1992-93 marked year two of the “Russian Invasion” in the
PHL, as players from the former Soviet Union dominated the league. Chicago once
again benifited enormously from their Russian trio, as Vladimir Gaganov,
Alexander Orlov, and Vladimir Kozakov all made up the top three in team scoring
as the Shamrocks finished atop the League with 108 points, while Gaganov
finished second in league scoring. In Washington, rookie Igor Zharkov took the
league by storm, finishing fifth in league scoring and taking home the Garfield
Trophy for rookie of the year as Washinton returned to the post-season with an eighth
place finish. As dominant as the Russians around the league were, however, the
most dominant performance in the league came from a player hailing from another
European country. 32-year-old Finnish defenseman Jari Pukki enjoyed the best
season of his career, earning an incredible 87 assists while adding 27 goals to
finish third in league scoring, the highest ever for a PHL defenseman. Pukki’s
end-to-end rush had been thrilling PHL fans for nearly 15 years, but now
playing in sports-mad Boston, Pukki was finally earning the recognition he had
deserved, taking home top defenseman honours, as well as the Veteran’s Cup for
league MVP.
Montreal returned to the top of the Eastern Conference standings
in 1993, thanks mostly to Vincent Ducharme’s league-leading 122 points, while
veteran playmaker Trevor Ramsey earned 63 assists setting up the superstar
forward. “He’s just so much fun to play with” said the former Calgary Wrangler
Ramsey about Ducharme. “I don’t even have to look, he knows exactly where to
be, I just have to put the puck there and he does the rest.” A classic rivalry
was revived in ’92-93, as the Toronto Racers also continued their rise to
prominence. Alexei Yolkin ignited the Racers’ offence, with Randy Fernandez
proving to be an enormous threat from the blueline, especially on the
powerplay. Fernandez was coming off a huge performance for the American team in
the 1992 World Hockey Challenge and he carried it over to the regular season.
When the Racers met the Royale for the first time in 1992, fans were treated to
a performance for the ages by two superstars, as Yolkin and Ducharme each
scored hat-tricks in a 5-4 Toronto victory. Despite Ducharme’s performance, the
Royale were embarrassed by the loss and when the teams met again on December 12
in Montreal, tension boiled over as Montreal’s Ron Borden and Toronto’s Tory
Partridge dropped the gloves just three minutes in for what would the first of
two fights between the two. Toronto managed to win again, as the Royale were
simply unable to find room on the ice with Toronto’s hard-nosed, tight-checking
play. Ultimately, the Racers won the season series and finished fifth, surrendering
fourth place to Detroit on the final day of the season.
Elsewhere in the East, The New York Civics were dealt a
devastating blow when superstar forward Aaron Duplacy went down with a
season-ending separated shoulder in the middle of a tight playoff race in late
February. The Civics had held the final playoff spot throughout most of the
year with Washington and Miami in close pursuit. After Duplacy’s injury, New York
lost their grip on the coveted eighth spot and ultimately fell out of the
post-season picture, as did Miami, despite their first 30-win season in
franchise history. While star defenseman Theo Sprouse enjoyed a big first year
in the Windy City, his former team, the Long Island Concordes, missed him
terribly on their blueline. Just three years removed from their first Lewis
Cup, Long Island dropped to seventh place and actually found themselves
battling for their playoff lives right into the month of April.
In the Western Conference, the Minnesota Lumberjacks
continued their climb up the standings as Jason Crowley finally began to
establish himself as one of the premier players in the game. Though his scoring
totals were not as impressive as that of Gaganov or Ducharme, Crowley’s ability
and willingness to do everything from dropping the gloves to scoring a big goal
when it was needed made the Lumberjacks one of the most difficult teams to play
against. Crowley gave Minnesota a true franchise player for the first time
since legends Guy Dupont and Bobby Sorel had left in the early 80s and the
Lumberjacks took fourth place in the west. The Calgary Wranglers hit a bump in
the road late in the year when Sergei Krayev went down with a fractured wrist.
However the Wranglers still managed to get into the playoffs as Shannon
Micheals and Jay Lydon both stepped up to lead the offence while Ron Tatum was
spectacular in net. In Kansas City, it looked like Twisters fans could finally
witness playoff hockey for the first time as the team’s young core, led by Scott
Drayton and Travis Watson, proved more than capable of competing with anyone in
the league. Entering the final day of the season, The Twisters were tied with
state rivals St. Louis for the final playoff spot. Age had finally caught up with
David Appleby and the Spirits, who were in danger of missing the post-season
since the mid-70s. In the final game, however, it was experience, especially in
a desperate situation, that won out. Niklas Ekberg broke a 2-2 tie late in the
third period, before Appleby hit the empty net as St. Louis ended the Twisters’
playoff hopes to claim the final spot. For St. Louis, the win served as a
reminder to the league that they still knew how to win, even if they were no
longer as fast or as strong as they had been. For Kansas City, the
heartbreaking loss simply meant they were a good team, just not quite ready to
take the next step. “It’s certainly a bitter pill to swallow” said head coach
Kevin Haysbert. “I think we’re close though. We don’t just want to make the
playoffs, we want to win a championship and I think we have a group here that
can do just that, we just have a little more growing up to do.”
No comments:
Post a Comment