In commonplace, there is a mystique of what people call meteorological 100 year storms. Violent, destructive weather patterns that sweep thru wreaking havoc upon the landscape and the people within them, In the UHL the Great White of Worchester, have what teams will begin to fear as 9 year storms. Nine seasons ago, the Great Whites swept through the UHL to the tune of the best record in the regular season, amassing a team record 54 wins and 118 points. That was exactly 9 seasons ago and if patterns ring true, the teams in the UHL are in for a world of hurt during Season 18.

In Season 9, the Great Whites were led by a pair of the UHL's best, Mario Lemieux and Pavel Bure. Le Magnifique and the Russian Rocket along with a young Marty Turco stormed the league with essentially a otherwise patchwork squad. unfortunately for Season 18 UHL combatants, it will not be an just three players that will draw the ire of opposing teams. Unequivocally this Great Whites team is the stoutest team ever assembled within the francishe. With rising players costs and desire of the fans for a successful playoff run, the management team made a decision that because they may not be able to retain the services of the team's heart and soul, Sergei Gonchar, that this would be the year. And so, a "Do it for Sarge" mantra was born.

Once the path was set to "Do it for Sarge", the management team started looking for answers. A phone call with the Neustadt Crusaders netted a first line winger to play alongside Ilya Kovalchuk and Mats Sundin. Mark Recchi came over in a deal for a prospect and a draft pick. Gearing up for free agency the Great Whites then made a slew of moves to give them a few million dollars more in case the Free Agency season got out of hand. The captain of the Great Whites' farm team Tom Kostopolous was shipped away for minor league defenseman Corey Potter, and shortly there after Potter was shipped off to Regina with Steve Wagner for a younger, cheaper Raymond Sawada and a draft pick. On a business trip to Ottawa, GM John Goegel got a surprise trade upgrade discussing the effects of coal burning stoves and their effect on the environment over a beer or three with Mounties GM Alex Montgomery. Worchester acquired primo second liner Zach Parise along with draft picks for RJ Umberger, Daniel Carcillo and the Great Whites first rounder in 2008. The plan was starting to take shape: money saved for a select few free agents and first and second line forwards were upgraded. On to Unrestricted Free Agency.

To non-suitors of the same, it was widely known that the Great Whites had two targets: Niklas Lidstrom and Evgeni Nabokov. Faced with an unfortunate personal engagement, Goegel had to come up with a plan for the 4 days he would be absent from bidding. Goegel made a few deflector bids to try and draw attention away from the big two, and put in large contract offers for the desired two. Upon his return, to the dismay of Goegel, Lidstrom had signed with a divisional foe but Nabokov was still entertaining offers. All the while, two of the deflector bids were accepted. Finnish netminder Antti Niemi was signed as well as defensive stalwart Radek Martinek. Less than 24 hours later, the Great Whites were overjoyed as Nabokov agreed to terms of a 5-year deal. Trying to account for the loss of Lidstrom, Worchester made a short attempt to garner the services of the slick Brian Campbell but that got out of hand far too quickly. Pondering other options after the loss of Campbell, the Great Whites inked some future help, signing the mobile youngster Jack Hillen.

With no Lidstrom and no Campbell, Goegel headed to the war room to weigh the only other options. After a few hours, Goegel garnered the attention of Mike Commodore and reeled in the auburn headed hitting machine. With half of the defensive issue solved, a break was needed so Goegel seeked out an audience to discuss the poignant thoughts of Megadeth's early work revolving around thermonuclear war. Along the way, Goegel ran into Knights' GM Paul Resendes. After discussing the standard affairs one does when they come across a peer, an idea was hatched. Resendes said he think about it while tending to nature's business, and came back a short time later with an offer written on toilet paper. "Look it over, see what you think and get back to me," mentioned Resendes. No further than had Paul taken 20 steps an exuberant "We Accept" was heard resounding through the hall. The
deal centered around getting the Great Whites some more second line hope and in doing so Worchester packed their second lines' bags on the back of "The Mule". Johan Franzen was acquired for future Great Whites Travis Zajac and Vladimir Sobotka and numerous picks. The final piece of the puzzle was to pick up the other half of what should have been Lidstrom. Looking to the Nordic region, the Great Whites signed Toni Lydman out of Finland.

It has been a fruitful and fun off-season and we promise we will do whatever we can to "Do it for Sarge", but without further ado here are your Season 18, Great Whites of Worchester:

In Goal.........Dany Sabourin
On Defense......Robert Scuderi
On Defense......Dustin Byfuglien
On Defense......Brad Lukowich
On Defense......Radek Martinek
On Defense......Brooks Orpik
On Defense......Mike Commodore
At Right Wing...Aleksey Morozov
At Left Wing....Richard Zednik
At Right Wing...Glen Metropolit
At Center.......Maxime Talbot
At Left Wing....Vernon Fiddler
At Right Wing...Trent Hunter
At Center.......Johan Franzen
At Left Wing....Zach Parise

and now, for your starters

In Goal.........Evgeni Nabokov
At Right Wing...Mark Recchi
At Center.......Mats Sundin
At Left Wing....Ilya Kovalchuk
At Defense......Toni Lydman
and At Defense..your Captain, Sergei Gonchar

This post has been edited by Great WhitesGM on Jul 4 2008, 12:13 AM