save percentage entering the home game with the Vampyres.

On Day 102, The Vampyres quite simply gutted the Reapers and Alex Auld.

Maybe the team should have been worried when it did not get any penalties early in the game. Such a strange occurance for this squad, who would have known discipline would be a bad omen. The Vampyres would open the scoring, on a Reaper Powerplay! Fedor Tyutin scored his 2nd of the season, a short handed tally, from Henrik Sedin and Vaclav Prospal to give the Vampyres the 1 to 0 lead half way into the opening frame. Auld still looked pretty strong, as he stopped 11 of 12 shots in the first and the teams went into the dressing room with the Vampyres nursing that 1 to 0 lead. The Second period everything fell apart. Jere Lehtinen scored his 38th goal of the season from Ryan Whitney and Henrik Sedin to stretch the lead to 2-0. Just 22 seconds later all seemed well as the Reapers cut back into that lead. Mark Hartigan netted his 3rd goal of the campaign, with assists going to Radim Vrbata and Trevor Letowski. Suddenly it was a 2-1 game! However 32 seconds after the Reapers scored, under a minute after the Vampyres had scored, the Vampyres lit the lamp again, restoring the two goal lead. Jere Lehtinen notched his 39th goal of the season, 2nd of the game. Henrik Sedin and Chris Pronger drew the assists. Just over a minute later on a powerplay, the Vampyres scored again. Ryan Smyth's 27th from Gomez and Prospal gave the Vampyres a 4-1 lead and the game was beginning to get out of hand. Henrik Sedin's 17th of the year from Zherdev and Tyutin gave the Vampyres a 5-1 lead before the Reapers responded exactly a minute later with a short handed marker. Kevin Dallman's 4th goal of the year from Serge Aubin and Konstantin Koltsov cut the lead to 5-2. Later in the period, the Vampyres Patrick Eaves restored the 4 goal lead with his 15th on the year, assists to Zhamnov and Penner. However the Reapers once more tried to make a game of it. 30 seconds after the Vampyres scored, Martin Straka netted his 10th of the season from Shane Doan and Radim Vrbata to cut the lead back to 3 goals at 6 to 3. Into the third the teams went, and just over 6 minutes in the Reapers cut into the lead some more. Cory Cross netted his 2nd goal of the season, from Shane Doan and Wade Brookbank to make the game 6 to 4 and it seemed for a brief moment like the crowd and the team were both back into the game. However the Reapers could not generate any more chances in the next five minutes while they still had a shot in the game, and then the Vampyres hit the back of the net once again. Jere Lehtinen's 40th goal of the season, hat trick goal of the game, and the Vampyres 2nd power play marker seemed to knock any air out of the sales of the Reapers. To add insult to injury, though the Vampyres would argue they had to keep trying since the Reapers kept battling back, Lehtinen would net his 4th goal of the game, and 41st of the year from Henrik Sedin, and Andrew Brunette would net his 21st goal of the year from Marek Zidlicky and Ryan Smyth to make the final 9-4 for the Vampyres. Auld may have stopped 35 shots, but he was in for all 9 goals allowed (35 saves on 44 shots). The loss put Auld at 2 - 4 on the year, and crushed his 917 Save percentage on the year down to a horrible 893 save percentage! One game, and Auld's numbers were decimated. His GAA went from 3.00 to 4.00 overnight. So it came as a big surprise when Auld got the start again on Day 105 on the road against those same Vampyres.

"My thinking was" began GM Gandour "that Alex Auld would need to bounce back from such a horrible outing. He had given up 7 goals in his first start 6 games ago, and then rebounded to play amazing hockey the next four games in a row. We wanted to and needed to show him confidence to help him rebound, and we felt what better time then right off a loss that brutal against the same team to try when he has pride on the line to show them up. It helped that it was on the road to take away the pressures of playing at home. The outcome just wasn't what we had hoped, but Auld did play much better."

The Vampyres welcomed the Reapers with open arms on Day 105. Undeniably the team the Vampyres have had the most success against in recent years, another contest suited Vlad's team just fine.

Early penalty trouble returned in the first few minutes for the Reapers, but that trend returning did not change the luck for the team. The Vampyres opened the scoring on Ryan Smyth's 28th goal of the year unassisted, and then quickly increased the lead on Nikolai Zherdev's 22nd of the year from Brett Clark and Ryan Whitney. Into the second the Reapers would once again cut into a Vampyres lead. Grant Stevenson would net his 9th of the year, from Pierre Dagenais and Garnet Exelby to cut the deficit to 1 goal. However 29 seconds later the Reaper Killer struck again. Jere Lehtinen scored his 42nd of the season, and 5th goal in 2 games versus the Reapers to restore a 2 goal lead. Zherdev and Zidlicky drew the helpers. The Reapers however had something to prove, and stormed right back. Joel Bouchard's 2nd of the season, from Niko Kapanen and Martin Straka cut the lead to 1 goal once again. At the 15 minute mark of the 2nd period, Radim Vrbata netted his 10th goal of the season from Serge Aubin and Pavel Kubina to tie the game and give the Reapers a fresh start! However a late third period goal would crush their momentum, as Ryan Craig netted his 6th of the year from Marek Zidlicky and Vaclav Prospal to give the Vampyres a 4-3 lead headed into the third. The third period was incredibly quiet until the final minute when Ryan Smyth netted his 29th of the year, and quickly followed by Chris Pronger's 14th of the year into an empty net, from Smyth and Brunette. The Reapers fell 6-3. Auld stopped 36 of 41 shots faced, and fell to 2-5 on the season. The Vampyres feasted on Reapers in their two game mini home and away... scoring 15 goals. Jere Lehtinen had 5 goals in the series, Ryan Smyth and Henrik Sedin each had 5 points in the series and Nikolai Zherdev added 4 points as well. The Reapers Alex Auld had the worst of the series, allowing 14 of the 15 goals on 85 shots for a horrible 835 save percentage and 7.06 GAA.

With the horrible weak at an end, the Reapers now find themselves precariously close to falling out of the playoffs, and really with their record (and the record of the teams chasing them), none of them deserve to make it in.

It is interesting to note the disparity between the upper echelon teams, and the rest. The 7th and 8th spot are seperated by 25 points in the Richard conference, arguably the largest gap between playoff teams ever seen. In the Howe conference 15 points seperate the 6th and 7th place teams.

Luckily for the insiders and pundants, the hockey races for the final spots are no less heated. In the Richard conference, with the Reapers recent horrid 10 game stretch, they hold the 8th spot by a single point over Kansas City who has a game in hand. The Vulcans also remain in contention, only three points back also with a game in hand. These three teams look primed to fight for the final playoff spot down the stretch. The way the Reapers are falling apart, it may be only a matter of time til they are out.

In the Howe Conference, the race is even more intriguing. If three teams seperated by three points for one playoff spot seemed good, two teams are tied for the last spot in the Howe conference, and both are only 2 points back of 7th both with a game in hand. If the Aviators and the Selects were to win there game in hand, there would be a three way tie for the 7th spot in the conference. Three teams battling for two spots. The T-Men also only sit 4 points out of the 8th spot, keeping them very much in contention. Even the Cougars at 6 points back can arguably go on a run to make a push. It is interesting to note that 9 points seperate 7th in the conference from dead last. It is just an 11 point seperation in the other conference as well.

Now for the Week in Review's Reapers hilights.

Despite a horrible week, Alex Auld did set new franchise marks for shutout streak and consecutive saves without allowing a goal.

Pavel Kubina despite missing 3 games in the last 7, netted 5 assists in the 4 games he played in.

Shane Doan recorded 3 goals, and 6 points, 2 PPG in the last 7 games, including hitting the 30 goal mark for the first time in his RHL career! Congrats to Shane!

Niko Kapanen netted 2 goals and 4 points in the last 7 games, including his career high 15th goal of the season. Niko, a first year Reaper, loves playing here. His first run in RHL 14 he set career highs in all categories, and this year in his 2nd go around, he once again has set new career highs across the board, once more blowing away career totals.

Radim Vrbata netted 3 goals, 5 points, a PPG and a GWG in the last 7 games. Another first year Reaper, Vrbata led the team in goals in the inaugural season with 20, but failed to beat 5 goals in each season since then. His return to the Reapers this year has seen him net 10 goals and 25 points, numbers much closer to his old career highs then he has come in the past two seasons. He also seems to be getting in better shape each game, his numbers have gone up significantly since GM Gandour's return and it seems to bode well for next year and his great new rate.

Martin Straka netted a goal and six points in seven games. Martin has set a new career high in assists this year with the Reapers, dwarfing his old high of 26 by 13 to date, with 39 assists. He is approaching his career high in points as well, though he needs 15 points to catch it and likely will fall short. He does have his new 2nd highest point season already. And with a new higher rate to come next year, he should be able to do even more as a Reaper.

Cory Cross scored two goals, three points including a game winner in the last 7 game stretch. His 5 points in 18 games this year is a far cry from his 35 point 14 goal career high of last year as a Reaper, but his recent play has been improved somewhat and deserves noting.

Quickie Notes

Wade Brookbank recorded his first ever RHL point having gone pointless in RHL 15 and RHL 16 with the Funboys. Congrats Wade.

Grant Stevenson scored two goals, including his 4th powerplay marker of the season. He has 9 goals on the year, decent numbers for a first year RHLer averaging barely 10 minutes a game. More impressive is the 4 PPG considering he is not on either Powerplay unit. Good Work Grant!

Joel Bouchard had 3 points in the last 7 games, giving him new career highs in assists and points. Not bad for a player playing in his 10th season. Another Reaper to set career highs here, congrats Joel!

Kevin Dallman recorded 2 points including his first ever Short Handed Goal. Dallman has 2 PPG, 1 SHG, and 12 points in his first RHL season.

Pierre Dagenais saw his first game action in over a month, playing in his first game replacing LeClerc he netted one goal. His 7 points in 11 games is a better point a game pace then he has ever had in his career, despite his lowest rating ever and lowest ice time ever. Dagenais continues to defy all the critics who said he was useless for this disk, and continues to be a fave of the sim and the Reapers.

Konstantin Koltsov recorded another assist, giving him 6 points on the year, his first points of his career. Despite much higher ratings last year, Koltsov was unable to record any points.

Jason Woolley finally got into his first game action of the year, in the final month. Until that point, Woolley was in danger of facing his first season RHL season ever without playing. Woolley saw three games, and managed to record a point. The point is Woolley's 350th in his RHL career. Congrats to Jason, and to Reaper GM Gandour for playing Woolley to allow him to hit the landmark point total.

Look for Ryan Miller to return to tending nets in the next Reaper game. He has his first 16 wins of his career as a Reaper this season, and has one shutout on the year. Auld may have 2 shutouts in one sixth the games, but he also is much more sporadic, with a nearly goal higher GAA, and a much lower save percentage.

Reporting for your Reapers,

Sal Trachan

Return of the Reaper

It has been an interesting week to say the least for the RHL Guelph Reapers. Very silently, almost unannounced, the Reapers who were facing contraction instead found that their teams old GM Steve Gandour has returned to handle the reigns to keep the Guelph team alive.

The return of the GM is not without controversy, having left on questionable terms abandoning the team. However the GM seems to have truly grown, taking responsibility for the absence, apologizing to the parties involved, and requesting specifically to return to the team he left a bit in shambles rather then requesting a new team.

The GM never held a press conference upon his re-hire, but allowed me the opportunity to a one on one interview after his first week on the job.

Sal: Let me start by welcoming you back to the RHL. What I want to know first is what made you leave in the first place?

Steve: Well Sal, while I would rather not discuss the mistakes I have made in the past, I will say that there was a series of circumstances in my personal life that left me without the passion I had for hockey initially. When conflicts arose in the RHL, I really didn't feel my heart was in the league and so I vacated my post. The issues in my life I am happy to say are resolved as much as can be, and I find myself with renewed eagerness for the upcoming season.

Sal: What has changed your mind about rejoining the RHL?

Steve: Initially to be honest I missed the league. I was surprised that with all the turmoil in my own life, the league that I felt I had no passion left for was on my mind a lot. I have made no secret that I found the RHL a very unique league, with a lot of Great Gms and special attractions. When the opportunity arose to return in any capacity, I lept at it.

Sal: That opportunity initially came in the form of an offer to be an advisor/assistant GM to Richard and Andy with the AVI. What made you decide to take that opportunity and how long were you considering it?

Steve: I was honoured when Richard contacted me about the position, as I have always enjoyed competing against him in several leagues spanning several years. I think I considered the offer for approximately two seconds before saying yes.

Sal: So what was your role with the Aviators along side Richard and Andy?

Steve: I won't discuss specifics, it would not be appropriate. I will merely say there was great communication in that organization, something I hope we can create here with the Reapers. They are both great hockey minds and I am proud to have had the opportunity to learn more about the RHL while working with them.

Sal: I know you won't say specifics, but in a more general way what did you take from that experience?

Steve: Only good things Sal. I may have enjoyed three years in the RHL before the fourth offseason turmoil in my own life, but I never fully had a grasp on the intricacies of the rules and the simulator, now I understand a lot more and feel more ready then ever to bring a championship to Guelph and specifically to the Reapers.

Sal: When did you first hear of the opportunity to return to your old club?

Steve: I had been in contact with the league about the vacancy with the Reapers. I had made it known I would be interested in resuming my duties with the club, since the league was facing a big time contraction year and was hopeful of maintaining a 24 team base. I figured the situation was more desireable to keep teams active then contract them. I got the word from Paul that he would let the league decide, and I was thrilled to be approved to rejoin the Reapers.

Sal: Your team currently sits at 16 and 33, yet in the final playoff spot. What can you hope to accomplish with such a rough season to date?

Steve: Well my timing for the return was just too late for the trade deadline. So with that passed, our options are a bit limited this season. Would we like to contend? You need only look at my team record in its first three years. We went from a laughing stock expansion team in year one, something all teams have to go through, to conference and league champs in year two, albeit in a split league RHL. In year three we once more were one of the top teams, and despite a horrible record this season, we could be a playoff team. To be realistic though, this is a team that needs to rebuild. We have done some good things already in this first week to start that process, but some big surprises are yet to come. Despite our inability to deal at this time, there are some changes coming to help this club for next year and beyond.

Sal: You are known as one of the most trade active GMs going. Did you regret not returning sooner to be able to take advantage of the trade deadline?

Steve: Of course I regret returning a bit too late to capitalize on the trade deadline. That said, the changes this team needs to make can be done in part without the deadline. A lot of our players are pending Free Agents. The ones we would like to have dealt were our pending UFAs. That list has gotten shorter in recent days. The pieces still on our team set to become unrestricted were the less desireable names, and likely we would not have gotten much of a return for them in way of draft picks etc. The remaining free agents are Restricted, and so we still can explore trade options or resign options. Really the set back missing the deadline is minimal.

Sal: Many fans in this market love you for bringing the expansion team to success so quickly, while many others despise you because you abandoned a team you had built and turned into a winner. To those fans, both, what do you say?

Steve: I would merely say to our fans, I hope you judge us by our product on the ice. To the fans who have remained loyal, your patience will be rewarded in short order. To those who are on the fence, or have left, well we hope you reconsider. This team was a contender quickly, and quickly it will be returned to contention status. You have my word on that.

Sal: Yesterday you made seemingly your first moves since returning to the role of GM as the Reapers. A few of those moves were vitoed by the league. Is that just a bit of rust? Or were you hoping to sneak something through?

Steve: Honestly Sal, I never even thought about those two moves in question being illegal. I saw Ty Conklin signed, and my first thought as a returning GM was, hmmm, maybe if i missed out on trades there is an avenue to improve in FA'cy during the season. After looking at the list, I found only two names I wanted to give a shot with this team, and signed them before thinking about the goalie rule. In fairness, when I left the team I had only two goalies. I did not even register about the two goalies who were signed by the league to fill out the roster in the offseason. Would I have liked to have given a shot to them? Yes. That said, the rules are there for a reason, to keep things fair and equitable. Though it may seem to have worked against us here, it actually works in our favour as well. We can not sign them, but neither can any other team now which means we can chose to pursue them again if we so wish in the offseason.

Sal: Would you have made an offer to Conklin if you had noticed his availability sooner?

Steve: I think I would have, but again with our goalie situation it would have been on hold for two days til a goalie was cut. Then after two days, it would have been past the trade deadline. Really it all comes down to timing, I joined just too late to capitalize on many things I would liked to have tried. Still, I feel I have a plethora of options still remaining, and am quite excited by all of them.

Sal: With no option left to sign UFAs, and no trading left, what kind of options have you excited?

Steve: It would be inappropriate to discuss at this time, but lets just say the culling of our roster is not yet done.

Sal: Rumours circulated that you were shopping some players the morning of deadline day. Was that your first official day back as GM?

Steve: I would say the day before the deadline was my first initial day back. I submitted some lines that sorely needed being submitted and began evaluating my team for next year. It is hard to make a 1 day evaluation after being out for near a year, but I did my best. I looked at how my team should look next year with changes, and then made public to the GMs a list of players I was willing to live without. Unfortunately I had just two replies before the deadline passed, and one was not an offer, only "i am interested in", The other offer just did not tempt me enough to make a move. By the end of the night, well after the deadline had passed, I had three new offers and four more communications that would have likely been worth exploration. That is the way it goes at times though.

Sal: With the moves you made yesterday, would you care to comment on the thought process that led to each decision?

Steve: The Andreychuk move is the simplest. We knew he was done at years end. We signed him for a purpose, to bring leadership to our squad, defensive stability and a great faceoff presence. Unfortunately he has suffered through injury all year and was not a useful asset for us. It was a tough decision for the character guy Dave is, but we hope some team gives him a new home. For our standpoint, we simply have no room for him anymore. The releasing of Adam Munro was a move designed to save decisions in the offseason. He was a upcoming RFA with no rate next year, we had no interest in keeping him so why even keep him now? Cleaning up the roster so to speak.

Sal: What about your two big re-signings of potential UFAs?

Steve: Those were the "no brainer" moves. Pavel Kubina has been with this organization since day one. He was our first drafted player, even before Krajicek. He has been our all time leader in points from the blueline... and he is only getting better. We want him here for as long as he wants to remain. The Straka move was also significant to us. It gives us a legit top line winger threat to compliment Doan. His demands were reasonable, and we are glad to bring him back for one more season.

Sal: You were known for your success at resigning your own UFAs. In past years it was Forsberg and Morozov and Korolyuk, Stevens and Miller. Now you add Straka and Kubina to that list. How do you get them to resign?

Steve: I think the players have to like their situation to stay. We just do our best to build an environment condusive to winning here, and then let them chose. So far, we have been very fortunate.

Sal: Thank you for this interview Steve, and good luck back at the helm of the Reapers.

Reporting for your Reapers,

Sal Trachan