2020 Season Preview

Crown Room Kings

The draft balls of destiny landed squarely on the chin on the Crown Room Kings in 2020 and finished with a first round pick right on their faces. Veteran GM Warden has struggled to find success in the WNHL and has yet to raise Welland’s holy grail, however, veteran GM Warden has never been granted the “Golden Choice” before. (Well he has, but it was a long time ago, they were young and he didn’t really know her that well). Did he use it to wisely to build a championship caliber team or will he waste a beautiful gift that was bestowed upon him by the WNHL Gods? Let’s have a look and judge him harshly.

In the first four rounds the Kings drafted two Bering’s, a Boots, and a Wurfel. Taking last years leading scorer Ryan Bering seems like the right choice and finishing the fourth by bringing in his brother Carl can’t hurt. I mean, brothers always get along…

The Bering brothers are 50% as insufferable. Still a lot though

Adding Boots to the roster in the second round is always a great pick if you are looking for a puck moving defenceman who doesn’t speak to anybody in the room and has a secret rivalry with Billy. WNHL rookie Steve Wurfel, who must have impressed at the prospect game, earns the third round pick. That’s a bit of pressure to put on a rookie who has to try to find the unique balance of playing hard, but not being a try hard dick that makes the WNHL the Champagne of Beer Leagues. ™

Moving to the middle rounds, Warden started to fill the roster with a couple of guys who names end in vowels. You know what I mean? Couple guys sound like they are from Niagara Falls. Get it? Couple of guys who probably make mean soppressat? Capiche? Coming straight to the arena from the kitchen in their basement, Frankie Mauro and Gabe Mollo.

Crown Room King second D pairing

In the 7th and 8th rounds Warden took Al Jones and Nate Brady. Two people who do not have much and to say and quite frankly neither do I. Couple of workhorses, not going to hurt you out there, and much like all of your mom’s, they can be used in any position.

Gordie Hudak continues his journey from referee to player in the 9th round, and it was just like when Dangerous Danny Davis joined forces with the Hart Foundation.

This is what Gordie Hudak is to the WNHL

Much like Danny Davis, Gordie has yet to taste championship glory and the former Alexander Kuska standout is looking to impress after what some have called a disappointing rookie campaign. (It was me, I said it. Fight me Gordie).

Shoring up the team in the final rounds were Kevin Dyson and “Mr. Irrelevant” Henry Wiens. Warden was happy with Wiens as the last selection and is a believer in the off the glass and out is better than in the back of the net philosophy which Wiens has mastered so well in his time in the WNHL.

Hal Gill played 1100 games going off the glass and out. Wiens once played with a blood alcohol level of .110. Both impressive feats.

And with that Warden has submitted his roster for the Crown Room Kings. Is it enough to bring the King Street Cup home to the Crown Room? Can they make it through a 30 Wednesday grind to hoist Welland’s holy grail or will they choke stumble and fall like Macy Gray?

It all starts on October 7th when the Kings open their season against the Townline Tunnelers.

2020 Season

They don’t ask how, they ask how many. In this case, 65. 65 people joined the WNHL zoom draft. While we missed the Rex, the pizza and the pints of OV, we still managed to draw some battle lines and pick the six teams that will make up the WNHL in the 2020 season.

This year the WNHL is excited to announce the “Game of the month”. One regular season game a month will be chosen to be the game of the month. To add to the already exciting atmosphere of a typical WNHL game, we have decided to raise the stakes just a bit. Each GM will select a charity that they will play for. During the month the teams are encouraged to raise money for their charity, through donations by your team, their friends and family. (maybe you have to return some empties, maybe you have to steal money from your wife’s purse or kid’s piggy bank. It’s really none of my business., as long as you are donating). On game day the pots will be combined and the winning team’s charity will collect all the funds raised, the losing team’s charity will continue to suffer knowing that they are being supported by 13 dudes who suck at hockey. This game will be filmed, there will be interviews conducted by our crack staff of WNHL reporters (who have promised that they have quit smoking crack), with the highlights going on the WNHL youtube channel, so the world can see your success or failure as the case may be.

So with all that being said, there is only one question left, who will hoist the King Street Cup in 2020. Currently the King Street Cup is homeless with no winner being declared in the 2019-2020 season, but there are six new teams ready to battle for Welland supremacy. With just over one week before the season starts, we here at www.wnhlwelland.ca will be providing team by team analysis and give our thoughts on who is looking like the early favorites and who are looking like the early degenerates of the league. So stay tuned here to find out what kind of terrible things are being said about your team and you personally.