Siberia's CCHL Playoff Analysis – The Corfield Conference

 

Hello sports fans. The Corfield Conference certainly provided us with some heart stopping series. 3 of the 4 series went the full distance. How will this extended set of games impact these teams?

                The first team to advance in the Corfield semifinals were the Seattle Reign. GM McCurdy had his team ready to go against GM Yip’s Calgary Chinook. Seattle started strong and finished strong, defeating the former Kehler Cup champions 4-1. While GM Yip is likely disappointed by the results, he is absolutely ecstatic at the results of the draft lottery, landing the first overall pick for the second straight year. That’s quite the luck for the Chinook!

                The defensing Corfield Conference champion Fort Erie Falcons got off to a rocky start against the ever-feisty Parry Sound Orrsmen. GM Connor has certainly had his team ready to go out of the gate as they stormed out to a 2-0 lead, before the Falcons took the next 3 games. It seemed that the Falcons would take the series 4-2 but the Orrsmen fought back with a win in game 6 to force the tense game 7. The strength and experience of the Falcons ultimately prevailed. In the next round they will face…

                The Portland Owls gave us the first upset of these finals, defeating the powerful Wisborg Donuts in 7 games. This was a very tough series and it looked like the Donuts would easily advance after taking the first 2 games. GM Zoladz’s Owls stormed back to take the next 3 before the Donuts tied the series in game 6. The Owls were just too determined and upset the Donuts 5-2 in game 7. GM Kallum is likely upset but is already scouting Swedish players for the upcoming CCHL draft.

                Finally, the former champs, the Bismarck Ibex, also went the distance against the tough Tampere Lynx. New GM, Scott Smith, and his Lynx performed admirably as they pushed the favored Ibex to 7 games. If early indications mean anything, GM Smith’s team will be competitive for many years to come. GM Condon’s team will face off against the Seattle Reign, who lost in the Corfield Conference finals last year to the Fort Erie Falcons.

                Who will come out of the Corfield Semifinals and advance to the conference finals? Only time will tell! Stay tuned sports fans!

Siberia's CCHL Playoff Analysis – The Canosa Conference

 

                Hello sports fans. The regular season is over, and the second season has started. We had a wild finish to the regular season as the Fort Erie Falcons once again led the league in points with the Sudbury Miners trailing only by 1 point, and the Siberia Icecats trailing by 2. Now comes the exciting time of the year where legendary moments can be made!

                Let’s look at the playoff race in the Canosa Conference. In round 1, the Sudbury Miners faced off against a team that was red hot at the end of the year, the Georgetown Millers. GM Kash put quite a scare into the Miners after taking the first 2 games of the series. The Miners rebounded quite strongly by taking the next 4 games to win the series. This was a heck of a fight! The Miners certainly look strong.

                The Miners will face the Springfield Isotopes. GM Stacey hopes that his acquisitions of Tavares and Carlson can help him get the edge over the conference-leading Miners. Springfield had a long series with the Aces, with the series going the full 7 games. Will that extra day of rest help the Miners or will the Isotopes build off of their game 7 performance to advance to the Canosa Conference finals? Can Captain Giordano lead his team to an upset of the Miners?

                The Siberia Icecats faced off in a matchup of the last 2 Kehler Cup champions. The Icecats played tough and defeated the Norsemen in a sweep, but not before the Norsemen knocked out Colton Parayko for some time. It appears that Parayko will be able to return early in the next series against……

                The darlings of the Canosa Conference, the feisty Amos Comets. The Comets overcame a 2-1 series deficit to storm back to win the series 4-2 against the Long Island Express. This will be a tough but familiar matchup for these two teams. Captain Jonathan Toews vs. Captain Connor McDavid. Should make for an exciting series!

                Who will come out of the Canosa Semifinals and advance to the conference finals? Only time will tell! Stay tuned sports fans!

CCHL Playoff Thoughts and Coaches?

 It's Sunday and you know what that means?  It's another blog from yours truly, the crown prince of the hockey ramble, the CCHL Commissioner is back putting pen to paper with some thoughts.

That really was quite the opening round of the playoffs.  This is the first year we did the expanded playoffs with seeds seven and eight but all the concerns about those teams being competitive in a playoff environment were definitely proven wrong.  

It was exciting and for the top two teams, far more exciting than playing 82 games to get into the dance only to wait a week because you have a bye.  

Parry Sound gave Fort Erie all they can handle it the series really came down to depth as the Orrsmen had players like MacKinnon, Rask and more playing quite fatigued as the series concluded.  They can play but their impact will be minimized when playing at less than 99/100 fatigue and I think that really became the difference.  

Portland was able to pull off the upset of Wisborg as well in a thrilling seventh game.  Portland is really riding their top line to success thus far in the playoffs but at some point, some of the others will have to step up if Portland wants to continue their impressive post-season run.  

In the Canosa Conference, Sudbury found themselves down two games to open the playoffs only to roar back with four straight wins to send the hot Millers home in the first round.  

Springfield and Las Vegas were expected to be very competitive but in the end, the team with the better goaltending came out on top in the series.  

It's been a pretty fun opening round and we are in for some tremendous series in the second round as well.  

Switching gears, as many of you know I'm in a league with 31 teams using the Simon T simulator and that league uses coaches.  

We have held off on using coaches in the CCHL for some time while everyone gets used to the sim, but I'm wondering if it might be time to add coaches into the mix for us.  

The reasons are simple in a lot of ways.  Who doesn't want to fire a coach when their team becomes a dumpster fire (see;  Sabres, Buffalo)?  The other reason is with a coach at the helm, they can actually impact the way your team is built based on roster construction.  

It could be fun to see the effect John Tortarella or Jon Cooper could have on your team's play on the ice.  Or how about the Mike Babcock redemption tour in the CCHL?  Would be interesting to hear thoughts on coaches because they can enhance your play on the ice based on using a coach designed to help your roster construction.  

In any event, that's all for this week.  Enjoy round two of the playoffs.  

CCHL Expansion Vote - The Results

 Hello everyone,  

It's time to post the results of the expansion draft along with my thoughts for each category.  

Do you support the CCHL expanding by two franchises following the 2021-22 season? 

ANSWER CHOICES–	RESPONSES–
– Yes, our franchise loves it and agrees relative growth to that of the NHL is good for our league.	90.91% 20
– No, my franchise is opposed to it.	9.09% 2

Thoughts:  It's nice to see that 91% of the league supports expansion so I think that it's definitely the right move to go to following the 21-22 season.  I look forward to welcoming more teams into the fold and beefing up everyone's bank account.  

The CCHL is exploring a rule change to reward franchises who help recruit new General Managers for teams a cool $5 million in their bank account for the work involved (Fort Erie ineligible as commissioner).  Do you agree that this would be beneficial and helpful to filling our franchises?

ANSWER CHOICES–	RESPONSES–
– Yes, I support this move and it would motivate me to help.	54.55% 12
– Yes, I support the move but it won't change our recruiting process	27.27% 6
– No, leave it on the Commissioner and the team that does everything else for the league.	18.18% 4

Thoughts:  It looks like we're moving to add the $5 million dollar recruiting fee which is nice to see as it will hopefully result in more people getting involved.  

With respect to the four people that said leave it on the commissioner and executive crew, the intent was to get more people involved than those who do the heavy lifting on a day-by-day, week-by-week basis.  It is already a lot of work to run the league, having hours of additional conversation with prospective GMs adds significant strain on the system as well.  

While the $5 million may not actually change anything, it's nice to see that we have some incentive for others to help out rather than leave it on the same group that works tirelessly for the league already.  

It has been proposed at the Executive level that the CCHL should cap teams' bank accounts at $150,000,000 ($150 million) to encourage competitive play.  This cap would come into effect following the 2021-22 season.  Please indicate how you feel about this proposal.

ANSWER CHOICES–	RESPONSES–
– Yes please cap it at $150,000,000.  Teams should be spending it - you don't win a cup for the biggest bank account.	36.36% 8
– Yes, that's a good number that causes teams to be financially responsible and remain competitive as well.	45.45% 10
– Don't cap it at all - who cares about competitive balance.	13.64% 3
– The CCHL has bank accounts for its teams?	4.55% 1

Thoughts:  It looks like we're going to cap the amount of money any one team can have at any time to $150,000,000 which is a good choice in my opinion.  I think the objective here is to have teams earn the money and re-invest in their organization because quite frankly, the money-cup winner doesn't receive any praise at all during the year.  

I went back-and-forth on this one as I don't like the idea of capping it but also recognize that perhaps we need to have people not save to a silly level and create a massive spending imbalance later on in life.  That's ultimately why I decided it was a good idea.  

For the individual that didn't know about bank accounts, please check out the rules or ask me any questions you may have.  This is an important thing to understand for the CCHL and I'll happily help if this was a serious response.  

For lineup submission next year, I would like to have the following option:

ANSWER CHOICES–	RESPONSES–
– Email and Dropbox available	68.18% 15
– Email only	27.27% 6
– Dropbox only	4.55% 1
– Another file sharing service accessible to all (please let us know what that is)	0.00% 0
– Bah I'm not sending lineups anyways.  I like illegal lineups and my franchises enjoys forfeiting the bonus money!	0.00% 0

Thoughts:  The number of email or dropbox only combining for seven votes kind of surprised me.  If we have both you aren't forced to use either one and can actually use both so I was surprised that we didn't have more both answers here.  

There's also an option that is available within Simon to have a way to do lines online via the dynamic website feature.  I didn't include that in the vote because I did not discover this until after the fact and quite frankly, I don't know nearly enough about sequel time databases to even promise that we can remotely implement such a thing.  

Would a web submission interest you?  Imagine being able to do it from your phone or computer without opening the client?  Does this seem good?

Aaron in SPR and I are looking to do some zoom meeting this summer to try to get it implemented for the next season.  I offer zero promises we get it done but I think I put it at about 50-60% chance of happening.  If you know anything about this, we'd be happy to have an extra set of hands to help out as well.

Conclusion:  Expansion it is in a year.  We'll have the $5,000,000 recruiting bonus as well and at least two ways to submit lineups the following year.  It really is an exciting time to be in the CCHL with the additions we're trying to make to make the league more interactive and user-friendly, and we look forward to a bright future with two more franchises to be added.  

CCHL Bonus Money Thoughts

 Hello everyone and welcome to another rousing edition of Commissioner's Corner featuring yours truly, the league commissioner and fearless leader.  

I hope everyone enjoyed the CCHL draft lottery this week and a big congratulations goes out to the Calgary Chinook who has managed to win the lottery twice a year.  Who would have thunk that Calgary would be the lottery winner, as that usually goes to the other city in Alberta.  

In reviewing the bonus money payouts for the last regular season, the first thing that comes to mind is that whoever has Kirill Kaprizov should easily take top prize next year in the rookie category.  

The reality here is that CCHL teams barely play rookies, as evidenced by the fact a team got some bonus money in the category for a guy that barely played and had 11 points.  Not ideal and perhaps we need to find a way to change that category to something more impactful than what we have right now.  The design was to encourage people to play rookies but that simply isn't happening.  

On the encouraging front, the bonus money for invalid lineups has gone up 2.2% this season.  That means that teams were paid 2.2% more than a year ago.  

It's a nice reflection of the trend as looking at the level we were at as a league two seasons ago, the bonus is now paying at 7.5% more than it was back then.  People are making sure their lineups are valid and that is a good thing.  

Next up, in terms of total lineups received this year, we were the fourth highest in the history of the CCHL.  It's a nice number but also a bit disappointing from a personal standpoint because we were on track to shatter the previous records.  

Two things happened this year to slow that down.  Lineup submissions dropped off dramatically from seven/eight per day to three/four per day after the trade deadline.  

The other thing impacting it is that we had four teams that were over 10 invalid lineups each, which impacted the totals significantly.  Those four teams also left money on the table as they did not qualify for one penny of bonus money for lineups.  

In any event, that's all for this blog about the bonus money.  Once we have all the Twitter and blog submissions in the middle of April (following the last playoff game) we'll add the money to everyone's account and post the list on the site.  

CCHL Draft Lottery this week

 Well, it's hard to believe we are staring the end of another season in the face but that's where we find ourselves this week.  Crazy, isn't it?  

It's been a busy week at the CCHL offices with the expansion draft vote being underway and later this week the annual draft lottery.  

I'm not going to lie to you, I'm a bit let down by the draft lottery this season.  No, it's not because Fort Erie isn't in the running for a top pick but rather because I had a plan to change our visual presentation that won't happen because our season ends one day later than needed.  

As many of you know, I do a sports television show on a local cable channel in Canada.  This station also does a bingo show on Sunday nights and I was planning on using it to our advantage. 

My show runs live Wednesday nights but our season ends on Thursday which makes the dream for this year completely impossible.  

I had planned to try to use the studio and the bingo machine to do our random CCHL draft lottery - how great would that have been for a visual?  All of the balls flying around in the machine and coming out to determine the fates of our lottery teams?  

Alas, not everything is meant to be but it still made me think - how can we do it differently than just having the numbers come up on the random.org website?

That's when the idea hit me!  Now I'm not going to give it away right now but it'll be a much better visual experience for our lottery and potential divisional draws should expansion pass for the 22-23 season.  

In any event, look for the annual Draft Lottery video to go up Friday or Saturday of next week!  Oh and don't forget to vote as we still have seven teams to not cast their votes on expansion and more!  

Sudbury Miners Prospect Report: Spring 2021

 CANADIAN PRESS (Sudbury, ON):

With the CCHL regular season quickly coming to an end, and with spring just around the corner, there is no time like the present to see which players may be plying their trade in the Nickel City in the very near future. 

To be considered a prospect for this report, the player is not currently on the CCHL active roster and/or has not played one full CCHL season.

 

Below are the Sudbury Miners top-10 CCHL prospects for Spring 2021

 

1. Cole Perfetti – C.  Along with Kirby Dach, Perfetti looks like he’ll be a future face of the Sudbury Miners. He is a creative, intelligent pivot who owns an elite release and can control the game in a number of ways.  Has the talent to be a star.

 

2. Spencer Knight – G.  One of the top goaltending prospects was on full display with his gold medal winning performance in the 2021 World Junior Championship for the United States.  He is an athletic netminder with exceptional reflexes and good size. Franchise goaltender potential.

 

3. Peyton Krebs – C/W.  Krebs is a well-rounded prospect that brings an offensive flair to his game and is known as a leader. He’s a great playmaker and skater. A big selling point in Krebs’ game is his defensive skill. There aren’t many players at the same age that are as sound in their own zone as he is.

 

4. Nick Robertson - W.  One could argue that no prospects stock has soared quite as high since his draft year as Robertson’s has.  He tore up the Ontario Hockey League last season, and is projected as an elite goal-scoring winger with all-star potential

 

5. Victor Soderstrom – D.  Soderstrom is a smart, two-way defenseman who projects to possibly become a top-pairing blueliner.  He is a great puck-mover, good skater, and possesses an excellent shot.  He also likes to be physical and throw his weight around.

 

6. Dominik Bokk – W.   Talented, shifty winger with good upside.  His game is built on speed, his hands and his ability to elude defenders in the attacking zone.  He can score goals and set up his linemates equally well.  He must avoid playing on the periphery and also needs to get physically stronger.

 

7. J.J. Petreka – W.  Petreka is an offensive winger with great speed and quickness. Very good puck-handling skills and passing skills. Has a pretty good shot as well.  He will need to improve his all-around game and consistency.

 

8. Lassi Thomson - D.  Thomson is seen as an offensive, right-handed shot defenseman with top-four upside. He is a very good skater with excellent compete level. Has a great shot from the blue line, but he eeds to work on his overall defensive game.

 

9. Braden Schneider – D.  Schneider is a mobile two-way blueliner that makes good decisions and skates well. He makes a good first pass and understands when to join the rush.  He likes to dish the big hit and does not get out of position when doing so.  While he has upside as a top pairing defender, he will never be a big point producer and may be more suited to a top-four role.

 

10. Daniil Tarasov – G.  Tarasov is an athletic 6-foot-3 goalie who can make the tough stop but is also controlled in the net and consistently squares up pucks.  Scouts see him as a smart, but slightly unrefined, goalie. He’s lost development time, but he has all the tools you want in a goalie prospect.

The CCHL Draft and the NHL

 Well, we're another week through the season and the NHL continues to forge its way through the decision of what to do with the 2021 Entry Draft.  

There are some GMs that want to move it until just before the draft in 2022, while there are so many CBA-related issues that would make that idea a challenge to complete in theory.  

I'm not a huge fan of delaying the CCHL draft a year because it would create issues with those picks.  Would 2021 picks still be able to be traded in the 21-22 CCHL season?  Why?  Why not?  

If the NHL moves the draft we would likely continue to do our draft this summer at the normal time so we can avoid the issue.  

The most ideal scenario for us is that the NHL does the draft in July and then we start ours after theirs is complete.  I think this is the most beneficial scenario even though it doesn't allow the league the usual July/August shutdown period.  

I really do think if the NHL does it in July that we should follow that draft rather than just completing ours in June as we normally do.  I think the pandemic has shown us last year just how unpredictable the draft is and with the massively shortened seasons in the CHL, European players we know little about will likely be at the forefront again for the 2021 draft.  

I do think that the next two-years will be fun because we will see a record number of overage signings from the CHL because teams will have just missed on so many players.  I can't blame the scouts because you can't scout what isn't playing hockey but when the CHL resumes a full season (hopefully in September) there will likely be scouts really surprised with the improvements of many players because of their off-ice and off-season training.  

These are certainly some wild times in history so whatever we decide to do, it isn't going to be perfect this year at all.  I guess we shouldn't be surprised given the last year but we'll do our best to navigate the draft this year before hopefully getting back to normal for what looks to be a solid 2022 group of prospects!  

The Nickel Report – Evaluating the 2020-21 Sudbury Miners: Volume 9

CANADIAN PRESS (Sudbury, ON):

 

Up to games ending on March 6, 2021

Miners 10 Game (Dime) Record:  8 wins, 1 loss, 1 OT loss.

Miners League Standing:  52 wins, 17 losses, 9 OT Loss = 113 points total.  Currently sit in 2nd place in the Canosa Conference, 2nd overall in the CCHL.

Miners Special Teams:  Power Play – 23.5% (3rd); Penalty Kill – 82.9% (1st)

Miners Scoring Leader:  Winger Johnny Gaudreau (33G – 55A = 88 pts; 9th Overall in the CCHL)

 

“We are ready for the next challenge…..the playoffs!”

That is sediment being echoed by the players and coaching staff within the Sudbury Miners locker rooms as the season winds down.  Having clinched 2^nd place in the Canosa Conference, and with a small shot still at finishing first, the Miners appear focused and ready to the next challenge ahead.

“We are a confident group right now”, stated Coach Derek Sutton.  “It seems like we have found the right combinations and the guys are have developed some chemistry, which has been reflected in our record the last third of the season”.

As things stand now, all signs point to the Miners battling the Long Island Express in the first round this year of the CCHL playoffs.  In 6 games this year, the Miners sport a 3-2-1 record vs. the Express.

“Our focus since the start of the last off-season with all of the moves we made this season, was for this time of year in mind.  Now that we are here, there is pressure to perform for both the fans and management.  But, I can speak for every guy in the room by saying that we want that pressure”, stated Miners center Auston Matthews.

“We are ready!”

 

MINERS PLAYER PROFILE OF THE WEEK:  J.T. Compher

Compher is a versatile player, who skates very well and has plenty of two-way upside.  He can play either wing or center, and he has a great work ethic and leadership qualities. That adds a lot of value to his overall package.  Compher isn’t an overly big player but that is less important in today’s game.  He will never be an elite scorer, but he should be able to easily carve out a good career as a responsible two-way forward and valuable penalty killer.

 

MINERS PROSPECT NEED TO KNOW:  Lassi Thomson

When scouts talk about Thomson, they see him as an offensive-minded, big-shooting defenseman with upside.  He moves the puck well and owns a cannon of a slap shot (making him a very good option on the power play) and is also a very good passer of the puck.  He does lack the ideal size for the CCHL, but this is becoming less of an issue in today’s game.  He also needs to become a more consistent defender in order to fully realize his potential.  Projected CCHL arrival:  2023-24.

 

Le Magasine des Comètes d'Amos

 Currently sitting at 3^rd place in the CANOSA conference, I can affirm that the GM is very satisfied of the very first season of the Amos Comets. After a fast start, Amos kept going with Ws and many OT-L.

 

But then, February 5^th came. It felt like a very rough day for GM Quesnel as he just learned that Couture was injured for several weeks. Having a strong motivation of finding a 2^nd line winger in mind, he attacked the day with many calls and propositions. The fact is that the conference and the league, in general, have a really good parity between teams. It makes trade even harder as most of the teams are pushing in the same direction. So, with the feeling of failing the team, the trade deadline gave a sour taste in the GM’s mouth.. The next days following went really hard. Back-to-back blowout vs Springfield and another L against Sudbury stroke the confidence of the team badly.

 

Fortunately, Couture came back fast. As expected, his presence and his leadership came at the right moment to stop the slide. The team rallies all together, lines & combinations seem to finally work. Players like Saad & Huberdeau are slowly finding their place as important pieces in every victory. Since Couture's return, the team is now 5-2 in the last seven games. Still sitting in 3^rd place with 4 points over Springfield plus one game in hand at the moment I am writing the article. It will be very interesting to follow the evolution game by game until the end of the season between Amos & Springfield.

 

 

In a recent interview after they clinched their playoffs spot, Mr. Quesnel said that he was very enthusiastic about the upcoming playoffs and very satisfied of the way his 3 lines were able to produce so far. He has complete confidence for Andrei in the net to keep them competitive until the end.

 

As mentioned before, this season's mentality was: Win now, cry later!