Well, as they say all good things must come to an end. And even some bad ones as well… So as Saddam Hussein's regime ends in Iraq (that's the bad one!), the Slap Shot Fantasy Hockey League (the good one!) has also ended in a regime change of it's own. Although if you ask the Iraqi Information Minister, I bet he'd tell you "the season has not ended, there are still games being played, come on, let's go to the airport, I will show you…" So regime change it is, as last years champion (Brian Boghosian's Fargain Hansons) are replaced by this season's champ, Foil Up Coach, owned by Walt Cherniak.

For Walt, it's his third league title, to go along with the two he won in the 1998-99 and the 2000-01 seasons. Hmm, every other season, eh? Here's a betting tip for you. Don't take Walt in '03-'04… For Walt, it was a very hard earned title, fighting off no less than three different teams in the final week of the season as the standings changed dramatically on a daily basis. Not to mention having to fight off embedded reporter Geraldo Rivera every day! Besides first place, Foil Up also takes home the Assists crown and you want to talk about a regime change, how about Walt becoming the first person other than Neil to win the Penalty Minutes category! So congratulations to Walt, go foil up, celebrate and party like it's 1998-99…

Second place (The Bridesmaid Trophy) goes to Stick It Up Your Ice, owned by The Commish and Kevin Kelly. The Ice went virtually wire-to-wire in the goalie categories, convincingly winning all three (Wins, GAA and Save Pct), however, with only the 6th best offense in the league, Stick It fell 5 goals short of winning the whole enchilada. Oh well, as they say, there's always next season (when it'll be an odd numbered year and Walt's not as strong!)… Third place belongs to Brian Legere's Between Periods squad who finish just a mere point behind The Ice and only 4 points out of first. Brian Legere takes the Goals category in fine fashion, beating the runner-up Donuts by 19 goals (316 to 297). Had Between made up a mere .0003 difference in GAA (2.2285 for The Koreans, 2.2288 for Between Periods), they would've finished in a tie for 2nd. I know I've said this before but could this league have like been any closer this season?

Finishing the season in fourth place with a disappointing minus-5 final week of the year was 2001-02 champs the Fargain Hansons. The incredible fact to report here is that Brian Boghosian went the entire season without making a single transaction! Now while this very same approach worked out well for him during football season (he won!), the best he could muster in the hockey league was 4th place. See what a computer crash can do for you? Doesn't allow you to second guess yourself if you don't make any moves now, does it? Oh well, Brian promises to be back with a vengeance next season, an odd numbered year, of which he's won the last two titles (1999-2000 and 2001-02). Are we seeing a pattern emerging here anywhere? Let's see, starting in 1998-99 our champs have gone Walt, Brian, Walt, Brian, Walt? Er, does anybody else care to break this chain? You know, neither one of these guys show up for the draft yet they win, so maybe none of us should show up at the draft next season either? But those Big Easy Burgers are so good! But they've never resulted in a league title either? "Oh the conundrums we face"…

Fifth place and the coveted Plus/Minus crown goes to the Phantoms, Ron Desrosiers (the coolest French guy around, and we know there aren't many of those in these non-peaceful times!) and J.R. Burnham (Go Leafs Go!). Finishing in sixth place, just a point out of fifth, is Koreans Know Hockey and Dave Kang. The final money spot goes to In (Miroslav) Satan We Trust as Neil Eskow edges out Charlie & Joe's Stan Mikita's Donuts despite not employing enough goonage to take the Minutes title…

9th, 10th and 11th place goes to Don Cardoza's Pardon My Misconduct, Fabrizio's The Bada Byngs and Rob Hanratty's soulful Five Minutes For F***ing. You'll notice that our resident Rangers fans (Don and Rob), like their Madison Square Garden brethren, also failed to finish in the money this season… And here's a funny comment from Brian "Between Periods" Legere. Brian, after finding out that the Madison Square Garden brass has promised to cut ticket prices by 10% next season if the Rangers fail to make the playoffs for the 7th consecutive time next season, had this to say. "What the heck is 10%? So you pay $108.00 to see them lose rather than $120? Whoopee!" Yeah, Bri I agree, but look at it this way, you've now got a little pocket change left over to have that extra $12 beer…

Speaking of money and discounts and really expensive beer, now's the time where I need to remind everyone that it's time to "pay The Commish". Up on the COMMISH.COM Account Balances Page (click here to view) , you'll see what each of you owes, or perhaps what each of you is owed, depending on your finish in the standings. Many of you have balances running (both negative and positive) from past leagues and seasons so just go to that page (by clicking the link above) and it'll all be spelled out for you. If you are owed money, hang in there, I'll be paying you sometime before the Stanley Cup Finals. If you owe money, please make arrangements to pay me sometime before the Stanley Cup Finals, instructions are on the accounts page. If you'd like to let your positive balance "ride" that's fine, just let me know. And if you owe money, but need to make special arrangements to pay your debt, please call The Commish's Office and ask to speak with Angelo and Vinnie in the Collections Department, they're always "there to help"…

"Fenster baby! Don't play with the dirty money!"… OK, enough talk about money. Let's get this column wrapped up and this season in the books already. As usual, thank you for yet another exciting and excellent season, our 7th in existence. I truly appreciate all the patience and cooperation throughout the year and most importantly, thank you for letting me run this league. You all know by now that this is my passion (yes, the wife's fine with it!), and I enjoy nothing better than sitting down to the computer on a Wednesday night, doing the stats and writing the column. OK, I know what you're all thinking! The Iraqi Information Ministry has a few job openings right now…

And finally, I can't leave you all without making a bold Stanley Cup prediction, so instead of going with the chalk and picking the Red Wings over the Senators in 5, I'm going to go out on a limb and predict (drum roll please), The New Jersey Devils defeat their old coach and the Minnesota Wild, 4 games to 2 in the Stanley Cup Finals… What do you think?

So as that famous pig once said, "That's all folks!" Hope to see everyone again in late September or early October at Oddfellow's. 'til then enjoy the playoffs and if you're a Ranger fan enjoy the golf! 'til next season…