Stockholm Ratz

In the beginning there was silence and darkness ruled across Sweden. Then one day the TWHL came along and brought with it the Stockholm Ratz. The Stockholm Ratz is one of the original clubs in the TWHL (Trans World Hockey League). Stockholm play in the Borg division named after the legendary Swedish tennis player. The other teams in the Borg division are Prague, Rome, Berlin, London and Moscow.

TWHL1 Regular season

The Ratz played thir first TWHL regular season game ever at home vs The Moscow Bulldozers. Moscow won that game 3-1. Stockholms goal was scored by historical superstar Mike Bossy who immediatly put his name in the record books. The Swedish team continued to struggle for about the first 30 games. By then GM Peter Nilsson had made numerous trades and the team started to win games. After the 32nd game of the season Ratz managed to break a 6 game loosing streak with a 7-4 win at home vs New York. This was the turn around that Stockholm needed. This was the start of a 12 game unbeaten streak including a 10 game winning streak between game 35-44. Ratz then lost game 45 6-2 at the hands of Singapore. Many thought that this would be the end of the Ratz fluke, but the Stockholm Ratz wanted otherwise. The team won their next 10 games giving them an unlikly streak of 21-1-1 on the last 23 games. This streak took the team from a 5th place in the Borg division to the top of it. this must have gotten to the heads of the players because after this unbelieveble streak Ratz lost 6 straight games. When it was time for the allstar break after 54 games the Stockholm Ratz was in the lead of the Borg division and this meant the GM Peter Nilsson got the honour of coaching the Borg all star team in the first TWHL all star tournament. Of the six games played GM Nilsson won 2 and lost 4. The Stockholm Ratz continued to play good for the rest of the season and managed to win the Borg division 4 points ahead of Berlin. Ratz finnished with the 8th best record in the regular season, placing them in the top half of the table.

TWHL1 Playoffs

In the first round of the TWHL1 playoffs Stockholm Ratz was playing the London Monarchs led by Mario Lemieux. The series was tight the first 4 games and before game 5 it was a 2-2 tie. The Stockholm Ratz won the two following games 8-1. Players like Calle Johansson and Mike Bossy led the way for the Ratz. In the Borg division finals Ratz faced the Moscow Bulldozers. The Ratz were looking for revenge for that loss in the opening game of the regular season. In fact Stockholm had difficulties with Moscow all through regular season. The series went 0-3-1 in the regular season. As expected the Russian team won the first 2 games. But then the Ratz pulled themselves together and won game 3 in Moscow. The Bulldozers then won game 4 making it 3-1 Bulldozers in the series. Stockholm now had to win 3 straight games not to be eliminated from the playoffs. They did. Game 5 went into overtime , Ratz centerman Michal Handzus ended the game only 1 minute into overtime. The Ratz then had no problems winning game 6 5-1 and game 7 4-2. In the conference finals Stockholm faced the Tokyo Dragons. The Dragons had in their division finals eliminated the favorites Taipei Typhoons. Stockholm surprisingly won game 1 despite being outshot 34-26. Tokyo then won game 2 and 3 without problems. Amazingly enough Stockholm managed to win game 4 tying the series at 2 after 4 games. But after this the Ratz ran out of strength and Tokyo could easily win game 5 and 6. The Tokyo Dragons went on to win the trans world cup after beating Cape town in a 7 game series.

TWHL1 Summery

Well The end of the first TWHL season is here and I must say that its been a great ride and the results have been way over expectation. The Stockholm Ratz goals in TWHL2 will be to match this seasons record and hopefully make it all the way to the finals this time.

TWHL2 Regular season

The Ratz survived the FA draft pretty well aquiring Petr Sykora and Dallas Drake. These two were however traded to Prague, in return came Mats Sundin and promising winger Anson Carter. Carter soon developed into a star player down in the minors and was called up. With these additions to the squad along with some awesome rerates Stockholm played awesome hockey in the first quarter. They recorded their best quarter result ever .725. The team even lead the league for a bried moment at the beginning of the season. But then the team started to slump and performed under .500 hockey from game 20 to game 60. The Ratz lead the division at the AST and coach Neely got to coach the Borg AST for the second straight year. It took some crazy trading to bring the team back on its feet, but the management succedeed. The fourth quarter was GREAT. The Ratz played .750 hockey during this period and again won the divisional title. The team had 98 points at the end of the season. Josh Green was noted with 46 goals on the season, a team record. Serge Aubin, the teams third line centerman won the Selke Trophy and team Captain Adam Foote had 388 pims, a TWHL record.

TWHL2 Playoffs

Just like in the TWHL1 season the Ratz were favorites to come out of the Borg division. And they did, but it was in no way the easy trip that many thought it would be. The Ratz needed 13 games to defeat the divisional rivals. First out was Berlin. The Germans surprisingly won game one up in Stockholm, but the Ratz bounced back and managed to win the series 4-2 after an OT win in game 5. In the divisional final the Ratz had to play the Rome Gladiators. The Italian team came into the playoffs after a strong season, they were only 6 or 8 points behind the Ratz. This series turned out to be a nerve wrecking 7 games series. Game 7 went to overtime and it was defenseman Steve McCarthy who scored th egamewinning goal. In the conference final waited another exciting series against the Singapore Dipsomaniacs. The Ratz won 3 of the first 4 games and needed only to win one more to get to the TRANS WORLD CUP FINALS. But then disaster strikes, Michal Handzus gets injured and the team falls apart and loses three straight games. The Dips went on to win the championship.

TWHL2 Summery

The Ratz improved their winning % from TWHL1 and that was what the management had wished for. Losing the series against the Dips hurt but we must look back at the season with great joy. After all it was a great season for the Ratz. Players like Calle Johansson will never be forgotten.

TWHL3 Regular season

Two great players were lost in the TWHL2 FA draft. The teams leading scorer during the season, Josh Green, decided to try his luck in Havana while defenseman Mark Eaton signed with Santiago. Rangers forward Kyle Calder was however signed and he made up for some of the losses. During the offseason traded GM Nilsson for league MVP Rod Brind'Amour. The price was high but Brindy would turn out to be just as valuable as he was expensive. Yannick Perreault was drafted in the TWHL2 entry draft.
The Ratz played solid during the preseason and things couldn't be better when the season started. The first game of the season was lost just as usual. This time it was the TWHL1 champions, the Tokyo Dragons, who defeated the Ratz in a close game. Stockholm continued to struggle during the first 10 games. The Rome Gladiators proved to be the Ratz toughest opponants in the Borg division, just as in TWHL2. The Gladiators and the Ratz took turns at the top of the table and for the first time since the start of the TWHL wasn't coach Neely appointed head coach for the Borg all star team. The Borg Allstars won the AST under coach Terry Chrisp. Rod Brind'Amour won his even in the skills competition. The Ratz passed Rome in the Standings just before the AST and after that Stockholm remained in controll. The Gladiators finished only 6 points behind the Ratz after the last gameday. The Ratz finished the season with 98 points, the exact same amount they had in TWHL2. Rod Brind'Amour broke the records for most goal, ppgoals, and points for any Ratz player. He finished third in the league in points. The Ratz finished the season with the fourth best record in the league.

TWHL3 Playoffs

After a solid regular season it was time for the playoffs. The Ratz would play the Ice Pilots from Prague in the first round. The Ice Pilots won game one but after that it was all about the Ratz. Stockholm won the next four games with ease. In the second round it was time to play the Rome Gladiators, who had swept Berlin in their series. This was the same matchup as in the TWHL2 playoffs but the outcome would be different this time. The Gladiators lost the first game up in Stockholm but after that they won three straight games. The Ratz managed to come back from the 3-1 defecit but hadn't the strength to win game seven. The Gladiators went on the the confernce finals were they played the Taipei Typhoons.

TWHL4 Regular season

The TWHL4 regular season went on to become the best in club history. A whole bunch of club and league records were tied or broken. One record that is still standing is the one set by Rod Brind'Amour. His 125 points during the regular season still stands. Stockholm went on to win both the Borg divisional title aswell as the commissioners trophy. Stockholm finished the season with 121 points, tied with Singapore for best regular season record. No less than 7 players on the team had 80 points or more. Three players, Brindy, Handzus and Phil Esposito all had over 100 points. Two defensemen, Calle Johansson and Igor Kravchuk had 80 and 82 points. 7 players had 40 goals or more and all 9 forwards had alteast 33 goals. Adam Foote was re-signed in the FA draft and two players, Rico Fata and Marty Reasoner was signed by other teams. Rod Brind'Amour went on to win a whole bunch of league awards and became the first and only player deemed worthy of a 99 central scouting rating.

TWHL4 Playoffs

During the playoffs Stockholm went on like they did in the regular season. Prague was crushed in 4 stright games before Rome was eliminated in 5. Then in the conference finals it was time for the Ratz to show their right colors in a series against Tokyo. The series turned out to be a great one and for the 3rd time in 4th years was Stockholm eliminated in the Conference finals. Tokyo won the series 4-3 after some really odd results. Stockholm won game 4 by the ridiculous score of 8-0. Tokyo came back to win game 5 2-0. The TWHL4 playoffs also saw one of the biggest controversies in league history as league offices branded an entire series as "exhibition games" and ordered all games to be replayed. This made Wayne Trainor, the LA GM go berzerk and as far as I know league offices is still being rebuilt. Tokyo went on to win their 2nd Trans World Cup in 4 seasons. They also became the first 2 time winners and they are still alone in that.

TWHL5 Regular season

After the TWHL4 season the Ratz fell back a bit but still had their 2nd best season so far. That wasn't enough however as the Rome Gladiators had a great season and went on to become the second team to win the Borg division title. Rod Brind'Amour couldn't perform aswell as he had done in TWHL4 and was also out with an injury. He fell back from 125 points in TWHL4 to 68 in TWHL5. Instead it was Mats Sundin who lead the team and finish with career high 89 points. Kyle Calder lead the team with 55 goals. Tokyo won the commissioners award and they set a new regular season record with 125 points. Henrik Sedin of the Tokyo Dragons won the Art ross. Stockholm spent all their money on re-signing defenseman Pavel Kubina. Just like in TWHL4 Stockholm was prevented to sign any new players early on.

TWHL5 Playoffs

For the first time so far Stockholm entered the playoffs without having home ice advantage through the divisional stage. The London Legacy waited in the first round of the playoff and just like expected Stockholm had little problems with the British team. Stockholm 4, London 1. In the second round it was time to play Rome. It was now time to prove to the upstarts from Italy who's boss and Stockholm did just that. Rome was sent packing in 5 games and Stockholm had qualified for their 4th Conference finals. This time they played Melbourne. Stockholm and Melbourne have always enjoyed a healthy rivalry and that came to life here. Stockholm went on to win the two opening games 6-0 and 3-1. It now looked like Stockholm finally would get a shot at playing in the finals... BUT Melbourne bounced back and won 4 stright games and won a 6 game series. No one understand how that could happen, the entire team just suffered sever loss of brain function. Melbourne went on to become the first LEE team to lose a final. The Mexico Burritos won the cup. During these playoffs Stockholm management became desperate and fired coach Cam Neely and replaced him with Denis Savard.

TWHL6 Regular season

After the fiasco in TWHL5 Stockholm coach Denis Savard needed to prove that he was the man to bring Stockholm back to the top of the Borg division. Former coach Cam Neely was given the position as assistant GM. The management made no big changes to the team since they felt the team was good enough to win titles. Chris Drury and Sean Brown was brought in from Los Angeles. The entire TWHL6 season was plagued with something that came to be known as the West coast virus. This non terminal desease plagued Vancouver and Los Angeles in particular. Stockholm remained uneffected and went on to win their 5th divisional title in 6 seasons. Rod Brind'Amour once again lead the team to great things and the team finished 3rd in the regular season after only Tokyo and Rio.

TWHL6 Playoffs