What happens when you take some of the best A Guys...

[aqualizard]

Question: What happens when you take 5 of the best coaches and put them in a league with 5 solid B level guys?  But the kicker is, the A guys are saddled with the worst teams on the ROM, and the B guys get the best teams?

I ask because this experiment is about to unfold, in a mini league I call "Princes vs Paupers".  Now is the time to speculate, because halfway through, we will know the answer.  Right now it is pure conjecture.

Can CB Master Raph STILL dominate when he plays what many consider to be the worst team on the ROM, the ANH Mighty Ducks?  Or will he fail to win a single game?

Will the A guys saddled with crap teams still be able to generate high scores, or will they be stuck trying to win clinging to 3 or even 2 goals, and playing sound defense?  (Not 3 and 2 goal *leads*, I mean clinging to 2 or 3 goals scored total!)

And will this league be fun, or will it be tedious after 3 games, with all vowing "never again!"? (The schedule is 18 games, no playoffs.)

I salute the following A guys for even agreeing to this bizarre experiment:

1. Smozoma (SJ)
2. Depch (OTT)
3. FPB (FLA)
4. Raph (ANH)
5. Icestorm (TB)

The B guys, who I do not salute, because I just know we are all doing this hoping we can get payback on the vicious drubbings we have taken at the hands of these pros, are:

1. Coah (DET)
2. Jack&Jose (VAN)
3. Aqualizard (BUF)
4. AtomicRaven (CHI)
5. Jer_33 (MTL)

What do you think is going to happen?

Edited February 15, 2017 by aqualizard

[Brutus]

Having been a "B" guy playing years ago playing vs the A guys during exi's and they'd drop down to these teams, I can tell you that you are still going to lose almost ALL of your games vs Raph, Ice & FPB.

Not sure how Smoz or Depch will fair with the lesser teams, although I expect they would win a high percentage of them because both are very solid on defensive strategies, with very little holes in their games.

J&J has been playing MUCH stronger of late, so I expect him to do very well with Vancouver comparatively speaking.

 

It is Classic, with hot/cold streaks and Home/Away advantages on, so there is ALWAYS the chance of a fluke win.  But to me, the only chance of seeing a few outliers in the league will be if Raph/Ice/FPB don't come heavily motivated on a given night to go undefeated. 

 

[CoachMac]

In Preseason action Raph (Anaheim) took 2 of 3 from Me (Detroit)
This is maybe the most one-sided match-up as Raph is possibly the Top A player and I am certainly the worst B player.

5-4 DET in OT

8-4 ANA (and one of the most amazing goals I have ever seen)

3-2 ANA in OT

It is going to make the A guys better.
It will also help them at KO94 as they will be familiar with some of the obscure teams.

It is going to make the B guys better.
I could actually see what Raph was doing and got a chance to move beyond Survival mode against him.

I found it to be fun as I think Raph is an "Righteous Dude" both online and in person.
It was fun to play him.

It is the same with golf.
I have buddies I am way better than and a couple pros who are way better than me but we have fun playing together because of the Handicap.

I also enjoy skiing with people who don't ski as well as I do because I like them.

I really appreciate Aqua proposing and putting this together.
I think everyone will really enjoy it as it is why I play these games.

Heck, Smoz even came out of retirement to play.

 

 

[smozoma]

7 minutes ago, aqualizard said:

What do you think is going to happen?

I will be last

But I'm interested in seeing how the rest pans out! Not sure how I'm going to score on Belfour and Roy with Gaudreau and Falloon... Maybe Wilson can hit the net once in a while.

[CoachMac]

2 minutes ago, Brutus said:

Having been a "B" guy playing years ago playing vs the A guys during exi's and they'd drop down to these teams, I can tell you that you are still going to lose almost ALL of your games vs Raph, Ice & FPB.

Not sure how Smoz or Depch will fair with the lesser teams, although I expect they would win a high percentage of them because both are very solid on defensive strategies, with very little holes in their games.

J&J has been playing MUCH stronger of late, so I expect him to do very well with Vancouver comparatively speaking.

 

It is Classic, with hot/cold streaks and Home/Away advantages on, so there is ALWAYS the chance of a fluke win.  But to me, the only chance of seeing a few outliers in the league will be if Raph/Ice/FPB don't come heavily motivated on a given night to go undefeated. 

 

You are wrong sir Brutus.

All our games were in Detroit were the Wings are weak.
Raph will have a steep learning curve to win all but a couple flukes against the rest of this league.

He may be up to that but it will not be easy unless he was going easy on me last night.

And this is in no way meant as slight to Raph or any other A player.
It is gonna be fun.

[Depch]

It will be interesting to see at least.

Smozoma has not been very active so he could struggle with SJ a lot. Someone like J&J knows pass shots and has improved his game as of late as well.

Of the active A guys I can say that Ice propably has the best team of the bunch. Kasper & Bradley will provide a good low weight duo with Kontos or whoever you want to put there as third. I don't like the D Tampa has, but their goalie is 2nd best after Beezer in Florida. I have always sought out Ice to rely more on speedy guys so seeing this out will be interesting, I think he will surprise me with his effort and level of play with craps as well.

FPB I have played the least and I can base very little on his gameplay so I have to use hearsay as well to predict here. I have understood that he relies usually on superstars and abusing their power and when I went through the bottom 3 teams (Ott,Fla,Ana) Florida has absolutely the worst offence the only guy on the level of the other crap teams have to offer is Lomakin. Florida has the best back end and goalie of the bottom 5, so maybe FPB will surprise me there. FPB totally surprised me with the team pick he made, I totally expected Fla to fall to Ice.

Kingraph will be just fine with Anaheim, it's a pretty balanced crap team. Semenov & Yake offer some great chemistry and onetimer power also Kasatonov is a regular face from Kingraph and whoever he throws next to him will provide an ok defence. He will battle for the win for sure.

I myself with Ottawa will be interesting. I have a lot of experience of playing with poor players and historically I am also used to playing with underdog teams. I am happy with the situation. Offence I will be using Lamb-Baker-Smail so it will be relatively low weight and perhaps the best of the bottom 3 trio, but I don't know will it offer the chemistry Yake-Semenov has. Defence will be with MacIver who at least had a defensive awareness 4 and pair him with Shaw or Rumble for CB. I cannot make an estimation here, anything between bottom and win.

 

Edited February 9, 2017 by Depch

[Brutus]

4 minutes ago, CoachMac said:

You are wrong sir Brutus.

All our games were in Detroit were the Wings are weak.
Raph will have a steep learning curve to win all but a couple flukes against the rest of this league.

He may be up to that but it will not be easy unless he was going easy on me last night.

And this is in no way meant as slight to Raph or any other A player.
It is gonna be fun.

I hope I'm wrong.  It would likely mean you guys are better now than I was then though, cause I had little success in these type of situations.

And, I think it will be a LOT OF FUN.  My post is not meant to be read as a poo-poo of the idea, but Aqua had asked our predictions.

[CoachMac]

4 minutes ago, Brutus said:

I hope I'm wrong.  It would likely mean you guys are better now than I was then though, cause I had little success in these type of situations.

And, I think it will be a LOT OF FUN.  My post is not meant to be read as a poo-poo of the idea, but Aqua had asked our predictions.

No offense taken.

I wish you were playing and I agree, Raph will get quickly.
But last night was really fun.

And he did take 2 of 3 with me only winning his first game and that in OT.

But I am also clearly the weakest player.

Edited February 9, 2017 by CoachMac

[smozoma]

3 minutes ago, Depch said:

Smozoma has not been very active so he could struggle with SJ a lot.

Yeah, I think I may have underestimated how difficult this is going to be! I used to play OTT vs All Stars West against a buddy of mine who played maybe 100 games total. He'd beat me once in a while.  These B players are quality players, so it's going to be the other way around, I hope I can steal a game here and there.

I would have felt more comfortable with TB or FLA, but I picked SJ since they're more balanced. I can't rely on a (relative) superstar like Bradley, or the good auto goaltending of Beezer (and Murphy is actually pretty good). I'll have to learn a thing or two :).

[IceStorm70]

15 minutes ago, smozoma said:

Yeah, I think I may have underestimated how difficult this is going to be! I used to play OTT vs All Stars West against a buddy of mine who played maybe 100 games total. He'd beat me once in a while.  These B players are quality players, so it's going to be the other way around, I hope I can steal a game here and there.

I would have felt more comfortable with TB or FLA, but I picked SJ since they're more balanced. I can't rely on a (relative) superstar like Bradley, or the good auto goaltending of Beezer (and Murphy is actually pretty good). I'll have to learn a thing or two :).

I'll take SJ smoz 

[smozoma]

21 minutes ago, IceStorm70 said:

I'll take SJ smoz 

No worries, I'm fine with SJ :). Those were totally separate thoughts, didn't mean to suggest I wanted a different team now due to underestimating how hard the games would be.

[IceStorm70]

6 minutes ago, smozoma said:

No worries, I'm fine with SJ :). Those were totally separate thoughts, didn't mean to suggest I wanted a different team now due to underestimating how hard the games would be.

 no worries, not a fan of ever playing in a league with the 'best' team.  unless it's a draft league and I was able to build it through trades etc.

[Premium]

The B guys should win. It's not about the A players being good, it's about the B players being good enough. It's a fun little challenge, but I really don't see the A guys winning a lot of games. A good portion of the success of the A players comes from being able to successfully exploit the attributes of the top players and not through true fundamentals.

I could be wrong, but I just don't see someone like myself being able to win.

 

[Brutus]

2 hours ago, CoachMac said:

No offense taken.

I wish you were playing and I agree,

 

I actually have done well in some of your leagues with the scrub teams vs the elite teams, but that was like '92 & '93.  Different games than '94.

I didn't join for a few reasons:
#1 Aqua seemed pretty specific, he wanted top A vs B, and I don't generally fit that description.

#2 I'm in SNES Dynasty, Plabs playoffs (at least until Sunday when I face off vs Seth), and need to be running/setting up the league the next couple of days, and didn't want to get bogged down.

 

[Brutus]

1 hour ago, Premium said:

I could be wrong, but I just don't see someone like myself being able to win.

 

Although both you & FPB are really good at scoring, and put up elite numbers in your GDL leagues, and normally with much better talent than offered from these 5 team options, I still think you both have the ability to find the B player's weaknesses and exploit them.

B+/A- type guys, this level of team talent difference starts to get very difficult/extreme.  So, IMO, if any of the B players play more like high B+, or if any of the A players struggle with not having elite talent/speed, then either one will result in a very interesting result.

[kingraph]

I think IceStorm should do the most damage with TB, with Bradley, Kontos, Anderson and great GC, so I'd vote for him early, but also J&J with VAN will be tough.  He's also been playing great.  It'll be interesting to see how this unfolds, I really can't predict.  My goal is .500 (9-9), and I'll try to win every game, no matter how frustrating it may be!

4 hours ago, CoachMac said:

8-4 ANA (and one of the most amazing goals I have ever seen)

 

The 'ol keg toss...having some fun in exis.

 

[aqualizard]

9 hours ago, CoachMac said:

In Preseason action Raph (Anaheim) took 2 of 3 from Me (Detroit)...

I could actually see what Raph was doing and got a chance to move beyond Survival mode against him.

First, I don't know about playing Raph ahead of time.  We gotta take this guy down by giving him no warm ups!  He will learn and adapt like a super-computer -- we need the element of surprise. Please, no more exis with Raph!

But seriously, I look forward to seeing what he is doing, and the other A guys are doing, too.  I know just what you mean by (usually) being in Survival mode.  Let's slow things down and.... learn.

One of the real motivators behind this for me is seeing what kind of fundamental, core skills the pros exhibit.  Without much in the way of roster talent, these guys will have to beat us with solid positioning and strategy.  Right? Especially defensively.  I am going to try my damndest, but I hope I do get beaten soundly because I am going to be recording the games, and think there will be a ton to learn here. 

 

Edited February 10, 2017 by aqualizard

[aqualizard]

Let's have some predictions.

Because OT has been stretched to an hour, there will be no ties.  I am hoping to go 12-6.  But if these A guys can still dominate -- which I do not expect, and will be really impressed by -- I could go well below .500.

On the B side, Atomic with CHI scares me (he just swept me in a 7 game series last night), and as people have stated, J&J has been on a tear lately.  He is scoring pass shots through traffic now at will, and has definitely been winning most of our exis.

I predict J&J or Atomic win it all.  I predict Ice and Raph are able to win at least half their games. I think Ice's pass shots will still translate well, and Raph will be served by his CB checking and great goalie control, making him hard to score on.

-------

Sounds like Brutus says an A will take it all (or at least some As will still dominate).

Smoz makes only one prediction: he will finish last!

Plabax says "B guys should win".

As well, my main prediction is a B takes it all.  Make me eat my words, guys!
 

 

Edited February 10, 2017 by aqualizard

[smozoma]

2 hours ago, aqualizard said:

Let's have some predictions.
 

 

smoz = 2-15-1

 

[aqualizard]

2 hours ago, smozoma said:

smoz = 2-15-1

The OT is 60 minutes long, so if you manage to tie a game, I will be very surprised!

[smozoma]

28 minutes ago, aqualizard said:

The OT is 60 minutes long, so if you manage to tie a game, I will be very surprised!

[corbettkb]

An A will win it, easily.

[jackandjose]

56 minutes ago, TexasPachyderm said:

An A will win it, easily.

I agree.  An A will finish first, second and probably third. 

[Premium]

You guys should have confidence in your game. You won't win if you think you are going to lose.

[Depch]

Yes, confidence & will translates to results in a positive environment.

So far I have knowledge of only the league games Coach has played. He said he is currently 1-7 and he split with FPB (Others Jer,J&J,Depch).

Going in to the games I had no clue what to expect result wise. In a sense I think Coach was much better than I presumed, like a year or two ago who would have said that bottom B players would even try pass shots. Very positive to witness that. My team had the defensive structure spot on so Coach could not utilize Detroit speed much. The second game Coach got a late rush in goals and if the game had been prolonged 1 more period I might've lost it.

Edited February 10, 2017 by Depch

[aqualizard]

1 hour ago, Depch said:

Yes, confidence & will translates to results in a positive environment.

So far I have knowledge of only the league games Coach has played. He said he is currently 1-7 and he split with FPB (Others Jer,J&J,Depch).

Going in to the games I had no clue what to expect result wise. In a sense I think Coach was much better than I presumed, like a year or two ago who would have said that bottom B players would even try pass shots. Very positive to witness that. My team had the defensive structure spot on so Coach could not utilize Detroit speed much. The second game Coach got a late rush in goals and if the game had been prolonged 1 more period I might've lost it.

We need to see the scores, but I am encouraged he spit with FPB. (Especially cuz FPB said he wouldn't be available for a week, so I thank him for the special effort.)  Coach is turning out to be the Tex of this tourney; gertting half his games in before others even start!

Regarding scores, Chaos seems busy, so Atomic and I (mostly him) are hobbling together a page on nhl94rocks.com that will allow gamesaves, and at least show the scores, the standings and game info. We are *hoping* to have that up today, so hold on to those gamesaves!

Edited February 10, 2017 by aqualizard

[Depch]

1 hour ago, aqualizard said:

We need to see the scores

Actually you were one of the guys he played, not J&J, recalled that wrong. I have the savestates and krec as well, will be taking records of all games.

Scores from my games were Ott @ Det 6-2 & Det @ Ott 4-7. I was expecting the games to be a bit more low scoring.

I'm expecting a much harder time scoring against Roy, Fuhr & Belfour with these guys. Barring any defensive lapses J&J might have McLean should eat the goals similarly as Chevy did on the chances.

Edited February 10, 2017 by Depch

[aqualizard]

Stats are happening!  See

Stats Thread

for info on submitting gamesaves!

Special thanks to Atomic for a lot of work done quickly to get this up.

 

 

[kylewat]

The A guys will win. 

And what the hell is this website with my exis?

[AtomicRaven]

I'm confident that I can finish in the top 3.