EHM The Blue Line

[font=Verdana] [/font]

I don't know about you, but I'm getting sick and tired at all the strict and harsh officiating in EHM. I have my aggression, hitting, gap control and puck pressure reduced for everyone on the team, and I'm still getting 20 + minutes in penalties each game - when strict or harsh officials are working.

I may as well give my players tutu's, swap the hockey skates for figure skates and have them try out at the Nationals!

Predictably, they are getting beat up by the opposition (who never get penalties - well not never, but seldom!) and can't do anything about it - if they fight - instigator, if I increase any of the above attributes to anything above "normal", they get penalties - sheesh! Complaining to the league does nothing either.

Yes, I don't have coaches with high discipline, but c'mon! Getting them now without starting the season(or game) over would be difficult at best - unless...

Has anyone used the editor to reduce the anal-ness of the strict and harsh officials, in a game already in progress? Or adjusted their coaches discipline settings? Or both?

Please let me know - the team's had a great year, only marred by the ridiculous amount of penalties - number 1 in the league! - but it would seem more than half of them were - ahem - questionable at best.

Thanks!

OMG! Complaints about reffing in EHM? Now, I have seen it all.

Never noticed at all. Sorry but I have not.

Not sure if you can even edit the refs mid-game...

I say get your tactics straight and your players on a leash!

I haven't ever noticed a huge bias in refs either.

I'm also not sure about editing refs - there are few guys around here who are nuts about editing though, maybe they will have an answer for you.

Too many penalties and coaches without a high level of discipline? You've got your REAL problem. So don't target the refs, they're doing their job correctly. Just do yours the same way by hiring the right coaches

Refs are fine in EHM IMHO...

Okay, so to clarify, I have a couple of coaches with decent/high discipline. Here's my coaching staff:

Paul Maurice, Head Coach 16 Discipline
Dirk Graham Assistant Coach 8 Discipline
Joe Kocur Assistant Coach 14 Discipline
Jacques Laperriere Assistant Coach 8 Discipline
Steve McKichan Assistant Coach 8 Discipline
Tomaz Vnuk Assistant Coach 20 Discipline

Graham & Vnuk coach Forwards

Laperriere & Vnuk coach Defense

This has been the case the last fifty games or so. As the playoffs have approached (last 20 games), I'm getting more and more strict/harsh referees each match. Penalties have shot through the roof, giving 8 - 12 pp chances to the opposition, many at the most inopportune of times (end of period, last few minutes of game).

I have had the personal settings of ALL my players to Normal for Aggression, Hitting, Puck Pressure, Gap Control. For over 20 games. Every time I get a strict/harsh ref, the penalties come in heavy waves, like the gas pains you get from eating Taco Bell.

All season long I've received an inordinate amount of penalties, which is why I hired Vnuk about game 30. I don't know what else to do - so how can I reign my players in any more than I have? The last twenty games, penalty calls have actually increased.

That's why I thought about modifying the refs or assistant coaches.

It's five games to the playoffs, and it'll be a short run if I can't cut down the stupid penalties - Help please!

Hum... not sure here... I know sometimes i get more penalties when getting the sliders down (ie go down from "hard" to "normal", etc), as the players aren't in the best position to defend, and therefore "have to" make a fault not to be caught out of position...

I usually have 8-12 penalties against, but with a pretty rough style... I train more on PK And the opposition gets globaly the same amount of penalties, so everything's fine for me.

Maybe your tactic coach(es) or defense coach(es) don't have high enough attributes in their respective areas, and therefore don't teach the right things to your players... Or maybe you have too aggressive players... Or maybe your players suck too much defensively... Or maybe your defensive system doesn't suit to your players abilities... There should be tons of reasons why you are taking penalties, but refs are definitely not the real issue. Best proof: other people don't get that much penalties, and they are having the same refs, so it must be something else...

Hmm. If others aren't having issues with the refs, it must be something I'm doing...

Here are my lines:

Wellwood Sundin St. Louis
Ponikarovsky Sutherby Tucker
Fedotenko Kilger Clark
Kwaitkowski Primeau Antropov

I have Gaustad as a regular, but he's injured right now. Dingman is a spare.

On D:

Kaberle McCabe
Vaananen Clymer
Kloucek Allen

I have Gill as a spare

So my team is fairly defensive - I've just mixed the lines up - my original #1 line was
Ponikarovsky Sundin Clark
Which have a combined 276 points (119 G 157 A) between them (Sundin is having the best year of his career).

But I'm trying a few things before the playoffs.

I traded for St. Louis, Primeau, Sutherby and Fedotenko before the deadline, but my playing style hasn't changed that much - 3rd line checking, 4th line used to be offense, but now is defense. 1 & 2 are offense.

Forecheck is positional high, neutral zone is 2-1-2 defensive zone is collapse.

So if it isn't the refs, what am I doing wrong? Are the trades upsetting players? Even after fifteen games or more?

I've read the boards, and made what I thought were the right modifications to slow down penalties...without success...

I dunno. I am always one of the least penalized teams, although with Phoenix I am having a challenge. Well...least number of pk anyway. My goons tend to make me the highest PIM team.

You're putting a high pressure (positional high + 2-1-2) with guys that aren't that spectacular defensively (ie St. Louis). That may be part of the problem. However, you'd better not change things right before the playoffs, or it will screw your whole team and they'd be lost on the ice. But for your next season, you may want to try something different. Try different things, let it in place for 10-20 games to let your players adapt to the new system, and see how it goes. If it's better, work on it If not, try something else... Much easier said than done, but that's how it works in real life too. Try to see cleanly what are your players' strengths and weaknesses and adapt your strategy to this. Obviously, there will be a few guys that will not be in the mold of the tactical set, but that's what the trades are made for, isn't it?

On a side note, i'd recommend you to use Dingman as a regular 3rd line checker and penalty killer. He may not look fantastic attributes wise, but he clearly delivers on the ice! Checks well, hits harder, fights well, has good leadership abilities, and scores key goals. All of that for cheap! And generally an average rating over 8. Can't ask more

Btw, back on your penalties issues... Maybe you should think about spending more training time on PK as you're getting closer of the playoffs... And as long as you win games, the number of penalties is pretty secondary, isn't it?

anyone else found a way to edit referees because I am experiencing a amount of penalties for the teams I am playing against. If so, could you give some insight.

Thanks,

dcc

try setting your guys as follows:

with checking less than 12 to light backchecking
with hitting less than 12 to light hitting

anyone with red in either checking or hitting to very low

anyone with aggression above 13 to normal or easy aggression

also only speedster should join rush... in case they can't get back and starts hooking ppl..

it seems to work ok for me...

thanks for the suggestion, that takes care my players, but what cpu players. I am seeing my players pim going down but cpu players pim is generally much higher (this concerns me because this gives me an unwanted advantage). Do I need to update all players in the league?

thanks,

dcc