GAMESPEAK – FEDERATED
HOCKEY LEAGUE NEWSLETTER
April 23, 2011
Vol. 1, No. 11
The FHL Semi Conference Finals had some surprises with Joshua’s KC Ice Twisters advancing over the #1
seed Vince’s Montreal Canadians 4-2! and Johnny’s Quebec Nordiques advance past Jesse’s McGregor
Condors! 4-1. Both Cliff’s NY Dolphins and Joe Paul’s Long Beach Ice Dogs advanced after tough series!
GAMESPEAK – FEDERATED
HOCKEY LEAGUE NEWSLETTER
Joshua Pohl’s Kansas City Ice Twisters surprise thrashing of the Commissioner’s Cup winning
Montreal Canadians, who had the best record in the FHL and overall #1 seed, has shocked the
FHL World. The amazing part of all this was the way the Ice Twisters rallied from a 2-0 game
deficit when they were outscored 11-5 in games #1 and #2. KC’s moribund performance to
start the series had many pundits give up on them for dead! However Montreal didn’t know
what hit them when the #3 best FHL offense 3.17 goals per game awakened (which started at
the Sprint Center) and tagged Les Habs with 22 goals versus 2 goals for games #3-#6 to sweep
the next 4 games! It was not only the offense but the FHL #1 regular season ranked defense
(allowing only 2.63 goals per game) that turned it on too! Although the Ice Twisters Power
Play was ranked only 8th best in FHL at 18.7% they elevated their play scoring 6 goals out of
10 opportunities in their 4 game winning streak for a whopping 60% conversion rate (45.5%
for the entire series)!!! In goal Miikka Kiprusoff, who had been the workhorse in the regular
FHL season playing in 72 games and posting a 2nd leading FHL save PCT. 92.1% and tied for
FHL best 42 wins with Ilya Bryzgalov (McGregor Condors), overcame some early playoff
jitters to post 2 shut outs in the final 4 games! The famed Swede Line which had led the
team all year with Daniel Sedin (LW), Backstrom (C), and Alfredsson (RW) came alive during
the rally. Daniel Sedin scored 5 goals and had 2 assists; while Daniel Alfredsson had 2 goals
and 5 assists to lead the way. This incredible performance leads all teams in the post season
with goals average 4.17 and 2nd best in GAA 2.17.
VS
.
Cliff Dolgins New York Dolphins were Gamespeak’s prediction to win it all when the FHL
season began. They predictably won their series against the Scranton Blackjacks 4-1 however
it wasn’t in typical NY style. David Sayles Blackjacks held the #1 ranked offense in the FHL
with only a paltry 2.80 goals per game (versus their regular season average of 3.78 goals per
game) which was nearly a goal less per game! NY goal scoring machine Steven Stamkos who
lead the FHL regular season with 49 goals was held to 1 goal for the entire series (although he
did have 6 assists)! Their power play conversion rate also slipped to 21.1% compared to their
regular season FHL leading Power Play that was a a blistering 24.7%! On the other hand NY
was able to win surprisingly with defense where they allowed only 2. 40 goals against average
(GAA) for the series (this is in stark contrast to their FHL regular season worse defense with
3.17 goals allowed per game)! NY net minder Jaroslav Halak stood on his head most of the
series and tied for best post season FHL save PCT. at 94% (he was tied with Long Beach Ryan
Miller for this honor) and respectable GAA 2.40. Halak has lifted not only his team but his
play from a regular season save PCT. 91.6%. Leading scorer for NY was Bobby Ryan who
tallied 4 goals and 3 assists for 7 points. Next was Phil Kessel who scored 3 goals.
Gamespeak Prediction: This series will be a close one. You have the NY Dolphin’s #1 offense pitted against the KC Ice
Twister FHL #1 defense. Plus you have a HOT Kansas City team brimming full of confidence after they took out the #1
seed Montreal Canadians in 6 games with their post season best offense (FHL 3rd best offense in the regular season).
You have two hot goaltenders in KC Mikka Kiprusoff and NY Jaroslav Halak. NY also seems to have raised their
defensive prowess compared to their regular season worse FHL defense. Both coaches are excellent with NY
philosophy of offense wins championships and KC philosophy of “Speed Kills!” NY will take this series but just barely in
7 games due to their multitude of snipers who will awaken from their first series doldrums.
GAMESPEAK – FEDERATED
HOCKEY LEAGUE NEWSLETTER
,
VS
.
Joe’s Long Beach Ice Dogs are the reigning champions of the West Division. At first they
appeared to make it look like they would sweep as they won their first 3 games against the
San Angelo Outlaws. This was especially the case with the heartbreaking Outlaw loss in OT
when San Angelo took 3-2 lead on a Dumont goal at 18:49 mark in the 3rd period in game
#3 but only to give up a goal 20 seconds later to Ice Dog Burrows to send the game to OT.
The OT game GWG went to Long Beach Letourneau – Leblanc. But then Bill’s San Angelo
team stiffened and won game #4 in the Dog Pound as they rallied from 1-0 deficit to defeat
the Ice Dogs 2-1 with 2 power play goals. The GWG was scored by T.J. Oshie. Then back
at San Angelo T. J. Oshie got another GWG again capping off a rally (again on 2 power play
goals) for another 2-1 victory to close the series to 3-2. However Long Beach took care of
business in game #6 back at the Dog Pound to win a closely hard fought game 5-4 in OT off
a Blake 40 foot slapshot from the Blueline. San Angelo was able to expose a Long Beach
weakness in getting into the penalty box. However in this series Long Beach PIM at 11.9 is
actually less than Quebec’s has 12.9. Offensively Long Beach is ranked 6th with 3.07 goals
per game. Their star is Alexandre Burrows who leads the team in the regular season with
30 goals and is 5th overall in PIM at 134! He did so this post season with 3 goals and 2
assists. Brad Richards also led the way offensively with 2 goals and 3 assists. Defensively
Long Beach is 6th best in FHL regular season with GAA 2.83 and performed decently in the
post season! However the difference maker was netminder Ryan Miller who leads the post
season tied with NY Halak with a save PCT. 94%! The TOP Dog line of Heatley, B. Richards
(C), and Burrows (RW) has run roughshod over the West Division for 102 points and the
best record in the National Conference and will be a force in the Conference Finals!
Johnny Francoeur’s Quebec Nordiques have made an incredible rally from a distant 3rd in
the West Division at mid season to win the last playoff spot in the National Conference
and securing the #3 seed. The Nordiques then dispatched the higher seeded McGregror
Condors in 5 games with superlative play from Quebec’s Evegni Nabokov who was series
MVP. However special mention goes to Tomas Vanek who plays on the 2nd line of the
Nordiques who was tied for the lead on post season goals scored at 5 (tied with Daniel
Sedin of the KC)! On Special teams Quebec shined converting on 31.3% of their power
play opportunities against the Condors which ranks the Nordiques 2nd best in FHL post
season which is even better than their regular season rank 2nd overall in the FHL on the
Power Play at 20.3% conversion rate. Quebec’s defense was the difference in this series
with Kris Letang leading all defenseman with 1 goal and 6 assists. The Nordique tandem
of Shea Weber and Tyler Myers also contained the Condor top lines quite effectively.
Despite being on the road and not having the last line change Quebec was able to get the
line matchups they wanted and shut the Condors down! Quebec dangerous first line of
LW Rick Nash, C Jonathan Toews, and RW Eric Staal will always be a threat to score.
Gamespeak Prediction: This will be a very physical series as both teams like to fight and are #1 and #2 in PIM.
While Quebec had a slightly better Power play in the regular season (1st 20.3% vs. 4th 20.1%), Long Beach had a
better PK (8th 82.6% vs. 15th at 79.7%). Long Beach has the advantage in goaltending but the intangibles break
Quebec’s way with home ice advantage. This series will go 7 games with slight advantage to Quebec!
GAMESPEAK – FEDERATED
HOCKEY LEAGUE NEWSLETTER
FHL Playoff Format Rules:
All playoffs will be best of 7. Each series will be best of 7 format (2-2-1-1-1). OT will be continuous
20 min periods with 5 on 5 sudden death goal as the winner determinant.
In FHL Finals, the National Conference Finalist will play the Republic Conference Finalist. The team
with best record will be the home team with the extra home game in best of 7 format.
Players with more than 62 games played will be eligible to play all playoff games. Less than 62 games
played they will be eligible to play 1/3 of their actual games played with fractions rounded up (FRU).
So for example say defenseman Bieska who played 55 games in NHL, can play FHL post season 55/3 =
18.33. With FRU = 19 games. So if you went to play best of 7 for all 3 rounds of games (Round 1
games, Conference Finals, Federal Cup finals) then he will only have to sit out 2 games. There is one
exception to this rule; if you exceed GP in regular season with your player then he will be excluded
from playoffs. This is to be a deterrent to people from using players excessively just to get into playoffs
(in addition to the other penalties for exceeding GP).
Playoff Games will be played via Internet Play. The home team will be the hosting team and the
visiting team will be the team to dial into the hosting team. Instructions on how to do this is available in
the Action PC! Hockey User’s Manual that came with the game on a PDF starting on page 34. I
strongly recommend that you read this section in its entirety. This is fairly self explanatory.
If you are hosting the game and you have a router you will be required to forward port 1450 to allow the
visiting team to come in. Please see page 35 on the User’s Manual for details.
If you are hosting the game you will be required to give your IP address to the visiting team trying to
call into your computer. Please see page 35 on the User’s Manual for details on how to do this as well.
I recommend that both parties set up an instant messaging account. It will greatly ease the two teams
being able to connect online and chat during the game. Action PC! Hockey does have chat available in
the game but it is good to have a back up chat line in case the game crashes. I use AIM (AOL Instant
Messaging). Here is the link on how to set one up. It is free and will be useful in the near future for
accessing fellow coaches for round tables and stuff. The other alternative to this is to exchange phone
numbers and stay in touch telephonically. Either way is acceptable. Here is the link for AIM Express:
http://www.aim.com/products/express?icid=aimDBNavLink_4
In the event a connection interrupt or game interrupts causing the game to crash, every attempt will be
made to try and reestablish contact with the host computer and complete the game. The host and visitor
should either hook up again via instant message chat system or telephonically contact each other to
coordinate the reconnect. The hosting side can resurrect the game by clicking on the <play> drop down
menu in the upper left hand corner of the game screen and then clicking <resumed saved game>. This
doesn’t always work and sometime the visiting computer is not let back in. In that case the hosting
team may complete the game against the Road Coach Profile.
Realize that this is a new system. There may be unforeseen bugs in the system. FHL will have final
say in any unforeseen event rulings. Let me know if you need assistance. I would be glad to help.
GAMESPEAK – FEDERATED
HOCKEY LEAGUE NEWSLETTER
FHL Draft Lottery
The three teams with the worse records in the FHL will have their draft pick
decided by lottery. This will be the same system we used for the inaugural
draft (see Yahoo User’s Group message #1) except this time the number will be used to generate a number
between 0-999 to determine the lottery order. The lottery will take place Friday night - April 29, 2011 - 9:00 pm
EDST and the lottery teams are:
A. Fort Wayne
B. Terre Haute
C. Topeka
FHL 2011 Draft Rules:
The FHL draft for next year's draft will be in reverse order of finish from this
season. The only caveat is the bottom 3 teams will compete in a draft lottery
for seeding in the upcoming draft. The lottery will be weighted to the worse
team having a better chance.
Team A - worse record - (50% chance of the 1st pick, 30% chance of the 2nd pick,
20% chance of the 3rd pick).
Team B - second worse record - (30% chance for 1st pick, 40% chance for 2nd
pick, and 30% chance for 3rd pick)
Team C - third worse record - (20% chance for 1st pick, 30% chance for 2nd pick,
and 50% chance for 3rd pick)
The draft lottery will be conducted by the Assistant Commissioner using OLG system "Lotto
Max Encore Number." The first digit (left most digit) will be used from the
lottery on day specified by commissioner in advance:
The number will determine from the scale below which teams pick in which
sequence:
000 - 099 - a, b, c.
100 - 199 - a, b, c.
200-299 - a, b, c.
300-399 - a, c, b.
400-499 - a, c, b.
500-599 - b, a, c
600-699 - b, a, c
700-799 - b, c, a
800-899 - c, a, b
900-999 - c, b, a
The new owner/manager/coaches of the Fort Wayne Komets, Terre Haute Golden Retrievers, and Topeka
Tarantulas please submit ONE (1) number between 1 and 7 (including 1 and 7) to Chad Pridemore before April
22, 2011. These three numbers will determine seeding number to apply to the Lotto Max number. The first digit
(left to right) to be used will be provided by Fort Wayne, second digit to be used to be provided by Topeka, and
the third digit to be used to be provided by Terre Haute. The numbers will be referenced with the Friday (April
29, 2011) night Lotto Max "Encore Number" Lottery results which can be found at the following link:
http://www.olg.ca/lotteries/viewWinningNumbers.do
The Encore result is a seven digit number that appears like so:
5484583 (April 22 No.)
GAMESPEAK – FEDERATED
HOCKEY LEAGUE NEWSLETTER
COACHES CORNER: Luc “Lucky” Savard (owner/manager/coach Gatineau City
Bulldogs) shares his thoughts on the Conference Finals:
Republic Conference:
Joshua Pohl's Kansas City Ice Twisters versus Cliff Dolgin's New York Dolphins
As mentioned prior to the first round, Kansas City have a solid offense and it was obvious during the
first round against Montreal scoring 26 goals in six games. New York is very solid as well on offense. I
believe New York has more fire power than Kansas City even if they scored only 14 goals in five games.
During the season, New York had the league best offense and Kansas City had the 3rd best offense. It is to
be noted, however, that there was a 50 goal differential between the two.
On defence, when you look at the regular season number, New York allowed 260 goals while Kansas City
only allowed 216. Basically, it is the league second worst defence against the league best defence. But, it is
to be noted that New York acquired both Andrei Markov and Jaroslav Halak at the deadline. These were
two major acquisitions for New York. I still give Kansas City the advantage on defence because they have
more depth on defence and their goalie, Kiprussof, is full time and a solid one!
New York and Kansas City only faced each other once after the trade deadline and New York won at home
4-2.
This matchup is very hard to predict, on paper New York has the best offense but KC offense has been on
fire from the start of the playoffs. KC is a little better on defence but that is not major. In net, both teams
have very solid goaltenders but Kiprusoff is full time! The longer this last, the better are chances that
Kansas City comes out victorious, but, I will go out and stick with my original prediction that I made before
the playoffs and say New York will win this in 6 hard games. This prediction scares the hell out of me as,
usually in hockey, offense wins games and defence wins championships. My perfect record may go down
here.
National Conference
Joe Paul's Long Beach Ice Dogs versus Johnny Francoeur's Quebec Nordiques
Long Beach won their first round in 6 games. They were led by their top line of Brad Richards, Heatley and
Burrows. Long Beach did manage to score 17 goals and allowed 14. Pass their first line, they have some
solid players and they fit the role given to them. Quebec has a very solid first line as well with Toews, Nash
and Eric Staal and do have some very nice players on their remaining lines. They also scored 17 goals in
the first round and only allowed 10 in 5 games. During the season, Long Beach Beach scored 252 goals to
Quebec 240. Even if Long Beach scored 12 more goals, I will call it even here.
On defence, it is very interesting. As mentioned in the previous round, both Long Beach and Quebec are
very solid. But why is it interesting? Quebec top 3 D are stronger but, in return, Long Beach lower 3 are
strong then Quebec. This makes it even in that department. In net, teams are pretty much even Ryan Miller
.929 save percentage to Nabokov .922. Even their backup have solid save percentage but neither will see
any ice time so nobody cares about them. I like Miller over Nabokov but both played great in the first round.
Again, Quebec is another team that improved their defence at the trade deadline when they acquired Tyler
Myers and Nabokov. Long Beach allowed 232 goals during the season to Quebec 238. This, again, is pretty
much even again.
Who will win this? Well who knows? These teams are even. Long Beach won their last regular season
game 3-0 and Miller is a monster. But, I am sticking with my early predictions and going with Quebec in 6
games with home ice advantage. One thing that is important and I feel that this is more important for
Quebec than Long Island given the fact that they have less depth on defence. They must get the right
matchup of D versus Long Beach top line, they should be able to manage this with home ice advantage.
GAMESPEAK – FEDERATED
HOCKEY LEAGUE NEWSLETTER
From the Commissioner’s Office:
The shocker in the Semi Conference Finals was the early exit of one of the
Canadian teams – The Montreal Canadians. The team was clearly the best in
the FHL regular season and won the Commissioner’s Cup which recognizes
the best regular season record. Unfortunately for Vince, the post season was
a totally different matter. The regular season is a marathon, a war of attrition
where the best overall team in terms of depth will survive. Only the most
balanced and consistent teams will win this marathon. However the Post
Season is more like a sprint. A hot goaltender, a lucky bounce of the puck, an
untimely penalty can all heavily affect the outcome of a post season series.
Slumps and hot streaks are amplified several fold under the microscope of the
Playoffs. That is why they call the Playoffs the “2nd Season.” Other than the
team chemistry that may carry over from the regular season, the 2nd Season
really starts from scratch and everyone is equal in terms of record no matter
how well they have done in the past. Furthermore, we’ve seen the reward of
“home ice advantage” can be easily overcome with one loss on the home ice.
The Montreal Canadians should not let their accomplishments of the regular
season be overshadowed by the early exit in the 2nd Season and neither should
other teams that had early exits. My McGregor Condors didn’t fare that much
better going down 4-1 to Quebec Nordiques. Am I sad? Yes. But that just
gives me more impetus to get better next season!
Post Season Statistics
Conference Semi Finals
Playoff Leaders
1 D.Sedin
2 Vanek
3 Ryan
4 Comeau
5 Burrows
Goals
KCI 5
QND 5
NYD 4
KCI 3
LBI 3
Assists
1 Stamkos NYD 6
2 Alfredsson KCI 5
3 Letang
QND 5
4 Zetterberg SAO 5
5 Backstrom KCI 4
+/-
Game Winning Goals
1 Jokinen
KCI
6
1 Oshie
SAO
2
2 Kulemin
KCI
6
2 Ryan
NYD
1
KCI
1
3 Phaneuf QND 5
3 D.Sedin
4 Hartnell
KCI
4 Alfredsson KCI 1
5 Letang
QND 5
5
PIM
1 Orr
5 Tavares
KCI
1
Goals/60
LBI
49
1 D.Sedin
KCI 2.90
2 Malkin SAO 34
2 Antropov
MGC 1.92
3 Ruutu
NYD 27
3 M.Fisher
MCA 1.78
4 J.Scott
LBI
4 Konopka
MGC 1.76
5 Neil
SAO 20
5 Gagne
QND 1.61
22