Friday, August 17, 2007

PR - Flames

The Atlanta Flames have made major shakeup changes this offseason. The Flames were looking at addressing their second line. We felt that it was too inconsistant and too poor defensively. Calder has been a leader and a scorer but was never good in his own end. We felt that bringing back Paul Kariya (who was once the captain of the Flames) could pick up Calder's scoring and leadership. Michalek is posed for a big break out but we felt Vas gave us just as much skill but more defensive ability. Kolanos has never lived up to his hype. Reacurring him for the second time was a waste. We expect big things out of Carter, who is a young, upcoming scorer. It was a shame to have to deal Delmore away but he was one year away from UFA status and we managed to get a solid, young defensive dman back. Also we managed to add quality picks to our future pool. The only uneasy player we had a hard time letting go was young D prospect Magnan. But to get quality, you must give up quality.
The Flames are looking forward to the change and should be very competitive next season.
Going out:
Milan Michalek
Kyle Calder
Krystofer Kolanos
Andy Delmore
Roman Hamrlik
Coming in:
Janos Vas
Paul Kariya
Jeff Carter
Johnny Boychuk
Marcel Goc

Sunday, August 12, 2007

PR - Pain

The Michigan Pain lost the TFHL Cup in 6 games to the Young Guns. The Pain
who escaped 2 close series to get to the finals lost in dominating style.
The Young Guns won 3 of the first 4 games to put a strangle hold on the
series. The Pain could never get their game going in the Finals and as a
result they will not raise a 3rd TFHL championship banner at the beginning
of the 19th season. GM Elliot had some comments about his Western Conference
champions and the TFHL cup champions.

"First off my congratulations goes out to Kirk in his Championship. As for
our team, I believe this team was one of the best we have had in the 7
seasons I have been GM. We just got stopped by a team that had everything
working like a fine tuned machine. We had so much talent on this team but
little chemistry; we made it to the finals on pure talent. We barley beat a
Blades team with injuries to key players to get to the conference
championship. We beat the Fog Devils who on paper were far less superior but
chemistry wise and playing style were far superior. We did not score one
Powerplay Goal in the whole series. That sums up how we struggled and
grinned our way to the finals. So once we got to the finals and played a
team with comparable talent, we could not match the intensity and solid play
that the Young Guns brought. All in all I am happy with the result.
Obviously a championship was the goal but we were 2 wins shy. I set a goal
from the beginning of the season to trade draft picks and prospects for the
risk of going for a 3rd title. I have no regrets as the season was a
success. We will now look to next year as we have some decisions to make in
the off-season. I would also like to thank Geoffrey Young for putting in a
lot of time and making the league exciting to be apart of. Good luck to all
next season but please don't trade any superstars to the Flames or any other
western conference team ;)

Later
Geoff Elliot
Michigan Pain

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Season Ending Note from the Commish

Alrighty. Congratulations Jeremy on a great playoff run by your young team and your first franchise championship! The Playoff MVP is of course, Young Guns goaltender Jose Theodore who went 16-7 this playoffs, starting every game for this championship team with a 2.56 GAA and a .907 save%. Jeremy has been a GM for quite a few years (with a brief hiatus for some time before returning as GM) and obviously, his move to pick up Theodore this season was pivotal for the TFHL 18 Cup. If I've got this right, the Young Guns were previously the Patriots (worst team in TFHL 16!). Before that, the team had a whole host of other absentee GM's and a bunch other names (Oilers before that etc...). So, once again, congratulations Jeremy! You've taken a team from #24 to #1!