The National Strat-O-Matic Hockey League Newsletter League Established May 1, 1997 Volume #8, Issue #16 - April 8, 2004 ************************************************************************** Current League Officers: Commissioner: Doug Norris (303-492-3493) Vice-Commissioner: Eric Goodman Email List Administator: Steve Kramer Email the whole league: mailto:nshl@thalia.org NSHL Chat List: mailto:nshlchat@thalia.org Web Page Administrator: Brian Leahy League Web Site: http://www.geocities.com/nshlweb Files Adminstrator: Tom Vinacci League Files Site: http://www.highrantdistrict.com/SOM/NSHL ************************************************************************** WOW! Was this the best collection of conference semifinal games in league history? I'm certainly a bit biased, but consider this - there were a total of twenty-eight possible games (seven per series) among the four conference semifinal series; twenty-seven of them were required to determine the conference finalists! And if that's not enough, Florida and Lyndonville needed overtime to decide a champion! Seattle and North Calgary didn't need overtime, but I couldn't believe the result (and it's a good thing that there were witnesses, because I don't think anyone would have believed it otherwise :-) ************************************************************************** EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS PREVIEW: Both #2 Florida and #4 Brooklyn are making their first trips to the conference final since 1998. Yet they've never met in the playoffs! How can this be, you say? (go ahead, I'll wait) Back in 1998, the Florida Hellcats were in the Western Conference, falling to the Rainiers in a four-game sweep, while the Brooklyn Gulag were (as you'd expect) in the Eastern Conference, knocking off the Delaware Destroyers in a tough seven-game battle. Both the Hellcats and Gulag made key additions at the trade deadline, and the winner will be strong favourites in the Cup Finals. That is, if they don't kill each other getting there. ************************************************************************** WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS PREVIEW: The top two seeds, #1 Seattle and #2 Topeka, will square off in the Western Conference Finals. The real question is this - does either team have anything left in the gas tank after surviving grueling seven-game matchups in the conference semifinals? The Scarecrows are still missing Deadmarsh, Bure and Kalinin, but in their end their overall depth could be enough to advance to the Farley Cup Finals. Will Giguere stay hot, or will John Grahame help raise a conference championship to the rafters in Topeka? ************************************************************************** NSHL END-OF-SEASON AWARDS BALLOT: These are for the first phase of our two-phase voting process; this vote is to narrow down the finalists for league awards. Please vote for up to the maximum number for each category, and please vote by Friday, April 16. If you have any questions, please contact the commissioner. All owners and associates are permitted (and encouraged!) to vote. Use statistcs to guide you, but your vote should be based on whom you honestly feel deserves the awards based on the season in question. Postseason does not get taken into consideration for these votes. The categories are deliberately somewhat-vague to allow each voter their own discretion in choosing the most appropriate candidates. (vote for up to three of the following) GRETZKY TROPHY (Awarded to the league's most valuable player) LYN Todd Bertuzzi MAN Anson Carter MAN Roman Cechmanek HOU Peter Forsberg SEA Jean-Sebastien Giguere BUF Milan Hejduk TPK Olli Jokinen BRK Olaf Kolzig TRL Al MacInnis FLO Mike Modano FLO Glen Murray LIB Markus Naslund LYN Mats Sundin FGF Joe Thornton (vote for up to three of the following) SAWCHUK TROPHY (Awarded to the league's top goaltender) TRL Ed Belfour MAN Roman Cechmanek MON Manny Fernandez SEA Jean-Sebastien Giguere TPK John Grahame BRK Olaf Kolzig CCC Felix Potvin FLO Dwayne Roloson CCC Garth Snow FLO Marty Turco (vote for up to three of the following) ORR TROPHY (Awarded to the league's top defenseman) LIB Zdeno Chara HRH Sergei Gonchar HOU Nicklas Lidstrom TRL Al MacInnis NCH Derek Morris CCC Mathieu Schneider SEA Jaroslav Spacek FLO Robert Svehla FGF Kimmo Timonen (vote for up to three of the following) LEMIEUX TROPHY (Awarded to the league's top first-year player) VAW Jay Bouwmeester BUF Martin Gerber BRK Barret Jackman HOU Rick Nash SEA Vesa Toskala VAW Henrik Zetterberg (vote for up to three of the following) BLAKE TROPHY (Awarded to the league's top coach) HOU Eric Goodman CCC Brian Leahy LYN Mark McNeil FGF Murray Moman SEA Doug Norris TPK Doug North FLO Robert Ryan TRL John Santore LIB Patrick Shea BRK Jeff Tsuruoka MAN Lee Yelshin (vote for up to three of the following) GAINEY TROPHY (Awarded to the league's top defensive forward) TPK Daniel Alfredsson HOU Peter Forsberg LYN Michal Handzus BRK Steve Konowalchuk FLO Daymond Langkow FGF Jere Lehtinen SEA Kirk Maltby MAN Jay Pandolfo LIB Steve Rucchin FGF Joe Thornton (vote for up to three of the following) HARVEY TROPHY (Awarded to the league's top defensive defenseman) BRK Rob Blake LIB Zdeno Chara FLO Hal Gill LYN Derian Hatcher BRK Barret Jackman TPK Scott Stevens FLO Robert Svehla SES Colin White (vote for up to three of the following) PARENT TROPHY (Awarded to the comeback player of the year) HOU Peter Forsberg BRK Jeff Halpern MAN Mike Knuble BUF Mario Lemieux CCC Felix Potvin TRL Chris Pronger FGF Steve Sullivan (vote for up to three of the following) NORRIS TROPHY (Awarded to the owner/associate who best exemplifies the spririt of the league and its members) STM Andy Bartalone HOU Eric Goodman VAW Junu Kim CCC Brian Leahy DVD Chris Malitsky SEA Doug Norris SES Scott Shigemi BUF Tom Vinacci (vote for up to four of the following) POSTSEASON ALL-STAR LEFT WING SFH Vincent Damphousse TPK Adam Deadmarsh SEA Chris Drury SES Kristian Huselius NCH Paul Kariya MAN Mike Knuble BUF Ilya Kovalchuk LIB Markus Naslund FLO Vaclav Prospal MON Mark Recchi MAN Geoff Sanderson BRK Brendan Shanahan TRL Keith Tkachuk CGC Ray Whitney VAW Henrik Zetterberg (vote for up to four of the following) POSTSEASON ALL-STAR CENTRE SES Radek Bonk QCP Daniel Briere LIB Sergei Fedorov HOU Peter Forsberg TPK Olli Jokinen LIB Vincent Lecavalier BUF Mario Lemieux SEA Patrick Marleau FLO Mike Modano BRK Petr Nedved STM Brian Rolston TPK Joe Sakic NCH Dave Scatchard HRH Jozef Stumpel FGF Joe Thornton STM Doug Weight CCC Alexei Yashin CGC Mike York (vote for up to four of the following) POSTSEASON ALL-STAR RIGHT WING TPK Daniel Alfredsson STM Tony Amonte LYN Todd Bertuzzi MAN Anson Carter NYL Erik Cole NCH Eric Daze CCC Marian Gaborik QCP Martin Havlat SEA Dany Heatley BUF Milan Hejduk BUF Brett Hull TRL Jarome Iginla SFH Jaromir Jagr LYN Alexei Kovalev BRK Vyacheslav Kozlov NCH Jamie Langenbrunner MON Alexander Mogilny FLO Glen Murray LIB Markus Naslund CCC Owen Nolan HOU Jeff O'Neill LIB Zigmund Palffy SFH Martin St-Louis LIB Teemu Selanne MON Marco Sturm FGF Steve Sullivan (vote for up to eight of the following) POSTSEASON ALL-STAR DEFENSE CCC Adrian Aucoin CGC Bryan Berard BRK Rob Blake LIB Zdeno Chara NCH Eric Desjardins FLO Hal Gill HRH Sergei Gonchar LYN Derian Hatcher QCP Sean Hill SFH Phil Housley CGC Kim Johnsson SEA Ed Jovanovski QCP Tomas Kaberle TPK Brian Leetch HOU Nicklas Lidstrom NCH Andrei Markov SES Danny Markov TRL Al MacInnis NCH Derek Morris CCC Scott Niedermayer FGF Brian Rafalski HRH Wade Redden CCC Mathieu Schneider VAW Brent Sopel SEA Jaroslav Spacek TPK Scott Stevens FLO Robert Svehla BUF Darryl Sydor FGF Kimmo Timonen (vote for up to four of the following) POSTSEASON ALL-STAR GOALTENDER TRL Ed Belfour NCH Martin Brodeur MAN Roman Cechmanek MON Manny Fernandez SEA Jean-Sebastien Giguere BRK Olaf Kolzig CCC Felix Potvin FLO Dwayne Roloson CCC Garth Snow FLO Marty Turco ************************************************************************** SEMIFINALS IN REVIEW: It is said that the only significant wins in Farley Cup competition are road victories, and that proved to be the case in the battle between two 100-point squads Long Island and Brooklyn. Olie the Goalie's thirty-save (8/8 GR) performance in Game Two gave the Gulag a split on the Island, and the rest of the series held true to form as Brooklyn advanced to the conference finals with a six-game victory. Petr Nedved was the offensive star for the underdogs. In the battle between the league's two highest-rated teams, it's only fitting that the series between the Florida Hellcats and Lyndonville Blades would not only go the full seven games, but go into extra time in the mutual-elimination Game Seven. Petr Sykora became the hero on South Beach when he roofed a shot past Sean Burke at 7:49 of the overtime to send Florida to the conference finals for the first time since 1998. Burke was strong in defeat, stopping all twenty-two goalie ratings he faced as Lyndonville overcame a 3-1 deficit by winning Games Five and Six. In the "Central Division bracket", the Topeka Scarecrows and Houston Outlaws engaged in a seesaw battle which went the distance. Neither team could open up a two-game advantage, so in the end it came down to who won the final game. And that team was Topeka, who advaced to the conference finals with a 6-2 battle. Olli Jokinen and Sergei Berezin each contributed a goal and two assists in the win, and John Grahame was solid. And...in the "Northwest Division bracket", the Seattle Rainiers overcame a three-games-to-one deficit to advance past the North Calgary Hawks and into the Western Conference Finals. "Game Seven was the best Strat-o-Matic game I've ever seen," said Seattle owner (and league commissioner) Doug Norris, who's seen his share. Jean-Sebastien Giguere stopped FIFTY-TWO shots in a 1-0 win over the Hawks, and Ladislav Nagy got the only goal of the game late in the third. ************************************************************************** 2003-04 REGULAR SEASON LEAGUE STANDINGS: NORTHEAST DIVISION GP W L T OL Pts Pct GF GA Home Road Long Island Berserkers 82 58 19 5 0 121 0.738 299 205 34- 6- 1- 0 24-13- 4- 0 Lyndonville Blades 82 54 19 8 1 117 0.713 271 175 28- 8- 4- 1 26-11- 4- 0 Brooklyn Gulag 82 45 24 11 2 103 0.628 232 183 27-10- 3- 1 18-14- 8- 1 Corner Creek Green Cal 82 40 35 3 4 87 0.530 241 224 22-15- 1- 3 18-20- 2- 1 Buffalo Bulldogs 82 39 34 8 1 87 0.530 237 223 15-19- 7- 0 24-15- 1- 1 New York Lancers 82 13 63 2 4 32 0.195 138 304 6-33- 0- 2 7-30- 2- 2 ATLANTIC DIVISION GP W L T OL Pts Pct GF GA Home Road Florida Hellcats 82 53 19 8 2 116 0.707 286 162 28- 9- 4- 0 25-10- 4- 2 Manayunk Bullies 82 45 27 8 2 100 0.610 220 183 24-13- 4- 0 21-14- 4- 2 Toms River Lightning 82 44 27 9 2 99 0.604 251 205 22-11- 7- 1 22-16- 2- 1 Montreal Wanderers 82 38 30 11 3 90 0.549 226 199 22-13- 4- 2 16-17- 7- 1 St. Michael's Privatee 82 29 48 5 0 63 0.384 197 247 15-24- 2- 0 14-24- 3- 0 Quebec City Patriotes 82 23 44 12 3 61 0.372 191 264 12-21- 6- 2 11-23- 6- 1 NORTHWEST DIVISION GP W L T OL Pts Pct GF GA Home Road Seattle Rainiers 82 49 21 10 2 110 0.671 268 185 26-10- 4- 1 23-11- 6- 1 Fort Garry Fiddler Cra 82 42 28 9 3 96 0.585 247 218 20-14- 5- 2 22-14- 4- 1 North Calgary Hawks 82 43 32 6 1 93 0.567 253 242 21-14- 5- 1 22-18- 1- 0 Vancouver Whitecaps 82 28 41 11 2 69 0.421 199 270 17-19- 4- 1 11-22- 7- 1 Drayton Valley Driller 82 27 42 11 2 67 0.409 197 254 12-22- 6- 1 15-20- 5- 1 Seattle Sasquatch 82 16 57 6 3 41 0.250 182 308 9-28- 4- 0 7-29- 2- 3 CENTRAL DIVISION GP W L T OL Pts Pct GF GA Home Road Topeka Scarecrows 82 47 26 8 1 103 0.628 261 202 28- 9- 4- 0 19-17- 4- 1 Capital City Cougars 82 41 27 12 2 96 0.585 258 198 28- 9- 3- 1 13-18- 9- 1 Houston Outlaws 82 42 29 8 3 95 0.579 239 211 23-12- 5- 1 19-17- 3- 2 Hampton Roads Hounds 82 32 41 7 2 73 0.445 230 246 19-16- 5- 1 13-25- 2- 1 San Francisco Hedgehog 82 30 41 9 2 71 0.433 227 266 19-19- 3- 0 11-22- 6- 2 Minneapolis Massasauga 82 8 65 9 0 25 0.152 107 283 4-30- 7- 0 4-35- 2- 0 ************************************************************************** CONFERENCE SEMIFINAL RESULTS: Brooklyn 1, at Long Island 6 [Game One; Long Island leads series, 1-0] LIB Sergei Fedorov - goal, three assists LIB Markus Naslund - two goals, assist LIB Jose Theodore - twenty-seven saves, 4/5 GR Brooklyn 2, at Long Island 1 [Game Two; series tied, 1-1] BRK Olaf Kolzig - thirty saves, 8/8 GR BRK Vyacheslav Kozlov - game-winning goal with 4:49 left BRK Jeff Halpern - two assists Long Island 0, at Brooklyn 3 [Game Three; Brooklyn leads series, 2-1] BRK Olaf Kolzig - thirty-five saves, shutout, 6/6 GR BRK Mike Grier - goal, assist BRK Petr Nedved - goal, assist Long Island 2, at Brooklyn 6 [Game Four; Brooklyn leads series, 3-1] BRK Petr Nedved - two goals, three assists BRK Brendan Shanahan - goal, four assists BRK Peter Bondra - two goals Brooklyn 0, at Long Island 4 [Game Five; Brooklyn leads series, 3-2] LIB Jose Theodore - thirty-four saves, shutout, 7/7 GR LIB Zigmund Palffy - game-winning power-play goal, assist LIB Markus Naslund - goal, assist Long Island 2, at Brooklyn 3 [Game Six; Brooklyn wins series, 4-2] LIB Zac Bierk - twenty-seven saves, 8/9 GR BRK Olaf Kolzig - twenty-six saves, 6/7 GR BRK Brendan Shanahan - goal, two assists Lyndonville 4, at Florida 1 [Game One; Lyndonville leads series, 1-0] LYN Sean Burke - twenty-one saves, 6/6 GR LYN Todd Bertuzzi - goal, two assists LYN Alexei Kovalev - game-winning goal, assist Lyndonville 1, at Florida 2 [Game Two; series tied, 1-1] FLO Dwayne Roloson - twenty-eight saves, 7/8 GR LYN Sean Burke - twenty-six saves, 7/9 GR FLO Shane Doan - game-winning goal Florida 5, at Lyndonville 1 [Game Three; Florida leads series, 2-1] FLO Shane Doan - goal, two assists FLO Mike Modano - game-winning goal, assist FLO Dwayne Roloson - thirty-one saves, 5/6 GR Florida 2, at Lyndonville 1 [Game Four; Florida leads series, 3-1] FLO Glen Murray - game-winning power-play goal, assist FLO Dwayne Roloson - twenty-nine saves, 4/4 GR LYN Curtis Brown - goal Lyndonville 3, at Florida 2 [Game Five; Florida leads series, 3-2] LYN Sean Burke - thirty saves, 9/9 GR FLO Dwayne Roloson - twenty-four saves, 7/7 GR FLO Mike Modano - power-play goal, assist Florida 0, at Lyndonville 4 [Game Six; series tied, 3-3] LYN Sean Burke - thirty-five saves, shutout, 13/13 GR LYN Todd Bertuzzi - game-winning goal, assist LYN Michal Handzus - goal, assist Lyndonville 4, at Florida 5 (OT) [Game Seven; Florida wins series, 4-3] FLO Petr Sykora - game-winning goal at 7:49 of overtime LYN Mats Sundin - two goals FLO Glen Murray - two goals Houston 1, at Topeka 2 [Game One; Topeka leads series, 1-0] TPK Joe Sakic - game-winning goal HOU Mathieu Garon - twenty-two saves, 4/5 GR TPK John Grahame - thirty-eight saves, 2/3 GR Houston 7, at Topeka 2 [Game Two; series tied, 1-1] HOU Jeff O'Neill - four goals, assist HOU Mike Dunham - thirty-three saves, 9/10 GR HOU Nicklas Lidstrom - goal, three assists Topeka 2, at Houston 4 [Game Three; Houston leads series, 2-1] HOU Peter Forsberg - two goals, assist HOU Nicklas Lidstrom - game-winning power-play goal TPK Joe Sakic - goal, assist Topeka 2, at Houston 1 (OT) [Game Four; series tied, 2-2] TPK Olli Jokinen - game-winning shorthanded goal at 11:13 of overtime TPK John Grahame - forty-one saves, 6/7 GR TPK Brian Leetch - goal Houston 0, at Topeka 2 [Game Five; Topeka leads series, 3-2] TPK Daniel Alfredsson - two third-period goals on split rolls TPK John Grahame - thirty-four saves, shutout, 6/6 GR HOU Mathieu Garon - twenty-four saves, 5/5 GR Topeka 3, at Houston 4 [Game Six; series tied, 3-3] HOU Peter Forsberg - game-winning power-play goal, two assists TPK Brad Richards - two goals HOU Nicklas Lidstrom - four assists Houston 2, at Topeka 6 [Game Seven; Topeka wins series, 4-3] TPK Olli Jokinen - goal, two assists TPK Sergei Berezin - power-play goal, two assists TPK John Grahame - twenty-seven saves, 4/5 GR North Calgary 4, at Seattle Rainiers 2 [Game One; NCH leads series, 1-0] NCH Martin Brodeur - twenty-eight saves, 8/9 GR NCH Rod Brind'Amout - game-winning power-play goal, assist NCH Eric Daze - goal, assist North Calgary 2, at Seattle Rainiers 1 [Game Two; NCH leads series, 2-0] NCH Martin Brodeur - thirty-three saves, 9/9 GR SEA Vesa Toskala - thirty-six saves, 9/10 GR NCH Derek Morris - game-winning goal Seattle Rainiers 4, at North Calgary 3 [Game Three; NCH leads series, 2-1] SEA Chris Drury - goals with 2:19 and 1:11 left to steal win SEA Jean-Sebastien Giguere - thirty-five saves, 14/17 GR NCH Eric Daze - goal Seattle Rainiers 4, at North Calgary 5 [Game Four; NCH leads series, 3-1] NCH Paul Kariya - game-winning goal with 1:55 left, assist NCH Martin Straka - tied game on power play with 2:56 left SEA Patrick Marleau - three assists North Calgary 0, at Seattle Rainiers 3 [Game Five; NCH leads series, 3-2] SEA Dany Heatley - two goals, assist SEA Kirk Maltby - two assists, great work on Langenbrunner SEA Jean-Sebastien Giguere - twenty-nine saves, shutout, 1/1 GR Seattle Rainiers 7, at North Calgary 5 [Game Six; series tied, 3-3] SEA Jaroslav Spacek - two goals, assist NCH Dave Scatchard - two goals SEA Dany Heatley - power-play goal, two assists North Calgary 0, at Seattle Rainiers [Game Seven; Seattle wins series, 4-3] SEA Jean-Sebastien Giguere - fifty-two saves, shutout, 8/8 GR NCH Martin Brodeur - twenty-four saves, 5/6 GR SEA Ladislav Nagy - only goal of game with 3:30 remaining ************************************************************************** 2003-04 NORRIS POWER INDICES: Home-Ice Advantage is currently estimated at +0.313 goals. ## TEAM NPI LW 1. Florida Hellcats 1.645 1 2. Lyndonville Blades 1.488 3 3. Long Island Berserkers 1.412 2 4. Brooklyn Gulag 0.968 5 5. Seattle Rainiers 0.967 4 6. Topeka Scarecrows 0.667 6 7. Toms River Lightning 0.579 7 8. Houston Outlaws 0.551 8 9. Manayunk Bullies 0.514 9 10. Capital City Cougars 0.406 11 11. Montreal Wanderers 0.395 10 12. Corner Creek Green Calves 0.310 12 13. Buffalo Bulldogs 0.253 13 14. North Calgary Hawks 0.217 15 15. Fort Garry Fiddler Crabs 0.171 14 16. Hampton Roads Hounds -0.338 16 17. St. Michael's Privateers -0.561 17 18. San Francisco Hedgehogs -0.646 18 19. Drayton Valley Drillers -0.833 19 20. Quebec City Patriotes -0.947 20 21. Vancouver Whitecaps -0.995 21 22. Seattle Sasquatch -1.779 22 23. New York Lancers -2.040 23 24. Minneapolis Massasauga -2.403 24 ************************************************************************** INCENTIVE POINTS: CUMULATIVE INCENTIVE POINTS: BRK: 2 IP BUF -3 IP CCC: -8 IP DVD: -1 IP FLO: 2 IP HOU: -6 IP LIB: 2 IP MAN: -2 IP NYL: 1 IP QCP: 1 IP SFH: 3 IP STM: -29 IP SES: -25 IP TRL: -6 IP VAW: -10 IP ************************************************************************** ASSOCIATE LIST: SINCE GP Rob Gallamore August 30, 2003 10 Bill Scott February 6, 2004 0 Ryan Barckert May 17, 2003 0 If you're still an active associate at and aren't on this list at please get in contact with me. Thanks! Doug ************************************************************************** TRANSACTIONS: NOTE: All players signed as free agents must dress in at least six of the following biweek's games. (No transactions are allowed until the conclusion of the 2004 Farley Cup playoffs.) ************************************************************************** INJURIES: TPK - Valeri Bure out sixteen games through Game Six, WCF - Adam Deadmarsh out thirty-three games through Farley Cup Playoffs - Dmitri Kalinin out five games through Game Two, WCF ************************************************************************** League Governing Boards Responsibilities of the following governing boards are outlined in the Constitution. Review Board Tom Vinacci, Buffalo Bulldogs Patrick Shea, Long Island Berserkers Mark McNeil, Lyndonville Blades Constitutional Council Head: Patrick Shea (isles2@idt.net) Doug Norris, Commissioner Eric Goodman, Vice-Commissioner Andy Bartalone, St. Michael's owner Lance Milligan, associate **************************************************************************