September 5, 2013

[Virtual Jarmo]

NYI 4 - PHI 2
Shots: 28-16 NYI
PP: NYI - 1/2; PHI - 2/5

07:38 0-1 NYI Sean Avery [1] (Ryan Strome)
17:59 1-1 PHI Zemgus Girgensons [1] (Scott Glennie, Mark Scheifele)PP
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26:41 1-2 NYI Rickard Rakell [1] (Rick Nash, Christopher Gibson)
37:13 1-3 NYI Alex Kovalev [1] (Jyrki Jokipakka, Bruno Gervais)
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40:48 2-3 PHI Mark Scheifele [1] (Daniel Brière, Ville Pokka)PP
42:21 2-4 NYI Rick Nash [1] (Mason Raymond, Jonathan Tavares)PP
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Three stars:
1st: Rick Nash
2nd: Alex Kovalev
3rd: Rickard Rakell

MTL 5 - BOS 4 (SO)
Shots: 42-33 MTL
PP: MTL - 1/4; BOS - 1/6

08:37 1-0 MTL Andrei Kostitsyn [1] (Joe Pavelski)PP
10:55 2-0 MTL Joe Pavelski [1] (Colby Cohen, Nick Bjugstad)
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25:04 2-1 BOS Matt Stajan [1] (Ludvig Rensfeldt, Tim Erixon)
26:42 3-1 MTL Peter Holland [1] (Kamil Kreps)
28:38 4-1 MTL Ales Hemsky [1] (David Backes, Andrei Kostitsyn)
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43:07 4-2 BOS Sven Baertschi [1] (Justin Abdelkader, Milan Lucic)
53:16 4-3 BOS Milan Lucic [1] (Oscar Möller, Joe Colborne)
57:33 4-4 BOS Jordan Caron [1] (Justin Abdelkader, Sven Baertschi)PP
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no scoring
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Shootout
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Montreal Canadiens win 3-2
Montreal Canadiens - Andrei Kostitsyn, miss; David Backes, goal; Ales Hemsky, goal; Dan Boyle, goal;
Boston Bruins - Jordan Caron, miss; Milan Lucic, goal; Joe Colborne, goal; Ben Wright, miss;

Three stars:
1st: Milan Lucic
2nd: Sven Bartschi
3rd: Joe Pavelski

PIT 5 - NJ 1
Shots: 35-25 PIT
PP: PIT - 1/6; NJ - 0/4

06:51 1-0 PIT James van Riemsdyk [1] (Scott Laughton, Jarome Iginla)PP
09:48 2-0 PIT Filip Forsberg [1] (Jonathon Blum, Scott Laughton)
18:26 3-0 PIT Cody Hodgson [1] (Joel Armia)
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28:06 3-1 NJ Roberts Lipsbergs [1] (Patrick Sieloff, Calle Andersson)
31:31 4-1 PIT Joel Armia [1] (Filip Forsberg)
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41:22 5-1 PIT Jarome Iginla [1] (Rostislav Olesz, Daniel Gunnarsson)
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Three stars:
1st: Filip Forsberg
2nd: Jarome Iginla
3rd: Joel Armia

BUF 3 - NYR 2
Shots: 38-21 BUF
PP: BUF - 1/8; NYR - 0/3

07:59 1-0 NYR Adam Gilmour [1] (Dane Byers)
13:33 1-1 BUF Zack Kassian [1] (Derek Roy)PP
15:21 2-1 NYR Nathan MacKinnon [1] (Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Seth Jones)
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23:55 2-2 BUF Derek Roy [1] (Ryan Johansen, Chris Butler)
26:25 2-3 BUF Thomas Vanek [1] (Zack Kassian, Chris Phillips)
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no scoring
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Three stars:
1st: Zack Kassian
2nd: Derek Roy
3rd: Thomas Vanek

OTT 3 - TOR 2
Shots: 36-23 OTT
PP: OTT - 0/5; TOR - 0/3

09:24 0-1 OTT Brian Lee [1] (Erik Karlsson)
11:21 1-1 TOR Chad Kolarik [1] (Alexander Gogolev, Mike Reilly)
12:36 1-2 OTT Calle Jarnkrok [1] (Johan Alm, Jonathan Cheechoo)
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33:09 1-3 OTT Jason Spezza [1] (Paul Gaustad, Anton Volchenkov)
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48:01 2-3 TOR Alexander Gogolev [1] (Kenny Ryan, Mathew Dumba)
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Three stars:
1st: Calle Jarnkrok
2nd: Alexander Gogogogogogogolev
3rd: Jason Spezza

[Virtual Jarmo]

Well, safe to say that I'm already in midseason form. 23 emails and a five-game sim complete in under 45 minutes. Doesn't take long to shake off the rust.

With that, welcome to the fifth season of Eastside's Hockey Elite Collide!

Four of the five games are won by teams using auto lines, while the Penguins are the only team that sent lines to pick up an opening night victory. We had our first 4-1 collapse of the season as the scrappy Bruins force a shootout. Adam Gilmour and Nathan MacKinnon score the first of what could be a lot of goals at this level with the lone Ranger goals of the evening. Meanwhile, Pierre-Marc Bouchard takes all of three seconds to take his first penalty of the season. Roberts Lipsbergs parentss ares happys tonights ass theirs sons scoress hiss firsts NHLs goals, but it's not nearly enough as the stacked Penguins flex some muscle. Ryan gives the nod to fellow Newfoundlander Daniel LaCosta on opening night and it leads to a loss. Toronto also in midseason form with a loss in a game in which they were outplayed.

http://www.ehechockey.com/EHEC.zip

http://www.ehechockey.com/calendar.html

[Bruins_GM]

2 more games of clownshoes, then 5 games to get to business.

That worked out better than I had planned, though.

[Parker]

Hahaha Robertsssss Lipsburgsssss.

[Parker]

Or Lipsbergsssss rather. Whatevsssss.

[Commish Bub(NYR)]

Not bad. One-goal loss playing mostly kids and newbies. Start hitting the weights, MacKinnon!

[Parker]

Start hitting the weights, MacKinnon!

Holy crap, no kidding. If Brett Connolly serves as any sort of example, it's going to take three years of development before NatMac is strong enough to tie up his own skates.

[Virtual Jarmo]

I have to stunt development and success somehow, right?

[Parker]

I have to stunt development and success somehow, right?

Oh yeah, I wasn't complaining about the ratings, it's just that strength is a real pain in the ass because a player's entire skillset other than strength could be ready for the NHL a sold three years before his strength no longer makes him a liability. I LIKE your prospect ratings, with some low-ceiling guys almost NHL ready at age 18 while some guys who could develop into starts could take a few years to get there. Variety is good, but like you say, there's only so much you can do given the limitations of the sim engine.

[Virtual Jarmo]

Oh yeah, I wasn't complaining about the ratings, it's just that strength is a real pain in the ass because a player's entire skillset other than strength could be ready for the NHL a sold three years before his strength no longer makes him a liability. I LIKE your prospect ratings, with some low-ceiling guys almost NHL ready at age 18 while some guys who could develop into starts could take a few years to get there. Variety is good, but like you say, there's only so much you can do given the limitations of the sim engine.

I know you weren't. I do wish strength would develop faster. I think maybe I make it too low in some instances because it does develop painfully slow. I'm not even sure how much physic training helps to develop it.

I guess my hope is that low strength guys may be lost causes to some teams and therefore simulate a "bust" element. Because, let's be honest, when draft picks bust, it's because they can't handle the physical elements of the game. They have skill sets that are comparable to other guys, but they just can't cut it at the NHL level and wind up going overseas, where the game is more open and played on bigger rinks.

[Commish Bub(NYR)]

Strength definitely takes way too long to develop in EHM, but that's part of what makes league play so interesting. Do you go for higher skill sets but poor strength, and just wait it out? Or the opposite? I can say I took a couple of D in recent drafts because their strength was already pretty well developed, even if they wouldn't have been quite as good in other categories. (Hello, Keegan Kanzig.)

So, yeah, Natty Mac is going to take a while before he's not getting pushed around. He and Kuehnhackl need to start mega-dosing on protein shakes. Or meet up with Albert Pujols' personal "trainer."

[CapsGM]

[TorontoGM]

You think Mackinnon is bad, look at Barkov.

[Parker]

You think Mackinnon is bad, look at Barkov.

Yeah, what a puny little girly man. 2nd overall my ass.

Seriously though, if it's any consolation, as soon as he dresses for a farm game he'll get an automatic boost to 40. Luke Lockhart started his AHL career with a 28 STR and he immediately bumped up to 40 after his first game. It happens to Ronald Knot in my test sims too, and probably a lot of other low-STR farmers too but I don't spend as much time following other organizations' prospects.

[Commish Bub(NYR)]

Yeah, EHM does bump up most below-40 attributes to 40. (Although some defensive D never quite hit 40, they'll come close, regardless of ceilings.) I think it also raises extremely low PE ratings -- so if you create a guy with a 4 PE, the game will raise it to 10 at least, I think.