Jeff Gow Career Recap [1/2]

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

A sniper who was once hyped as potential hall of fame player, winger Jeff Gow completed his final season with the Riga Reign in Season 63, calling it quits a year early due to his failing body unable to keep up with the rigors of a VHL season and playoffs. Privately, the @flyersfan1453 player agency knew this was "the last of the Gows". All new players would no longer bear that last name. With that in mind, the agency did its best to go out with a bang, putting individual success ahead of team success for the first time in the player agency's history. The goal was cups, both Continental and Founder's. With that in mind, Jeff's career was overall successful, but still leaves us thinking "what could have been". 

 

VHLM (S55-S56) -  

Jeff joined an already stacked Saskatoon Wild team during the middle of S55. He was able to carve out a niche role on the team, playing primarily 3rd line LW and 2nd PP minutes. As a newer member of the team with limited talent compared to his teammates, Jeff was essentially tasked with "don't screw up", something he was sort of able to accomplish. In 21 regular season games, he put up 2 goals and 4 assists for 6 points, but earned a -5. The team was able to capture a Founder's Cup, and Jeff was less of a passenger during the playoffs than he was during the regular season. In 10 playoff games, he registered 2 goals and 6 assists for 8 points. 

 

In S56, Jeff was selected 2nd overall in the VHLM Dispersal Draft by the Ottawa Lynx, continuing the tradition of @flyersfan1453 players playing in Ottawa. I don't quite remember where in the playoffs we lost and can't be bothered to look it up at this point, but just going off memory, I think we were upset by someone in the semi-finals. In what should have been the first set of red flags, Jeff had a good, but not great season. In 72 games, he put up 34 goals and 30 assists for 64 points, not even a point per game. In 11 playoff games, he scored 4 goals and assisted on 3 others for 7 points. For someone who was supposed to help lead his team to the Founder's Cup, his play fell short of expectations.

 

Early Davos (S57-S59) - 

 

In the S57 VHL Entry Draft, Jeff was selected 5th overall by HC Davos Dynamo, a club that this player agency had limited experience with. In retrospect, this was a fair point in the draft for this player to be selected. The only player with a worse career selected above Jeff was Boner, and there were multiple players selected after Jeff who had similar or possibly slightly better careers.

 

From a strictly statistical perspective, there's not much to say about this time period other than the team was building to become a contender and the team lost a lot. The team wasn't very good, and Jeff fit right in. In three seasons (216 games), Jeff scored 63 goals, had 61 assists, totaling 124 points, but also accumulated a -129. More importantly to the story, Jeff started to slow down his training in S58, and basically stopped showing up until the very end of S59. It was at this point that he faced a crossroads in his career. Failing to live up to his own expectations, he seriously considered retiring in shame. It was only after his manager @Tyler convinced him across multiple conversations to stick around that he did. Jeff would have to reinvent himself as a secondary scoring piece, but he could still fit in on championship caliber teams.

 

Late Davos (S60-S61) - 

It was in S60 that things started to turn around for both the Dynamo and Jeff. From an individual standpoint, Jeff finally made the jump to becoming a solid contributor to the team, scoring 27 goals and 38 assists for 65 points, splitting time between being a focus point on the 2nd line and a complimentary piece on the 1st line. More importantly, HC Davos made the playoffs this season, earning a spot in the wildcard playoff game. Unfortunately, the team was swept in three games, but they started to show that they belonged. 

 

Everything came together in S61. With improvements to the team, Jeff slotted in to a second line and second PP role, where he put up 29 goals and 30 assists. More importantly, the team not only made the playoffs, but won the Continental Cup, defeating the Calgary Wranglers in 7 games. Jeff contributed 7 goals and 3 assists in 14 games. 

 

This was the end of the line for Jeff's time in Davos. With the team under a cap crunch, the now veteran winger saw the writing on the wall. The team had younger, cheaper players that could replace him. This would lead to an odd time in Jeff's career.

 

New York/Quebec (S62) - /

You'll notice that this section title includes New York. During the S61 off-season, Jeff was shipped me off to New York for a 3rd round draft pick. This trade was very confusing for the winger, as he knew New York was rebuilding and had next to no players currently on their roster. He was in the process of packing his bags and coming up with a list of questions for the NY general manager when he received a phone call from him, telling him that he had been traded to the Quebec City Meute for 4 players.

 

Jeff was excited about this trade, as he knew that the Meute were serious contenders for the Continental Cup. He once again split the season between the 1st and 2nd lines, but he had his most successful season. In 72 games, he put up 72 points - 35 goals and 37 assists. More importantly, the team made the playoffs and Jeff once again faced the Calgary Wranglers in the finals. This time though, luck wasn't on his side, and the team lost a tightly fought 7 game series. Jeff performed slightly below expectation, putting up only 5 points in 14 playoff games.

 

At the end of the season, Jeff once again found himself as a cap casualty. At the beginning of the season, he had informed management that he was going to become a free agent, but would be open to returning to the team. However, the team did not have room for him, so he became an unrestricted free agent.

 

Riga (S63) - 

After being courted by multiple teams, Jeff ultimately decided that the Riga Reign gave him the best shot at earning a Continental Cup in his final season. Father Time had begun to take it's toll on Jeff's body, and he no longer felt like the player he had in previous seasons. Jeff was part of a crowded group of forwards that featured almost 3 full lines of players. With less playing time, he put up 32 goals and 34 assists. More importantly, the team made the playoffs and the Continental Cup. Yet again, in his third straight finals appearance, Jeff faced a familiar foe, the Calgary Wranglers. The Reign were able to defeat the Wranglers in 6 games, with Jeff contributing 3 goals and 6 assists in 11 games played. Jeff was able to go out how he wanted - as a champion once again.

 

Conclusion

Overall, Jeff didn't have the individual statistics or accolades that I was hoping for, but the Continental Cups more than made up for it. I was able to build another solid player on par with Shayne Gow, but not quite as good as Robin. He was a player I ended up enjoying much more than I thought I would after I went inactive, and should be a reminder to all those who feel that they need to retire their players early because their early career doesn't live up to what they thought their player should be. There are a bunch of people I'd like to thank along the way, and I'm sorry if I forget any of you.

 

@Tyler - Thank you for drafting me, and more importantly, thank you for convincing me not to retire Jeff extremely early. I enjoyed playing with you in Davos, and now that you're no longer GM, maybe we'll cross paths down the line.

@Beaviss - Unfortunately it didn't work out in Quebec for either of us, but we came close. Like I said at the time, no hard feelings that you didn't have any room for me. I don't know how much longer you're thinking of staying on as GM, but we'll see what the future holds for both of us.

@hedgehog337 - With no disrespect to the previous teams I was on, but you provided the best locker room of my career. I had fun in Riga and am glad we were able to win a cup together.

@Spade18 - Thank you for shipping me off to Quebec! Too bad you GM a team from New York though.

 

Founder's Cup - Season 55

Continental Cups - S61 , S63 

Regular Season:

GP: 504

G: 186

A: 200

P: 386

+/-: -40

GWG: 33

 

Playoffs:

GP: 42

G: 16

A: 12

P: 28

+/-: 0

GWG: 4

 

1,533 words - to be used for 3 weeks of PT.

Edited December 30, 2018 by flyersfan1453

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

12/31 - 1/6

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

1/7-1/13

[Victor 11,039]

Thanks for joining us in Riga, was glad to have played with you again after many years when you and Riga were my rival.

 

17 minutes ago, flyersfan1453 said:

Jeff was shipped me off to New York

Is that filter still there????

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

1 minute ago, Victor said:

Thanks for joining us in Riga, was glad to have played with you again after many years when you and Riga were my rival.

 

Is that filter still there????

 

No I typed it  

[eaglesfan036 4,605]

FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

On 12/30/2018 at 2:12 PM, eaglesfan036 said:

FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY

 

I think that's the only one that's still left.

 

FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY 

[Victor 11,039]

@.sniffuM

[.sniffuM 1,741]

And yet I'm not even a builder yet.

[eaglesfan036 4,605]

Review:

 

Nice recap on Jeff's solid career. You picked a good player to be the last of the Gows. I bet it was fun to actually be a free agent for once and choosing Riga. 

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

1/14-1/20