The week thus far...

Not much change following a quiet night other than the Wolves have passed the Severed Heads to move into 5th place. The Personal Vendetta, having a strong week, become the 11th team to join the 500pt club.

Trade: Kost Boys - Shadowmen

Bob asked me to post this here, because I'm not going to have e-mail access until tomorrow, or possibly Friday. (This whole 'girlfriend' thing: rocks.)

Um, it does seem a bit unfair that Bob can get me at work and the rest of you don't know how, so I'll e-mail out my work number with my line-up for next week. But I'm not gonna deal with hockey e-mails here.

Anyway, I clearly win this one, since I get the league's fifth best centre, and Bob gets the 6th best... except of course he'll no longer have his omnivore being eaten alive from the Bottom.

Speaking of Omnivore... can anyone explain why my score has suddenly gotten so much better? Did Koivu become a Buddhist? Did the plague wipe out the Ds? Seriously, how'd I get "-10" when, like 4 weeks ago, I was "-45?"

Oh yeah, the Trade:

To the Lost Boys: Nylander NYR C
To the Shadowmen: Brind'Amour CAR C

Um, no injuries at this time. No ability to reference RFA Status, but I think they're both normal drafts. (But Bob, if I am trading you an RFA for a non-RFA, I'll need to reconsider. As will you in the opposite case I would think)

Okay, there we go.

Richard.
GM of the Lost Boys.

Stats Through Tuesday Night - Week 16

Thus far:

The Edge joined the 500 club with the Personal Vendetta looking to do the same tonight. The Shadowmen have hit on some hard times the last few days and are now 60pts out of first. Indeed the groupings seem to all be spreading out a little bit – Doug's not buying it however, by Saturday everything will likely be back in flux.



In the Challenge Cup standings, Doug misread the previous Severed Head-Shadowmen result, Bob actually won, and so the Shadowmen are currently holding the tie-breaker and thus should be in 2nd as opposed to the Heads. That has been corrected here.

FunHL All-Star Game uses Reg Season Pts for Week 17, NOT those from the NHL All-Star Game

Hi guys,

For some f#*Ked up reason I can post a new topic (sans photos) but am unable to add comments to existing topics - or even new topics which I started. Google, why did you mess with my Blogger?

The NHL shuts down from Sunday the 21st to Thursday the 25th for their All-Star break but there are still 3 nights of games (rather full slates too) Friday the 26th thru Sunday the 28th. Points will still be collected for the Predator Cup race on those three days but a three-day week seemed a tad too short, IMHO, to base a Challenge Cup game (particularly late in the season with tie-breakers on the line) so I came up with the All-Star Game idea. Points gathered in those three days will be used to calculate the points for the All-Star teams which means that everyone should be able to nominate two forwards and one defenseman (except Dan, who doesn not have a single healthy d-man :-). Hasek, if his totals are higher than Kipper's by the end of the week, with the the OCC's starting goalie. Brodeur looks certain to start for the Calgary Conference.

Hope that clears everything up. Sorry I couldn't correct this sooner but...well I just hate what they have done to my Blogger status.

Peace,

Doug

The Fitzpatrick Affair

Something seems afoot - check out some of the commentary:

Mcerlain Off Wing



Mutcrutch




Mirtle



Perhaps there is more to this than a sentimental/humorous/mocking venture that fell slightly short?

Calgary Conference vs Out of Town Conference

Every GM needs to submit 2 fwds and 1 def as per Doug's instructions at start of the year. Otherwise Doug will pick highest scoring players from your team at those positions.

Let's add our players to the commentary on this blog, to keep all in the same place.

Great Whites Join 600 Club

Early days into week 16, and the Highlanders continue to lead not only the Predator Cup race, but the weekly totals as well. The Great Whites can take some solace in the fact that their depleted Defence core hasn't stopped them from cracking the 600 mark. The Scourge continue their strong weeks with a good start, while the Severed Heads inch towards joining respectability in the Omnivore with a near positive total.

Contribution to All-Star Team

Um, submitted for editorial comment for my fellow OCC GMs. (And to generate a more permanent record)

Lost Boys on the All-Star team:

Kovalchuk LW ATL
Brindamour C CAR
Boucher D TEX

Yes... all our nominable players come from the Confederate States... which, in a nutshell, is what is wrong with Hockey today.

Stats Through Week 15

On behalf of Doug - Let's hope I have more luck!

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Omnivore Disruption from one game?

Hi guys,

No, the Omnivore was not drastically affected by the one game last night but I did have a chance to go through everyone's team and perfect their baselines - usually finding unexpected TGs who ought to have been played but never have been (Zhitnik, Ohlund, Koivu, etc). As a result, there has been some changes in the standings but rest assured, we would have discovered these ideal baseline line-ups at the end of the season anyway (and by then your ideal baseline will have changed itself a half-dozen more times). Still, this is as accurate as I can be, as of last night. :-)

As for the Predator Cup race, the Highlanders have an 11pt lead (which could evaporate by tomorrow). 9 teams have over 500pts, with the Edge looking to join the others in the next day or so. 5th through 7th are separated by less than 3pts and even the Scourge gained ground on 10 of 11 teams this week.

In the Challenge Cup, the Bladerunners lose but still lead with the Severed Heads and Shadowmen exchanging positions (on the basis of the tie-breaker). The Highlanders hold down the final playoff spot. The Wolves are one win (actually two with the tie-break) back and then there are a trio of teams one further game back. With only 5 games left, things are heating up. Remember, next week the Challenge Cup season takes a break with the first ever FunHL All-Star Game. Please remember to submit your team's representatives otherwise you will have to endure my selecting them for you. Two forwards and one defenseman from your current squad. The Calgary Conference (Great Whites, Bladerunners, Personal Vendetta, Ramapithicines, Knights Templar and Edge) includes the only 3-peat teams in the FunHL (the Great Whites who have won the Predator Cup 3 times and the Personal Vendetta who have won the Challenge Cup 3 times). By contrast the Out of Calgarly Conference (Severed Heads, Shadowmen, Highlanders, Wolves, Lost Boys and Scourge) have the two rookie GMs. Remember that the Scourge used to be the Okatoks Dogs, hence their placement in the OCC. Starting goaltenders, barring injuries or trades to the other conference this week, look to be M.Brodeur GW for the Calgary Conference and either M.Kiprusoff SH or D.Hasek LB for the OCC.

I would like to be able to attach the stats at this point but the "new" blogger apparently won't let me. Don't know why.

Highlanders, Bladerunners hit 600+pts, Severed Heads jump to 5th

The Highlanders, with a league-leading 51pt week, join the Bladerunners as the first two teams to hit 600pts. In doing so, the Highlanders extend their lead atop the Predator Cup standings and appear poised to pull out a close-fought victory in their Challenge Cup match with the Scourge, who had the league's second highest total for the week. Further down the table, the Knights Templar cross the 500pt level and are on the verge of winning thier game with the Great Whites.

While all week the Wolves and Ramapithicines had been exchanging positions, it was a strong Saturday night that helped the Severed Heads pass both and take posession of 5th spot in the Predator Cup race.

With only a Wild-Blackhawks tilt this evening, these standings should remain fairly stable now but who knows how much more damage the Havlat led Severed Heads can exact. Until then, these are the unofficial stats:

Coach "Trotz" found Dead in Mexico

It was only a matter of time...An ice-pick was found plunged into the back of the skull of former bench boss Trotzky in Mexico. A note to the Shadowmen with a SwissBank Account and the words :A pleasure doing business were found by the body. The Bounty has been paid and the Shadow had Trotzky decapitated in Temple of Shadows. His severed head has been sent to Cameron of the Severed Heads...

The team can hopefully now move on from this bloody business to a more successful 2nd half.

Quiet Friday Night Sets Up Big Saturday

It really was a very quiet night last night in the NHL and FunHL. The only change in the standings was that the Ramapithicines and Wolves exchanged positions for the 5th time this week. Suffice it to say that the two teams are close. Saturday's huge line-up should create some separation between the teams in the 4 Challenge Cup games currently separated by 5pts. The closest of those games has the Knights Templar holding a 0.66pt lead over the Great Whites. By contrast, the Edge have almost a 2pt lead over the Severed Heads following Friday's games.

See you tomorrow...

Here are your, unofficial, stats:







Since so little happened last night, here is a summary of past award winners in the FunHL.

Highlanders, Shadowmen displace Bladerunners

While much of the responsibility lies with Bladerunner d-man Brian Campbell and his -3 performance last night, the beneficiaries of the Bladerunners' misfortune was the Highlanders, who regained top spot in the Predator Cup race, and the Shadowmen, who reclaimed the lead in the Omnivore standings.

The story of the week, however, probably belongs to the two league rookies as both the Scourge and Lost Boys are currently having the two best totals this week.

Notables: The Lost Boys join the 500pt club following last night's play. The Wolves leapfrog the Ramapithicines into 5th place in the Predator Cup.

Challenge Cup games of the week: The Severed Heads hold a fractional point lead on the Edge while the Great Whites are in tough against the Knights Templar.

Here are the unofficial stats, if you have any questions about line-ups and points don't hesitate to ask:

Ramapithicines Jump Up The Standings

Hi everyone,

With Darrell releasing the official Week 14 stats, there is one major change to the Challenge Cup standings. The Highlanders ended up winning their tight match with the Lost Boys and, as a result, are now in the playoffs while the Wolves drop out.

The Ramapithicines have made the most, relative, noise so far this week jumping up into 5th place in the Predator Cup standings. The Bladerunners continue to hold a slight lead over the Highlanders. While the Highlanders are having the second best week so far, they are losing in their head to head match with the team having the best week thus far - the Scourge.

After Wednesday night's games the unofficial standings are as follows (corrected twice today, once from Brian checking his stats and again thanks to Bob noting his numbers were off - thanks to both of you for checking):

Proposed Change to Omnivore Reporting

Proposal:

Make the Omnivore easier to read, and less depressing for the vast majority of teams, change the way it is reported so all numbers are positive.


Currently:

The Omnivore is calculated by subtracting a "baseline" from your teams current score. The baseline is the total points you have from all the players, including prospects, you collected in the draft. If you do not trade (or--with more snark--if you do not trade like the house is burning down) you cannot realistically get a positive omnivore score.

Why not? Because the baseline is calculated off all your players, including those who you bench, those whose penalty minutes come in freakish unpredictable clusters, and the prospects you chose not to promote. There is simply a margin of error you will continue to hit. Not even the waiver drafts can make up for it significantly, because you're only dropping around a quarter of your players at the waiver draft. Well it could, but, You'd have to draft the equivalent of Philly and then WD the Sharks for that to work; and count on everyone else having made the exact same mistake, but then WDing Philly.


So, with the exception of "can't trade enough" GMs, the rest of us are tugging margin of error FUNHL scores that seem to be about 8% of baseline. With a stat based on two variables, generating teams in the positive and negative range, you have to engage in weird multiplication to figure out how far behind the lead you are. It encourages relegation of the omnivore to "who really cares anyway" status, because there doesn't seem to be much a GM can do about it, and it's depressing to score a "-24.59." (This is not just sour grapes by the way, I'm practically quoting Brian, and he's winning.


How to fix it: Don't change the method, change the reporting.

Add the absolute value of the lowest team in the omnivore race to all scores. Lowest score becomes a 0, every other score increases proportionately. The distance between teams remains the same, but now it all looks much more positive; really the stat itself hasn't changed.

We actually do the same thing at the moment with the Challenge Cup; each teams "score" is wins times 2. There's no particular reason to do this, because every week results in a win or a loss, but the value of wins are increased, just to look better. Real value doesn't change.

So, what does it look like? Here are the scores Doug just reported, compared to my "new" reporting method:

Team / Current Score / Proposed Score
Bladerunners / 26.95 / 68.22
Shadowmen / 25.81 / 67.08
Highlanders / 0.17 /41.44
Severed Heads / -4.40 / 36.87
Ramapithicenes / -15.27 / 26.00
Scourge / -18.54 / 22.73
Great Whites / -21.67 / 19.60
Lost Boys / -24.59 / 16.68
Edge / -36.25 / 5.02
Knights Templar / -36.58 / 4.69
Wolves / -39.88 / 1.39
Personal Vendetta / -41.27 / 0.00

Assuming excel is used to calculate stats as it is the cell formula for the proposed change is "=K23+ABS(MIN(K16:K27))" . K23 is the team in question, and K16:K27 is the range of cells holding the omnivore score as currently calculated.

So, that's my proposal. Since the stats posted here are unofficial anyway, I submit we try out my system for a little while, and see if it takes.

I do raise the ominous spectre of what if one year we all field worse teams than we draft? Do we really want someone winning the omnivore with a score of "-6.82"?

Richard.

Bladerunners overtake Shadowmen in Omnivore!!

Any other day the headline would be about the great early week the Scourge are having, why not - they are playing the Highlanders. Still, the story of the Omnivore all year has been how dominant the Shadowmen have been. They are still doing well but they have recently been joined by the Bladerunners and now Brian's team has managed to pull ahead.

I would be remiss if I didn't note that the Severed Heads, in a reversal of recent weeks, have pulled ahead of the Ramapithicines in the Predator Cup race if only by a hair.

Here are the standings after the first, real, night of action this week:

Bladerunners retain top spot.

Not much time to chat today. The Bladerunners, after a minor week 13 hic-up, are back atop the Predator Cup standings and hold on to top spot in the Omnivore. They also join the Shadowmen in the +20 Club in the Omniore.

The Severed Heads join the 500pt club and manage to eke out a win against the Ramapithicines. Other winners were the Bladerunners, Shadowmen, Edge, Lost Boys and Knights Templar.

Here are the Stats heading into Week 15:

Enough Already

Wolves management has not been pleased with the arrival of 2007. The Wolves are reeling from the loss of its three highest scoring players; Giguere to a groin injury, Iginla to a knee, and Kozlov to a puck in the face. Management had been feeling quite good after climbing to 5th place from 12th (week 3) and consistantly catching the top 4. The Wolves were battling with the Shadowmen for second place in the challenge cup but missing the top three scorers certainly showed this weekend as the shadowmen overtook the wolves for the victory.

This rough begining reminds management of the horrid start to 2001 when the league leading wolves lost Fleury, Demitra, leetch and others to injury effectively limiting the Wolves championship hopes. Hopefully the bug will pass this week and move on to another team.

PRESS: Shadowmen Bench Boss Quits!

From a secret location in the Alps using short-wave radio, Coach Trotzky, or "Trotz" as used to be affectionately known announced that had officially quit his post late Saturday night before week's end. Players and staff were stunned alike as "Trotz" as been with the franchise over a decade and has used guile and deceipt to slowly move up to positions such as head scout, entry draft officier, Asst. GM and coach on 5 different occasions, usually in emergencies...This year promoted to Head Coach, "Trotz" had lead the team to 1st in a truly competitive year, but was having troubles after a series of injuries including FP Pronger...knowing the Shadow's propensity over sending ex-coaches to Cameron by way their severed head, many believed Trotzky panicked is on the run...

The Shadow has promoted Assistant Coach Pantomime after the sudden disappearance of Coach Trotsky...the Shadow irritated with the team mired in 4th, over 8 pt left on the bench, the playing of injured players [like Pronger] and the brutal goaltending gaph after explicit instructions were given that Toskala was to play, somehow he may have been benched! And now this! Trotsky abandoned his job after many years of past loyal service to the Shadow - several years ago, he was in line to surplant Moriarty as full-time GM, his past service may have given him one more chance - but now the Council of Shadows has put a price on Coach Trotzky head so large every bounty hunter in the galaxy will be looking for him..."Its only a matter of time for that traitor"... is the echoes within the Mausoleum, the home arena of Shadowmen with the Shadows on the Abyss.

The Personal Vendetta may have to be called in to track him...

Still lots of close games with one night to go in the week

Not much change in the Predator Cup standings but in the Challenge Cup many games will not be decided until Sunday night. The closest has to be the game between the Severed Heads and the Ramapithicines - less than a PIM pt! Really, that is too close and someone ought to remember whether or not we should create tie games next season.

Congrats to the Ramapithicines, who just joined the 500 club. Well done. Cameron, your Severed Heads should be able to pick up their membership card tonight.

Here are the stats:

Bladerunners extend lead with week's best week, Vendetta fall to 11th with week's worst week

The above headline pretty much explains the results from last night's games. The Bladerunners at 36+pts heading into Saturday night have pulled ahead of the Highlanders (and everyone else). The Lost Boys are the only other team to have 30 or more points so far this week and continue to lead in their Challenge Cup game against the Highlanders - though still by less than 4.5pts.

The big news on the Predator Cup front this week is the continued weakness of the perenial contenders, the Personal Vendetta. Last night the Edge became the latest team to pass them in the Predator Cup standings, reversing the 3pt gap that had separated them at the start of the week. They have a bit of time to regroup before they need worry about the Herbivore, however, as they still lead the last placed Scourge by almost 40pts.

Some really close Challenge Cup games this week. The Ramapithicines and Severed Heaeds are within a point with two nights to go. The Wolves and Shadowmen are separated by a little more than a point. The Edge hold a relatively more substantial 3+pt lead over the Great Whites. By comparison the above noted Lost Boys and Highlander tilt is a blowout.

I didn't mention it in yesterday's post but I have made the adjustments to last week's stats following Darrell's release of the official stats. Have a great weekend everyone. Here are your, unofficial stats:

Same old, same old

Big nights last night but not much impact on the standings though the Wolves become the 5th team to join the 500pt club - congrats. Most Challenge Cup games have really tightened going into the weekend. Only the Knights Templar have a significant lead over their opposition and that is only 7pts. On that point, with the lowest pt total for the week at under 15pts what is wrong with the Personal Vendetta? These guys are normally Rock and Roll. Darrell, are you seeing someone? :-)

Have a great weekend everyone (ok, just a good weekend - I'll try for the great weekend).

Personal Vendetta Season Explained:

Maple Leafs 10 Bruins 2

# of PIM for Toronto, 33

B.McCabe's stats 0G, 0A, 0PIM, +5 - Guess which stat he was not played for.

Lost Boys January Headline Challenge

Hello everyone!

To follow up with the Christmas "Theme Movie" Challenge, the Lost Boys today launch their January Headline challenge.

The Judge? To recognize the Highlander's noble near-daily contribution to the FUNHL blog, We'll let Doug play judge.

The Prize? Your choice: A beer, or the Lost Boys 2007 7th PrD. (Uh, Doug, if you pick your own headline, we can trade 7th PrDs.)

The Deadline? Time-sensitive... maybe never.

The Challenge? What if the impossible should occur, and the Lost Boys pass the Severed Heads in the Predator Cup standings? What headline should Doug use that day? Kudos for funny, hockey related, or team-name relevance... but Doug's the judge.

My entries:

"Hell freezes over"
"Vancouver stuck in snowfall"

Well... really those are the same headline, aren't they...

How about: "Actual hockey experts say Roy second-best goalie ever"

Richard

Highlanders Continue to Stink Up the Joint

Not much change in the standings after a quiet night in the NHL, still the Highlanders getting pounded motif established earlier in the week continues to hold. Here's hoping, selfishly, for a big night this evening to try and turn this disaster of a week around.

WJC Notes

My heart has finally restarted after what seemed minutes of inactivity as the Canadians squeak by the Americans in a shootout.

Wow - easily the best game of the WJC season, and an example of all the good things that can happen when the Canadians and US clash.

Peter Mueller may be a Coyote, but the kid has a nice offensive game, including the ability to pick his corner at will.

Jonathon Toews for all his skills, still seems to lack that extra gear in his skating that would make him unstoppable. Any time Toews had what seemed like an excellent chance one-on-one, he was stymied by the US speed. In the shootout he was Mr ATM, all-money. Three ridiculous moves to keep Frazee guessing throughout.

Speaking of Frazee, were the US just playing possum by not starting him at the beginning of the tournament? Were they hiding this guy so Canada wouldn't have his tendencies nailed down?
And what is it with such limited success in the NHL by Canada's WJC goalies? Our homegrown franchise goalies (Luongo, Fleury) don't win, but the guys who go on to be excellent backups (Legace, Fiset, Kidd, Denis, Cloutier, etc.) are the ones who steal thunder at the tournament? What does this mean for Justin Pogge and Carey Price?

Erik Johnson is going to be a monster defenseman for St Louis. Gigantic potential in his game including; airtight defense, pancake checking and an absolute bomb of a slapshot. Jack Johnson may lack some of the power and edge that E.J. has, but JJ has an offensive game that doesn't degrade as he penetrates deeper in the offensive zone, even if he still occasionally needs someone to slap him for the frequency with which he does so.

Kyle Okposo, Jack Skille...where were you? These two were supposed to give the US a power-forward tandem that would score goals and run amok like Tractors in a herd of sheep. But 0utside of flashes from each of them (a rush by Skille, an out of the corner move by Okposo) neither was impressive. Ditto for Kendall McCardle. Barely noticed him.

Russell and Letang - you know, I gotta say, they remind me too much of John Slaney, Brett Hedican, Andrew Ferrence types - awesome junior defenders, but borderline NHL blue-liners. Enjoy this guys, the next step is a big one and it may not get better than this.

If I'm Helm and I keep getting compared to Kirk Maltby, I would want to kill myself. Pierre Maguire all but cursed the kid with a 4th line 8 minutes a night role for perpetuity. Gosh, thanks Pierre. For a kid with speed and hands (and decent stats) to be pigeon-holed as a checker is sad.

Not all that impressed with Andrew Cogliano. He's been slippery and occasionally dangerous off the wing, but for the most part I think he's over-matched physically and isn't producing enough offense to justify all the acclaim.

Patrick Kane is going to be sick. He's got an intelligence and selflessness to his game that was never apparent in puck-vacuums like Kessel or me-first-ers like Jack Johnson. He's got talent to burn and a high hockey IQ, he'll be special.

Maguire just compared Russian pivot Ilya Zubov to Pavel Datsyuk (I'm now well into the Sweden-Russia game), which is apt, but his upright pass-first, passive style reminds me more of Mikael Nylander. Undoubtedly a prospect pick next year, he's now been aged to perfection, and there are potential openings for him in Ottawa with Kaigorodov's tenure being so short.

(Side note: is it just me, or is that Comrie for Kaigorodov trade not stupidly lopsided for Ottawa? K-Gord wouldn't accept a role in the minors when he'd clearly earned one, and isn't a lock to come back from Russia to play for Wayne, for a skill forward who can play three positions and help your powerplay? Sure Comrie is a cancer in the dressing room and there is a fire-sale on, but if that's the best that Barnett can do for him he should resign and give me the job.)

Niklas Backstrom the ice-calm centre for the Swedes is making the Severed Heads GM very happy. If he has a panic point with the puck, I have yet to see him reach it. Update 1. Backstrom breaks in shorthanded and calmly backhands a bullet off the crossbar. Update 2. Backstrom doesn't fully tie up Cherepanov and the Swedes are down a goal. Weak. But the Heads won't be paying him for his D. Update 3. After seeing only short intermittent shifts for most of the 3rd period, he carves the Russian defense apart on the powerplay with some surgical passing, and mesmerizing stickhandling. Update 4. Maguire finally comes unhinged at the lack of playing time in crunch situations for Backstrom, and we are certain that somewhere in the building George McPhee was adding a 'no f*cking kidding'.

If Vasyonov is really over his back problems, he's a player.

The Swede runt Linus Omark (sp.?) is having the tournament of his life. As yet un-drafted, he could be a Martin StLouis/Sergei Samsonov type.

Igor Makarov, unsurprisingly, looks a lot like his dad out there. Fast, smooth strides propelling his short stocky frame in bursts of speed past defenders, and the same nifty forehand-backhand move to score that Rob's first ever FUNHL pick possesed. A 2nd rnder of the Chi-Hawks, he could be a 3rd liner next year and is another potential high round prospect pick. If there is a criticism, it's that he lacks the supernatural speed his father had, and he pays too much attention to defense.

Ultimately, Steve Downie is only going to be Darcy Tucker.

Pierre Maguire has used the 'Russians are going Globetrotter' metaphor for a third time in 20 minutes. It's officially entering 'Cross between Lafontaine and Hull' territory.

You just know that the Hellmstrom kid had an Ulfie poster in his bedroom growing up.

Potentially bad news for Canada, the Russians have themselves a real goaltender in Semen Varlamov.

Lost Boys Have Huge Night, Bladerunners Retake Lead

The Highlanders take a double hit last night as the Bladerunners squeeze out a couple more points and retake the Predator Cup lead while the Lost Boys dish out a big helping of whup ass in their Challenge Cup match with the Kilted Ones. The Bladerunners' recapture of the top spot is not so great a surprise, all of the top teams are very closely bunched but the early performance of the Lost Boys is very impressive. In yesterday's post I suggested that the Lost Boys had a big job ahead of them to take the tie-breaker from the Highlanders - they needed to win by over 25pts! Two nights into the week and they alreay have a 9pt lead in the game - wow - they may be well on their way to taking that tie-breaker.

While the Bladerunners are no doubt thrilled to be back in first place in the Predator Cup race, they are in tight in their Challenge Cup match against the last-placed Scourge. A game to watch for sure. Someone should wake up the Great Whites and the Edge, the two teams with the lowest totals so far this week are playing each other this week but someone apparently failed to inform them :-)

Still very early in Week 14, keep posted and keep posting.

Comrie in Ottawa

The wolves management are excite at the prospect of Mike Comrie passing the puck to the likes of Danny Heatley and Daniel Alfreddson. Comrie could now be a regular dress on the left wing meaning that one of Kunitz and Hesulius will be sitting some weeks. Trade offers welcome. Particularily looking for a Quality Centre who would be better than David Legwand.

Hockey at the Rabbit

I see Calgary is in for a treat at the One Yellow Rabbit theatre. Hockey on stage (sort of)

Sex and the stick men
Author Dave Bidini brings to the stage the hot side of our national game on ice in Canada's first erotic hockey musical

You have to go before Saturday. Lets hear a review.

Yzerman

While it is great to see the retirement of Yzerman's #19 by the Wings last night. An hour and half ceremony is way to long. As a result the game afterwards was very slow and sloppy.

Quiet start to Week 14

Not much movement following Monday's games though the Bladerunners and Shadowmen do inch closer to regaining top spot.

More to come following tonights action.

Two Challenge Cup games to watch this week:

The Shadowmen and the Wolves are both in the playoff picture, sitting 2nd and 3rd respectively, but this game could flip the standings between the two. The Shadowmen eked out a win in Week 3 by less than 3pts so it wouldn't take much for the Wolves to pull ahead of them.

The Highlander and Lost Boys is a battle between two teams on the cusp of the playoffs. The Highlanders won their first meeting and that is the margin of difference between the two of them in the standings - this one could settle the tie-breaker but the Lost Boys would need to have a massive blowout (the Highlanders won their Week 3 contest by over 25 pts!).

The Shadowmen continue to hold a big lead in the Omnivore standings and I hope that tomorrow I'll be able to do a post showing how he did built it. Until then, here are the unofficial stats as of Tuesday afternnon:

Happy New Year, Even Happier for the Highlanders

Welcome to 2007 and welcome to a new leader atop the Predator Cup standings - the Highlanders, fueled by a 52pt week and a defeat of the, now, 2nd place Bladerunners in their Challenge Cup match was enough to give the Highlanders their first lead this season.

The Great Whites, with a solid 47pt week, handily won their Challenge Cup match and are only 5pts out of 2nd in the Predator Cup.

The Bladerunners week, at some 38pts, was actually fairly solid but their reign atop the standings (which they have held for 6 of 13 weeks) is, at least for now, over.

The Shadowmen, while only one of four teams with over 500pts, had a sub-30pt week and appear (remember these are unofficial stats) to have lost their Challenge Cup game with the Edge by a very close margin - league review of the game is no doubt pending.

The highest scoring affair this week was the Wolves-Knights Templar game with the Wolves finally prevailing on the strength of a 50pt week (to the Knights' 45pts). The win moves the Wolves ahead of the Severed Heads in the Challenge Cup standings after they lost their game with the Personal Vendetta.

Stats, unofficial, are as follows. Have a safe, happy and prosperous New Year everyone: