GAMESPEAK FHL NEWSLETTER

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1 June 9, 2013 Vol. 3, No. 4 Join the Living FHL Experience and follow us on Twitter and Get Game updates Welcome to the June 9, 2013 Edition of Gamespeak - The FHL Playoff Edition. The FHL Playoff Bracket: 1

2 Table of Contents: P.1 FHL Playoff Bracket (The Quest for the Crystal) P.2 - Table of Contents. P. 2 FHL Playoffs Crystal Conference Finals Predictions by Howard Cossell, Jr. P. 3 FHL Rivalries by Chad Pridemore P.7 From the Commissioner s Office The Battle Rages On! Conference Finals Report! FHL Playoff Predictions: Conference Finals by Howard Cosell, Jr. And now we have reached the final four. Four teams stand but a series away from playing for the finals. Having correctly predicted 3 out of 4 series in Round 1, few are more surprised than I. As the cliche says, if it ain t broke don t fix it. Once again I will be looking at head to head meetings during the season of the Finalist as a road map to my prediction. So let us jump right into it. #1 New York Dolphins vs #3 Exton Igloos Both Conference Finals are meeting of divisional foes, which provides for lots of games. In this case, New and Exton met nine times during the regular season and only one of those games went into overtime. Exton had the advantage early winning three of the first four meetings. However, New York won the fifth game in overtime and never looked back. New York won 6 of the 9 meetings scoring 29 goals while yielding only 22 goals. In fact, Exton only scored more than 3 goals twice, which accounted for 2 of their 3 wins. Finally, Exton never scored more than 2 goals when playing on the road against New York, though they did win one early match up 2-1 at New York. On the other hand, New York scored 4 or more goals in the four final meetings, winning both at home and on the road. Malkin is a huge factor, but New York has lots of scoring spread throughout their line up. New York wins it in 6. 2

3 #1 Quebec Nordiques vs. #2 Gatineau City Bulldogs These divisional rivals met 12 times during the season. Quebec won five. While Gatineau City won seven, three of those wins came in overtime. However, in the playoffs, an overtime win is still a win. None of the games were settled in a shootout. As for scoring, Gatineau City out scored Quebec What makes this series particularly difficult to predict is that both teams won in streaks. Gatineau City won the first 4 meetings. Quebec won the next 2 meetings. Then Gatineau City won the 3 in a row. And finally Quebec won the last 3 games. While Gatineau City appears to have the overall edge, Quebec won the games played most recently. It s a coin flip, wouldn t be surprised if this series is settled in overtime in game 7. The job requires a prediction, so here it goes. Gatineau City wins it in 7. FHL Rivalries By Chad Pridemore One of the things that makes a league special is the rivalries that develop over time. Rivalries can occur for any number of reasons. Being in the same division can cause conflict and especially when the same two teams over seasons continually vie for the division crown or a playoff spot. This is a rivalry is based on limited resources and only one can be the victor the zero sum game! Another kind of rivalry can occur during the crucible of competition when two teams that really don t know each other but fate brings them together to see who will advance. During the series the familiarity of playing each other multiple times breeds contempt. That can cause a rivalry that can last for a long time. The FHL completing it s 3 rd year has three rivalries already growing. Kansas City Ice Twisters vs. Cleveland Barons 3

4 The Kansas City Ice Twisters and Cleveland Barons have developed a rivalry over the course of time in the FHL. Both teams are from the original FHL 10 and share a spot in the Mid West Division. Ice Twisters coach Joshua Pohl and Barons coach Scott Kalman have created two excellent franchises over the course of three seasons thus far. Both teams come at each other very physically and challenge each other well in every game. The rivalry between the two franchises started to pick up steam in the season. During the inaugural season ( season), Kansas City had the upper hand by winning five out of eight meetings. In the season, the teams went.500 by splitting their six matchups. The current season saw the most matchups between the teams at 11 games with Kansas City squeaking six wins out of 11 compared to Cleveland s five. However, Cleveland did win the only shootout matchup between the two teams. Also, Cleveland shut out Kansas City twice in the current season. The current winning percentage between these two rivals has Kansas City with a 56% edge winning 14/25 compared to Cleveland s 44% record of 11/25. History shows that rivals typically exist between teams that are very close in winning percentage of head to head matchups. Cleveland s Scott Kalman has managed to keep Joshua Pohl s Ice Twister s in check despite Kansas City always being at the top of the points leaders in the FHL. FHL owners and fans will definitely keep an eye on this rivalry as the seasons go by. Columbus Jaguars vs. Detroit Bandits The Columbus Jaguars and Detroit Bandits are rivals for obvious reasons. First, they are both from the original FHL 10. Both franchises are owned and managed by the Pridemore enterprise. The Bandits are owned and managed by FHL Assistant Commissioner Chad Pridemore and the Jaguars are owned and managed by Ashlee Pridemore, current FHL Crystal champion for a few more weeks. The rivalry exists between the two owners as well as the fans who live along the I-75 corridor between Detroit and Columbus. The teams share a rivalry that is similar to the Michigan Wolverines and Ohio State Buckeyes in college football. There is always excitement in the air when a team from Ohio or Michigan crosses into their opponent s state for a head to head matchup. 4

5 As far as the statistics fall between the teams, Columbus has dominated by winning nine out of ten games. The large variance in winning percentage does not put to rest the border battle between these two teams as well as the rivalry among the two coaches. GameSpeak was able to interview both coaches at the end of the regular season. Detroit Bandits owner Chad Pridemore summarized his view on the rivalry. We don t get to play Columbus too often but when we do it is always in front of a sold out crowd with the fans always splitting the difference between the two teams. The arena is always half blue and half red on game night. Despite us being under.500 for the past two seasons, we can always guarantee a sold out crowd whenever we meet Columbus. Sure their recent Crystal title helps their attendance, but I still think our fans love the border battle between Ohio & Michigan regardless of the sport. Columbus Jaguars owner Ashlee Pridemore had this to say about the rivalry. The Bandits are a fun team to watch and play because of the good mix of players on their team. Young goaltender Jimmy Howard has been with them since the inception and to face the likes of Johann Franzen or Niklas Lidstrom in his final year adds to the rivalry in my mind. In the inaugural season, we had to contend with Brian Rafalski and Niklas Lidstrom as defensive pairs. What hockey fan on the I-75 corridor wouldn t want to see these guys match up against the stars on my team of Marian Hossa, Pavel Datsyuk, and goalies Tim Thomas or Roberto Luongo? Everyone in Detroit and Columbus knows Chad & I love the game and competing against each other a few times a year makes for some exciting action between Ohio and Michigan. Gatineau City Bulldogs vs. Columbus Jaguars This rivalry came to full force during the FHL playoffs. The Jaguars squeezed into the playoffs and met up with Gatineau City during the second round of the playoffs. The animosity between Coach Luc Savard and Ashlee Pridemore really developed as they began taunting each other during games and at post game press conferences. The Jaguars roster was considered old by the league and it rubbed the entire Bulldogs franchise the wrong way when they lost to the Jaguars in six games. 5

6 The Bulldogs were celebrating this season when the Jaguars failed to make the playoffs. Gamespeak caught up with Jaguars coach Ashlee Pridemore at the end of the regular season this year and spoke with her about the rivalry with Gatineau City. I think my coaching style along with the age of our players during the season last year really struck a chord with Gatineau and the entire league. Unfortunately, Luc and his team had to confront the aftermath of playoff elimination by a bunch of old guys with a female coach. I had a good time competing with Luc in the playoffs and I feel our spirit was well intended. As a result, we have developed a rivalry that will stick around the FHL for long time. Budding potential future rivalries to keep an eye out for: Exton Igloos versus New York Dolphins Both teams are fully loaded offensively and defensively. Both teams are in the highly competitive East Division and finished #1 and #2 in their division. Both teams would be over the salary cap if there were one this season. Both teams are playing in the Republic Conference Finals. Nuff said! California Zephyrs versus Los Angeles Monarchs Both Teams lay claim to be the first love of California. The Zephyrs in the northern part of California and the Monarchs in the southern part of California. Both are up and coming teams with California having potential future FHL All Stars Tyler Sequin, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Nick Leddy, etc. and LA having Z. Parise, E. Cole, A. Henrique. 6

7 From the Commissioner s Office: The Battle Rages On!!! The National Conference Finals has been a see-saw battle between the two Canadian Juggernauts in Johnny Francoeur s Quebec Nordiques and Lucky Luc Savard s Gatineau City Bulldogs. This much anticipated series between division rivals met all expectations. Game #1-2 in Le Colisee as reported by Nordiques Press release: April Le Colisee F Gatineau City Quebec :33 EV GCB Hall(4), assisted by Neal(1) and Seabrook(3) 1 8:31 EV GCB Hall(5), assisted by Neal(2) and Bergeron(4) 2 4:27 EV QND Simmonds(2), assisted by Vanek(5) and Myers(4) Game 1 seems like a close game, but in fact, we had 3 very uneven periods of hockey here. Gatineau came out strong, Taylor Hall scoring 2 goals by the 10 minutes mark, then it was Quebec who took 5 penalties but managed to defend well on the penalty killing. Second period was all about the Nordiques controlling the play, Wayne Simmonds making the game 2-1 and the 3rd period was somehow dominated by Gatineau although no one on the Nordiques was able step up to either secure the win or tie the game. The game ended 2-1 Gatineau. April Le Colisee F Gatineau City Quebec :04 EV QND Zubrus(1), assisted by Phaneuf(5) and Smith(1) 3 3:08 EV QND Simmonds(3), assisted by Vanek(6) and Skinner(3) 3 19:58 EN QND Phaneuf(1), assisted by Carlson(2) and Staal(9) Game 2 was all about Carey Price stopping all 38 shots he faced, while Zubrus into the 1st, Simmonds early into the 3rd and Phaneuf in an empty net tied the series 1-1 with a 3-0 shutout win. The game switched over to Gatineau City to the Dog House and was reported out by the Gatineau City Gazette for games #3-4: 7

8 April F Quebec Gatineau City :26 EV QND Nash(6), assisted by Toews(2) and Staal(10) 1 8:10 EV QND Toews(6), assisted by Staal(11) 1 11:14 EV GCB Giroux(1), assisted by Neal(3) and Eberle(2) 2 1:15 EV GCB Pietrangelo(2), assisted by Giroux(3) 2 13:01 EV QND Weber(2), assisted by Nash(4) and Toews(3) 3 7:53 EV GCB Eberle(1), assisted by Giroux(4) and Brown(2) 4 4:00 EV GCB Neal(5), assisted by Hall(5) and Pietrangelo(5) After obtaining the home ice advantage in Quebec City, Gatineau was hoping for the best at home. However, Quebec came out strong in the first game scoring two early. Gatineau manages to tie the game at 2 before seeing Quebec score again. Gatineau fought back to send the game in OT. OT ended early when James Neal scored at the 4 minute mark. Giroux and Toews both accumulated three points. Price was great for Quebec stopping 35 shots as Elliot was average at best. April F Quebec Gatineau City :43 EV QND Zetterberg(5), assisted by Michalek(1) and Callahan(3) 1 18:08 EV QND Zetterberg(6), unassisted 2 13:20 PP QND Vanek(2), assisted by Michalek(2) 3 7:39 EV GCB Cleary(1), assisted by Kane(4) 3 19:13 EN QND Nash(7), assisted by Staal(12) and Toews(4) The fourth game saw a much more motivated Gatineau team as the outshot Quebec 40 to 19. This does not really matter when your goalie stinks and the opponent goaltender does great. Carey Price stopped 39 shots and Zetterberg scored two as Quebec gain home ice advantage with a 4-1 win. Gatineau s goalie Elliot had 15 saves and allowed 3 goals in the loss. After both teams split their games on their home ice, Game #5 would be critical for Quebec to protect home ice. Game #5 was reported out: April Le Colisee F Gatineau City Quebec

9 1 10:07 EV QND Nash(8), unassisted 2 15:09 EV GCB Giroux(2), assisted by Pietrangelo(6) 3 6:44 PP QND Vanek(3), assisted by Weber(4) and Zetterberg(5) SOG 1 SOG 2 SOG 3 Gatineau City Quebec GCB QND SOG FOW FO% 49,2 50,8 Hits Blocks Missed Net Shot Attempts Scoring Chances PIM 8 14 PP TOA 7:25 4:52 Star 1: QND Price 44 saves Star 2: QND Vanek 1 G Star 3: QND Nash 1 G GWG: Thomas Vanek Notables: GCB Doughty 5 blocks QND Price 44 saves Price stands on head with 44 saves to put Nordiques up 3-2 going back to Gatineau City. Terrible first period, giving up 23 shots to 5, but Carey Price is solid and Quebec takes a 1-0 lead going into the second period. Rest of the game is close, very close... Gatineau is unable to capitalize on 7 PP chances while Quebec scores a 3rd period PP goal to win Game 5 by a 2-1 score. Coach Luc Savard commented to Gamespeak after the game Price has been the story so far in this series, incredible. All the games have been close with 3 out of the 5 decided by 1 goal. Gatineau was now pushed to the brink of elimination. Gatineau would need a big game 6 to try and force a game 7. Last night the game was played This would take over time to decide! 9

10 April F Quebec Gatineau City :46 EV GCB Bergeron(4), assisted by Neal(4) 3 18:46 EV QND Michalek(2), assisted by Weber(5) 4 9:37 EV GCB Brown(2), assisted by Bergeron(5) and McDonagh(2) Penalty Summary Per Time Team 1 7:19 GCB Neal(15), 2:00 - tripping 1 17:52 QND Staal(6), 2:00 - checking from behind 2 5:18 GCB Greene(10), 2:00 - tripping 2 14:38 QND Michalek(4), 2:00 - roughing 2 14:38 GCB McDonagh(8), 2:00 - roughing 2 18:20 QND Phaneuf(30), 4:00 - high sticking SOG 1 SOG 2 SOG 3 SOG 4 Quebec Gatineau City QND GCB SOG FOW FO% 42,4 57,6 Hits Blocks Missed Net Shot Attempts Scoring Chances 5 19 PIM 8 6 PP TOA 4:00 6:47 Star 1: GCB Bergeron 1 G, 2 Pts Star 2: QND Price 49 saves Star 3: GCB Brown 1 G GWG: Dustin Brown Dustin Brown celebrates after scoring breakaway goal in overtime. Notables: QND Price 49 saves GCB Bergeron 18 faceoffs won Game six is similar to others as Carey Price plays great and makes 49 saves. The first period ends scoreless as Gatineau lead in shots 19 to 13. The second is domination by Gatineau as they shoot 16 times to 3. They only managed to beat Price once thanks to Patrice Bergeron. The third is all even in shots. At 18;46, Milan Michalek beats Elliot to score and send the game in OT. Within a minute of OT, Claude Giroux goes on a breakaway...great save by Price..Gatineau will keep the pressure and finally score on their 9th shot as Downtown Dustin Brown finally beats Price. There will be a game seven... 10

11 Meanwhile the Republic Conference Finals was taking place between the Commissioner s Trophy Winner and former Crystal Champion 2 years ago New York Dolphins lead by Cliff Dolgins versus the Exton Igloos led by Trader Jeff Murray. Game #1 at the Dolphin Tank saw NY let one get away: April The Dolphin Tank F Exton New York :52 EV EXI Girardi(1), unassisted 1 10:22 PP NYD Perry(3), assisted by Garrison(2) and Spezza(8) 1 16:39 EV EXI Malkin(6), assisted by Suter(3) 2 14:55 PP NYD Spezza(3), assisted by Karlsson(11) 3 8:07 EV EXI Alfredsson(2), assisted by Whitney(3) and Malkin(2) 3 14:22 EV EXI Malkin(7), assisted by Mitchell(2) 3 15:45 EV EXI Couture(3), assisted by Marleau(2) and Letang(5) Penalty Summary Per Time Team 1 9:44 EXI Ladd(4), 2:00 - hooking 2 :29 EXI Letang(2), 2:00 - holding 2 13:42 EXI Ladd(6), 2:00 - cross checking 2 18:06 EXI Malkin(17), 2:00 - interference 3 3:53 EXI Dupuis(4), 2:00 - hooking 3 9:37 EXI Ladd(8), 2:00 - hooking 3 10:06 EXI Suter(4), 2:00 - tripping SOG 1 SOG 2 SOG 3 Exton New York EXI NYD SOG FOW FO% Hits Blocks Missed Net 8 10 Shot Attempts Scoring Chances 6 16 PIM 14 0 PP TOA 2:23 6:39 Star 1: EXI Malkin 2 G, 3 Pts Star 2: EXI Smith 52 saves Star 3: EXI Girardi 1 G GWG: Daniel Alfredsson Malkin comes up big in game #1 with 2 goals and 1 assist. Exton steals game 1 in NY. NY dominates game one outshooting Exton but Exton dynamic duo of Mike Smith and Malkin steal the game breaking open a 2-2 tie on the third and winning 5-2 behind 52 saves for Smith. Malkin has 2 goals and an assist. 11

12 Game #2 would go better for the NY Dolphins who were desperate for a win to even up the series: April The Dolphin Tank F Exton New York :13 EV NYD Perry(4), assisted by Spezza(9) and Garrison(3) 2 4:34 EV NYD Ryder(3), assisted by Clarkson(1) and Little(4) 2 5:05 EV NYD Boyle(1), assisted by Kostitsyn(1) and Karlsson(12) 2 6:12 PP NYD Karlsson(1), unassisted 3 2:24 EV NYD Spezza(4), assisted by Ryan(2) and Orpik(1) 3 6:13 PP EXI Letang(1), assisted by Purcell(6) and Malkin(3) Penalty Summary Per Time Team 1 4:20 EXI Wisniewski(4), 2:00 - hooking 1 4:20 NYD Brewer(2), 2:00 - hooking 1 5:03 NYD Stamkos(4), 2:00 - hooking 1 8:52 EXI Cooke(4), 2:00 - hooking 1 12:28 EXI Whitney(2), 2:00 - holding 2 5:47 EXI Wisniewski(6), 2:00 - roughing 2 7:44 NYD Ryan(10), 2:00 - hooking 3 5:37 NYD Karlsson(6), 2:00 - tripping SOG 1 SOG 2 SOG 3 Exton New York EXI NYD SOG FOW FO% Hits Blocks Missed Net Shot Attempts Scoring Chances PIM 8 8 PP TOA 5:28 5:00 Star 1: NYD Halak 41 saves Star 2: NYD Spezza 1 G, 2 Pts Star 3: NYD Karlsson 1 G, 2 Pts GWG: Michael Ryder Exton carries the play in the first period but period ends scoreless. NY scores 4 goals in the first 6 minute of the second period and goes onto to a 5-1 win to even the series. Five different Dolphins tally goals in the win. 12

13 However Exton had taken home ice advantage away from NY. They would press this advantage in game #3: April Pittsburgh Civic Arena F New York Exton :25 EV EXI Couture(4), unassisted 2 13:29 EV NYD Ryan(5), assisted by Lidstrom(3) 2 14:38 EV EXI Stepan(2), assisted by Ladd(3) 2 16:13 PP EXI Malkin(8), assisted by Purcell(7) 3 2:07 EV EXI Ladd(1), assisted by Suter(4) 3 3:21 EV EXI Alfredsson(3), assisted by Letang(6) 3 8:41 EV EXI Marleau(3), assisted by Malkin(4) and Suter(5) Penalty Summary Per Time Team 1 4:57 NYD Clarkson(16), 2:00 - cross checking 1 8:18 EXI Malkin(19), 2:00 - tripping 1 12:59 NYD Clarkson(18), 2:00 - tripping 1 16:58 EXI Ladd(10), 2:00 - tripping 2 6:27 NYD Perry(11), 2:00 - hooking 2 15:58 NYD Kessel(5), 5:00 - cross checking SOG 1 SOG 2 SOG 3 New York Exton NYD EXI SOG FOW FO% Hits Blocks Missed Net Shot Attempts Scoring Chances 8 16 PIM 11 4 PP TOA 3:44 9:05 Star 1: EXI Smith 28 saves Star 2: EXI Ladd 1 G, 2 Pts Star 3: EXI Malkin 1 G, 2 Pts Mike Smith comes up big in game #3 with 28 saves on 29 NY Dolphin Shots on goal. Smith has been standing on his head throughout the Crystal Playoffs with a sterling.930 save PCT. in 9 games played. He has a 2.39 GAA. GWG: Derek Stepan 13

14 Notables: NYD Orpik 5 blocks, Halak 59 saves EXI Coburn 5 blocks New York GA SV Save% TOI W L T Rate G Halak(L) : (+0.8) Exton GA SV Save% TOI W L T Rate G Smith,M(W) : (0.0) As reported from Pittsburgh Civic Arena: Exton returns home for Game 3 and is lifted by the excitement of the home crowd...exton jumps to a 1-0 lead on a Logan Couture unassisted goal. Bobby Ryan would tie the game at 1 in the 2nd period. Derek Stepan puts Exton up again 2-1 and then the play that changed the game... Phil Kessel gets whistled for a 5 minute major cross-checking penalty. Malkin nets the lone goal on the 5 min. PP to make it 3-1, but it was too much for New York to come back from in the 3rd period. Exton opens the flood gates and continues to pepper Halak, leading to a 6-1 final score. Exton controlled the game play in this one with 65 shots on goal. Halak and New York will be better in Game 4. Exton leads 2-1. Jeff Upcoming Events! Game #7 features the Gatineau City Bulldogs at Quebec Nordiques This game will be featured on Twitter. Stay tuned for an announcement of the game date and time on the FHL Webpage. For those who are not on Twitter you can follow along on the FHL Webpage Twitter feed on the lower right hand corner of the FHL Webpage. Please hit refresh to get more updates. Please note for more detailed box scores on all of the FHL Crystal Playoff games go the the FHL Webpage and click on the link underneath the You Tube entitled: FHL Crystal Post Season Playoffs Standings and Statistics Enjoy! 14