Down the stretch

Taking a closer look at the league leaders as the CCHL season winds to a close I am struck with some of the freakish scoring of the current disk.

Karlstad's Patrick Marleau is leading the world in scoring with an amazing 132 points and a plus 78 ! Denver's Paul Stastny is no slouch with over 100 assists. Copenhagen's Stamkos with 69 goals. WOW ! Budapest's Evgeni Nabokov has 46 wins and Beverly Hills Bryzgalov has 12 shutouts to go with 42 wins. Niagara has an impressive duo on the blueline with Doughty and Markov as well as Denver with Kaberle and Liles. Copenhagen has Green on the blueline with 63 assists. Meanwhile Victoria's pugilist Carkner has 241 pims (I had to throw my name in there somewhere)

I won't go into details on Dayton since Bill turned over so much of his roster but the team numbers are very impressive.

The shots are also very surprising. Wisborg's Ovechkin has 453 shots on net, Karlstad's pair of Marleau and Semin have 933 shots between them. I feel for the goalies of the lessor teams of the CCHL.

Its not that various teams should be criticized for maximizing their rosters. In fact they should be congratulated. However, I am left wondering how realistic is a disk that has four 60 goal scorers ? During the disk creation process many of us participate in we are told that the numbers are crunched so that they fall "within" certain parameters. Yet I don't fully buy into the way the disk is produced. I am not slighting the disk team, its purely volunteer work and requires hours of data crunching, but perhaps those of us who are true non-myopic hockey fans might get within 90% of the final numbers by just fudging it ourselves.

Yes its easy to sit back after the season is done and take a skeptical look at the results but I think the disk is no longer what it once was. This is news to nobody and has been a repeated subject of discussion between Bill and I over the years.

One possible solution is that the CCHL might do well to start considering the possibility of making our own disk. As long as it is scheduled I know I can find the time to more than pull my weight. I think that we would have to have some guidelines, for example a reviewer wouldn't create ratings for players on his/her current roster.

Anyone else interested ?

Hey Mario !

with the recent elbow to the head of Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonaugh I came across this great website that has links to many of Matt Cooke's history of injuring hockey players.

Its appropriately titled "Matt Cooke history of violence"

http://www.tolensky.com/2011/03/matt-cooke-history-of-violence.html

My question is
"Why are Matt Cooke's antics good enough to wear a Penguins uniform ?"

I would love to hear what you have to say

Jan 2011 In depth

Happy New Years everyone, I hope you all had a nice break. My best wishes for your happiness and perhaps more importantly a healthy new years.

My wife and I just returned from a circuitous trip around South East Asia visiting Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. It was an amazing trip and I would highly recommend an 80 degree christmas and new years in your life at least once.

On to the CCHL. What happened while I was away enjoying fantastic food and the warm sun on my face ? Corfield went and made his Musicmen a powerhouse AGAIN. Crikey bill give the rest of us a chance will ya ? :) I will leave the trade analysis up to my trading partner in River Cities Chris Kash but wow talk about a roster turnover.
Mr Dave Bole came on to run Havana after Michael Gilman and his new Aorta stepped down to pursue other matters. No sooner had Dave checked in, then he shook things up by trading all world Alex Ovechkin ! Talk about making a splash.

I thought this time I would take a closer look at some of the better special teams play in the CCHL so far this year. It is no surprise that Long Island's Sidney Crosby and now Wisborg's Ovechkin lead the pack with 10 apiece, but what I found very interesting is how Karlstadt's Ott has 9, and Dayton's Ian White has 8. Thats a heck of a total in one season, especially for Ott and White, I am left wondering if the disk really was as good as hoped for. Perhaps an issue for another day, however it certainly doesn't ruin such a wonderful first half of PPG for the Long Island pairing of Crosby and Parise, not to mention Victoria's own Dustin Penner with 8 on a lottery bound team.

Looking at the SHG situation Portlands Kesler is in a three way tie with 4 shorties at the first half mark along with DAY's Malone and WIN Bourque. Very impressive totals for half a season. I wonder if they can keep it up. Of note BEV has two players with Pettinger and Chimera with 3 each.

Special Kudos to Copenhagen's Steven Stamkos with 31 tallies in 37 games played. Those are Gretzky like numbers for sure. Not far behind are Bobby Ryan with 23 and Pat Kane chipping in 18 so far on the season. Great depth on that team and it shows as they are 17-0-2 with the lead after 2 periods. Hopefully it translated into a nice playoff run.

Not to be left out of the mix Niagara Falls leading scorer is defenseman Doughty with 36 points in 38 GP. Good balanced scoring on the team too with Kovalchuk potting 18 in 32GP, Seanus Avery with 15 and Datsyuk and Ribiero with 13 apiece. The only concern I see for the Thunder going forward this year would be in nets with the twin headed due of Nittymaki and Theodore not instilling much confidence in a long post season run. Then again anything is possible.

Last up on this edition of the update are the Timberwolves who have completed their rebuilding and are atop the CCHL. With 6 forwards having double digit goal scoring thats a very impressive attack, with guys like Rick Nash and John Tavares carrying water ? Wow. Acquiring Lundqvist should really improve things in Thunder Bay if thats possible.

So we are now at 11-12 game stage of the season and the chaff is separating from the wheat. Being a member of the chaff isn't so bad actually especially when the future holds some promise right ? At least that is what the local fish wrap is saying in Victoria.

After this weeks power rankings putting the Ronin almost last overall I felt I should comment on the apparent "weakness". This season was planned for absolute stinkitude. But Victoria should be much improved next season barring injuries. Getzlaf, Anisimov, Berglund will be the main guys down the middle, with scoring coming from Penner, Clowe, Kostitsyn with Wheeler and Van Reimsdyck who was acquired from Dayton for Logan Couture who had also come over from Dayton in an earlier deal. Bill really knows to make an outstanding offer ! Hopefully these younger guys can round into better form. The blueline won't be world beaters but should function adequately with Rivet, Kuba and Zidlicky as the gray beards with Komisarek, Ericsson and Carkner to clear the crase with Tom Gilbert and perhaps most importantly Letang to carry the puck out of the zone. 8 guys for 6 slots is good math where I sit. I think its a glass half full situation and if it means stinking a season well thats a small price to pay.

In response to the power ranking commentary I would say that Victoria has every confidence in The Monster getting into a fair share of games for the TML in the NHL, plus Leighton returning from injury to see some game time but the real apple in our eyes is Sergei Bobrovsky who is a Ronin prospect from this years draft. I think between the three of them the team should be adequate in nets. Maybe Emery rehabs and can become an adequate tandem/backup in the NHL, he does have finals experience and is only 28 years old. He would be gravy for the team at that point. The club has really high hopes for Joacim Eriksson, yet another Flyers netminder.

Yes I had both wisdom teeth removed on Friday morning, good riddance to them I say ! Now if I could only stop the bleeding which is going on 3 days. One gets a little tired of tasting blood every time you swallow. :) It has been an excellent reason to consume large amounts of ice cream and to receive extra spoiling from my most excellent wife.

On a financial note

With the RFA restructuring I would highly recommend everyone take the time to check out your players salary because it you could be in for a bit of a shock when next years payrolls are finalized. Even more so the season after that.


Meanwhile the Owls continue set the pace with .833 winning percentage which is truly outstanding. #5 Offense and a #2 overall Defense has really put them in the cat birds seat. Congrats to Portland. The Killers also boast an impressive attack but at this point have an average defense, one has to wonder how much longer that will continue. The Chinook are posting wins but perhaps losing on the economic side of things. Kudos to them for saving enough money to go for it. A #4 Offense and #1 overall defense puts them at the top end of the league.

The Crusaders and T-wolves are two teams on the upswing and in a major way. An outstanding job done by both GM's. I can only hope my team has similar results with our youth movement.

I would also like to mention that if anyone knows of someone new to sim hockey or someone who would make a nice contribution to the CCHL please let us know. As the league has continued over the years I have been most thankful to both the former owners and especially to the new blood which has really injected some gusto into the league in general. Having extra people who want to participate gives the league the wonderful problem of having to find slots to house them. :)

They have dropped the puck on yet another NHL season which means the annual APBA hockey disk cannot be too far behind. I want to point out that despite the joy the APBA sim has given us over the years its days are quite likely numbered. Yes there are alternatives but each has its associated strong and weak points. Please take some time to check out the other products on the market and see what you like/don't like about them. Eventually the CCHL will have to change to the new software and it would be great to hear from you when that time comes.
I for example have joined a STHS league the CHA which has a fantastic site, great free agency bidding, just about everything is automated. Actually that league is looking for an owner or three which would be a nice opportunity for you to check out what else is available.
Stratomatic also has a gaming system which is appealing to me since I used to play the boardgame when I was younger.
Anyway please give it some thought

but seriously they have had so many changes I have to write a chapter on them and frankly with all the work Bill has done on the CCHL he and his team deserve it.

Ok lets continue with a closer look at the league. Next up is the men of music from Ohio. Talk about a turnover, these guys may have thrown the baby out with the bathwater... Things were basically completely ripped down and renovations promptly begun. In a word "WOW" who would have thunk it about Bill ? Geez Louise the list of new young players is frankly too long to list, let alone to write a review on. For starters looking at the forwards the team's leaders are Neal, Grabovski and Voracek with support from Leino, Giroux, Bailey and Simmonds. Lean pickings there, potential certainly but with the exception of Neal and perhaps Voracek I haven't seen any of their talent translate to the NHL. Dripping potential yes certainly and only time will tell how things work out for the musicmen down the road. Knowing Bill it won't be long before his team is ready for a new run to the finals, this year however probably the team will be lucky to make the playoffs. The blueline on the other hand holds alot more promise from my perspective. Mitchell and Gonchar anchor a very talented blueline, along with White, Schenn, Alzner and Letang rounding out an all star cast with Jack Johnson and Klesla on the bench things look very strong for the team going forward as far as the blueline in concerned. Netminding is well taken care of with MAF hitting his prime. The real challenge for this club is how they are going to take care of the forward position, and to get a better idea we have to take a look at the prospect situation. The cupboards are overrun with kids taken over the years by the team and there are in fact some very nice looking prospects in the form of Schenn and Josefson at center, Filatov on the wing as well as a few very nice defensemen. So in the end I see this as a 1 step backwards two steps forward kind of situation. The half full glass approach would note the fantastic talent on the blueline, while the half empty glass would point to what I feel is a lack of top line talent at forward. The team will have no problem backfilling open roster spots, but how will the forwards pan out ? this will be the deciding factor for Bill's team. He will be content to sit back and increase his bank account and look to outbid for some key free agents in the future (which will solve the high end forward talent problem)

CCHL preseason 2009-10

Well here we are again, another CCHL sim hockey season is just about ready to roll. The new APBA disk was extensively play tested and should provide us with a great season. The off-season free agency bidding was improved through the walk away option. It has reduced salaries to some degree, thanks to all who participated and to those who made suggestions and gave feedback.

What I have noticed from the small sample of the pre-season is how some of the leagues teams have really changed their rosters. Also the finances have started to show its ugly face so I would urge you to really pay attention to the ticking time bomb that salaries have become.

Lets take a closer look at some of the key players heading into this season.

Evgeni Malkin is going to be a monster this season and Beverly Hills is bound to benefit from that. A 5 passing rating is nothing to sneeze at. Mr Malkin is rated to play all 3 forward positions. Another nice rated player in Kimmo Timonen who garnered a 4 DEF rating to go with 4 Sk and Pa. He will log a ton of ice time.

The Ibex have felt the pinch of their playoff runs and championships in the past. The roster is not only tiny but is only a key injury away from being a run of the mill team. Any team that has Kovalchuk will certainly be able to score goals in bunches as his 5 Sk and Pa show. His partner in crime is Alfredsson who has his usual assortment of 4 ratings. Goalie is clearly an issue that needs to be addressed if this team is going to make the playoffs.

Budapest, the newest team in the CCHL parleyed their picks and draft into a fairly solid team. They have nice balance and some good defensive ratings especially at center and LW. The top line of Sedin, Franzen and Iginla should be enough to put this expansion team into the playoffs. The key player is Zdeno Chara who could play about half the game for the Honved.

Calgary has spent a ton of money in free agency over the past few seasons and the talent level of the club shows it. They have good depth especially at LW and despite some low defensive ratings I see the team as making the playoffs. Brian Rafalski got a 5 Pa and should anchor the powerplay, while Huselius received a 5 Sk rating! Money could become an issue but they are well setup to make a run of it for the next season or two before they will have to address the bank account.

Copenhagen has arrived. This is a very good team. They are young, talented and in my opinion could challenge for a cup final run in the next season or two. Richards and Kopitar at center are a very fine 1 - 2 punch with Patrick Kane on the wing everyone else is just gravy. Bobby Ryan, Stamkos, Versteeg, Wheeler, Frolik, Bernier. Wow that is some scary skill levels. Green and Barker on the blueline not to mention Burns and Seabrook round out a very high level blueline. With Quick and Vokoun in nets this team is prime meat and will be a force to be reckoned with.

Dayton ? they suck

but seriously they have had so many changes I have to write a chapter on them and frankly with all the work Bill has done on the CCHL he and his team deserve it.