GAMESPEAK FEDERATED HOCKEY LEAGUE NEWSLETTER

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1 February 17, 2019 Vol. 9, No. 4 Join the Living FHL Experience and follow us on Twitter and Get Game updates Welcome to the February 2019 Edition of Gamespeak. Here is the table of contents for this issue: FHL All Star Game Results (P.1); FHL 8 th Winter Classic (P.4); FHL Trade Central (P.8-9); FHL Standings and League Leaders (P.10), and From the Commissioner s Office What are the Odds? (P.11)! Enjoy! FHL All Star Game By Luc ( Lucky ) Savard National conference came into the 6 th FHL All Star Game one full of confidence having broken the string of 4 straight FHL All Star victories by the Republic Conference with a 4-3-win last year. The National conference believed that last year lost was a fluke and was hoping to correct this in It didn t take long to get interesting as the National Conference would score with just over a minute into the game when Spokane defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere goal staked the Nationals (West) to a 1 goal early lead. The Republic would tie the game at the 5:00 minute mark as NY Dolphin Brad Marchand would find the back of the net with an assist from Las Vegas Evgeni Malkin and Florida Connor McDavid. The Republic would tally again 5:20 minutes later-on a Las Vegas Anze Kopitar goal, assisted from NY Dolphins defenseman Erik Karlsson and Kansas City Scouts RW Mikko Rantanen for a 2-1 lead. However, Brad Marchand would trip Buffalo Sabres Taylor Hall for a 2:00 minor penalty. The Nationals on the power play, after a won faceoff by California Zephyrs Sidney Crosby, would score on Minnesota North Stars Alexander Ovechkin one timer that beats John Gibson at 10:53 into the 1 st period to tie the game

2 FHL All Star Game Continued Just under 1 minute later Nationals Leon Draisaitl would win the faceoff in the Republic zone to Gostisbehere who would score his 2 nd goal of the game on the cycle with assists from fellow Spokane team mate E. Dadanov and Draisaitl. That would end the scoring in an exciting 1 st period with the Nationals having a slim 3-2 lead. The 2 nd period started off with veteran E. Malkin trading face rubs with California s young defenseman Seth Jones. Neither side would capitalize on the 4-on-4 skate. Then Cincinnati Sword Dustin Byfuglien who is in the top 5 for PIM gets whistled for roughing on Los Angeles Monarchs Nikita Kucherov s inside shot. The Nationals would score almost immediately on the power play on Zephyr s Sidney Crosby deflection of Gostisbehere slap shot by Las Vegas Jonathan Quick at the 12:23 mark for a National 4-2 lead. But Quick would appear to redeem himself with a tremendous save on an odd man rush from Gatineau s Alexander Barkov trying to go 5 hole. But this success would be short lived as with just over 2 minutes left in the period, the Republic would close the lead to 4-3 on a Connor McDavid goal with assists from Evgeni Malkin and Brad Marchand. The 2 nd period would end with a National Conference 1 goal lead. The 3 rd period saw an explosion of 5 goals scored between both teams. Minnesota North Star Claude Giroux would score just 41 seconds to start the 3 rd period. Then just 1:44 minutes later, Republic Conference Dustin Byfuglien would score a shorthanded goal on a breakaway with assists from Boston Whaler Jamie Benn and Erik Karlsson. Then Republic Kansas City Scouts John Tavares would tie the game 5-5 with an assist from Benn. But 41 seconds later New Jersey Devils Artemi Panarin would get the game winning goal for the Nationals at the 4:53 mark. McGregor Condor John Carlson would add the empty net goal at 19:49 for the 7-5 National win! This game was all about offense as every goaltender not named Bobrovsky fared poorly. Bobby was the only one with a save percentage above.900. The National Conference (West) took this game 7-5. For the Republic, Erik Karlsson, Brad Marchand and Conor McDavid got two points a piece. For the National, notables were John Carlsson with two points, Shane Gotisbehere with three points and Sergei Brobovsky with a.917 save %. 2

3 The player of the game went Gotisbehere who was awarded the First Star for scoring two goals by some obscure journalist, but in my opinion the player of the game should go to Minnesota North Stars Claude Giroux of the National Conference. Claude scored a goal and added two assists with a plus 2. He also won 16 faceoffs. He was effective all game, but Shayne Gotisbehere took home the new 2019 GM Cadillac Escalade. January 13, 2018 Neutral Ice F Republic Nationalist Scoring Summary Per Time Str Team 1 1:16 EV W Gostisbehere, assisted by Giroux and Hall 1 5:11 EV E Marchand, assisted by Malkin and McDavid 1 9:40 EV E Kopitar, assisted by Karlsson and Rantanen 1 11:01 PP W Ovechkin, assisted by Laine and Crosby 1 12:03 EV W Gostisbehere, assisted by Dadonov and Draisaitl 2 12:38 PP W Crosby, assisted by Gostisbehere and Burns 2 18:06 EV E McDavid, assisted by Malkin and Marchand 3 :41 EV W Giroux, assisted by Burns and Carlson 3 2:15 SH E Byfuglien, assisted by Benn and Karlsson 3 4:12 EV E Tavares, assisted by Benn 3 4:53 EV W Panarin, assisted by Eichel and Barkov 3 19:49 EN W Carlson, assisted by Keller and Giroux Penalty Summary Per Time Team 1 9:57 E Marchand 2:00 - tripping 1 18:11 W Panarin 2:00 - slashing 2 2:05 E Malkin 2:00 - roughing 2 2:05 W Seth Jones 2:00 - roughing 2 12:23 E Byfuglien 2:00 - roughing 3 1:09 E Josi 2:00 - tripping 3 16:42 E Josi 2:00 - checking from behind Republic GA SV Save% TOI W L OL Rate G Miller : G Mueller : G Lindberg : Nationals GA SV Save% TOI W L OL Rate G Bowey : G Skinner : G Lindholm : SOG 1 SOG 2 SOG 3 National Republic Republic Nationalist SOG FOW FO% Hits Blocks Missed Net Shot Attempts Scoring Chances PIM 10 4 PP TOA 2:52 4:00 3 Spokane Bombers Shayne Gostibehere got first star with 2 goals and 1 assist.

4 The FHL 8 th Annual Winter Classic Report The FHL Winter Classic was a great success and featured a rematch between the New York Dolphins and Montreal Canadiens. In the last edition of Gamespeak, we outlined the reason for a rematch amidst the rumors of the Canadiens ownership looking to move the franchise. With rumors flying on top of a fierce divisional rivalry, it was certainly a Winter Classic that didn t disappoint! New Era Field in Buffalo, New York was the spot for the opening faceoff that took place at 1PM. As predicted the temperature was a balmy 52 º F (11ºC) under cloudy skies. There was a crisp wind from the north that made it much cooler, but the fans didn t seem to care! The ice conditions were perfect throughout the game. The event was sold out with an attendance of 71,870 continuing the streak of FHL Winter Classis sell outs. Devan Dubnyk was the starting goalie for New York and his opponent on the other end of the ice was Semyon Varlamov. The first period saw an early penalty against David Savard of New York for hooking which was killed off easily by the Dolphins. Stamkos and Kessel spent a large amount of time on the ice during the penalty kill. Carl Hagelin had the first scoring opportunity of the game on some nice passing from Nugent- Hopkins and Perry. Varlamov stood strong and made a great save. After the first TV timeout Steven Stamkos was whistled for a 2:00 hooking penalty giving Montreal their first power play of the game which proved uneventful for them. On the even strength faceoff Nugent-Hopkins made a nice pass to Stamkos forcing Varlamov to make a quick stick save that dribbled in the crease until Evgeny Kuznetsov could get his stick on it and pass it into the neutral zone out of harm s way. Emotions started to grow as the first period began to wind down. Both teams began exchanging hits which the refs seemed to be allowing. As the hitting continued, the winter dressed fans saw their first hockey goal scored in New Era Field at 17:17 by Bryan Little. Little started the opportunity on a faceoff win in the defensive zone. He and Gabriel Landeskog played the puck back and forth through the neutral zone until Little snapped a quick wrist shot that beat Dubnyk on the blocker side. At 18:42 Phil Kessel was flagged for a 2:00 interference penalty. The penalty would carry over into the 2 nd period with Montreal leading 1-0. David Backes won the opening faceoff of the 2 nd period which he dumped into the offensive zone. Vincent Trocheck won the chase to the puck which allowed Filip Forsberg a scoring chance that was stopped by Dubnyk. A rebound went to Backes who fired a shot that was blocked on a nice defensive play by Mark Giordano. The puck was cleared and the penalty was killed. On the next play Varlamov made an incredible diving stop against Colin Miller. That save would make the post-game highlight reel! New York showed off the dangerous offense of Henrik Sedin and Phil Kessel as Sedin sped over the blue line and made a nice pass to Kessel who scored on a quick wrist shot to tie the game 1-1 at 4:47 of the 2 nd period. Reilly Smith had a broken stick earlier in the breakout which gave Sedin the opportunity to speed up the ice unattested. 4

5 The hard hitting carried over from the 1 st period and was finally called out by the refs as Blake Coleman and Filip Forsberg got into a scrum in front of the net giving their teams matching minor roughing penalties at 8:40. During the penalty Rickard Rickell stunned New Era Field as he took a blistering slap shot from the blue line that beat Dubnyk stick side high making the score 2-1 Montreal at 9:33. It was a very quick slap shot that appeared to catch Dubnyk off guard. The 4 on 4 play ended and was immediately met with another penalty against Shea Weber for hooking at 11:04. Rasmus Ristolainen got a quick shot on the ensuing faceoff that was stopped by Dubnyk. The fans gasped as that shot hit Dubnyk in the mask and fell straight down in front of him to Reilly Smith of Montreal but he was unable to make a play on the rebound. Montreal got a few more shots on the powerplay but were unable to capitalize. Rickard Rakell was whistled for cross checking at 14:26 as he got his stick up too high on Erik Karlsson. New York had an immediate scoring opportunity on the faceoff as Marchand and Kessel worked together to get a quick pass to Stamkos who was able to snap a hard wrist shot on Varlamov. Varlamov got in front of it somehow and made another highlight reel save against the New York powerplay. Montreal was able to kill the penalty and keep the 2-1 lead late in the 2 nd period. New York kept the offensive pressure through the rest of the period forcing Varlamov to make some tough saves especially against a 3 on 2 rush that Carl Hagelin was able to get a close shot on. Montreal took a 2-1 lead into the 3 rd period. New York kept the offensive pressure going to start the 3 rd period by getting two quick scoring opportunities that were denied by Varlamov. Anxiety began to grow as New York continued pressure against Montreal. The fans in Buffalo could feel a goal coming for New York but would it happen? Varlamov was stopping everything that came his way early in the 3 rd period. Shots by Hagelin, Stamkos, and Kessel were all stopped on nice saves. After this flurry of offense Montreal thought they had tamed the Dolphins until Cam Atkinson and Jason Zucker broke away on a 2 on 1 opportunity. Zucker fired a shot but Keith Yandle was able to lay down and block it. The momentum continued for New York until Corey Perry was whistled for a 4:00 high stick penalty at 9:48. Montreal was able to milk the clock and get a few shots on the powerplay but were not able to score. New York was able to keep the much needed one goal deficit alive as the final moments of the Winter Classic were approaching. Both teams played evenly through the last two minutes of the game. Montreal got away with a clear tripping penalty at 18:53 as Giordano was taken down with a stick in his skate. The fans were very vocal about the missed call! Varlamov stopped three more scoring opportunites until New York broke out on a 2 on 1 rush with Marchand and Giordano. Girodano ripped a shot that hit the post and went in the net to tie the game 2-2 at 19:52. New Era Field erupted as the lamp lit on the game tying goal. The Winter Classic was now going to overtime with a 2-2 tie! 5

6 Montreal had the momentum in overtime which forced Dubnyk to make some tough saves during the 3 on 3 play. Karlsson, Marchand, and Stamkos tried to beat Dubnyk as they played double shift hockey but they couldn t prevail in the 5:00 overtime period. A shootout would now happen in this divisional rivalry Winter Classic game at New Era Field! Phil Kessel went first for New York and scored on a nice fake shot stick handled goal against Varlamov. Filip Forsberg went first for Montreal who tried a slap shot that was stuffed by Dubnyk. Brad Marchand was skater #2 for New York and he unloaded a slap shot that whizzed right by Varlamov to give the Dolphins a 2-0 lead in the shootout. It was now up to Matthew Tkachuk for Montreal to keep the Canadiens alive. He moved in quickly on Dubnyk and went to the backhand but was stopped on an incredible game winning save by Devan Dubnyk. The Dolphins were able to come back from a 2-1 deficit in the last eight seconds of the game and eventually win the Winter Classic in a shootout. Both goaltenders played well and stopped several shots on key scoring opportunities. Gamespeak names Semyon Varlamov and Devan Dubnyk as the first two stars of the game. Brad Marchand is honored as third star of the game as he secured the win for New York in the shootout. The fans at New Era Field were treated to an incredible Winter Classic game with great goal scoring, great goaltending, and excellent physical play on both ends of the ice. The FHL is extremely thrilled with the outcome of the game and support of the fans as they filled every seat in New Era Field for the Winter Classic! 6

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8 FHL Trade Central By Ken Perry (FHL Director of Player Personnel) Here are all the trades and draft order to date for this season in the FHL. Enjoy. 8

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10 FHL Standings Block 5 Games Played to date: 10

11 From the Commissioner s Office: Ken Perry (FHL Director of Player Personnel) is our guest columnist and weighs in on the odds of each team making it to the Crystal Finals. Enjoy! Please note FHL important deadlines coming up: Feb 8 Block 5 starts March 3 Block 5 ends 7 PM EST March 10 Trade Deadline- 7 PM EST March 13 COAs due 10 PM EST March 15 Block 6 starts (regular season final block) April 7 End of Regular Season 11