Boston Bruins dynasty with Terva

Terva · Post by **Terva** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 7:00 pm

LetÂ´s see how long EHM 2005 can keep me interested.

2004/2005 Regular Season

I got Zhitnik, Glenn Murray, Kariya and Peter "Foppa" Forsberg on the free agents. I also traded Toivonen for Jamie Storr and Andy Hilbert for Craig Adams. The idea was to have one more experienced goalie as a backup for raycroft and Craig Adams would be a perfect RW in my checking line. I got rid of Tom Fitzgerald and Martin Lapointe through the waiver system. With Kariya and Forsberg in my team i overexceeded the player budget. I also aquired Nolan Pratt and Matt Bradley in the waivers.

At first I had these formations.

Kariya - Thornton - Forsberg
Samsonov - Bergeron - Murray
Axelsson - Stock - Adams
Huml - Boyes - Samuelsson

Gill - Gonchar
Zhitnik - Boynton
Pratt - Girard

Raycroft Storr

I rotated some players in the fourth line and the third defencive pair.
AFter only 10 games i traded my 2005 2nd draft pick against NY Rangers Jed Ortmeyer and replaced Adams in the third line.

The idea was to have an really, really good first line who would win the games for me as the rest of the teams played more dfensively. Depending on the opposition i matched my lines. Usually i matched my 1st against their 1st in hope that my line would outskill their 1st line and it worked for a beginning. But after about 10 the goal scoring went down and I noticed that Bergeron would be exceptional as a center for my third line with godd checkin, positioning, poke checking, speed and anticipation. So I moved Bergeron to the third line and Forsberg to the secong line. At the same time I trade Kylder from Chicago for a couple of trade picks. The new lineup was.

Samsonov - Thornton - Kariya
Calder - Forsberg - Murray
Axelsson - Bergeron - Ortmeyer
Samuelsson/Huml - Boyes/Stock - Adams

defencive pairs was the same, I rotaded Girard and Milan Jurcina.

Now I paried my third line, which was a defensive checking line, against the opponents 1st lines if the opponents had a real outspoken 1st line. I also played man to man marking with my 3rd line when matching them.

The regular season was a success and I actually won with 112p.
Joe Thornton scored most points with 99 (32+67) followed by Forsberg, 90 (43-47) and Sundin, 88 (43-45)
One huge problem was my penalt-rate. I got over 18 min/game and this was kinda frustrating.

One other issue during the season was my naff goaltending. Raycroft had 53 2.36 89.9% and Storr 21Gp 2.12 90.8%. Though Storr had decent stats he played really bad from time to time and I even got Steven Shields in february trying to improve my goaltending.

Biggest win was 6-1 against Minnesota and Montreal
Biggest defeat was 6-2 vs Ottawa

2004/2005 Playoffs

For the playoffs I went back to my super line with following lineup.

Kariya - Thornton - Forsberg
Samsonov - Bergeron - Murray
Axelsson - Stock - Ortmeyer
Calder - Boyes - Adams

Gill - Gonchar
Zhitnik - Boynton
Pratt - Girard/Jurcina

In the eastern qtr.finals I met the Flyers and the series went to seven games. I still had problems with my high penalty rate but managed to wint game seven at home with 4-3 in ot. Kariya was the scoring hero.

In the eastern semi finals I played against the Canadiens who had beaten the Senators as underdogs in seven games.
Though spending most of the time in the penalty box I won comfortably in five games.

In the eastern finals I then met the Lighntings and the penalties broke us down and Tampa Bay won in six games. The finally went on and wont the cup against Detroit in six games.

2004/2005 Awards
Art Ross - Joe Thornton (Boston)
Calder - Petr Sykora (Washington)
Conn Smythe - Martin St.Louis (Tampa)
Frank Selke - Tim Taylor (Tampa)
Hart - Joe Thornton (Boston)
Norris - Sergei Gonchar (Boston) 24+50!!
Lester Pearson - Joe Thornton (Boston)
Maurice Ricard - Peter Forsberg (Boston) 43
Vezina - Kevin Weekes (Rangers)

My team got four important awards which is quite good.

2004/2005 Drafts

Edmonton got the 1st pick and I didnÂ´t even have any 1st picks so I made som business. I traded Kariya against the 1st pick from Oilers and got Crosby. I had also gotten the 1st pick from Nashville during regular season and used it to pick Michael Blunden as #16 overall. Besides that I drafted defender prospect Marc Staal as #50.
I then signed my proscpect defenceman Lars Jonsson and also defensman Evgeny Korolven on free transfer.
I got rid of both my goalies and replaced them with Mar AndrÃ© Fleury and Felix Potvin.

Now IÂ´m almost halfway through the 2005/2006 regular season with 35 played games.
My current lineup is:

Samsonov - Thornton - Murray
Calder - Crosby - Forsberg
Axelsson - Bergeron - Ortmeyer
Samuelsson/Vernasky - Michael Blunden - Chaumont/Orr

Gill - Gonchar
Zhitnik Boynton
Korolev - Jonsson/Jurcina

Samsonov and Crosby has been outstandning with 22+26 and 24+27 in 35 games. Forsberg has missed 10 games due to a groin injury but is still doing fine with 11+15 in 23 games. (Currently injured again)
Thornton was a disapointment at first but has come strong at the end and has 9+17 in 30 games.

I also sacked almost all of my coaches and replaced them with high discipline coaches. This brought down the penalites with about 10 min/game and IÂ´m pulverizing my opponents now and I have 54p in 35 games (24 - 6 - 4) Montreal is trailing with 49p in 34 games.

Top 5 in points
54 Alex Tanguay , Colorado ( 38 games )
51 Sidney Crosby, Boston ( 35 )
49 Joe Sakic, Colorado ( 38 )
48 Sergei Samsonov, Boston ( 35 )
47 Jaromir Jagr, Colorado ( 38 )

Yes, Colorado have a decent 1st line

Terva · Post by **Terva** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 3:02 pm

2005/2006 Regular season

Samsonov - Thornton - Murray (D Sedin)
Calder - Crosby - Forsberg
Axelsson - Bergeron - Ortmeyer
Vernasky/Huml - Blunden - Samuelsson/Chaumont

Gill - Gonchar
Zhitnik - Boynton
Evgeny Korolev - Lars Jonsson/Milan Jurcina

Again the regular season was a success and I won the league for the second year in a row with 120p. 82Gp 52W 14L 14T 2OTW. Second up was Tampa Bay woth 109p and New Jersey and Montreal came 3rd and 4th, both wioth 102p.
In the western conference San Jose won with 103p and Colorade came secong with 101p. The western conference was really tight with six teams between 101-99p.

My new coaching staff with high level of discipline worked out well and my penalty average was 11,63 and we were ranked 20th overall. The goal average was 3.57, Colorado beat me with 3,72. Goals against average was 2,44 and we came 6th overall. Montreal let in least goals with 2,36.

My special teams were OK with 17.4% and 85.8%.

Biggest win came against Islanders at home woth 9-0 and biggest defeat came against Detroit away woth 4-1.

Among the players Samsonov and Crosby played over my expectations while Thornton and Forsber didnÂ´t come up to full standard due to injuries.

Top 5 in points.
1. Alex Tanguay COL 82GP 108P (49+59)
2. Sergei Samsonov BOS 82GP 105P (53+52)
3. Mats Sundin TOR 82GP 103P (43+60)
4. Sidney Crosby BOS 82Gp 99P (45+54)
5. Joe Sakic COL 78GP 96P (38+58 )

Forsberg played only 62 games but still he scored 72P (29+43) and also reached a milestone of 900 points. Thornton scored 76p (27+49) in 77 games.

Defence played OK where Gonchar (13+49) and Zhitnik (10+35) were in top. Best defenceman overall was Colorados Rob Blake With 12+62 and Vancoucers Mattias Ã–hlund (former LuleÃ¥ Hockey) was trailing with 10+61.

Glen Murray was a big dissapointment with only 13 goals and 7 assists in 44 games so I ended up trading him for Daniel Sedin who scored 15 goals and 15 assists in 35 games.

Among the Goalies Marc-AndrÃ© Fleury had a quiet good rookie season (only 22 games with Pittsburgh before) where he had a record of 70G 44W 13L 12T. GAA 2.30 (2nd overall) and 90.4%. He also recorded 3 shutouts and 3 assists.

Best goalies overall were Detroits Manny Legace with 92% in 66 games and Montreals JosÃ© Theodore also with 92%. A big suprise was Rangers rookie Henrik Lundqvist with 91,9% in 66 games.

Now IÂ´m heading for the playoffs and this time we are gonna win the Stanley Cup

Post by **archibalduk** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 3:24 pm

darn, you're doing so much better than me with the Bruins! I'll be starting a new Bruins game once the final patch comes out.

Did you ship out Boyes? I notice he's not in the lineup for the second season. I'm a real big fan of him - I hope to see him go on to big things.

Terva · Post by **Terva** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 3:48 pm

archibalduk wrote:darn, you're doing so much better than me with the Bruins! I'll be starting a new Bruins game once the final patch comes out.

Did you ship out Boyes? I notice he's not in the lineup for the second season. I'm a real big fan of him - I hope to see him go on to big things.

I kinda screwed it up with Boyes. He was rotating in my fourth line and I sent him to the farm team but couldnÂ´t do that woithout the waivers and lost him. But I have have the three first centerspots occupied for a ling time with Thornton, Crosby and Bergeron. Bergeron is perfect as a center in a checking third line.

Terva · Post by **Terva** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 4:40 pm

2005/2006 Stanley Cup

Western 1/4 final
San JosÃ© - Los Angeles 4-0
Colorado Dallas 4-3
Detroit - Calgary 1-4
Vancouver - Phoenix 4-2

Eastern 1/4 final

Boston - Rangers 4-1
Tampa Bay - Buffalo 4-1
New Jersey - Toronto 0-4
Montreal - Ottawa 2-4

Won three games in a row, 4-1, 3-1 and 2-0. Rangers won the fourth game 4-3 in OT and then I closed the series at home by winning 3-2.

Western semi final
San JosÃ© - Calgary 4-3
Colorado - Vancouver 4-3

Boston - Toronto 4-0
Tampa Bay - Ottawa 4-2

Four straight wins looks like a piece of cake but in fact the games were really tight and we won three of them just with one goal. 3-2OT, 7-2, 5-4OT and 3-2.

Western final
San JosÃ© - Vancouver 4-2

Eastern Final
Boston - Tampa Bay 4-2
Again we were facing Tampa Bay in the Eastern finals and this time it would be payback! Again the series was really tight. Both teams won their two first home games. We won 3-2, 3-2 were Sedin scored the winning goal in the first time only 18 seconds from the end of the 3rd period. Then Tampa won 4-3 and 6-2. Finally we then managed to win both at home and at Tampa with 3-2 and 5-3 and Boston was now heading for their first Stanley Cup final in 16 years!

Stanley Cup Final

Boston - San JosÃ© 4-1

By now I had made some changes to the team.
Samsonov - Thornton - Blunden
Sedin - Crosby - Thornton
Pebben - Bergeron - Ortmeyer
Calder - Vernarsky - Chaumont

Gill - Gonchar
Zhitnik - Boynton
Korolev - Jonsson/Jurcina

Kalder was injured a few games during the playoffs and I then moved Sedin to replace him due to the lack of LWÂ´s, and when Blunden played good I kept him in the first line.

We managed again to win both our firts home games with 4-2 and also won the third game with 3-1. Then San JosÃ© grabbed the lifeline by winning with 2-1 and in the fifth game, at home, we managed to win the Stanley Cup by beating sharks with an impressive 5-1. Big heroes in the final game was Peter Forsberg with 2+1 and Daniel Sedin with 1+2. After 34 long years the Bruins were the champions.

1. Sergei Samsonov BOS 20GP 24P (10+14)
2. Nils Ekman! SJ 22GP 23P (10+13)
3. Daniel Sedin BOS 20Gp 21P (10+11)
4. Todd Bertuzzi VAN 19GP 19P (18+1)
5. Marco Sturm SJ 21GP 19P (8+11)

2005/2006 Awards
A real slam for Alex Tanguay COL who won the Art Ross, Hart, Lady Byng and Lester Pearson award.
Miika Kuprusoff CAL won the Vezina trophy and Rob Blake COL won the Norris trophy.

In my team Sidney Crosby won the Calder trophy and Samsonov got the Rocket Richard, plusminus and the prestigeous Conn Smyth trophy. Sedin and Forsberg were also runners up for the Comm Smyth.

Summing up the season Samsonov was the most positive suprise coming 2nd in points, scoring most goals in the regular season and also scoring most points in the playoffs. Finally I had good goaltending from Fleury and Potvin worked as a great backup. I also cut down on the penalties with disciplined coaches.

Systemfel · Post by **Systemfel** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 11:35 am

Some people may not know who "Pebben" is.

Terva · Post by **Terva** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 6:35 pm

Ok

P J Axelsson then

Post by **archibalduk** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 6:58 pm

What does Pebben mean?
It's Per Johan Axelsson, isn't it?

Terva · Post by **Terva** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 7:22 pm

archibalduk wrote:What does Pebben mean?
It's Per Johan Axelsson, isn't it?

ItÂ´s just a nickname and doesnÂ´t mean anything. Just like Robert and Bobby, though Pebben isnÂ´t a usual nickname for Per.

Terva · Post by **Terva** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 7:44 pm

2006 Draft, pre-season and waiver

After losing 5 ist picks when signing Forsberg and other picks to trades my first pick was in the fourth round so the draft was quite uninteresting for my team. I only drafted two players, Robby Dee and Evan Trapp, both forwards. I gave both a two way contract and Trapp accepted.

For this season the board increased the playe budget from 53 to 65M $ so now there was som space to sign some really good free agenst and so I did. I signed both Eric Lindros and Brian Leetch. I traded Zhitnik and a couple of draft picks for Martin Havlat. Then I also signed a german center named Christian SchrÃ¶der with quite decent attributes. Furthermore I signed my prospect defeneman Marc Staal. I also traded prospect Benoit Puoliot for Kyle Calder. Finally I traded away Martin Samuelsson, Craig Adams and Bobby Chaumont for some draftpicks.

Unfortenately Per "Pebben" Axelsson left the team, the board wasnÂ´t ready to give him the proper wage so I could only wish him luck and Daniel Sedin is the man to take his place in the checking line. Afterall, with Lindros, Havlat and Leetch in the team and as I only lost Zhitnik and Pebben the team looks even stronger than last year and weÂ´re also favourites fot this seasons Stanley Cup.

In the waivers nothing special happened, I didnÂ´t lose and I didnÂ´t aquire any players.

Sergei Samsonov - Joe Thornton - Eric Lindros
Martin Havlat - Sidney Crosby - Peter Forsberg
Daniel Sedin - Patrice Bergeron - Jed Ortmeyer
Benoit Poulion - Christian SchrÃ¶der - Michael Blunden (Evan Trupp/Kris Vernarsky)

Hal Gill - Sergei Gonchar
Brian Leetch - Nick Boynton
Evgeny Korolev/Lars Jonsson - Marc Staal/Milan Jurcina

Same idea as before. The first to lines are my scoring lines. Thornton/Lindros and Crosby/Forsberg works as playmakers and Samsonov/Havlat are supposed to score. The third line is in my opinion the most important line for my tactics. Their task is to be matched against the opponents scoring line when nessecary and this season the third line also posesses offensive qualities.
The fourth line is for rotating my prospects.

Terva · Post by **Terva** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 1:03 am

2006/2007 Regular Season

Sergei Samsonov - Joe Thornton - Eric Lindros
Martin Havlat - Sidney Crosby - Peter Forsberg
Daniel Sedin - Patrice Bergeron - Jed Ortmeyer
Benoit Pouliot - Christian SchrÃ¶der - Michael Blunden/Evan Trupp

Hal Gill - Sergei Gonchar
Brian Leetch - Marc Staal
Evgeny Korolev/Lars Jonsson - Nick Boynton

Marc-AndrÃ© Fleury - Felix Potvin

What a team and what a season! I ended up first in the NHL with astonishing 145%. 69 wins. 6 losses! and 7 ties. At home I didnt lose a single game and won 37 out of 41. I scored 348 goals, 4.26 avg and during midseason I had a scoring average of 4.7! I only let in 166 goals with an average of 2,02.
Powerplay was so so with 16,3% and 10th overall. The PK improved from last year now with 87,2% and 7th overall.

Top three teams in eastern; Bruins, Devils, Lightnings and top three in western; Canucks, Flames and Sharks.

With all this competition in team with the scoring spread out only one player reached the 100 point marker, Sergei Samsonov who got 100P (51+49). Sidney Crosby got second with 93 (33+60).
Top 5 in scoring
1. Sergei Samsonov BOS 82Gp 100P (51+49)
2. Markus NÃ¤slund VAN 82GP 94P (49+45)
3. Sidney Crosby BOS 82GP 93P (33+60)
4. Alex Tanguay COL 82GP 93P (46+47)
5. Patrick Marleau SJ 76GP 91P (42+49)

Sergei Gonchar ended up as the best defenceman overall with 78GP 74P (23+51). Mattias Ã–hlund came second with 61P (9+52)

Danny Syvret was the rookie who scored most points with 45P (6+39) in 81 games. In my team Benoit Poolion came 5th overall with 91P (19+18 ) in 75 games.

In save percentage Marc-AndrÃ© Fleury came 4th with 92,1%. Martin Brodeur came 1st with 92,7% but Fleury won in GAA with 1,89. He also broke a new NHL record with 61 wins!

Before the season we were favourites to the Stanley Cup and after totally dominating the league were even greater favourites now.

Again Peter Forsberg had a shoulder injury and missed 27 games.

Post by **Minstrel** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 1:32 am

Wow! You really are rolling. Congrats on winning the Cup

Sounds like you have a good shot at a repeat as well. Good luck!

Thanks for posting all the info, I really enjoy seeing what people do with their teams and how players played for them etc. It was the basic concept behind the development of the Challenges actually.

Systemfel · Post by **Systemfel** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 1:00 pm

Six losses? Bah. I had FOUR in the 2010-2011 season with my Sabres.

Terva · Post by **Terva** » Sun Nov 06, 2005 3:24 am

2006-2007 Stanley Cup

Western

VAN - DAL 4-0
SJ - PHO 4-1
DET - ANA 2-4
CGY - COL 4-2

Eastern

BOS - FLO 4-0
NJY - PHI 4-0
TAM - NYR 4-2
OTT - MON 2-4

No sweat, fourt straight wins.

Western

VAN - ANA 4-1
SJ - CGY 4-2

Eastern

BOS - MON 7 games !

NJY - TAM 4-3

This was really tough! Montreal took a quick lead with 2-0 in the firts game but I managed to win in OT with 4-3. Brian Leetch was the OT hero. I won the second game also with 4-3 and again Montreal scored the firts goal.
Then playing in Montreal I managade to score two early goals but Montreal won the game 4-2. Then i won the fourth game with 3-1 and had the series 3 to 1 but Montreal fought back.
They won the fifht game in OT with 5-4 and the sixth game at home with 5-4. Now it was time for a seventh game in Boston.

1-0 Samsonov, 2-0 Pouliot, 2-1 Dagenais, 3-1 Gonchar, 3-2 Koivu. All these goals in the second period and finally in the third.....3-3 Zednik and the seventh game goes to OT!!!!

And I admit that I was kinda nervous at this stage.... lol

And then in the first OT period. Both teams with a player in the penalty box, Montreal has a face-off in offensive zone. Koivu vs Crosby. Koivu wins the draw, Brisebois picks up the puck on the blueline, he plays a give -and-go with Suchy along the blueline but Sidney Crosby anticipates the pass and cuts it off and comes clear all the way from defencive blue. Crosby in a breakaway against Theodore, Crosby makes his move, draws to the right and shoots a low shot with his backhand and.....

SCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORES!!!!!
Sidney Crosby 14,51 in the first OT period and Boston are through to the Eastern finals.

Western

VAN - SJ 3-4

Eastern

BOS - NJY 4-1

Not really much to say, Devils managed to win the third game but it was a comfortable trip to the second Stanley Cup final.

Final

BOS - SJ 4-1

For the second year I was facing the Sharks and for the second year I beat them 4-1. San JosÃ© won the first game in OT with 4-3 and then I tool four in a row.

The top 5 in points were all from Boston.
1. Crosby 21GP 24P (8+16)
2. Gonchar 21GP 23P (5+18 )
3. Havlat 19GP 21P (9+12)
4. Forsberg 21GP 20P (9+11)
5. Samsonov 21GP 20P (14+6)

2006-2007 Awards

Sergei Samsonov
Art Ross
Hart
Lady Byng
Maurice Richard

Sidney Crosby
Conn SMyth
Leaster Pearson

Calder Trophy - Danny Syvret (def) NY Islanders

Norris Trophy - Ed Jovanovski VAN, quite a chock when Gonchar was better in everything

Vezina Trophy - Jean - Sebastian Giguere ANA, decent GAA (2,43) and a good % (92,1), I still voted for Fleury with best GAA and most wins and most GP.

Terva · Post by **Terva** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 4:46 am

2007 Draft and pre-season

I made some trades to get a few picks because my first pick was in the fourth round. I lost Evan Trupp, Bobby Chaumont and the rights for Bobby Dee to Atlanta and Pittsburgh and got a 2nd and 3rd pick.
I got Mark Katic #60 and Pavel Stefan #65. Katic is a defenceman prospect and Stefan is a goalie prospect and according to my scouts both have the chance to become regular players in the future. They both have a four star ranking when trading with other teams. Marc Staal and Lars Jonsson have both also four stars and Benoit Pouliot has five so there are some upcoming stars in my team already.

Hal Gill didnÂ´t want to extend his contract and he ended upp with in Dallas so i I re-signed Nolan Pratt on a free agent as a replacement for Gill. Pratt had recently been playing for the Penguins. Felix Potvin retired so I signed Philippe Sauve as a backup for Fleury. I thaght that Fleury was experienced enough to manage the job as a 1st goalie without a veteran backup. Finally i signed my prospect Nikolai Lemtyugov.

I didnÂ´t aquire or lose any players in the waivers.
I extended Forsbergs contract with two years for a yearly salary of 10,25M $. Hey, heÂ´s still the best!

Samsonov - Thornton - Lindros
Havlat - Crosby - Forsberg
D. Sedin - Bergeron - Ortmeyer
Pouliot - SchrÃ¶der - Blunden (Vernasky/Lemtyugov)

Staal - Gonchar
Korolev - Boynton
Pratt - Leetch

I basically have the same team. Offensively ItÂ´s still great and I have Pouliot in the fourth line if any players get injured. Lindros has one year left and the plan is to let Pouliot play in the second line next season with Havlat as a RW in the first.

Defensively I lost a bit power with Gill but I am really going to give Staal and Jonsson the chance so I have balanced the def-pairs more than usual.

Again IÂ´m favourites to the Cup alongside with the Lightnings and Devils.

Top ranked goalies
1. Martin Brodeur NJY
2. Robert Luongo FLO
3. J S Giguere ANA
(6. Fleury)

Defencemen
1. Scott Niedermayer TB
2. Chris Pronger NYR
3. Ed Jovanovski VAN
(5. Gonchar)

Left wingers
1. Sergei Samsonov BOS
2. Ilya Kovalchuck ATL
3. Markus NÃ¤slund DAL

Centers
1. Joe Thornton BOS
2. Peter Forsberg BOS
3. V Lecavalier TB
(4. Crosby)
(9. Lindros)

Right wings
1. Jarome Iginla CGY
2. M St Louis TB
3. Todd Bertuzzi VAN
(7. Havlat)

Well, Fleury should be higher and Gonchar is totally undervalued. Samsonov is the best left winger with two 100p seasons in a row. I really got the best centers in league with four players in top ten, though I have Forsberg and Lindros on the wing.