EFHL Week in Review

Well, it’s finally playoff time. The playoff matches are the Tortured Souls vs. the Ice Dogs and the 12 Monkeys vs. the Beaver Slappers. I’ll take a look at those match ups after a quick review of this week’s games. In addition to the playoff games, the sixth and final period begins today and there may be a battle for the total points money. Rick remains in first place and has opened up a 42 point lead on Chris. The battle now appears to be for second place and $60 as Chris leads nonplayoff teams Rich by 17 points and Brett by 27 points.

12 Monkeys 36-Free Radicals 30
Thank you Tony. His win allows me to back into the final playoff spot. But Tony didn’t win it just for me. His decent week allows him to hold off Rick and win the fifth period by six points. Tony was led as usual by Leclair (8 points) and just about everyone else made a decent contribution. Tony finishes tied with Chris at 13-8 and finishes second based on the points tiebreaker.

Brett’s loss was basically due to lack of goals from his forwards and zero points from Nolan and Koivu. The others had lots of assists but only two goals.

Beaver Slappers 47-Ice Dogs 23
It became evident by last Thursday or Friday that I was going to have to rely on Tony to get in the playoffs. Rick’s high score of the week left him a little short of winning his second period. Selanne was the leading scorer of the week, with 11 points. Avs Forsberg and Deadmarsh also had good weeks.

Here is the story of the last week for me, which kind of mirrors how the season is going. I made two moves before last week to replace Bure and Kamensky, both injured. Kamensky was back for the first Avalanche game last week. Newly added Gilmour promptly takes a puck in the eye and is out for a few games. And Duchesne collapses from back spasms in practice and missed a couple games. Sanderson, the other replacement forward, is just about invisible on the scoresheet for the week. Not that I have any excuses, because the guys I am replacing aren’t that great to begin with, but it sucks to have to worry about replacing guys when they are hurt.

Plaindrifters 27-Tortured Souls 24
Rich beats Chris in a meaningless game and in the process closes the gap for second place points a little bit more.

Fargon Iceholes 28-Cougars 25
Who cares.

Playoff Preview

The first round of the playoffs begins today and goes until Monday, March 24.

Tortured Soul vs. Ice Dogs

Regular season meetings:
Week ending 11/18/96: Ice Dogs 27 - Tortured Souls 24
Week ending 01/06/97: Tortured Souls 43 - Ice Dogs 33
Week ending 11/18/96: Ice Dogs 36 - Tortured Souls 12

Tortured Souls
It’s the battle of the brothers. What looks like a mismatch on paper could end up being a close game. I’ll have to look at the schedule. Maybe the Pens are off for a week. Of the four playoff teams, Chris is probably struggling the most right now. He has dropped 42 points behind Rick for the total points crown. Lemieux had only two assists last week to reach 100 points, but has missed some games recently and the Pens need to keep him ready for the playoffs. Bondra was slumping, but had a four goal game last week and should be rejuvenated playing with Oates. Modano has been consistent pretty much all year. Nedved has cooled off and I believe also missed a game or two. Amonte obviously was a good free agent acquisition, and has been relatively consistent. Alfredsson missed some games and along with the entire Senators team, has not scored much lately.

On defense, Suter has been a huge disappointment after putting up good numbers last year. He hasn’t been bad enough to drop however. Svehla has been good until recently, but has slowed with Florida mired in a miserable slump. Penguins Olausson and Woolley have been OK pick ups and should get a few points if they can stay healthy. Chris also has the option and the luxury of enough moves to activate Galley.

Ice Dogs
I have dropped back down into last place in points. Though my team has been very consistent. You can just about mail in a score of around 25-30 for my squad every week. Only me and Rick have not posted a weekly score below 20. On the other hand, I have only been above 40 twice. Everyone else (even Rob) has hit 40 at least four times. Unfortunately, being consistent against Chris for two weeks probably will not get the job done.

Sakic is not quite where he was before his injury. Hull has really been my only bright spot, with 38 goals and not missing any time due to injury. Renberg has sucked for the most part, although has had a couple of huge games since being reunited with the Legion of Doom line. I guess Gartner has also been a bright spot, considering he was a free agent pick up. At 37, the most recent member of the 600 goals and 600 assists club (four days after Mario) has surprisingly kept his play up all season long. Sanderson has been streaky, and right now is in somewhat of a slump. As I scrambled to find someone to replace Bure, I was surprised to see Gilmour’s name among the league leaders in scoring, although with less than 20 goals. As of last Saturday, he was the third leading scorer since the all-star break, behind Selanne and Kariya. When he can see clearly again, hopefully he can continue his current pace with the Devils.

My defensemen are barely worth mentioning. Too many of my moves have been to shuffle around crappy or injured defensemen, and I have the lowest scoring defensemen of the playoff teams.

Prediction: Tortured Souls 65 - Ice Dogs 47

Beaver Slappers vs. 12 Monkeys

Regular season meetings:
Week ending 10/14/96: Beaver Slappers 60 - 12 Monkeys 36
Week ending 12/02/96: Beaver Slappers 29 - 12 Monkeys 25
Week ending 01/27/97: Beaver Slappers 57 - 12 Monkeys 42

Beaver Slappers

Rick goes into the playoffs coming off a big week that almost won him the period and gives him some breathing room over Chris for total points. After last week, Forsberg seems to have returned to form after his injury. Selanne has been consistent and hot recently. Deadmarsh has been a great pick up, and who would have thought that he would be leading goal scorer on Colorado. Rick will also need some production from the Palffy, Yashin, and Mogilny, who have each recently at one time or another been in a slump. Look for Mogilny to be out of Vancouver by this time next week, which could be enough to jump start him. Rick only has one move left, not that he would want to replace any of those guys.

With his recent dealings with Rich, Rick becomes much better on defense. Or has he. Since the trade two weeks ago, Niedermayer has found new life and has outscored newly acquired Leetch 8-4. Yashin has outscored Gretzky by a few points to make the trade even so far. But over the next few weeks, when the money is on the line, we will see who has the advantage. As far as Rick’s other defensemen, Chelios has been solid, while Zhitnik and Tverdovsky have both been below average. Both of those two guys scored their first goals of 1997 this past week. Tverdovsky has been pathetic since being acquired by Rick, scoring just one goal and 14 assists for Rick in two months after scoring 8 goals and 24 assists in three months for Rich.

12 Monkeys

This probably isn’t the match up that Tony wanted, although he may be due to win. Tony cruises into the playoffs despite my dire predictions for his team in a recent newsletter. He must have posted that newsletter in his squad’s locker room or something, because he is 5-1 since then and is riding a five game winning streak into the playoffs. Tony has been playing musical forwards the last two months. Let’s see who he has now. Federov has been the lowest scoring of the first round draft picks, despite the fact that some other first rounders have missed significant time with injuries. Leclair has been outstanding, even without Lindros. Yzerman has been pretty good as well, with only 16 goals, but 58 assists. Ryan Smith has been average since being acquired, averaging about 3 points per week. Audette and Rucinsky, both inserted last month, have also been average, which is about all you can expect from guys you’ve picked up this late in the season.

Defensively is where this team shines. His defensemen have led the league in scoring since week one. Ozolinsh and Lidstrom have been exceptionally consistent and strong. Hatcher has slowed somewhat recently. Desjardins is Tony’s lowest scoring defenseman, but has 9 goals and 31 assists. That is equal to or higher than the highest scoring defenseman on five of the other seven teams.

Prediction: Beaver Slappers 74 - 12 Monkeys 54

Other Notes

The sixth and final period begins today. Non-playoff teams are included too. And all teams can make moves weekly, to be effective on Tuesdays, provided they do not exceed 15 moves for the season.

From the obscure rules department: I left a message for or e-mailed the playoff teams yesterday regarding the rules on playoff ties. Here is the official rule: Ties in the first round of the playoffs will be broken by points by the two reserves. If the tie still is not broken, then the higher seed advances. A tie in the EFHL final will stand, resulting in co-champions, and available prize money will be split. Just so you know in case you want to make any last minute changes to your reserves.

Enclosed this week is the week-by-week results for each team. If you are reading this on the web, this should be posted on the web in the next few days.

Playoff draft reminder: Our NHL playoff draft is currently scheduled for Saturday, April 12, 1997, at 8:00 pm at Chris’ place. Tell all your friends. The playoffs begin Wednesday, April 16. Last possible playoff game is Tuesday, June 17. Current scheduled date of potential game six of Stanley Cup finals is Saturday, June 14, 1997. Current scheduled date of Chris’ wedding: Saturday, June 14, 1997. Oops! Especially if the Pens make it that far. And I can tell you from personal experience (not my wedding though) what happens when the Pens win the Cup on the night of your wedding. I guess the wives and girlfriends can always dance with themselves. And there is always between periods for the guys to slip in for a quick appearance.

EFHL playoff updates: Since I made the playoffs, I should be motivated to do playoff updates on the web. Look for updates every other day at least. Chris, get your modem working. Rick should be OK as long as AOL doesn’t get too busy. Tony, you can call me for updates if you are not keeping track. Updates will be unofficial because they will be tallied from the nightly box scores and 1) it is not uncommon to have the scoring on goals changed and 2) I will likely miss a goal or assist here or there (although probably not on my team.)

I see that I got carried away again as I am nearing the end of the third page. Next week you will get probably just the stats through the first week of the playoffs. The next newsletter will probably be in two weeks after the first round. Good luck to all in the playoffs and the final period.

Standings and total points

Player statistics by team:

Player scoring rankings
Schedule
Rules

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