Typically, GMs would play one or two of their defenseman plus-minus if they were short of purely offensive contributors on defense but GM Donaldson had begun to push the envelope playing players regardless of their position or perceived defensive shortcomings. It was the only way to cut into the Ramapithicines' lead, and it was beginning to work. The strategy was fraught with risk, but it was a risk the Dogs were prepared to take.
The Dogs had been a consistently strong team, as demonstrated by their first-place standing in the Challenge Cup regular season. So when the Dogs dispatched the Ramapithicines two games straight in the Challenge Cup semi-final, the win was made all the sweeter as the Predator Cup race was also tightening. The Dogs would win the Challenge Cup finals with a two game sweep of the Severed Heads, the first FunHL Award ever won by the Dogs. Could they close the gap enough to win the Predator Cup too? Entering the final week the decision was made to throw caution to the wind. GM Donaldson would play all his players plus-minus.
Truthfully there was nothing to lose by making the gamble. The Challenge Cup was secured and the only way the gap between them could realistically be made up would be to have the sort of monster week only a plus-minus gamble could produce, and maybe he could goad the Ramapithicines to gamble too and play many of his players plus-minus as well. What followed would become legend. As each day passed during the final week the Dogs continued to close the distance on the frontrunner. The insurmountable lead that the Ramapithicines had built up of 50 pts over the course of a season was at risk of being overcome in the final days of the season. In the end the gamble fell a mere 5 points short and the Ramapithicines celebrated their second Predator Cup. It was an unbelievable effort by the Dogs that would become legend.
Final Predator Cup Standings (2002-03):
1 - Ramapithicines 1021.46
2 - Dogs 1016.44.
It was a lot of fun to watch the Dogs eat up the distance back then, not sure I would enjoy a similar surge by the Bladerunners this season. In the only game last night the Bladerunners did make it a little harder on themselves with Sergei Zubov going -2 on the evening but I still think the gamble to be well worth it. As Rob has pointed out, they Bladerunners will need his players to all average almost 3 more points than the Highlanders over the week to make up the gap - a daunting task but one with little risk (for them to fall into Herbivore contention - no need for me to be the only one sweating through these last few days :-) - the Bladerunners would need to post, depending on the Edge's week, close to a staggering -200pts or an average of -15pts per player). That isn't going to happen, in spite of Zubov's play last night. But it should make for a very interesting week. Here are the unofficial stats as of Monday's action:
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