Leaderboard

Congratulations to everyone on another great regular season! Good luck to the teams still in the playoffs, and productive off-season to everyone else. You know the drill. ART ROSS TROPHY (Most League Points) DAG ARNESEN (Dragons) - 82 points Theodore De-Nobile (Stealheads) Elouan Scott (Red Tide) OVECHKIN TROPHY (Top Goalscorer) DAG ARNESEN (Dragons) - 47 goals Zakary Stilly (Patriots) Ismael Sneed (Rage) GRETZKY TROPHY (Best Playmaker) RENE LUCIAK (Battlin Bears) - 48 assists Aleksandar Schaller (Prairie Stars) Theodore De-Nobile (Stealheads) VEZINA TROPHY (Best Goaltender) KWESI CUTTER (Prairie Stars) - RETAINED TITLE Osvald Lang (Minutemen) Renaud Pettigrew (Hawks) ORR TROPHY (Best Offensive Defenceman) NOAH-CHARLES MERIZZI (Masons) NORRIS TROPHY (Best Defensive Defenceman) MARTIN HARANT (Prairie Stars) ORR - Points leader among defencemen NORRIS - Calculated with the following formula among [+/- + BKS - GVA + TKA], PER also taken into consideration SELKE TROPHY (Best Defensive Forward) WARREN LAMOUREUX (Dragons) Elouan Scott (Red Tide) Jeremie Cline (Stray Cats/Stealheads) Calculated with the following formula among F: [PTS + BKS - GVA + TKA] LADY BYNG TROPHY (Most Gentlemanly Player) CHAD MCGRAW (Dragons) Tintin Petterson (Minutemen) Elouan Scott (Red Tide) Calculated with the following formula [PTS - PIM] HART TROPHY (League MVP) KWESI CUTTER (Prairie Stars) - RETAINED TITLE Dag Arnesen (Dragons) Noah-Charles Merizzi (Masons) CALDER TROPHY (Best Rookie) HERMANNI PENTTI (Prairie Stars) GOOD SAMARITAN AWARD (Most Giveaways) ANTHONY-JAMES SUNSHINE (Red Dragons/Masons) ROID RAGE TROPHY (Most Hits + PIM + MP) RADOVAN GIERTL (Steelers) *Notes: Calculations may not be entirely accurate due to limited visibility and inability to sort by position and outside Top 20 in GPHM stats format - if anyone sees mistakes, let me know and I will fix.

LANCASHIRE TELEGRAPH News - 8th July 1997 CLARETS: Daniel Mellor is the new Burnley Manager Burnley chairman Frank Teasdale surprised the Burnley faithful as he welcomed Daniel Mellor to the club and also introduced the new management team to around 50 fans who had gathered at Turf Moor. The new manager immediately declared his aim to gain promotion. "I have been a lifelong Burnley fan. I was raised not far from here in Colne," the new manager told the gathered throng. Signed on an initial rolling contract, Mr Mellor was quick to alleviate fears that an untested manager, either in coaching or as a player, would be cut out for the job. "You only have to look back to the great AC Milan team of the late 80s to see that it isn't always the case," he began, "I believe Arrigo Sacchi said 'I never realised that to become a jockey you needed to be a horse first,' and that is the mantra I will be bringing to the club." Asked whether he would be changing the players on the team, Daniel Mellor was quick to state that he has an eye on a number of additions, including a few Scottish and European players, but would be working within the team's means. After the brief manager introduction, the chairman took to the podium. "We have a big job ahead of us and it's our job to give him as much support as we can," said Mr Teasdale. "We have to start to do a job and we intend to do it. I am sure it is in very capable hands with these two gentlemen. Let battle commence. "It has been an horrendous two weeks but now we are looking at things very professionally and stability is most important at every level of the club." The new look Burnley team take on Northampton Town in the first game of the upcoming Division Two season ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is the beginning of my Championship Manager '97 game. I started off with my favourite team, in one of the hardest real life seasons for the club. In reality this was the sole season under the "leadership" of Chris Waddle. Great Player, Dire Manager. If I pick up a win before October then I'll be ahead of reality!

East: #1 Cedar Rapids Minutemen vs #8 Netherhill Nightmares. 45-7-2-26 151pts / 32-10-10-28 126pts Regular season stats: Minutemen / Nightmare Goals for: 255 (4th) / 237 (13th) Goals against: 191 (3rd) / 220 (12th) PP: 21.8% (8th) / 21% (11th) PK: 86.1% (3rd) / 78.5% (18th) Shooting %: 9.8% (1st) / 7.8% (18th) Save %: 92.7% (4th) / 92.3% (12th) PDO: 1.025 (1st) / 1.002 (12th) CF: 1245 (24th) / 1342 (14th) CA: 1151 (3rd) / 1321 (13th) Corsi %: 52% (8th) / 50.4% (14th) Season match up: 3 wins Minutemen, 1 OT win Nightmare. Statistically this was a close match up during the regular season with only one game being decided by more than one goal. As a result, I expect this match up to be a lot closer than the statistics may otherwise say. The Nightmare are a solid overall team that aren't to be discounted due to their 8th seed. Combine that with the fact that the Minutemen played well above expectations for the season (especially with a shooting% and PDO so abnormally high when CF is taken into account) and I would give this match up a serious consideration for upset alert. #2 Slaughterville Red Tide vs #7 Lake Valley Bulldogs 46-4-3-27 149pts / 35-10-4-31 129pts Regular season stats: Red Tide / Bulldogs Goals for: 266 (2nd) / 255 (5th) Goals against: 200 (6th) / 245 (21st) PP: 19.8% (16th) / 22.8% (5th) PK: 79.1% (16th) / 81.1% (12th) Shooting %: 9.2% (4th) / 9.7% (2nd) Save %: 93.2% (1st) / 91.2% (24th) PDO: 1.024 (2nd) / 1.008 (10th) CF: 1535 (1st) / 1302 (19th) CA: 1202 (7th) / 1420 (21st) Corsi %: 56.1% (2nd) / 47.8% (21st) Season match up: 3 wins Red Tide, 1 win Bulldogs. The season series was notably in favor of the Red Tide as one game was on the verge of a blowout while another was an out right blowout. The Bulldogs are going to have to find a way to improve their 5 on 5 play defensively or this could be a short series. The middle of the pack special teams for the Red Tide could potentially keep the Bulldogs in the series and appears to be the most likely reason for the series to drag on. #3 Sheshegwaning Dragons vs #6 Big Delta Stealheads 44-3-11-22 149pts / 36-7-7-30 129pts Regular season stats: Dragons / Stealheads Goals for: 263 (3rd) / 239 (12th) Goals against: 205 (8th) / 199 (5th) PP: 24.9% (2nd) / 16.6% (22nd) PK: 86.3% (2nd) / 83.9% (6th) Shooting %: 8.9% (7th) / 8.8% (8th) Save %: 92.4% (9th) / 92.3% (10th) PDO: 1.013 (4th) / 1.012 (5th) CF: 1466 (3rd) / 1313 (18th) CA: 1261 (9th) / 1098 (2nd) Corsi %: 53.8% (4th) / 54.5% (3rd) Season match up: 1 win Dragons, 3 wins Stealheads. This matchup is my official upset alert for the East. Outside of the poor powerplay of the Stealheads these two teams are statistically near mirror images. The question is if the current goaltending for the Dragons can hold up to the quite potent offense of the Stealheads? The Dragons shipped out the goalie they had as their starter for most of the season. This is going to be either a lopsided series due to poor goaltending or one heck of a close series. #4 Sault Ste Marie Battlin Bears vs #5 Mango Duhawks 43-4-3-30 140pts / 37-7-6-30 131pts Regular season stats: Battlin Bears / Duhawks Goals for: 232 (14th) / 226 (16th) Goals against: 209 (9th) / 216 (11th) PP: 19.1% (18th) / 19.8% (17th) PK: 85.9% (4th) / 77.1% (23rd) Shooting %: 7.9% (16th) / 8.1% (13th) Save %: 91.8% (16th) / 92.1% (15th) PDO: .997 (17th) / 1.002 (13th) CF: 1388 (9th) / 1382 (10th) CA: 1293 (10th) / 1323 (14th) Corsi %: 51.8% (9th) / 51.1% (10th) Season match up: 2 wins Battlin Bears, 2 wins Duhawks. This is very likely to be a close series. The regular season games were. Based upon the regular season stats I think it is most likely to be decided by the PK of each team. The Battlin Bears had one of the best. The Duhawks had one of the worst. In every other way these teams are very close statistically. It could be a short series due to the PK difference but the Battlin Bears PP is too iffy for me to fully buy into the poor PK of the Duhawks as being as significant a drawback as it likely should be. West #1 Kegashka Prairie Stars vs #8 Eastern Outlaws. 47-11-2-20 165pts / 34-7-7-32 123pts Regular season stats: Prairie Stars / Outlaws Goals for: 246 (10th) / 214 (18th) Goals against: 164 (1st) / 204 (7th) PP: 22.3% (7th) / 18.5% (19th) PK: 82.6% (8th) / 77.8% (20th) Shooting %: 8% (15th) / 7.7% (19th) Save %: 93% (3rd) / 93.1% (2nd) PDO: 1.010 (7th) / 1.009 (9th) CF: 1403 (6th) / 1344 (13th) CA: 1223 (8th) / 1181 (5th) Corsi %: 53.4% (5th) / 53.2% (6th) Season match up: 2 wins and 1 SO win Prairie Stars, 1 wins Outlaws. The Outlaws are a solid team with very good goaltending and team play. Everything else about them is below average. On the other side is the Prairie Stars with the best record in the league but rather underwhelming stats for a team that more or less ran away with the best record by 14 points. Almost everything about them is good but only the 5 on 5 goals against is truly great. I would have expected more statistically with such a record. In terms of the match up the big question is can the Outlaws score and can their special teams be better than it was in the regular season? Against the Prairie Stars it is going to be tough as their two wins were big ones over the Outlaws. #2 West Chicago Hawks vs #7 Scandinavia Steelers 42-7-8-23 148pts / 35-9-5-31 128pts Regular season stats: Hawks / Steelers Goals for: 249 (8th) / 200 (25th) Goals against: 183 (2nd) / 194 (4th) PP: 24.1% (3rd) / 20.2% (15th) PK: 82.5% (9th) / 87.2% (1st) Shooting %: 7.6% (20th) / 7.4% (22nd) Save %: 92.5% (6th) / 92.5% (7th) PDO: 1.001 (14th) / .999 (16th) CF: 1448 (5th) / 1184 (25th) CA: 1389 (16th) / 1160 (4th) Corsi %: 51% (11th) / 50.5% (13th) Season match up: 4 wins Hawks. The Steelers are a bit of a mystery to me. They have a very good group of forwards but the team struggles mightily offensively. They didn't do well against the Hawks in the regular season because of it losing all four games. On the same token the Hawks offense under performed as well 5 on 5 with a very poor shooting percentage themselves. This could be a series dragged on by the stingy defense of the Steelers facing off against the lackluster 5 on 5 offense of the Hawks but the Steelers have to find a way to score to do it. This series is going to come down to if the Steelers can find some offense or not. #3 Enigma Rage vs #6 Vauban Tomahawks 42-5-5-28 141pts / 36-9-6-29 132pts Regular season stats: Rage / Tomahawks Goals for: 248 (9th) / 253 (6th) Goals against: 230 (15th) / 222 (13th) PP: 22.9% (4th) / 17.7% (21st) PK: 83.3% (7th) / 81.8% (11th) Shooting %: 8.8% (9th) / 9.5% (3rd) Save %: 92.1% (14th) / 92.3% (11th) PDO: 1.009 (8th) / 1.018 (3rd) CF: 1354 (12th) / 1319 (16th) CA: 1198 (5th) / 1313 (11th) Corsi %: 53.1% (7th) / 50.1% (15th) Season match up: 1 win Rage, 2 wins and 1 SO win Tomahawks This series is my upset alert for the West. The Rage are a very good statistical team overall. Its one statistical blemish is its 5 on 5 goals against. The Tomahawks are a good team themsleves with one very good strength. 5 on 5 goals for. It is the biggest weakness of one team against the biggest strength of the other team. This has the potential to be a very close series that could also go heavily one way or the other. If the Tomahawks can continue their 5 on 5 excellence it will be trouble for Rage. The Rage have the special teams to otherwise win the series if not keep the games close. #4 Ithaca Ricochet vs #5 Yonker Wolverines 40-7-4-29 138pts / 41-4-3-32 134pts Regular season stats: Ricochet / Wolverines Goals for: 253 (7th) / 269 (1st) Goals against: 213 (10th) / 241 (20th) PP: 21% (12th) / 22.8% (6th) PK: 80% (14th) / 75.2% (27th) Shooting %: 8.4% (11th) / 9.1% (5th) Save %: 91.6% (18th) / 90.6% (27th) PDO: 1.000 (15th) / .997 (19th) CF: 1452 (4th) / 1474 (2nd) CA: 1503 (25th) / 1541 (27th) Corsi %: 49.1% (17th) / 48.9% (18th) Season match up: 3 wins Ricochet, 1 win Wolverines This is the series that I am most looking forward to. It has the greatest potential for some wild games. Each of the four games in the regular season was. For one team you can forget about defense. It doesn't exist. Its not a thing. The other team is a team that plays a high tempo style of play given the lot of shots for and against 5 on 5. I'm excited for this series simply because it is very likely going to be a lot of speed, shots and general back and forth, high tempo action. Who is going to win? Who cares? It is going to very likely be one heck of a show.

Imagine your team being such sh!t that you have to hate on greatness. "Not as good as he once was". Sure, I'll buy that. He's 42. GOAT

Aside from that statement being just borderline ignorant, it also takes away from what the Titans were able to accomplish. Would you like a list of all the other QB's who have went into that stadium in the post season and went home a loser?