Puck Hogs 242

Our History

The PHL242 began during the 2001-02 season as a way for hockey nuts to follow their favorite sport, talk loads of smack, horse trade players, and have tons of fun. Several of the managers that started PHL242 migrated over from the salary cap based Small World Fantasy Hockey of the late 90’s (which is where we got most of our scoring system). The PHL242 now brings together almost 200 managers from all over the U.S., Canada, and Europe.

PHL242 is a fantasy hockey league that would make Don Cherry proud. That first season the league was made up of 8 teams which grew to 20 teams following the 2004-05 lockout. We had our first modern era live event, dubbed "Puckapalooza", in Philadelphia in 2005-06. This saw Puck Hogs flying cross-country for mere hours of fun, showing true hockey dedication or what we like to call a "commitment to stupidity". We followed with later Puckapaloozas in Toronto, Las Vegas, Seattle, Hartford, and Los Angeles. These included the first ever PHL242 live drafts, rocking out with Dave from The Zambonis at their coldest ever gig, and meeting none other than Steve Carlson/Steve Hanson - AKA "I'm listening to the fucking song!" - at a hotel bar.

2011-12 saw the league blow past a single division into three divisions and 41 teams and also tripling its lady puck hog contingent (up to 3, but you knew that). In 2013-14 we had another big expansion, this time to 60 teams in 4 divisions and our inaugural Draftaboobooza draft order selection show simulcast at two bi-coastal Tilted Kilt bars. We then expanded to 75 teams with a 5th division - "Poodle" Lussier – “Not Poodle!” -  next to our other four divisions (McCracken, Hanrahan, Wanchuk, Tuttle). We got up to five lady puck hogs, several sets of families, our second ex-pat in Australia, guys from France, Austria, Finland, and even a Ruski. Sweet!

In 2015-2016 we hit 105 teams and an astonishing 7 divisions (Hello, Brophy "That sonofabitch keeps playing me" and the [uncredited] Boudreau divisions). Our Bucket went to France, won by an honest to goodness Frenchie and 11 puck hogs went to Colorado to palooza (now a verb) like kings at our inaugural pond hockey tourney.

We added 9 more divisions over the next three years totally 240 teams, moving to the amazing Fantrax platform. We did Puckapaloozas in LA and Vegas again and tasted sweet victory in Colorado at our return to the pond ice. While recovering from altitude sickness and freezing weather, we had a steering committee meeting and even wrote a freakin’ mission statement. 

We survived COVID, got our Bucket trophy vaxxed, and we’re back for our 23rd season. 

We never stop, we want to be bigger and hairier – we’re going for 250+ members this year. The PHL242 wants you! Whether you're a mute spreadsheet monkey, a smack talking blow hard, a mild manner family man, or anything in between. We don’t care if you are a good fantasy hockey player, but just manage your team, make a trade or two. Don't forget to drop by our Facebook page or message boards with the occasional YouTube clip of your favorite 4th line meltdown or NHL ice girl scouting efforts. We like to run a fair, participatory, and ever evolving league and all that stuff. Fantasy hockey world domination – Game On!