Famous Dobber from DobberHockey.com

Currently Mulling Over Joining the A?

October 13th, 2020

The AFHL Commissioner is still waiting to hear back from Daryl Dobbs on Tuesday night, after he approached the legendary fantasy hockey guru about taking over a franchise in the league.

“This is a very exciting development for the AFHL for obvious reasons,” said Fort Drum Killers GM Steven Stryska. “Dobber has so many championship rings that he can’t even wear them all at once.”

A number of reports suggested that Dobber is considering accepting the offer to join the league, however, Dobber’s agent didn’t respond to a request for comment.

“There has been some back and forth,” Commissioner Furino told TheAFHL.com earlier today. “He keeps saying he is busy and is starting to think about retirement, but how can you go into retirement without being able to say you won a championship in the AFHL?”

Seems like the Commissioner is challenging the famous Dobber but Dobber will have to decide what he wants personally, and whether or not joining such a competitive league is worth his time.

“Look, he’s a big fish and all of these guys are hoping he joins,” Furino said. “Many fingers are crossed that he won’t let us down and help make this the most memorable season ever. Not a lot of people can say they competed against Dobber. We would all love to have that opportunity.”

2019 AFHL Awards

Norris Trophy
Awarded annually to the Amazing Fantasy Hockey League’s top defenseman who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-around ability in the position (consider offensive stats, hits, and contribution to team success).

NOMINEES:

• Brent Burns, Toronto Red Devils
• Mark Giordano, Atlantic City Sharks
• John Carlson, Shawinigan Vikings

And the winner is… Brent Burns, Toronto Red Devils

Calder Trophy
Awarded annually to the Amazing Fantasy Hockey League’s best rookie in the regular season.

NOMINEES:

• Jordan Binnington, Cape Breton Crunch
• Rasmus Dahlin, Port Hope Panthers
• Elias Pettersson, Atlantic City Sharks

And the winner is… Elias Pettersson, Atlantic City Sharks

Trash Talker Trophy
Awarded annually to the best trash talking GM in the Amazing Fantasy Hockey League.

NOMINEES:

• Deer Park Chiefs GM Mike Nellany
• Pittsburgh Heroes GM Jason Henley
• Buffalo Phantoms GM Daryn Beckman

And the winner is… Buffalo Phantoms GM Daryn Beckman

Laugh Out Loud Trophy
Awarded annually to the GM judged to be the best at making fun of anyone and/or anything. The funny GM says things that are completely unexpected and different from the norm to surprise people. Basic categories of humor include absurdity, exaggeration, mockery/ridicule, verbal humor. A funny GM is at his best when he forgets himself. He says the first thing that comes into his head and doesn’t even try to be funny. He throws himself into an unknown future and doesn’t even think about limits or boundaries. He’s relaxed and loose and bold. He’ll just go for it. He’ll go off on some crazy tangent. A funny GM lives in the moment and sometimes he just doesn’t give a fuck.

NOMINEES:

• Pittsburgh Heroes GM Jason Henley
• Deer Park Chiefs GM Mike Nellany
• Comox Valley GM Pat McKenna
• Buffalo Phantoms GM Daryn Beckman

And the winner is… Pittsburgh Heroes GM Jason Henley

Vezina Trophy
Awarded annually to the Amazing Fantasy Hockey League’s best goaltender.

NOMINEES:

• Andrei Vasilevsky, Shawinigan Vikings
• Sergei Bobrovsky, Boston Giants
• Ben Bishop, Atlantic City Sharks

And the winner is… Ben Bishop, Atlantic City Sharks

Hart Trophy (MVP)
Awarded annually to the player judged most valuable to his team in the Amazing Fantasy Hockey League during the regular season.

NOMINEES:

• Connor McDavid, Pittsburgh Heroes
• Ben Bishop, Atlantic City Sharks
• Andrei Vasilevsky, Shawinigan Vikings
• Nikita Kucherov, Pittsburgh Heroes
• Marc-Andre Fleury, Manhattan Supermen

And the winner is… Nikita Kucherov, Pittsburgh Heroes

Jack Adams Award
Awarded annually to the Amazing Fantasy Hockey League’s “Best” Coach/GM of the Year.
Important skills to be considered: winning, trading, brewing rivalries, posting on message boards, being active on a regular basis, and having fun.

NOMINEES:

• Shawinigan Vikings GM Phil Svoboda
• Pittsburgh Heroes GM Jason Henley
• Manhattan Supermen GM Tony Furino

And the winner is… Pittsburgh Heroes GM Jason Henley

ALL-TIME TROPHY TOTALS PER TEAM:

Pittsburgh Heroes – 18
Toronto Red Devils – 15
Deer Park Chiefs – 13
Port Hope Panthers – 9
Buffalo Phantoms – 9
Atlantic City Sharks – 9
San Diego Gulls – 6
Washington Wolfpack – 6
Lakehead Ice Holes – 6
Hamilton Firestorm – 5
Boston Giants – 3
London Mustangs – 2
Manhattan Supermen – 2
Philadelphia Crunch – 2
Montreal Xtreme -1
Oshawa City Leafs – 1
Twin City Vikings – 1
Comox Valley X-Men – 1

The Tao of Lucas: Hall-of-Fame GM leaves San Diego for Cape Breton,

Fan Favorite GM Ben Rauscher Returns to the AFHL to Replace Him

July 23rd, 2019

The Cape Breton Crunch have just taken a massive step forward in turning their franchise around. They have hired two-time Stanley Cup winner Lucas Main to be their next head coach/GM.

Lucas officially resigned from the San Diego Gulls on Monday after successfully rebuilding the team and coaching them to back-to-back AFHL Stanley Cup championships in 2017 and 2018.

“When you step down you take some chances,” Lucas said. “I decided it was time to go in a different direction. I love the idea of rebuilding the worst team in the league and making it a championship team. That’s what I did with the San Diego team. Granted, when I took over the San Diego team it wasn’t the worst so this time the stakes are a little higher. Cape Breton is undoubtedly the worst team in this league but I want to cement my legacy as the best GM in the history of this league.”

Terms of Lucas’ contract were not released.

“He brings experience, he brings knowledge and he brings success, which is the most important thing,” the AFHL Commissioner said. “You have to win. He knows how to win, and he’s a good human being. So I think he’s a great role model for what we’re trying to do as far as bring to the organization.”

Lucas replaces Liam Goyetche who stepped down after years of trying to rebuild the team into a contender.

“I think that what we had said [was] we would try to get the best coach available, and when time is on your side, you use it,” the AFHL Comissioner said. “We were in no rush to hire Liam’s replacement. There were several people that we considered.”

The Cape Breton Crunch finished last season with the worst record in the league (63-163-38).

“There are some nice pieces I can build with,” Lucas said. “Jordan Binnington in net and Jeff Skinner up front. A few good prospects in the pipeline. I can work with all of that. However, there’s alot of work to be done, there’s no question, but at the same time, I know I need to be patient and the fans need to be patient.”

Lucas knows he’s got his work cut out for him but patience is the key.

“I know I need to be patient,” said Lucas. “The fans need to be patient as well. One move at a time. But I’m excited. I’m excited to come to Cape Breton and turn this ship around. It’s a great hockey town and when this building gets loud, it’s one of the loudest I’ve ever been to.”

*

San Diego found the successor to their two-time Stanley Cup-winning coach on Tuesday morning when he Ben Rauscher was officially announced as the new GM of the Gulls.

Rauscher is a highly regarded coach/GM who competed in the AFHL back in 2009 – the AFHL’s inaugural year – and was the man who laid the foundation of the Pittsburgh Heroes franchise, one of the most storied franchises in the history of the league. He was quite possibly the most active and vocal GM the AFHL has ever seen.

A Trip Down Memory Lane: Ben Rauscher Clashes with Chiefs GM Mike Nellany in 2009

“We feel that Ben is the perfect leader for this hockey club,” the AFHL Commissioner said in a statement. “Based on his hockey knowledge, coaching experience, communication abilities, his approach to the game and the respect he commands in locker rooms, we feel that Ben deserves this opportunity to compete right away.”

The Comissioner confirmed that Rauscher is the only person they interviewed to succeed Lucas.

“He’s got history with this league and he has already proven his worth,” the Commissioner said. “I think he can handle the personalities in this league.”

Rauscher will take over a team whose core looks very much intact from the group that won the Cup two seasons ago and with players like Claude Giroux, Alex

Ovechkin, and John Gibson, the Gulls are expected to contend for another title this year.

“I look forward to keeping the tradition going,” Rauscher said at Tuesday’s press conference. “But in order so, I need to restock the the prospect shelf to be able to make this one of the top A teams for years to come. For the other GMs, I enjoy trade talks and am always willing to listen to offers and work to make deals that are good for everyone involved… but make no doubt that I look after my squad first and foremost. Active and available, I love hockey and can’t wait to get started.”

Pittsburgh Heroes and 650,000 Fans

Celebrate Stanley Cup at Parade

April 22nd, 2019

Pittsburgh Heroes GM Jason Henley didn’t have much of a voice left after a couple weeks of celebrating with the Stanley Cup. But he had a special quote he wanted to deliver to Heroes fans.

“I have four words for you,” Henley said, looking out at the thousands of fans packed in before him outside the Heroes home ice arena. “I’m going to paraphrase from one of the greatest Americans of all time: ‘We had a dream.’”

If it seems a bit absurd to hear Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. quoted to celebrate a Stanley Cup championship—well, that’s fair, but it was par for the course in a team celebration that’s been so consistently giddy as to make everything seem a little absurd. For the first time in franchise history, the Heroes have won it all, and they’ve spent these past few weeks celebrating all over the city of Pittsburgh. With Tuesday’s official victory parade, they kept the celebration going.

The players rode double-decker buses down a six-block stretch through a teeming crowd. When they reached their final destination—a stage constructed in front of the Heroes home ice arena, surrounded by still more fans—their names were called one by one, each player invited to step forward and take the spotlight to himself for a moment. An impressive range of behaviors followed. Connor McDavid, for example, chugged a beer. Nikita Kucherov chugged a beer while being lifted in the air by some teammates. Braden Holtby chugged a beer while displaying a custom wrestling-style championship belt. Wayne Simmonds pulled his jersey over his head in order to chug a beer through it.

The crowd had been waiting along the parade route for hours, with some who arrived even before the sun rose. One man said that he’d spent the night driving down from upstate New York to set up by 6 a.m. He was standing next to a local couple who’d gotten there even earlier—bringing along their eight-month-old daughter, who was somehow resting peacefully in her stroller despite the thousands of people cheering and screaming around her. But the wait was worth it, everyone agreed, no matter how long it had been. After all, in a different sense, many had been waiting for years. They held signs that read “We Lived to See It” and “Now I Can Die in Peace” and “Born in 2009 + Waited My Entire Lifetime.” Now, at last, they had nothing left to wait for.

“There’s been a lot of chants,” Henley told the fans at one point. “There’s been, ‘Let’s go Heroes.’ There’s been, ‘We want the Cup.’ We heard in the streets, ‘We’ve got the Cup.’ We got a new one for you tonight—today,” he quickly corrected himself, though the crowd didn’t seem to notice his mistake, much less care anything about what time of day it was. “Back-to-back!”

That chant created a roar that could be heard from miles away.

“I couldn’t see the end of people from the stage,” forward Brandon Dubinsky said. “This is home. This city has made us feel so welcome. It’s unbelievable to give back the least we could and just celebrate with them.”

Henley said the multinational makeup of the roster makes the Heroes the perfect team for Pittsburgh.

“We’ve got Americans, we’ve got Canadians, we’ve got Swedes,” he said. “We got Russians, we got Czechs. We’ve got rookies. We got veterans. We got great people. It sounds just like Pittsburgh and the community of Pittsburgh.”

Henley and the players repeatedly thanked Heroes fans, with some calling them the best in hockey.

“I just want to thank all of you guys,” Connor McDavid said. “This is something we’ve dreamed of for quite some time, and to see you guys out there today celebrating with us, we’re absolutely nothing without you guys. So thank you very much.”

Defenseman Seth Jones said he’s not worried about what offseason changes Henley might have to make in an attempt to repeat next year. He wants to enjoy this moment right now.

“We’re just happy to be here celebrating with each other,” he said. “It takes a lot, and that’s what we’re so proud of, is how much we had to give and how many times we got knocked down. We just did whatever it took and maybe won on a year that people said we didn’t deserve it or we didn’t have the talent on our team to do it. I think that makes it sweeter too.”

Braden Holtby was the final speaker at the rally. He restarted the “back-to-back” chants, then gathered his teammates at the front of the stage to sing what’s become the Heroes’ new anthem, Queen’s “We Are The Champions.”

After the singing and one final celebration video, Holtby grabbed the microphone for a parting message:

“We’re the Stanley Cup champions!!!!”