Playoffs!

Some players might have considered the group stage a stretch of waiting for the playoffs. I don’t know how players in Northern Stars or Power of Finland view the group stage games. But I think it’s been a fantastic tournament so far. Incredible tight and uncertain games with upsets almost every game night. I have to brag a little bit about my predictions. Top 5 teams in Group A were actually identical with my predictions. Top 6 teams in Group B were the same teams but in different order. I managed to predict 13 of the 16 teams for the playoffs, which is pretty okay I guess.

I also think a few teams that finished the tournament without any w.o losses and without making it to the playoffs should receive an honorable mention. To be able to hold a really good tournament the community depends on teams that don’t quit when things are going against them.

Thank you!

• Russian Rockets DTM
• FHR Punakone
• Vapor Snipers
• Ducktales BK
• Bare Knuckles Hockey
• Latvian Blades
• Russian Royal League

The 1/8-finals are:

1A Power of Finland – 8B HC Meteor

HC Meteor has a great goaltender that can win games alone…against most teams. Not against PoF. Not 4 times out of 7 at least. Power of Finland looks to be in great shape and it would surprise med if Meteor won 1 game in this series.

Tip: 4-0

2A Sons of the Morning – 7B HC Rednecks

Sons didnt impress that much in the beginning, although they still managed to win games. But lately they started to play certain players a bit more such as Craig, Tjandor and Camel2e. Looking stronger and stronger, and although ImSteelD left the team and quit playing, their defense looks solid. Their offense has always been top notch. Can get a bit sloppy overall though so I wouldnt be surprised if Rednecks steal a game.

Tip: 4-1

3A Laser HT – 6B Company of Geeks

This one is going to be tough. Laser didnt impress that much in the beginning (except when they played us) but moved up from 8th position to claim no 3 spot in Group A in just 4 rounds. CoG on the other hand has not impressed as I would have expected. On the other hand they made some impressive signings with Pulverapa, Laurillon and Lycklig Man. Question is if they can get their teamplay together for such short notice? Captain Jesus been busy saving humanity instead of playing EHL in the group stage. CoG’s survival in the playoff will depend on his resurrection. CoG has the experience though and I think they will advance by a slim margin.

Tip: 3-4

4A Drunken Rebels vs 5B Cosa Nostra

Another series that feels uncertain. Cosa Nostra has struggled a little bit against the top teams so far. Although getting 4 points in the last round against NOS is impressive, and their squad looks solid. Plus Foppatofflan is always a threat. Hopefully he will focus on United Knights on PS3 😀 DRS has played very disciplined for the most part of the tournament. What we may lack in experience we definitely make up for with winning mentality. I suspect its going to be a low scoring contest where our rookie goalkeeper SixTer will push us forward to the quarterfinal in a seven game win.

Tip: 4-3

4B Baltic Sea Eagles – 5A Birka Vikings

Baltic Sea Eagles reminds me of a loose canon when Ive watched them play. It doesnt look like they have a game plan. That is if wraps and trying to pass the puck from behind the goal to the slot is not considered a game plan. They look outright weak in their own zone. But undeniably they score goals. A lot of them. Birka on the other hand is an allround strong team that plays a little bit more tactical. If Birka kan stop BSE’s offensive they might face less problems than suspected.

Tip: 2-4

3B HC Sika – 6A Tico Tico

I havent really seen Sika play so far but looking at their result I think they impressed so far. Tico Tico had a slow start but has been playing better and better. I still think Sika will advance without too much trouble.

Tip: 4-1

2B Sjukstugan – 7A Red Light Zone

Sjukstugan had a good chance of winning their group, but lost their last game and finished second. Still, very impressive and they play extremely well defense, combined with some very skilled offense. Its a winning combination. Red Light Zone didnt impress me before EHL and not the games we played against them…but somehow they managed to win quite a few games. I dont think thats enough though to overthrow Sjukstugan.

Tip: 4-0

1B Northern Stars – 8B HC Redballs

Some might say NOS has not played as well as expected. I dont know…there are a lot of good teams and they still managed to finish first in their group. Even without Floorbandy. With him…they are 1 level better so they are still my favorite to win EHL.

Tip: 4-0

Considering the accuracy of this blog’s predictions you know you have the results already…but anyway good luck to all the teams! 😀

EHL Group Stage Final Spurt

The Group Stage of 2012 EHL is coming to its end. As many predicted it has been an extremely even tournament (on Xbox that is) so far. Almost any team can beat each other. NHL13 has made different playing styles even more obvious than previous games. Drunken Rebels is a fairly good example of that. We were never that great at dangling and stuff in NHL12, but there were few teams that matched our passing play and tempo. It was always a surprise those few times another team had more time on attack. NHL13 made that style almost impossible (which I think is one of the few drawbacks with this years game) so instead we have to rely on our structure, discipline and solid defense.

In group A, things are as they have been throughout the whole tournament….extremely even and uncertain. Laser HT has imo underperformed a bit and find themselves hugging the last playoff spot. They have 8 games left though against FHR Punakone, Redballs, Kristinehamn Bombers and Tico Tico. Its gonna be interesting to see if they will step it up in the last games to avoid playing Northern Stars in the first playoff round. Voodo People has done a great tournament so far but maybe reality caught up with them finally? Not counting their w.o wins over Mullsjö, they are on a loosing streak of 6 games. They find themselves at the 10th spot with 26 points…also 8 games left but tough opponents in Redballs, Bombers, Tico Tico and Birka. They probably need around 18-20 points to make the playoffs. That will be a challenge.

Group B didnt look as exciting halfway but things are starting to look really interesting. The top 5 teams have practically secured a playoff spot. Behind them we find the teams of Ducktales, Company of Geeks, Cosa Nostra, Meteor and Toy Story. Ducktales has played 22 games, Toy Story 20 and the rest has played 18 games. Im fairly certain that Company of Geeks and Cosa Nostra will secure two of the three spots so the question is who the last team will be?

Ducktales has 33 points and 4 games against Sjukstugan and Sika left. Thats two very tough opponents and Ducktales cant be sure of any more points.

Meteor has 27 points and 8 games left against Cosa Nostra, Bare Knuckles Hockey, Russian Royal League and Toy Story. Im sure they will get more than 6 points in those games which puts the pressure on Ducktales to get at least 1 or 2 wins in their games.

Toy Story has 24 points and 6 games left against Baltic Sea Eagles, Company of Geeks and HC Meteor. I don’t think they will get many points against BSE or CoG so 6 points against Meteor is absolutely crucial, but still…they depend on the other results going their way.

My bet is that around 37 points will get you the last playoff spot and I believe it will be Meteor who step up to the challenge.

 

 

EHL Half-time report Group B

After half the games in the group stage of this years EHL it is obvious that Group A and B differ on several points. I believe Group A is a success for the community, TGMA and the tournament. There are actually 12 teams out of the 16 that not only have a good chance of making it to the playoffs, but are extremely close to each other in points. DRS has 33 points at 4th place. Russian Rockets has 27 points at 10th place. Okay okay this post is about group B

Group B feel a bit less interesting if you look at the standing. 1 team dropped out so they are only 14 teams left.

Leading group B pav is Sjukstugan which showed an impressive form so far. They look very solid and are definitely a huge contender to win EHL this year. Right behind them is Northern Stars which obviously are still favorites to win the tournament. HC Sika has also impressed so far. Baltic Sea Eagles are doing great at 4th place Behind them, the other teams have struggled a bit…and perhaps should be lucky CSSR dropped out…because the competition for a playoff spot in group B doesn’t look to fierce at the moment. 21 points will get you a playoff spot. I only see 9 teams actually battling for the spots and in the end it will be about either Ducktales or Toy Story. I look forward to watching their games on Ducktales stream November 19.

EHL Half-time report

The Group Stage in EHL 2012 is halfway done. As predicted its a very tight tournament overall. We’ve seen very few games with big wins (BSE vs Latvian Blades 10-1 being the biggest so far?). Personally I really like it. There’s no easy wins anymore. Even if you play a team that struggled and lost most of their games…nothing is certain and a simple misstake could end up costing you 3 points. In group A, Power of Finland has taken a comfortable lead. We knew they were coming out strong for the EHL, but looking at their results, they seem even better than we thought and are definitely one of the strongest contenders to win the tournament. 14 regular wins out of 14 games is simply impressive. They have lost Imosi to Sjukstugan which is a setback, but Im sure I WiLLii I(Hpkfani) is one of the best replacements they could find. Playing against him on PS3 in NHL 12 I know he is very skilled.

Behind PoF is a fairly open affair. At the moment the top 5 teams in Group A are the same as this blog predicted…although we’re only halfway through so the standings are still a bit dependent on the schedule and which teams you’ve played etc. Battling for a playoff-spot at the moment are

The outcome is obviously uncertain. Redballs and Tico Tico seem to have a fairly tough schedule ahead of them, although since Norrlands Guld is making a comeback with, what appears to be almost a new team…the presets have changed. Add to the fact that I still don’t think Punakone had their last say in this group. Punakone has not performed as I thought but they also had a really tough schedule so far.

Drunken Rebels EHL so far is pretty much like predicted. Besides som pretty frustrating last minutes lost points (RLZ, Redballs etc) I think we performed well. We play disciplined with a really strong defense which help in tight games (most of the EHL games so to speak). Any team who wants to beat us has to play good. The only draw for me was the games against Laser where I think we greatly underperformed, not sticking to our game plan. But we put ourself in a good position to make the playoffs. Which obviously must be a huge surprise to the community judging by other teams EHL-predictions 😉

Stay tuned for the report on Group B