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Vol 00 issue 1702
Editor: Grienk
Graphics: BA
Contributors: Sirikit, Shark, Third, & the Wolfman
REGULAR
ISSUE:
GHL Power Standings
Will Cox III presents: THE GHL TEAM OF THE WEEK
Meet
the GM
GHL
Playoff review by Matt Banks
GHL Rumours
The
Sharks' Grade AAA Beef of the Week
Grienk's
HipChecks
GHL Power Rankings
The Top 10 Teams in GHL( Feb14, 2000)
| LW |
TW |
Team |
Pts |
Last 10 |
Comments |
| 1 |
1 |
Royals |
122 |
7-3-0 |
Royals are heading into
the playoffs as number one seed. Was there any doubt. They
look good as Storm and Pigs will be killing each other while Royals will
watch and smile. Big Al....better take Beezer and Mironov seriously. |
| 2 |
2 |
Bearcats |
104 |
6-4-0 |
Will Jagr lead this squad
to the finals? Belfour more likely. He is the best tender in
the league and I would be scared to face him. Deano better watch
out for the rising Arsenal. |
| 4 |
3 |
War Pigs |
99 |
7-2-1 |
The Pigs are tough to
beat with their Lindros and Sundin one-two punch. Khabibulan has
been playing well. Is it any wonder that this is the editor's pick
to win it all? |
| 5 |
4 |
Storm |
99 |
7-2-1 |
The Storm, like the Royals
last year, are shaking in their boots at the thought of facing the Pigs
in the first round. Modano is a great player, but he will be whining
and crying after the first round. Seriously though.....the Storm
are a great squad and are well-respected in the GHL (but they still don't
have a chance against the Pigs! hehe) |
| 3 |
5 |
Earthquake |
96 |
5-5-0 |
The Earthquake came on
strong in the second half of this season. At the mid-point, they
were sitting in 5th place and then Ryan started trading. Forsberg
has been amazing and will lead the Earthquake to their second straight
final. |
| 6 |
6 |
Hurricanes |
93 |
4-5-1 |
Hurricanes did not impress
the Power Rankings in the 2nd half of the season. Lacksadaisacal
play and a soft team could prove costly against rival Earthquake. |
| 10 |
7 |
Arsenal |
81 |
7-3-0 |
Arsenal overcome great
odds and make the playoffs. Led by one of my favorite strikers, Randy
McKay, this club is the talk of the GHL. Along with some fine
strikers, GM Bailey's club has a solid midfield, an a up and coming backfield
and a keeper who is stopping the ball.....er puck(ooops...wrong Arsenal). |
| 7 |
8 |
Ice Dawgs |
79 |
3-9-0 |
The Wolves do not move
up the ladder. They remain around .500 and are near the middle of
almost every team stat except Penalty Killing which remains a thorn in
GM Banks' side. |
| - |
9 |
Humpbacked |
77 |
5-4-1 |
Humpers made a surprising
run to the playoffs but came up short. Their fine play in the last
20 games was overlooked by most as all eyes were on the Arsenal. |
| 8 |
10 |
Wolverines |
79 |
4-6-1 |
Wolverines stumble to
the finish line this season. Inability to win vs. big clubs proves costly. |
WILL COX III presents: THE
GHL TEAM OF THE WEEK
(ED NOTE: Will put a lot of work in this one and it shows.
Great article Will!!!)
| Hello one and all and welcome to
my special article this week on the GHL. This week I decided to send out
a survey which I'm sure all of you got. I asked you to answer all questions
and send your responses to me. With the 13 responses I recieved the following
conclusions were drawn.
PLAYOFFS - Section 1
-------------------------
Q1 - What team do you think will
win the Canadian Conference this season?
The Earthquake edge out their
counterparts, the Bearcats 7 votes to 6.
Q2 - What team do you think will
win the American Conference this season?
The Royals ran away with this
one collecting 11 of 13 votes. The Storm collected the others.
Q3 - Which team do you think will
win the GHL playoffs this season?
Once again, the Royals run away
with it collecting 9 votes. In a distant second the Pigs and Storm each
had two votes.
(ED NOTE: I was one of the
dummies who voted the Pigs for the Championship, yet somehow predicted
the Royals to win the American Conference. DUH!)
Q4 - Which player do you think will
win the playoff MVP award?
This one was a close one, with
four votes Mr. Dominik Hasek won. Closely followed by Yashin with 3 and
Jagr with 2.
Q5 - Which goalie do you think will
play best in the playoffs as a whole?
As the last question should have
made you guess, Mr. Hasek wins again, this time with 6 votes. Tugnutt came
in second with 3 and Belfour came in third.
TRADING - Section 2
-----------------------
Q1 - Of youth, experience, scoring
ability, defensive ability, and playmaking, which do you think is most
importany in aquiring a player?
There was a tie with this category,
scoring ability and playmaking both recieved 4 votes while youth collected
3 and defense collected 2.
Q2 - Of NHL stats, GHL stats, FHL
stats or projected stats, which do you think is most important when aquiring
a player?
This question had a runaway winner,
8.5 people chose NHL stats. And one person chose all equally.
Q3 - Which GM do you think is the
toughest to trade with?
The Shark won this one, Steve
Campbell collected 5 votes and beat out Banks with 3 and Jess with 2.
Q4 - What team do you think is one
trade away from breaking out in the GHL? (Choose one of Abyss, Tigers,
Arsenal, Humpbacked, Avalanche, Odyssey, Lumberjack, and Vikings)
Bailey's Arsenal won this category
with 6 votes doubling their closest counterpart, the Jacks with 3.
Q5 - What player is most likely to
be moved in the off-season from your team?
I put this in so maybe we can help
off-season dealing occur. The thirteen players mentioned in response to
this question were: Mark Messier (ABYSS), Mike Vernon (HUMPBACKED),
Peter Bondra (WOLVERINES), Ron Tugnutt (STORM), Christian LaFlamme (WAR
PIGS), Damian Rhodes (VIKINGS), Rob Blake (ROYALS), Joe Nieuwendyk (LUMBERJACK),
Darrell Sydor (EARTHQUAKE), "old people" (AVALANCHE)/ Teemu Selanne (HURRICANES),
Matthew Barnaby (TIGERS), Vyacheslav Kozlov (BEARCATS)
(ED NOTE: Jack......if you
think old people will be dealt, does that mean we should see Big Al changing
teams soon?
For those who did not get
my weak joke - BIG AL = old people........BAH, forget it!)
GM'ing - Section 3
-------------------
Q1 - On a scale of 1-5 what would
you rate your involvement in GHL matters? (newspaper, vicinities, surveys,
trading, award ballots etc.)
On this question, 4 people said
5, 7 people said 4, 2 said 3.
Q2 - On a scale of 1-5 what would
you rate your consistency to turn in lines in the GHL?
For this one, 6 people said 5,
5 people said 4 or 4.5, 2 people said 3.
Q3 - Who do you think deserves more
credit as a GM?
For this question, I agree, I
think this guy gets a lot of credit but deserves more for all his work.
Mr. Keith Grienke collectd 4 votes to win this category.
(ED NOTE: Thank
you very much.....we obviously have very perceptive readers!)
Q4 - Who, in your opinion, puts the
most effort into their team and the league?
This question was basically a
no brainer, with 9 of 13 votes Big AL, commish and GM won. And rightfully
so, Mr. Keith Grienke came in second with 3 votes.
(Ed Note: WHEW....Will
never figured out that I spoofed three GMs email addresses to get me 2nd
place......)
Q5 - Who do you think is online the
most of all GM's in the GHL?
This one brought our only three
way tie, all with three votes, Big AL, Magnar and Steve Campbell win this
one. Dean had 2 votes as well.
(Ed NOTE:
hey Dean....shouldn't Will rename this one the "Who do you think will get
killed by their wife for being online the most?")
I would like to send out a quick
thank you to all of you who took the time to complete and reply to my questionnaire.
I'm sure everyone who didn't has a good reason for not doing it! (cough,
cough!!!) Anyways, until next week, get into your leagues, reply to all
league emails and just get involved with newspaper, or anything else!
Thanx for your time,
Will Cox III
GM ABYSS |
MEET THE
GM: This Weeks Featured GM - the Phantom
(ED
NOTE: do to high number of reader telling me that they don't care
about any other GMs, this section is cancelled.)
PLAYOFF PREDICTIONS by Matt
Banks
(ED NOTE: Obviously, a lot
of work was put in this by Matt.....clearly his finest work for the TGN......way
to go, Wolfboy!!!)
Canadian Conference Quarter -Finals
1st seed Bearcats (47-25-10) versus 4th seed Arsenal (36-37
-9)
Well, the Arsenal sneak in a playoff birth after going virtually unbeatable
down the stretch, but will they be emotionally drained after the hard fought
battle for the 4th and last playoff spot with the Wolverines? They have
a tough task ahead of them if they hope to upset the heavily favored ‘Cats.
Centers -Bearcats- With Gretzky and Francis to lead
the way the Bearcats are sound at the most important spot in the simm.
Add Dougie Weight and the ‘Cats have possibly the best three punch in the
GHL when it comes playoff time.
Arsenal- With three high 70’s at center (two farmers)
the Arsenal are set for the regular season, but come playoff time they
have nobody they can rely on.
EDGE- BEARCATS
Left Wing- Bearcats- Since the departure of Kariya the Bearcats
have had nobody capable of providing the big goals on LW. They will have
to rely on Kozlov.
Arsenal- The Arsenal’s strong point is Left Wing. Demitra
will have to be able to out-score the mighty Jagr (not likely), if the
Arsenal will have any chance at the second round.
EDGE- ARSENAL
Right Wing- Bearcats- With MacLean and god (Jagr) on their side
the Bearcats have got this position in the bag.
Arsenal- Crunch time, let’s see what the much-hyped about
McKay can do. They are hopelessly out-matched on this one. Only hope
is that Jagr breaks his back in the first game.
EDGE- BEARCATS
Defensemen-Bearcats- Lumme will be the leader of the blueline
that somehow manages to be impressive.
Arsenal- Leschyshyn and York will be the leaders of an
inexperienced D.
EDGE- EVEN
Goalies- Bearcats- Just ask Keith and he will tell you what Belfour
can do when it counts (All-Star game). Belfour is perhaps the league’s
second best goalie, so look for big things from him.
Arsenal- They counter with a pretty good goalie in Roy.
He will be the cornerstone of any possible upset. Still...
EDGE- BEARCATS
PREDICTION- Bearcats in 6.
2nd seed Earthquake (44-30 -8) versus 3rd seed Hurricanes
(42-31 -9)
After a horrendous start the ‘Quake get things in gear and start to
“shake” on up the rankings to number two. Meanwhile the ‘Canes have been
playing roller-coaster hockey all season. All I know is that when an Earthquake
and a Hurricane get together, there’s bound to be one hell of a natural
disaster!
Centers -Earthquake- With playoff tested Yzerman and regular
season scoring leader Forsberg, the ‘Quake should have no problem at center.
Hurricanes- The ‘Canes have a reliable number one center
in Sakic, but have no number two center. They must hope that Niedermayer
has a superb playoff’s.
EDGE- Earthquake
Left Wing- Earthquake- Brind'Amour, Kamensky and Zamuner will
be the main ‘go-to’ guys for the Quake
Hurricanes- The Canes had better make some moves in the
off-season to be able to keep up with some of the other Left Wing powers.
McEachern will be the main guy.
EDGE- Earthquake
Right Wing- Earthquake –With no real power right winger the Quake
will have to rely heavily on Recchi and Thomas.
Hurricanes – The Canes out-do the Quake on this one. Selanne,
Lehtinen and Mellanby should out-perform their Earthquake counterparts.
EDGE- Hurricanes
Defensemen- Earthquake – They have spent all season upgrading
their D to one of the best in the league. Niedermayer, Sydor, Stevens and
Chelios will be the quarterbacks of the Quake.
Hurricanes – Lidstrom, Zubov and Olausson are the
eye of the Hurricane.. A strong D but not as strong as the Earthquake.
EDGE- Earthquake
Goalies- Earthquake – If Joseph is anything like he was in the
regular season the Canes are in for a long series.
Hurricanes – Trading away Hasek will start to haunt the
Canes here. Can Hebert hold the fort?
EDGE- Earthquake
PREDICTION- Earthquake in 7. |
American Conference Quarter -Finals
1st seed Royals (57-17-8) versus 4th seed Ice Dawgs (36-39-7)
The Ice Dawgs make the playoffs after the playoff race went right down
to the end only to find themselves up against the god-like Royals, and
thinking it would have been better to have missed the playoffs!
Centers - Royals – Yashin and Fedorov will provide the
Royals with enough firepower to get by the Dawgs.
Ice Dawgs- Will have to rely heavily on Turgeon and hope
for the best.
EDGE- ROYALS
Left Wing- Royals – Tkachuk, Rolston and Langenbrunner... more
then enough to over-come the Dawgs.
Ice Dawgs – Bellows, Barnes and Matteau will have to play
above their level, to compete with powerhouse Royals.
EDGE- ROYALS
Right Wing- Royals – The Royals only “weak” spot. Nolan will
have to play suburb to off set the other wingers inexperience.
Ice Dawgs – Guerin and Lapointe will have to do it all.
EDGE- ROYALS
Defensemen- Royals – The Royals power spot. Undoubtedly one of
the best defensive teams in the league, not to shabby on the attack either.
With Pronger, Blake, Zhitnik, Malakhov, McGillis and Ozolinsh on the blue
line the Ice Dawg’s are going to have their hands full!
Ice Dawgs - Mironov will have to be the Dawgs best player
if they have any hope at the cup. Look for Tinordi and Houlder to contribute.
EDGE- ROYALS
Goalies- Royals – With Hasek in net there is no way the Royals
can loose this department.
Ice Dawgs – The Dawgs have a pretty good playoff goalie
themselves, but Vanbiesbrouck couldn’t pull of a win in the All-Star game.
This is cause for worry because he will be facing the hottest team in the
league for the past four years!!
EDGE- ROYALS
PREDICTION- Royals in 5.
2nd seed Storm (46-29-7) versus 3rd seed War Pigs (44-27-11)
The ever-improving War Pigs coast into the playoffs and find themselves
in for a battle against the Storm for the rights to the GHL cup.
Centers - Storm – Modano, Straka and Rucchin will lead
the heavily stacked Storm into the playoffs.
War Pigs – Not to be outdone the Pigs counter with the
Big E and Sudin. The Pigs have got to have the biggest 1-2 combo at center
the GHL has ever seen. But if one of the two go down the Pigs are in trouble.
EDGE- EVEN
Left Wing- Storm – LeClair, Friesen and Bonk should have little
problem out-performing their opposition.
War Pigs – Will have to pray that Satan and Tsyplakov
turn into scoring machines and don’t stop.
EDGE- STORM
Right Wing- Storm – The thunderhead that leads the storm, watch
out for Amonte and Fleury as they have been impressive all of the regular
season, still this is the playoffs....
War Pigs – Here is where the Lindros deal starts to haunt
the Pigs, with Hull gone the Pigs will have to depend on the young Kovalev
to deliver.
EDGE- STORM
Defensemen- Storm – Duchesne, MacInnis, Suter and Desjardins
will be the leaders in the dressing room and on the ice for the Storm.
War Pigs- Shannon, Lachance, Odelein, Hatcher and Numminen
are a nice counter to the Storm’s ‘arsenal’ but not enough....
EDGE- STORM
Goalies- Storm – Tugnnut will get the start for the Storm against
the Pigs and should do fine.
War Pigs – Khabibulin should start the series for the
Pigs and even though he’s higher rated then Tugnnut, he’s less experienced.
EDGE- EVEN
PREDICTION- Storm in 7.
(ED NOTE: Matty, Matty.....I have never
ever said a bad word about the Wolverines....what have I done to desrve
this. Actually....I can think of a few! Again....nice submission
Matt!!)
|
GHL Rumours & Rantings
 Name
the GM Contest
This GM has the loudest
mouth !!! Can always be heard dissing GMs in Vicinities, on ICQ,
and in emails. This guy talks so much trash, you think he was Oscar the
Grouch!! Any guesses??? Winner gets GM Belanger's tongue down
their throat.
(Last week's winner
was GM Belanger, named GM Banks. He picked up the War Pigs
tickets, saw the War Pigs game, and came out smiling and saying, " So that
is how hockey should be played." |
| Rumour du Jour
No
need for rumours as trade deadline has passed. |
 Vikings
Update GM Sundvall
is currently scouting out prospects in Chile and Columbia.
Rumours out of the Medellin drug cartel is that Magnar has not seen many
games, but has seen lots of "snow". |
THE
SHARK'S GRADE AAA BEEF OF THE WEEK
by Steve Campbell
(ED NOTE: THANKS
TO STEVE FOR TAKING ON THIS "NO HOLDS BARRED" SECTION OF THE GHL.
IF STEVE CRITICIZES YOU, PLEASE TAKE IT CONSTRUCTIVELY. HE LOVES
THE GHL AND IS OUT TO IMPROVE IT. HIS SECTION IS A TOUGH ONE, SO
AGAIN, TAKE IT CONSTRUCTIVELY AND THEN TAKE IT OUT ON THE STORM!!!)
 I
think I'll stay out of trouble with everyone this issue and talkabout one
of my beefs with the FHL sim. First and foremost, the biggest problem
with the sim is that some of the player ratings don't seem to have much
to do with the results you'd expect. Take a look at Scoring (SC)
for example. I expect players with high SC to be the players that
score the most goals. I think this is a fair statement since a player's
NHL goal scoring is how
the SC rating is determined
to begin with.
Anyway, let's take a look
at our highest goal scorers in the GHL this season. Wayne Gretzky,
our top dog with 57. He must have a great SC rating.
Oops! only 57?? I don't think I have a single player on my team with
that low a SC rating, including my farm team!! I certainly don't
have anyone with 57 goals though. He's going to score more goals
than his SC rating. 57 is pathetic. I would expect less than
15 goals for the entire season from a player with that rating.
Well, I guess that didn't
work, so let's try finding someone with high SC and see if he's scored
any goals this season. Let's start with the top D-men. Gonchar has
a 90 SC, Aucoin 88 SC and MacInnis 85 SC!! That's huge for defensemen.
I bet they put in a lot of goals. Hey, wait a minute. Gonchar
has only 3 goals, Aucoin only 3 goals and MacInnis only 8 goals.
What the hell??
That just ain't right.
What about forwards? We have to look at Pavel Bure with a 99!
No better in the game and never will be. Well, he got 35 goals which
isn't too bad, but not even in the top 15. Christ, even Rolston scored
more goals with his mighty 70 SC. I guess the end result is that
SC isn't an indicator of a player's ability to score goals which makes
it a mostly useless rating. Maybe a tie breaker at best. If
SC doesn't tell you who
will score then what does
. . . . .
(ED NOTE: Never a good idea to get the SIMM
mad, Steve. The SIMM sees and hears and knows everything you do!" |
HIPCHECKS
(ED NOTE: This section will be about whatever
I want to talk about.)
| Hello....welcome to issue #7 of the GHL NEWS.
Hope you enjoyed it. If you did not, make sure you email
me. Thanks to GM Cox and GM Banks for two great submissions
!! GM Campbell explained that the SC rating means nothing,
but I, for one, am going to start stocking up on guys like Greztky with
57s for Scoring. Maybe it is a magic number. Thanks again to GM
BA for adding all the little icons and graphics. If anyone
else out there who wants to put in an article or send in their Team Update
or a quote or rumor, send it to me at [email protected].
I would like to go on record with my predictions:
Round 1
Royals/Ice Dawgs = no brainer Royals.
Storm/War Pigs = War Pigs, they have the scoring
and the goalies right now.
Bearcats/Arsenal = Bearcats, the Arses are just
happy to be here, but the Cats are for real.
Earthquake/Hurricanes = Quake, tough tough team.
Round 2
Royals/War Pigs = Pigs, Royals have had
Pigs number all season, but I beat them last year and I have a good feeling
about my team. They are hot.
Bearcats/Earthquake = Bearcats, Belfour will
be the difference.
Finals
Bearcats/Pigs = Bearcats, Jagr will kill me.
Thanks for reading!!! Email me with your
comments. |
Until Next Issue........HOW BOUT DA PIGS
!!!!
GRIENK
[email protected]
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