NUTBARS LEAGUE HISTORY
I seem to recall Greg starting a conversation last year, wondering about the history of our fine league. We've obviously had a few changes over the years (we're in our sixth season now!), so the memory gets a little hazy looking back at 2008 when we first formed the league.
I've just spent a little time surfing ESPN researching the origins of each team, which was made more difficult because the platform doesn't keep a perfect record of who managed which teams and when. For example, Jason Arbuthnot was one of the original members, and for that first year he had a different team name than 1.21 Gigawatts, which he adopted for his team at the beginning of the second season. Unfortunately, ESPN has that team listed as 1.21 Gigawatts right from the start. Whenever possible, I cross-referenced team names with our forum, but some of that record keeping didn't begin in the format we're using now until later, so the records were adjusted backwards in time and don't always have the information I was looking for (such as the original name of Jason's team during the 2008-2009 season).
I was also interested to see if any players who were originally drafted in September 2008 were still with their original teams (there are two, and a third who was drafted in Sept 2008 and finally dropped this year). I was also curious if any players drafted in Sept 2008 had found their way back to their original team (there are a few).
I also wanted to see if there were any historical names that were drafted in 2008 that have long since been forgotten by hockey managers.
Lastly, I was interested to see the trophies that each team has won, which gives a better picture of the success of each team as it's been passed to different owners over the years.
Here's what I found:
1) Fitzsy Stars (Sept 2008 - present) -- Matt Jackson
Original Draftees from 2008: Anze Kopitar
Drafted in 2008 and returning after absence: Jiri Hudler and Teemu Selanne
Historical names drafted in 2008: Marcus Naslund, Vesa Toskala, Brian Rolston, Mathieu Schneider
Trophies: Kancho Cup Winner 2009, 2011, 2013; Nutbars Trophy Winner 2009, 2013; Top Weekly (360.
2010
2) Desolation Row (Sept 2008 - present) -- Greg Chapler
Original Draftees from 2008: None (are you really surprised?)
Drafted in 2008 and returning after absence: None
Historical names drafted in 2008: Petr Sykora, Andrei Kostitsyn
Trophies: Kancho Cup Runner-up 2009; Nutbars Trophy Winner 2012; Top Weekly (394.1) 2012; Top Daily 2012
3) Arthur Tigers (Sept 2008 - present) -- Jeff McKee
Original Draftees from 2008: None, but owned Paul Stastny from original draft until summer 2013
Drafted in 2008 and returning after absence: None
Historical names drafted in 2008: Joe Sakic, Cory Stillman, Rob Blake, Scott Niedermayer
Trophies: Kancho Cup Runner-up 2012
4) Legion of Doom (Sept 2008 - present) -- Brandon Lawrence
Team name was Soo Storm from Sept 2008 until summer 2013
Original Draftees from 2008: None
Drafted in 2008 and returning after absence: Marian Gaborik and Mike Richards
Historical names drafted in 2008: Bryan McCabe, Pavol Demitra, Christobal Huet, Wade Redden
Trophies: Kancho Cup Runner-up 2010; Nutbars Trophy Winner 2010
5) Buffalo Cab Co. (Sept 2008 - present) -- Sugar Ray Stock
Team name was Mr. Jonium's Rink Rats from Sept 2008 until Sept 2009, when Ray changed the name to Buffalo Cab Co.
Original Draftees from 2008: None, but traded for Pekka Rinne in early 2009 and has owned ever since
Drafted in 2008 and returning after absence: Travis Zajac
Historical names drafted in 2008: Tomas Holmstrom, Sergei Samsonov, Jonathan Cheechoo, Alexei Kovalev
Trophies: Kancho Cup Winner 2010; Nutbars Trophy Runner-up 2010; Top Nightly 2010
6) Who Shattenkirksbed (Sept 2011 - present) -- Chris Catrini
Team originally was drafted by the infamous Butch, which (thankfully) was given to Joel Stainer in November 2008. Joel renamed the team Small Town Dynasty, and managed the team until summer 2011, when it was handed over to Chris. Chris has gone by various names since then: Suicidal Frogs (2011-12), Oshie it! (2012-13) and most recently, Who Shattenkirksbed (Sept 2013).
Original Draftees from 2008: Phil Kessel
Drafted in 2008 and returning after absence: None
Historical names drafted in 2008: Nikolai Zherdev, Filip Kuba
Trophies: Kancho Cup Winner 2012; Nutbars Trophy Runner-up 2012
7) Garden River Gamblers (December 2011 - present) -- Scott Bell
Team originally belonged to Jason Arbuthnot and was managed under the name Undead Army for the 2008-09 season. Jason changed the team name to 1.21 Gigawatts in summer 2009, which stuck for the next two seasons. When Jason quit in the summer of 2011, the team was handed over to Christine Lee, who (sort of) managed it under the name The Pensioners for the next three months until she was abducted by aliens (OK, that is only speculation). The team was then given to Scott Bell, who renamed it Garden River Gamblers.
Original Draftees from 2008: None, but acquired Henrik Zetterberg that first year and has owned since
Drafted in 2008 and returning after absence: None
Historical names drafted in 2008: Nick Lidstrom, Pascal Leclaire, Marco Sturm, Viktor Kozlov
Trophies: Kancho Cup Runner-up 2011; Nutbars Trophy Runner-up 2011; Top Weekly (366.2) 2011; Top Nightly 2011
Team Po-Po (December 2011 - present) -- Gord Lake
Team was originally managed by Richard Klitzke under the name Motley Crue from Sept 2008 until Dec 2011, when Richard became a casualty of the same alien abduction as his girlfriend Christine Lee. The team was given to Gord Lake, who has managed it as Team Po-Po ever since.
Original Draftees from 2008: None
Drafted in 2008 and returning after absence: Chris Kunitz, Jay Bouwmeester
Historical names drafted in 2008: Chris Drury, Alexander Frolov, Jason Arnott, Marty Turco
Trophies: Top Weekly (349.
2013
9) The Juggernauts (Sept 2009 - present) -- John Alldis
Team was originally drafted and managed by Keegan McEvoy under the name The Omnipresence, and was handed over to John after in the summer of 2009. It has remained The Juggernauts ever since.
Original Draftees from 2008: None
Drafted in 2008 and returning after absence: Mikhail Grabovski
Historical names drafted in 2008: Paul Kariya, Miroslav Satan, Jaroslav Spacek, Nigel Dawes
Trophies: Kancho Cup Runner-up 2013; Nutbars Trophy Winner 2011; Nutbars Trophy Runner-up 2013; Top Nightly 2013
10) Shoreside Situations (Sept 2010 - present) -- Jarrett Sanders
This team was originally drafted and managed by Mike Cunning as Vandelay Industries for the first two years of the league, until it was given to Jarrett in the fall of 2010. It has remained Shoreside Situations ever since.
Original Draftees from 2008: None
Drafted in 2008 and returning after absence: None
Historical names drafted in 2008: Kristian Huselius, Chris Osgood, Brian Rafalski
Trophies: Nutbars Trophy Runner-up 2009; Top Weekly (344.3) 2009
It was fun to look back at all the changes over the years, and it makes me grateful we have such a solid bunch of guys who are now participating in the league.
Cheers,
Matt