The Elite Fantasy Hockey League was created out of my desire to do something to make the extremely long NHL regular season a little more interesting. The EFHL has come a long way since the sad excuse for the first season, if you even want to count that first season. One thing that hasn't changed is that we still keep things relatively simple - two points for a goal and one for an assist for six active forwards and four active defensemen. In the 1998-1999 season, goalies were added to the mix, with two points for a win, one for a tie, and two more points for a shutout for one active goalie. It might be cool to add more stats, although I don't think everyone is even in favor of it, but then I remember how much time I spend doing the stats now. Here is a brief yearly history of the league.

This was the first season of what is now the EFHL. It was only my brother Chris, Darrin from the NFFL, Brett, and me in the league. I guess interest in hockey was low because of the strike. The season did not start until January. Anyway, it was winner take all. Brett took it all. If we would have done this in a full season, we probably would have redrafted in midseason, because it was not too long before it became clear that Brett was going to win.

This season saw the size of the league increase to nine. For some reason, Darrin dropped out but we added six more guys. To keep the league more interesting, we decided to break the season into six periods of about one month each. It was a good thought, but new member Rick stole the show, winning five of the six periods and of course total points. Rick was fortunate to get Mario Lemieux third overall. Not a lot of people expected Lemieux to produce the way he did (69 goals and 92 assists for a ridiculous 230 points) in the season following his one year hiatus.

Brett finished second in total points and won the one period Rick did not. Brett finished second in each of the periods that Rick won. He was led by the trio of Sakic, Mogilny, and Selanne.

With Rick and Brett dominating, no one else even had a shot at getting any money back. Chris ended up in third, 125 points behind Brett and almost 200 behind Rick.

Weekly head to head match ups were introduced this season. Each of the eight teams would play 21 games and a league champion would be determined in a playoff during the last month of the NHL regular season. Three guys (Chris R., Darby, and Dave) dropped out from the previous season and Tom and Rob were added for a total of eight. We also added a reserve spot on the roster for one forward and one defensemen.

Rick (Beaver Slappers) again won the total points championship, and beat Grant (Ice Dogs) to win the Elite Cup. Rick did not dominate as much this season, although he was the only team to win two periods. Rich (Plaindrifters), Brett (Free Radicals), Chris (Tortured Souls), and Tony (12 Monkeys) also won periods. Scoring was way down from the prior season. Rick's winning point total was 237 points lower than his prior year total. Chris' second place points were also about the same number less that the prior year's second place total.

The first round of the EFHL playoffs saw the third and fourth place finishers Rick and Grant beat the first and second place finishers Chris and Tony. Chris, who finished second in total points, was upset by Grant, who finished last in points yet still finished in fourth place to qualify for the playoffs. Rick cruised to the league championship, winning easily 99-69.

Mario Lemieux (Chris) once again was the leading scorer, with 50 goals and 72 assists for 172 points. Brian Leetch (Rich/Rick) was the highest scoring defenseman, with 20 goals and 58 assists for 98 points.

This season saw the league expand to ten teams. Mike, Bill, and Charlie were added while Rob's team folded. Some things never change as Rick won total points for the third straight year. However, Bill was the big winner, winning the EFHL championship, finishing second in points, and winning three periods.

The regular season division winners were Tony in the Millen division and Bill in the Dion division. They ended up playing each other in the finals. Second place points and the final period were also very tight between these two, so there was a lot at stake in the finals. Bill squeaked by 54-51 as Tony was missing Selanne for the last week or so of the season.

Other periods were won by Rick, who won two, and Tony. The lowlight of the season was Chris drafting Paul Kariya with the second overall pick. Kariya held out for over half the season and then suffered a season ending concussion about 20 games into his return.

Scoring was down even further from the previous season. Only 18 forwards scored 100 points or more, compared with 25 from the previous season. The leading EFHL scorer was Pavel Bure (Charlie) , who had 51 goals and 39 assists for 141 points. Nicklas Lidstrom (Brett) was the highest scoring defenseman, with 17 goals and 42 assists for 76 points.

Two big changes were implemented this season. Goalies were added. Each team would have an active goalie and a reserve goalie on its roster. Also, most of the players were distributed through an auction. One new team (Jay) was added to replace Tom, who gave up trying to win the league while not making any moves.

Grant was the big winner, winning total points, three periods, and a division title with a squad led by Selanne, Sakic, and Robitaille and the highest scoring defensemen. Also winning some money were Charlie, who finished second in points and won a period, and Chris, who defeated Charlie in the EFHL finals. Tony posted the best ever EFHL record at 15-5-1, won a period and a division title. His three year record stands at a slightly unbelievable 42-19-1, although he would probably trade a few wins for a points or playoff championship.

Jagr ran away with the NHL and EFHL scoring title (171 points). MacInnis (Rick) led all defensemen in scoring with 82 points, making him the favorite for his first Norris Trophy. Brodeur (Bill) was the leading goalie with 96 points thanks mainly to Hasek's late season injury problems.

This season saw the number of teams drop to eight. Bill dropped out and Rick and Rich combined to form one team. (Who can blame Rich?) The league moved onto the Internet (Commissioner.com) which was less than a rousing success for reasons I will not go into here.

Things reverted back to the way they had been before the previous season. In other words, Rick cleaned up, but this time had to share the loot with Rich. In fairness to Rich, he was the one who was actually present at the auction. After a slow start, Rick/Rich finished on an incredible roll, winning total points, the EFHL Cup, and the last three periods. They finished at an EFHL best 17-6, just a percentage point above Tony’s previous best of 15-5-1. Their season also included an EFHL record 11 game winning streak.

Other money winners: Grant finished second in points and won a period, Chris lost in the finals and won a period and a division title, and Brett won a period.

Pavel Bure (Mike) was the leading EFHL scorer for the second time in three years. He had 146 points. Nicklas Lidstrom (Rick) was the leading EFHL defenseman scorer with 93 points. Martin Brodeur (Rick) was the leading goalie for the second straight year with 111 points.

The league continued its downward spiral with the loss of two more teams. This gave us just six teams for the season. The rosters sizes were increased slightly-each teams had active eight forwards, five defensemen, and two goalies.

Chris won both the points championship and the EFHL cup. He basically led the league wire to wire. Grant finished second in points and lost to Chris in the finals. It was the third consecutive year that Grant finished first or second in points. The periods were won by Grant (2½), Chris (2), Brett (1), and Rick/Rich (½).

Unfortunately not a lot of details exist from this year. Sportsline pulled the plug on the site earlier than usual after the season ended, not allowing the usual copying of the stats to spreadsheet files.

Hopefully we will adding at least two teams; maybe a couple of former EFHL members will come back on board.