Fall'14 GENS A Playoff Vegas Odds

[kingraph]

Fall'14 GENS A PLAYOFF VEGAS ODDS

Place your bets!

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1. St. Louis (Depch) -1500
8. Buffalo (jer_33) +5000

Season series: STL 4-0

Depch finished with the best record in the league this year, going an impressive 32-8 with the Blues. Brett Hull was tied with Stephane Richer for the league lead in goals at 121, averaging just over 3 a game. If jer_33 is going to have a chance at beating this crafty Fin, he'll have to focus on stopping that Hull howitzer as Hull represented 61% of St.Louis' goals this year. While Mogilny, Laffy, Fuhr and company have the firepower to make it interesting, ultimately I think the Blues will be just too much.

Prediction: St. Louis in 4

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4. Edmonton (minpind) +200
5. Montreal (Fitzo) -110

Season series: MTL 3-1

A great matchup here. Fitzo comes in as the lower seed due to DNP penalties, but finished with a higher win%, and GFA-GAA than minpind and the Oilers (.71 vs -.51). Both guys are veterans of the game and can turn it up during the playoffs. Fitzo has been using Captain Kirk Muller with great success this season, with LeBeau and Savard leading the charge. Edmonton has their superstar Peter Klima, but min has found ways to get others involved. I look forward to this series, I wouldn't be surprised at any result (except a sweep!)

Prediction: Montreal in 6

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3. Quebec (Gretzkyonacold) -150
6. Pittsburgh (clockwise) +300

Season series: QUE 3-1

Three of the 4 regular season games were decided by 1 goal, with two of those games going to OT. This sounds like it has the makings of an intense series! Gretzkyonacold has come out strong with Quebec and had a pretty successful season. Led by Joe Sakic, who finished 5th in total points and 7th in points per game, Quebec can pose a real threat to the heavyweight Pittsburgh Penguins. True NHL'94 legend Clockwise returned to the '94 scene this season, but finished with a sub .500 record with the Pens, scoring slightly below 3 goals/game. While Gretzkyonacold is the favorite, I wouldn't take Clockwise lightly here. Think has a chance of being a 1st round upset.

Prediction: Quebec in 7

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2. Los Angeles (Sicarius Fulgur) -400
7. Toronto (skip) +1000

Season series: n/a (replacement coach)

Sicarius, the defending B league champion, has used a three-headed monster in LA's Robitaille (106 pts), Sandstrom (74pts) and Gretzky (90 pts) to finish with a very impressive 29-11 record this season. LA's goals for average was over 4 a game and Sicarius managed to keep GAA under 3, even with Hrudey in net! All indicators of a very strong season. Sicarius and the Kings are playing great, and are looking to make a deep run in the playoffs this season to repeat as champs. Meanwhile, newcomer Skip took over the Maple Leafs after 12 games and went 7-21 in the remaining 28 to make it into the playoffs. Not much is known about Skip, but he did finish with a league best 32-8 record in B with Detroit, so we know he can play! He's got a tough matchup ahead against Sicarius, but I'm sure he can make it interesting

Prediction: Los Angeles in 5

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1. New Jersey (kingraph) -1200
8. Hartford (TexasPachyderm) +5000

Season series: NJ 2-0

The defending "A" champ finished the season with 30 wins, scoring slightly over 5.5 goals per game and giving up just over 3. Stephane Richer led the league in points with 163, with his Russian comrades Alexander Semak (85 pts) and Valeri Zelepukin (120 pts) feeding his rocket canon. While the Devils can be prone to some stinker games, kingraph can make the most of this team to make a deep playoff run. Newcomer Texas Pachyderm took over Hartford and finished their last 30 games with a 5-25 record. Hartford snuck into the playoffs, but will have a very difficult first round matchup.

Prediction: New Jersey in 4

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4. Winnipeg (NorthwayNative) +300
5. Washington (Uncle Seth) -110

Season series: WPG 2-1

This is an exciting matchup! All 3 regular season games were 1 goal affairs, with 2 of those games going into OT. SNES convert Northway Native edged out Uncle Seth to win 2 of 3. As this was Northway's first season in GENS, there may have been some learning curves, but he finished with an impressive 21-12 record (.636 win % was 7th highest), and went 7-3 in his last 10. He has the skills and superstar player in Teemu to really be scary in this postseason. Uncle Seth finished in the #5 seed due to season slacking (29 GP), but finished with the best GFA (5.14) - GAA (2.45) of 2.69, the second highest win %, and the best Attack Zone (over 6:00!) in the league! While the last 11 games may have changed some of that, those figures are very impressive (especially considering DON BEAUPRE is in net!). Seth will bring a furious onslaught that helped him win the Classic B title two seasons ago, but I wonder if the Native can fend it off like he did in the regular season? Interesting note, NorthwayNative led the league in Faceoff win%. What SNES secrets did he bring?

Prediction: Washington in 7

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3. Boston (brutus) -400
6. Detroit (LABS_66) +750

Season series: BOS 4-0

Brutus has smashing guys this season with Boston, finishing 2nd in body checks per game at 33.1 and finished with a very strong 30-10 record, tied for the conference best with kingraph, but edged out by a game on the conference record tiebreaker. A well-balanced attack, Brutus finds offense from everyone on Boston. Boston has enough happening to win not just this series, but the whole thing. I wouldn't underestimate them. While Detroits record isn't strong, I wouldn't put anything past the Red Wings. Yzerman, Dino, Fedorov, Lidstrom, Coffey....you name it, they're an all start team. LABS can catch fire and make this a tough series for Brutus, but ultimately I think Boston will be too much to handle.

Prediction Boston in 5

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2. Dallas (Jackandjose) +400
7. NY Rangers (RoBro) -110

Season series: NYR 3-1

The strangest 2 vs. 7 series in a while. Jackandjose finished 13-27, but it was enough to win the division because the top 3 slackers in the A league were all in the same division! Two powerhouses, Uncle Seth (missed 11 games) and Donnybrook (missed 14 games and failed to qualify for playoffs) didn't get enough games in there to win. Nonetheless, Jackandjose brings a ton of experience into this series. He hasn't quite gotten the most out of Dallas' speedsters Modano and Courtnall, but Dallas can light up the lamp in flurries. RoBro (ProBob) has been playing very well as of late, and while he is the #7 seed, I can see him taking this series. The Rangers matchup well against Dallas and Gartner and Tikkanen provide the speed necessary to keep up. ProBob has been letting up too many at 4.66 per game, but he has shown he can get that number lower when focused. Nice matchup, but I'm favoring the "upset" here.

Prediction: NY Rangers in 6

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ODDS TO WIN THE STANLEY CUP

St. Louis (Depch) : +300
New Jersey (kingraph) : +400
Washington (Uncle Seth) : +450
Boston (brutus) : +600
Los Angeles (Sicarius Fulgur) : +650
Quebec (Gretzkyonacold) : +800
Pittsburgh (clockwise) : +800
Edmonton (minpind) : +1000
Montreal (Fitzo) : +1100
Winnipeg (NorthwayNative) : +1250
NY Rangers (RoBro) : +2000
Toronto (skip) : +3000
Detroit (LABS_66) : +7500
Dallas (Jackandjose) : +10000
Buffalo (jer_33) : +10000
Hartford (TexasPachyderm) : +15000

[Depch]

Always nice to read these and nice for people putting the effort in it. Makes the community and leagues just that much more fun. With these provided odds I'd play NorthwayNative at the broker. And even though my record on regular season was better than NJ I'd still have the reigning champion with at least as good odds as the presidents trophy winner here.

[Fitzo]

Embrace the pressure Depch!

[jer_33]

Feel the pressure, really feeel it!

[Sicarius]

Nice write up King - putting 33,691 bit coin on King to win it all.

[kingraph]

One series in the books....St. Louis wins in 4!

[kingraph]

Nice write up King - putting 33,691 bit coin on King to win it all.

That kind of action may move the lines!

[kingraph]

Another series in the books, LA wins in 4 (my prediction was 5)!

[jer_33]

One series in the books....St. Louis wins in 4!

Couple of tight games in St. Louis that truly could have gone either way (game 2 was OT), but BUF just didn't play well at home and the series was close in the last 2.

Good luck to Depch - better win it all now...

[Brutus]

I used to always play better w/ the Blues going down, as Hull seemed more prone to hitting the rafters going up than the net.

I noticed looking at the series w/ Jer that Depch did much better on the road games, and scored a high percentage of his goals on the "down".

Depch, you noticed that as well? Or maybe you just beat Jer into submission after the OT loss stole his heart.

[Depch]

I used to always play better w/ the Blues going down, as Hull seemed more prone to hitting the rafters going up than the net.

I noticed looking at the series w/ Jer that Depch did much better on the road games, and scored a high percentage of his goals on the "down".

Depch, you noticed that as well? Or maybe you just beat Jer into submission after the OT loss stole his heart.

I have always prefered to play offence down. In more recent NHL games when you were able to flip the screen I always played offence down.

I don't want to think that had any effect on it though, I guess there was something else going on as I didn't have the same effect when playing down the 2nd period at home games. Jer played defence very well on my home games, the AI D helped a lot by being very active on holding and letting jer position well. This did not happen in the home games of Buffalo and the D was overall more astray and less active. Maybe I got the fast goals there and that gave me the crowd bonus? I'm not sure how that works in NHL94 if it has any effect, but that's what I've been thinking as of late that it might affect some of the games. I have the videofiles if someone wants to anylyze that.

Like Jer said first 2 games were very tight and was very close to ruining Kingraphs prediction.

In my mind Hull is one of the best onetimer-weapons in the game, just so damn effective and he really doesn't miss that much either out of the net even though accuracy is 3 (have not noticed difference going up or down).

Edited November 28, 2014 by Depch

[kingraph]

Series 3 in the books - NJ wins in 4 (prediction was 4).

I prefer shooting down as well. Something about it is easier on my fingers w/ controller.

[Brutus]

Great series just finished w/ Labs. He had me on the ropes, up 2 games to none and up with a lead in the 3rd game, when the tide turned.

Home team lost all the games until game 7.

In game 6, Yzerman missed two empty nets in the final minute to choke the tie, and in game 7, after trying to choke a huge 3rd period lead, I was able to gay out the final 30 secs w/ a skating lesson.

Ggms Labs, and we always seem to go to a game 7.

BEST feeling in this game, is Change State to SLOT 7, cause you know that means GAME7.

Edited December 1, 2014 by Brutus

[LABS_66]

Great series just finished w/ Labs. He had me on the ropes, up 2 games to none and up with a lead in the 3rd game, when the tide turned.

Home team lost all the games until game 7.

In game 6, Yzerman missed two empty nets in the final minute to choke the tie, and in game 7, after trying to choke a huge 3rd period lead, I was able to gay out the final 30 secs w/ a skating lesson.

Ggms Labs, and we always seem to go to a game 7.

BEST feeling in this game, is Change State to SLOT 7, cause you know that means GAME7.

Confirmed VGGS! Awesome hard fought tight series as always with Brutus! Good luck Boston

[kingraph]

Wow, what a close series! Great showing by LABS, great season!

[kingraph]

Fitzo takes out minpind in 5 (prediction was 6)! Great series, great job.

3 series left...

Gretzkyonacold (3) vs Clockwise (6)

Jackandjose (2) vs ProBob (7)
Northway Native (4) vs Uncle Seth (5)

[Fitzo]

Just finished a great series against Minpind. Edmonton wasn't quite on their toes in the 1st game and ended up losing 1-7 at home against the Canadiens. In the second game Coach Minpind rallied his troops, sharpened the defense, and equalized the series with a 3-1 victory (Kevin Todd 2 goals in 3rd period).

Third game was the closest one and had to end in OT after a vicious 3rd period which in the last few mins was dominated by Montreal, but Edmonton made a good effort the last 20 secs being only inches away from sealing the victory. Lebeau, pumped up by the support from the home crowd, only needed 12 secs in OT to make the GWG and put Le Canadiens in front.

Fourth game was a nailbiter in which Muller had to schore no less than four goals to keep hunting Oilers at bay. Klima making it 3-4 with 2:14 to go in the last period raised Coach Fitzo's pulse to at least 200 BPM. 3-1 Montreal.

Fifth game might not seem close when you look at the scores (7-3 MTL). But Montreal was only up one goal with about four minutes to go in the 3rd, when unexpected hero Denis Savard decided to score no less than three goals within 1:20 mins, silencing the home crowd in Edmonton and seizing the series for Montreal.

Great series bud, see you in GDL!

Edited December 6, 2014 by Fitzo

[kingraph]

Gotta love the playoffs!

[minpind]

VGGS. Last minute in the 3rd was a slobberknocker, the most insane thing i've ever seen. Fitzo and I had about 10 chances each going up and down the ice missing crazy open nets and/or our goalies standing on their heads. Lebeau couldn't stand it so he had to wrap it up real quick in ot. #GHG

[kingraph]

Two more series in the books. Quebec takes out Pittsburgh in 5 (prediction was 7), so Robbie stepped on the gas pedal.

And in my first wrong prediction of the playoffs, Dallas (Jackandjose) takes out the NYR (ProBob) in 5 games, while I had the NYR projected to win in 6! I was way off there. Nicely done J&J!

ONE SERIES LEFT....Northway, you have to respond to the thread bud. I will PM you now.

[LA Robbie]

Two more series in the books. Quebec takes out Pittsburgh in 5 (prediction was 7), so Robbie stepped on the gas pedal.

And in my first wrong prediction of the playoffs, Dallas (Jackandjose) takes out the NYR (ProBob) in 5 games, while I had the NYR projected to win in 6! I was way off there. Nicely done J&J!

ONE SERIES LEFT....Northway, you have to respond to the thread bud. I will PM you now.

Clockwise is certainly the better player but his PIT fatties just couldn't deal with the QUE buggers. They were bullied throughout. Clockwise even resorted to dropping Mario after game 2 onwards. For the first time in history Straka was the prefered option!!! Worked in game 4 as he managed to pull out a competitive performance at both ends of the ice but it just couldn't last. Although he was shut out in game 4 Sakic was relentless with 17 points in the other 4 games. Just kept beating down on poor old Stanton & Samuelsson.

GGS Clockwise & gl in TDL where he beat me in 5.

[HABS]

vow nice to see this tradition continuing !

[Fitzo]

The Blues takes out Habs in a thrilling 6-game series!

An incredibly nerve wrecking Conference Semi Final was played yesterday between Coach Depchie and Coach Fistzo, with no less than 4 out of the 6 games being decided by the odd goal (Blues claiming three of them). First game was close, like two boxers jabbing at each other, circling around the ring in hope of finding gaps in each others defense. With 12 seconds left of 3rd, Hull sealed the victory with a breakaway goal. 4-3 Blues

Second game became another Hull show with no less than three goals scored by #16. Result: 5-2 Blues

Third was indeed a replay of the first game, with Hull making the GWG in 3rd period. 4-3 Blues

Fourth and fifth game were basically like twins, with Roy making spectacular saves and D-men Schneider and Brisebois playing at their very top level, only allowing Blues to score twice in six periods! Was another Miracle on Ice about to happen? You could feel the tension in the AIM conversation room!

Results: 4-1 MTL , 2-1 MTL

Sixth and final game, probably the most dramatic out of them all, with both teams playing excellent defensive hockey. After three played periods, the scoreboard said 2-2, and none of the four goals were scored by any of the teams star players. So when the teams reached OT, who else than good 'ol #16 just HAD to ruin the party for Montreal? That's right. Brett hull scored the OT winner after 2:03 minutes, thus scoring his 3rd GWG in the series.

Excellent series which could've ended differently, but in the end took the best '94 player to the Conference Finals.

Wish you best of luck in the rest of the playoffs, kompis!

Edited December 17, 2014 by Fitzo

[Depch]

From my perspective, the series between Montreal and St Louis turned out indeed tougher than expected beforehand. Whilst being tight games all the way going to 3-0 lead I started to expect a blowout, but Roy-Brisebois-Schneider on Fitzos hand started to frustrate the hell out me in games 4-5-6 and would've propably been so in game 7 too had game 6 OT gone differently. Fitzo came out real strong having his back on the wall. Played a very very disciplined and good games. If he can transfer some of that to his consistent performance then the A level is not too far from his graps.

Watch out for Fitzo bringing back Brisebois in GDL too!

Excellent series which could've ended differently, but in the end took the best '94 player to the Conference Finals.

Wish you best of luck in the rest of the playoffs, kompis!

Hah, thank you for the compliment, but you propably meant in this series. Plabax is the dog to beat _atm_ and the rest come behind. =)

To win you always need a little bit of luck too, so will take that in to the upcoming series vs Sicarius!

[kingraph]

In an great 7 game battle, Washington takes out the Devils! Seth was relentless and stopped that NJ offense! Ggs

WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS

3. Boston (BrutusKhan)

vs

5. Washington (Uncle Seth)

EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS

1. St.Louis (Depch)

vs

2. Los Angeles (Sicarius Fulgur)

GOOD LUCK!

[Uncle Seth]

A competitive back and forth series, could have gone either way. The battle of the most frustrating teams (to use) goes the distance. NJ's super slowness up front (Semak, Richer) mixed with a solid skater Pukin make for a pokey, but agile and potent attack.....once they finally breach the zone. Heavy CB crushers with strong AI on D (Stevens/Kasatonov). With good agility and passing, and sound quick tending they look decent on paper but do seem to lug around out there. Raph is a phenomenal player whose true abilities come out when he uses lightning fast teams that others fail miserably with (Vancouver).

Wash's one trick speed pony of Bondra, super accurate slugs in Pat Elynuik (sweet 2 passing rating) and Dimitri 60 ft turning radius Kristich (about the same as Richer's), plus Mr. Utility Bob Carp. Solid D, one fat, one light (Johannsen/Cote), with barely a starter Bow-preyed upon in one net.

Yes this is rambling and hard to follow, but so what, f**k editing. A series that was bound to happen and go 7. But Raph has too much pride to mention when lag shows up. Who wants to play through that, isn't using the Devils difficult enough!

Even Steven teams, end to end action with shitty GC tending both sides, two proud Americans battling it out, what more could you ask for? Forget the scores but here's the breakdown.

G1= Raph (stunning comeback to win in OT, or epic collapse?)

G2= Seth

G3= Seth

G4= Raph

G5= Raph

G6= Seth (up against the ropes coach benches Kristich)

G7= Seth

Edited December 20, 2014 by Uncle Seth

[Depch]

"Eastern" conference has been wrapped up and St Louis advanced to the finals with 4-1 in wins against Los Angeles Kings.

Not going to write too much about the games, but all of them were really close on the exception of game 3.

What I will remember most from this series is game 1 ending. St Louis leading 4-2 1:23 still on the clock. Eventually Los Angeles would rally to 4-4 and during 4-4 STL is getting a delayed penalty, during the LA offensive and this delayed penalty LA misses a pass and the pass bounces off the boards and starts to go directly towards LA goal. Behind the puck is Emerson, who cannot touch the puck or the penalty would be called. Just had to protect the lane to not get LA guys touch the puck. Puck hits the right side of the goal post and no goal. From this LA rallies offensive and comes back to score a onetimer goal, just to see 0:00 during the shot already taken. Deserved win for LA in the first game.

Great games and it was a tighter series than the 4-1 give out to.

Game 1 @ STL 5-4 LA OT

Game 2 @ STL 5-3 STL

Game 3 @ LA 7-2 STL

Game 4 @ LA 4-3 STL

Game 5 @ STL 5-4 STL

Edited December 22, 2014 by Depch