EFHL Playoff Newsletter

The first playoff match ups in EFHL history are now complete. Somehow your lowly commissioner’s Ice Dogs have advanced to the finals to play Rick and his Beaver Slappers. A preview of this match up follows a look at the first round of the playoffs.

Ice Dogs 74 - Tortured Souls 68
To understand how the I could possibly win this, you need to look no further than the top line of Chris’ summary. Lemieux 0 goals, 4 assists, 4 points. And this was for two weeks. He missed a couple games and saw less ice time than usual when he did play. And playing on the same line with Oksiuta and Olzyck is not going to help matters any. Nedved and Woolley also missed games last week for Chris.

But I still needed to have a good couple of weeks to beat Chris. I responded with the second best score for the period. I was led by Renberg, who tallied 13 points, most of which game in two separate games. Hull scored three goals the first week and added some assists last week to end with 12 points. Sakic, who had a hat trick against the Pens, and Gilmour added 8 points.

My defensemen were surprisingly productive. Three of my defensemen scored seven points or more: D. Mironov (led all defensemen with 10 points), Coffey (9 points), and Duchesne (7) helped my squad to the highest scoring defensemen of the playoff period with 28 points, even outscoring Tony’s high scoring defensemen.

The rest of Chris’ squad kept it close led by Modano with 16 points and Bondra with 11. But his last gasp fell short when the Pens were shutout Monday. It is real hard to root for the Pens when you have to root against Mario, Woolley, and Olausson. Luckily, neither Rick nor I have any Penguins on our teams, so we will be able to root them on as they limp into the playoffs.

I do want to congratulate Chris on finally getting his new modem working after about a month or so. Now he can have access to all the great fantasy sports information on the web. You can see how much it has helped me this year in my fantasy leagues, as I am in danger of finishing in last place in total points in two of the three fantasy leagues I was in this year.

Beaver Slappers 80 - 12 Monkeys 74
Rick advances to the finals with an impressive couple of weeks that also gives him the lead in the final period. Rick was led by Forsberg with 16 points, and Selanne and Palffy with 13 each. On the defensive side, Leetch chipped in with 7 points.

Tony’s leading scorer was Leclair with 12 points. But his disappointments had to be Red Wings Federov and Yzerman. Federov totaled 9 points the first week and zero the second week. Yzerman totaled three points for two weeks. Tony’s Monday comeback came up short as he picked up nine points of the 15 he needed.

Elite Cup Finals: Beaver Slappers vs. Ice Dogs
Regular season meetings:
Week ending 11/25/96: Ice Dogs 25 - Beaver Slappers 21
Week ending 01/13/97: Beaver Slappers 40 - Ice Dogs 30
Week ending 03/10/97: Beaver Slappers 47 - Ice Dogs 23

This match up is a joke. Not a joke in that I don’t have a chance to beat Rick, but a joke that I’m in the position to become playoff champion. Rick should end up the total points winner and here I am alternating weeks in last place with Rob. Currently I’m one point ahead of him. I’m not complaining about my luck, however.

What this three week match up could come down to is which can team can stay the healthiest. This is because both our squads have just one move remaining. The team that can stay away from the nagging injuries that keep a player out for two or three games could have an advantage. In other words, injuries to Rick’s squad may be the only way I can keep up with him for three weeks. How do think I beat Chris?

Prediction: Beaver Slappers 115 - Ice Dogs 96

Miscellaneous Notes

The NHL trade deadline came and went with a lot of players changing teams, but surprisingly only one EFHL player was effected. Larry Murphy (Fargon Iceholes) and most of his salary went from Toronto to Detroit. Other EFHL players involved in rumors, such as Mogilny, Duchesne, Renberg, Nedved, and Brind’amour,were spared.

Speaking of Rob’s team, it’s interesting to look at where he might be if he would have made a few more moves. Rob and Chris are the only teams with three players over 100 points. And Rob also has Turgeon who has 99 points. A few more well-timed moves, or for that matter even not so well-timed moves, including moves to improve the league’s worst defense, could have made a big difference in Rob’s season.

By now you all should know about our NHL playoff draft. In addition, Chris is doing some kind of real basic fantasy baseball thing this season. Home runs and wins will be counted for the five or so hitters and pitchers that you choose. I think it’ll cost $100. He said the draft will be either this Thursday or Saturday, so by the time you read this, it may be too late. Call him if you’re interested.

That is it for now. My final newsletter will probably be at the end of the season.

Standings and total points

Player statistics by team:

Player scoring rankings
Schedule
Rules

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