Stanley Cup '19 [WHL vs NHL alt-history - NHLPA'93]

[von Ozbourne]

Clearing out another older one. Not sure how much interest this one will garner, but here's an idea I had when I saw the 32 team NHLPA'93 ROM.

The back story:
The old professional Western Hockey League [1952-1974] evolved from the third incarnation of the Pacific Coast Hockey League. They competed for the Lester Patrick Cup and were considered the west coast's version of the AHL. [although basically treated as a step below by the NHL] They were a place to play for guys on the way up [Glenn Hall], guys "past their prime" [Andy Bathgate], guys who were stars out west, but had varying degrees of luck cracking NHL lineups in the Original 6 days [Andy Hebenton, Guyle Fielder or if you prefer, Don Cherry, who won a championship with Vancouver]. They even partnered up with the first [successful] pro-hockey player's union.

Anyway, the hope was to one day turn into a major pro league, possibly even revive the East/West competition for the Stanley Cup like up until 1926.
These hopes were dashed as Los Angeles, San Francisco and later Vancouver jumped to the NHL, the WHA raided their players [and later took on the Phoenix and Denver teams] and the league was eventually forced to throw in the towel.

But what if they didn't? What if the NHL took the WHA threat more seriously and formed a better partnership with the WHL?
This is the result of that thought experiment.

Mostly I just rearranged the playoff team brackets and added the lore to the pre-game.

WHLvsNHL19.bin

[I got the puck]

thanks...very interesting history...I will definitively try your rom.  I appreciate the originality.

[Sean]

I love the pregame intros in '93. There's gotta be a way to get them into '94 somehow.