Steve

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.

Hi!
I do also think.
thank you!

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I will add to the above, which I have stated before, that I STRONGLY feel there is an element of randomness to this game.  As there should be!  I think some of the information that you are looking to obtain just isn't as simple as it seems (like rainsilent said), and that you're going to end up not enjoying the game as much as you should.  So I don't mean to imply that you aren't enjoying the game, but I think that your current mindset will lead you to not enjoy the game.
The randomness that I talk about could be anything from:
  - puck luck (that crazy biscuit takes some weird bounces sometimes).
  - players just having off games (they do in real life)... Ovechkin had a game a few nights ago where he scored 3G + 1A, then followed that up with 3 games of 0+0 and a -1.
  - the fact that the player ratings aren't as far apart as most people view them.  A sub-90 rating doesn't mean the player sucks at that specific skill.  Even an 85 rating in certain skills is considered a natural for certain roles.
  - there's probably 5-10 other things I could list here, but I'm losing my train of thought.
Sometimes inferior teams beat more dominant teams.  Sometimes teams with low winner instinct win close games.  By the way, Winner Instict is something that I have NEVER been able to figure out.  I've had a Heroic team, at most, for a couple of games, before it slid back down the bar.  I'm going to be pumped when I finally figure it out, but I hope it's by chance... I don't want someone to give me the magical formula.
And after seeing your second comment about you implying that you aren't enjoying the game, here's some reasons why you SHOULD enjoy the game
  - you are current GHL champ
  - you are currently in 1st place
  - you have a great team now and into the future (this doesn't mean that sometimes you won't get beat by an SHL team here and there... it happens).
  - despite it's minor flaws, the game is still REALLY F*CKING COOL 😜
You are a good manager.  I like the league being filled with good managers.  Simple as that.  I was bummed out when Eric left (Fairbanks Union)... I was bummed out when Matt H left (Brass Castle Berzerkers).  It was clear to me that they both left because their teams weren't doing as good as they wanted them to.  But in the end, nobody really cares.    To me that is just insane.  The object of the game is to win.  Sure.  I want to win.  But that's not why I enjoy the game.  It's the escape from real life that I enjoy.  Just as much as winning, I also enjoy scouting the draft, developing players, trying players in new roles and positions, chatting with Wendel and Naekfor about various things.  There are times I get BS after a loss to an inferior team, but then I step back and have a "who gives a sh*t" moment.  Failure isn't losing a game or having a losing record or getting relegated.  Failure is getting upset in real life about fake game failure and not being able to just enjoy it for what it is (that isn't directed at anyone in particular... it's directed at EVERYONE!).
See - I went off on another tangent again.  Take from it what you will. 
 
 
 

Truly epic.  In fact, my team was so impressed they kept stopping and watching him skate right on past!

Truly epic.  In fact, my team was so impressed they kept stopping and watching him skate right on past!

Truly epic.  In fact, my team was so impressed they kept stopping and watching him skate right on past!

Truly epic.  In fact, my team was so impressed they kept stopping and watching him skate right on past!

Truly epic.  In fact, my team was so impressed they kept stopping and watching him skate right on past!

Is this the correct forum where I come to trash talk my own team?!?!  haha.  I honestly have no idea what to do differently than last year when we finished 8/9.  Who wants to do a full team trade?!?! 

West Chicago vs. Deadwood game today brought back some memories of those two teams battling it out in Biscuit.

Not really.  I'm good with Season 3.  I'll make a real push in season 4. 

I think its:
 
Corsi: Shots on goal + shots blocked by a defender or missed the net with teams playing 5-on-5.
PDO: Team’s shooting and save percentages at 5-on-5.

There’s some good descriptions in the new helps files. There’s one that lists out all the stats.
 
I think they are a great addition to the game, but not sure how much I’ll use them in making decisions. Sample size is way too small so far as they only factor in the last 5 games or so.

Always appreciate these.  Thanks again, Erzac.
 
The LeopardStealheads are off to a hot start... ready to dominate the regular season once again... which will secure a really bad draft pick... and get smoked in the 1st round of the playoffs.
 
Let the fun begin.

Take a picture of the standings now because you will never see it again nor will you believe it if you were told about it in the future.

Just in time for the start of the regular season!
 
 
Eastern Conference
 
1. Slaughterville Red Tide (Alexander Rasputin)
OFF: 88 DEF: 89 SG: 92 OVR: 89,0
 
2. Sheshegwaning Dragons (Ives Pa)
OFF: 88 DEF: 87 SG: 93 OVR: 88,0
 
3. St.Thomas Stray Cats (Erzac Ray)
OFF: 86 DEF: 88 SG: 96 OVR: 87,6
 
4. Sault Ste Marie Battlin Bears (Joe Leconte)
OFF: 87 DEF: 88 SG: 88 OVR: 87,6
 
5. Lake Viking Bulldogs (Max Mol)
OFF: 86 DEF: 88 SG: 94 OVR: 87,3
 
6. Big Delta Stealheads (Paul T)
OFF: 88 DEF: 87 SG: 88 OVR: 87,2
 
7. Kingston Kamikaze (Antti Hänninen)
OFF: 86 DEF: 89 SG: 85 OVR: 87,2
 
8. Netherhill Nightmares (Tyrod Gibson)
OFF: 85 DEF: 88 SG: 91 OVR: 86,9
 
9. Fairbanks Union (CPU)
OFF: 85 DEF: 87 SG: 92 OVR: 86,5
 
10. Cedar Rapids Minutemen (Richard Armour)
OFF: 85 DEF: 87 SG: 90 OVR: 86,2
 
11. Mango Duhawks (Dr. Jones)
OFF: 86 DEF: 86 SG: 90 OVR: 86,0
 
12. Becancour Patriots (Nick Menard)
OFF: 85 DEF: 85 SG: 87 OVR: 85,1
 
13. Wolf Trap Claws (Fango Wolf)
OFF: 83 DEF: 83 SG: 85 OVR: 83,2
 
14. Summertown Six Pack (Jonathan D)
OFF: 82 DEF: 82 SG: 87 OVR: 82,3
 
 
Western Conference
 
1. Kegashka Prairie Stars (Ferris Mason)
OFF: 87 DEF: 91 SG: 94 OVR: 89,3
 
2. Ithaca Ricochet (Marc S)
OFF: 86 DEF: 89 SG: 93 OVR: 87,8
 
3. Red River Red Bulls (Marko Vuoto)
OFF: 87 DEF: 88 SG: 87 OVR: 87,8
 
4. Scandinavia Steelers (J Jono)
OFF: 87 DEF: 88 SG: 91 OVR: 87,7
 
5. Vauban Tomahawks (Ben \)
OFF: 87 DEF: 88 SG: 92 OVR: 87,7
 
6. Eastern Outlaws (The Champ)
OFF: 87 DEF: 88 SG: 92 OVR: 87,6
 
7. West Chicago Hawks (Richard Feynman)
OFF: 86 DEF: 88 SG: 94 OVR: 87,5
 
8. Enigma Rage (Wendel Clark)
OFF: 87 DEF: 87 SG: 88 OVR: 87,4
 
9. Yonker Wolverines (Jiri Heikkala)
OFF: 86 DEF: 88 SG: 87 OVR: 86,7
 
10. Eldred Elite (Steven Bennett)
OFF: 86 DEF: 87 SG: 87 OVR: 86,5
 
11. Canuck Red Dragons (P K)
OFF: 84 DEF: 86 SG: 85 OVR: 85,2
 
12. Deadwood Vandals (Kim Vandaele)
OFF: 84 DEF: 85 SG: 85 OVR: 84,5
 
13. Parkville Lightning Bolts (Jan Rosa)
OFF: 82 DEF: 85 SG: 88 OVR: 83,9
 
14. Richibucto Masons (Dr. Wendt)
OFF: 82 DEF: 83 SG: 89 OVR: 83,0
 
 
Calculated on day 7 of S3, using:
 
Team OVR = (OFF + (DEF*2) + (SG*2))/26
 
where
OFF: ovr sum of best 12 centers/forwards
DEF: ovr sum of best 6 defenders
SG: ovr of starting goalie

its too bad i still haven't finished filling up my lineup this season lol (My Hindsight is worth $14m and 3 seasons XD)

Sometime this weekend, yes.

i'd say game on, its been a few days, i just made what i believe to be a fair offer to the union since it doesn't look like Eric is coming back

Nope. I had a feeling this was the case.
 
OK, game on.  May the fairest offers get the prize.

If it were up to me I would have computer teams locked from trading for 2-3 days following a manager resign (for many reasons that I'm too tired to list right now).  Then after 2-3 days it's open game and everyone has a fair opportunity to get in their bids.  I feel like computer trading has been a lot better recently and if people are willing to give up a bit to get something in return, then have at it.  I also feel like there should be a limit to how many players you can include in the transaction. Like 2 player max for every 1 in return.  So no more 5 for 1s.  Trading is already flawed with the promotion/relegation system, it easy to exploit.   

Well, I definitely agree with you guys.  But I'll say it for the 100th time, there are manager to manager trades that are much worse than trading with Computer teams (from both me and probably everyone else in this thread) - so I won't play the moral superiority game.  Hehe
 
 
 
Paging littleb and/or Pingu.....

????????????, don't remind me of my age :DDD

I'm not gonna try to trade with them at least. Not today, not in three days, not in... well you get the picture.

Damn. Was hoping this would get more replies. The good news is we got through a day without offers - but not sure how long that will hold. It’s only a matter of time until someone who isn’t regular in chat or forums makes an offer. I think at this point Eric is gone and 5 days might be a stretch. And the mods are clear about computer trading being part of the game.
 
Personally, I am going to hold off until trades start flowing in. Then the competitive juices will ignite and I will feel obligated to see if I can make a better offer :-D
 
Sorry again if it seems like I was trying to referee the situation. Just wanted to give Eric the chance to rejoin if it was a subscription issue.