DobberHockey Hall of Fame – class of 2015 – welcomes three new members…

 

DobberHockey launched in November of 2005 and the forum launched in late February of 2007. Since then, the community has exploded and now thousands of members contribute and help each other through some difficult decisions – or merely engage in friendly banter. It is here where we will enshrine the best of the best. In all aspects of DobberHockey.com…

 

 

 

 

Background – DobberHockey Forum

 

DobberHockey 2.0 was a php Nuke design that allowed for commenting. Once the current DobberHockey was launched with a forum, those commenters migrated to there. Hall-of-Famer Shoeless has been a leader in the forum, with both his advice and his courtesy. But he's not the only one. Over 264 (as of October, 2014) members have topped 1000 posts (and 19 with over 10,000 posts), all the while keeping the forum a helpful and friendly place to congregate. We could easily add 200 people to this HoF, but will instead try our very best to somehow narrow the list to three people per year.

 

 

DobberHockey Hall of Fame

 

 

Builder's Category

2015 – Justin Goldman – When "Goldie" contacted me in August of 2007, he pitched an all-goalie column. I was skeptical that he could come up with new and interesting content every week, but boy was I wrong. After 200 School of Block articles and almost never missing a week, Goldman and I partnered on a venture together: we bought GoaliePost.com. We then changed his article title to Goalie Post and Justin continued writing weekly until he left to pursue his pro career as a goalie scout. What he did for fantasy owners with his insight into the goaltending position is unprecedented. He was also a big part of several Fantasy Prospect Reports (just the goalies, of course), Fantasy Guides, as well as our teaming up for the Fantasy Goalie Guide that we released as a one-off during the lockout.

 

2014 – Glen Hoos – When Belanger (see below) left in 2008, I held a contest for graphics designers to help me choose which one to take over. Hoos won, against some very stiff competition. Since then, he has designed every ad you see on the Dobber sites, as well as the main banners along top, updating them each year. His ads can also be found in McKeens and Forecaster magazines, and his designs can also be found on the covers of each of the Fantasy Guides.

 

2013 – Gates Imbeau – In the middle of 2008, Imbeau joined the community. By the end of 2008, I was wondering – who is this guy? You see, Imbeau isn't one to sit back and relax. Like me, he has OCD when it comes to fantasy hockey. He seized control of the forum (whether I liked it or not) and spurred the creation of several features on this site, not the least of which is the "Black Aces" program. That program has graduated several writer-hopefuls into full-blown DobberHockey columnists (a list of them can be found via the above link – too many to list here!). True to form, Imbeau elbowed his way into a management role with Dobber Sports, helping to organize the unorganizable, as well as recruiting and tracking a long list of contributors across all the Dobber brands.

 

2012 – Peter Belanger – DobberHockey began as a webpage given free from the Internet service provider. It was powered by MS Front Page. Then Micah Williams from hockeytraderumors.com set it up as php Nuke, allowing readers to comment on posts and articles. Belanger, an early reader, jumped in and offered to design icons/buttoms for each article category – Ramblings, The Wild West (Jeff Angus wrote at the time), Third Degree Burns, Bugg Bytes, Dobber's Take and Sticks and Stones. Then, a few months later, Belanger wanted to be more aggressive. He wanted to design a Joomla Template and use DobberHockey as his guinea pig. The template he created is much of what you see before you today – the color scheme, the layout, the organization…and – the logo. Yes, making the cartoon using my profile, wearing shades, pointing at you, was the brainchild of Belanger.

 

2011 – Jeff Angus – Where would we, as fantasy owners, be without him? Probably a lot dumber, fantasy-hockey-wise. And where would DobberHockey be without him? The reputation and level of respect that this site carries is certainly much higher thanks to Mr. Angus. His frequent columns (Angus Unleashed) are must-reads and his over 10,000 posts in the forum are proof of how many fantasy owners he has personally helped. Add in the fact that all 10,000+ posts are respectful and well thought out and there really is no contest for this year's Builder entrant. Oh, and did I mention that his exploits have landed him the gig as website manager and the Ramblings writer three times per week?

 

2010 – Rick "Shoeless" Wakeman – Even if you don't look at the 17,000-plus posts that he has contribued to the forum, or the fact that every one of them is polite, patient and helpful…Shoeless is hands down the first entrant into the Hall of Fame. You see – he put the "Three Tiers" in "Three-Tiered Invitational". He pushed to have this open up due to the demand he observed in the forum and then he took on the running and moderation of some of the Entry divisions.

 

 

 

 

Presidential Inductees

2015 – Chris Burns – "Burnsy", as he was effectionately known by long-time DobberHockey readers, was the first DobberHockey writer to join the website after…well, me. I have a pretty well-organized Inbox, and I still have most of his Third Degree Burns articles. The earliest one is from November of 2006 and it was entitled "Week 8". So he joined within the first year. Later that year, he added a second column to his repertoire – Saturday Picks (which is still running to this day). In all, he penned close to 100 articles between 2006 and 2007 and has since returned for several "one-off" articles (2009, 2010 and 2011). Known for his edgy wit, Burnsy had himself quite the following. And he paved the way for dozens of fantasy hockey writers that followed.

 

2014 – Steve Laidlaw – Laidlaw, known in the forum as "Metal Dude", has been a positive contributor for years. He is one of just four people to post over 17,000 times since joining in 2008. My attention was drawn to his blog, where I saw that he was not only a solid writer, but an entertaining one. He joined the writing team with his own column "Cage Match", which has since gone on to become one of the more popular columns on the site. And his reliability and entertaining style quickly made him a top candidate to become a manager of the site. Today he is the Managing Editor of DobberHockey and easily a Ramblings favorite.

 

2013 – Brendan Ross – Known as "Dean Youngblood" in the forum, Ross's passion for fantasy hockey is unquestioned. He has over 11,000 posts and worked his way up to writing a weekly prospect column on DobberHockey. He was then promoted to co-manager of the newly-launched DobberProspects website and within a year became the managing editor of a site that now exceeds 200,000 page views per month. And his dedication is unflagging. The guy doesn't wear out, he just keeps churning out the prospects gold.

 

2012 – Ryan Ma – In March of 2008, Ryan Ma came on board with a regular column, and when The Wild West writer, Jake Status, moved onto DobberBaseball Ma took that on – and became a DobberHockey staple. For four years Ma wrote The Wild West, rarely missing a week and almost always pouring his heart into tons of research and over 2000 words of writing per article. He has left big shoes to fill, as he recently had to step down into a bi-weekly role (writing Maasquito Bites). Any thoughts of Ma perhaps not knowing his stuff were put to rest in April of 2012 when he won the DobberHockey Expert's Tier.

 

2011 – Matthew Bugg – The second writer to ever join the DobberHockey crew, Bugg immediately made a huge impact on the fantasy hockey industry with his uncanny insight on prospects in his Bugg Bytes column. He co-penned the first three Fantasy Prospects Reports and continues to give us the insight and Mock Draft on all the draft eligibles. His skills have not gone unnoticed as he has since landed a scouting gig with McKeens.

 

2010 – Russ "The Comish" Miller – Not only was Miller the first winner of the Expert League, but in Year 2 he finished second by 2.5 points. Besides the greatness within the game, Miller has shouldered much of the workload in the running of all three Tiers, from setting up the draft, to doing thorough write-ups to update the rest of the community. Miller, a senior writer at DobberHockey who pens Eastern Edge, has been the man who makes everything tick.

 

 

Forum Inductees

2015 – Michael "Pengwin7" Shewchuk – Pengwin7 joined the DobberHockey forum community in late 2010 and a legend was born. Since then, nearly 18,000 insightful posts have helped thousands of members – and contrary to the running joke in the forum, only a handful of those posts were "fluffy". Shewchuk has been a tremendous help in keeping the community friendly as one of the most active moderators. In 2013 he led all members in total posts and is still quite active to this day.

 

2014 – Eric Daoust – Daoust is another key DobberHockey member who could easily get into the Hall of Fame in any category. He has written the 'Capped' article for years, and has been the Montreal and St. Louis scout over at DobberProspects. But his consistent forum contributions – all positive – that gets him in this year. He is one of four people to post over 17,000 times. And that includes 55 months with over 100 posts!

 

2013 – Joel "Doulos" Stainer – Around from the beginning. Just like "Zorro" below, Stainer joined the community before the new forum was even launched, so his official "sign up" date was February 27, 2007. As he closes in on 11,000 posts, thousands in the community are thankful for his help and advice. And of course – his patience. What's significant about December 8, 2010? Why, that's the date that Doulos gave his first – and only – negative Rep to another user. Now that, my friends, is patience.

 

2012 – Troy "Zorro" Williams – February 27, 2007 was the day that the Joomla-based DobberHockey was launched and the commenting system was replaced by a Forum. It was also the day that "Zorro" was born. The man with the flaming "Z" for an icon, who was here from the start, sits ninth in total posts – creeping very close to the 10,000 mark. If you look through his posts to try to find something negative or spiteful, good luck to you. You won't find any. Zorro is a respectful and courteous member of the DobberHockey community – and that makes him one of the most respected members in the DobberHockey community.

 

2011 –Jason "fungchen3" Collado – July 30, 2008 was a big day for DobberHockey. Because Ville Koistinen was awarded $700,000 in arbitration? Nope. Because Mark Parrish was bought out by the Wild? Nope. Because Collado joined DobberHockey? You got it! Nearly 7000 helpful and classy posts later, the name "fungchen" was typed in by many as their pick for the first Hall-of-Fame forum induction. It sometimes can be difficult to take the high road in a huge online community – especially with 5.5 posts per day – but fungchen3 consistently does so. Just one of his last 70 Reps that he gave to others was a negative one and every one of those 70 had a comment attached. He sets the standard, no question.

 

 

 

 

Player's Category

 

2013 – Jake "Smack" Schenkman – Schenkman is a longtime Dobber Forum member, signing up in mid-2007, which makes him one of the first 1000 people to join. He's since posted over 5000 times. And if you wonder about his fantasy hockey knowledge, wonder no longer. Schenkman won his Pro Tier division in 2012 against some of the best that the Dobber community has to offer. Then he won the Expert's League – becoming the first non-writer to do so – in 2013, beating the likes of…well, me. But he also beat Jeff Angus and every other writer on the site.

 

2012 – Peter "Lord of the Rinks" Hadley – Hadley didn't take long to earn his way into the Expert's tier of the annual DobberHockey roto-tournament. After his Entry tier team won the division in 2010, Hadley played in the Pro tier in 2011 – and won again. Then he stepped up against the Expert's in 2012, but fell just short – finishing second. That's good enough to remain in that upper tier another season. It's also good enough to scare the hell out of us.

 

2011 – Jason "Frozen Pool" Arbuthnot – Back-to-back jacks. No big deal. It was only against the EXPERTS. Arbuthnot proves that the Frozen Pool tool is the real deal – not by bragging, but by winning. By handing us our asses – myself, Angus, and over a dozen other so-called "experts" – on a platter for two consecutive seasons. If that's not a sales pitch for Frozen Pool, I don't know what is!

 

2010 – John "Youth Injection" Ireton – The first person to earn his way to the Expert League starting from the bottom…and certainly not the last. John finished second in the Entry division in 2008, back when there was just the one division. He then moved up to the Pro Tier and won that one. He then went on to finish fifth in the Expert Tier the following year.

 

 

 

Background – DobberHockey Three-Tiered Invitational

 

The Expert League consisted of 12 to 16 teams controlled by DobberHockey writers plus the winners of the two Pro Tier divisions. The Pro Tier consisted of two divisions of 12 that were initially filled with popular members of the forum, but are slowly being infiltrated by the best of the rest. The top performer in each Pro division moved up to the Expert for one season's chance at glory. The bottom two finishers would slip down to the Entry Tier. The Entry Tier consisted of four divisions of 15 teams made up of the aforementioned Pro demotions, Entry retainees, along with a random draw filled the other 52 spots. Only first in the division moved on, while second in the division won the right to play another year. The rest of the Entry division got eliminated.

 

 

The Three-Tiered Invitational is no longer an official DobberHockey contest, but it is still alive and well and run by members of the forum – if you love a challenge, make sure you keep an eye out for the announcements/forum posts in the summer.

 

 

 

 

Invitational – Past Winners:

 

2013

Expert – Jake "smack" Schenkman
Pro – Steve Woodhall, Francois "Chicleteur" Gaucher

Entry – Simon Castonguay, Chris "ccsitdown" Clarke, Brandon "Horrorfan" Nihmey, Nick "Savages" Aumont

 

2012

Expert -Ryan "Wild West" Ma

Pro – Jake "smack" Schenkman, Steven "mabus" Strawson

Entry – Brent Shantz, Steve Woodhall, Jamie Herron, Geoff Henwood-Greer

 

 

2011

Expert -Jason "Frozen Pool" Arbuthnot

Pro – Russ "The Comish" Miller, Peter "Lord of the Rinks" Hadley

Entry – Gregory Churchill, Teemu Kajava, Dave Romaine, Rick Pangman

 

2010

Expert -Jason "Frozen Pool" Arbuthnot

Pro -Francois "Chicleteur" Gaucher, Scott "Sin Bin" Parker

Entry -Peter Hadley, Mike Amadori, Steven Strawson, Philippe Raymond

 

2009

Expert – Eric "Fantasy Frog" Maltais

Pro -John "Youth Injection" Ireton

Entry -Morgan "jobbers" Rooney

 

2008

Expert – Russ "the Comish" Miller

Pro – Ben "Repent Tokyo" Hunting

Entry – Rich "rattus rattus" Lalonde