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1996 USISL Premier League season

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Start date
  
1996

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The 1996 USISL Premier League season was its second. The season began in April 1996 and ended in August 1996.

Contents

Central Coast Roadrunners won the championship, defeating the San Francisco Bay Seals 3–2. Spokane Shadow won the regular season title, winning 14 games to 2 losses.

Name changes

  • Ann Arbor Elites became the Michigan Madness.
  • Arizona Cotton became the Arizona Phoenix.
  • Montclair Standard Falcons moved to Fontana, CA and became the Fontana Falcons.
  • Oklahoma City Slickers changed their name to the Oklahoma City Heat.
  • San Francisco All-Blacks United changed their name to the San Francisco Bay Seals.
  • Wichita Blue Angels changed their name to the Wichita Blue.
  • New teams

    12 teams were added for the season.

    Teams leaving

    Five teams folded after the 1995 season:

  • Arkansas A's
  • Columbia Heat
  • Inland Empire Panteras
  • North Bay Breakers
  • Shasta Scorchers
  • Standings

    Blue denotes team has won their division.
    Green denotes team has won playoff spot.
    Orange denotes team gets bye into semifinals as defending champion.

    Northern Division

    * Detroit, Kalamazoo, Lexington, and Michigan were all penalized 3 points.
    ** Grand Rapids did not have a home stadium this year, and played only road games.

    Southern Division

    * Sioux City was penalized 6 points.
    The game between Sioux City and Wichita was postponed and could not be resecheduled before end of the season. The game was cancelled because it had no effect on the playoffs.

    Northern Division

    * Nashville was penalized 6 points. Jackson was penalized 3 points.

    Southern Division

    * Cocoa, Florida, and Orlando were all penalized 3 points.

    Northern Division

    * Colorado Springs and Spokane were both penalized 3 points.

    Southern Division

    * Central Coast and San Diego were both penalaized 3 points

    Format

    Central Coast received a bye to the PDL Semifinals as the defending champion.
    The top four teams from every division except the Southwest earn playoff spots. With Central Coast already receiving a bye, the top two teams from the Southwest Division will play each other, however if Central Coast is in the top two, then the third place team receives a playoff spot. The Division winners would then face each other in the Conference finals.

    Premier Six Tournament

    Six teams entered the Premier Six Tournament in Cocoa, Florida the weekend of August 16–18. Each of the five division playoff champions qualified for the tournament, along with the host Cocoa Expos. The teams were seeded in this order, based on their regular season points:

  • 1. Central Coast Roadrunners
  • 2. San Francisco Bay Seals
  • 3. Cocoa Expos
  • 4. Omaha Flames
  • 5. Jackson Chargers
  • 6. Mid-Michigan Bucks.
  • The Central Coast Roadrunners played the bottom two seeds (Jackson and Mid-Michigan). The San Francisco Seals played the #4 and #6 seeds (Omaha and Mid-Michigan). The Cocoa Expos played and #4 and #5 seeds (Omaha and Jackson).

    Qualification to the finals

    In order to determine the two teams to qualify for the finals, the league used the following point system during the Premier Six Tournament:

  • Win = 3 points
  • Shootout win = 2 points
  • Shootout loss = 1 point
  • Bonus points: Each team scoring three or more goals in regulation or overtime received one extra point.
  • Final

  • MVP: Bryan Taylor
  • Honors

  • MVP: Pasi Kinturi
  • Points leader: Pasi Kinturi
  • Goals leader: Pasi Kinturi
  • Assists leader: Steve Freeman
  • Rookie of the Year: Bryan Taylor
  • Goalkeeper of the Year: Michael LaBerge
  • Defender of the Year: Dwyane Demmin
  • Coach of the Year: Nuno Piteira
  • Organization of the Year: Central Coast Roadrunners
  • All League
  • Goalkeeper: Michael LaBerge
  • Defenders: Steve Freeman, Dwyane Demmin, Zane Higgins, Jeremy Oetman
  • Midfielders: Jude Beller, Toni Siikala
  • Forwayrds: Pasi Kinturi, Chris McDonald, Dennis Brose, Bryan Taylor
  • References

    1996 USISL Premier League season Wikipedia