This article has more to do with the names of the players that had played in the Silver Stick Finals and less to do with the Tournamnent games and such.  I'm definitely not a historian, but I've always been intrigued by the names of people that have played throughout the years.  I have tracked all of the programs and/or names of the players from every year except the first in 1963.  This is the second of three articles on the names.  

 

1999

We had 1606 players that had played that year and of those 23 so far have made the NHL Ranks.  Pat Hills was the Tournament Director that year.  Of the more prominent players that moved on to the NHL, they are Zach Parise, Al Montoya and for those twitter followers Paul Bissonnette.

1998

We had 1464 players that had played that year and of those 23 have made the NHL.  Pat Hills was the Tournament Director this year.  Of the players that went on to play in the NHL, some of the names are David Booth, Ryan Kesler, Rick Nash, and James Wisniewski.  Some of the names that played in this particular year are absolutely unreal.  It must have been an exceptional year!

1997

We had 1357 players that had played that year and of those 13 have made the NHL.  Pat Hills was the Tournament Director.  Of the more prominent names, they are Dustin Brown, Matt Carle and Nate Thompson.

1996

We had 1436 players that had played that year and of those 10 have made the NHL.  Pat Hills was the Tournament Director that year.  Of the more prominent names, they are Brett Lebda, Ryan Miller and RJ Umberger.

1995

We had 1439 players that had played that year and of those 10 have made the NHL.  Pat Hills took over as Tournament Director and held the position for 15 years.  Our longest Tournament Director by far.  Of the players that eventually went on and played in the NHL, they are Mark Bell, Trevor Gillies and John Michael Liles.

1994

We had 1116 players that had played that year and of those 9 have made the NHL.  This was Duane Taylor's last year as Tournament Director, although he did help Pat until his passing in 2000.  Of the players that eventually went on to have NHL careers, they are Michael Leighton, Ryan Malone, David Moss and Jason Williams.

1993

We had 1352 players that had played that year and of those 15 have made the NHL.  Duane Taylor was the Tournament Director.  Of the players that eventually played at least one game in the NHL, some are David Legwand, Joe Thornton, and Scott Gomez.

1992

We had 1315 players that had played that year and of those 12 have made the NHL.  Duane Taylor was the Tournament Director that year.  Of the players that went on to play in the NHL, they are Matt Bradley, Jed Ortmeyer, and Brad Tapper.

1991

We had 1265 players that had played that year and of those 13 have made the NHL.  Duane Taylor was the Tournament Director that year.  Of the playears that eventually went on to the NHL, some are Brent Johnson, Tom Poti and Mike York.

1990

We had 1296 players that had played that year and of those 11 have made the NHL.  Duane Taylor was in his first year as the Tournament Director.  Of the players that eventually went on to NHL careers, some of the more prominent ones are Andrew Brunette, Ty Conklin and Marty Reasoner.

1989

We had 1281 players that had played that year and of those 16 have made the NHL.  Ken Farquhar was the Tournament Director that year.  Of the players that eventually played in the NHL, some are Jason Allison, John Madden, Cory Stillman, and Kevin Weekes.

1988

We had 1365 players that had played that year and of those 12 have made the NHL.  Dr. Wilhelm and Ken Farquhar were Co-Tournament Directors.  Of the former players that eventually went on to the NHL, some are Jason Dawe, Chris Gratton and Todd Simon.

1987

We had 1255 players that had played that year and of those 9 have made the NHL.  Dr. Wilhelm and Ken Farquhar were Co-Tournament Directors.  Of the players that eventually went on to play in the NHL, some are Owen Nolan, Pat Peake and Tim Thomas.

1986

We had 1417 players that had played that year and of those 15 have made the NHL.  Mary Petrossi and Dr. Wilhelm were Co-Tournament Directors that year.  Of the players that eventually went on to the NHL, some are Ken Klee, Eric Lindros, Michael Peca and Scott Walker.

1985

We had 1269 players that had played that year and of those 22 have made the NHL.  Mary Petrossi and Dr. Wilhelm were Co-Tournament Directors that year.  Of the players that eventually went on to the NHL, some are Adam Foote, Brent Gretzky, Derian Hatcher, Mike Knuble, Brian Rafalski and Doug Weight.

1984

We had 1197 players that had played that year and of those 14 have made the NHL.  Mary Petrossi and Dr. Wilhelm were the Co-Tournament Directors.  Of the players that eventually went on to play in the NHL, some are Greg Johnson, Chris Simon and Todd Simon.

1983

We had 1158 players that had played that year and of those 17 have made the NHL.  Mary Petrossi and Dr. Wilhelm were Co-Tournament Directors that year.  Of the players that eventually went on to play in the NHL, some are Ted Donato, Shawn MacEachern and Bryan Smolinski

1982

We had 1056 players that had played that year and of those 27 have made the NHL.  The one interesting stat is that we never went below 1000 players in a year after this one.  Mary Petrossi and Dr. Wilhelm were the Co-Tournament Directors this year.  Of the players that eventually went on to play in the NHL, some are Sean Burke, Steve Chaisson, Danton Cole, Rick Tabaracci and Chris Tamer.

1981

We had 957 players that had played that year and of those 24 have made the NHL.  Mary Petrossi and Dr. Wilhelm were Co-Tournament Directors that year.  Of the players that eventually went on to play in the NHL, some are Steve McKichan, Tony Hrkac and Scott Mellanby.

1980

We had 836 players that had played that year and of those 23 have made the NHL.  Mary Petrossi and Dr. Wilhelm were the Co-Tournament Directors that year.  Of the players that eventually went on to play in the NHL, some are Jeff Beukeboom, Jimmy Carson, Kirk MacLean, and Kay Whitmore.

 

One thing that really stands out to me, is the exceptional goaltenders that we had play in these couple of decades!  Not taking anything away from the skaters, but that is what I've noticed.

 

Happy reading!

Todd Taylor