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I am creating this thread so managers can document retirements for players that were important to their team or the league. Players that should be remembered. A eulogy of sorts.

Notable Retire Season 5 - Manuel Wyss - Defenseman A team is only as strong as its weakest link. The big contracts, the scoring titles, and stars of the game often go to the household name stars, but it's the players battling it out on the front lines lower on the depth chart that make or break a team's true success. Manuel Wyss was always in the trenches shoring up his teammates' weakest links. In only five short GHL seasons, he played on five different teams, often going unnoticed on each change in scenery, but always over performing above his expectations. Beginning in Season 1, Wyss began with the Lake Viking Bulldogs. To say it was a tumultuous start to a new league and new team would be an understatement. At 30 years old and a rating of 83ovr, Wyss found himself in a top 4 roll with the Bulldogs. After an 8-12 start, the Bulldogs continued to juggling their lineup, going through 10 D-men on the roster during that first year. Wyss found himself a casualty of that slow start and was traded to Enigma Rage in a swap that included Mario Vuillermet and Rowan Talbot-Gervais (step-brother to Ricky Gervais). Wyss was able to solidify a roster spot, getting 19 pts (8-11) for the remaining 60 games of the season and a 7th place playoff spot. After netting a goal in a hard fought 3-2 series loss to the West Chicago Hawks, Rage's season was over and so would be Wyss's time with the team. At the start of Season 2, after being waived unceremoniously by Rage, the Lightning Bolts picked him up for a two year stint as the team underwent the transition to the Miami Angels. Teaming up with the goalie George Mercredi, Wyss continued to show his ability to outshine some of his teammates as he scored 33 pts (15-18) in a strong depth role. However, once again Wyss found himself on the losing end of a first round playoff loss after going down three games to two in the five game series. The transition to Miami Angels for the team was not successful and Wyss only found himself starting 48 games and by far his worst year of his career. Following Season 3, at the start of Season 4 perennial under performers Eldred Elite picked Wyss up on a no frills one-year, $1.5 million contract. It was a chance for Wyss to prove he belonged in the GHL and Elite to garner some defenseman depth. Starting the season in the AAHL, Wyss made the best use of his opportunity and had 34 pts (17-17) in 49 games before being called up to the top six of Elite and finished the season with 13 pts in 24 games and a 0 +/- rating and a Corsi of 51.7%, all which caught the attention of Elite management of his ability to be a clutch performer in a depth role. With Wyss in his role on the the 3rd line D corps, Elite crawled up the standings to finish strongly in fifth place. Unfortunately, both for Wyss and the Elite, the playoffs ended almost as quickly as they had started and were swept out by the eventual Western Conference champion Victoria Regals. Now at the age of 35, Wyss resigned with Eldred Elite to try and continue both teams late season 4 success at a very paltry $1,147,000 for another year of service. Wyss continued to make the most of his time on the ice putting up a career tying 33 pts (12-21) in 80 games and a +8 with averaging only 14 mins a game, his lowest total ice time of his career. After a strong season both for Wyss and Elite, the storybook season came to an end during game five against the West Chicago Hawks in the conference semi-finals. Wyss played strong for the club putting up four points (1-3) in nine games in limited action as the #6 d-man. Following the season, Wyss was offered another one-year contract by Elite and all indications were that he would return as a strong veteran to help transition the defensemen corps to the new guard that will lead the team over the next 5-10 seasons. Unfortunately, facing age 36 and the current health crisis facing the world, he decided he would now take some time to spend with his family and go out on a high note with his season with Elite. Some champions never get rings, but will always be remembered by the fans and fellow players for what they bring to the rink each and every day. Manuel Wyss finished his career after five GHL seasons with 310 games, 50 goals, 75 assists, and a takeaway to giveaway ratio of 85/8.

First up - GEORGE MERCREDI (Goalie) As Cage took off in Season 1, George Mercredi, the then 89 overall keeper, found himself in a tough scenario as backup goalie on the St. Thomas Stray Cats. The team appeared dominant from the get go, but he sat behind 28 year old Gregoire Wright (95 overall) on the depth chart. Looking to clear cap space to build out his roster, manager Erzac scoured the league for potential suitors for Mercredi when he came across the Deferiet Leopards (now Big Delta Stealheads) and noticed that their goalie situation was garbage (two 83 overalls). Erzac quickly messaged the Leopards manager, Paul T, looking for a trade. The asking price... a mere GHL 2nd round pick. Not knowing what the upcoming drafts would look like, Paul T hesitated for a split second before accepting the offer, which thrust Mercredi into a starting role. Mercredi's confidence after the trade seemed to be sky high as he led the Deferiet Leopards to a 20-0 start, making them the last team to lose a game in any game world after the GPHM refresh. Mercredi would finish the season with a 35-11-3 record with a .936 save percentage and 1.92 GAA. Unfortunately Paul T was aware that Mercredi was aging and jumped at an opportunity to acquire a much younger goalie at the time in Zach Woodley. The 23 year old 91 overall Woodley appeared to be the long term solution for the Leopards in net, but the love affair never really worked out. Both goalies posted respectable season 1 numbers, but the Leopards were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the #7 seed Bulldogs 3-1. Mercredi's old team, the Stray Cats, ended up winning the Gold Cup in season 1 leaving Mercredi wondering what could have been. The Leopards decided to move on from Mercredi at the end of season 1 and they would regret it a few seasons later. After his dominant stint with the Leopards, Mercredi went on to guard the crease for the Parkland Lightning Bolts (season 2) and Miami Angels (season 3). Both teams would relegate and Mercredi would comtemplate retirement. After long talks with his family and agent, Mercredi decided to test the waters in season 4 and signed on with the newly promoted Bodmin Bangers. Season 4 with Bodmin turned out to be highly successful as he went 37-18-3 with a .914 save percentage and 2.63 GAA and a 4th place finish. In the 2nd round of the season 4 playoffs, Mercredi found himself facing a familiar opponent, his old team, the Big Delta Stealheads (formerly Deferiet Leopards). After going down 0-2, the Bangers, led by Mercredi, turned it around and ended up winning the next 3 games to defeat his old club. Unfortunately the run came to an end in the conference finals where they lost to the eventual champions, Dragons. At the end of season 4, Big Delta showed an interest in acquiring back their old keeper as they were frustrated with their current goalie Michele Amick for his lackluster performances in big games, and they were not confident that 83 overall Henri Pohl was the answer either, despite a dominant season 4. Mercredi was traded for Amick and he decided to give his career one more shot with his old club, despite multiple opinions around the league that he would retire. Mercredi returned for season 5 knowing that he would be completing with Henri Pohl for the starting job. Both Pohl and Mercredi struggled early on and Big Delta played musical chairs in goal, eventually settling on 19 year old Colby Gloria. With Pohl's skills fading quickly, Mercredi earned the backup job mid season and throughout the playoffs. The season ended in dream fashion with Big Delta winning the Gold Cup. After captain Jeremie Cline hoisted the Cup, he immediately handed it to Mercredi. His glory had finally been achieved as he skated around the Delta Dome with the Cup held high over his head. At the end of season 5, at age 40, George Mercredi decided to call it quits. His career complete. He will go down as one of the greatest Cage goalies of the early seasons.

Been looking for a College Football sim like this!

Congratulations to everyone on yet another fantastic season! This series of awards has been crowdsourced via Discord, and discussions were had. I am making a judgement call on a couple of the awards, but generally, there was clear consensus, and as usual, discussions AND ADDITIONAL TROPHIES are welcome. You know the drill. GOLDEN CUP CHAMPION: BIG DELTA STEALHEADS (Paul T) Conn Smythe Trophy (Playoff MVP): JEREMIE CLINE (Big Delta Stealheads) - 19 points - (16GP - 9G/10A/+19) GHL East Champion: SLAUGHTERVILLE RED TIDE (Alexander Rasputin) GHL West Champion: ENIGMA RAGE (Wendel Clark) Manager of the Year: Jutsela (Coos Bay Commandos) ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ART ROSS TROPHY (Most League Points) JOESPH RACKLEY (Enigma Rage) - 92 points - NEW LEAGUE RECORD Fabrice Marinier (Vortex) Brendan Rowlett (Rage) OVECHKIN TROPHY (Top Goalscorer) SHMUEL ELIE-BRETON (Sheshegwaning Dragons) - 45 goals Jerald Whitely (Trojans) Matej Brincko (Duhawks) GRETZKY TROPHY (Best Playmaker) FABRICE MARINIER (Maxville Vortex) - 57 assists Valery Gibazov (Rage) Patrick Gornell (Red Tide) VEZINA TROPHY (Best Goaltender) JEAN-FRANCOIS SHORE (Enigma Rage) Kwesi Cutter (Regals) Michele Amick (Bangers/Elite) ORR TROPHY (Best Offensive Defenceman) JAYDEN GARZA (Maxville Vortex) NORRIS TROPHY (Best Defensive Defenceman) GABRIEL LINDHOLM (Enigma Rage) ORR - Points leader among defencemen NORRIS - Calculated with the following formula among D-men [+/- + BKS - GVA + TKA], PER also taken into consideration SELKE TROPHY (Best Defensive Forward) JEREMIE CLINE (Big Delta Stealheads) Elie Cuillerier (Elite) Valery Gibazov (Rage) Calculated with the following formula among F: [PTS + BKS - GVA + TKA] Hits and +/- also relevant. LADY BYNG TROPHY (Most Gentlemanly Player) VALERY GIBAZOV (Enigma Rage) Brendan Rowlett (Rage) Maksim Yatchenko (Elite) Calculated with the following formula [PTS - PIM] HART TROPHY (League MVP) FABRICE MARINIER (Maxville Vortex) Joesph Rackley (Rage) Joaquim Harter (Trojans) CALDER TROPHY (Best Rookie) MARCUS BEAUPARLANT (Canuck Red Dragons) Sagiv Schuppan (Red Tide) Henry Lux (Red Tide) GOOD SAMARITAN AWARD (Most Giveaways) MATEJ BRINCKO (Mango Duhawks) ROID RAGE TROPHY RICHARD YILDIRIM (Minnedosa Supersonics) (Most Hits + PIM + MP) LATE-BLOOMER AWARD WESLEY SOUDERS (Eldred Elite) *Notes: Calculations may not be entirely accurate due to limited visibility and inability to sort by position and outside Top 20 in GPHM stats format - if anyone sees mistakes, let me know and I will fix.

Yeeee Boooiii! What a season by Marinier, only 1 point behind Rackley