Sting in the Big Leagues: The Cincinnati Stingers' Journey to the NHL

[Greenert11]

Another less than ideal month for the Stingers, on our Dec 12th game we had 7 main roster players miss the game (6 injuries and 1 suspension) at the end of the month our roster is mostly healthy so hopefully we can string together a couple good weeks.

[Greenert11]

The Stingers kick off the new year by going a measly 3-8-3 in January, one possible explanation for the Stinger's woes this season is Mike Liut went from one of the best goalies last year to playing subpar this year. Luckily for us, Houston won only one game the whole month and Detroit has been consistently last in the division all the Stingers need to do is play around .500 hockey and we should make the playoffs in a relatively weak division.

• Jan 30th, Brian Propp is out 1-2 months with a lower-body injury. Propp was one of the front runners for the Calder this year and this injury puts a major damper on his odds to win

[Greenert11]

[Greenert11]

The Jets traded away Marc Tardif for Bill Barber after having him for only 1 year. Bill Barber is slightly younger and just as skilled. Tardif will bring veteran leadership to a strong Flyers team looking to take home the cup this year. Looks to be an all-around equal trade.

The Stingers had a good chance to secure a playoff spot this month as we played at home 13/14 games. Unfortunately, the Stingers forgot to show up to many of the games and only managed to win a measly 4 games. It is very possible we slip out of the playoffs as now Houston and Detroit are just slightly below us in the standings with games in hand.

• February 25th, Defender Ron Plumb is out indefinitely with an upper-body injury. The Stingers have been the 7th most injured team this year.

[Greenert11]

Welp, we blew it. The Stingers capped off the year by going 2-7-1 in their last 10 and dropping 2 games each to divisional rivals Detroit and Houston allowing them to leapfrog us in the standings and knock us out of playoff contention. This year has been riddled with injuries, subpar goaltending, and plain bad luck. However, we are still a young and upcoming team and I suspect next season will fare much better for us with the development of some young guns and extra help from whoever we select 5th overall in the entry draft. Playoff report coming soon.

[Greenert11]

[Greenert11]

Congratulations to the Colorado Rockies!

[Greenert11]

Stingers really struggled defensively this year so we traded for Phil Russell a 27-year-old defensive defenceman who should slot nicely into the top 4 for this upcoming season.

Onto the next season!

[Greenert11]

Some kid named Wayne Gretzky went first overall to the Washington Capitals. The Stingers picked up Denis Savard 5th overall which is a great pick for us. We are lacking strong high-end center depth and Savard projects to be a first-line center and is likely NHL-ready for the upcoming season. Once again we were ranked as having the best draft of 1980, we picked up:

1. Denis Savard
2. Bernie Nicholls
3. Moe Mantha
4. Len Hachborn
5. Mark Osborne

The Jets traded away long-time player Anders Hedberg for high-end prospect Kjell Samuelsson. The Jets seem to be preparing for a retool and have been shipping off some of their higher-end players for young guns. Hedberg had 336 points in 209 games with the Jets in both the WHA and NHL over the span of 6 seasons.

[Greenert11]

1980 Rule change: Maximum stick length increased to 58 inches. The NHL minimum draft age was changed to 18.

Some notable retirements around the league this offseason are:

• Gordie Howe: 2046PTS
• Bobby Hull: 1396PTS
• Yvan Cournoyer: 935PTS

The Hall of Fame inductees of 1980 are:

• Norm Ullman
• Tim Horton
• Gump Worsley
• Andy Bathgate

We had a much better pre-season this year only losing 1 game as well as a 10-5 blowout of the Philadelphia Flyers. I'm cautiously optimistic for the upcoming season.

• Sept 21st, Risto Siltanen out 1-2 months

[Greenert11]

• Oct 16th, Robbie Ftorek injured. Expected to miss 1-2 months with an upper body injury.

Off to a great start this year, with lots of high-scoring games and big contributions from everyone on the team. Murray Bannerman was not on the team during the preseason but we picked him up during the waiver draft from the Vancouver Canucks to be a potential backup to Liut. However, he looks to be a contender to steal the starter role with his phenomenal play this month. Last year we had a great October as well so I am cautious about our start but hopefully it is a sign of good things to come.

[Greenert11]

• Nov 12th, Blaine Stoughton is out indefinitely with a torn elbow ligament and will likely miss the rest of the season

I don't even know what to say at this point. Stoughton was on pace for 156 points this season which I know wasn't going to happen but this still is a major blow to the team as we struggled through November without him going 6-7 in 13 games.

[Greenert11]

The team is currently on pace for a 94-point season and we sit 8th overall in the league standings. We have gone 6-7 in back-to-back months which is subpar but if we maintain this pace we should be a lock for playoffs this year considering Houston is having a disaster of a season. Also big props to Brian Propp (No pun intended) for massively stepping up in his second season to lead the team in goals so far with 30, very impressive!

[Greenert11]

The Stingers seem doomed to repeat last year's results after having a strong opening month we continuously get worse each month. The absence of Blaine Stoughton is a major factor but the team can't completely cave in just because one player is injured. I'm looking to shake things up roster-wise soon and will be shopping various players to see what kind of changes I can make because things haven't been going right for a while.

[kinnikuniverse]

Aw man, the historical accuracy if you managed to get Messier lol.

Also, what does that mean now? With Colorado winning the cup, would the Devils be the 24th team in the NHL? Or would we see somewhere like Seattle or Dallas getting a team earlier?

[Greenert11]

Originally Posted by kinnikuniverse

Aw man, the historical accuracy if you managed to get Messier lol.

Also, what does that mean now? With Colorado winning the cup, would the Devils be the 24th team in the NHL? Or would we see somewhere like Seattle or Dallas getting a team earlier?

Yeah just barely missed out on Messier . Also as far as the Rockies go I think they are here to stay after winning the cup as their attendance has been solid. Not sure about any future expansion.

[kinnikuniverse]

Well, just adding my two cents, but Seattle would be good, for the KeyArena was already aroudn and was the most major league level of the current arenas available at the time, more than Dallas's Reunion Arena, which had notoriously bad ice surface Plus, it will allow the Jets to move to the Norris division, which will be easier for travel and geography.

[Greenert11]