District 13 Mariners

The District 13 Mariners are a hockey team based in District 13. The Mariners compete in the Panem Hockey League (PHL), as a member of the Darabond Division. The Mariners franchise has won two back-to-back Panem Cups.

The Original Era
The District 13 Mariners were founded in 614 ADD to give District 13 a PHL team in the original eighteen, and were added to the Panem Hockey League. Their name, the Mariners, comes from the region being fairly close to the coast and being a crucial part of international transport from the Europanemian coastline.

The Mariners joined the Panem Hockey League in their founding year, and were assigned to the Eastern Conference. They were commonly known as one of the weakest teams in the league at the time, due to their inability to win playoff games in the early stages of the post-seasons they appeared in.

621
Looking at the franchise on paper, with four first-round sweeps in four post-seasons, their record was not looking good coming into 621. However, they proceeded to shock the world by first placing at the top of the conference, and then by proceeding to defeat the District 12 Rangers 4-1 in the first round, before sweeping the District 5 Blues in the second. They looked like they could have taken on the world, but then, it came crashing down.

They went down 3-0 in the conference finals to the District 14 Greyhounds, and all hope seemed to be over. But then, the Mariners rebounded. They took game 4 on home ice, then won a narrow game 5 in a second OT. Coming back home for game 6, the Mariners' netminder, Callum Delaney, posted a shutout against what was then a career-high 57 shots against. The Mariners, against all odds, then pulled through in a Game 7 in District 14 to reverse sweep them and win the Conference championship. However, the powerhouse and season-long favourite District 1 Oilers ended up defeating the dreams of winning the Panem Cup for the Mariners, in a 4-1 series defeat.

This did, however, prove they had what it took to do well, and in the next year, they made it back to the conference finals, before bowing out as the East Capitol Senators made an all-out run for the cup. In 623, however, star netminder Callum Delaney was injured just seven games into the season, and the necessary surgery put him out for the whole season, and in the 54th and last game of the season, the Mariners lost in regulation to barely miss the playoffs. While it seemed like a crushing blow to morale, the squad knew that with the incoming expansion, they would have a lot more teams to square off against in the upcoming season as the PHL expanded from 18 to 32 teams.

Early New Era
The history of the modern District 13 Mariners has been somewhat tumultuous, but nevertheless steady. They've had several great seasons in this era, four of which they made it to the Cup Finals, and two where they were Conference runner-ups. However, the entirety of the New Era has been an interesting tale in general.

Although in 624 the Mariners were taken down due to an injury-ridden season, they were, up until the last month, in playoff contention thanks to a healthy and renewed Callum Delaney, and going into 625, the team knew they had what it took to make another lasting impression on the PHL, even with the league's competition in a Quarter Quell year.

As 625 came and went by, the Mariners found themselves in a great spot come playoffs. Facing off initially against a weak District 0 Aces squad, the Mariners would find themselves with an easy win against the wintry District, as the Aces would only pick up Game 4 on their ice in a narrow regulation win with a score of 2-1. The series would close out in Game 5 thanks to the Mariners' strength offensively, however, and they would move on 4-1.

The Mariners would then face off against a fierce rival and strong team in the District 5 Blues in the conference semifinals. While the games were far closer than against the Aces, with all of them being decided by one goal, and four of the six matches going into overtime, the Mariners were still strong enough to pull out a win over the Blues, sending themselves into the conference finals against the Panem Cup favourite Baton Rouge Jazz. The fight with the Jazz would ultimately prove to be the Mariners' undoing, as the Jazz' sheer defensive strength would neutralize the grand majority of offensive attempts by the Mariners' core. The series would end on Mariners' ice in a 5-3 loss to close the series 4-2 and send the Jazz to the Panem Cup Finals, where they would eventually win.

This loss would not have immediate impacts on the Mariners, who remained strong the year after, placing 5th overall in the Eastern Conference and making it to the semifinals, where they would bow out to the 8th seed Tropics Sea Bears in a memorable year for the East as none of the top four seeds would make it out of the quarterfinals. However, two back-to-back showings with less than stellar performances would begin to hurt team morale, and while the team still was only barely missing out on playoffs, the squad began to fracture, and eventually, at the conclusion of 633, the team's biggest stars would either begin to depart for greener pastures, such as Crow Technica and Tripp Pulsar, or would retire at the conclusion of the season, such as what Callum Delaney would do.

True Drought
Between 634 and 645, the District 13 Mariners were, for lack of a better term, complete garbage. The team consistently had infighting, management turnover, and to top it all off, three separate threats of bankruptcy or relocation. The team continuously placed towards the bottom of the league for eight years straight, and suffered constant losses on and off the ice. Nobody truly wanted to be with the Mariners organization for that period of time, and the team essentially became a place where other teams in the league would send their washed-up players and bad contracts. The squad had absolutely no chemistry.

However, the squad's worst season would be 636, where the team would place 16th in the East and only gain a grand total of 25 wins, a league-worst for the year, and would end up only gaining a measly 54 points thanks to four overtime losses. The team was, above all else, a complete disaster. 636 was the year where the relocation and bankruptcy rumors were at their peak, thanks to the team's plummeting results combined with record lows in attendance.

Thankfully, the Mariners would not always be a disaster. Thanks to new management in Andrew Mrazek, and a trio of first-rounders in the 641 PHL draft, which would end up becoming the first, second, and sixth overall picks, the Mariners would gain a solid member of each position for their future roster. The Mariners would immediately sign #1 overall pick in centre Kingsley Harlow to a five-year contract worth more than a typical ELC, and would follow up three days later by signing #2 overall d-man Fleur Hausinger and #6 overall goaltender Dhillon Ceban to similar contracts. All three would begin play in the following season, 642, and while the Mariners would not make playoffs for another four years, Mrazek and his new rookie coach, Radian Adachi, would begin to build the roster for a cup run within the next few seasons.

Back-To-Back
In 646, the Mariners would finally break their curse and would make a return to the post-season with the 3rd seed in the Eastern Conference, where they would face off against the Baton Rouge Jazz in another iconic first round matchup. Despite the sweep of the Jazz, the series would still go down in history, as Game 2 on Mariners' ice would become the highest-scoring playoff game in Panem Hockey League history, where the Mariners would win 19-4. The team would also set the record for the shortest amount of time between three goals, as they'd get their fifth, sixth, and seventh in a span of 27 seconds.

In the second round, the Mariners would encounter a little more resistance in the Acadia Armada, who were looking quite strong after their defeat of the District 6 Railers. However, the Mariners' young core, boosted by efforts from Fleur Hausinger and trade deadline acquisition Jeremiah Woods, would ultimately overpower the Armada, who would only pick up Game 3 during their 4-1 series defeat. This meant the Mariners, in their first time back to the playoffs in twelve years, would be making it to the Eastern Conference Finals.

As the Mariners advanced to the Conference Finals, they knew they'd be dealing with a stacked team in the District 0 Aces once again. The team that had consistently been a pain for them was about to be their biggest challenge up until this point. Backup goaltender Baron Bilous would come in huge during the series, helping the Mariners come back from being down 0-2 in the series to sweep house with four games in a row after the loss of their starter to a leg injury. With the play of Baron Bilous, combined with more pushes from players like Kingsley Harlow and Rourke Kelley, the Mariners would find themselves, for the first time in the New Era, in the Panem Cup Finals.

However, the Finals is where the Cinderella story would come to its end. The Mariners were facing off against arguably the best team in Panem Hockey League history in the Yuma Renegades, and while they would pick up Games 2, 5, and 6, the Renegades would rally up in order to close down the series in Game 7 on their turf. Despite coming up just short in the end, the Mariners were confident that next year would be their year, even as the Renegades clambered onto the ice to celebrate their win.

647 would begin the success of the Mariners, though, as they would make a push to become significantly better, and succeeded in this. They beat their previous season's point total by two, and managed to squeeze their way into a 2nd seed. Despite the fact that the Mariners still couldn't topple the perenially-dominant Sea Bears in the standings, something about the Mariners felt different as they entered a first round matchup with the District 11 Wheat Kings.

It was here where they would begin what is considered one of the best championship runs of all time. They swept the Wheat Kings into non-existence as goaltender Baron Bilous slugged his way into a record-smashing .997 SV% during the series, letting in one goal throughout all four games. A rematch with the Armada ended in similar fashion: another 4-0 sweep for the Mariners as they continued their push for the Panem Cup Finals, which they would reach after one more matchup against the Aces. However, after a brutal seven-game series against the Sea Bears, the Aces simply didn't have the manpower remaining to put up a real fight. Game 3 was the only noteworthy game, as it went to a fourth overtime after a stellar performance by Casio Kronwall, the netminder that night for the Aces. The Mariners would reach the Panem Cup Finals for the second year in a row after a handy sweep.

This was a rematch, for what it was worth, although in this case, several crucial injuries left the Yuma Renegades on thin ice in this matchup. Ultimately, despite the best efforts of the Renegades, leaving all four games in the series a one-goal win by the Mariners, the District 13 team would still manage to pull off the ultimate dream for a PHL team: the 16-0 sweep of the playoffs. The team was completely flawless throughout the post-season, and the celebrations during the off-season were high and mighty.

Trivia

 * The District 13 Mariners' logo is directly ripped from the ECHL's Maine Mariners.