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Post by Ryan on Jul 1, 2013 13:23:55 GMT -5
With almost no time to celebrate their NLHS3 championship, the Legion have already focused their efforts on the NLHS4 season. The bid for a three-peat began today with the first round of the dispersal draft.
A new player movement tool for the league, this mechanic allows for the most committed teams to improve their roster as a reward for their hard work and dedication by adding players from the franchises that choose not to continue their membership in NLHS.
The Legion were originally slated to select 15th today but they were bumped up to 12th after three teams failed to meet the deadline for submitting their selections.
Bob Clarke begins his second season as Legion GM and in a complete shocker, elite defender Shea Weber was still on the board when it was time for the Legionnaires to take the podium.
"We couldn't understand how this guy wasn't gone in the first 5 picks". said Clarke "He should have been a top 3 choice for every team in the Net League, so when he fell to us, it was a no brainer to bring him back to the club"
Weber was originally brought to the team early in NLHS2 in a huge trade with the Las Vegas Wranglers, a deal that sent all three Staal brothers to Vegas. Weber took hold of the top pairing and helped lead the team to their first Stanley Cup.
In the NLHS3 season, with a lack of scoring and a need for a franchise forward, Clarke shipped Weber out to the Kitchener Rangers in exchange for John Tavares. That move clearly paid off as Tavares sparked the Legion's offense and brought home the second Cup.
Clarke admits that it was the hardest deal to make "John is a fantastic player and we couldn't have won the title without him. That result was the only thing that could possibly make it 'okay' to trade Shea Weber. I spent many, many nights regretting the fact that Weber wasn't part of our organization any longer. So to bring him back, it just feels right, like things are complete here"
Weber himself was shocked, yet pleased. "I couldn't believe that I had been traded again when Bob sent me to the Herbalists. I did enjoy the short time that I was able to play for David Sebastian, but I can't tell you how happy I am to get back to Philly"
Asked about the missed Stanley Cup, Weber took a long pause before answering... "That's part of the business I guess. It was tough to see my former team winning it again without me, but at the same time I had a lot of friends still on the team so I was still happy for them and for the great fans of Philadelphia."
What does he expect for his return?
"Not winning that cup was something I'll probably get teased about in the room, the only solution is to go win another one this year!"
Round two of the dispersal draft will be tomorrow night, stay tuned to this news feed for all of the details!
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Post by Ryan on Jul 28, 2013 9:41:10 GMT -5
Today was the first day of the NLHS4 Entry draft and the Legion held the 3rd overall pick thanks to last season's trade with the Scouts.
While the team's most pressing need is a sniper on the wing, they stuck with their overall organization philosophy and took the best player available. Defenseman Seth Jones.
Jones will need at least one season in the farm organization, but could make the jump to the pro team by NLHS5. He will join a stacked blueline that features Shea Weber, Ryan McDonagh, Andrej Meszaros, Kevin Klein, Roman Josi and Slava Voynov.
The Legion hold two more picks in the draft this year. The second pick in round two and the 11th pick in the compensation round.
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Post by Ryan on Aug 13, 2013 9:55:23 GMT -5
The Legion today got into what has been a very heavy trading summer, with their third deal this season but first in over a month. Today they finished up their center depth and cleared up the blueline (and some salary} when they sent Andrej Meszaros to Edmonton for Carl Soderberg and Colin Fraser. The lopsided deal will help an expansion team immediately by adding a players who skated on the first pair of a championship team last season, and helps the Legion in the future as well as right now as the farm league returns to action for NLHS4.
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Post by Ryan on Sept 16, 2013 19:05:34 GMT -5
The Legion and Beasts finally opened the NLHS4 Pre-Season today with good results.
In pro action, the Legion iced their best roster against a tough Metropolitans team in Seattle. It was a back and forth matchup that Metros GM Matt Taylor correctly termed "like a playoff game". Martin Erat and John Tavares displayed good chemistry with "J.T." assisting on two goals by Erat. Playoff hero Curtis Glencross scored the other goal for the Legion. Seattle spread out their scoring, also scoring three goals in regulation. The chances were also even with the Legion outshooting the Metros 35-34.
After an uneventful overtime period, a thrilling eight round shootout was held to determine the winner. Tavares beat Roberto Luongo with a quick wrist shot to open the shootout and Steven Stamkos answered in the second round. The goaltenders locked it down for the next three rounds before the red-light got a workout. Glencross and Brenden Morrow tallied in the sixth round, followed in the seventh by Dan Cleary and Nail Yakupov. Finally in the eight round, Luongo managed to stop David Legwand. It was up to Pekka Rinne to keep the Legion alive, but he was unable to stop Josh Bailey.
The two teams meet on Wednesday in a return game in Philadelphia.
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Post by International Hockey Club on Sept 18, 2013 19:32:56 GMT -5
Semi-related: I'm really considering bringing Enroth to the Olympics. ESPECIALLY if Lundqvist plays like he did against us
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Post by Ryan on Oct 6, 2013 19:22:19 GMT -5
Game 1vs Dallas Pistols10/6/2013
Finally, the NLHS4 regular season has arrived. After a successful defense of their NLHS2 championship, the Legion began their quest for the three-peat tonight against last season's runner up Dallas Pistols. The new Patrick Division rivals were in town tonight for a rematch of last season's finale and watched respectfully as the Legionnaires raised another Cup banner... ![](http://i39.tinypic.com/2mdkjo3.png) The captain David Legwand took the ceremonial faceoff against Pistols captain Erik Karlsson and then the action was underway. After a slow start, the Pistols took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission despite being outshot 15-10. The second period was all Legion. Outshooting the Pistols 24-16 and putting up three goals. Scott Hartnell, Shea Weber and Dan Cleary all scored goals. David Krejci added two assists and John Tavares picked up his first helper of the season. Down 3-2, the Pistols poured it on in the third period, but the Legion capitalized on a pinching defense and Cleary was able to add another goal, with the assist from Krejci to ice the game and send the Legion to their first victory of the season 4-2. The two teams will meet again on Tuesday in Dallas.
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Post by Ryan on Nov 25, 2013 11:25:09 GMT -5
Though the inquirer has been slow to report in the past few seasons, we do have some big news coming down the pipe that will be announced after today's game... the team has historically been very active in the trade market, but has stayed very quiet this season. The David Krejci trade (bringing in Travis Hamonic) was just a small leak, now the dam has broken and a flood of new players will soon enter the organization. We can expect to see several other players skate in their final game with the club, rumor has it that Matt Moulson and Scott Hartnell will be held out of today's contest against the Pistols.
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Post by Ryan on Nov 25, 2013 15:52:47 GMT -5
Game 7 last season, overtime today... the Legion and Pistols rivalry is always close and today we needed extra time to see the Legion win 5-4, their 2nd straight victory and brings them up to .500 over the past 10 games (4-4-2). More importantly, it lifts them out of last place, passing the Ottawa 67's and puts them within striking distance of two more teams on Wednesday.
David Legwand and John Tavares, who rarely skate together, were lined with each other and combined for 2 goals and 3 assists. Called up from the farm today, Stephen Gionta was 12/18 on faceoffs and scored the tying goal with 3 minutes remaining, which set up the Martin Erat game winner just 30 seconds into the bonus frame.
After the game, we learned the details of a blockbuster trade between the Legion and Hornets.
Matt Moulson, Scott Hartnell, Danny Cleary, Val Filppula and Taylor Beck have all appeared in their last game with the organization, as well as picks in the first two rounds next season.
Coming back from Cambridge is another very strong center Jeff Carter, along with winger Brandon Dubinsky and slick skating defenseman Brian Campbell. Vets Daniel Paille and Wojtek Wolski will join the farm team (Paille's second stint with the Legion/Beasts) and a 3rd round pick in next summers draft rounds out the deal.
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Post by Ryan on Nov 27, 2013 11:46:46 GMT -5
Legion blast Flyers today 7-4. Newcomers shine in debut.
Jeff Carter and Brandon Dubinsky each tallied two assists today in their Legion debut and Brian Campbell finished at +4. But the bigger story was the re-uniting of John Tavares and Curtis Glencross on the top line. Last season they were a dynamic duo, but had yet to be paired together this season due to Glencross seeming to lose a little bit over the summer... I guess something has to be said for chemistry however as Glencross finished with 4 goals and an assist, Tavares with a goal and 4 assists.
Tavares joins Martin Erat (136) and David Legwand (126) as the only Legionnaires to rack up 100 career assists.
Also in the franchises 303rd game, Patric Hornqvist made his 300th appearance, also third behind Legwand (303) and Erat (302).
After a Thanksgiving break, the Legion will once again take on the Dallas Pistols on Sunday in what should be another thrilling matchup between the two rivals.
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Post by Ryan on Dec 2, 2013 16:08:51 GMT -5
After a bit of optimism in Philly, the Legion have quickly crashed back down. Being shutout on Sunday 2-0 to the Pistols and then blown away by the Nordiques 5-2 in today's matchup.
Pekka Rinne is looking very mortal, allowing the 5 goals on just 29 shots. The offense has gone AWOL and the defense, the bright spot on the team, has only been average.
A new set of lines will hit the ice on Wednesday, that's when the team takes on the 67's... the other NLHS squad that is tied for last place. A loss on Wednesday could put some heat on coach Leclair and the front office.
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Post by Ryan on Dec 18, 2013 13:01:55 GMT -5
Gabriel Bourque scored twice today in a 4-2 win over the Wanderers and Shea Weber dished out three assists. The victory was the team's third in a row, quite a difference from their early season struggles.
Pekka Rinne continues to improve on his season numbers as the Legion improve to 6-4 in the last 10 games and are just win shy of clawing their way back to .500 for the season. Currently they sit at 14-15-3 with 31 points, just 4 points out of the 6th and final playoff spot.
Next up, the new rival Misfits will visit on Friday.
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Post by Ryan on Dec 20, 2013 13:36:41 GMT -5
The Legion got off to a great start today against the Misfits. Slava Voynov scored his first goal EVER for the Legion and Curtis Glencross added another. Of course they say the hardest lead in hockey is a two goal lead... and the Legion got lazy after that, taking their foot off the gas.
R.J. Umberger snuck one in for Ft. Myers in the second period to cut the lead in half, and then the Misfits blew up for Three more goals in the third. Ten different Misfits had a point in this game as the expansion team held on to their division lead.
Next week the Legion welcome the struggling Colts to town.
edit: Correction, the Misfits are in second place in the division. Still an impressive feat from probably the most complete expansion roster that we've ever had.
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Post by Ryan on Dec 20, 2013 13:53:05 GMT -5
Also today. Steve Montador became the 19th player to appear in 100 games for the Legion!
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Post by International Hockey Club on Dec 20, 2013 15:17:39 GMT -5
Also today. Steve Montador became the 19th player to appear in 100 games for the Legion! Miss having him on Medvescak already. Luckily Foster's been amazing, and I still love Ivan Svarny.
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Post by Ryan on Dec 20, 2013 15:22:56 GMT -5
Also today. Steve Montador became the 19th player to appear in 100 games for the Legion! Miss having him on Medvescak already. Luckily Foster's been amazing, and I still love Ivan Svarny. You can have him on the M's in exchange for Gustafsson
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