April 22nd, 2013
When AFHL Commissioner Anthony Furino handed Lord Stanley over to Lakehead’s captain Eric Staal, you got a sense this was just the beginning of a Lakehead-style party that would last long into the night.
After taking the Cup, Staal let loose with a loud yell before smacking three kisses on the coveted trophy. He skated for approximately 20 seconds with the Cup high above his head before handing it over to his brother Jordan.
“This is certainly something special,” Staal said. “You dream of winning the Cup, and you know what, I’m glad to know I was the first Ice Hole to ever lift it.”
Jordan Staal eventually handed the Cup over to Jarome Iginla. The procession continued as players such as P.A. Parenteau, Keith Yandle, Kris Letang, Antti Niemi all received a twirl with the Cup.
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Defenseman Kris Letang returned from injury and scoredfour points in the Finals.
Andrew Ladd, who scored 8 points in the Finals, would eventually get his hands on the big prize, too.
And GM/Coach Jason Briggs would also have a chance to raise the Cup.
“Amazing,” Briggs said at his postgame press conference. “I had plans about this and had dreams about it. I wanted this to happen and I worked hard every day and took action, day-to-day decisions, running practices, everything. It’s also the players in our room. They’ve been tremendous all year. You can’t say enough about this group and how hard they worked.”
The pregame video just before the Lakehead Ice Holes took the ice at their home ice arena during the AFHL Stanley Cup Playoffs was accompanied by multicolored spotlights, a laser show and images projected onto the playing surface. The heart of the video, though, goes to the soul of this sport. There are pictures of the Ice Holes in their youth, boys wearing over-sized hockey equipment who dreamed of reaching the pinnacle of the sport they loved.
The boys in those faded photos arrived there Sunday night.
Lakehead, on the strength of their dominating offense, finished off the Manhattan Supermen with a 7-2 victory in the Stanley Cup Final, earning the franchise’s first championship in its four-year history.
The victory caps one of the most dominating seasons in League history. Lakehead finished the regular season with the best overall record and the number one ranked offense in the league. In the postseason, they were unstoppable. They defeated Oshawa City 10-1 in the first round. They defeated Toronto 6-4 in the second round. And they defeated Manhattan 7-2 in the Finals.
“I don’t know, I can’t even describe it,” forward Jarome Iginla, who at 35 years old the eldest of the Ice Holes, said after winning the Cup for the first time. “Everyone played road hockey as a kid. We had a green garbage can that everyone would go around and pose with it. We just did it for real, baby. This is awesome. It has been a great journey.”
The Supermen proved to be a tough foe all week before finally succumbing over the weekend. They also had a pretty incredible postseason run, knocking off the Vikings in the first round, and vanquishing the Vipers in the second round en route to their first Finals appearance in franchise history.
A small consolation was Manhattan goaltender Evgeni Nabokov, who was awarded with the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.
“Nabby” never smiled as he accepted the trophy and immediately skated off the ice with it as the Ice Holes applauded.
“That was very nice of them,” he said. “But the Conn Smythe Trophy is not the one I wanted.”
As the Ice Holes mobbed each other in victory at the final buzzer, tears rolled down Nabokov’s face. Teammate Henrik Zetterberg was the first player to console him as he rested his left arm on the net. Eventually he fell to the ice and took his helmet off. Soon, the rest of the Supermen skated up and patted him on the head. He used his jersey to wipe away more tears.
“I don’t think there was any question that he was the reason why we made it all the way to the Finals,” Zetterberg said. “He was unbelievable throughout the entire playoffs. It’s tough to lose when you make it all the way to the Finals, but this is a good thing for our organization. We took some big steps forward. We will be back.”
Jason Briggs thinks the Ice Holes will be back, too.
“We’re enjoying these emotions right now but it’s not over for us,” said Briggs. “I’m building a dynasty here.”
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Ice Holes fans hoping to carry on their Stanley Cup celebrations will have another chance Thursday at a parade and rally scheduled in downtown Lakehead. The parade is to start at 12 noon.
Players and their families, coaches and others are expected to ride in double-decker buses and other vehicles during the 30 to 45 minute parade.
An hour-long “championship rally” is scheduled to begin at the Ice Holes home ice arena at 2:30 p.m., featuring video highlights, presentations and speeches from several players, the team said.
Tickets are required, but are free. They will be distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis and are available online. Officials said season-ticket holders and suite and premier seat owners would be given first priority, with the remaining tickets made available to the public at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
There is a limit of four tickets per order, officials said.
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LIVE in Lakehead: Final Minute of Stanley Cup Finals
+ Ice Holes Locker Room Celebration
April 25th, 2013
An estimated 120,000 fans turned out Thursday to cheer for the Lakehead Ice Holes, holding a boisterous parade and rally to honor the Amazing Fantasy Hockey League champions who beat the Manhattan Supermen 7-2 in the Stanley Cup Finals.
“I’ve had to wipe away a few tears,” Lakehead forward Andrew Ladd said. “This is why I play in Lakehead.”
Four days after the Ice Holes raised the hallowed trophy, spectators jammed the streets of downtown Lakehead to join the party.
“I didn’t expect this many people to show up for the parade,” said Ladd. “Incredible!!”
The Ice Holes rode double-decker buses and flatbed trucks in a parade through downtown Lakehead, past thousands of roaring fans. Eric Staal and Antti Niemi then raised the Cup outside Lakehead’s home ice arena, where the Ice Holes completed their three week rampage through the postseason on Sunday night.
“It was more than you could ever expect,” forward P.A. Parenteau said. “It’s one of those moments you want to live over and over again. It’s amazing to hear all the support, and to put faces to the cheers we’ve heard all year.”
The Ice Holes gathered inside the arena for a packed rally, with fans waving towels and giving repeated standing ovations to every speaker. GM/Coach Jason Briggs even pumped up the fans with a series of joyously out-of-character fist pumps, and forward Henrik Sedin riled them up even more.
“What’s up Lakehead? Anyone want Jarome Iginla’s cell phone number?” Sedin playfully called out to the fans. “This is too much fun not to win it again next year!!”
“Just to see the looks on their faces after they won it is something I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” said Jason Briggs. “It’s just amazing, amazing, amazing.”
The Ice Holes will have all summer to absorb what they accomplished this spring. The Stanley Cup has already made an extensive tour of Lakehead, starting at a local pub just a few hours after the Ice Holes claimed it. The Cup was in Kris Letang’s backyard Tuesday morning, where one of his nephews drank milk and ate cereal out of the bowl while wearing his Iron Man pajamas.
After appearances on two talk shows on Tuesday, the Cup was seen at a popular stage show in a historic Ontario hotel, where Will Ferrell and Brock Lesnar joined in the celebration.
“It feels great,” said Letang. “You want to have parades every year. It’s going to be tough, but we think we have the team to do it.”
The Ice Holes are uniformly excited they’ve got a strong chance of defending their title next season with much the same roster. GM Briggs, who lost his voice in the post-Cup celebrations and couldn’t speak to the rally crowd, already has already promised most of Lakehead’s key contributors for at least one more year.
“I’d say my chances are pretty good,” veteran forward Jarome Iginla said of his chances of returning to Lakehead. “I want to be back. They’ve got a good thing going here, and I love it.”
April 3rd, 2023
Friends become foes when the puck drops on the Stanley Cup finals between the Rain City Bitch Pigeons and the Port Hope Panthers, Monday at 7 p.m. ET.
Management, coaches and players spewed comments on Monday morning about respecting their opponents and how much they value their contributions to the game of hockey.
Blah, blah blah.
When Game 1 gets under way, all those flowery comments go out the window because fantasy hockey’s ultimate goal is at stake. Over the next week, the Panthers and Bitch Pigeons will battle, claw and chew their way for the opportunity to hoist the Stanley Cup in victory.
Here are some of the most interesting quotes from media day:
Rain City defenseman, Adam Larsson, on the rarity of even reaching the Final:
“It’s always been the dream. When you’ve played in the League for a while, you know how much it takes, how much you have to be with the right team at the right time. I’ve been on some good teams that maybe had a chance to make it far, and I’ve been on some teams where you know this probably isn’t going to be the year you win. So being on that team this year, knowing we have the right pieces to make it far and then actually having a great playoff series – every player at the start of year, that’s their goal – so it’s nice to be one of the teams that actually made it.”
Port Hope forward, David Perron, on realizing the Final starts tonight:
“I think it’s still sinking in. After [beating Westbury in Game 7] that was a good feeling, after that it’s just been refocusing, re-shifting your focus and your mindset to the Stanley Cup Final.”
Port Hope coach, Keith Cancilla, on coaching the Panthers:
“I can’t tell you how rewarding it’s been to have the opportunity to coach this team. I’m so grateful to have been given this opportunity. Every day I come to the rink, I’m excited to get on the ice with this particular group of players.”
Rain City coach, Jason Henley, on facing his friend in real life in the Finals:
“The fact that there’s two friends in real life that are going to play against one another here in the greatest fanntasy league in the world, I couldn’t be more excited. I think there’s a lot of really good coaches that are working extremely hard to be the best at their craft and Keith is definitely one of them. He deserves to be here with me.”
Panthers forward, Brad Marchand, on making it to the Finals two years in a row:
“I think we are all still hungry to win this thing. We came so close last year and we used that as motivation. We know the opportunity we have here and this is a very special thing. For a lot of us, we may never get a chance to play for it again and get this far. It’s tough to get here. When you get a chance to do that.”
Rain City forward, Conor McDavid, on his motivation:
“The opportunity to win my second AFHL Stanley Cup. This doesn’t come along often. Not just for myself but for our GM, Jason Henley. There’s only one GM [Lucas Main] in league history that has won it twice. Knowing we have another chance at it, it’s very exciting.”
Port Hope forward, Evgeni Malkin, on his personal recognition:
“I don’t think about that. I want my team to win. I just focus on my game, focus on what I need to do and try to help my team win. My record is Cups. I don’t think about points. It’s not my goals. It’s only the team.”
Rain City goaltender, Ilya Samsonov, on his “this is the Stanley Cup Final” moment:
“I think just driving by the rink today, and then you get new sweatshirts that say Stanley Cup Final on them and shirts and some new hats. But I think we had our jerseys downstairs, too, with some pictures and they have the Stanley Cup logo on it. I thought that was pretty neat, I took an extra look at it, not something I normally do, but it’s pretty coo