Thunder in the West (Fantasy NHL)

coasterholic14 · Post by **coasterholic14** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 4:51 pm

Thunder in the West
Some of you may have seen the database I’ve been working on off and on for the past few months (mostly in the past week) here:
http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/vi ... =13&t=7871

Well, though I don’t have logos for all the teams done yet (or hardly any of them), that can be taken care of as I go without the pre-game editor, so I decided I wanted to start a story. Now, how I’m going to do this is start off in the NHL this time (might try ECHL or AHL on my next start), random team, fantasy draft, and I will NOT be picking the players. I wanted to do a fantasy draft to make the teams more randomized since they’re all “new” teams (see above link for the list of teams). I will also be bumping the salary cap up after the first season to $53 million (since doing it now would mean everyone going after leftover UFAs remaining after the draft).

I am going to do my best to play as “realistically” as possible, meaning limiting trading, FA acquisitions, player development, etc. Usually, I trade a lot early on and almost never down the line, as I tend to build from my draft picks…I intend to do that here as well, but it’s because I rarely trade away picks, which tends to leave me stockpiled and bottlenecked with prospects. This makes my AHL team dominant, but means my top guys usually make it, lower never have a chance to fully develop (with notable exceptions) and I never get to sign undrafted guys due to overcrowding. So here, well out of playoffs = trade some expiring contracts for picks, barely in = hold as is, fight for cup = picks for players…I want to try and keep it more balanced and realistic than usual. Things like that, and I might need you guys to help remind me of that and keep me on track.

NOTE: Due to life being hectic at times for me, be warned updates could be several per day, several per week, or several per month, I will do my best to make updates at least somewhat regular. Now on to the story, and my randomly chosen team and roster:

So, after randomly choosing a team and undergoing a random fantasy draft, it looks like new GM Brandon Greene will be taking over the Emerald City Thunderbirds, based in Seattle, Washington, for the 2006-2007 season.

Emerald City Thunderbirds
Location: Seattle, Washington
Western Conference – Northwest Division
Affiliates: Spokane Komets (AHL), Idaho Steelheads (ECHL)
Reputation: Good
Rink: Thunderdome – 17,565
Fan Support: Poor/Mediocre
Rivals: Strong rivalry with our nearby Canadian neighbors in Vancouver (Whitecaps), insanely fierce rivalry with our nearby American neighbors, the Portland Meadowlarks.
Finances: $6 million bank, $52 million player budged ($1 million under cap after this season)

coasterholic14 · Post by **coasterholic14** » Sun Jan 01, 2012 3:18 pm

Introducing your 2006-2007 Emerald City Thunderbirds (Part 1: Goalies/Defense)

I don’t know what these guys did with the fantasy draft, but other than an almost overloaded selection of right wingers (thankfully some of whom can play the left or center), and a few solid defenseman, the team is looking pretty weak and thin. Worse still, the cupboard is almost dry, and we’re talking Death Valley dry…I foresee a long road ahead of me to get this team successful. I think Bobby Bolt, Shane O’Brien, Anze Kopitar, and Jeff Schultz are the only young guys I have with ANY future in the AHL. Get ready for a slew of young fillers to be signed. So here are your 2006-2007 Emerald City Thunderbirds:

Goalies
- Manny Legace – G (CAN, 33) – $1,400,000 (1 year)
Last Season: NHL--Milwaukee Mavericks (51 GP, 37-8-3, 2.19 GAA, .915 SV%)
GM Report: Decent goaltending option, will definitely be my starter this year, hopefully he can handle a heavy workload this year.

- Brent Johnson – G (USA, 29) – $575,000 (1 year)
Last Season: NHL—Norfolk Ironclads (26 GP, 9-12-1, 3.44 GAA, .905 SV%)
GM Report: Should at least be a serviceable backup, but if Legace gets injured, I can’t imagine things will be very pretty.

- Mike Morrison – G (USA, 27) – $500,000 (1 year)
Last Season: NHL—Edmonton Diggers (21 GP, 10-4-2, 2.83 GAA, .884 SV%)
ECHL—Greenville Road Warriors (9 GP, 7-2-0, 2.19 GAA, .922 SV%)
GM Report: Mike also saw some limited time with the Motor City Mechanics last year. He should do well in the AHL, can’t see him being an NHL option in the future though, especially at 27 years old.

Defense
- Brendan Witt – LD/RD (CAN, 31) – $2,500,000 (3 years)
Last Season: NHL—Norfolk Ironclads (58 GP, 1-10-11 PTS, -5, 141 PIM)
GM Report: Solid enforcer and defensive defenseman who should help me shut down the opponents first line.

- Eric Brewer – LD/RD (CAN, 27) – $2,014,000 (1 year)
Last Season: NHL—Winnipeg Moose (32 GP, 6-3-9 PTS, -17, 45 PIM)
GM Report: Another solid defenseman, likely skating alongside Witt on the first pairing, he should help me rack up at least a few points from the blue-line (though hopefully more than last year)

- Zbynek Michalek – RD/LD (CZE, 23) – $900,000 (4 years)
Last Season: NHL—Arizona Dust Devils (82 GP, 9-15-24 PTS, +4, 62 PIM)
GM Report: He’s a young guy with some decent potential it looks like. Personally, I’d like to send him to the AHL for more development time, realistically, I’m pretty thin on defensive depth, so he’ll probably be joining the big boys this year.

- Hal Gill – LD (USA, 31) – $2,050,000 (3 years)
Last Season: NHL—Columbus Copperheads (80 GP, 1-9-10 PTS, -4, 124 PIM)
GM Report: He’s certainly not going to set the stage alight, but the big boy should provide some veterancy to the team and do plenty of hitting and intimidating.

- Andreas Lilja – RD/LD (SWE, 31) – $1,000,000 (1 year)
Last Season: NHL—Milwaukee Mavericks (82 GP, 2-13-15 PTS, +18, 98 PIM)
GM Report: These guys really had a thing for defenseman right around the 30 year mark. Like Gill, he should be a solid defensive guy who gives me nice depth and veteran presence.

- Steve Montador – RD/LD (CAN, 26) – $500,000 (1 year)
Last Season: NHL—Texas Bandits (58 GP, 2-5-7 PTS, +4, 79 PIM)
GM Report: Another defensive defenseman who should give me nice depth, but little else.

- Shane O’Brien – LD/RD (CAN, 22) – $495,000 (1 year)
Last Season: AHL—Oklahoma City Chargers (77 GP, 8-33-41 PTS, +20, 287 PIM)
GM Report: Yes, just what I was hoping for, a young defenseman who looks like he can play well defensively (+20), get some points from the blue line (41), and isn’t afraid to get scrappy (287 PIM). He’s 22 and exempt from waivers, so he’ll probably start in Spokane, but an injury or poor performance by a teammate could mean a roster spot before the season’s over.

- Johnny Oduya – LD (SWE, 24) – $505,000 (3 years)
Last Season: SWE—Vastra Frolunda HC (47 GP, 8-11-19 PTS, -12, 95 PIM)
GM Report: Doesn’t look like anything special at the moment, but he’s on his first year of a three-year contract after playing in Sweden…he’ll play in Spokane, we’ll see how things pan out from there.

- Douglas Murray – LD (swe, 26) – $500,000 (3 years)
Last Season: NHL—San Jose Wildfire (34 GP, 0-1-1 PTS, +7, 37 PIM)
GM Report: What is with this team and aging overrated defenseman? I doubt he’s going to do much, other than fill in for injuries, MAYBE. Worse still, first year of a 3 year contract *facepalm* He’ll start off in Spokane more than likely, unless he surprises me, maybe someone else will take him off my hands in a trade?

- Jeff Schultz – LD (CAN, 20) – $450,000 (2 years)
Last Season: WHL—Calgary Hitmen (68 GP, 7-33-40 PTS, +20, 36 PIM)
GM Report: YES! This kid already looks good at only 20 years old. I’ll probably play him in the AHL this year to get him some experience, but like O’Brien, don’t be surprised if he pops up in my lineup at some point this year.

Notable Prospects/Depth:
- Danny Richmond – LD (USA, 22) – AHL Spokane Komets
- Maxim Kondratiev – RD/LD (RUS, 23) – RUS Togliatti
- Ryan Flynn – LD/RD (USA, 19) – UCCE Michigan
- Brendan Mikkelson (CAN, 19) – WHL Vancouver Giants
- John de Gray (CAN, 18) – OHL Brampton Battalion

coasterholic14 · Post by **coasterholic14** » Mon Jan 02, 2012 3:49 am

Introducing your 2006-2007 Emerald City Thunderbirds (Part 2: Forwards)

Left Wing
- Sergei Samsanov – LW (RUS, 27) – $3,525,000 (2 years)
Last Season: NHL—Columbus Copperheads/Edmonton Diggers (74 GP, 23-30-53 PTS, -3, 28 PIM)
GM Report: A decent playmaking LW, he’s by far the best option I have as a natural LW, and he’ll probably be playing for the first or second line.

- Andy Hilbert – LW/C (USA, 25) – $540,000 (1 year)
Last Season: NHL—Washington Patriots/Chicago Express (47 GP, 12-15-27 PTS, +4, 38 PIM)
GM Report: Seriously? SERIOUSLY? He might be good at the AHL level, but I just don’t see him even coming close to last year. This is another total *facepalm* DOH

- Dan LaCouture – LW (USA, 27) – $450,000 (1 year)
Last Season: SUI—Davos (4 GP, 2-1-3 PTS, +3, 45 PIM)
GM Report: Look, it’s a guy who MIGHT be able to hit and….uhhh…that might be it. My head is already starting to hurt. What were they friggin thinking?

Notable Prospects/Depth:
Matt Beleskey – LW (CAN, 18) – OHL Belleville Bulls
(Yea, not even kidding, that’s IT…not a single AHL guy even, or other prospect worth noting)

Center
- Daniel Briere – C/LW (CAN, 27) – $5,000,000 (1 year)
Last Season: NHL—Buffalo Blizzard (48 GP, 25-33-58 PTS, +3, 48 PIM)
GM Report: Much like Samsanov, he should be a big playmaker for the team. Not sure if he’s worth the $5 million he’s making, but if he can keep on a 58 point in 48 game pace like last year, I’ll be very happy with him.

- Anze Kopitar – C/RW (SLO, 19) – $8500,000 (3 year)
Last Season: SWE—Sodertalje SK (47 GP, 8-12-20 PTS, -12, 28 PIM)
GM Report: This kid is giving me goosebumps. Forget his stats from last season, he was a boy amongst men, in Swedish Jrs the year before he got 49 pts in 30 games. I don’t want to rush him, so he’ll start in the AHL, but I can’t imagine he’ll be anything less than my 2nd liner next year…I hope.

- Mike Ricci – C (CAN, 34) – $1,520,000 (1 year)
Last Season: NHL—Arizona Dust Devils (78 GP, 10-6-16 PTS, -22, 69 PIM)
GM Report: He’s not going to light up the scoreboard much, and his -22 from last year worries me, but he looks like he could be great in a lower line checking role.

- Jason Ward – C/RW (CAN, 27) – $650,000 (1 year)
Last Season: NHL—New York Nationals (81 GP, 10-18-28 PTS, -4, 44 PIM)
GM Report: Ehhh…he could provide some nice depth for me and/or serve a checking role...I think.

- Mike Hartigan – C/LW (CAN, 28) – $450,000 (1 year)
Last Season: NHL—Indiana Hoosiers (33 GP, 9-3-12 PTS, -1, 48 PIM)
AHL—Spokane Komets (49 GP, 34-41-75 PTS, +18, 48 PIM)
GM Report: Not sure how he dominated in the AHL like that last year, he just doesn’t look that good to me. If he plays like that this year though, he could be a serviceable call-up perhaps, but expect the AHL to be his home until the end of the year.

Notable Prospects/Depth:
All that’s left is a naff 23 y/o ECHLer, a nothing-looking prospect, and rights to a 28-year-old…starting to see how dry that cupboard is?

Right Wing
- Jerome Iginla – RW (CAN, 29) – $7,000,000 (2 years)
Last Season: NHL—Alaska Bears (82 GP, 35-32-67 PTS, +5, 86 PIM)
GM Report: I’ll be honest, I’m not the biggest fan of Iginla, and for $7 million, he really should be making a point-per-game, EASILY, but he’s one of the few really good options I have right now.

- Brendan Shanahan – RW/LW (CAN, 37) – $4,000,000 (1 year)
Last Season: NHL—Milwaukee Mavericks (82 GP, 40-41-81 PTS, +29, 105 PIM)
GM Report: Definitely my favorite player on the team, it’s just unfortunate he’s 37 and probably won’t be around more than another season or two. The fact that he can play LW means he may be just what I need to fill my 1st line role that I don’t think Samsanov is quite ready for.

- Glen Murray – RW (CAN, 33) – $4,150,000 (3 years)
Last Season: NHL—Columbus Copperheads (64 GP, 24-29-53 PTS, -8, 52 PIM)
GM Report: Yet another veteran player (read: old guy), probably making more money than he deserves for his output, but I’m happy to have him and he should fit nicely on the 2nd line.

- Radek Dvorak – RW/LW (CZE, 29) – $1,000,000 (1 year)
Last Season: NHL—Edmonton Diggers (64 GP, 8-20-28 PTS, -2, 26 PIM)
GM Report: Solid two-way winger, and his versatility to play either wing could make him a valuable 2nd/3rd line guy on either side…it really helps to have some RW who can play LW given my lack of guys on the left side.

- Tony Amonte – RW (USA, 36) – $1,850,000 (1 year)
Last Season: NHL—Alaska Bears (80 GP, 14-28-42 PTS, +3, 43 PIM)
GM Report: More aging depth…that is all.

- Samuel Pahlsson – RW/C (SWE, 28) – $650,000 (3 years)
Last Season: NHL—Emerald City Thunderbirds (82 GP, 11-10-21 PTS, -1, 34 PIM)
GM Report: Great option for a checking line, and his great ability at faceoffs and ability to play center makes him a decent asset for me right now.

- Jarkko Ruutu – RW/LW (FIN, 31) – $1,150,000 (2 years)
Last Season: NHL—Vancouver Whitecaps (82 GP, 10-7-17 PTS, +1, 142 PIM)
GM Report: He may have some use in a lower line checking or enforcer role, especially with his ability to play either wing (again, remember the total lack of depth on that side?).

- Mattias Weinhandl – RW (SWE, 26) – $800,000 (1 year)
Last Season: NHL—Boston Militia/Portland Meadowlarks (68 GP, 4-7-11 PTS, -4, 24 PIM)
GM Report: Again, another depth guy who could serve me well in a checking role.

- Niko Dimitrakos – RW (USA/GRE, 27) – $625,000 (1 year)
Last Season: NHL—Philadelphia Rebels/San Jose Wildfire (63 GP, 9-16-25 PTS, +4, 32 PIM)
GM Report: Defensive forward…could be a backup guy, but will probably spend his season in the AHL and/or on the trade block.

Notable Prospects/Depth:
- Junior Lessard – RW/C (CAN, 26) – AHL Spokane Komets
- Joonas Vihko – RW (FIN, 25) – FIN Hameenlinna
- Craig Morris – RW/LW (USA/CAN, 19) – UCCE Michigan
- Bobby Bolt – RW/LW (CAN, 19) – OHL Kingston Frontenacs

BTW guys, feel free to leave any comments you like. This is only the second story I've done and first in a LONG time, so if there's anything you'd like to see, or if I'm too short or too detailed/long-winded, I'm open to suggestions and constructive criticism. Just hope you guys enjoy reading at least, I enjoy sharing my thoughts and talking about the game!

coasterholic14 · Post by **coasterholic14** » Tue Jan 03, 2012 12:21 am

Victims of Changes

With the exception of the Assistant GM (…sort of), head coach, an assistant coach, and a couple serviceable scouts, the staff is pretty much complete and utter garbage…which also explains why their roster and prospect pool are complete and utter garbage. Time for some in-house cleaning to start the rebuilding process:

Staff In:
Dave Boyer (Trainer)
Mark Puttenvink (Trainer)
Dusty Howe (Trainer)
Richard Rose (Scout)
Mike Backman (Scout)
Darren Pang (Scout)
Mats Sandstrom (Scout)
Dale Derkatch (Scout)
Gerry O’Flaherty (Scout)
Sami Ahonen (Scout)
Ryan McGill (Assistant Coach)
Paul Coffey (Assistant Coach)
Pasi Laakso (Assistant Coach)
Ryan Walter (Assistant Coach)

Staff Out:
Sean Skahan (Trainer)
Tim Clark (Trainer)
Alain Chainey (Scout)
Jeff Crisp (Scout)
Brent Flahr (Scout)
Dave Farrish (Assistant Coach)

I also signed Defenseman Max Kondratiev to whom my team had the rights to:
- Max Kondratiev – RD/LD (RUS, 23) - $700K (2 years)
Last Season: AHL—Oklahoma City Chargers (37 GP, 4-13-17 PTS, +4, 19 PIM)
GM Report: He has spent the past few seasons between the AHL and Togliatti in Russia, he’s not going to be a major player, not even sure he’ll make it past the AHL, but he gives me some depth at the blue line which I BADLY need.

This team must have a terrible reputation around the league, or nobody wants to play in Seattle, as just about everyone I’ve offered contracts to has signed elsewhere…that is unless I was the ONLY one to offer them a contract (which was almost none of them). Adam Pardy, Miika Wiikman, Dan LaCosta, Matt D’Agostini, Ryan Munce, Justin Peters …just to name a few of the guys I wanted to bring over the most (basically ALL the young goalies I went after since I have nothing after 27 year old Mike Morrison, plus a few wingers and good d-men). I think the Twin City Timberwolves have gobbled up the majority of those guys...Seattle is so much prettier

coasterholic14 · Post by **coasterholic14** » Tue Jan 03, 2012 10:02 pm

Training Camp

As you can imagine, a lot of my training camp was brining in a bunch of ECHLers and overage Canadian junior players to see which, if any, could help me bolster some depth at the AHL level. Frankly, I wasn’t expecting anyone to look like an actual prospect, but it’d be nice to have some depth for my farm teams so they don’t go belly up while I spend the next few years getting some decent youngsters into our prospect pool. I had a few guys who looked pretty good that I went about seeking out and signing over the next few weeks, I landed these two during Training Camp.

- John Vigilante – LW (USA, 21) – $450K (3 year2)
Last Season: OHL—Plymouth Whalers (55 GP, 24-53-77 PTS, -6, 34 PIM)
GM Report: Finally was able to sign someone without New York or Minnesota (Twin City) stealing them away. Anyway, Vigilante is a good looking kid, he’s got solid physical and metal attributes, he’s only 21, and he’s a left winger. He not only looks like he could make good AHL depth, I dare say this kid could be a “prospect” for me with proper development, but he’ll be a project player.

- Ryan Oulahen – C (CAN, 21) – $450K (2 years)Last Season: AHL—Carolina Checkers (75 GP, 9-10-19 PTS, +0, 20 PIM)
GM Report: Ok, so 19 points in the AHL is nothing to brag about, but before that the kid got nearly a point-per-game in the OHL, which isn’t half bad. He’s got some good hockey sense, he’s a team player, and he’s got some actual skills to work with. He may turn out to be no good, but he only got one season in the AHL, with my lack of depth, I’m willing to roll it on him.

coasterholic14 · Post by **coasterholic14** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 3:27 am

Preseason

Tony Amonte fractured his arm during our 8-0 routing of Carolina in preseason, meaning he’ll be out for the next 3 weeks. Thankfully, he wasn’t really on my mind for a regular roster spot, likely serving as a backup in case of injuries, so I don’t lose a guy who was going to be in my regular lineup.

Our preseason went surprisingly well, with the team going 6-0-0, including the 8-0 routing of Carolina, and 3-1 victory to finish it off against Portland. We actually outscored our opponents 31 to 7 over preseason, which gives me at least a glimmer of hope for us this season. Of course, when you consider we were playing most of our roster players from the very beginning (since we have no depth or halfway decent prospects), it’s a bit less surprising we won the first 3-4. The game against Portland was ours from the get-go, despite both teams playing their roster players at that point. Goal just 5 minutes in by Iginla, and late in the first by Witt were all we needed. The late second period goal by LaCouture just sealed the deal. Backup goalie Brent Johnson stopped 24 shots, his shutout ruined by a powerplay marker with 10 min left in the game.

Here’s the rest of the guys I signed through the preseason in hopes of bolstering up my AHL depth, and possibly found a couple potential “prospects”:

- Lee Falardeau – C (USA, 23) – $450K (2 years)
Last Season: AHL—Dallas Outlaws (64 GP, 5-17-22 PTS, +0, 71 PIM)
GM Report: Spending the past few years bouncing back and forth between the ECHL and the AHL, he’s got size, speed, stamina, and skill. If he can use his big frame properly to knock some guys over, he could be quite valuable to Spokane.

- Brandon Prust – LW (CAN, 22) – $450K (2 years)
Last Season: AHL—Michigan Lancers (79 GP, 12-14-26 PTS, -5, 294 PIM)
GM Report: Yet another young left winger, Prust is an enforcer! Hopefully he’ll develop some over the next few years and can serve as an enforcer for the Thunderbirds in the future, protecting some of the young stars I’ll hopefully be drafting in the coming seasons. If not, he should smash some heads in the AHL and help contribute points as a depth guy.

- Peter Metcalf – LD/RD (USA, 27) – 450K (2 years)
Last Season: ECHL—Elmira Jackals (69 GP, 13-39-52 PTS, +0, 234 PIM)
GM Report: Metcalf is a bit older than the kinds of guys I was looking for, but he’s exactly the kind of depth guy I need. He’ll be one of my top defenders for my farm team, and could potentially be a backup guy who could fill in for injuries.

- Rane Carnegie – RW/C (CAN/JAM, 21) – $450K (1 year)
Last Season: QMJHL—Halifax Mooseheads (63 GP, 44-52-96 PTS, +22, 65 PIM)
GM Report: It looks like Rane Carnegie had a pretty good junior career, finishing out with 1.5 PPG last year. He was signed with the Bakersfield Condors of the ECHL to play with them this year, but he looks like a solid young kid whose only drawbacks for now are his lack of strength and timid play. He’s also not the greatest defensively, but should have enough offensive potential in the AHL to offset that…plus I’ve got a couple big enforcers down there now.

On a final note, Spokane’s been doing pretty well in preseason so far, though I noticed they have about 7 players or so loaned to them from 5-6 different NHL clubs. It annoys me a bit that they’ll be getting ice time instead of my guys, but hopefully when I provide them with a full complement of players in the future, those loans will be unnecessary, so who can blame them for wanting to be competitive?

coasterholic14 · Post by **coasterholic14** » Fri Jan 06, 2012 12:13 am

NHL Season Preview:

Top three teams are predicted to be the Los Angeles Gridlock, the Twin City Timberwolves (no surprise, they’ve been gobbling up everyone at will that they wanted to sign), and the Kansas City Mohawks. I will say KC is a bit of a surprise, as they don’t have the strongest fan base and aren’t getting to use the full cap, but the team does look pretty good with guys like Simon Gagne and Rick Nash. Maybe they can make Kansas the next hockey hotbed?

Predicted bottom dwellers for this year: Winnipeg Moose, Indiana Hoosiers, and, no surprise to me, the Emerald City Thunderbirds. On the upside, I suppose it should be pretty easy to meet or even exceed expectations…seeing as there are none. Worst case scenario is we meet expectations, finish last, and get a top pick with which we can slowly begin to fill our prospect pool back up with.

When it comes to the leagues thoughts on the top players, we manage two: Jerome Iginla and Brandon Shanahan are seen as the #3 and #9 right wingers in the league, respectively. Anze Kopitar also manages to make his way into the list of NHL Top Prospects at #3, and rightfully so…kid’s got a bright future ahead of him. Also, I’m starting to understand why Kansas City is seen as a top team, with Gagne (#3), Nash (#4), and Zetterberg (#9) as top LW.

Here’s the final lineup before we open up our season against the Alaska Bears:
B. Shanahan (C) // D. Briere // J. Iginla (A)
S. Samsanov // M. Ricci // G. Murray
A. Hilbert // J. Ward // R. Dvorak
J. Ruutu // S. Pahlsson // M. Weinhandl
EXTRA: Tony Amonte, Dan LaCouture (despite his great preseason, Hilbert was injured and never got to play, so I want to see how he does...expect a rotation between these two)

E. Brewer // B. Witt
H. Gill (A) // A. Lilja
Z. Michalek // S. Montador

Starting Goalie: M. Legace
Backup: B. Johnson

coasterholic14 · Post by **coasterholic14** » Sat Jan 07, 2012 2:40 pm

October 2006 Review

Decent way to start the season, the team squeaks out a win in its home opener 6-5 in front of 15,762. The team started off on a tear with goals from Shanahan, Ward, Samsanov, Hilbert, and Briere in the first 16 min of play. Only a late period goal by Boyes got Alaska on the board. After the second, the team had a very comfortable 6-1 lead, but they got into a horrible “prevent defense” mode, allowing Alaska to net 4 goals in 12 minutes of the third, Boyes got a hat trick + 1. Thankfully, we held out for the last 2:30 of the game and pulled out the close victory.

After his abysmal first game, we stuck Johnson in net hoping for better results…we didn’t get them. We were up 2-0 halfway through the game, then gave up two quick powerplay goals 1 min apart, and the game stayed 2-2 until a shootout. Our first two shooters, Iginla and Briere, scored, but Dvorak missed the third, and all three of their shooters scored…it’s going to be a LONG season.

Talk about inconsistency too…after being destroyed by our Vancouver rivals 8-0, we come back the next night and win 5-2. Most frustrating thus far is the fact we have only gotten 3rd period goals in 2 of six games, not good making comebacks, I guess that goes along with our inconsistency even within single games.

Ruutu was taken off his fourth line duties due to poor play and replaced with LaCouture, who has been doing much better. Ruutu made some bad giveaways but has mostly been completely invisible. One point, a few hits, not blocking shots, -7…and that’s it.

This team of inconsistent ragtag players, whom I had so many doubts about, managed to pick things up towards the end of the month and surprised me a bit with a 7-3-1 record (15 points) through the month of October, good for second in the division and fourth in the conference. This despite the fact that while the tandem of Legace and Johnson each hav less than an .875 SV%. We’re even in GF – GA despite our winning record, complements of a few embarrassing losses. Our top two lines have been contributing along with depth scoring from the surprising likes of Hilbert and Michalek.

Our biggest problem remains getting clumps of early goals and allowing unnecessary late comebacks and inconsistent goaltending. For example, our last game of the month was a 6-4 victory over the Texas Bandits. The score was 6-0 halfway through the game before we allowed 4 unanswered goals to shake our potentially big win.

The NHL is led by the Toronto Knights with 16 points followed by a bunch of us with 15. Bottom dwellers of the league include Twin City, Chicago, and Buffalo. Our rivals in Vancouver and Portland sit 15th and 20th respectively (though both are based on tie-breakers right now).

Spokane is off to a decent start this season, currently 6-2-1 for 13 points, sitting in a tie for 5th in the AHL. Ahead of them, the Calgary Stampede are 9-1-0, with their leading points scorers being…well, guys who shouldn’t be doing as well as they are. Oh, and Anze Kopitar was named the AHL Rookie of the Month with 7G – 7A in 9 games in October.

I’m rather interested to see how this next month goes honestly, we’ve shown signs of greatness, but we’re terribly inconsistent. I really want to give things another month before I start making major changes to the lineup…like acquiring a better goalie.

coasterholic14 · Post by **coasterholic14** » Sun Jan 08, 2012 3:34 am

November 2006 Review

The month started out rather “meh”…we won some, we lost some, our goaltending has been consistently infuriating though. I’m on the verge of giving Johnson more starts, as with the exception of his 8-0 blowout loss, he’s been better overall than Legace, or at least more consistent. We had two players hit milestones in our 3-1 loss to the Milwaukee Mavericks, Andy Hilbert saw his 100th NHL game, Mark Ricci saw his 1000th PIM.

In mid-November, new GM Brandon Greene finally makes his first two trades of his career:

To Emerald City Thunderbirds:
Rights to RD Phil Oreskovic

To Toronto Knights:
Rights to LD John de Gray

Ok, so admittedly, this trade may come off rather even, but I have my reasons. I don’t know if Oreskovich has much more potential than de Gray, and frankly, neither looks like they’ll be amazing. They’re both big boys at 6-3, the difference, Oreskovich is a RD, de Gray is LD, I already have Mikkelson and Flynn as LD prospects, nobody on the right side. Further, Phil is a bit bulkier, more aggressive, has better physical attributes, hits harder, and is a bit more defensively sound.

To Emerald City Thunderbirds:
- LW James Neal ($450K – 3 years)

To Columbus Copperheads:
- Rigths to LW Matt Beleskey

Again, this could end up being a completely even trade, as both guys will probably end up with 3rd/4th line potential. Neal is a young prospect playing for the Plymoth Whalers of the OHL, where he has 18G - 27A in just 20 games…Beleskey just has 10 points in 19 games. Of course, Neal is a year older, but that means he can play for me or my farm club next year, Beleskey would have to wait another year. And some of my scouts are even giving Neal 1st/2nd line potential, not sure I’d go that far, but who knows? He’ll go back to juniors for the rest of the year.

An injury to Legace doesn’t put him out of commission, but does force him to be my backup for a few games, Johnson performs admirably in his stead, going 3-1-0 with 2.50 GAA and .911 SV%. He’s still only got an .884 SV% overall though, so I’ll probably continue to rotate them until one can clearly outplay the other.

James Neal got named OHL Player of the Week on Nov 18th, getting 2G – 4A on his 2 games that week after we sent him back to Plymouth…he also got 2G 1A in the OHL All-Stars 12-2 destruction of the Russian Selects…me likey!

Sergei Samsanov has been playing very well, getting over a point-per-game even on the second line (but first line PP). For his efforts, he was named the NHL Offensive Player of the Week for Nov 18-25, racking up 3G – 2A in 2 games. At the same time, Eric Brewer won NHL Defensive Player of the Week scoring twice in 2 games…guess no defensive players or goalies did very well that week…but congrats to him nonetheless!

November was another solid month for the team, first half was very mediocre, but the team finished with a few strong wins. Emerald City went 7-6-0 in November, bringing us to 14-9-1 overall for 29 points, good for second in the division, and a three-way tie for 5th in the Western Conference (12th overall in NHL). The team has been solid, and most guys are playing about as I expected. We have more GF than GA now, and are actually doing much better than I anticipated.

Philadelphia (Rebels), Carolina (Equalizers), and surprisingly Arizona (Dust Devils) sit atop the league. Buffalo (Blizzard) and Chicago (Express) remain at the bottom, now joined by Portland…I swear, I’m not smiling and joyous about the fact that our biggest rival is sinking this year

Oh, we currently sit 25th in the league with an average attendance of 15,120…Arizona, the league leaders, are 28th at 14,839 while Chicago, the bottom dwellers, are second at 19,844…weird huh?

Spokane are on a roll and starting to tear it up in the AHL. Morrison has only gotten a few starts, stuck behind the NHL-dropout Ty Conklin, on loan from Boston. The team goes 9-2-1 in November, sitting 16-4-2 for 34 points, first in the West Division, and second by 8 pts to the 21-1-0 Calgary Stampede…I still don’t know how they’re doing it.

coasterholic14 · Post by **coasterholic14** » Mon Jan 09, 2012 3:19 am

December 2006 Review

Jerome Iginla won NHL Offensive Player of the Week in the first week of December, piling on 3G – 5A in just 3 games. Now he’s starting to look more like he’s worth that big $7 million contract, and his recent performance has skyrocketed him in my books. He’s sitting pretty at 19G – 19A through 30 games (as of Dec 14th).

In my 5-4 loss to Chicago, yes, the bottom dwellers, Glen Murray hit his career milestone of 600 points with his 2 assists.

We had our first regular season game against the Portland Meadowlarks on Dec 14th. After Portland got an early goal from Steve Sullivan, we came back 2 minutes later getting 3 goals in under a minute. Another in the first and early in the second would put us up 5-1. By the middle of the third, Portland then scored 3 unanswered goals to pull within 5-4, but Murray put the game away for sure with his late empty net goal. Final score 6-4! Forget the fact that they’re one of the worst teams in the league…

James Neal was named OHL Player of the Week for Dec 10-16 for his 4G – 5A in just 3 games…he’s up to 20G -39A in 30 games on the season thus far, this trade could have turned out to be quite a steal and better than I thought.

Brendan Witt, our #2 d-man, got injured for about 10 days after twisting his knee in practice. Douglass Murray got the callup to fill in. He performed decently enough, even if he was a bit invisible. In those six games he ended up with 0G – 0A, a -2, 12 hits, and 2 SB…that’s about the extent of it.

On the last day of the month, GM Brandon Greene made a signing for next year:
- Ville Leino – C (FIN, 23) – $450K (2 years)
Last Season: FIN—Hameenlinna (56 GP, 12-31-43 PTS, +0, 43 PIM)
This Season: FIN—Hameenlinna (35 GP, 22-20-44 PTS, +9, 20 PIM)
GM Report: Ran across this kid in some of my overseas scouting. Not a huge fan of his greedy play and lack of teamwork, or his sluggish speed, but he looks like a pretty gifted kid otherwise. I don’t think he’ll be a key component necessarily, but he could be just the kind of depth player I’m looking for when he comes over next year…whether he plays NHL or AHL is up to him.

The month of December turned out to be rather…uninspiring I guess would be the best way to put it. We were far from spectacular, and far from amazing. We had mostly close wins and losses, no blowouts, the top lines continued to perform well, bottom lines continued to struggle for the most part. They’re now playing at about the level I expected at the beginning of the season. We went 7-5-2 in December, bringing us to 21-14-3 for 45 points overall, tied for 2nd in the division, 1 point behind Edmonton, 12 ahead of Portland *evil smile* We’re sitting in a tie for 7th in the Conference along with Vancouver, but there’s only a couple points difference between 2nd and 10th, so we control our own fate right now. Carolina (56 pts) and New York (53 pts) are the league leaders right now, but Jacksonville and Norfolk are making statements and creeping up on them. Buffalo (28 pts) is sinking, Chicago still sucks, and Boston has fallen. Portland sits 26th, only 5 points from the cellar.

coasterholic14 · Post by **coasterholic14** » Tue Jan 10, 2012 11:06 pm

January 2007 Review

Since Johnny Oduya wasn’t getting any playing time in Spokane, I sent him down to Idaho…he got 8 points in 4 games, and his 7 points in 3 of those games got him ECHL Player of the Week for Dec 1-6! Maybe he’s not totally worthless…

World Junior Championships

Germany actually probably surprised quite a few people this year (forget their 7-1 and 8-0 losses to CAN and USA) by beating Sweden, forcing them to play in the Relegation league. Of course, Sweden made it out without a scratch, with Belarus and Switzerland getting relegated, but Germany will definitely be in the WJC U20 next year. USA lost 2-0 to Finland, giving up the bronze medal without a fight, and Canada pretty much owned Russia, winning the gold medal game 6-1.

January 2007 Review

Within a 3-day period in the middle of the month, Murray, Ward, and Iginla each got injuries which would put them out for about 10 days. Needless to say, Amonte and Ruutu were dressed (well, Amonte has already been playing for a while), and Mike Hartigan was called up. I almost called up Kopitar, but I still just want him to get the top ice time down there…he’ll get the callup next time.

The game in which Ward got injured was our second regular season game against Portland, and one in which he got the first goal of the game. We then got 2 more goals, both on the powerplay to go up 3-0. Early in the third, Portland notched 2 quick goals in under two minutes, but the team held out for a 3-2 victory…we’re 2-0 against the Meadowlarks.

A few days later, we played Portland again, this time on enemy ice. After going down 2-0 with an early second period goal, Ruutu, surprisingly, got a goal late in the period to bring us within one goal. Ruutu then, even more surprisingly, got another to tie the game 2-2 48 minutes in (both being PP goals). A minute and a half later, Portland makes it 3-2, but we weren’t going down without a fight. With just under 2:30 left in the game, Briere tied the game with a sweet wrister on the PP, but we couldn’t hold the lead as Portland blasted one past Johnson just 20 seconds later. Again, we fought back and tied the game up with just over a minute to go, the game now 4-4. Forcing OT, we held our own until 3:43 mark of extra time, when Oleg Kvasha took a one-timer feed from Daniel Sedin. We’re now 2-0-1 against Portland.

This month, Brendan Shanahan played his 1400th career NHL game. It’s bittersweet though, given he’s only gotten 1 point in the past 9 games after being over a point-per-game pace, and this game is no different despite the victory.

As if the first line’s cold streak weren’t bad enough, just to end the month on a terribly low note, Sergei Samsanov, third on the team in points, hurts his Achilles tendon—estimated time off the ice = 2 months. I think I just might cry. At least Iginla is back and my first line is still intact *knocks on wood* Dvorak is moving up to 2nd line LW.

Despite our poor start to the month, we end up with an identical record to last month, 7-5-2. We’re 28-19-5 with 61 points, which puts us first in our division by a comfortable 7 points, and seating us 3rd in the conference (though 4th by points). We’re 6th in the league despite being 11th based on points due to our division being painfully weak…#2 Edmonton is 20th in the league. Carolina continues to lead the league with 73 points, but is being nipped in the heels by both New York and LA, who have 72 points (and 2 games in hand each). And again, Chicago is feeding off the poo at the bottom of the tank, but Portland and Boston are only 5 points ahead of them, waiting for their share.

coasterholic14 · Post by **coasterholic14** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 2:07 am

February 2007 Review

February started off with the AHL All-Star game, and we had two players representing Spokane in the organization, Anze Kopitar and Niko Dimitrakos, both on PlanetUSA. After being down 5-2, PlanetUSA started making a comeback, with 2 goals 20 sec apart near the middle of the third period, the second coming from Kopitar. Young Kopitar then tied up the game with just under 13 min to go, but Benoit Pouliot would notch the victory for the AHL Canada All-Stars with just 2 min left in the game for the 6-5 victory. Dimitrakos had a nice time watching from wherever he was standing on the ice.

For the NHL All-Stars this year, two players were present representing the Emerald City Thunderbirds, Daniel Briere and Jerome Iginla. While the Eastern All-Stars may have won the skills competition by a score of 16-7, the Western All-Stars won the game 5-3. Briere notched the first goal of the game for the West, tying things up 1-1 just 3 min in, and the team never lost the lead from there. Iginla was held pointless in the game.

Nearing the trade deadline, I’m not quite sure what to do at the moment. The division is bad enough that it seems I could probably get a playoff spot, and guaranteed if I lead the division, but I really don’t think…wait…I know we don’t have the team to win the cup this year in all honesty, and a couple player moves aren’t going to change that. Furthermore, I don’t want to give up any draft picks right now for players, since we have a very limited number of prospects...so I think I’m just going to hold out this year unless a good deal comes up or something drastic happens.

We renewed a couple of contracts here in mid-February:
- Andreas Lilja (2 yrs @ $1.1 million) – He may be responsible for a lot of giveaways…like over 1 per game, but he’s a big hitter, and has been performing reasonably well overall and gives me some veterancy at a reasonable price.
- Shane O’Brien (2 yrs @ $545K) – Got him to resign for two years at a pretty low price. He’s got 28 points, a +19, 87 PIM, 174 hits, and is 4 for 4 in fights in 54 games so far this year. He could crack the lineup as soon as next season.
- Daniel Briere (3 yrs @ $5.45 million) – Briere has definitely earned himself a nice contract extension. At 29, he’s in his prime, he’s awesome at faceoffs, and while not that great defensively, offensively he’s (barely) my leading scorer (63GP 25G 45A 70PTS +25)

In our fourth game against Portland, we faced no competition. Getting goals from Shanahan (2), Iginla, Brewer, Ricci, and Amonte, we routed them 6-0, extending our series lead to 3-0-1. But we still have 4 games left against them, two home, then two away to finish our season.

Eric Brewer played his 500th career NHL game as we neared the end of the month, which ended with a disappointing 3-2 loss to the top-rated LA Gridlock. Twice we had the lead, and both times we give it up, with the second GTG coming with only 18 sec left in the game, which we proceeded to lose in a shootout. Legace made 37 stops in his valiant effort, but other than my second line and a couple defenseman, the rest of the team slept the whole game and played like rubbish. Finally, Legace was on his game, and the rest of the team was off. Ruutu was also injured *tries to act saddened by the occurrence*

The month was a bit slower for us for a variety of reasons, but a slow start to the month was balanced by a better finish, and we went 5-4-3 in February, bringing us to 33-23-8 for 74 points overall. We still sit first in the Northwest Division, but are now only 2 points head of Edmonton. We’re still 3rd in the conference (4th in points), 5 points ahead of the last playoff spot, 11th in the league in points. New York and Carolina are now tied for the league lead, with LA just 1 point behind. Meanwhile, to my *mock* surprise, Chicago, Portland, and Buffalo remain deep in the crapper.

Spokane is slowing slightly, but still doing well at 46-11-3, making them second in the league with 95 points. Ahead of them, Calgary is still somehow pwning everyone with their ridiculous 57-3-0 record and 114 points. For his 8G – 12A in 14 games, Anze Kopitar was named the AHL Rookie AND Player of the Month for February.

coasterholic14 · Post by **coasterholic14** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 2:47 am

March 2007 Review

March 1st sees us facing our puny rivals once again, but unfortunately, we’re the ones who stuck the place up. A goal within 40 seconds of the second period put us down 2-0, which we could only “improve” to 3-1 by the end of the second period. A Powerplay goal midway through the third got us back in the game, but even with our goalie pulled at the end and 44 shots on the board, it wasn’t enough, and we dropped this one 4-2 (Portland tacked on an EN goal at the end) Record is now reduced to 3-1-1.

Brandon Greene was able to convince Emerald City’s best defenseman, Eric Brewer, to sign a contract extension for $2.57 million/year for the next two seasons. This year he has 6G – 31A (37 pts) in 65 games, along with 164 hits, 28 takeaways, and 78 shots blocked (that more than makes up for his 43 giveaways…which honestly isn’t too bad for a d-man on the top line it seems). He’s in his prime, and he’s eating up 26 min of ice time a night while performing his job quite admirably, so I’m thrilled to resign him, and at such a solid price!

Rane Carnegie (61GP 18G 46A 64PTS +12 18PIM) was also signed to a new contract FOR $505K through next season. Fresh off a 96 point season with Halifax in the QMJHL last year, I signed Carnegie away from Bakersfield at the beginning of the season in hopes of giving my AHL club in Spokane some depth. Instead, he’s turned into one of their leading scorers and potentially an actual prospect for my team, a pleasant find indeed.

In mid-March, Brendan Shanahan got his 1300th point (and then one) when he got 2 assists in our embarrassing 6-3 loss to the Kansas City Mohawks. Shanahan was the lone bright spot in this abysmal game, which saw us surrender an early 2-0 lead to a 4-2 deficit by the end of the second. Shanahan put one past the goalie 54 min in to get us within one goal, but KC got another two to put it well out of reach. The teams definitely been struggling a bit more lately, no doubt due in large part to Legace’s struggles in net.

Our next game against Portland went much better than our last. We took an early 3-0 lead in less than 10 minutes, and won the game 4-2. Could have been 4-1, but Portland fought back with a late goalie and their goalie pulled…a valiant effort I suppose. We now control the series 4-1-1, and with only 2 games remaining, it’s ours! Danny Briere also notched his 200th career NHL assist in the game!

Around this time, I also received some excellent news from the staff in Spokane, who informed me that youngSTAR Anze Kopitar has put up at least one point in each of his past 20…YES TWENTY…games! I think he’ll definitely be on the big squad next year! Next day, he brings his goal streak to 5 games, meaning points streak to 21…keep it going kiddo! He was then named AHL Player of the Week for March 11-17 with 3G – 4A in 3 games.

Hal Gill played his 700th game in a skin-of-our-teeth 3-2 victory over Edmonton, putting them a couple more points behind us for the division lead.

Yet again, Anze KopiSTAR (71GP 41G 58A 99PTS +21 58PIM) is named AHL Player of the Week for March 18-24, getting 3G – 4A in 4 games…one more point until he reaches 100!

Eric Brewer hurt his knee at the end of the month and will miss a few games, so I gave Kondratiev a callup to see how he does, since he’s performing moderately well in the AHL. Unfortunately, he was claimed off waivers by the struggling Colorado Mountaineers…there goes some of my depth.

November ended with the team going 7-4-3, making us 40-27-11 for 91 points. We remain in third in the conference, still 4 points ahead of Edmonton. It’s amazing how well we’re doing really, I’m pleasantly surprised by the team. We do have perhaps the lowest GF-GA ratio amongst teams near where we are in the points and win percentage, but hey, we’re doing alright. I don’t expect us to go too far in the playoffs though. In other news, Samsanov is back!

Not sure what happened to Carolina, but they have experienced quite a drop off, now sitting 8th with 97 points. LA has taken back over the league lead, with New York 6 points behind them with 5 games for each remaining. Portland is tied with Chicago to see which team is worse, which lately has been Portland. Alaska and Buffalo are just barely ahead of them.

Spokane had an outstanding month with only two losses. The team is 57-13-3 for 115 points, second in the AHL behind the infamous Calgary Stampede, who were responsible for one of the teams losses. We’re 25 points behind them with 9 games left, but 12 points ahead of the next team. Playoffs are already locked up, thanks in no small part to Anze Kopitar, named AHL Rookie of the Month for his 8G – 13A in 13 games through March.

coasterholic14 · Post by **coasterholic14** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 3:24 am

End of Season Report

So, to finish out our series, we play our final two games against Portland…and game 1 goes quite well. Despite the disappointment of missing a first period penalty shot and giving up a powerplay goal, we notched 2 goals in the middle of the second to take a 2-1 lead. Early in the 3rd, Portland ties the game up, but a late game surge gave us 2 goals, 20 seconds apart in the last minute of the game (one of which was an empty netter though). The second follows through in a similar fashion, with the same final 4-2 win for the Emerald City Thunderbirds! The series is ours 6-1-1, and as a result of their two losses to use here, Portland finishes 30th *mwahahaaaaaaa*

The Emerald City Thunderbirds end with an astonishingly solid 43-28-11 record for 97 points, first in the division, automatically 3rd in the conference (9th overall by points). We end with the 4th best goals for average, but among the worst goals against as well…and not surprisingly best with shooting percentage, second worst with save percentage (neither goalie cracked the .900 SV% mark) Our PK was pretty naff for the year, our PP was mediocre at best. Iginla (88) and Briere (87) finish 19th and 20th in points. We end 26th in average attendance with 15,013, just 3 behind the Jacksonville Rivermen.

The Los Angeles Gridlock end up winning the President’s Trophy with 113 points. Toronto and Arizona were 6 points behind, though Arizona ended up 7th since LA was in their division. Porltand is the big loser…unless they’re looking for the first overall draft pick, which I kinda wanted honestly, but only 65 points for them. Alaska and Columbus were never good, but poor late season performance dropped them just above Portland with perpetual bottom-dwellers Buffalo and Chicago.

Spokane finished their regular season while we were in the first round of playoffs, but they finished 60-15-5 for 125 points, second place in the league. Calgary of course was first, with 154 points. Seems like they and Dallas were responsible for the majority of Spokane’s losses, even though Dallas finished 7th. Anze Kopitar led the team in goals (47), assists (65), and points (112). Rane Carnegie was second with 84 points in 77 games. Vigilante finished with a very respectable 27G and 56PTS, and O’Brien and Shultz led the way defensively for the team. I just noticed O’Brien is eligible for re-entry waivers, so he’ll either have to play for me or stay in the AHL next year (as a callup would mean certain waiver claim), but Schultz could also be ready for the jump. Maybe both will make the squad?

coasterholic14 · Post by **coasterholic14** » Tue Jan 17, 2012 12:42 am

Playoffs: Round 1

Round one has us playing the Twin City Timberwolves, a team who outscored us 13-11 and beat us 2-1-1 in our four bouts this year. Of course, just before round 1 of the playoffs start, Brendan Shanahan suffers from a hip flexor strain…he’ll be out for 3 weeks

While the playoffs were underway…I sorta kinda resigned Andy Hilbert. I know I know, after all the rubbish I gave him at the beginning of the season thinking he’d be a complete waste of a roster spot. I wouldn’t normally sign, or even re-sign a guy like that, but I’m short on depth, and I gotta admit, his 42 points through 81 games for $450K is pretty good bang-for-the-buck…even if he doesn’t bring a whole lot else to the table. If he can do this again next year, I’d still say 40 points for $650K is a pretty nice deal. Basically, he can only meet or exceed my expectations for him again.

On to the playoffs…game 1 went terribly for us…we were flat through the whole thing. For some reason, we started backup Brent Johnson for this game, maybe because he’s been equal to but more consistent than Legace. Anyway, we let in a late second period goal to put us down 3-0 going into the third, at which point we let in 2 more goals in the first 3 minutes to make it 5-0. Dvorak’s goal was nice, but completely worthless…drop game one 5-1.

Game two was a tight battle between the two “nicknamed” cities. Samsanov snuck one past Hasek early in the game to give us a 1-0 lead, but midway through the period Morris tied it up for the Twin Cities. A bad penalty led to another goal in the middle of the 2nd, but we got a PP goal of our own and notched another from veteran Amonte to give us a 3-2 lead going into the final period. But it wouldn’t hold to the end, with Zach Parise blasting one in with just 10 min left in the game. Thankfully, the second line pulled through and put the game winner in the net with just 4 minutes to go, giving us game two 4-3, and tying the series 1-1.

Game 3 was a bit more lopsided, this time in our favor. We got PP goals early in the first and second to go up 2-0, and both teams knocked in another before the games halfway mark. An unassisted goal from Dvorak in the final minute locked up our 4-1 win.

Our second game in the Twin City was a complete turnaround though, and with a goal in each period, the Timberwolves brought us down easily 3-0, tying the series once again. In other news, Kariya and Parise were each injured for a few days, so they could miss a few games each.

Game 5 was another tight contest. Briere and Murray each got PP goals pretty early in the first to give us a 2-0 lead, but goals midway through the 1st and second allowed the Timberwolves to tie things up. Samsanov came through again and gave us the lead late in the 2nd, with Hilbert…yes, HILBERT…extending that lead early in the 3rd. Twin City rallied back with a PP goal in the middle of the third to close the gap, but we held out and won 4-3, giving us the 3-2 series advantage.

Game 4 saw four unanswered goals by Ward, Lilja, Weinhandl, and Amonte (nobody on the first or second lines) in the first two periods, and we took the series with a 4-1 victory in Minnesota!

Spokane has no problem in their first round of playoffs, sweeping the Billings Bulls 4-0. They outscored them 20-6, with Alexandre Picard, on loan from Texas, leading them through the series with 8 points.

coasterholic14 · Post by **coasterholic14** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 3:47 am

Playoffs: Round 2

In the conference semi-finals, it looks like we’ll be facing the Arizona Dust Devils, a team we fared very poorly against during the regular season. In our four games, we were 1-3 against them, getting outscored 18-9, and 11-2 in our last two meetings. Shanahan won’t be back for at least a game or two either….could be a quick series.

Samsanov has been the man in the playoff so far, getting the majority of our early goals in games. Unfortunately, nobody backs him up, and we lose game one by a score of 2-1. Our abysmal PP, 1 for 9 on the night, is likely to blame for that one, along with our spirit being taken…just to add insult to injury, Manny “Lost” Legace got bowled over early in the second…he thought he was ok but had to leave the ice a few minutes later. Turns out, he tore his UCL, he’ll be out for 4 months. Needless to say, we probably won’t be extending a contract to him now. We do the only thing we can and callup Mike Morrison through re-entry waivers to play as Johnson’s backup.

Against all odds, we fought back quite well in game 2. We fought back from goals by Arizona in the first and second periods, twice coming back to tie the game 2-2 heading into the third. Brewer knocked in number 3, and Weinhandl notched the EN to seal the game 4-1 and tie us 1-1 in the series. Johnson made 29 saves in the game.

Game 3 was quite a bit tighter. We came out completely unfocused, resulting in a goal just 1:28 in. It was a quick wake up call for the Thunderbirds, who tightened things up, especially starting backup goalie Brent Johnson. Halfway through the game, we tied it up and were gaining momentum, but after 60 minutes, nobody else had scored and we headed to OT. Both teams fought, but we were getting tired, and heavily outplayed, but we somehow kept it even for another 20 minutes. It was obvious something would break, we were on our heels the whole time, and 5 min into the second OT, Arizona put one past Johnson. We only put 29 shots on Huet, of which he stopped 28, but Johnson turned away 51 of 53 shots, far more impressive IMO. Despite his record, I think he’s earned himself a chance to play for me again next year. Now down in the series 2-1

Prior to game 4, Weinhandl hurt himself in practice, putting himself out for 3 weeks…Ruutu will take his place. We went down 1-0 in the first period, and we never came back from there. Twice we fought back to within 1 goal, but we ended up losing 4-2, and now we’re one game away from elimination.

With a bit of desperation, and since Spokane is still in between series, we call up Rane Carnegie and Jeff Schultz and insert them into the lineup. Anze obviously would have been brought up, but he was suffering from some knee pain, no need to risk him. Now desperate, game 4 is INSANE. Samsanov, yet again, is responsible for the first goal of the game, giving us the early 1-0 lead. Unfortunately, our PK was weak, and Arizona capitalized on two of them, plus an even strength goal from Jagr, and they took a 3-1 lead into the first intermission. They came out in the second ready to play, we were not yet, and we then dropped 4-1. It takes about 10 minutes, but we finally start getting things going and getting them together. Suddenly, in a 5 min span, it’s a tie game, 4-4, compliments of goals from Briere, Iginla, and Murray. Samsanov then decides he’s going to get a goal that isn’t our first of the game, and gives us the lead once again, now 5-4. Halfway through the 3rd, Gleason bangs one in for Arizona to tie it up, and is followed by another PP goal from Jagr with 5 minutes left. We pull Johnson with just minutes to go (he’s only stopped 23 of 29 shots in this game anyway), putting everything we can on them, but it’s not enough. Veteran Jeremy Roenick gets an empty netter and we drop the game 7-5, and lose the series 4-1.

Morrison, Schultz, and Carnegie were immediately sent back to Spokane to help with their playoff run, which should go well unless/until the face Dallas or Calgary.

All in all, it was a surprisingly solid season. Our injuries were relatively limited, and with the exception of Samsanov, few were very sustained. Second round of playoffs is better than I’d expected…hell even getting to the playoffs was beyond what I expected at the start of the season. Hopefully I can draft smart with my lowered picks, and maybe get some good players through FA this summer…like a consistent goalie.

coasterholic14 · Post by **coasterholic14** » Fri Jan 20, 2012 12:52 am

End of 2006-2007 Season

AHL Playoffs:
When I saw that Spokane would be facing the Dallas Outlaws in round 2, I thought for sure it was over for them. Not so, as they actually swept their second round against Dallas. It wasn’t as much of a blowout as Billings, but they still got outscored 14-6.

The Conference Finals of course had the team facing the league giants, the Calgary Stampede. That team is impossible, 4-0 against Spokane during the regular season, outscoring 19-8. They’re one of the few thrones in our side this year, and I can see a bitter rivalry developing between the two teams, which are not too far off from each other. They had 4 guys with over a PPG, and 9 with over 50 points…needless to say the led the league in just about everything. Though, Kopitar had more points than any of their players, they just had insane depth scoring from guys who I would have never expected to do anything (…that sounds familiar doesn’t it?).

As surprisingly good as Spokane was this season, it came as no surprise that they were swept by the nearly impossibly unbeatable Calgary Stampede, who move on to the Calder Cup finals. Here they will play the Portland (Maine) Mariners, who finished 3rd in the AHL and never saw a single game against Calgary. The outcome, however, was as expected and predicted, Portland was swept, and actually only got 2 goals in one game and was shutout in the other 3. Calgary Stampede with the Calder Cup

NHL Playoffs:
The Eastern Conference saw Toronto (1) and Atlanta (2) sweep their series over the Motor city (8) and New Jersey (7) in the first round. The New York Nationals (3) and Montreal Metros (6) got locked in a tight battle after Montreal went down 3-1 in the series, but came back to take it in game 7 on enemy ice. Jacksonville (5) and Carolina (4) also had a tight series, alternating wins until Carolina stole one to make it 3-2, but lost the next two games to lose the series. In the Conference semi-final, the Canadians clashed as Montreal and Toronto faced each other down, with Toronto blinking first and Montreal taking it in the 7th game. The battle of the unexpected southeast teams then ensued between Atlanta and Jacksonville, which Atlanta easily swept.

In the West, Arizona (4) easily swept the unlikely playoff candidate of Indiana (5). Edmonton (8) and Milwaukee (2) each won their series 4-1 against LA (1) and Vancouver (7), and we (3) of course triumphed over Twin City (6) in six. That’s right, LA, winners of the President’s Trophy, were knocked out in the first round in just 5 games. In the Conference Semi-Finals, with the exception of a 2-1 loss, Milwaukee just walked over Edmonton in five games, beating them by a combined score of 18-5…ouch Edmonton. And then we obviously lost to Arizona in just five games.

In the Eastern Conference finals, Montreal and Atlanta became locked in an epic battle. Both teams alternated winning and losing at home, going 1-1 and 2-2, but for the last 3 games, the home team would take them all, and Atlanta skated away victorious 4-3.

Out “West” Milwaukee battled the least supported hockey team in the league, Arizona. With their superior scoring, they were able to shut down the Dust Devils in 6 games, taking them down by a score of 5-0 in the final game.

The Stanley Cup Finals pitted the number two teams in each conference against one another, as Milwaukee and Atlanta faced off. Milwaukee started off strong, taking the first two games in Atlanta and their first game at home, pulling ahead 3-0. It was all but over when Atlanta pulled off an upset on Milwaukee ice to stay alive. Suddenly, Milwaukee went into a scoring drought, losing by scores of 2-1 and 1-0, allowing Atlanta to tie the series. Unfortunately, those scoring woes continued, and Milwaukee would lose 4-1 in the final game, giving the unlikely Atlanta the Stanley Cup.

World Championships:
This year, the World Championships are being held in Kazan. From Group E, Russia, Sweden, Finland, and Switzerland qualified for playoffs while Canada, Germany, Slovakia, and the USA made it through from Group F. Latvia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, and Austria would not make it through, and their WC ended. Belarus and Norway survived the Relegation Group to fight another day, Denmark and Italy will have to fight to get back into the tournament again next year.

In the semi-final’s Russia and Germany faced each other for the Bronze metal, after Germany got destroyed 5-1 by Canada and Russia got shutout 4-0 by Sweden. As expected, the Russians took the game, though not by a large margin, winning just 2-0 to secure the bronze.

The Gold medal game between Sweden and Canada was much more exciting. Wellwood got Canada on the board first, but with the help of Forsberg and Ekman, Magnus Kahnberg from Frolunda was able to tie it up before the end of the period. Canada struck again with 40 seconds left in the second, and again halfway through the 3rd to go up 3-1. Sweden fought back valiantly with Zetterberg scoring with just about 2 min to go, but it wasn’t enough. Canada took home Gold, Sweden the Silver.

Renewed contracts:
-Joel Ward (1 yr @ $675K) – Not the best player, but he provides solid depth…28 points, decent hits, and he’s good enough physically that he won’t be a huge liability.

Signed the following prospects:
- Brendan Mikkelson – LD (CAN, 19) – $450K (3 years)
This Season: WHL—Vancouver Giants (71 GP, 14G 61A 75PTS, +41, 58 PIM)
GM Report: The kid has some size for sure at 6-3 and he knows how to use it, with a solid 120 hits in the WHL this year. He’s quite strong, and posses good physical abilities, but other than that, he doesn’t excel at any particular part of his game. He could be a decent shut down kind of guy in the future, but not likely going to be more than a depth guy.

- Phil Oreskovic – RD (CAN/CRO, 20) – $450K (3 years)
This Season: OHL—Brampton Battalion (60 GP, 9G 57A 66PTS, -1, 60 PIM)
GM Report: Much like Mikkelson, he’s got size at 6-3 and he knows how to use it. He has 150 hits, 103 takeways, and 48 blocked shots, with few giveaways. He’s very poised, strong, and a hard hitter with good physical abilities…and he can eat up monster ice time (over 29 min/game this year). I think like Mikkelson, his potential might be limited to a depth shut-down guy, but he’s definitely got a shot at the NHL in the future.

- Bobby Bolt – RW/LW (CAN, 20) – $450 (3 years)
This Season: OHL—Kingston Frontenacs (59 GP, 21G 18A 39PTS, +7, 173PIM)
GM Report: At 6-4 and 222 lbs, he’s a big kid who excels at the physical aspects of the game. He’s gritty and aggressive, not afraid to throw his weight around, but not likely to set the world afire with points. He could turn into a nice checking line kind of player.

End of year trophies:
Mike Ricci came as the 1st runner up for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, but other than that, nobody’s name came up this year.

Art Ross – Jason Allison (MON)
Bill Masterton – Mike Knuble (NJ)
Calder Memorial - Alexandre Picard (JCK)
Conn Smythe – Mikka Kiprusoff (ATL)
Frank J. Selke – Dave Scatchard (MCM)
Jack Adams – Bob Hartley (ATL)
James Norris Memorial – Jay Bouwmeester (ATL)
Hart Memorial – Jaromir Jagr (ARZ)
King Clancy Memorial – Mike Modano (NYN)
Lady Byng Memorial – Patrik Elias (NYN)
Lester B. Pearson – Mats Sundin (EDM)
Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard – Ilya Kovalchuk (MON)
Vezina – stolen from Mikka and given to the ever-overrated Matrin Brodeur (JCK)
William M. Jennings – Martin Brodeur (JCK)
NHL Plus-Minus Award – Thomas Vanek (LA)
Roger Crozier Saving Grace Award – Mikka Kipprusoff (ATL)

In the AHL, Anze Kopitar won the following awards:
Les Cunningham Plaque
Red Garrett Memorial Trophy
John B. Sollenberger
AHL Best Forward

coasterholic14 · Post by **coasterholic14** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 4:41 am

2007 NHL Entry Draft:

Oddly enough, Colorado, the 25th placed team, won the NHL Entry Draft Lottery, moving them up to the #2 overall pick. I was hoping someone below them would win, and steal it from Portland, but I guess it wasn’t to be. I know Alaska, Buffalo, and Chicago are crying a bit though at having to move back a pick. Despite being 10th overall in points, we draft 25th due to our division sucking…not good in a relatively thin draft. As a result, I made a few draft day movements so I could get some better prospects

To Emerald City Thunderbirds:
- POR 2007 2nd Round Pick (31st overall)
- POR 2007 4th Round Pick (91st overall)

To Portland Meadowlarks:
- LD Johnny Oduya
- Rights to RW Bjorn melin
- EMC 2007 4th Round Pick (115th overall)
- EMC 2007 5th Round Pick (145th overall)

Basically, I wanted to move up in the draft, so I give up a low 4th and 5th, rights to a guy I have no interest in signing, and a potential depth defenseman who’s 26 and I have little interest in keeping (he played in the ECHL this year anyway), for the first picks of the 2nd and 4th round…hopefully the picks pay off.

To Emerald City Thunderbirds:
- EDM 2007 1st Round Pick (15th overall)
- EDM 2007 5th Round Pick (135th overall)

To Edmonton Diggers:
- Rights to RW Bryce Swan
- EMC 2007 1st Round Pick (25th overall)

Again, wanting to move my earlier picks up due to the somewhat weak draft, and me being near the back of each round, I used Bryce Swan to improve my position by 10 places to the middle of the first round. Everyone seems to project him as a future second line guy, but I just don’t see it. His production was nothing special, and he doesn’t really stand out in any particular way. I’d rather draft someone of my own with a better first round pick…I also replace my 5th round pick I traded to Portland.

2007 NHL Entry Draft Picks:
1st Round (15th Overall): LW/RW James Van Riemsdyk
Age: 18 Height: 6'3" Weight: 189 lbs Nationality: USA
Current Team: U.S. National Development Team (USHL)
Last Season: 60GP, 44G-38A (82PTS), +28, 74 PIM
Projected Role: Solid all-around player, he’s project to be a first/second line player in the future. JVR is a team player and holds his own at both ends of the ice, he’s very professional, thrives under pressure, and is a classy guy. Perhaps his only weaknesses right now are his strength, speed, and balance, but the NTDP should help him with that.

1st Round (31st Overall): C John Hughes
Age: 19 Height: 5'11” Weight: 183 lbs Nationality: CAN
Current Team: Belleville Bulls (OHL)
Last Season: 67GP, 34G-42A (76PTS), +26, 34 PIM
Projected Role: Hughes is a solid young centerman who can log high minutes in a game while not failing in any particular part of his game. Great hockey sense, soft hands, great skater, has the potential to be a first/second line player.

2nd Round (55th Overall): LD Nathan Martine
Age: 19 Height: 6'2" Weight: 207 lbs Nationality: CAN
Current Team: Mississauga IceDogs (OHL)
Last Season: 68GP, 12G-58A (70PTS), +24, 84 PIM
Projected Role: Martine is a more offensively minded d-man, which would fit well into my current group of more defensively minded guys like Schultz and O’Brien. My scouts give him 1-2 potential, I’m not quite as optimistic, but he could still be very good. Physically, the kid is great…speed, strength, stamina, agility. Well-rounded defenseman, supposedly a “bigger, better version of Dan Boyle”…that’d be awesome, but we’ll see.

3rd Round (55th Overall): C Mitch Fadden
Age: 19 Height: 5'11" Weight: 178 lbs Nationality: CAN
Current Team: Lethbridge Hurricanes (whL)
Last Season: 72GP, 14G-17A (31PTS), +5, 81 PIM
Projected Role: The kid was ranked 29th and fell to me in the 3rd round. I honestly understand why he dropped some, but for a kid that was rated so highly, I’m willing to risk a 3rd rounder on him, especially with his dominance in faceoffs. Again, another kid who’s physically fit (noticing a trend with this), he doesn’t excel in many areas, nor does he seem to fail. My scouts predict a third line role, which I could possibly agree with here.

4th Round (91st Overall): RD/LD Ryan Wilson
Age: 20 Height: 6'1" Weight: 211 lbs Nationality: CAN
Current Team: Sarnia Sting (OHL)
Last Season: 64GP, 29G-68A (97PTS), +37, 96 PIM
Projected Role: Ok, so I know he was unranked in the draft, but I did not expect him to last as long as he did. Like Martine, he’s an offensive defenseman, but could very well be better…currently he’s already far better (granted he’s 20, Martine is 18). Right now, there’s nothing I dislike about him, and honestly feel he could have been taken in the first round, and being 20, I’ll probably sign him this year.

6th Round (175th Overall): RD Yuri Postnikh
Age: 18 Height: 6'0" Weight: 185 lbs Nationality: RUS
Current Team: Omsk-2 (Rus-3)
Last Season: 40GP, 3G-20A (23PTS), +17, 95 PIM
Projected Role: Here’s a guy who could be just the defensive depth I’m looking for. He’s a stay-at-home d-man with a good two-way game, very professional, leaves it all on the ice, knows his positioning very well, and is patient. Scouted as high as a 5-6 d-man, I’d settle for a depth guy to call upon on occasion.

7th Round (205th Overall): C Aleksej Repkin
Age: 18 Height: 6'2" Weight: 191 lbs Nationality: RUS
Current Team: Perm (Rus-2)
Last Season: 43GP, 9G-8A (17PTS), +13, 20PIM
Projected Role: Here’s a kid I just wanted to take a chance on. He’s physically fit, fast, aggressive, outstanding at faceoffs, patient, all sorts of great things. He was another unranked player, and was passed up in last year’s draft, but as a 7th round pick, I can’t be disappointed if it doesn’t work out. I think he’s worth a shot.

coasterholic14 · Post by **coasterholic14** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 7:22 pm

Offseason:

Just before offseason, Brandon Greene resigned Niko Dimitrakos to a 1 year, $650K contract. I figure he’ll give some nice veterancy and scoring to Spokane, and/or serve as a nice backup for me in case of injuries. We also signed another of our prospects:
- Mark Flynn – RD/LD (USA, 22) – $450K (2 years)
This Season: UCWE—Wisconsin (50GP, 11G 34A 45PTS, +4, 64 PIM)
GM Report: Flynn’s been through a few years of college hockey and has some nice development under him. Honestly, I don’t think he’ll amount to much, but until I can refill the pool, I could use the depth, and he looks like he could be pretty good at the minor league level.

The following players were released or couldn’t reach an extension agreement:
- Radek Dvorak (tried to re-sign him, but he didn’t seem at all interested)
- Mike Hartigan (too old to keep as AHL depth, want to sign some younger guys)
- Manny Legace (still injured for a while)
- Junior Lessard (…)
- Steve Montador (crappiest d-man from last year, he clears space for O’Brien or Schultz)
- Mike Morrison (too old to be a prospect goalie)
- Danny Richmond (rubbish)
- Tony Amonte (should probably retire)
- Dan LaCouture (tried to resign at the last minute, no luck)
- Mattias Weinhandl (almost made an offer, held back)

Going into Free Agency, our main concerns are to get a starting goaltender to replace Legace, and a 3rd/4th line LW to replace where Dvorak was playing. Also going to be looking for young players to play in the AHL for depth or as prospects. We also brought in Brent Bilodeau as our goaltending coach after Francois Allaire rejected our contract extension offer and left the team…now he’s an assistant coach of a Junior A hockey team in Antigosh, NS?

- Kyle Gajewski – G (CAN, 20) – $475K (3 years)
Last Season: OHL—Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (60GP, 39-15-6, 2.22 GAA, .924 SV%)
GM Report: I was actually looking at making Gajewski a late draft pick, but when he was still available when I made my 7th round pick, I just hoped he’d still be there after the final five picks…thankfully he was. I doubt he’ll see the NHL, but he’s the only prospect I have right now.

- Elgin Reid – LD (CAN, 20) – $475K (3 years)
Last Season: OHL—Ottawa 67s (68GP, 17G 52A 69PTS, +16, 255 PIM)
GM Report: Elgin had a PPG last year, over 200 hits, over 75 takeaways and blocked shots, a low number of giveaways, and won half of his 27 fights. Oh, he also ate up nearly 30 minutes of ice time on average…hello undrafted defensive prospect!

- Olaf Kolzig – G (GER, 37) – $3,260,000 (1 year)
Last Season: NHL—Jacksonville Rivermen (12GP, 3-6-1, 2.89 GAA, .917 SV%)
GM Report: Goaltending options were pretty limited this offseason. Most of my options were either guys on the verge of retirement, like Hasek, or guys were were borderline backup-starter guys, like Mike Dunham, Brian Boucher, Dan Cloutier, etc. While Kolzig appears to have played the role of a backup last year with only 12 games, his SV% and GAA stats speak for themselves. Hopefully he’ll stay strong for one last year and maybe the pool will be a bit deeper next summer.

- Jeff Friesen – LW/C (CAN, 30) – $1,910,000 (2 years)
Last Season: NHL—Atlanta Resurgens (76GP, 12G 20A 32PTS, +16, 60 PIM)
GM Report: I offered out a number of contracts to guys for 3rd line duties, and I ended up choosing Friesen. Dvorak was willing to sign, but wanted more than Friesen. Either would have been fine, but I like Friesen’s physical attributes a bit better, and he’s cheaper.

- Dan LaCosta – G (CAN, 21) – $475K (2 years)
Last Season: AHL—Carolina Checkers (28GP, 11-14-1, 3.48 GAA, .871 SV%)
GM Report: Drafted by Indiana in the 3rd round, he was part of the Carolina organization last year on loan. He didn’t have the greatest season last year for them in the AHL, but he has a great blocker, great glove, and recovers nicely…pluse the only other goalie prospect I have right now is Gajewski.

- Ryan Wilson – RD/LD (CAN, 20) – $475K (3 years)
Last Season: OHL—Sarnia Sting (64GP, 29G 68A 97PTS, +37, 96 PIM)
GM Report: 1.5 PPG for a Defenseman? Now you might see why I’m confused he was unranked or even fell to the 4th round. I wasn’t originally going to sign him until next year, but since other AHL teams were starting to offer him contracts, I thought I’d better sign him. If I’m able, I still might send him to juniors for another year of development there.

I see I'm getting a pretty decent number of views here, hopefully meaning that a few of you are following and enjoying my story

If anyone has any comments, questions, critiques, suggestsions, etc, feel free to share them. Like I said, it's my first story in years and only my second overall, trying to keep it detailed but not go overboard and bore you to death. Hope everyone is enjoying!

coasterholic14 · Post by **coasterholic14** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 1:30 am

Preseason and Training Camp

After having such a successful training camp and impressing the teams scouts, GM Brandon Greene agreed to terms with young defenseman Adam Cunningham.
- Adam Cunningham – RD/LD (CAN, 24) – $475K (3 years)
Last Season: UCCE—Ohio State (37GP, 10G 17A 27PTS, +0, 44 PIM)
ECHL—Columbia Inferno (26GP, 3G 12A 15PTS, +2, 32 PIM)
GM Report: After finishing up his senior year of college last year, and having an outstanding season, he then played in the ECHL afterwards to finish the season where he was also quite successful. He brings a nice brand of physical hockey to the team.

Our preseason this year had its ups and downs, but was solid overall. We played 8 games again this year, going 6-2-1, beating Norfok, Philly, Buffalo, Carolina, Arizona, and Colorado, while losing to Milwaukee, Chicago, and most unfortunately, Portland. Our biggest game was against Buffalo, whom we obliterated 16-1, 10 of which came on the PP, of which we had 17, we also outshot the Blizzard 63-16, total domination.

coasterholic14 · Post by **coasterholic14** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 3:56 am

NHL Season Preview (07-08):

This year, Emerald City was rated to be the #7 team, much more respectable than our dead last #30 ranking from last season, and much closer to how we finished last year.

Top three teams are predicted to be the New York Nationals, the Toronto Knights, and, quite surprisingly, the Colorado Mountaineers, who finished 25th last year. Predicted bottom dwellers for this year: Columbus Copperheads, Alaska Bears (no surprise there with how poorly they finished last year), and the Norfolk Ironclads. It appears expectations for my team are much higher after massively exceeding last year’s predicted abysmal finish.

When it comes to the leagues thoughts on the top players, only Jerome Iginla makes the THN’s list, and he’s ranked #1 overall on the Right Wing. He was darn good last year no doubt, not sure if he should be #1 though, but he is quite skilled. On the other hand, we have 2 of the top 10 prospects: Anze Kopitar at #1 and Jeff Schultz at #9.

Here’s the final lineup before we open up our season against our rivals in Vancouver, first away and then at home:
B. Shanahan (C) // D. Briere // J. Iginla (A)
S. Samsanov // A. Kopitar // G. Murray
J. Friesen// M. Ricci // S. Pahlsson
A. Hilbert // J. Ward // J. Ruutu

E. Brewer // B. Witt
H. Gill (A) // Z. Michalek
S. O’Brien // A. Lilja

Starting Goalie: O. Kolzig
Backup: B. Johnson

My Top Prospects:
1. C/RW Anze Kopitar (graduating)
2. C John Hughes
3. LW/RW James Van Riemsdyk
4. LD Jeff Schultz
5. C Ville Leino
6. LD Nathan Martine
7. LD/RD Shane O’Brien (graduating)
8. C Chris Francis
9. LW James Neal
10. RD/LD Ryan Wilson
11. LW John Vigilante
12. C Aleksej Repkin

coasterholic14 · Post by **coasterholic14** » Sat Jan 28, 2012 1:05 am

October 2007 Review:

Season got off to quite a nice start as we beat Vancouver in our first two games of the season by scores of 8-3 and 6-4, that’s a lot more scoring than we seemed to have last year…let’s just hope it lasts. Eric Brewer got 1G 4A in those two games, earning him the award of NHL Defensive Player of the Week.

Jeff Friesen played his 900th game in our third game of the season, a thrilling 3-2 OT victory over the Colorado Mountaineers…too bad for Friesen he got no points. After a goal 1 min in by Samsanov (here he goes again with those first goals early in games!), we were tied up before the 3 minute mark. Down 2-1 after the second then, we got a PP goal early in the third to tie it up, with Iginla getting the game winning goal less than a minute into OT.

With Danny Briere twisting his ankle and out for a week, Anze Kopitar (5GP 1G 8A 9PTS +2 4PIM) will get bumped up to center the top line, while Ville Leino will get the callup to fill in on the second line.

After starting the season with a four game win streak, we then went on a 3 game slide…though the wins were bigger than the losses. What was really devastating though, Eric Brewer, by far our best defenseman, suffered from a UCL tear in our game against the Motor City Mechanics…they sure fixed him... Anyway, at this point, I think my choices are to call-up Jeff Schultz, or try to acquire another #1 d-man. I think Schultz would do well, but I don’t think he would legitimately fulfill a 1-2 roll right now, heck Witt barely does.

Despite our recent slump, Iginla has continued to perform well, and earned NHL Offensive Player of the Week for Oct 21-27, with 2G – 4A in 2 games. Just a few days later, his youngest teammate, Anze Kopitar, was named NHL Rookie of the Month for October with his 2G – 10A in 10 games…mostly on the second line mind you.

Brewer’s absence at the end of the month definitely hurt us…and we went 5-4-1 on the month after a 4-0-0 start. The 11 points puts us 3rd in the division, 1 point behind Portland and Alaska, 2 points ahead of Vancouver and Edmonton; also tied for 9th in the Western Conference and 19th in the league. Montreal, Winnipeg, LA, and Atlanta currently lead the league, Boston sits in the crapper at the bottom with 4 points (the 5 teams above them are tied with 9 pts).

Spokane had a solid start to their season at 5-4-1 for 11 points, first in the division, 7th in the league. Thunder Bay, Quebec, and Calgary (dammit…again?) remain undefeated after 8 or 9 games. Richmond and Nashville cry at their measly 2-3 points each through 8 games.

coasterholic14 · Post by **coasterholic14** » Sat Jan 28, 2012 10:53 pm

November 2007 Review:

In our 4-1 win over the Twin City Timberwolves early in the month, Samsanov scored his 200th career NHL goal! After that game, Shane O’Brien was named NHL Defensive Player of the month for his 7 assists in 4 games during the first week of November.

Experiencing at least a slight upswing to start the month, in our 5-4 SO victory over the LA Gridlock, Samsanov plays his 600th career NHL game while Iginla hits game #800.

For now, Douglass Murray has been called up to fill in our 6th dman spot until I can find a guy to replace Brewer…right now most teams are just asking far too much for dmen.

Danny Briere plays his 500th NHL game in our 2-1 loss to Indiana just after half the month passes…Briere had our only goal. Unfortunately I still have no replacement for Brewer. Oh, just for salt in the wound, my new prospect, Chris Francis, who’s shown outstanding improvement this year…out for 8 months from a torn MCL. Son of a *(*($#)) )@#()$ @ # )%()@()#%)

I don’t know what to say, it’s been a slow month, and we’re underperforming. Kolzig, Samsanov, Murray, and Iginla, Kopitar, and O’Brien have been solid, Johnson’s been a joke, Ruutu completely invisible, Gill has been like a traffic cone for the opponent to go around, everyone is a mixture of “meh.” Murray’s been a decent stop-gap on defense, but he won’t stick around long if I can pry away someone else’s defenseman (though he’s doing better than Hal “Thin Wall” Gill).

Despite the slow month, we had a tight game against Portland, tighter than our record even this month. Portland got the only goal of the first from Steve Sullivan to take the 1-0 lead. Kopitar came back with his own 20 sec into the period to tie it, but the lead was lost halfway through when Hartnell put one behind Kolzig. But we weren’t going down without a fight, and Glen Murray notched two for us in the third period to give us a 3-2 lead with 10 to go. Unfortunately, we couldn’t hold, and Portland tied it with just 3:34 to go in the game. The game ended a tie, and no winner could be decided in OT, so we went to a shootout. Iginla scored, Pronger missed, up 1-0. Samsanov scored, Forsberg scored, up 2-1. Third round, Hilbert (why the *^#( is he in a shootout) missed, giving Portland a chance to tie it, but D. Sedin missed and we won 4-3.

In November, our record is a mediocre 6-6-1, bringing us to 11-10-2 for 24 points overall…3rd in the division, 11th in the conference (just 1 point from 7th), and 21st in the league. The loss of Brewer is hurting us for sure, but we’re not doing ourselves any favors, some guys just need to pick things up and get their @$$3$ in gear. Atlanta, LA, and New York remain atop the league, Portland is leading our division *pukes* and Boston, Arizona, and Norfolk are floundering at the bottom currently.

Spokane is no 16-5-1 for 33 points, first in their division by 12 points and tied for 3rd overall in the league. Of course, Calgary is first at 22-0-0 (What the Dickens?? SERIOUSLY?)

coasterholic14 · Post by **coasterholic14** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 12:38 am

December 2007 Review:

It took the better part of 3 weeks of offers and negotiations, and cost me more than I would have liked, but I finally made a deal to acquire a 1-2 defenseman to replace Brewer and hopefully help out my struggling Thunderbirds…

To Emerald City Thunderbirds:
- RD Sami Salo (2 yrs @ $1.61 million)

To Vancouver Whitecaps:
- Rights to C Mitch Fadden
- EMC 2008 2nd round pick

I really hate giving up prospects, especially with as solid as Fadden is developing (and as studly he is on defense), but having drafted 4 centers, and with 1 injured long term (nobody wants to trade him), and I’m NOT giving up Hughes, Fadden was the best I was willing to offer. Perhaps when Brewer comes back, I can trade Salo or Brewer to someone else for an equivalent return.

Mike Ricci played his 1200th NHL game in our 3-1 loss to Arizona. Just to show you how cold the team is, Anze Kopitar, once the leading rookie scorer, has 4 points in his last 15 games. “Thin Wall” Gill has been so atrocious lately that I’ve benched him and left unlikely candidate Douglas Murray in his place…he’s not doing anything great, but he’s been better than Gill.

Perhaps picking up Salo re-energized the team, as in the middle of our slump, we were on the winning end of a 9-0 win against the 4th place (in Conference) Kansas City Mohawks. Shaking up some of my lineups may have helped some also. They were so bad, and losing to one of the worst teams, their fans were so angry that they were booing and jeering at them after the game!

Time for our second game against Portland this season in late(ish) December. It started badly, with Forsberg beating Kolzig just over a minute into the game. It became 2-0 when Sullivan got a goal off a feed from Forsberg, but Kopitar kept us in it with a goal 40 sec later. Pronger made it 3-1 halfway through the third, and it would remain that way into intermission…not looking pretty. We finally came out on fire, notching 2 goals in the first 2:05 of the period, compliments of G. Murray and Kopitar, and it would remain tied through the remainder of 59 minutes. In the final minute, Shanahan came through for us, winning the game with 56 seconds left (4-3 final). In the game, Briere notched his 400th point, Hilbert got his 200th game, and Iginla sustained a small injury.

For his large part in our turnaround, Glen Murray was awarded NHL Offensive Player of the Week for December 16-22, piling up an outstanding 4G – 8A in 4 games, yes, 3 points per game!

I don’t want to jinx the team, but we’ve really been on fire the last half of the month (after being ICE COLD the first half), we just won a game 9-2 as a nice Christmas present, this time against division rivals Edmonton. Hilbert, Ricci, and Shanahan each got a point, Samsanov, O’Brien and G. Murray got 2, Kopitar got 3, Briere 4, and Iginla 6!! The board was thrilled, as was I. Shanahan sustains a small injury in the game cutting his leg, but he won’t be out long. Ward played his 300th game, G. Murray is 1000th. Ruutu was of course abysmal even in one of our best games.

Sadly, we are a model of inconsistency, and lose 5-2 then 5-3 following that game, and the 5-2 was against Edmonton. Kolzig played terribly and then was replaced by Johnson who shut them out for the remainder of the first game, then Johnson started and played terribly being pulled after 4 goals on 15 shots where Kolzig then played much better…my head is starting to spin. Atlanta still leads the league by 4 points over Toronto and, of course, LA. Boston is woefully bad, clearly going for the 1st overall pick with only 24 points, making Norfolk’s 30 points look outstanding above them.

December ends with a nice 4-3 victory over Vancouver, giving us an 8-8-0 record for the month. That brings us to 19-18-2 for 40 points overall in 39 games, 3rd in the division (1 point from a move either way), 9th in the conference (1 point from a playoff spot…which Vancouver holds), and 18th overall. Briere got a point in that Vancouver game too, putting him on an 11 game streak! Right now, I’ve started scouting for this years draft, and it looks like outside the first round, it’s 50% leftovers that went undrafted last year, and 50% total rubbish.

Despite the teams earlier inconsistencies this month, they finished strong, and KopiSTAR did as well, winning NHL Rookie of the Month with 5G – 6A in 16 games, giving him the league lead for points for rookies, retaking it from Lukas Kaspar and Bobby Ryan.

Spokane is chugging along with their 25-9-1 record, first in their division by 7 points over Dallas (who themselves are 8 points above New Mexico). California is last in the division (and the league) with just 13 points (5-28-3). Guess who’s leading the league…if you said anyone other than Calgary, you’re on drugs. Ridiculous…35-1-0? Seriously, what are these guys on? With about 3 exceptions, none of their leading scorers are any good, but they’re piling it on…that and Chiodo is playing rather outstandingly. I think when we play them we should just pound the rubbish out of them, enough injuries and maybe they won’t coast through the playoffs so easily.

The first line of Neal, Leino, and Carnegie each have over a PPG, and Neal and Leino are making strong cases for roster spots next year along with Schultz, Wilson, and possibly even Falardeau.

coasterholic14 · Post by **coasterholic14** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 4:12 am

January 2008 Review:

Starting out the month on a nice note, we beat division rivals Edmonton again, this time by a score of 4-3. In the game, Iginla snagged himself his 700th point. In Spokane, Neal has racked up at least one goal in the last 13 games, netting 15 in that time. NICE!!

Thirteen seems to be an unlucky number for point streaks…Briere’s big point streak ended after 13 games as well, but hey, who can really complain about that?

Despite Portland being 3rd and us being, roughly 10th, the games are always close thrillers, and game 3 of the season was no different. Iginla got the game going with a goal later in the first period on the powerplay to give us the 1-0 lead. It didn’t last long though, and just over a minute later, Portland returns with their own powerplay goal. Then, nearly halfway through the game, Portland nets another PP marker for the 2-1 lead, but like may games, we fight back. Two minutes later, Iginla makes it a tie game, and it remains as such through regulation, and OT, and onto another shootout. The shootout ends quickly though, as Samsanov and Shanahan miss, while Kvasha and Forsberg score, and we drop it 3-2. We’re leading 2-0-1 this year! FYI, Samsanov (43GP 21G 24A 45PTS) got his 500th point!

After his goal streak stopped at 13, Neal’s point streak finally stopped at 16 games (24 points).

World Junior U20 Championships

World Juniors were quite interesting this year…Group A consisted of Czech Republic, Finland, Kazakhstan, Slovakia, and Sweden, Group B was Canada, Germany, Russia, Slovenia, and USA. Canada and Finland got bye’s to the semi-finals, while Kazakhstan, Germnay, Sweden (surprisingly), and USA (shockingly) were forced to fight in the Relegation League. There Sweden got through without a scratch at 3-0-0, USA squeaked through over Germany by a tie-breaker (goal differential since they tied 3-3 in their game against one another). GER and KAZ will have to play their way back in next year. In the Playoffs, Finland beat Czech and Canada beat Russia to set up the Gold and Bronze medal games. There, after giving up a 3-0 lead and nearly being upset by the Czechs, the Russians managed to get a goal within 5 min of the first OT to take home the Bronze. In the Gold game, there was no battle, and Canada walked over Finland 6-0 for their second in a row (last year they beat Russia 6-1). Martine got the game-winning first goal of the game! He did well in the tournament, Hughes also played decent, and JVR did well considering how bad the USA was.

Again, after we go through a bit of a cold spell, we respond with a HUGE win, 8-0 over the conference leading LA Gridlock. What’s really funny, is despite being only at the .500 mark and not currently in the playoffs (still 1 pt out), we have more GF than GA…probably as a result of having lots of close games, and occasional slaughters (without being slaughtered ourselves so far). We follow it up with an 8-3 victory over Kansas City (sadly, all 3 against were PP goals).

Unfortunately for us, Ricci went out for 3 MONTHS from a concussion after taking a high hard elbow to the head from Philippe Boucher in the game, that will take him out through at least the first round of playoffs (if we make it). Really sucks, he wasn’t amazing or anything, but he was the perfect kind of depth guy we needed—13 points, solid hitting, great at blocking shots, few giveaways, good at faceoffs. Though has been better in Spokane, I’ll probably call up Falardeau as I feel he could fill Ricci’s role better. They’re already playing short in Spokane, so they really should considering contracting a few players of their own.

Gajewski was named ECHL Saver of the Week January 15-21 with 2 shutouts in his 2 games. I finally sent him down to the ECHL in early January after he was pretty much benched all season behind LaCosta and Schmidt (under Spokane’s contract). Brendan Mikkelson (34GP 5G 28A 33PTS) and Phil Oreskovic (35GP 9G 24A 33PTS) are also doing well in Idaho.

Funny game against Alaska near the end of the month. I decided to play Johnson in net b/c of how bad Alaska is supposed to be. Here’s the scoring summary to laugh at:
4:05 EMC G. Murray
13:43 ALK Gelinas
14:00 EMC Friesen
16:11 ALK Schaefer
17:30 EMC Samsanov
24:32 AKA Steen
28:41 EMC Iginla
32:27 AKA Schaefer
34:07 EMC Kopitar
41:30 AKA Spezza
42:31 EMC G. Murray
That’s right, we lost the lead FIVE times (alternated every goal), but always ended each period with the lead…and Murray got the first and GWG. Those two goals helped him win NHL Offensive Player of the Week for January 20-26 with 2G 4A in 2 games. In fact, Murray (51GP 26G 35A 61PTS) is actually my teams point leader, despite playing on the second line behind Iginla…Samsanov (50GP 27G 32A 59 PTS) is second, and also on the 2nd line.

We made a nice late month charge, and finish the month 7-4-2, 26-22-4 overall for 56 points. That settles us 2nd in the division (3 behind Portland), 6th in the conference, and 14th overall in the NHL. As we approach the trade deadline this month, the only trade I MIGHT make is to get one of my draft picks back using Salo or Brewer (if he comes back in time). Other than that, I don’t think I’m in a strong enough position to make a real fight for the cup, so pending a big deal offered to me, I’ll probably stay where I am and keep my good players and as many of my picks as I can. Toronto has taken the #1 spot from Atlanta, now leading by 3 points, and New York sits 1 point behind that…LA has dropped now to 4th. Boston had a great month (for them at least), and now sit dead last, only 11 points out of 29th with 30 points in 50 games. Philadelphia (29) and Columbus (27) have been plummeting, and Arizona (28) still sucks.

Spokane has slowed slightly, but still dominating the West Division at 32-11-3 for 67 points, 6 points ahead of the thorn-in-their-side Dallas Outlaws, 3rd in the league. I don’t even need to tell you who’s in first though, other than they’ve actually lost one and are 46-1-0 (I’m starting to wonder if I messed up the DB somehow to make them that dominant? They have 8 guys with at least 1 PPG).

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