Thunder in the West (Fantasy NHL)

[coasterholic14]

February 2008 Review:

At the start of the month was the AHL All-Star game, which saw three of our guys representing Spokane: Schultz playing for Canada, Leino and Dimitrakos playing for PlanetUSA. Schultz had a solid game, logging an assist in Canada’s 5-3 loss to PlanetUSA. On that end, Leino played a mediocre game, and Dimitrakos, like last year, got nothing, but he had a great view of the game from the bench where he spent most of his time.

The best news though, Brewer is back!!!!! If he returns to full form, I may look at trading Salo or Brewer back around trade deadline to get my 2nd rounder or a prospect back.

Shanahan racked up 3 assists in our 8-1 slaughter of Edmonton, allowing him to surpass 700 career assists in the NHL, meanwhile Glenn Murray racked up 4 to surpass 700 career points. The board was very pleased with the performance, as was Brandon Greene!

Middle of the season we decided to make a signing here for next season:
- Tomas Svoboda – RW (CZE, 20) – $475K (2 years)
Last Season: QMJHL—Drummondville Voltigeurs (62GP, 46G 44A 90PTS, +10, 70 PIM)
This Season: QMJHL—Drummondville Voltigeurs (48GP, 36G 48A 84PTS, +21, 30 PIM)
GM Report: Since I didn’t draft any RW last year, and with literally no prospects, Svoboda seems like he could help me out there. Undrafted, he had nearly 1.5PPG last year and close to 2PPG this year…he might be a depth guy at best, but he seems like a good gamble for me to take while I don’t have much to work with.

James Neal (50GP 32G 31A 63PTS -5 36PIM) got AHL Player of the week for his 1G 5A during his two games between Jan 27 and Feb 2! Oh, and of course, who was named WHL Player of the Week that same week? None other than no-longer-my-prospect Mitch Fadden

Shortly after playing in his 100th AHL game, Jeff Schultz (49GP 5G 23A 28PTS +18 12PIM) got a callup to the big league, since Witt suffered a hip injury. In that same game, John Vigilante (39GP 20G 24A 44PTS +20 22PIM) notched his 100th AHL point. Just days later, Rane Carnegie (51GP 18G 40A 58PTS +5 26PIM) also hit the 100 AHL point marker.

In the NHL All-Star game, Iginla managed to get a respectable 1G – 1A in his teams dishonorable facewashing 7-2 loss. Jagr got the MVP of the game, with Kovalchuck and Thorton being named the other two stars of the game, of course both for the East.

We were finally able to negotiate a decent trade…we didn’t quite get back what we gave up, but we at least got a decent return. The team just needs the draft picks more than anything right now, and a serious playoff run doesn’t seem likely with our inconsistency this year:

To Emerald City Thunderbirds:
- Rights to LW Denis Kazionov
- JCK 2008 1st round pick

To Jacksonville Rivermen:
- LD Hal Gill
- RD Sami Salo

Again, I needed the picks more than I needed to keep Salo, though he was great while he was with us (22GP 1G 8A 9PTS +7 2PIM), and in return I get Jacksonville’s 1st round pick, which looks to be an upper-mid pick (say 15-20th overall). Also, I give them Gill to sweeten the pot, since they’re interested, and frankly, I’m not. He was decent last year, been awful this year, and D. Murray has filled in nicely. Kazionov looks to be a decent young LW prospect, though I haven’t scouted him fully yet.

Marking the middle of the month, we have a 3 game series against Portland, who’s leading our division and 3rd in the conference, quite a reversal from last year. We play the first two games at home, before closing out in Portland…this gives us a big chance to catch and pass them in the standings or let us drop further back (they’re only 1 point ahead of us).

The first game started off with a nice quick PP goal from Briere, but was followed up by a PP goal from Forsberg after G. Murray got called for slashing. Both teams then once again traded PP markers, keeping the game tied 2-2 at the end of the first period. The second period was significantly different, and much worse…Portlant racked up 2 goals during the 2nd to take a 4-2 lead. Midway through the third, Briere put another one in to make it 4-3, but we couldn’t tie it up and lost. Ahead 2-1-1 in the series for the year.

For game 2 we swapped goalies and put in Johnson hoping for a better result. Game started off very tight and even, but Portland was finally able to break the stalemate late in the period, with only 10 seconds to go unfortunately. Roughly 10 min later, halfway through the second, they made it 2-0 with a Shorty from Oleg Kvasha. The third period remained tight, but we broke the shutout with just over 7 min to go with an unlikely score from Jason Ward. With the goalie pulled and just 23 seconds in the game, veteran Brendan Shanahan tied the game up!! But this game wasn’t going to OT, no way, with only 5 seconds left in the game….Kvasha netted his second of the night to take the game...that’s 2 in the game with under 10 sec in the period. We are 2-2-1 against Portland this year (5pts) but they are 3-1-1 against us (7pts).

Before the start of game 3, Ricci is back to full health, meaning we can stick him back in the lineup again! Falardeau performed quite admirably in his stead on the 3rd/4th line, getting 1G – 2A in his 12 games, but more impressively had 23 hits, 8 blocked shots, only 1 giveaway, and won 54% of his faceoffs…he might just have a spot on the team in the future. I’m just going to save you the suspense, we lost this game by one goal again, 3-2…went in the hole 2-0 after the first and never came back from it. Now 2-3-1, Portland 4-1-1 (9pts)…I think we lost it this year

Emerald City Brandon Greene has come to terms with Lee Falardeau, giving him a 1 year extension at $475K

FYI, Samsanov got his 300th assist when he notched 2 in our 5-0 victory over the struggling Arizona Dust Devils…from 4th last year to 27th this year...quite a fall.

We finished out the month 6-6-1, giving us an overall record of 32-28-5 for 69 pts overall, 2nd in the division (11pts behind Portland, 4 ahead of Alaska), 7th in the Conference (2 points into the playoffs), 16th overall. Atlanta, Toronto, and LA continue to reign supreme, Boston is still sinking, but it appears Columbus struck and iceberg and may soon drop below Boston (only 3 points ahead with an extra game). Philly and San Jose are also struggling. Also, I’m not sure what’s up with Kolzig but in the past month he let in 25 goals in 6 games, all <.900 SV% (only his game to start the month did he have a good game, 1 GA and .958 SV%).

Spokane can pretty much coast for the season, as their 43-14-4 record (90pts) puts them 18 ahead of second placed Dallas in the division. In case you couldn’t figure out the one team that’s in front of them, it’s obviously Calgary, with 1 loss in their 62 games and a playoff spot already clinched…I just don’t get it (Seriously, is there a way I could have accidently made them unbeatable when editing the DB?)

[coasterholic14]

March-April 2008 Review:

Shanahan plays his 1500th NHL game early on in the month, a 3-1 victory over the Milwaukee Mavericks.

Time for our 7th game against Portland this year…hoping for better results than we’ve had thus far. We start off poorly, Ekman gets one for Portland just 1:11 in, but what’s nice, we tie it up 12 seconds later, compliments of Friesen. Then, before the period is over, Shanahan has a great single-handed effort to get us up 2-1 with a shorthanded goal. In the second, we can’t keep it up, and the Meadowlarks get a PP goal midway through to tie it up. Going into the third, we fall apart early, with Fehr getting 2 quick ones for Portland to seal the game 4-2…now down 2-4-1 to their 5-1-1. It was Pahlsson’s 500th NHL game…not that it really matters.

In our 3-2 victory near the end of a relatively uneventful month so far, Witt got his 100th assist, while D. Murray played his 100th NHL game. Before the month was over, we signed Schultz to a 2 year @ $530K extension…he’ll definitely be in the NHL next year.

For our closing game against Portland, it was no competition, we slaughtered them 5-1! Too bad we still lost the series, getting just 7 points compared to their 11 (out of 16 potential points).

With just 1 game left in our regular season, we clinch a playoff spot with a 4-2 victory over Colorado. In the last month and change we got 7-5-5, finishing the season 39-33-10 for 88 points, 2nd in the division, 8th in the conference, 16th in the league…we get the last playoff spot. Atlanta won the President’s Trophy, Twin City Timberwolves, Toronto, LA, Montreal, and New York hot on their heels. Boston had a better finish to their year, as evidenced by their 10-1 victory in their closing game, and they finished 28. Philly and Columbus continued to struggle as the season went on and finished in the last two positions.

Been a roller coaster season, lots of great hot steaks, and equally terrible cold streaks. Kolzig started off awesome, finished mediocre, Johnson started abysmal, finished decent, though neither was above .900 at the end of the year. Despite having a worse season than last year, we finished 17th in average attendance with 16,385…oddly Atlanta, one of the best teams, was dead last at 14,521. Despite our mediocre record, we were third in GFA, at 3.55, second in shooting percentage, most categories we finished around where we finished relative to the league. G. Murray was our leading scorer despite mostly second line time with 38G 56A 94PTS (15th in the league). Briere (36G 55A 91PTS), Iginla (42G 47A 89PTS), and Samsanov (39G 50A 89PTS) finished 21st, 25th, and 26th in points respectively.

[coasterholic14]

Playoffs: Round 1 (vs. Twin City Timberwolves)

For the first round of the playoffs this year, we are pitted against the Twin City Timberwolves, a team we’ve been surprisingly decent against this year (2-0-2, 11GF 7GA). So onwards we go…

Before game 1, Shanahan and Pahlsson were injured and will both miss a couple games. Though both teams start off pretty even in the first period of game one, we picked up some momentum at about the midway point, and finally put in the first goal of the game on a PP nearly 15 min in. Almost 20 min later, over halfway through the game, Hilbert gets the second of the game for us and we take the 2-0 lead into the second intermission. The Timberwolves came at us with renewed vigor, and their much faster play resulted in a bad penalty early on for us, which itself turned into a goal for them. They kept the pressure on, forcing us to play on our heels, and soon tied the game 2-2 with just over 5 min to go. Thankfully, we stopped the bleeding and took the game to OT, sadly, we fell asleep in the intermission and they won the game just 1:32 into the OT.

Game two was sort of the opposite of game 1…instead of us dominating play in the first two periods, Twin City did, and took a 3-0 lead into the 2nd OT. In the third, we continued to struggle, but kept them off the scoresheet. Then as the minutes started ticking down, we kicked it into overdrive and notched 2 goals in 15 seconds in the 53rd minute to pull within one goal. With our goalie pulled for an extra guy, and on a PP (6 on 4), we miraculously tied the game with only 13 seconds left, compliments of Glenn Murray!! In OT, it took 7 min to score this time, but Markov got it for the Timberwolves, and we lose game 2 as well.

Shanahan and Pahlsson were back for game 3, the start of our 2 game home-stand, and definitely helped us get the win. Goals from Kopitar, Friesen, and Iginla (2) more than neutralized Twin City’s single goal and we take the game 4-1 (Shanahan and Pahlsson combined for 3 assists).

Game 4 had the same result as game 3…Friesen, G. Murray (2), and Pahlsson scored to give us a 4-1 win. Lupul got a goal early in the 3rd (57 sec in to be precise) to get them within 3-1, then we got two goals in under a minute during the last 4 minutes of the game. Lupul has gotten the Timberwolves only 2 goals in the past two games.

Back in the Twin Cities, we have our closest game yet. Iginla got the first for us on the PP in the first, then the Timberwolves tied it up early in the second. Within 3 min, we took the lead again and kept it. 20 min after their first goal, early in the 3rd, they tied it up once more. Late in the period, Friesen notched his second of the night and secured the game and series for us 3-2.

In game 6, we wrapped up the series with little effort needed. Twin City got the goose-egg and we walked off with a 3-0 victory and a 4-2 series victory…after being down 2-0 originally no less.

[coasterholic14]

Playoffs: Round 2 (vs. Los Angeles Gridlock)

Second round is going to be against the LA Gridlock, a team who dominated the league but couldn’t figure us out. In our 4 regular season games, we took them 2-1-1 and outscored them 16-9…maybe we can do the same here! Unfortunately, just days before the start of the series, Kolzig pulls his groin in practice and will miss the first few games. Now we have to rely on Johnson, who’s inconsistent to say the least…he’s completely boom or bust in any given game. LaCosta gets the EBUG callup until Kolzig is healthy enough to at least keep the bench warm.

Johnson definitely went “boom” in game one, stopping 20 of 21 shots, but what won the game for us was the fact that we didn’t give them many shots, and our 2 for 33 was better than their 1 for 21. Our PK was pretty awesome too, killing 7 of 8 PPs for LA.

Boom in game 1, bust in game 2. Though Johnson isn’t terrible, he lets in 4 goals on 38 shots…but he certainly didn’t lose the game for us. Giving up 3 PP goals on 9 chances and not getting a single goal ourselves is what caused us to lose 4-0. Series now tied 1-1 before we get to come home for the next two games.

Finally, we get a tightly contested game that is quite interesting. We start off completely asleep, and Kwiatowski’s goal in the first minute was a huge wakeup call for us. 12 minutes in, Briere notches our first on the PP, and three minutes later, Lilja makes it 2-1 with another PP goal. Of course, LA won’t be outdone and scores one just a minute later to tie it up at 2. Both teams are determined, resulting in much back and forth play, but nobody can make any headway in the 2nd. In the third, LA gets one to take the lead, and they hold onto it for dear life. But it ain’t over until the fat lady sings, since Briere put one in the back of the net with just 16 seconds to go to tie the game and force OT. Despite our poor playoff OT record thus far, Friesen comes through, and we get a PP goal before the first OT comes to an end…now up 2-1 in the series!

Before game 4, Samsanov and Iginla suffer minor injuries (stubbed finger and a “superficial laceration” believe it or not)…I don’t care, you’re hockey players, suck it up, you’re playing. They didn’t get on the scoresheet, but they didn’t need to, an early goal by Friesen and late insurance goal from Pahlsson sealed the 2-0 victory.

Back in LA for game 5, and facing elimination, things get…interesting. Things start off simple and standard enough, G. Murray gets one in the first and Iginla one 5 min into the second to give us a 2-0 lead. Hejduk then gets a PP marker for LA and we leave the period up 2-1. Apparently, during the intermission, LA had a little “chat” with the refs, insisting they’re given a “fair chance” to extend the series. This results in 6 penalties against us in the third, and LA capitalizes with 2 more PP goals and a bonus goal on a delayed penalty within 13 minutes of the third to take a 4-2 lead. Satisfied with their work, the refs backed off, and Briere surprised them with a one-timer with 2:27 left in the game to get us within one. Shortly after, popular purse collector Sean Avery angrily slashes Samsanov after he stole the puck from him, and the refs are forced to call a penalty against him. Iginla capitalizes on it with just 17 seconds left and sends us into OT. Things get chippy in OT, and who manages to get the GWG…Lilja! Lilja locks up the series 4-1 with the 5-4 victory…on to round 3, can we keep this up?

Between rounds, we resigned the following players:
- Rane Carnegie (1 yr @ $525K)
- Adam Cunningham (1 yr @ $520K)
- Brandon Prust (1 yr @ $495K)

We also signed the following prospects:
- Ray Flynn – LD/RD (USA, 20) – $475K (2 years)
This Season: UCCE—Michigan (50GP, 9G 35A 44PTS, +10, 45 PIM)
GM Report: Flynn is a good sized defenseman who plays a solid two-way game and can hit hard when he wants to. He’s really good defensively, aggressive, and has good speed and strength. He projects to potentially be a depth defenseman at best.

- Craig Morris – RW/LW (USA/CAN, 20) – $475K (2 years)
This Season: UCCE—Michigan (50GP, 21G 15A 36PTS, +9, 56 PIM)
GM Report: He’s rather poor defensively, but he’s fast, agile, relatively strong, determined, and has good stamina. Sadly, that’s about all he brings to the table, probably won’t even succeed in the AHL, but as empty as I am with prospects, I’m willing to give him a shot to see how he pans out.

- Aleksej Repkin – C (RUS, 20) – $475K (2 years)
This Season: Rus-2—Perm (49GP, 9G 12A 21PTS, -9, 34 PIM)
GM Report: Good looking young Russian player, he’s solid on both ends of the ice, and while he isn’t amazing at anything in particular, he also doesn’t have any real weak sides to his game. He could pan out into a 3rd line guy potentially.

- Denis Kazionov – LW (RUS, 20) – $475K (2 years)
This Season: Rus—Tvr (45GP, 4G 5A 9PTS, -6, 30 PIM)
GM Report: Decent enough looking young Russian player, this kid can absolutely take off like a bullet and fly. I’m hoping that that and improvement in his offensive skills could make him a threat to create plays, draw penalties, and just flat out beat his opponents…sounds like a perfect energy line player.

[coasterholic14]

Playoffs: Round 3 (vs. Winnipeg Moose)

Next up in the playoffs, the Winnipeg Moose. We were 3-1 against them in regular season and outscored them 14-10, let’s keep rollin!

Side Note: This Calgary thing was getting ridiculous, so I looked in the save-game editor to see if I could find something that was causing them to PWN everyone. Only thing I found is I accidently gave them a rep of 550 instead of 5500…could that really be what’s making them dominant? Corrected that and I’ll report back on how it goes…

Our first game starts off with an unexpected first goal from Ruutu, but Winnipeg evened it up near the end of the 1st and we went into the locker room tied 1-1. Just over a minute into the second, we crapped out and gave them a SH goal and went down 2-1, we wouldn’t score for most of the period. But with just 47 seconds left, we weren’t going into intermission down, and we tied it up on the PP. In the third, things went terribly wrong, and Winnipeg racked up 3 goals to our 1 to win the game 5-3.

Game two started off with a quick goal by Winnipeg less than 5 minutes into the game. Try as we might, we couldn’t beat Mr. Cam Ward…not even once. As such, we drop game two 1-0, and drop down to 0-2 in the series.

Returning to Seattle, things went much better for us in the third game of the series, with G. Murray and Friesen scoring for us before the midway point of the game for a 2-0 lead. A goal in the second and with just shy of 5 min in the game allowed Winnipeg to tie it up, but Iginla got one with 48 seconds left in the game, and Brewer iced it with an empty netter…we win 4-2 and are only down 2-1 in the series now.

Next game wasn’t too bad to start, down 1-0 after the first, 2-0 after a last minute goal in the second, and got back to 2-1 early in the third. Two goals in the last 6 minutes though from Hossa would give Winnipeg an easy 4-1 victory and 3-1 series lead…looks like our playoff run may soon be coming to an end.

Which it unfortunately did. Netting 4 unanswered goals through the first 35 minutes put us down 4-0. The late 2nd and early 3rd period goals were not enough without a few more, 4-2 final. And we’re out of the playoffs, losing this series 4-1, but hey, we did come in as the 16th (last) team for the playoffs.

Side Note Update: Spokane is currently playing Calgary in the playoffs and not getting destroyed 10-1 as everyone was before...in fact they’re up 3-0 in the series right now, which is more losses than Calgary had all year. How did changing their rep and INCREASING it from 550 to 5500 cause them to not destroy everyone? At least I fixed it so they won’t be so ridiculous next year…I hope *knocks on wood*

[coasterholic14]

End of 2007-2008 Season

AHL Playoffs:
In the first round Spokane was pitted against the New Mexico Rattlers, and despite letting in no less than 3 goals in each game, they also scored no less than 4, and swept the series. Calgary (no surprise) destroyed Thunder Bay in their sweep of that series, Fargo and Dallas won each of their series over Omaha and Billings respectively.

In the Semi-Finals, Spokane faced Dallas, a team that always seems to have their number, but not this year…Spokane took the series in 6 games to move on to the Conference Finals. Their opponent would of course be the Calgary Stampede again, who crushed Fargo in 5 games…yes, despite winning 8-0, 9-1, 5-1, and 7-1, Fargo managed to stomp Calgary 6-0 in game 3.

Note: It was around this time I made the change in Calgary’s reputation, and see the results….

In the hard fought series against Calgary, this year, they wouldn’t be able to relive their glory days from last year and defend their championship. Nope, Spokane upset them in 6 games this year to move on to the Calder Cup Finals! Now they faced the wrath of Quebec, a team located around the same latitude, but on the opposite side of the continent. The Huskies were a very tough team to play, and despite taking the first two on the road, Quebec then took their first two games on the road. They followed that up with wins at home and on the road again to take the series 4-2 No cup for Spokane this year.

NHL Playoffs:
The Eastern Conference saw the Atlanta Resurgens (1) sweep their series over Jacksonville Rivemen (8) in the first round. The Toronto Knights (2) and Washington Patriots (4) took their series relatively easily in just 5 games over the Motor City Mechanics (7) and Montreal Metros (5), and the New York Nationals (3) won their series with the Texas Bandits (6) in just 6 games. So, there were absolutely no upsets in the Eastern Conference this year, nor were there any truly close battles.

In the West, the Winnipeg Moose (4) easily swept the Milwaukee Mavericks (5), and Portland (3) wasn’t really challenged in their 5 game series with the Chicago Express (6). At least Chicago forced game 5 into OT after battling back from a 2-0 deficit facing elimination. The series that was even more exciting than ours against the Twin City Timberwolves (which frankly wasn’t all that exciting), was the battle between LA and the surprisingly sneaky Indiana Hoosiers. Both teams traded home and away wins, with LA’s 5-0 win in game 4 being the only game that wasn’t a 1-goal game. They then won 5-0 again, this time at home, but Indiana won the next 2-1. In game 7, Indiana couldn’t hold on and dropped it 4-1.

In the Semi-Finals in the East, Atlanta had no trouble at all sweeping Montreal by scores of 4-3 (3x) and 4-2 (1x). When New York and Toronto faced off, both teams won their first two games at home, sending them tied 2-2 as they headed back to Tornoto. At that point, both teams traded road wins before Toronto took game 7 by a score of 4-2. On the Western end of things, we surprisingly took LA in 5 games, and thankfully, Winnipeg took Portland in 5 as well. This is awesome because it knocks our rivals out before us, plus, remember how the regular season went? They were 5-1-1 against us

In the Eastern Conference finals, Atlanta was forced to face another Canadian team this year, this time against Toronto. Too bad Montreal put up a better fight last year, it only took 5 games to take the series. Out “West,” we played Winnipeg…Canada didn’t lose this time…

The Stanley Cup Finals pitted the President’s Trophy winners against a somewhat surprising 5th seeded team. After going down 3-0 in the series, Winnipeg made a series and desperate charge for survival, winning the next two games 3-2, getting the GWG with 4 seconds left in game 4, and sending game 5 to OT…but their charge stopped their, and Atlanta took the Stanley Cup in game 6. Cup goes to Atlanta and they still only managed just over 15,000 during the playoffs.

World Championships:
This year, the World Championships are being held in Canada. From Group E, USA, Finland, Slovakia, and Switzerland qualified for playoffs while Canada, Czech Republic, Russia, and Sweden made it through from Group F. Belarus, Ukraine, Norway, and Austria would not make it through, and their WC ended. Germany and Kazakhstan survived the Relegation Group to fight another day, Slovenia and Latvia will have to fight to get back into the tournament again next year.

After a tough 3-2 loss to Sweden in the Semi-Finals, Canada would play the Czech Republic in the Bronze Medal game. Canada had the 1-0 lead into the first, but Czech tied it. Canada then got 2 more in the middle of the period to pull ahead 3-1, but Czech tied it again with two quick ones late in the period. Czech got their first lead of the game halfway through the third, but this time, Canada made the comeback to tie it. With under a minute in the first OT, Jason Arnott scored the GWG for Canada for Bronze.

The Gold medal game between saw the USA facing Sweden. US got the first goal before letting Sweden tie it with 10 sec left in the first, then after getting a goal 15 into the second, the US tied it with just minutes left in the 2nd. From there, Sweden dominated, and took the Gold with a final score of 5-2.

Renewed contracts:-Ryan Oulahen (1 yr @ $475K) – He piled up 55 points his year, that’s double his output of last year, and he accepted a two-way contract, so I’m happy to give him another year.

End of year trophies:
This year, young Anze Kopitar (82GP 27G 47A 74PTS +23 74PIM) was awarded the Calder Memorial Trophy!! Shane O’Brien (81GP 1G 29A 30PTS +31 166PIM 277HITS) was the first runner up, followed by Washington’s Bobby Ryan (78GP 28G 49A 77PTS +28 57PIM). I almost feel like Ryan should have won from points, but I guess other intangibles in Kopitars play (more hits, SB, takeaways, etc) contributed. All three guys were named to the NHL Rookie All-Star Team along with G Taylor Dakers, D Marc Staal, and LW Lukas Kaspar.

Art Ross – Ilya Kovalchuk (MON) note: last year Allison won it for MON
Bill Masterton – Jarret Stoll (JCK)
Calder Memorial – Anze Kopitar (EMC)
Conn Smythe – Michal Handzus (ATL)
Frank J. Selke – Curtis Brown (WSH)
Jack Adams – Bob Hartley (ATL) (2 years in a row)
James Norris Memorial – Bryan McCabe (LA)
Hart Memorial – Joe Thornton (MCM)
King Clancy Memorial – Joe Sakic (EDM)
Lady Byng Memorial – Ilya Kovalchuk (MON)
Lester B. Pearson – Mats Sundin (TWC)
Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard – Ilya Kovalchuk (MON) (2 years in a row)
Vezina – stolen from Mikka for the second year in a row and given to the ever-overrated Matrin Brodeur (JCK)…just proves how realistic this game is, Brodeur even gets overrated and sucked up to on here
William M. Jennings – Mikka Kiprusoff (ATL)
NHL Plus-Minus Award – Milan Hejduk (LA)
Roger Crozier Saving Grace Award – Mikka Kipprusoff (ATL)

In the AHL, Ryan Wilson (22G 42A 64 PTS +11 72 PIM) won the Fred T. Hunt Memorial Trophy for the AHL’s best defenseman.

[coasterholic14]

End of 2007-2008 Season

AHL Playoffs:In the first round Spokane was pitted against the New Mexico Rattlers, and despite letting in no less than 3 goals in each game, they also scored no less than 4, and swept the series. Calgary (no surprise) destroyed Thunder Bay in their sweep of that series, Fargo and Dallas won each of their series over Omaha and Billings respectively.

In the Semi-Finals, Spokane faced Dallas, a team that always seems to have their number, but not this year…Spokane took the series in 6 games to move on to the Conference Finals. Their opponent would of course be the Calgary Stampede again, who crushed Fargo in 5 games…yes, despite winning 8-0, 9-1, 5-1, and 7-1, Fargo managed to stomp Calgary 6-0 in game 3.

Note: It was around this time I made the change in Calgary’s reputation, and see the results….

In the hard fought series against Calgary, this year, they wouldn’t be able to relive their glory days from last year and defend their championship. Nope, Spokane upset them in 6 games this year to move on to the Calder Cup Finals! Now they faced the wrath of Quebec, a team located around the same latitude, but on the opposite side of the continent. The Huskies were a very tough team to play, and despite taking the first two on the road, Quebec then took their first two games on the road. They followed that up with wins at home and on the road again to take the series 4-2 No cup for Spokane this year.

NHL Playoffs:
The Eastern Conference saw the Atlanta Resurgens (1) sweep their series over Jacksonville Rivemen (8) in the first round. The Toronto Knights (2) and Washington Patriots (4) took their series relatively easily in just 5 games over the Motor City Mechanics (7) and Montreal Metros (5), and the New York Nationals (3) won their series with the Texas Bandits (6) in just 6 games. So, there were absolutely no upsets in the Eastern Conference this year, nor were there any truly close battles.

In the West, the Winnipeg Moose (4) easily swept the Milwaukee Mavericks (5), and Portland (3) wasn’t really challenged in their 5 game series with the Chicago Express (6). At least Chicago forced game 5 into OT after battling back from a 2-0 deficit facing elimination. The series that was even more exciting than ours against the Twin City Timberwolves (which frankly wasn’t all that exciting), was the battle between LA and the surprisingly sneaky Indiana Hoosiers. Both teams traded home and away wins, with LA’s 5-0 win in game 4 being the only game that wasn’t a 1-goal game. They then won 5-0 again, this time at home, but Indiana won the next 2-1. In game 7, Indiana couldn’t hold on and dropped it 4-1.

In the Semi-Finals in the East, Atlanta had no trouble at all sweeping Montreal by scores of 4-3 (3x) and 4-2 (1x). When New York and Toronto faced off, both teams won their first two games at home, sending them tied 2-2 as they headed back to Tornoto. At that point, both teams traded road wins before Toronto took game 7 by a score of 4-2. On the Western end of things, we surprisingly took LA in 5 games, and thankfully, Winnipeg took Portland in 5 as well. This is awesome because it knocks our rivals out before us, plus, remember how the regular season went? They were 5-1-1 against us

In the Eastern Conference finals, Atlanta was forced to face another Canadian team this year, this time against Toronto. Too bad Montreal put up a better fight last year, it only took 5 games to take the series. Out “West,” we played Winnipeg…Canada didn’t lose this time…

The Stanley Cup Finals pitted the President’s Trophy winners against a somewhat surprising 5th seeded team. After going down 3-0 in the series, Winnipeg made a series and desperate charge for survival, winning the next two games 3-2, getting the GWG with 4 seconds left in game 4, and sending game 5 to OT…but their charge stopped their, and Atlanta took the Stanley Cup in game 6. Cup goes to Atlanta and they still only managed just over 15,000 during the playoffs.

World Championships:
This year, the World Championships are being held in Canada. From Group E, USA, Finland, Slovakia, and Switzerland qualified for playoffs while Canada, Czech Republic, Russia, and Sweden made it through from Group F. Belarus, Ukraine, Norway, and Austria would not make it through, and their WC ended. Germany and Kazakhstan survived the Relegation Group to fight another day, Slovenia and Latvia will have to fight to get back into the tournament again next year.

After a tough 3-2 loss to Sweden in the Semi-Finals, Canada would play the Czech Republic in the Bronze Medal game. Canada had the 1-0 lead into the first, but Czech tied it. Canada then got 2 more in the middle of the period to pull ahead 3-1, but Czech tied it again with two quick ones late in the period. Czech got their first lead of the game halfway through the third, but this time, Canada made the comeback to tie it. With under a minute in the first OT, Jason Arnott scored the GWG for Canada for Bronze.

The Gold medal game between saw the USA facing Sweden. US got the first goal before letting Sweden tie it with 10 sec left in the first, then after getting a goal 15 into the second, the US tied it with just minutes left in the 2nd. From there, Sweden dominated, and took the Gold with a final score of 5-2.

Renewed contracts:-Ryan Oulahen (1 yr @ $475K) – He piled up 55 points his year, that’s double his output of last year, and he accepted a two-way contract, so I’m happy to give him another year.

End of year trophies:
This year, young Anze Kopitar (82GP 27G 47A 74PTS +23 74PIM) was awarded the Calder Memorial Trophy!! Shane O’Brien (81GP 1G 29A 30PTS +31 166PIM 277HITS) was the first runner up, followed by Washington’s Bobby Ryan (78GP 28G 49A 77PTS +28 57PIM). I almost feel like Ryan should have won from points, but I guess other intangibles in Kopitars play (more hits, SB, takeaways, etc) contributed. All three guys were named to the NHL Rookie All-Star Team along with G Taylor Dakers, D Marc Stall, and LW Lukas Kaspar.

Art Ross – Ilya Kovalchuk (MON) note: last year Allison won it for MON
Bill Masterton – Jarret Stoll (JCK)
Calder Memorial – Anze Kopitar (EMC)
Conn Smythe – Michal Handzus (ATL)
Frank J. Selke – Curtis Brown (WSH)
Jack Adams – Bob Hartley (ATL) (2 years in a row)
James Norris Memorial – Bryan McCabe (LA)
Hart Memorial – Joe Thornton (MCM)
King Clancy Memorial – Joe Sakic (EDM)
Lady Byng Memorial – Ilya Kovalchuk (MON)
Lester B. Pearson – Mats Sundin (TWC)
Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard – Ilya Kovalchuk (MON) (2 years in a row)
Vezina – stolen from Mikka for the second year in a row and given to the ever-overrated Matrin Brodeur (JCK)…just proves how realistic this game is, Brodeur even gets overrated and sucked up to on here
William M. Jennings – Mikka Kiprusoff (ATL)
NHL Plus-Minus Award – Milan Hejduk (LA)
Roger Crozier Saving Grace Award – Mikka Kipprusoff (ATL)

In the AHL, Ryan Wilson (22G 42A 64 PTS +11 72 PIM) won the Fred T. Hunt Memorial Trophy for the AHL’s best defenseman.

[coasterholic14]

2008 NHL Entry Draft

Arizona was the lucky winner of the Draft Lottery this year, moving from 7th overall to 3rd overall, and given how abysmally weak this draft is (half the guys are leftovers from last year), that’s HUGE…you know Boston has got to be widdled after how rough their year was. Even moving back to the 1 pick here is a pretty big dropoff. I go in with the 15th pick of each round, right in the middle, and I also have Jacksonville’s 1st rounder (18th overall), but no second rounder. 3rd round and back look pretty dry…I’ll probably just take a bunch of undrafted project players or something, just not much to work with and nobody on my short list.

Top Five Draft Picks 2008:
1 – Columbus – C Chris Doyle (QMJHL)
2 – Philadelphia – C Patrice Cormier (QMJHL)
3 – Arizona – LW/RW Geordie Wudrick (WHL) [should have gone 1st overall IMO]
4 – Boston – C Kyle Beach (WHL) [see, they could have had Wudrick]
5 – San Jose – LW Danick Hudon-Paquette (QMJHL)

2007 NHL Entry Draft Picks:
1st Round (15th Overall): LD Michael Del Zotto
Age: 17 Height: 6'0" Weight: 194 lbs Nationality: CAN
Current Team: Oshawa Generals (OHL)
Last Season: 66GP, 10G-65A (75PTS), +23, 74 PIM
Projected Role: I wasn’t going to take a defenseman here, as I have more need at the wings, but with two first round picks, and Del Zotto falling from the 11th pick, I couldn’t resist. He’s a solid LD who has a lot of offensive potential, which, if he can live up to it, will serve as a perfect complement to the more defensively-minded Schultz and O’Brien.

1st Round (18th Overall): RW/LW Dale Hunt
Age: 18 Height: 6'0” Weight: 198 lbs Nationality: CAN
Current Team: Prince George Cougars (WHL)
Last Season: 68GP, 39G-37A (76PTS), +25, 68 PIM
Projected Role: I would have taken him earlier, I just hoped and banked he would hold out for a few more picks (originally ranked 13th). He’s got great hands with the puck and a heck of a wrister and has no glaring holes in his game, though his hockey sense is a bit off at times. Last year he only got 3 pts in 28 games, so quite an improvement this year.

3rd Round (75th Overall): C/LW Mike Pelech
Age: 18 Height: 6'4" Weight: 205 lbs Nationality: CAN
Current Team: Barrie Colts (OHL)
Last Season: 51GP, 20G-43A (63PTS), +41, 62 PIM
Projected Role: Originally ranked 128th, I would have normally never taken him this early…the draft is just that thin, and I didn’t want someone else to get one of the few guys I had any interest in, so I took him a bit earlier. He could potentially be a 3rd/4th line player down the road. Great hands, solid physically, big presence, but needs to improve his hockey sense or those tools will be no good.

4th Round (105th Overall): LW Braydon Regier
Age: 17 Height: 6'2" Weight: 176 lbs Nationality: CAN
Current Team: Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL)
Last Season: 70GP, 16G-19A (35PTS), +6, 54 PIM
Projected Role: My scouts give him second line potential, not quite sure I’d go that far though. Still, as weak as the draft is, I’m willing to chance it as I’m not losing anything by taking anyone at this point.

5th Round (135th Overall): RD/LD Grant Scott
Age: 18 Height: 6'4" Weight: 205 lbs Nationality: USA
Current Team: u.s. National Development Team (USHL)
Last Season: 59GP, 15G-44A (59PTS), +37, 78 PIM
Projected Role: His hockey sense overall is quite weak, but he’s determined and has show a lot of improvement in the past year. Last year he got just 2 points and a -4 in his 16 games. I am a bit concerned that he doesn’t use his size at all and rarely hits. With the NTDP though, he might continue to improve.

6th Round (165th Overall): C/LW Ondrej Weiss
Age: 21 Height: 6'1" Weight: 196 lbs Nationality: CZE
Current Team: HC Sparta Praha Jrs (Cze Jr)
Last Season: 22GP, 16G-16A (32PTS), +2, 48 PIM
Projected Role: I don’t usually intentionally draft guys over age 20, because they can usually be picked up shortly after at that point. But again, shallow shallow draft, and Weiss looks pretty good, kind of surprised he wasn’t drafted previously. He could make it as a depth center (or LW since he’s not that great at faceoffs for a center)

7th Round (195th Overall): RW/LW Ryan Toporowski
Age: 19 Height: 6'3" Weight: 185 lbs Nationality: CAN
Current Team: Lethbridge Hurricanes (WHL)
Last Season: 68GP, 14G-20A (34PTS), +12, 166 PIM
Projected Role: Toporowski is a very aggressive young winger. He had 16 fights this year, but only won 3…still, I like his spunk and spark and not afraid of anything, he’s determined, and works hard. Not sure he’s got the talent to make it and develop a lot, at least that’s what my scouts say.

[coasterholic14]

Offseason (2008):

Waiting as long as humanly possible and really scaring me (due to how hard it is to get high-caliber players here right now), Iginla finally accepted my contract extension of $7.4 million/year for the next two years. It’s more than what I would have liked to pay, but he’s proven pretty valuable and I don’t want to risk not being able to sign someone equivalent.

The following players were released or couldn’t reach an extension agreement:
- Mark Flynn (played decent, too many turnovers and not enough other contributions)
- Brent Johnson (tried to sign him but he rejected me…may bring him back depending on what’s available)
- Peter Metcalf (starting to get more prospects, and he wasn’t doing all that great)
- Brendan Shanahan (still a great player, but can’t keep up at age 39)
- Niko Dimitrakos (better options out there for depth)
- Andy Hilbert (had a surprising season last year, played naff like I originally expected this year)
- Jarkko Ruutu (much better and harder hitting options out there)
- Olaf Kolzig (started off great, finished mediocre and on a downturn likely due to age…if there’s nobody else out there I’ll probably try to resign him)

Like last year, my main concern is goaltenders. Ideally I will find a somewhat younger goalie who I can lock up for a few years since I don’t have any real prospects (LaCosta and Gajewski will probably never make it). Schultz, Neal, and Falardeau will probably be playing for me next year unless they get upstaged in preseason or don’t prove worthy, which means I will still need a 4th line LW and 3rd/4th RW, along with prospects.

Talk about abysmal luck…Kolzig retired and the best goalie available out there is Mike Dunham, and he’s playing in Germany so he couldn’t play until next year anyway. I may have to go hard (meaning more than he deserves) after Johnson and another backup and hope they can rotate or one will pan out.

- Chris Osgood – G (CAN, 35) – $1,270,000 (1 year)
Last Season: NHL—Atlanta Resurgens (14GP, 4-6-2, 2.73 GAA, .902 SV%)
GM Report: Well, other than guys playing overseas, Osgood was the BEST option available this year in terms of goalies, and since Kolzig retired, I had to go for him. Despite playing mediocre backup duties the past two years, he’ll probably be my starter…could be a long season unless I work out a trade.

- Turner Stevenson – RW (CAN, 36) - $1,160,000 (1 year)
Last Season: AHL—Carolina Equalizers (80GP 28G 42A 70PTS +0 115PIM)
GM Report: Though he spent last year in the AHL (where he did an outstanding job), the year before he played with Milwaukee and played quite well serving as an energy/checking line player. Good two-way player who can drop the gloves as well.

- Christ Dingman – LW/RW (CAN, 32) - $475K (1 year)
Last Season: AHL—Syracuse Chiefs (79GP 38G 47A 85PTS +21 125PIM)
GM Report: Just like Stevenson, Dingman spent last year in the AHL (where he also did an outstanding job), and just like Stevenson he played quite well serving as an energy/checking line player the year before with the New York Nationals. He’ll probably serve as my primary enforcer.

- Brent Johnson – G (USA, 31) – $690K (1 year)
Last Season: NHL—Emerald City Thunderbirds (27GP, 10-11-3, 3.11 GAA, .879 SV%)
GM Report: He wasn’t as good last year as the year before, but he’s a serviceable backup goaltender who can hold his own. He plays well enough at times to be a starter, but he’s too “boom” or “bust” for that, and he was the only other goalie on the market basically.

[coasterholic14]

Olympics/World Cup

We had a number of our players selected to represent their countries at the World Cup this year.
Finland: Ville Leino
Sweden: Andreas Lilja
Canada: Jarome Iginla
Russia: Sergei Samsanov

Despite holding off a surprising 5-5 tie with Canada, after giving up the 5-3 lead, the US couldn’t muster much else, tying Slovakia and losing to Russia in the round robin. Russia lead the North American group (huh? I didn’t think I changed the DB that much to where Russia moved over here) while Sweden lead the European group, each with 5 points. Most impressive in the round robin was Czech Republic’s 12-1 win over Germany, the only team who didn’t get a point in the round robin. In the Quarter Finals, Sweden destroyed Germany, Finland squeaked past Czech Republic, Slovakia upset the Russians, and Canada beat the USA. Following that, European favorite Sweden got upset by Finland with a late goal to make it a 3-2 game…of course Canada beat Slovakia. In the finals, Canada really capitalized on all the powerplays the refs insisted on giving them, and beat Finland 4-2 for the Gold. It’s a repeat of the Olympics/World Cup from 4 years ago, Canada winning Gold over Finland.

Training Camp

This was again a year where I offered tryouts to a number of overage OHL/WHL/QMJHL guys, as well as a few college grads to see if anyone would fit for further depth.

Ray Flynn is experiencing his first professional hockey outside of college and he’s impressed so far, with 2 goals in his 3 training camp games and an assist in his one preseason game thus far...he’s caught the attention of my staff for sure who are very high on his display in camp. Meanwhile, my 18th overall pick from last year, Dale Hunt, and traded prospect Denis Kazionov have had a pretty abysmal training camp.

Preseason Games

Mother #&#!@#$&0$...mid-way through the preseason, guess what? Shane O’Brien tore his UCL and will be out for the next 4 months. Worse thing is the injury came when tryout player Valeri Dydykin made a slpashot that hit off O’Brien. Thankfully, Schultz looks ready this year and I was already going to give him a roster spot, which would have given us 7 d-men, so he’ll fill in for O’Brien for sure now. Martine’s also been doing a good job in preseason and training camp, and he’s 20, so maybe I’ll sign him for the AHL this year.

Prust played in a handful of preseason games along with James Neal to see who might get that last LW spot and they both battled hard. Prust got a goal and a +2 in his three games, along with a fight against Mikhail Milekhin from Indiana, who he absolutely destroyed despite the guy kind of jumping with a few cheap punches to start. Neal got an assist, +1 and 4 hits in his 3 games. Due to the waiver situation and not wanting to lose him, Neal will probably get the start, since as a 2nd-year pro, he’s exempt. If he doesn’t pan out I can send him down and risk Prust then.

Carnegie had one heck of a game against Indiana as well, getting 2G 2A (3 PP points) in our 8-0 routing of them.

This year we had another solid preseason, going 8-0-0. What really impressed me was that three games in a row, against three different teams, all at home, we came back from a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2…teams got some fight this year, and Osgood and Johnson performed admirably. We really just might end up better than I would have guessed. As a tradition, we finished up against Portland again this year and beat them 4-2.

Also, Ryan Wilson and Ray Flynn stayed with me for the duration of the preseason and both performed very well…nice to know they could serve as potential call-ups in case of injuries.

Next year I’m thinking about doing a Pacific Northwest Tournament or something like that during preseason, including Emerald City Thunderbirds, Portland Meadowlarks, Vancouver Whitecaps, and perhaps the Edmonton Diggers…what do you think?

[coasterholic14]

2008-2009 Season Preview:

Despite my obvious goaltending woes this year, The Hockey News has us penciled in as the #9 team this year, which is great but somewhat surprising. That said, we do have a lot of offensive firepower on the top two lines (even without Shanahan) and I feel my depth is improving if the rookies can keep up.

The top three teams are predicted to be the Milwaukee Mavericks, Toronto Knights (again), and the Washington Patriots. Two-time straight Stanley Cup winner, Atlanta Resurgens, are rated the 6th best team overall. Bottom dwellers this year are the Buffalo Blizzard (a bottom dweller in 06-07), Alaska Bears (struggling the past few years), and Arizona Dust Devils (there’s hockey in Arizona?).

As for the leagues “best players,” we manage a few. Brewer is seen as the #5 defenseman in the league, so long as he doesn’t suffer a major injury and miss over half the season again. On the right side, Jerome Iginla is again seen as the best Right Winger in the league, and Jeff Schultz slots in at #6 on the list of top prospects.

Here’s the final lineup before we open up our season against our rivals in Vancouver, first away and then at home:
S. Samsanov // D. Briere (A) // J. Iginla (C)
J. Friesen // A. Kopitar // G. Murray
J. Neal // M. Ricci (A) // S. Pahlsson
C. Dingman // L. Falardeau // T. Stevenson

E. Brewer // B. Witt
J. Schultz // Z. Michalek
D. Murray // A. Lilja
IR: S. O’Brien (likely taking Murray’s place when he comes back)

Starting Goalie: C. Osgood (despite Johnson being “ranked” higher by my Assistant GM)
Backup: B. Johnson

My Top Prospects:
1. LD Michael Del Zotto (OHL)
2. RW/LW Dale Hunt (WHL)
3. C John Hughes (OHL)
4. C Ville Leino (AHL)
5. LD Jeff Schultz (NHL—graduating)
6. LW/RW James Van Riemsdyk (USHL)
7. C Chris Francis (WHL)
8. C/LW Mike Pelech (OHL)
9. LW James Neal (NHL—graduating)
10. LD/RD Ray Flynn (AHL)
11. C Aleksej Repkin (AHL)
12. RD/LD Ryan Wilson (AHL)
NOTE: N. Martine and J. Vigilante dropped off the list

At some point during the season I hope to give the following guys callus to see how they perform (5 games):
Defense: Ray Flynn, Ryan Wilson
Left Wing: Brandon Prust, John Vigilante
Center: Ville Leino, Ryan Oulahen
Right Wing: Rane Carnegie

[coasterholic14]

October 2008 Review

Started off the season with a nice little victory over Alaska, a team we seem to open every season against. Anyway, we got 4 PPGs in the first, a shorty early in the second, and five more goals in the game to destroy them 10-1. Briere got a hat trick, Iginla got 2 goals and 5 points, Kopitar, Samsanov, and Friesen also got 3 points each. Osgood gave us a scare going out near the end of the game with a potential groin injury (Johnson took over and stopped the remaining 5 shots)…thankfully there was no injury.

We followed that up with a 6-1 win over them the next night, again thanks to 4 powerplay goals…could end up being a great season after all if we keep it up! Briere got his 200th (and 201st) goal of the game, Lilja got his 100th point of the game. A few days later, Witt surpasses his 800th NHL game played.

In mid-October, Thunderbird prospect Dale Hunt is named WHL Player of the Week with 4G 4A in 3GP. Unfortunately, Schultz suffers a hip injury around the same time and will be out for 3 weeks. Oreskovic has been playing really well to start the season, so I’m giving him the first shot for maybe 3-4 games. At the same time, my defensive prospect Grant Scott goes down for a month…I think I’m cursed…

Schultz was named NHL Rookie of the Month despite only getting to play 6 games before his injury, but he had 4A and a +4 along with 13 hits in those games.

Ending the month 7-3-1 for 15 points, we sit 2nd in the conference, 5th in the NHL (due to leading the division). Toronto, Washington, and San Jose lead the season at this early stage, Boston, Texas, and Alaska (two familiar names there) are at the bottom for now. Our biggest issues thus far are our PK (our PP is first in the league…PK near the back), and inconsistent goaltending. Both goalies are boom or bust right now, and neither has above an .890 SV%. Briere has 22 points in 11 games right now, Samsanov, Iginla, Friesen, Kopitar, and Murray each have over a point-per-game right now.

My complete lack of goalie prospects and depth is starting to hurt Spokane. Gajewski really isn’t ready (though they keep playing him), so I sent him down to Idaho in the ECHL, LaCosta has been quite disappointing…he’s just not using his skills like he could. As a result, they are 4-4-1 for 9 points, 5th in the division, tied for 16th in the league.

[coasterholic14]

November 2008 Review

Third game of the month marks Friesen’s 600th NHL point after he scored 2 goals in our 4-3 loss to the Milwaukee Mavericks.

Few days before the middle of the month and guess what? …Another defenseman gets injured. This time, Brendan Witt goes down for 3 weeks with hip flexor strain, much like O’Brien’s. O’Brien should be back shortly, I hope, and Flynn’s (10GP 3G 6A 9PTS +4 14PIM 34 HITS) been outstanding in Spokane so he’s getting the callup for now.

Right as we hit the middle of November, it’s not going well. After a 6-1 thrashing by Edmonton, we drop below the .500 mark, and Osgood has been awful…even worse than Johnson. That’s right, my backup for the past two years is currently my better goalie, not a good situation. I’ll try all I can at this point to get a decent starting goalie, even if I have to give up a first round pick (something I’ve NEVER done before). Osgood has almost 4GAA, and a sub-.950 SV%, and hasn’t had a game over .900 in over a month. I knew he wouldn’t be great, I didn’t think he’d be an embarrassing joke to the league. With a halfway competent goalie, we could easily be a top team with as much as we were scoring at the beginning of the season, but when you’re goalie’s giving up 4-6 per night, why bother trying?

Within days, I’m able to negotiate a trade for a more competent goalie…not quite full-time starter, but leaps and bounds over Osgood:

To Emerald City Thunderbirds
- G Brian Boucher

To Buffalo Blizzard:
- G Chris Osgood
- EMC 2009 7th Round Pick
- Rights to C/LW Mike Pelech

I hate giving up rights to a prospect, but I’ve got some decent center prospects already, and it’s probably my deepest position in that respect. Plus I offload Osgood, who frankly I’d take a bag of used pucks for, and a 7th round pick this year…aka a “likely never going to make it” project player in the draft. In return I get Brian Boucher, who has only played 28 games over the past 2+ seasons, but is 11-9-1 with over a .902 SV% each year…I’ll take it. Good riddance Osgood.

Noticing that Spokane hasn’t won a single game this month, mostly due to abysmal goaltending (it runs in the system I suppose)…I traded for a better young goalie than LaCosta, who’s far worse than I thought he’d be:

To Emerald City Thunderbirds
- G Jimmy Howard

To Buffalo Blizzard:
- G Dan LaCosta
- Rights to LW/RW Janne Pesonen

LaCosta was playing awful (2-5-2 3.84GAA .853SV%), Howard on the other hand has already proven himself a worthy AHL starter, and is a longshot to possibly make it further. Pesonen just helped sweetin the deal because they were interested, I was not…


Suddenly the media have taken notice of my team, praising Jerome Iginla, and rightfully so. At the same time however, some radio talk show host suddenly thinks he knows what it takes to be a GM and says if he were in my position, he’d be getting rid of Pahlsson. Now Pahlsson certainly isn’t a star or my best player, but 5 points in 21 games, 35 hits, minimal giveaways, and 19 blocked shots isn’t half bad for my 3rd/4th line checking guy. I stuck up for him with the media, but he still requested a move to “avoid the media spotlight.” I basically told him I disagreed with them and he needs to suck it up and just keep playing.

My 3rd line of J. Neal, M. Ricci, and S. Pahlsson has been pretty poor overall, so I’m swapping Stevenson and Pahlsson, and sending Neal back to the AHL, calling up Prust in his place.

In the Canada-Russia Challenge, most of my prospects have been seeing limited time, and even more limited points…until the WHL All-Stars destroyed Russia 11-1. Toporowski got 3 assists, a +2, and first star of the game, while Regier got a goal, an assist, and a +3…none to shabby.

Sergei Samsanov got NHL Offensive Player of the Week for the last week of November, with an impressive 3G and 3A in just 2 games.

We finish out November with a 4-8-1 record on the month…not very pretty at all. As a result, we stand 11-11-2 for 24 points, 2nd in the division by 3 points, in a 3-way tie for 9th in the Conference and for 19th in the league. On the upside, we’ve won 3 of our last 4 games, and other than an abysmal first game in which Boucher let in 3 goals on just 5 shots, he’s let in just 8 in the last 4 games on 89 shots. He’s still getting back into game shape though, so some rust is understandable, he’s still tons better than “he who shall not be named.” Our depth scoring this year hasn’t been nearly as deep, most notably Ricci has been rather awful at times, but we have 6 guys with over a point-per-game…Iginla (24GP 18G 14A 32PTS) leads the way.

Toronto, Washington, Jacksonville, and LA lead the league at the moment, with Toronto having 41 points out front…most of those are becoming common names amongst the league’s top teams. Sitting at the bottom of the league, 26th-30th, are (no surprises here) Portland, Buffalo, Philly, Alaska, and Boston (13 points).

Spokane, who lost their first 6 games of the month, finished up winning 5 of their last 6 after LaCosta was traded for Jimmy Howard. Like us, they’re right at the .500 mark with a 10-10-3 record, 23 points good for 5th in the division (1 point out of 3rd), 15th overall. This year’s dominant team is Thunder Bay, who are 19-2-1 with 39 points. Previous dominator Calgary is 5th at 16-7-1.

[coasterholic14]

December 2008 Review

To start off the month, Brewer hits NHL point number 200, while 2nd year youngster Anze Kopitar (26 points in 25 games this year) hits 100 already. Also, Witt is back!! Flynn did well in his 9 game callup, but yea, he’s not really NHL ready yet obviously. A few days later, Friesen hits game 1000 and Witt hits 1500 PIM!

Our first game of the season against Portland. We remained tied through half the game before Pronger got one 33 min to take a 1-0 lead…A goal 1 min later gave them a 2-0 lead, but we got one of our own just a minute and a half later to make it 2-1. That’s all she wrote though, combined 3 goals in 2.5 minutes, lost it 2-1 final.

Just past the mid-way point we get a couple more milestones…in our 3-1 loss to Edmonton, Iginla hits his 900th game, Michalek his 300th. Leino als gets named AHL Player of the week for his 1G 4A in 2 games. In our next game against them, we win 5-2…it’s Samsanov’s 700th contest, and Iginla’s assist gives him 400 in his career.

Since we picked up Boucher, things have been going much better, 9-5-0 isn’t too shabby given where we were before. That gives us a 20-16-2 record for 42 points so far this year, that tops our division (1 ahead of Vancouver, 2 ahead of Edmonton) and puts us in 3rd in the conference and 6th in the NHL (though by points we’d be 8th in the Conference, 16th in the league). Washinton has taken over the top spot, and with Jacksonville and LA faltering some lately, Carolina has moved into second while Montreal and Arizona are tied for 3rd (Toronto is tied for 3rd in points but 2nd in their division). Colorado, Philly, and, of course, Boston stink up the league.

The goalie trading has also benefitted Spokane, 9-3-2 last month, and drastically improving to 18-13-4 overall, tied for 3rd in the division (6 points behind first place Billings), and 10th in the league (17 points behind Fargo and Thunder Bay). Leino was huge for Spokane this month, piling up 7G and 21A in 14 games…that’s right, 2-points-per-game average. His 51 points are second in the AHL, only one point behind Tim Konsorada.

[coasterholic14]

January 2009 Review

World Junior U20 Championships

This year, Group A consisted of Czech Republci, Finland, Russia, Slovakia, and Slovenia, while Group B saw Canada, Latvia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the USA. Canada, of course, faced little trouble getting a bye to the semi-finals, though a 4-4 tie against the USA in their first game had many doubting that would happen; Russia would be the other team to get a free pass to the Semis. Slovenia, Czech Republic, Latvia, and Switzerland fell to the Relegation league, where Czech Republic and Switzerland won out, dropping Slovenia and Latvia out to play their way back in next year. Czech didn’t even win a game in the Relegation Playoffs, but their 0-0-3 record tied Slovenia’s 1-1-1 record in points, and their 9GF 9GA was one better than Slovenia’s 8GF 9GA.

In the Semi-Finals, USA dropped 5-3 to Russia, giving up 2 SH goals in the game, moving Russia on to the Gold Medal game, and Canada destroyed Slovakia 7-1 to face them. In the Bronze Medal game, USA played like absolute rubbish, and got upset, upstaged, and shutout 4-0 to Slovakia. Playing for the Gold, Canada struck first and never looked back, taking the game 3-1 and winning their 5th straight Gold Medal…will anyone ever be able to knock them off?

January 2009 Review

Time for our second game of the year against Portland…sadly this one didn’t go very well either. We gave up 3 goals in 6 minutes around the middle of the second period and lost 3-0…in front of a sold-out crowd…and Portland is ranked 12th in the Conference right now

After beating Alaska 3-2 a couple days later, it was off to Portland for game 3 of this year’s series. Iginla got the ball rolling with a PP goal in the first, but Dvorak matched him a bit later to tie the game at one apiece. Just 17 seconds later, G. Murray notched a goal of his own, with Falardeau and Kopitar getting goals just 3 and 4 min later (exactly) to give us a comfy 4-1 lead at the end of the first. In the second, Murray got another, and Friesen got on the board, giving us a super fluffy, ultra plush 6-1 lead after 40 minutes. Portland got 2 PP goals in the last 10 minutes, but 6-3 was as close as they’d get tonight. It was Iginla’s 800th game BTW…nice way to celebrate with 3 points.

The last game of the month mark’s Brewer’s 600th, ending our month with a 7-5-1 record, an improvement over the start of our season. Overall, we are27-21-3 for 57 points, which puts us atop our division and 3rd in the conference as a result (6th in the league)…though we’re tied with Vancouver, we have a game in hand which gives us the tie-breaker. Going by points/record alone, we’d be 8th in the conference, 16th in the league…still. Boucher (27GP 16-10-1 2.59GAA .902SV%) has been solid for us with really just a few occasional hiccup/abysmal games that bring down his stats slightly. Toronto has climbed back to the top of the league, with Milwaukee and Carolina right on their tails. Alaska, Boston, and Philly are still rubbish.

Spokane wasn’t nearly as hot this month, and as a result are 24-18-4 with 52 points…that’s 1 spot from being out of the playoffs, but 7 points behind first. They’re 11th overall, while Fargo leads the league with 75 points, trailed by Thunder Bay and Michigan. Erie Phantoms are in a hole of total suck, at 8-29-8. I hope they’re ready and charged this month, playing 14 games in the short 28-day month.

[coasterholic14]

Sorry about the delay...I meant to make another post before I left but I was away last weekend and had a business trip this week. Anyway, back in business, the updates should continue daily or every other day as I remember (since I'm actually about a year ahead of what I'm posting).

December 2008 Review

To start off the month, Brewer hits NHL point number 200, while 2nd year youngster Anze Kopitar (26 points in 25 games this year) hits 100 already. Also, Witt is back!! Flynn did well in his 9 game callup, but yea, he’s not really NHL ready yet obviously. A few days later, Friesen hits game 1000 and Witt hits 1500 PIM!

Our first game of the season against Portland. We remained tied through half the game before Pronger got one 33 min to take a 1-0 lead…A goal 1 min later gave them a 2-0 lead, but we got one of our own just a minute and a half later to make it 2-1. That’s all she wrote though, combined 3 goals in 2.5 minutes, lost it 2-1 final.

Just past the mid-way point we get a couple more milestones…in our 3-1 loss to Edmonton, Iginla hits his 900th game, Michalek his 300th. Leino als gets named AHL Player of the week for his 1G 4A in 2 games. In our next game against them, we win 5-2…it’s Samsanov’s 700th contest, and Iginla’s assist gives him 400 in his career.

Since we picked up Boucher, things have been going much better, 9-5-0 isn’t too shabby given where we were before. That gives us a 20-16-2 record for 42 points so far this year, that tops our division (1 ahead of Vancouver, 2 ahead of Edmonton) and puts us in 3rd in the conference and 6th in the NHL (though by points we’d be 8th in the Conference, 16th in the league). Washinton has taken over the top spot, and with Jacksonville and LA faltering some lately, Carolina has moved into second while Montreal and Arizona are tied for 3rd (Toronto is tied for 3rd in points but 2nd in their division). Colorado, Philly, and, of course, Boston stink up the league.

The goalie trading has also benefitted Spokane, 9-3-2 last month, and drastically improving to 18-13-4 overall, tied for 3rd in the division (6 points behind first place Billings), and 10th in the league (17 points behind Fargo and Thunder Bay). Leino was huge for Spokane this month, piling up 7G and 21A in 14 games…that’s right, 2-points-per-game average. His 51 points are second in the AHL, only one point behind Tim Konsorada.

[coasterholic14]

January 2009 Review

World Junior U20 Championships

This year, Group A consisted of Czech Republci, Finland, Russia, Slovakia, and Slovenia, while Group B saw Canada, Latvia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the USA. Canada, of course, faced little trouble getting a bye to the semi-finals, though a 4-4 tie against the USA in their first game had many doubting that would happen; Russia would be the other team to get a free pass to the Semis. Slovenia, Czech Republic, Latvia, and Switzerland fell to the Relegation league, where Czech Republic and Switzerland won out, dropping Slovenia and Latvia out to play their way back in next year. Czech didn’t even win a game in the Relegation Playoffs, but their 0-0-3 record tied Slovenia’s 1-1-1 record in points, and their 9GF 9GA was one better than Slovenia’s 8GF 9GA.

In the Semi-Finals, USA dropped 5-3 to Russia, giving up 2 SH goals in the game, moving Russia on to the Gold Medal game, and Canada destroyed Slovakia 7-1 to face them. In the Bronze Medal game, USA played like absolute rubbish, and got upset, upstaged, and shutout 4-0 to Slovakia. Playing for the Gold, Canada struck first and never looked back, taking the game 3-1 and winning their 5th straight Gold Medal…will anyone ever be able to knock them off?

January 2009 Review

Time for our second game of the year against Portland…sadly this one didn’t go very well either. We gave up 3 goals in 6 minutes around the middle of the second period and lost 3-0…in front of a sold-out crowd…and Portland is ranked 12th in the Conference right now

After beating Alaska 3-2 a couple days later, it was off to Portland for game 3 of this year’s series. Iginla got the ball rolling with a PP goal in the first, but Dvorak matched him a bit later to tie the game at one apiece. Just 17 seconds later, G. Murray notched a goal of his own, with Falardeau and Kopitar getting goals just 3 and 4 min later (exactly) to give us a comfy 4-1 lead at the end of the first. In the second, Murray got another, and Friesen got on the board, giving us a super fluffy, ultra plush 6-1 lead after 40 minutes. Portland got 2 PP goals in the last 10 minutes, but 6-3 was as close as they’d get tonight. It was Iginla’s 800th game BTW…nice way to celebrate with 3 points.

The last game of the month mark’s Brewer’s 600th, ending our month with a 7-5-1 record, an improvement over the start of our season. Overall, we are27-21-3 for 57 points, which puts us atop our division and 3rd in the conference as a result (6th in the league)…though we’re tied with Vancouver, we have a game in hand which gives us the tie-breaker. Going by points/record alone, we’d be 8th in the conference, 16th in the league…still. Boucher (27GP 16-10-1 2.59GAA .902SV%) has been solid for us with really just a few occasional hiccup/abysmal games that bring down his stats slightly. Toronto has climbed back to the top of the league, with Milwaukee and Carolina right on their tails. Alaska, Boston, and Philly are still rubbish.

Spokane wasn’t nearly as hot this month, and as a result are 24-18-4 with 52 points…that’s 1 spot from being out of the playoffs, but 7 points behind first. They’re 11th overall, while Fargo leads the league with 75 points, trailed by Thunder Bay and Michigan. Erie Phantoms are in a hole of total suck, at 8-29-8. I hope they’re ready and charged this month, playing 14 games in the short 28-day month.

[coasterholic14]

February 2009 Review

Ville Leino (PlanetUSA) and Ryan Wilson (Canada) were called upon to play in the AHL All-Star Game, where they combined for an impressive 0G 0A -1 in PlanetUSA’s 8-5 victory…

In the NHL All-Star Game, Iginla played pretty poorly for the West, getting no points and a -2 in the West’s 9-6 loss to the East.

February 11th is a BIG day in for us, we won our game against Carolina 6-2 and had a bunch of players reach milestones in the game…Iginla gets his 400th NHL goal…Briere gets his 300th assist…G. Murray got his 400th assist (got 4 in the game)…O’Brien skated in his 100th NHL game…next game Samsanov got his 600th point.

Nearing the end of the month, we approach game against Portland, currently down 2-1 in the series. Portland strikes first at home with the only goal in the first period, but we’re able to tie it up early on in the second. It then took until the 14th minute of the second period for anyone else to score and G. Murray made it 2-1 for us! Sadly, Mr. D. Sedin tied it up just 13 seconds later, and the period would end in a tie. It remained a very tight period, but an unexpected goal from d-man Brendan Witt gave us the GWG with less than 4 minutes in the game to tie the series! Murray got his 800th point in the game.

We finish out the month with a 7-5-2 record…almost identical to last month. Now at 34-26-5, we still top the division (by 3 points) and sit 3rd in the conference as a result, though by points alone we’d be 7th in the Conference, 14th overall. Atlanta is living up the their Resurgen name, and have come from nowhere to take the lead league back for the first time this year (ok, maybe not from nowhere, but they weren’t among the top 5 yet this year). Behind them are Washington, Toronto, and LA…pretty typical. Boston and Philly still suck, but Alaska has improved to 23rd now…in their place is the plummeting Kansas City Mohawks.

Down in the AHL, Spokane set the league on fire last month at 12-0-2…not a single regulation loss in the entire month. That puts them 6 points out in the front of their division at 35-19-6 overall, but they’re still 21 points behind the first place Fargo Freeze.

[coasterholic14]

Season Finale 2009:

First day of the month we faced Portland once again, this time at home. Dumont again go the first goal of the game for Portland, and the only goal of the first period, on the powerplay. In the second, we got two early goals 38 seconds apart to take the lead, but a penalty shot for Gagner allowed Portland to tie it 2-2 before the period ended. In the third, we fell apart, and our PK was awful, as they notched two more on the PP plus another (and another from us)…we lost it 5-3. Guess next time I’ll stick with Boucher in net as Johnson’ been awful in his only 3 starts in over the past month. The far worse news is that Iginla got injured during the game and will be out for the next 2 weeks with a hip flexor strain…Carnegie will be brought up through waivers and given a shot on the 2nd or 3rd line more than likely.

Mid-March has hit and I just got word that Ville Leino was named AHL Player of the Week after getting an impressive 3 Goals and 7 Assists in just 3 games (that’s right, 3 points per game). He also hit his milestone 200th AHL point in just his second season, and currently has 34G 66A (100 PTS) in 63 games this season…he’ll definitely be in my lineup next year if not later this year.

Playing Portland again right at the middle of the month…goals from Samsanov, Friesen, and Murray gave us a 3-0 lead by the middle of the game. Portland’s shorthanded goal early in the 3rd was their only goal of the game, and Briere made it 4-1 with a PP goal just a few minutes later. Tied the series back up once again at 3 apiece! On a side note: Atlanta and Washington just locked up the first two playoff spots.

With Ricci going down for 2 weeks with a fractured wrist, Leino will get the call-up. Iginla is back in the lineup now though, so Carnegie will go back to Spokane, he had a solid 3 assists and 12 hits in 9 games…none too shabby for an undrafted player.

John Hughes got named OHL Player of the Month for March after piling up 9G 9A in just 9 games.

Two of our final three games are against Portland (the last is against Alaska)…we’re currently tied 3-3 in the series, and 1 point ahead of them for the division lead. We get off to a fast and outstanding start in the first game, with a goal from Iginla and two straight from Kopitar, giving us a strong 3-0 lead into the second period. Portland comes out ready to play in the second and get themselves on the board later in the period to pull within two. In the third, they start playing a bit more desperately, and we start going into “prevent defense” and playing to “not lose”…needless to say, in the last 10 min Portland wears us down and gets two to tie it and head to OT. There, it doesn’t take long for Sullivan to lock the game up for Portland. Now we’re tied in points, but we still hold the tie-breaker with one extra win…the next game WILL give one of us the position definitively.

After that game Ricci was ready for action, so Leino (8GP 1G 0A -1 10PIM) was sent back down…I’m a bit surprised at how much he struggled considering he has 205 points in 141 AHL games. Possibly just needs a bit more ice time than the 3rd line minutes he was getting? Of course his linemates were Prust (struggling as much as Neal but I’m not as worried about “ruining” his development) and Stevenson (solid checker, not scorer), so he didn’t have much offensive firepower to work with.

We swapped it up and put Johnson in tonight, since Boucher’s been having a few off games lately and Johnson hasn’t gotten a start in a couple weeks. Things started off well, with a shocking goal from enforcer C. Dingman just 2 minutes in, before the teams swapped goals as the period wore on, giving us a 2-1 lead going into intermission. In the second, Johnson was late getting back from the locker room, as Portland easily batted in 2 goals in the first 5 minutes and kept the 3-2 lead until the next intermission. Again Johnson was late getting back on the ice and in the game, and it took just 1 minute for Portland to get a 4-2 lead in the third. A valiant effort by Kopitar to get us within a goal just 2 min later should have gotten us going again, but it didn’t and we dropped the game 4-3, and the series 5-3, and the division 1st to 2nd, and the conference 3rd to 7th…

With our destructive 8-3 victory, we lock up a playoff spot in our last game. On a side, note, I’m trying to resign some players but either nobody want’s to resign and play or nobody has any clue what they deserve, because nobody has an asking price…

Our season ends at 42-33-7 for 91 points (8-7-2 for the last month and change), which dropped us to third in the division (2 points behind Portland and losing the tie-breaker to Vancouver), 8th in the Conference, and 15th overall…smack dab in the middle of it all. Washington finished strong to win the President’s Trophy with 116 points, just 4 more than reigning two-time champs Atlanta and perpetual top-finisher LA. Bringing up the rear were Columbus (again), Boston (again), and Philly (again). Don’t forget Buffalo, Kansas City, and Alaska down at the lower end as well. Murray (82GP 44G 49A 93PTS) led the team in points, with Iginla(74GP 41G 47A 88PTS) and Briere (82GP 30G 53A 83PTS) at over a point-per-game. The second line of Samsanov, Kopitar, and Friesen each finished with nearly a point per game at 79, 81, and 79 respectively. Dingman won 19 of his 26 fights, Stevenson 8 of 11, and rookie Prust won 2 of 8 (after losing his first 6). Witt made a lot of turnovers, but also had lots of hits and takeaways, while Lilja was downright embarrassing with 87 giveaways in 72 games. Both will likely not get a contract extension from me. Our average attendance increased for the third straight season reaching 17,285…a sellout is only a few hundred higher at 17,565. Looks like hockey in Seattle is safe for quite some time with this kind of support!

Spokane finished 48-24-8 for 104 points, topping their division and finishing 6th overall in the AHL. Fargo beat all other competitors with a 66-13-1 record, Erie stunk it up with their 14-56-10 record, 10 points behind 26th (California), 21 points behind 25th (Oklahoma City).

Renewed the following contract before playoffs:
- James Neal (1yr @ $475K) – while he struggled a bit during his 27 NHL games this year, he still has a lot of potential and had 65 points in 52 AHL games…so he’s dominant there. I’m more than willing to give him another year or two

[coasterholic14]

Playoffs: Round 1 (vs. Los Angeles Gridlock)

Last in the conference we face the top-seeded Los Angeles Gridlock in round 1, who beat us 2-1-1 and outscored us 14-9 this season. We also start without Brewer, who sustained a small injury in a post-season practice.

Fist game was on the road in LA, and it was a rough start. After getting an unassisted goal from Matvichuk in the first, H. Sedin made it 2-0 with 51 seconds left in the first. Another goal midway through the game made it 3-0 after two periods. We fought back with a goal from Pahlsson and a great effort from Kopitar shorthanded, but we couldn’t close the gap and lost our first outing 3-2.

Game two saw both teams playing a very tight defensive game. Shots ended up deciding the winner and being outshot 31 to 22, the odds favored LA. Bure got the lone goal near the end of the second, unassisted. Down 2-0 before heading home for the next two games.

Back home, we took an early penalty, resulting in an early goal for LA and an early lead, but we drew a penalty midway through that allowed us to tie it up. In the second, Michalek got a goal of his own, unassisted, but LA was able to tie it up before the second ended. In the third, we got deparate, and halfway through, we took the lead back, thanks to a powerplay marker from Kopitar. Briere iced it with 22 seconds left on the empty net, and we win 4-2.

Finally, we start off a game pretty hot, getting goals from Iginla and Kopitar (PP) to take a 2-0 lead in under 6 minutes. LA tightens things up defensively, and we do what we can to prevent their offense, keeping it scoreless in the second. Early in the third, a PP marker gets them within 1, and another PP goal halfway through allows them to tie it up. Kopitar comes through again, getting the GWG with under 4 minutes, Stevenson locks up the EN goal and we win again 4-2, at home again, and tie the series before heading back to LA.

On the road, LA is able to get the only goal in the first, but we shake it off and get two goals in 30 seconds very early in the second period to take the lead. We hold that lead for most of the period, but we think the period is over early and with just 8 seconds, it’s tied at 2 apiece. The third is a back and forth game, but LA is the one to break through this time, and they pound in the empty netter to win 4-2.

…Heading back home, down 3-2, we play to prevent elimination. Ricci and Friesen get goals at opposite ends of the first period, and that’s all it takes to win. Our defense prevents them from getting any good chances and we shut them out 2-0, forcing game 7. So far, the home team has won every game…and now we head back to LA.

Hedjuk is first to score in the game, giving LA the 1-0 lead after the first period, but we get one 1:17 into the second to tie it, both goals coming on the PP. Just past 32 minutes in, Carcillo gives LA the lead back, but at 34 even, Prust, of all players, ties it up, and the second ends in a 2-2 tie. G. Murray then gives us our firs tlead of the game just 44 seconds in as we try and hold off LA’s onslaught, but Lecavalier ties it up less than 4 minutes later. The next goal would be the winner, and with just 4 minutes left, Todd White would be the hero for LA to give them the 4-3 win, in the game and series. Our playoff hopes dashed early this year.

[coasterholic14]

Playoffs: Round 1 (vs. Los Angeles Gridlock)

Last in the conference we face the top-seeded Los Angeles Gridlock in round 1, who beat us 2-1-1 and outscored us 14-9 this season. We also start without Brewer, who sustained a small injury in a post-season practice.

Fist game was on the road in LA, and it was a rough start. After getting an unassisted goal from Matvichuk in the first, H. Sedin made it 2-0 with 51 seconds left in the first. Another goal midway through the game made it 3-0 after two periods. We fought back with a goal from Pahlsson and a great effort from Kopitar shorthanded, but we couldn’t close the gap and lost our first outing 3-2.

Game two saw both teams playing a very tight defensive game. Shots ended up deciding the winner and being outshot 31 to 22, the odds favored LA. Bure got the lone goal near the end of the second, unassisted. Down 2-0 before heading home for the next two games.

Back home, we took an early penalty, resulting in an early goal for LA and an early lead, but we drew a penalty midway through that allowed us to tie it up. In the second, Michalek got a goal of his own, unassisted, but LA was able to tie it up before the second ended. In the third, we got deparate, and halfway through, we took the lead back, thanks to a powerplay marker from Kopitar. Briere iced it with 22 seconds left on the empty net, and we win 4-2.

Finally, we start off a game pretty hot, getting goals from Iginla and Kopitar (PP) to take a 2-0 lead in under 6 minutes. LA tightens things up defensively, and we do what we can to prevent their offense, keeping it scoreless in the second. Early in the third, a PP marker gets them within 1, and another PP goal halfway through allows them to tie it up. Kopitar comes through again, getting the GWG with under 4 minutes, Stevenson locks up the EN goal and we win again 4-2, at home again, and tie the series before heading back to LA.

On the road, LA is able to get the only goal in the first, but we shake it off and get two goals in 30 seconds very early in the second period to take the lead. We hold that lead for most of the period, but we think the period is over early and with just 8 seconds, it’s tied at 2 apiece. The third is a back and forth game, but LA is the one to break through this time, and they pound in the empty netter to win 4-2.

…Heading back home, down 3-2, we play to prevent elimination. Ricci and Friesen get goals at opposite ends of the first period, and that’s all it takes to win. Our defense prevents them from getting any good chances and we shut them out 2-0, forcing game 7. So far, the home team has won every game…and now we head back to LA.

Hedjuk is first to score in the game, giving LA the 1-0 lead after the first period, but we get one 1:17 into the second to tie it, both goals coming on the PP. Just past 32 minutes in, Carcillo gives LA the lead back, but at 34 even, Prust, of all players, ties it up, and the second ends in a 2-2 tie. G. Murray then gives us our firs tlead of the game just 44 seconds in as we try and hold off LA’s onslaught, but Lecavalier ties it up less than 4 minutes later. The next goal would be the winner, and with just 4 minutes left, Todd White would be the hero for LA to give them the 4-3 win, in the game and series. Our playoff hopes dashed early this year.

[coasterholic14]

End of 2008-2009 Season

AHL Playoffs:
Spokane wound up finishing 48-24-8 for 104 points, topping their division and finishing 6th overall. Fargo took the league at 66-13-1 just three points ahead of Thunder Bay (130 pts), but 14 ahead of 3rd place Michigan.

In the first round Spokane was pitted against the Dallas Outlaws, quickly becoming one of their biggest rivals and a huge thorn in their side. The teams swapped wins before Spokane won both on the road to get a 3-1 advantage. Dallas then won the next two and forced a game 7, which Spokane took 4-2. Calgary (no surprise) swept St. Cloud without any real struggle, Billings beat New Mexico 4-2, and Thunder Bay nearly gave up their 3-1 series lead over Calgary, but won it in game 7 by a lopsided score of 5-1.

In the East, Cleveland beat Michigan 4-1, Florida beat Richmond 4-2, and Syracuse beat Portland (Maine) 4-2 as well. Following the trend of 3-1 leads, Quebec got stomped 6-0 and lost 4-2 allowing Hamilton to tie the series, but then won game 7 with a goal 10 min into the game, the only goal scored.

In the Conference Semi-Final, Spokane faced the Billings Bulls, a series they lost 4-2 despite having a 3-1 lead with only 10 minutes left in game 6…they gave up 3 goals in the last 10 to lose the game 4-3 and crush their cup hopes. Thunder Bay and Fargo, the two best teams in the league this year, faced each other next…and Fargo got completely upset 4-2…nobody expected them to lose after the season they had. On the other side, Florida won their series against Cleveland 4-2. The other series saw Quebec and Syracuse battling, with Quebec taking a 3-1 lead, however, Syracuse only let 4 goals in over the final three games, and came back to take the series 4-3.

The Western Conference Finals saw Thunder Bay destroy Billings without lifting a finger, as they outscored them 16-3 in their 4-0 sweep. The battle between Syracuse and Florida was much closer. Syracuse won 4-3, then lost 7-3, then won 6-3, then lost 4-3, then swapped low-scoring victories, before taking Florida 7-4 in game 7.

The Calder Cup Final game would be Thunder Bay IceDogs, #2 team in the league, vs. Syracuse Chiefs (#4 in league, #2 in East). Sadly for Syracuse, they had no chance, and got taken out 4-1, their only victory a stunning 3-1 comeback that they took 5-4.

NHL Playoffs:
The Eastern Conference saw the Washington Patriots (1) knock out the Motor City Mechanics (8) in just 5 games, though Motor City forced OT in the last two games. The Atlanta Resurgens (2) swept the New York Nationals (7), and Montreal (4) took their series relatively easily in just 5 games over the Carolina Equalizers (5). Toronto had an exciting series against Jacksonville, which saw several games with multiple goals scored in the 3rd as the teams alternated victories…Toronto won though.

In the West, LA (1) managed to knock us (8) out in 7 games. The other three series saw Milwaukee Mavericks (2) beat Vancouver Whitecaps (7), Portland Meadowlarks (3) knock out Indiana Hoosiers (6), and the Chicago Express (4) beat the Twin City Timberwolves (5) in 5 games each. That means there wasn’t a single upset in the first round of the playoffs, how upsetting…

In the Semi-Finals in the East, Washington took out Montreal in 6 games, but the series between Atlanta and Toronto was significantly tighter. Both teams sapped home victories (Atlanta won 3-2 and 3-1, Toronto 2-0 and 3-2), then swapped road victories by scores of 4-1 each. In game 7, Atlanta got the only two goals to shut out Toronto and move on to the Conference Finals On the Western end of things, LA and Milwaukee each swept their series against Chicago and Portland.

In the Eastern Conference finals, Atlanta was forced to face a Canadian team for the third year in a row, this time against Montreal. This time, the two-time (straight) defending Stanley Cup Champs actually got SWEPT by Montreal…oh well, they had a nice run *attempts to feign disappointment* The Western battle was much more interesting…Milwaukee won game 1 on the road, then lost games 2, 3 (home), and 4 (home) to go down 3-1. They battled back with two shutouts, 3-0 and 2-0, but eventually lost game 7.

So the Stanley Cup Finals would see the President’s Trophy winning LA Gridlock against perhaps the most well-supported team in the league, the Montreal Metros. Too bad it was perhaps the most boring Stanley Cup Finals ever, with LA taking Montreal in just 5 games, and shutting them out 4-0 in game 7…way to fight for the cup Montreal…

World Championships:
This year, the World Championships are being held in Svitz...I mean Switzerland. From Group E, Canada, Russia, Slovakia, and USA qualified for playoffs while Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden , and Switzerland made it through from Group F. Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Norway, and Austria would not make it through, and their WC ended. Belarus and Italy surprisingly survived the Relegation Group to fight another day, Germany (surprisingly) and France (who surrendered before the puck drop of every game) will have to fight to get back into the tournament again next year.

After a tough 5-2 loss to Czech Republic in the Semi-Finals, USA would have to play Finland in the Bronze Medal game. USA got a goal in each period to get a 3-0 lead before Finland got two within the first minute and a half of the third, but it wasn’t enough and USA won the Bronze 3-2..

The Gold medal saw Canada facing the Czechs. Despite the odds stacked against them, Czech got the first goal 6 minutes into the game, but Canada tied 1 minute later...then Czech got another just a minute after that and took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission. Within a minute of the second, Canada tied it once again, and with another goal in the 2nd and one in the 3rd, Canada would win the Gold.

Renewed contracts:
- Rane Carnegie (1 yr @ $525K) – This year he got 36 goals and 90 points in 73 games, just shy of his 101 the year before in 80 games. At the very least he’s great AHL depth, but this will probably be his last year to earn a callup.
- Jimmy Howard (1 yr @ $855K) – Solid young goaltending depth…all I have in the system other than Gajewski. He could be a backup goalie within the next couple years.
- Phil Oreskovich (1 yr @ $495K) – Though he made quite a few giveaways last year, he’s got good size and hits hard. At 22, he’s still got room to grow…plus last year was his first year in the AHL.
- Ryan Oulahen (1 yr @ $520K) – Gives me solid depth and scoring at the AHL level with an off chance of providing me some NHL depth…it’ll be his last year unless he really makes an impression.
- Brandon Prust (1 yr @ $500K) – He did struggle quite a bit at times this year, but he performed well for a rookie enforcer. Definitely earned another shot with the team, even if he serves as an extra enforcer.
- John Vigilante (1 yr @ $475K) – Like Carnegie, probably his last year to prove himself. Not the most talented, but he’s good depth.
- Bobby Bolt (1 yr @ $475K) – Great checking line player. Hasn’t shown tons of improvement in his attributes but has steadily improved his play.
- Turner Stevenson (1 yr @ $900K) – Solid checking player, with a bit of enforcer. He’s getting a bit older, and his skating is starting to suffer, but I’ll give him another year…if he declines, it’ll give Carnegie or Bolt a chance to play.
- Chris Dingman (1 yr @ $499K) – Another good, solid enforcer who can throw some nice hits. His -18 from last year was less than impressive, but he didn’t have the greatest linemates either.
- Lee Falardeau (1 yr @ $635K) – Smart player, good defensively, big checker, and cheap, what more could you want from a 4th line guy?

Signed the following prospects:
- Yuri Postnikh – RD (RUS, 20) – $450K (3 years)
This Season: Rus-3—Omsk-2 (35 GP, 8G 11A 19PTS, +32, 62 PIM)
GM Report: He’s stayed pretty stagnant since I drafted him, getting 23 points the past two years, 19 this year in 5 less games, and has just shown very little improvement. Still, he’s got the potential to be a decent shut-down guy, and even in Russia he’s throwing plenty of good hits.

- John Hughes – C (CAN, 21) – $450K (3 years)
This Season: OHL—Belleville Bulls (63GP, 55G 71A 126PTS, +39, 66 PIM)
GM Report: Hughes is probably my most exciting prospect right now…he’s an excellent young center, coming off a career season, has shown solid improvement each year, and has 5 years of experience in juniors, getting 176 goals and 421 points in 317 games. Not NHL ready yet, but fantastic potential right now and much growth.

- James Van Riemsdyk – LW/RW (USA, 20) – $450K (3 years)
This Season: USHL—U.S. National Development Team (55GP, 45G 37A 82pTS, +25, 54 PIM)
GM Report: His points may be down slightly from last year and only even with his draft year, but he’s shown so much overall improvement in his game. He’s a very strong two-way player, and I’d be shocked to not see him in the NHL within about 2 years at the longest.

- Nathan Martine – LD (CAN, 20) – $450K (3 years)
This Season: OHL—Mississauga IceDogs (66GP, 24G 76A 103PTS, +38, 86 PIM)
GM Report: Can’t complain about a defensive prospect who gets 103 points in his last year, is almost at a point-per-game in his junior career, and got 27 goals last year (nearly double his career total up to this year). Not a huge hitter, but not a big defensive liability for an offensive d-man…definitely has some depth potential…maybe more?

- Chris Francis – C (USA, 20) – $450K (3 years)
This Season: WHL—Portland Winter Hawks (72GP, 35G 46A 81PTS, +33, 89 PIM)
GM Report: When I drafted him, Francis was a long shot, 20G 20A in 70 games, -13…not really exciting. Then last year, he was showing great improvement, 17 points in 21 games and stepped his game up before going out for 8 months. I thought it would probably be the end of his development and a huge setback for him, but he came back fresh with a vengeance this year, 35 goals and 81 points in 72 games and a greatly improved overall game, and his 27 points in 14 playoff games were huge in getting his team nearly to a cup. I don’t think he’ll be top level talent, but he could be a surprising energy line kind of player if he shows that kind of fight regularly for a smallish (5-9) guy.

End of year trophies:
Art Ross – Alexei Kovalev (MON) (a Montreal player has won the last 3 years, different player each year…this year Kovalchuk and Allison were runner’s up)
Bill Masterton – Mike Knuble (NJ)
Calder Memorial – Sam Gagner (POR)
Conn Smythe – Vincent Lecavalier (LA)
Frank J. Selke – Bobby Holik (CHI)
Jack Adams – Marc Crawford (LA)
James Norris Memorial – Greg de Vries (CAR)
Hart Memorial – Ilya Kovalchuk (MON)
King Clancy Memorial – Joe Sakic (EDM) (2 years in a row)
Lady Byng Memorial – Ilya Kovalchuk (MON) (2 years in a row)
Lester B. Pearson – Joe Thornton (MCM)
Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard – Ilya Kovalchuk (MON) (3 years in a row)
Vezina – Mikka Kiprusoff (ATL) (finally, Brodeur retires and Kipprusoff gets the award he’s deserved 2 years)
William M. Jennings – Ryan Miller (LA)
NHL Plus-Minus Award – Patrick Marleau (TOR)
Roger Crozier Saving Grace Award – Mikka Kipprusoff (ATL)

[coasterholic14]

2009 NHL Entry Draft

This year, if you didn’t have a top 10 pick, everyone you drafted was pretty much a crapshoot. Tavares was the runaway #1 pick, and with only a handful of other options early on, this was surprisingly and disappointingly the weakest draft yet. I feel like my picks would all have been 2ndd round or lower picks normally…and after the 4th round you’re lucky if you got a guy who would normally come up as a 7th round pick. I did what I could with what picks I had, but I’d be surprised if any of these guys ever amounted to much.

Top Five Draft Picks 2009:
1 – Philadelphia – C John Tavares (OHL)
2 – Boston – LD Wade Rice (OHL) [was ranked 19th]
3 – Texas – LW Steve Anthony (QMJHL)
4 – Columbus – LW/C Andrei Kuchin (Rus-Jr) [ranked 15th, was hoping he’d fall to me)
5 – Buffalo – C Matt Duchene (ETA)

2007 NHL Entry Draft Picks:
1st Round (16th Overall): C/LW Slavomir Jabrocky
Age: 17 Height: 6'2" Weight: 174 lbs Nationality: SVK
Current Team: Saskatoon Blades (WHL)
Last Season: 66GP, 27G-28A (55PTS), +9, 90 PIM
Projected Role: He’s not as physical as you would hope from his size, but he’s fast and has a solid set of hands. He’s patient, a leader, ambitious, and has a nice wrister. He could potentially be a 1st/2nd line guy if he develops.

2nd Round (46th Overall): LD Lars Eliasson
Age: 17 Height: 6'4” Weight: 183 lbs Nationality: SWE
Current Team: IF Sundsvall Hockey (Swe Jr)
Last Season: 26GP, 10G-40A (50PTS), +19, 38 PIM
Projected Role: Good hitter, but he’s really known for his ability to steal the puck from his opponents. He also got a brief stint in the Swe-2 league this year and got 4 assists during his 6 games. He’s just a very steady, solid defensive player who’s got lots of class, great strength, speed, balance, and acceleration. He’s got great depth potential.

3rd Round (76th Overall): RW/LW Joacim Romo
Age: 17 Height: 5'11" Weight: 169 lbs Nationality: SWE
Current Team: Hammarby A-jun (SWE J20)
Last Season: 30GP, 17G-33A (50PTS), +4, 18 PIM
Projected Role: Romo was actually an unranked player, but that just goes to show you how awful the draft class was, and how drunk the ISS was when they ranked players. He’s given 3rd line potential by my scouts, which in this draft is more than worth a gamble.

4th Round (106th Overall): LD Mikhail Churlyaev
Age: 19 Height: 6'2" Weight: 189 lbs Nationality: RUS
Current Team: Magnitogorsk - 2 (Rus-3)
Last Season: 32GP, 4G-10A (14PTS), -1, 32 PIM
Projected Role: Another decent young defensive defenseman…he’s got an outside shot at ever making the NHL. Solid hitter, good pokecheck, nice slapper, great team player, excellent stamina.

5th Round (136th Overall): C Pierre-Alexandre Vandall
Age: 18 Height: 5'9" Weight: 141 lbs Nationality: CAN
Current Team: Rimouski Oceanic (QMJHL)
Last Season: 67GP, 33G-34A (67PTS), +12, 98 PIM
Projected Role: Small but feisty center who gives it his all every night. He needs to bulk up quite a bit and add strength to really be able to utilize his skills…he’s also got a bit of a Napoleonic-complex he needs to work on.

6th Round (166th Overall): TRADED
Projected Role: I just couldn’t waste yet another pick on a guy with no future, the draft is dead at this point…you’d be lucky to find a good towel boy at this point. I traded my 6th round pick to Portland for their 6th round pick next year…it couldn’t be any worse, and there’s nobody I’d rather give a worthless draft pick to than Portland.

[coasterholic14]

Offseason (2009):

Boy oh boy, got a lot of guys to get back and new players to acquire this offseason. As you can see from my previous signings, it’s almost exclusively been AHL and depth guys, for some reason none of my roster players wanted to resign…or were even interested enough to give me a number to work from. Hopefully I can get most of them back (some are RFAs) or find solid replacements

The following players were released or couldn’t reach an extension agreement:
- Brian Boucher (tried to resign him but he refused, will probably try to acquire him at least as a backup)
- Eric Brewer (worked hard to get him back, he just wasn’t interested…I’ll probably go for him even if it’s a high asking price, he’s been invaluable the past 3 seasons)
- Adam Cunningham (he was decent enough, but I have no further interest in him)
- Jeff Friesen (tried to resign, but will probably be asking for more than I’m willing to give him, even if he did get almost a point-per-game last year)
- Brent Johnson (his time as a backup for me is done, I’ll find someone else)
- Brendan Mikkelson (played decent enough in the ECHL/AHL, 186 hits, but his 46 giveaways were embarrassing)
- Doug Murray (will probably try to resign as a #6/7 guy unless he asks for more than he’s worth)
- Glen Murray (would love to get him back to go along with Kopitar again…and Friesen if possible…PPG second line!)
- Shane O’Brien (RFA…will work to resign him)
- Mike Ricci (played great for me 3 years ago, decent 2 years ago, quite mediocre even bad at times last year…time to move on…hopefully Leino will be prepared to make the jump this year)
- Brendan Witt (like Ricci, great his first season, slightly worse the next, not very good last year…not worth the money he was making)
- Anze Kopitar (RFA…WILL resign him at any cost, he just needs to be open to offers)
- Andreas Lilja (solid hitting, far too many giveaways…was replaced by Murray who played far better defensively)
- Samuel Pahlsson (decent checker, but too inconsistent, worse +/- on the team last year)

Looks like I have a lot of guys to try and get back, and of course the whole goaltending situation again. Like previous years, no really good goalies have been released. Esche looks like my best bet, even though he’s been a backup the past few years…or Boucher again, but he seems to think that getting starting goalie duties last year even if he didn’t perform like a star (<.900 SV%) warrants much more money than he deserves…we’ll see how it goes.

- Trent Hunter – RW/LW (CAN, 29) - $1,870,000 (2 years)
Last Season: NHL—Washington Patriots (75GP 14G 31A 45PTS +17 40PIM)
GM Report: Hunter is a very solid power forward who can play either with with competence. He’s not a defensive liability, he racks up some decent points, puts on some big hits, and does it for $1.8 million. He probably won’t put up Murray’s numbers, but Murray was getting paid a lot more, and was asking for too much money this year.

- Doug Murray – LD (SWE, 29) - $655K (1 year)
Last Season: NHL—Emerald City Thunderbirds (47GP 1G 12A 13PTS +6 35PIM)
GM Report: He was an RFA since he wanted more than he was worth at the end of last season. Figured for $650K, couldn’t go wrong having him as a #6/7 guy again this year.

- Ryan Toporowski – RW/LW (CAN, 20) - $500K (3 years)
Last Season: WHL—Lethbridge Hurricanes (69GP 29G 39A 68PTS +28 98PIM)
GM Report: My 7th round pick in 2007, he was 19 when I drafted and so eligible for me to sign this year and send to the AHL (or ECHL depending on his play). Showed lots of improvement last year, but I don’t know if he’s got what it takes to be more than a depth or long-shot guy.

- Shane O’Brien – LD/RD (CAN, 25) - $1,170,000 (3 years)
Last Season: NHL—Emerald City Thunderbirds (45GP 4G 21A 25PTS +4 60PIM)
GM Report: He missed a few months with injuries last year, but still managed 25 points (5 fewer than he got the year before in 81 games), but the injury definitely held him back for a bit when he first started skating again. Still, just over a million bucks for each of the next three years, that’s a deal/steal to get him back off RFA!!

- Raffi Torres – LW/RW (CAN, 27) - $1,040,000 (1 year)
Last Season: NHL—Washington Patriots (77GP 12G 12A 24PTS +6 82PIM)
GM Report: Versatile winger who can score a few points and make a few hits, and for $1 million, he’s the right guy for my 3rd line RW duties (and could probably fill 2nd line winger if someone gets injured).

- Derek Morris – RD (CAN, 31) - $4,980,000 (3 years)
Last Season: NHL—Twin City Timberwolves (78GP 6G 31A 37PTS +20 113PIM)
GM Report: Outstanding offensive defenseman, he got 37 points last year and 51 the year before. I have the extra cap room and wanted some better d-man since Witt wasn’t performing like a top guy.

- Petr Nedved – C/LW (CAN/CZE, 37) - $2,140,000 (1 year)
Last Season: NHL—New Jersey Bulldogs (80GP 32G 42A 74PTS +2 80PIM)
GM Report: Nedved’s getting up there in age, but if he can still put up points like he has the past few years, he’ll be great on my second line. Doubt he’ll be as good as Friesen, but after having one great season he suddenly felt he was worth $5 million.

- Brendan Mikkelson – LD (CAN, 22) - $500K (1 year)
Last Season: AHL—Spokane Komets (79GP 3G 16A 19PTS +17 44PIM)
GM Report: I originally let him go because while he made lots of hits last year, he also made 46 giveaways, which is a lot in the AHL. After some thought, I realized what solid improvement he made from playing in the AHL the year before, figured he deserved another year to prove himself.

- Eric Brewer – LD/RD (CAN, 30) - $4,650,000 (3 years)
Last Season: NHL—Emerald City Thunderbirds (82GP 4G 31A 35PTS -8 42PIM)
GM Report: He definitely cost more than I really wanted to pay, but he’s been great for me the past three seasons, and was cheaper than Scott Hannan (who I was also looking at to fill the #1 LD spot. Hopefully he and Morris can develop a great chemistry and help my blueline dominate.

- Robert Esche – G (USA, 31) - $2,880,000 (3 years)
Last Season: NHL—San Jose Wildfire (16GP 7-5-3 2.96GAA .907SV%)
GM Report: For the past three seasons, Esche has just served as a backup playing 15-30 games, and getting right around a .900 SV% each year. Unfortunately, he was the absolute best option available, and with a lot of teams vying for him, I had to deal out a bit more cash than I ideally wanted too. Hopefully he can play worth his money and hold me over a few years until I can draft a good goalie. If I didn’t have the cap room, I would have been screwed this year.

- Anze Kopitar – C/RW (SLO, 22) - $4,200,000 (4 years)
Last Season: NHL—Emerald City Thunderbirds (82GP 32G 49A 81PTS +27 56PIM)
GM Report: It took the entire offseason to finally come to an agreement, and his signing price is over half a million/year lower than what he was originally asking for. It’s a steep price to pay, but almost a point per game and just 22, and I locked him up for the next 4 years, since I had the cap room, it’s a pill I can swallow pretty easily.

- Brian Boucher – G (USA, 32) - $1,590,000 (2 years)
Last Season: NHL—Emerald City Thunderbirds (53GP 29-18-5 2.76GAA .898SV%)
GM Report: In the end, I decided to bring Boucher back as a backup goalie, not only because he was one of the few options available, but because I know he can at least somewhat competently start and take some games if Esche gets injured or doesn’t play well.

[coasterholic14]

Preseason

We had a very…awkward…preseason this year. Usually, we win most of the games, and tend to dominate for the most part. This year, we did good, but struggled a bit more, never had a big loss, but couldn’t really dominate either. That said, if it’s more indicative of how the season will actually go, I’ll still be pleased.

We finished out against Portland again this year, as is tradition now. Sedin scored on a penalty shot in the first to get the 1-0 lead for Portland and that would be the only goal for over 40 minutes of play. Not until we got two goals 40 seconds apart roughly 46 min in would anybody score again, now we lead 2-1. We got cocky and started “playing not to lose,” which of course allowed Portland to tie it up, and we thought we still had the lead in OT and let Portland get the GWG just a minute in. Thus we ended our preseason this year a mediocre 5-3-0. The third line (Leino, Torres, Prust) seemed to struggle a bit…perhaps we’ll swap Prust and Dingman on 3rd/4th LW duties.