1985 Off-Season

1985 Entry Draft

There was a lot of discussion entering the 1985 draft about who would go number one. With no clear-cut top prospect most experts figured it would be either Jeremy Kitchen, son of former PHL star Bobby Kitchen, Randy Fernandez, a 6’10”, 266 pound defenseman originally from Texas, or Jeff Winslow, a smooth-skating offensive defenseman. The Civics, who held the first overall pick, settled on Kitchen, much to the disappointment of Toronto, who took Fernandez. Minnesota settled for Winslow to kick off their rebuild. Kitchen wasn’t the only player who’s father had played in the PHL. Long Island selected Jim Ward, son of Vince Ward, 16^th overall, while Winnipeg selected Former Civics Legend Dave Riley’s son Ben Riley two picks later. Philadelphia traded their pick to the St Louis Spirits along with enforcer Roy Jones in exchange for Roni Laukkanen. St. Louis used the pick to select big winger Adam Lawless.

1.      New York – Jeremy Kitchen, F, CAN

2.      Toronto – Randy Fernandez, D, USA

3.      Minnesota – Jeff Winslow, D, CAN

4.      LA (From Quebec) – Jarkko Turunen, F, FIN

5.      Calgary – Drew Morgan, D, CAN

6.      Washington – Jason McGinnis, D, USA

7.      LA – Kay Swafford, D, USA

8.      Vancouver – Cerdric Thibualt, F, CAN

9.      Ottawa – Brian Gaines, F, CAN

10.   Edmonton – Svell Pahlsson, D, SWE

11.   Boston – Ted MacDougall, F, CAN

12.   Montreal – Joe Ayres, D, CAN

13.   California – Erik Richardsson, F, SWE

14.   St Louis (from Philadelphia) – Adam Lawless, F, CAN

15.   Milwaukee – Elliot Andrews, D, CAN

16.   Long Island – Jim Ward, D, USA

17.   Denver – Scott Crook, F, CAN

18.   Winnipeg – Ben Riley, F, USA

19.   Detroit – Jason Vincent, F, CAN

20.   Chicago – Craig Novak, F, CAN

21.   Seattle – Olle Ragnarsson, D, SWE

22.   Pittsburgh – Simon Littlefield, D, UK

23.   Nova Scotia – Tim Craft, F, CAN

24.   St Louis – Pierre Dubois, D, CAN

Notable Retirements:

Rick Chandler, D, WPG, 1968-1985

For 15 seasons, Rick Chandler was the backbone of the Pioneers’ defense. After spending his first two seasons with the Boston Bulldogs, the Pioneers acquired Chandler in exchange for legendary defenseman Doug West. Chandler managed to assert himself as one of the more respected defensemen in the league despite playing for some terrible teams in Winnipeg.

David Johnson, F, PHI, 1965-1985

David Johnson was a reliable winger for the Redshirts for 20 years. Johnson never won the Lewis Cup but played in two finals in 1968 and 1974. Johnson retired after the 1984-85 season at third on the Redshirts all-time scoring list.

Jeff Coleman, F, BOS, 1965-1985

A steady, hard-working center for the Bulldogs, Jeff Coleman was a key piece of Boston’s Lewis Cup victory in 1971 as well as their run to the finals in 1976.

Transactions

St. Louis trades F Roni Laukkanen to Philadelphia in exchange for F Roy Jones and 1^st round pick in 1985 entry draft.

Philadelphia instantly becomes a contender with the addition of Laukkanen, who enjoyed a breakout year with the Spirits in 1984-85. St. Louis acquires a much-needed enforcer in Jones and uses the pick to select Adam Lawless, a big forward from Saskatchawan.

Pittsburgh trades D Ian Fox to Ottawa in exchange for F Casey Beckett.

Ottawa gets a solid young player in Fox who should step into the lineup right away after spending the last four years with the Stingers minor-league club in Scranton PA. Pittsburgh acquires 38-year-old tough guy Beckett to add size and protect their star players.

News

The biggest news of the 1985 off-season was of course the relocation of the Dallas Metros to Milwaukee, which was announced in June. In July, construction finally began on the team’s new arena in downtown Milwaukee. The team will play in the 11,000 seat Milwaukee arena for at least a year while the new building is completed.

It was a quiet summer for coaching changes, but one big change came when three-time coach of the year winner and Lewis Cup champion Don Shelburne decided not to renew his contract with the LA Wizards, instead signing a five-year deal with the Montreal Royale, who were about to launch a rebuild. Shelburne, who had earned a reputation over the past decade with the Wizards as the best coach in the game and possibly the greatest of all time, promised he would bring the “glory days” back to Montreal. “We have a lot of work ahead of us but I really believe this franchise can win championships again very soon.”

One of the more ominous stories coming during the summer involved possible labour unrest in the league. On July 1, Alan Garcia’s position as PHL President was officially dissolved and Garcia was named the PHL’s first-ever League Commissioner. Garcia, concerned about rising player salaries and the big-market franchises such as St. Louis and Chicago slowly becoming monopolies, began exploring a salary cap. When the idea was brought to the Professional Hockey Players Association, President Brian Hunt said the Union would “never, ever let that happen.” When Hunt and the players’ union consulted lawyer Art Lowe about the issue, Lowe convinced the players to make a bold move and go public with their salaries. Suddenly, the owners had nowhere to hide. When further investigation revealed, among other things, that players only received 38 percent of hockey-related revenues, an angry feeling developed among the players. “These issues will be addressed, I promise you that” said Hunt prior to the start of training camp.

Dallas Metros Relocate to Milwaukee

Just weeks after the Pittsburgh Stingers hoisted the Lewis Cup, PHL president Alan Garcia made the announcement everyone had been speculating about for months. Milwaukee millionaire Jerry Drum had purchased the financially struggling Dallas Metros with plans to move the team to Milwaukee in time for the 1985-86 season. "This is a very exciting time to be a Milwaukee sports fan" said Drum. "I think the fans in Wisconsin will really embrace this team. Milwaukee has always been a strong sports market when it comes to Baseball, Basketball, and Football and I don't think Hockey will be any different."

Garcia commented that he is excited for Milwaukee but expressed his disappointment for Dallas at the same time. "It's unfortunate to leave Dallas, there were a lot of true hockey fans there who really fell in love with the game through watching the Metros. At the same time, we are very excited to welcome Milwaukee into the PHL fold. We feel we have a strong owner in Mr. Drum and I think the city's presence will be very good for the league and the game."

Three weeks after the announcement, the club unveiled it's new name and wordmark. The team will be named the Milwaukee Choppers, after the famous Harley Davidson Motorcycles that were originally made in Milwaukee. Drum, an avid motorcycle enthusiast who owns three Harleys himself, said he had the name picked long before the purchase of the team was finalized. "I knew immediately if I ever owned a team I would want to put a bike on the front" said Drum. "I think it's a great name for a hockey team. The name and logo will represent speed and power, two things I want our club to be about."

The team's wordmark, which will appear on promotional material as well as some merchandise, was also unveiled, revealing the team colour scheme of Black, Gold, and White. The logo and uniforms will be unveiled prior to the start of the 1985-86 season.

1985 Lewis Cup Finals

As the Pittsburgh Stingers and Seattle Grey Wolves prepared for the 1985 Lewis Cup Finals, rumours continued to swirl about the future of the troubled Dallas Metros franchise. On the morning of game one, a story out of a Milwaukee newspaper appeared to confirm the multimillionaire Jerry Drum had indeed purchased the Metros with the intention of moving them to Wisconsin in the fall. PHL president Alan Garcia insisted on putting rumours aside until the conclusion of the series. “I don’t want to take attention away from this great match-up we have for the Lewis Cup, so out of respect for the Stingers and Grey Wolves organizations I will not comment on the Dallas situation until the series is over” said Garcia.

The finals began in Pittsburgh on May 23. Seattle immediately came flying out of the gate. Pete Holloway had two goals while Paul Walsh and Jason Radford each scored as well to give the Wolves a 4-1 win. In game two, Danny Stevenson finally got on the scoreboard after being held scoreless in game one, helping the Stingers to a 4-3 victory. The series shifted to Seattle for game three, and the Grey Wolves took full advantage of home ice. Jake Fairbanks and Pete Holloway each scored twice in a 4-2 win to give Seattle a 2-1 series lead. Seattle, despite being the undisputed underdog in the series, was proving to be too much for Pittsburgh’s aging defense. The talented trio of Holloway, Fairbanks, and Radford was on fire and that would continue early in game four when Holloway and Radford each scored to give the Wolves a 2-0 lead. Brian Hardy added to the lead early in the second. It appeared Seattle would take a choke hold on the series when Danny Stevenson suddenly exploded for four goals late in the second and early in the third to miraculously give Pittsburgh a 4-3 lead. The Emerald Forum was silent. With the Seattle net empty, Dave Breedon passed the puck to Stevenson, who slid it in the open net for his fifth goal of the game, making him the first player in PHL history to score five goals in a finals game.

Now Pittsburgh seemed to have regained control heading home with the series tied, but the Wolves still refused to quit. After the lead changed three times in game five, the game went into overtime. Both Jakob Martensson and Brian Westin played brilliantly throughout the first overtime and into the second. Eight minutes into the second period, Risto Rautianen finally ended it for Pittsburgh. The Stingers now stood one win away from their first Lewis Cup victory. The Lewis Cup was in the building for game six back at the Forum in Seattle. The game was tight through the first two periods, tied 2-2. As the third period began, Denis Porier scored to give Seattle a 3-2 lead. It appeared the series would reach a game seven when Danny Stevenson showed up once again with a clutch performance. Stevenson scored twice in fifteen seconds to give Pittsburgh the lead. In the dying minutes, Seattle pulled Westin as they tried desperately to tie the game, but it was too late. Kenny Sharp scored the empty net goal to seal the game and the Stingers piled off the bench. Danny Stevenson was named playoff MVP before hoisting the first Lewis Cup in franchise history.

1985 Playoffs

The first round of the 1985 playoffs featured several upsets. Detroit was favoured to beat the aging Montreal Royale, but lost the series in six games, Winnipeg defeated the Denver Bulls, and the Philadelphia Redshirts stunned the Long Island Concordes in a hard-fought six game series. Concordes’ goaltender Bobby Sorel, who had hinted at retirement heading into the post-season told reporters after the series that he would be back for a 20^th season to make another run.

The series between the St. Louis Spirits and Edmonton Northern Lights was considered to be the most lopsided matchup in the playoffs with a 31 point difference between the two teams. St. Louis predictably took a 2-0 series lead, but Edmonton’s checking line did an excellent job shutting down the Appleby/Millen Duo in games three and four to tie the series 2-2. Appleby and Millen both got back on the board in game five as did Kevin Cummins and Roni Laukkanen in a 4-2 win. The wheels completely fell off for the Spirits in game six, however. Cummins scored to give the Spirits a 1-0 lead, but the Northern Lights once again did a brilliant job shutting down the St. Louis forwards. Ricky Spooner allowed two very soft goals early in the second period and then Edmonton exploded for five more unanswered goals to stun the Spirits 7-1. Spooner struggled again early in game seven and was pulled in favour of backup Don Graves after allowing two goals in the first sixteen seconds. Grant Millen and Roni Laukkanen tied the game but Edmonton responded with another three goals. Appleby, who had been tightly checked and constantly harassed by the Northern Lights’ checkers, finally snapped. While being mugged by defenseman Dwayne Ingram in front of the net, Appleby turned and swung at Ingram, knocked him out. Appleby was ejected and Edmonton hung on for the win to complete the biggest upset in PHL history. After the series, Spirit’s head coach Jack McCoy didn’t mince words about Edmonton’s play. “It’s unacceptable that this league can allow the best player in the game to be treated like that.”

In other first round action Chicago swept Dallas in four straight, Seattle beat California in five games, and Nova Scotia took out Ottawa in five games. Boston gave Pittsburgh a scare but the Stingers held them off in seven games.

In the second round, the Stingers finally met their state rivals, the Philadelphia Redshirts, for the first time ever in the playoffs. Philly surprisingly won the first game, but Pittsburgh would bounce back to win the series in five. As expected, emotions boiled over in game three when Redshirts star forward Jeff Waters took a devastating hit from Pittsburgh’s Ian Fox. The teams engaged in several line brawls with 240 minutes in penalties handed out.

 Edmonton pulled off another enormous upset, taking out the Chicago Shamrocks in six games with Wes Simmons turning in a spectacular effort in net for the Northern Lights. Simmons’ play and Edmonton’s work ethic and commitment to a very tight defensive system were the main reasons for the Northern Lights success as both the top Lewis Cup contenders now found themselves eliminated. Elsewhere in the second round, Nova Scotia beat Montreal in six games, while Seattle swept Winnipeg in four straight.

The conference finals would pit the Seattle Grey Wolves against the Edmonton Northern Lights and the Nova Scotia Claymores against the Pittsburgh Stingers. Edmonton’s magic appeared to run out early on against Seattle after the Wolves shut the Northern Lights out in the first two games. Edmonton won game three in overtime and forced game four into overtime as well, but Jake Fairbanks scored early in the extra frame to give Seattle a huge 3-2 win and a commanding 3-1 series lead. Edmonton put up a valiant effort in game five, keeping the game tied 1-1 until the third period, but the Grey Wolves scored two quick goals early in the third period to seal the victory and their first-ever trip to the Lewis Cup Finals.

In the Eastern Conference final, Danny Stevenson and the Stingers were more determined than ever to return to the Lewis Cup Finals with both western powerhouses eliminated. Pittsburgh jumped to a 3-1 series lead but faced an uphill battle down 2-0 late in game five. Stevenson scored with four minutes remaining to pull the game within a goal, but Brent MacDonald made several spectacular stops as the game neared the final seconds. Suddenly, with just .7 seconds left, Jake Fuller’s shot found the net to tie the game. Midway through the second overtime period, Dave Mack beat Pittsburgh goaltender Jakob Martensson to give Nova Scotia a hard-fought victory. With the Claymores almost certain to win a game seven at home, Pitteburgh entered game six knowing this was their best chance to finish the series and they did just that with a decisive 6-1 win. For the third time in four seasons, the Pittsburgh Stingers found themselves four wins away from a Lewis Cup title.

Round One

Round Two

Round Three

1984-85 Regular Season

The 1984-85 season saw a few power shifts. Thanks to strong performances from Jake Fairbanks and Pete Holloway, the Seattle Grey Wolves managed to win their first division title in franchise history, while the LA Wizards, demoralized by the loss of Ray Fowler, missed the playoffs for the first time since 1971. Vancouver came agonizingly close to the making the playoffs for the first time in fifteen years. The Bighorns had an opportunity to clinch a playoff spot in their final game of the year against Seattle, but blew a two goal lead in the third period to finish just short of the post-season. However, GM Neil Jacobs still felt positive about the direction of the team. “The end was disappointing but we made some huge improvements as a club this year.” One of the keys to Vancouver’s much improved season was the play of rookie defenseman Shane Swanson, who became the first rookie ever to win top defenseman honours. Swanson was also the first defenseman to lead his team in scoring, with 90 points.

St. Louis won the league regular season title again as David Appleby once again won the scoring title with 124 points. Chicago finished just one point behind the spirits for second place while Vladimir Gaganov finished just three points behind Appleby in the scoring race. The Denver Bulls slipped a little in the standings while Winnipeg moved into third place, and Dallas had their most successful season yet despite swirling rumours about the future of the franchise. In the Eastern Conference, Nova Scotia enjoyed another strong season thanks to brilliant goaltending from Brent MacDonald while youngsters Harry Hayes, Owen Kennedy, and Dave Mack proved to be a dangerous trio up front. Detroit climbed to second in the Northeast while Ottawa slipped all the way to the fourth and final playoff spot, edging out Quebec, who was without Jon Gage after Gage suffered a season ending injury, on the final day of the season. Perhaps the biggest turnover was in the Atlantic Division. Bobby Sorel’s play was as solid as ever at age 38. As the Long Island Concordes finished second in the division, mounting a serious challenge to first-place Pittsburgh. Washington slipped all the way from second to fifth, missing the playoffs for the first time since 1976.