EFHL Newsletter #13
February 20, 1999
Brett won the fourth period, holding off Chris by 5 points. Despite winning the period, Brett's loss to Jay keeps Jay and Rick alive in the battle for a playoff spot. In addition, two of the three guys that Brett got from Rick for Forsberg (Messier and Pronger) are currently out of action with injuries and Barrasso has missed a bunch of games since Brett acquired him.
The fifth period is underway and goes until March 16, which is the end of the EFHL regular season. There are now just four weeks to go in the regular season. Here are the scoring leaders from the last period.
|
Forwards |
Defensemen |
|||||||
|
Jagr |
Pgh |
Jay |
48 |
Olausson |
Ana |
Brett |
21 |
|
|
Leclair |
Phil |
Chris |
36 |
MacInnis |
StL |
Rick |
20 |
|
|
Lindros |
Phil |
Brett |
36 |
Desjardins |
Phil |
Charlie |
19 |
|
|
Bondra |
Wash |
Rich |
30 |
Hatcher, K |
Pgh |
Bill |
15 |
|
|
Sakic |
Col |
Grant |
26 |
McGillis |
Phil |
Bill |
14 |
|
|
Selanne |
Ana |
Grant |
26 |
Leetch |
NYR |
Grant |
13 |
|
|
Fleury |
Cal |
Mike |
25 |
Berard |
NYI |
Rich |
12 |
|
|
Kovalev |
Pgh |
Brett |
25 |
Lidstrom |
Det |
Grant |
12 |
|
|
Hull |
Dal |
Charlie |
23 |
|||||
|
Robitaille |
LA |
Grant |
23 |
Goalies |
||||
|
Palffy |
NYI |
Rick |
22 |
Roy |
Col |
Tony |
19 |
|
|
Straka |
Pgh |
Rick |
21 |
Vanbiesbrouck |
Phil |
Charlie |
18 |
|
|
Yashin |
Ott |
Charlie |
21 |
Following is the playoff picture. Tony, Charlie, and I have clinched spots. No team has been eliminated yet.
Grant - I am in effect three games ahead of Chris since I would win the tiebreaker. I believe my magic number to clinch is two. We do play each other in the second to last game of the season, so that could be interesting is I haven't clinched by then.
Chris - Hasn't officially clinched a playoff spot, but an awful lot would have to go wrong for him not to make the playoffs.
Brett - He leads Rick and Jay by 1½ games for the last Medicine Hat playoff spot. His schedule is probably the toughest of the three, so if Jay of Rick get hot, they may be able to sneak into the playoffs and Brett can miss out by ½ game for the third year in a row.
Rick - With Bondra's hot streak and Bure's injury, this trade hasn't exactly worked the way it was supposed to. But when healthy, Rick's roster has scary potential.
Jay - Has been the points against leader since the first week of the season. But has been 5-2 since a awful 1-9 start.
Tony - He was the first to clinch a playoff spot. However, he has dropped to fifth in points and holds a narrow one game lead over Charlie for the division title, and he would lose the tiebreaker. They are headed for a huge game the second to last week of the season.
Charlie - Has clinched a playoff spot.
Mike - Thanks to his ice cold team and a 6 game losing streak, his lead has shrunk to just ½ game over Rich for the last Moose Jaw playoff spot. Who would have thought that guys like Recchi and Shanahan would slump so badly.
Rich - Thanks to Bondra, he is back in the playoff race.
Bill - Not officially eliminated from a spot, but it doesn't look good for Bill to have a chance to repeat as champion.
Playoff Draft
This will be on Saturday evening, April 17, which, as usual, is the day before the end of the regular season. Brett, Tony, and I will attempt to take everyone else's money for the fourth straight year. It will be at Chris' house. Most likely for $40 again. Time and format (auction or draft, goalies or not) will be determined later. I personally do not think we should have goalies for the playoffs, but we will see. If we do, maybe we should have team goalies.
That's is for now. Maybe as the season winds down I will have more regular newsletters. Maybe not.