2001-02 Season Highlights

Shawn Marchinski models the LHL's newest uniform; the
Boston Blazers.

• The league adds a US franchise with the addition of the Boston Blazers.
• The Ottawa Capitals move to Philadelphia and are re-named the Philadelphia Flames.
• A bus taking several Freezers players to a training camp function crashes. Tom Brassel and forward Alexei Kozlov suffer career-ending injuries.
• Rick Temper replaces Brassel as the Freezers starting goaltender, while a recently-cut rookie named Joe Murdock is recalled to replace Kozlov.
• After holding out on the Freezers several weeks into the season, Sergei Zeebov is traded to the Duplo Giants in exchange for goaltender Sergei Gagarin. Longtime Freezer/Limousine enforcer Rex Hull retires at the end of the pre-season.
• Mid-way through the season, the Montreal Dragons are forced to fold operations.
• Former Warriors enforcer Cedric the Bull joins the Freezers, scoring 50 goals.
• Freezers Rookie sensation Joe Murdock scores 52 goals to lead the team.
• The defending champion Warriors struggle to a 3rd place finish.
• The expansion Blazers win only 7 games in their first season, finishing in last place and out of the playoffs.
• Just prior to the playoffs, the league decides to change the seeding system. The 1st place Freezers would now play the 2nd place Flames, while the 3rd place Warriors take on the 4th place Giants.
• The Warriors, who would have originally faced the Flames, instead sweep the lowly Giants to advance to the finals. The Giants voice displeasure about the changes to the seedings.
• In the finals, the Freezers and Warriors trade wins back and forth until game 7.
• In game 7, Warriors forward Vladimir Gaganov is awarded a penalty shot in a 1-1 game. He scores and the Freezers never recover as the Warriors win their second-straight Lego Cup.
• After the season, representatives from the Flames and Giants franchises demand that commissioner Bob Matthews step aside after the playoff controversy. When Matthews refuses, the teams leave to start their own league. Matthews would eventually step aside.

1998-2001 Highlights

The Montreal Warriors and Toronto Freezers began a legendary
rivalry during the early years of the league.

• 1998: The first major professional Lego sports league is founded; the Lego Hockey League, which is originally based in eastern Canada.
• Daniel Stevenson, Gary Johnson, Sergei Zeebov, Vincent Domphoots, and Stuart Holley are among the league's best players.
• 1999: The Ottawa Capitals, led by young superstar Vincent Domphoots, win the first Lego Cup, upsetting the London Dragons in the finals.
• 2000: The Dragons, for the second straight season, finish atop the league standings, only to be upset in the finals by the Quebec Limousines.
• 2000: Stuart Holley scores a record-setting 56 goals in the 1999-00 season for the Montreal Warriors.
• 2000: The Lego Cup champion Limousines re-locate to Toronto and are re-named the Freezers.
• 2000: Several fights break out in a Warriors/Freezers game in November, 2000, leading to a huge brawl and giving birth to the league's most storied rivalry.
• The Ottawa Capitals are the league's best team in 2000-01, winning 18 out of 24 games with Vincent Domphoots breaking the single-season scoring record with 64 goals.
• 2001: The young Freezers and Warriors rivalry reaches new levels in game 3 of the league semifinals when a brawl in the stands leads to several Warriors fans vandalizing Iceberg Colosseum. The Freezers demand that the Warriors pay for the damage, fueling the rivalry even more. The Warriors eventually win the series in 5 games.
•  2001: The Capitals develop a fierce rivalry of their own with the Halifax Giants in the 2001 semifinals, which Ottawa wins in 4 straight games.
• 2001: The Warriors upset the Capitals in 5 games to win their first Lego Cup.