Holiday Fun

We're enjoying some downtime this week, basically just bumming around and playing with Christmas presents. One one of the kids' big gifts this year was Hockey Sauce, and although Matthew and I both consider ourselves pretty accurate shooters, I have to admit that we need to hone our skillz!

On the indoor gaming front, we've enjoyed a few memorable rounds of Butts in Space and are now poring over the contents of Aliens: Another Glorious Day in the Corps. It's a bit like AVP, but without the "P". I suspect we'll mainly use the components to enhance our Alien RPG gameplay experience in the next campaign. I've also tried introducing the boys to the second edition of Pathfinder, without much success; they're ho-hum about a system that's like D&D but not actually D&D. 

Finally, Nathaniel got a full set of fencing gear for Christmas, so here are a couple of photos of us in action!

WW84

It's a lot later than we had hoped, but Wonder Woman 1984 opens on Christmas Day, in theaters and on HBO Max. 

Building a Better Box

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Paizo does the best RPG starter sets. Although D&D hit home runs with the original Basic Set and the less renowned but still totally awesome Basic Game from Third Edition, most other starter sets have been lackluster at best. Paizo once again dunks on D&D with the Pathfinder Beginner Box for Second Edition. Like similar products for First Edition and also for Starfinder, this set is an absolute triumph of value for the gamer and a wonderful introduction to the game system. I look forward to giving it a test drive with the boys over the holidays. There's precious little chance it will displace Fifth Edition D&D as our system of choice, but it will be fun to play through the starter content and see how Pathfinder and D&D have gone in very different directions over the past decade!

Season 4 Awards

It's awards season again! Read on to find out who took home the hardware!

Scoring Title: Gord Roberts, LW, Bulldogs

Roberts notched 12 goals and 18 assists for 30 points, and joins Cyclone Taylor as the only players ever to crack the 30-point barrier (Taylor had 32 in Season 2). Roberts bested Taylor by two points and linemate Bruce Stuart by five to capture his first scoring title.

Runners Up: Cyclone Taylor, D, Victorias; Bruce Stuart, C, Bulldogs

Forward MVP: Gord Roberts, LW, Bulldogs

Roberts was the first-ever winner of this award back in Season 1, and he had an even better year this time around with a career-best 30 points and a plus/minus of +10, which was tops among all forwards in the league. 

Runners Up: Alf Smith, RW, Thistles; Frank McGee, C, Comets

Defenseman MVP: Cyclone Taylor, Victorias

Taylor, the league's premiere blueliner, takes this award for the third time in four years. He finished second in the league in scoring (13 goals, 15 assists) behind Roberts, and his +8 was fourth in the league and second among defensemen.

Runners Up: Jack Laviolette, Bulldogs; Hod Stuart, Thistles

Goaltender MVP: Bowse Hutton, Victorias

Like his legendary teammate Taylor, Hutton is now a three-time winner of the MVP award for his position. Hutton's save percentage of .924 was the second-best in league history, and his 2.13 goals-against average was the best ever. This year, he also became the first goalie to post two shutouts in a single season. 

Runners Up: Paddy Moran, Bulldogs; Riley Hern, Thistles

Rookie of the Year: Jack Laviolette, D, Bulldogs

After a slow start, Laviolette took the league by storm and set a league record for the most points by a rookie with 14 (5 goals, 9 assists). His +13 led the league and tied the mark for the highest single-season plus/minus rating.

Runners Up: Hugh Lehman, G, Millionaires; Harry Hyland, C, Victorias

Playoff MVP: Paddy Moran, G, Bulldogs

Bowse Hutton had the first-ever playoff shutout, and Gord Roberts and Tommy Dunderdale scored huge overtime goals, but Paddy Moran was truly the most valuable player in this postseason. His 2.80 goals-against average and .915 save percentage led all playoff goaltenders, and he set a single-playoff-game record with 42 saves in the overtime victory that clinched the championship for his team.

Runners Up: Bruce Stuart, C, Bulldogs; Bowse Hutton, G, Victorias

Creighton Cup, Game 4

Congratulations to the Bulldogs on winning their first Creighton Cup! Check out the recap below for all the thrills and chills!

With their season on the line, the Victorias struck first. Cyclone Taylor tallied an early goal, but the injury bug bit the Vics again when captain Hobey Baker headed back to the locker room in pain. Baker had already shifted from right wing to defense to cover for the injured George McNamara, so forward Dubbie Bowie spent much of the first period camped out in front of Bowse Hutton as a defenseman. Remarkably, the Vics managed to escape the first period with a 1-0 lead.

The courageous, gallant Baker (read up on his real-life story!) returned in the second to give his lads an emotion lift, but it didn't translate to the scoreboard. Tommy Dunderdale and Scotty Davidson scored to make it 2-1 in favor of the Bulldogs at the end of the second.

Taylor scored his second goal of the game to knot the score at two in the early stages of the third period. Bruce Stuart, however, restored the Dogs' lead a few moments later. Then, midway through the frame, Davidson took an ill-advised penalty to give the Vics a power play and a golden opportunity to tie the game once more. Penalty killing had been the Dogs' bugaboo throughout this postseason, and this game was no different; the hobbled Hobey Baker scored to make it 3-3 with just moments to go in regulation time. The Vics made a furious push in the final minute, and it all came down to Paddy Moran stonewalling Cyclone Taylor on two point-blank shots as time expired.

Overtime! The Bulldogs had needed OT to get past the Thistles in the wild-card game, and now they had a chance to win the Creighton Cup with a sudden-death goal. If the Vics scored, on the other hand, the series would culminate in a winner-take-all Game 5. The overtime period began with a scare for the hometown Bulldogs, as Gord Roberts took yet another penalty. Roberts is a superstar in this league and will take home multiple trophies at the awards ceremony, but damn, it seemed that this guy spent more time in the penalty box than on the ice here in the postseason. (He was, in fact, the league leader in both points and penalty minutes during these playoffs!) Given the Dogs' penalty-killing woes, I was expecting the Vics to strike for victory on the ensuing power play, but the Bulldogs held strong and the period continued. 

And then, before I knew it, the game was over. Rookie defenseman Jack Laviolette led the rush out of the Dogs' defensive zone and flipped a pass to Stuart. Stuart connected with Roberts, who skated in and knifed the puck past Hutton. Game over, series over! The Bulldogs had won the Creighton Cup! After four seasons of futility, the Dogs racked up more wins over the Victorias (three) in this one series than in all previous regular-season and playoff games combined (two).

Creighton Cup, Game 3

Back at home, the Victorias looked to rebound after losing Game 2, along with losing star winger Marty Walsh to injury. Game 3 did not begin auspiciously, as Bruce Stuart beat Bowse Hutton on the very first shot of the game. The Vics had little opportunity to recover from this setback, as stay-at-home defenseman George McNamara soon went down with an injury and did not return to the game. He's expected to miss Game 4, as well. Walsh is likely to return for Game 4, but for Game 3, at least, the Vics were forced to soldier on without two of their key players. They closed out strong in the first when Frank Rankin scored to tie the game. Rankin suffered through a miserable regular season, but, as in years past, he's elevated his game in the playoffs. With a goal in every contest thus far, Rankin has been one of the few bright spots for the Victorias in this series.

In the second period, the Bulldogs' second line took over. Tom Hooper and Oliver Seibert had quality chances, but it was power forward Scotty Davidson who did the damage. Davidson skates like a runaway train, and when he manages to put his speed, skill, and attitude together at the same time, he can be a fearsome opponent. Davidson scored early in the second to restore the Dogs' lead, and then he scored again on the power play midway through the frame. With three goals in four postseason games, he's been a solid contributor who's taken pressure off of the Dogs' big stars.

The third period featured a lot of back-and-forth, but little in the way of scoring. The Dogs' PK woes continued, as they surrendered yet another power-play goal, this time to Billy McGimsie. The Vics' top center made it 3-2 with that strike, but Paddy Moran slammed the door shut and backstopped his team to a 3-2 win and a 2-1 series lead. Game 4 takes us back to the Dog Pound (with apologies to the Cleveland Browns), where the Bulldogs can claim the first Creighton Cup in franchise history if they win at home in Game 4. For the Vics, they'll need to prevail on the road in order to force a fifth and final game on home ice.

Creighton Cup, Game 2

The Bulldogs came home needing a win, and boy howdy did they answer the call! It all started with a Victorias power play early in the first period. Superstar left wing Gord Roberts set the tone by stealing an errant pass and scoring a beautiful breakaway goal against Bowse Hutton. It was the first shorthanded goal in playoff history, and it was also the Dogs' first goal of the series. Minutes later, Tommy Dunderdale struck to give the home team a 2-0 advantage. Scotty Davidson increased the lead to three when he scored in the closing minutes of the first. The Vics had embarrassed the Dogs in Game 1, and now the Dogs wanted to return the favor!

The Vics, however, found some life in the second period, courtesy of one of their star players. Marty Walsh scored to bring the Vics within two, but Oliver Seibert picked up an unassisted goal for the Dogs shortly thereafter. Not to be outdone, Walsh scored again late in the frame, this time on the power play. With three tallies in the series thus far, Walsh was tied with Dunderdale for the league lead in postseason goals and was starting to look like a candidate for Playoff MVP.

As such, it was a cruel blow when Walsh went down midway through the third; he'll also miss Game 3 as he recovers. Adding to the Vics' misery, Bruce Stuart had just scored to put the game out of reach. Frank Rankin picked up a late goal on the power play, but the game ended in a 5-3 triumph for the Bulldogs. 

The series is now tied at a game apiece. The Bulldogs have regained their scoring touch, but their penalty killing remains a serious problem, as they've allowed six power-play goals in nine chances through the first three games of the postseason (including the wild-card game against the Thistles). The Vics, meanwhile, will have to find a way to win without Marty Walsh, and hope that Bowse Hutton recovers quickly from his worst-ever playoff performance.

Creighton Cup, Game 1

It's a rematch of the Season 1 championship series! Will the Victorias claim their third Creighton Cup in four years, or will the Bulldogs win their first? If Game 1 was any indication, Bulldogs fans, don't plan that parade just yet.

Less than a minute into the first period, Vics captain Hobey Baker got behind the Bulldogs defense and rifled a shot past Paddy Moran. Two minutes later, the Vics were on a power play and Marty Walsh popped one into the back of the net. The game had hardly begun and Moran had already allowed two goals on two shots. The Bulldogs managed to stop the bleeding and push back a bit, but the period ended 2-0 in favor of the Victorias.

After a scoreless second in which the teams were on mostly equal footing, the Vics elevated their play and put the game out of reach in the third. Billy McGimsie tallied on the power play to make it 3-0, and Frank Rankin scored a garbage goal two minutes before the final buzzer put the Dogs out of their misery. In the end, the Vics notched goals on two out of three power-play attempts, meaning that the Bulldogs are a woeful 33% on the penalty kill over two playoff games thus far. Gord Roberts has been a no-show, with costly penalties and nary a goal. And what about the Vics' stars? High-flying defenseman Cyclone Taylor assisted on all four of his team's goals, which set a record for assists and points in a playoff game. And most impressively of all, Bowse Hutton achieved the first-ever shutout in postseason history. 

The Bulldogs will be on home ice for Game 2, and they'll have winger Tom Hooper back in the lineup. They need to treat this game as a must-win if they have any hope of getting back into this series.

Creighton Cup Finals Preview

The wild-card game is now behind us, so we have our teams for the best-of-five Season 4 Creighton Cup Finals! Let's take a look at how the Victorias and Bulldogs match up. 

Forwards 

• Bulldogs: Gord Roberts (12 goals), Bruce Stuart (7), and Tommy Dunderdale (10) make up the most dominant line in the game. What makes the Bulldog attack even stronger, though, is that they get tremendous support from role players like Tom Hooper (7 goals), Oliver Seibert (6), and Scotty Davidson (8). One complication they'll face is the temporary absence of Hooper, whose injury will keep him out of at least the first game of the series.
• Victorias: The versatile Victorias mix and match their players rather than roll consistent lines. They're led by captain Hobey Baker (6 goals), Billy McGimsie (7), and Marty Walsh (7). Supporting players Frank Rankin (6 goals), Harry Hyland (3), and underrated two-way forward Dubbie Bowie (5).
• Advantage: Bulldogs

Defensemen

• Bulldogs: Rookie star Jack Laviolette tied the single-season mark for plus/minus (+13), but Art Ross and captain Si Griffis (both +7) were also rock-solid defenders. There's no one here who can equal the sheer offensive output of someone like Cyclone Taylor or Hod Stuart, but the Bulldog defensive corps is the best in the league.
• Victorias: Cyclone Taylor had another superlative season (13 goals, 15 assists, +8) and is almost certain to win the Defenseman MVP trophy, but there isn't much depth behind him. George McNamara and Phat Wilson are average players at best.
• Advantage: Bulldogs

Goaltending

• Bulldogs: Paddy Moran, in his second season with the Dogs, posted solid numbers in the regular season (2.63 goals against average, .908 save percentage), but good luck played a large role; his Strat-O-Matic stat card shows a far less competent netminder.
• Victorias: Bowse Hutton dominated this season (2.13 goals against average, .924 save percentage) and will undoubtedly win the Goaltender MVP.
• Advantage: Victorias

Special Teams

• Bulldogs: They were first in the league in power-play percentage (30.43%), but their penalty killing was...not so good (75.61%). The Dogs finished fourth in PK, although this unit did manage to score two shorthanded goals. Troublingly, they also gave up two goals in three chances in the wild-card game against the Thistles.
• Victorias: At 25.93%, the Vics' power play finished third, although typically the Vics have the best power play in the league. Their penalty killing (88%) was tops in the league by almost a dozen percentage points.
• Advantage: Victorias

Prediction

It's hard to bet against the team that has gone 13-2-3 against its opponent over the past four seasons, but I think the Bulldogs are the better team. Bowse Hutton is likely to steal a game or two, but the Bulldogs are a deeper team with an overwhelming offense. It's going to be an amazing series, but I'm calling it here: Bulldogs in five.

Wild-Card Game

Tonight was our first-ever wild-card game, where the second- and third-place teams duke it out for the right to face the first-place team in the Creighton Cup Finals. This contest between the Thistles and the Bulldogs was a game for the ages -- it had everything but Don Cherry, Gritty, and Marty McSorley's illegal stick!  

Tommy Dunderdale, playing in his first career playoff game, got the scoring started early in the first period. The hometown Bulldog fans were ecstatic, sensing that a date with the Victorias was at hand. Riley Hern, however, had other plans, and stonewalled the Dogs on shot after shot. The next goal would come late in the second, when the Thistles' Dan Bain tallied on the power play to tie the game. Moments later, the Dogs picked up a power-play goal of their own, courtesy of a Bruce Stuart lamplighter. It was 2-1 in favor of the Bulldogs at the end of two.

Then things got kind of crazy. On just their second try with the man advantage, the Thistles scored again, tying the game once more. This time it was Fred Whitcroft, the Thistles' midseason acquisition, who found the back of the net. Two power plays, two goals. The Dogs were on their heels, dumbfounded that they just couldn't put away this vastly inferior Thistles team. The specter of sudden-death overtime loomed with each passing moment. Then, with under five minutes to play in regulation, Bulldogs winger Tom Hooper went down with an injury and was removed from the game. Gord Roberts took his spot and, as time was expiring, the feisty superstar hauled down Whitcroft and was called for a penalty.

It was looking grim for the Bulldogs. Their best player was in the box, their foes were already two-for-two on the power play, and now the game had gone to overtime. The Dogs could feel their extraordinary season slipping away. For a brief moment, a shorthanded breakaway by Oliver Seibert brought fans to their feet, but Hern turned him aside with ease. As soon as the penalty expired, Roberts joined linemates Bruce Stuart and Tommy Dunderdale, and the league's top trio got to work. All it took was a couple of crisp passes, and Dunderdale found himself in the slot with the puck on his stick. He snapped a shot past Hern for his second goal of the game -- a goal that has sent the Bulldogs to the Creighton Cup Finals!

Playoff Preview

First Place: Victorias (9-3-4, 22 PTS)

After a lost year that saw them slip to third place, the Vics returned strong in Season 4 and reclaimed their customary spot at the top of the standings. As such, they've earned an automatic berth in the Creighton Cup Finals and will play the winner of the wild card game. The Vics will be a tough opponent in that series, as they boast a potent combination of offense and defense. They scored at a rate of 3.13 goals per game (second in the league) and allowed only 2.13 (first in the league and the best single-season mark in league history). Scoring a full goal per game more than they allowed, the Vics racked up a +16 goal differential that tied for first in the league. Led by their two superstars -- offensive-minded defenseman Cyclone Taylor (13 G, 15 A, +8) and goaltender Bowse Hutton (2.13 GAA, .924 save percentage) -- the Victorias are looking to win their third Creighton Cup in four years.

Second Place (1st Wild Card): Bulldogs (8-4-4, 20 PTS)

A record of 0-2-2 against the Vics cost this dominant team the first-place finish they deserved. They scored at a ridiculous rate of 3.63 goals per game (first in the league and the second-highest single-season average ever) and, like the Vics, they gave up exactly one fewer goal per game than they scored (2.63, good enough for second in the league); the Bulldogs, too, had a goal differential of +16. This team is loaded with talent. Gord Roberts led the league in scoring (12 G, 18 A, +10), and Bruce Stuart (7 G, 18 A, +8) and Tommy Dunderdale (10 G, 13 A, +8) both finished in the top five. Rookie defenseman Jack Laviolette tied the single-season record for plus/minus (+13). I should also mention the crucial role of supporting players like Scotty Davidson, Tom Hooper, and Oliver Seibert, all of whom had career years. I fully expect the Bulldogs to annihilate the Thistles in the wild card game. 

Third Place (2nd Wild Card): Thistles (6-8-2, 14 PTS)

The Thistles finished a very distant third, edging out the Comets and Millionaires by a couple of points for the final playoff spot. Their 2.69 goals per game, 3.13 goals against, and -7 goal differential all ranked third in the league. This team is making its second straight appearance in the playoffs, but in many ways Season 4 has been a step backwards for the Thistles; centers Dan Bain and Tommy "Tools" Smith, along with defenseman Hod Stuart and netminder Riley Hern, all regressed from their award-winning Season 3 performances. How, then, did they make it back to the postseason? Star wingers Alf Smith (16 G, 8 A, -1) and Tommy Phillips (8 G, 12 A, -1) carried the team with MVP-caliber seasons. Additionally, midseason pickup Fred Whitcroft helped improve the league's worst power play by a full 10% in the second half.

Wild (Card) Finish

Incorporating the wild-card format turned out to be a great decision. Without it, the Vics and Bulldogs would have punched their tickets to the Creighton Cup Finals weeks ago, leaving the other three teams to play out a bunch of meaningless games. Instead, the remaining teams all had a shot at a wild-card berth. Although the Millionaires were eliminated from contention in their penultimate contest, the Thistles and Comets met in their respective final games with a playoff spot hanging in the balance. The Thistles would clinch with a win or a tie, while the Comets needed to win outright. 

It was a heated affair from the first minute of the game, when the Comets' Blair Russell took down MVP candidate Alf Smith. Of course, the Strat-O-Matic game system has no way of knowing the emotions that real-life players would feel in this high-stakes game, but it was a cool coincidence that my Action Deck draws resulted in all sorts of aggression and mayhem. There were five penalties in the first period alone! 

The teams traded power-play goals in the first, with the legendary Frank McGee scoring for the Comets and captain Tommy Phillips for the Thistles. Alf Smith gave the Thistles a 2-1 lead in the second; that strike was his sixteenth of the year, tying him for the second-most goals ever scored in a single season. It's probably not enough to push him past Gord Roberts for Forward MVP, but it was certainly a memorable season for the rugged winger. In the third, Mike Grant blasted a slap shot on the power play to tie the game at two. For the Comets, however, a tie would still end their season. They tried to keep up the pressure, but the Thistles would not relent. The game ended in a draw, and thus the Thistles claimed the second wild card. They'll face the Bulldogs for the right to battle the Vics in the Creighton Cup Finals. 

There's only one more game left in the regular season (the Millionaires hosting the Bulldogs in a game that matters only for individual stats but with no playoff implications), and afterwards I plan to take a little break before beginning the postseason. I need to catch my breath -- Season 4 has been a blast!

Thank the Scheduling Gods!

Creating the schedule for a professional sports league is a herculean task; for my five-team Strat-O-Matic hockey league, however, the scheduling is essentially random. When I generated the Season 4 schedule, I plugged in the team names without giving much thought to who was playing whom and when. I certainly had no way of knowing that the Victorias and the Bulldogs -- last year's third- and fourth-place teams -- would improve so dramatically and dominate the other three franchises. I also had no way of knowing that first place in the regular-season standings -- and an automatic berth in the Creighton Cup Finals -- would come down to a Vics/Dogs matchup in the former team's final game of the season and the latter's penultimate game. 

But here we are! Tonight the top teams of Season 4 squared off for the fourth time this year. Historically, the Vics have owned the Bulldogs, and came into this contest with a record of 1-0-2 against their favorite foes here in Season 4. (A quick check reveals that the Bulldogs had defeated the Vics only twice in 17 prior regular-season and playoff games.) 

Phat Wilson and Bruce Stuart traded goals in the first, and then the Vics' Marty Walsh tallied on the power play in the second to put his team up by a goal. The stage was set for a wild third period. Tommy Dunderdale tied it moments into the final frame, with assists going to Gord Roberts and Jack Laviolette, both of whom had assisted on Stuart's earlier goal. Cyclone Taylor had assisted on both goals for the Vics, so the race for the league scoring title will come down to either Roberts or Taylor. Laviolette, meanwhile, continued his march toward setting a single-season plus/minus record; not only is Laviolette the strong frontrunner for Rookie of the Year, he's also giving Taylor a run for his money as both men vie for the Defenseman MVP trophy.

With the score knotted at two apiece, the Vics knew that a tie would secure first place. Even so, they pressed the attack and made an emphatic statement late in the third. Dubbie Bowie set up rookie Harry Hyland for the go-ahead goal, and then Bowie fed Taylor a moment later for a strike that sealed a 4-2 win. The Dogs must now face the third-place team (either the Thistles or the Comets, as the expansion Millionaires have already been eliminated) if they're to join the Vics in the Creighton Cup Finals. As for the Vics, they can rest easy for a few days, admiring their astounding 13-2-3 all-time record against the Bulldogs.

Down to the Wire

We're down to the last few games of Season 4, and the playoff picture is coming into focus. The Victorias and Bulldogs are running neck-and-neck, and both teams have clinched playoff spots. Whichever team finishes in first place (at the moment, it's the Vics by a whisper) gets an automatic berth in the best-of-five Creighton Cup Finals. The second-place team, meanwhile, will host the third-place team in a one-game, do-or-die contest that will determine the other spot in the Finals. The Thistles have the inside track to claim third place, but technically the Comets and the expansion Millionaires are still in the hunt for that last playoff position. The Millies were dealt a blow last night, however, when rookie defenseman Joe Hall suffered a season-ending injury. Up to this point in Season 4, there had been no serious injuries for any player league-wide, but it looks like our newest franchise will have to rely upon the services of free agent blueliner Harvey Pulford for its last-ditch playoff push.

9th Edition Blues

I picked up the smallest of the 40k 9th Edition starter sets back in August and I've been painting the minis on and off for the past couple of months. Why has it taken so long? Honestly, it's been hard for me to get excited about 9th Edition, which I feel is a real step back from 8th. Even so, the starter set provides some nice reinforcements for Nathaniel's Ultramarines, and the Necrons will augment the impressive army that Matt so kindly gifted to us a couple of years ago.

I was rather pleased with the painting until I saw the high-resolution photo images. Argh! Digital photos highlight every imperfection. Well, to the naked eye, at least, they look pretty good. 

The starter set includes a Primaris Lieutenant and a squad of Assault Incercessors. 

The Necron lineup, meanwhile, consists of a Royal Warden (the bigger guy in the center), three Canoptek Scarab Swarms, and ten Necron Warriors. 

As with the previous edition, the starter set includes a battle map and a box insert that doubles as a terrain piece. It's a fast, easy way to create cool-looking, multi-level battlefields!

Here's the Lieutenant in a showdown against the Royal Warden.

My favorite aspect of any of these miniatures is the Lieutenant's awesome shield!

9th Edition does have some cool new units like the Hammerfall Bunker, but I don't have immediate plans for any more models. The boys and I are already hard-pressed for time to play our regular RPG campaigns, so wargames have taken a backseat over the past year or so.

Forward MVP Race

We're at the three-quarter mark of Season 4, and in addition to jockeying for playoff position (currently the Victorias, Bulldogs, and Thistles are in, and the Comets and Millionaires are out), the players are vying for the various end-of-season MVP trophies. Aside from Cyclone Taylor cruising toward his third Defenseman MVP in four seasons, the other awards are all up in the air.

The most exciting race is for Forward MVP, and it's quite a contrast from Season 3. Last time around, Frank McGee won his second consecutive Forward MVP trophy because...well...no one really stood out. It was, on the whole, a ho-hum year for forwards. This year it's a whole different story. I could make a strong case (at least as strong as last year's case for McGee) for Bruce Stuart (C, Bulldogs), Tommy Phillips (LW, Thistles), Jimmy Gardner (LW, Millionaires), and even McGee (C, Comets) again. 

However, it's really coming down to two phenomenal players: Gord Roberts (LW, Bulldogs) and Alf Smith (RW, Thistles). Roberts, the Forward MVP from Season 1, is having his finest campaign (12 GP, 11 G, 10 A, 21 PTS, +5), and currently leads the league in points. Sitting one point behind him is Smith (13 GP, 14 G, 6 A, 20 PTS, +0). Roberts has been the better all-around player (the plus/minus difference is hard to ignore), but Smith has an eye-popping 14 goals in 13 games. He's on pace to match or beat McGee's single-season record of 18 goals back in Season 2. (Side-note: McGee managed this prodigious feat in a mere 12 games, whereas today the seasons are 16 games long.) I think Roberts has the edge for now, but if Smith does, in fact, break the record, it would be hard to deny him the award, especially if all the other numbers are close. After all, a forward's job is to score goals!

G-Mac Gets the G

George McNamara has spent his entire career with the Victorias and has won two Creighton Cups with that team over the past four seasons. This durable defenseman has suited up for all 48 games that his team has played to date. He brings an intimidating physical presence to a team that otherwise lacks it, and has been a valuable penalty killer as well. He's done a little bit of everything except, well, scoring goals.

Tonight, however, G-Mac scored for the first time ever. The big blueliner somehow found himself on a two-on-one break with star winger Marty Walsh. Walsh had the puck, and everyone -- including Bulldogs goalie Paddy Moran -- was thinking shot, but Walsh had other plans. He dished to McNamara, who buried the puck to end that pesky 48-game drought, the longest in league history.

Headshot

It was a tough slog, but the champions of the futuristic Shattered Realm defeated their monstrous foes and saved the solar system! Here's a shot of Nathaniel's hero Demorus, who used his jet pack to fly up above the uber-beholder and finish it off with a final devastating blow!

That moment when you score a crit on Demogorgon...

Well, not Demogorgon, per se, but a nasty extradimensional beholder with the same stats as the CR 26 demon lord. Here's how it went down!

In the climactic battle of our science-fantasy Shattered Realm campaign, this suped-up beholder and its mighty dragon underling had designs upon conquering the solar system, but standing in their way was a coalition of champions. The two sides met upon the barren surface of an asteroid, with the fate of the entire system hanging in the balance!

Most of the characters moved up to engage in melee, while Matthew's character Kai crouched upon a ridge overlooking the battlefield. You can see Kai in the image above; he's at the bottom with the bluish-gray cloak and a rifle aimed at the beholder. While other heroes distracted the beholder, Kai lined up the perfect shot with a devastating antimatter rifle borrowed from an ally. Matthew rolled a natural twenty, so his damage ballooned to 12D8 from the rifle and 10D6 from sneak attack. All told, it brought the beholder down by about a quarter of its hit points. We still have a long way to go in this battle...

Also, if you look closely at the photo, it appears that Garm -- the king of dire wolves -- is farting out a fireball. I assure you, it's just glare from the bright overhead lights!! :)

Godzilla: Tokyo Clash

The title sounds like a movie that Matt and I would've rented from the local Blockbuster during our Jolt-fueled doctoral studies in Rochester. As it stands, Godzilla: Tokyo Clash is a board game that delivers monster mayhem a la King of New York, but with gameplay that more closely approximates the action of kaiju films. I'm thinking about picking up a copy for the boys for Christmas, but this game has one major flaw: there's no Gamera. Come on, he's the friggin' Friend of All Children! The lack of Rodan is also problematic. Maybe they'll show up in a future expansion set...

NHL '94

I've always been more of a paper-and-pencil gamer than a video gamer. Keep your first-person shooters and your MMOs, and give me board games and roleplaying games any day of the week.

However, one of the few video games that has left an indelible mark upon my life is NHL '94 from EA Sports ("It's in the game!"). Every day after school, my good buddy Jason (the legendary Sir Roberts from the original Druid Cycle campaign) would come over and we'd load up '94 on the Sega Genesis. We played through countless postseasons, winning Cup after Cup. Although we were both die-hard Rangers fans, we kept coming back to the Maple Leafs. Those early '90s Toronto teams were a lot of fun. There was Doug Gilmour, Dave Andreychuk, Wendel Clark, Felix Potvin...and then, after the season, the MATS SUNDIN trade! Rocked our worlds. 

Now, EA Sports is bringing back NHL '94, and I can't wait to download it. I've posted a few times here about playing the last couple of EA Sports hockey games on our Xbox, and they're very good, but nothing can compare to the original! (Well, technically it wasn't the first game in that series, but it was the one that created a decades-long phenomenon!) I can't wait to share it with my boys!

Halfway Point

We're halfway through what's shaping up to be a fantastic season! Much like last year, the teams are closely clustered in the standings. The gap between first and worst is very narrow as our five teams fight for three playoff spots; if the playoffs started today, the Victorias, Thistles, and Comets would be in, and the Bulldogs and Millionaires would be out.

Let's take a look at some of the key storylines in Season 4.

Forward MVP

In the early going, it felt like a two-man race between the Bulldogs' Gord Roberts and the Thistles' Alf Smith. Roberts (9 G, 5 A, +4) is tied for first in goals and is second in points (one point behind high-flying defenseman Cyclone Taylor), while Smith is tied for first in goals and is tied for fourth in points (9 G, 3 A, -2). And what about two-time defending Forward MVP Frank McGee? After a painfully slow start, he's been pouring it on lately and has climbed all the way to third in the scoring race (8 G, 5 A, +1). The Bulldogs' Bruce Stuart (3 G, 9 A, +3) and the Millionaires' Jimmy Gardner (7 G, 4 A, -2) are dark horses worth watching.

Ridiculous Rookies

When the expansion Millionaires were taking the league by storm, it seemed that goaltender Hugh Lehman was a slam dunk for this trophy. Now? Not so much. The field is wide open, as all five rookies in this year's class have made significant contributions to their teams. The Vics' Harry Hyland (2 G, 5 A, -3) leads all rookies in points, but first-overall pick Jack Laviollete is really starting to impress me (2 G, 3 A, +6). As of this writing, the young blueliner is tied (with the Vics' Billy McGimsie) for first in the entire league in plus/minus!

Millionaires' Playoff Hopes

They had sole possession of first place at the one-quarter mark, but they've hit a rough patch and now are in last, albeit just one point behind the Bulldogs. There's plenty of time, of course, for them to get hot again and make a serious run for the postseason. After much deliberation about whether they should be all-in or should start focusing on the future, I elected to make one trade that helps them today and down the road: The Millies shipped Fred Whitcroft to the Thistles in exchange for Harry Westwick. Whitcroft never really got it going for the Millies, but the the Thistles will appreciate his offensive upside and ability to play defense as well as forward. In Westwick, the Millies are getting a good faceoff man (they're hands-down the worst faceoff team in the league), penalty killer, and puck-possession maestro (as rated by my informal metric that looks at three different Strat-O-Matic stats and assesses how well a given player maintains possession of the puck for his team) who will help them for the stretch run but also serve as an important long-term asset. 

La Belle Draft sans Merci

As with last year, the two teams that miss the playoffs may fall short by just a couple of points. Heartbreaking, yes, but there's an upside: Duke Keats and Frank Foyston, the two top prospects in the upcoming Season 5 entry draft. In particular, the team that finishes in last place will get the honor of adding Keats, a truly special player the like of whom we have not yet seen in the entry draft. (And I promise some sort of Keats joke in every single post that references this guy. Gotta put that English degree to use somehow, right?)

Ode on a Creighton Urn

Season 4 has been a nonstop thrillride, with our best-ever crop of rookies, a back-and-forth MVP race between Alf Smith and Gord Roberts, and of course one very precocious expansion team. I've thought a lot about he overachieving Millionaires and what their first-year success might mean for the long-term future of our newest franchise. Prior to the season, I'd figured that the Millionaires would ice a respectable team but finish in last place, allowing them to secure the first overall pick of the Season 5 entry draft. 

And what an interesting draft it will be! Five members of the Hockey Hall of Fame will be joining the league next season, and among these entrants are two defensemen who are unlikely to earn much playing time, one versatile winger who projects as an everyday player, and two absolute studs: Frank Foyston and Duke Keats. Foyston is a slick-skating right wing with great scoring skills and the discipline to stay out of the penalty box; he's a shoo-in to become a first-line player on just about any team. Keats, meanwhile, is a generational talent who will quickly become a number-one center and MVP candidate right from the get-go. I'll have more to say about Keats when we get closer to the Season 5 draft, but damn, this guy is a beast!

Now let's get back to the Millionaires. They were lined up nicely to draft a true franchise player in Duke Keats -- until those pesky castoffs started winning! Now what? As the coach and general manager of all five teams, I'm trying to make the best decisions for each. Championship flags fly forever, so do the Millies go for it in their first year? They don't have a lot of assets at this point, but they could flip a couple of veterans to upgrade at center and perhaps one other position. At that point, they'd be as strong as any team in playoff contention and would have a reasonable shot at the cup. But if they fail, I will have torpedoed their future by robbing them of the perfect player to lead this team to many seasons of glory. No team could benefit from a top-line pivot more than the Millies. I have a little more time before the trade deadline to determine if the Millies should be all in, but there's still going to be a lot of  uncertainty -- and the future of a franchise may be at stake!

Only in the Shattered Realm...

The Druid Cycle setting is a place for stately high-fantasy storytelling, with narratives drawn from classic myths and works of epic poetry. It's a stark contrast from the anything-goes genre mashup of my Shattered Realm campaigns. To wit, I'll share a couple of pics from this past weekend's climactic battle. First up, here's a purple worm (deployed by the heroes as a living weapon against their foes) munching on an android trooper. Before the end of the battle, the worm had devoured three such androids along with a smallish dragon.

In the next photo, we have a silver dragon harassing a tank, while Garm -- the elephant-sized lord of all dire wolves -- ambushes the dragon from the rear to save the human soldiers trapped inside the vehicle.

Although many human and monstrous lives were lost, the allied army defeated the invading force of robots and undead. As it turned out, however, the attack was a only a ruse, and the true threat is about to manifest...

Battlefield

Our science-fantasy Shattered Realm campaign, set in the distant future of this setting, has been building up to an epic showdown. On one side, we have an alliance of human colonists, goblinoid legions, and various allied monsters (including an enormous dire wolf and a purple worm!); on the other, a merciless cadre of androids, undead, and a pair of young dragons. 

Here are a few shots of the battlefield before we began...

We've got human tanks and hobgoblin trebuchets firing side by side at strafing dragons, while a pike hedge advances ploddingly toward a line of robots with laser rifles. It's been a crazy battle so far, and we're nowhere near being finished. The purple worm just tunneled underneath the battlefield and emerged behind enemy lines, however, so things are about to get really interesting...

Deja Vu All Over Again

Are we going to see a first-year team make a historic playoff run, like the real-life Vegas Golden Knights in their inaugural season? It's still way too early to get excited, but the expansion Millionaires have hit the one-quarter mark of Season 4 in sole possession of first place! 

How are they doing it? The Millies are averaging 3.75 goals per game (first in the league) while allowing just 2.75 (second). Their penalty killing unit is ranked first, although their power play is fourth out of the five teams. That's just about the only blemish. Individually, our newest franchise boasts a balanced attack led by Harry Watson (3 G, 3 A), Jimmy Gardner (3 G, 2 A), and Barney Stanley (2 G, 3 A), but every single skating player has at least two points. Remarkable! They also boast four of the league's top ten players in plus/minus (Joe Hall, Harry Watson, Fred Whitcroft, and Rusty Crawford all at +3). Goaltending, too, has been a major strength. Hugh Lehman is making a strong case not only for Rookie of the Year, but also Goaltender MVP; he's currently second among netminders in GAA (2.75) and tied for first in save percentage (.904) with the Thistles' Riley Hern, last year's Goaltender MVP. 

Bring on the next quarter! If the Millies are in first place then, at the season's halfway point, then it might be time to start taking these upstarts seriously!

First Win!

Season 4 is shaping up to be quite a wild ride! Cyclone Taylor has resumed his customary place at the top of the scoring chart after a mediocre Season 3, the defending champion Comets are mired in a brutal slump, and Thistles winger Alf Smith is finally living up to his enormous potential and making a strong (if very early) case for Forward MVP. Amidst all the excitement, I don't want to overlook one important milestone: The expansion Millionaires won their first game.

And boy did they win! After a narrow loss to the Thistles in their first game and a tie that probably should have been a win in their second game against the Victorias, I felt the Millionaires were thisclose to a victory. Their third contest pit them against the Comets, our latest Creighton Cup winners. Eager to shake off their sluggish start, the Comets came out on the attack. In the opening minute of the game, Billy Gilmour chipped home a Frank McGee rebound to put the Comets ahead.

And then...the champs fell apart. A series of bad penalties gave the Millionaires three power plays in rapid succession, and they didn't squander the opportunity. Jimmy Gardner notched his third goal in as many games to tie the score at one apiece, and then Ernie Russell picked up his first of the year. All of a sudden, the Millies were 2-for-3 on the power play! The score remained 2-1 into the latter stages of the first period, when Harry Watson scored twice in just over a minute to give the Millionaires a commanding 4-1 lead heading into the second.

There was only one lamp-lighter in the middle period, but it allowed the Millionaires to pad their advantage. Ernie Russell scored for the second time, shattering any hope of a Comet comeback. Rookie netminder Hugh Lehman did his part, as well, robbing Frank McGee at the tail end of a power play late in the frame.

The third period was largely uneventful until, around the midway point, George Richardson scored to make it 5-2. In moments, however, the Millies restored their four-goal lead when rookie defenseman Joe Hall tallied his first career goal. When the game ended, 6-2 in favor of the Millionaires, I imagined lusty boos raining down upon the hapless home team, which remains winless at 0-2-1. The expansion Millies, meanwhile, are now 1-1-1, with a +3 goal differential. Remarkably, they're also leading the league in goals scored with 11. They can't keep this up...can they?

Season 4 Begins!

The first day of Season 4 featured the Thistles hosting the expansion Millionaires in their first-ever regular-season game. 

The contest opened quietly with a lot of dump-and-chase, and about the only remarkable thing through the first half of the first period was that the normally faceoff-savvy Thistles kept blowing draws. As such, the Millionaires had a possession advantage early on, but it was the Thistles who struck for the game's first goal when defenseman Dickie Boon fired a shot through traffic that eluded Hugh Lehman. Just moments later, however, the Millies' rookie blueliner Joe Hall snapped the puck to Harry Watson, who chipped it past Riley Hern to tie the game. So now there's an answer to the trivia question, "Who scored the first goal in Millionaires history?"

Not long into the second period, Alf Smith scored to put the Thistles back on top. The Millionaires answered right back when Jimmy Gardner tallied on the power play. The new squad was certainly demonstrating a lot of resiliency, but late in the frame, Tommy "Tools" Smith set up Moose Goheen to give the home team their third lead of the night.

The Millionaires put on the pressure in the third, but Hern was up to the challenge. He did, however, benefit from some good puck luck. The pivotal moment came when Millies winger Barney Stanley had a wide-open net in front of him. The Strat card gave him a 90% chance of scoring with no possibility of a saving throw (so to speak) for the goaltender. Stanley missed the gimme and his team fell 3-2.

Still, it was a pretty successful debut for the Millies. Lehman was solid in goal, the team was a perfect 4-4 on the penalty kill, and if not for some bad luck in high-leverage scoring chances (there was Stanley's blunder, of course, but several other unlucky dice rolls as well), they might've had another goal or two. I don't see this team making the playoffs, but they may well prove to be respectable even in their first year.

Preseason Game 3

In giving the Thistles and the Bulldogs a preseason game, my main intent was to see first overall pick Jack Laviolette in action. The rookie defenseman had a rather quiet debut, but his teammates certainly made a statement. The Bulldogs went out and thumped the Thistles and their MVP goaltender, Riley Hern, by a 4-0 score, with Scotty Davidson, Bruce Stuart, Tom Hooper, and Art Ross all lighting the lamp. Although it won't count in the standings, Paddy Moran posted a 23-save shutout. It's just one game, but if the Dogs keep up this kind of play, they'll be serious contenders for a playoff spot in Season 4.

Preseason Game 2

This is probably how it's going to go when the regular season starts. Although the Millionaires showed up well against the Comets in the first preseason game, they got annihilated by the Victorias in the second contest.

The game started quietly enough. Late in the first, still scoreless, Vics blueliner Phat Wilson took a shot from the point that eluded Hugh Lehman. It remained a one-goal game through most of the second period, until Hobey Baker scored on the power play to make it 2-0. Shortly thereafter, in the final minute, first-year forward Rusty Crawford atoned for an earlier penalty by setting up Millies captain Art Farrell for a blast that cut the Vics' lead in half. The rally was short lived. Right at the buzzer, Dubbie Bowie found rookie center Harry Hyland alone in the slot to make it 3-1. Things really fell apart for the Millionaires in the third. Early in the period, Marty Walsh and Hobie Baker struck in rapid succession to make it 5-1. A glimmer of hope arose for the home team when Jimmy Gardner scored on a nice feed from Ernie Russell to cut the deficit to three, but Cyclone Taylor picked up a power-play goal late in the third to put the exclamation point on a resounding 6-2 triumph for the Victorias. Taylor led all scorers with four points (1 G, 3 A), while Baker, Wilson, Bowie, and Billy McGimsie all had multiple-point efforts for the winning side. Penalty killing was again a major problem for the expansion team, as they allowed two power-play goals on four chances. They failed to score on their only try with the man advantage.

I was most curious about the performance of rookie goaltender Hugh Lehman, who got torched in this game but had a solid effort in the first one. Over the course of the two preseason games, he finished with a 4.00 goals-against average and .897 save percentage. If Lehman puts up numbers like these during the regular season, the Bulldogs will have been justified in passing over him to select Jack Laviolette instead. Speaking of the Bulldogs, I ought to give them an exhibition contest (I'll set them up against the Thistles, who also have yet to take the ice in the preseason) to see how young phenom Laviolette fares.

Preseason Game 1

Prior to Season 1, I conducted a mini-tournament so that I could learn the Strat-O-Matic hockey rules and experiment with line combinations and strategies. Each of the four original teams played two games, so I thought it fair that the expansion Millionaires should also get two exhibition games before I commence with Season 4. As such, the Millionaires took the ice was for the first time tonight, at home, against the champion Comets. The outcome and stats won't count toward league totals, but they'll help me assess how this new team might hold up against the established clubs.

The game started with a bang when, right after the opening faceoff, Comets sparkplug Billy Gilmour leveled his former teammate, Jimmy Gardner. I know it was just a random outcome of the Action Deck, but damn, it seemed appropriate! Gilmour is always right in the thick of it, and he immediately gives the Millies a heel they can despise. Shortly thereafter, Ernie Russell got some payback when he took down superstar Frank McGee. These early penalties set the stage for a rough, physical contest.

The home fans had plenty to cheer about late in the first when Fred Whitcroft, the defenseman-turned-center, scored unassisted on a breakaway. The lead was short-lived, however, as playoff hero Mike Grant tied the game early in the second with a power-play goal that was set up by Gilmour and McGee. Later on, Percy LeSueur made a couple of big saves against Whitcroft and Harry Watson, and the second period ended with a one-all deadlock.

The final frame featured more penalties and clutch saves by both netminders. Lehman impressed with stops on Grant and Fred Maxwell. Just when it looked like the Millies might come away with a draw in their first game, George Richardson scored for the Comets on the power play, with the assists going to McGee and Grant. Special teams really were the difference in this game. The Millionaires went 0-for-3 on the power play, while the Comets clicked at 2-for-6.

Not long after Richardson's tally, the clock ran out and the Comets skated away with a 2-1 triumph. It was a tough loss for the Millies, but they acquitted themselves well. Lehman stopped an eye-popping 38 of 40 shots. (It was 25 of 26 for LeSueur, who had a much lighter workload.) If the Millionaires can avoid the penalty box and find a way to get a few more shots, they'll hold their own in this league.

Meet the Millionaires!

Now, with all transactions complete, our expansion team is ready to take the ice. Let's meet the Millionaires! (Non-rookies are listed along with some basic career stats: games played, goals, assists, points, plus/minus, and penalty minutes.)

Goaltender

• Hugh Lehman: The team's first-ever player by virtue of his selection in the Season 4 entry draft, Lehman will have his work cut out for him. Paddy Moran's worst-ever season (4.00 goals against average, .870 save percentage) is about what I would expect to see out of Lehman this year with the team that he has in front of him. But maybe he'll surprise us! He is, after all, the first new goaltender we've added since I started this league.

Defensemen

• Graham Drinkwater: (33 GP, 4 G, 13 A, 17 P, +2, 8 PIM) A steady veteran coming off of a cup-winning season with the Comets, Drinkwater moves the puck well and will see time on the power play. 
• Art Farrell: (36 GP, 3 G, 10 A, 13 P, +7, 8 PIM) This solid all-around player will serve as the Millionaires' team captain. He won two cups with the Victorias, so he brings playoff experience and the mentality of a winner. As the team's (nominal) top defenseman, he'll play on the power play as well as the penalty kill. 
• Joe Hall: Hall is a Season 4 draftee acquired from the Comets. He'll be a regular on the penalty kill as long as he stays out of the box himself. 

Forwards

• Rusty Crawford (RW): Drafted by the Thistles prior to Season 4, Crawford was selected for his skills as a defensive forward and penalty killer. He has very little offensive upside.
• Jimmy Gardner (LW): (35 GP, 10 G, 16 A, 26 P, +6, 34 PIM) Gardner is the closest thing the Millionaires have to a star and currently sits in 19th place on the league's all-time scoring chart. He was a valuable member of the Comets' cup-winning Season 3 team and will be given the opportunity to play top-line minutes at even strength and on the power play. Gardner can skate and score, and brings a nasty streak that the (fictional, of course) Millie fans will certainly come to love.
• Ernie Russell (C): (6 G, 10 A, 16 P, -6, 28 PIM) This journeyman forward will be playing for his third team in four seasons. Last year's campaign with the Bulldogs was a lost season, but Russell will be counted on to leverage his innate offensive talents to take the role of top-line center. 
• Barney Stanley (RW): (7 GP, 1 G, 1 A, 2 P, -4, 8 PIM) Acquired from the Victorias, Stanley was a rookie last season and saw his minutes dwindle as fringy Fred Scanlan outplayed him. Stanley can handle either wing and will likely suit up with Russell and Gardner on the team's first unit. I think he's a better player than his rookie season stats would indicate.
• Harry Watson (LW): (35 GP, 5 G, 17 A, 22 P, -7, 14 PIM): Watson spent the past three seasons alternating between forward and defense for the Bulldogs. The Millionaires will keep him at forward to maximize the impact of his superior skating abilities. 
• Fred Whitcroft (C): (36 GP, 5 G, 18 A, 23 P, -3, 32 PIM) In something of a surprise move, the Millionaires drafted longtime Bulldogs defenseman Whitcroft with the intent of using him as a forward. Whitcroft has heretofore untapped offensive potential and plays a good all-around game. He'll center the team's second line and get a lot of minutes playing the point on power plays.

Meanwhile, those players who were selected in the expansion draft but released from the Millionaires (Harvey Pulford, Jack Ruttan, and Fred Scanlan) will now become free agents. As we're returning to 10-man rosters for Season 4, however, these guys will have to wait until a roster spot opens up before they can sign anywhere.

Getting to this point -- the creation of a fully-functional fifth team! -- was every bit as fun as playing the games. Now I need to run through a few preseason games to get a sense of how the Millionaires will fare...

Drafted!

I've conducted the expansion draft, so now 13 players are (at least temporarily) the property of the Millionaires. Players are listed with their positional eligibility and the team from which they were selected.

• Rusty Crawford, F, Thistles
• Graham Drinkwater, D/F, Comets
• Art Farrell, D/F, Victorias
• Jimmy Gardner, F, Comets
• Joe Hall, D/F, Comets
• Hugh Lehman, G, Entry Draft
• Harvey Pulford, D, Thistles
• Ernie Russell, F, Bulldogs
• Jack Ruttan, F, Thistles
• Fred Scanlan, F, Victorias
• Barney Stanley, F, Victorias
• Harry Watson, D/F, Bulldogs
• Fred Whitcroft, D/F, Bulldogs

From the list above, I'll cut down to 10 guys to create the active roster for their first season in the league!

Exposed!

We now know who will be left unprotected in the expansion draft. Each team has exposed four players (one defenseman and at least three players who are eligible at forward). Below is a team-by-team list, along with each player's positional eligibility.

Bulldogs:

• Scotty Davidson (F)
• Ernie Russell (F)
• Harry Watson (D, F)
• Fred Whitcroft (D, F)

Comets:

• Graham Drinkwater (D, F)
• Jimmy Gardner (F)
• Joe Hall (D, F)
• Fred "Steamer" Maxwell (F)

Thistles:

• Rusty Crawford (F)
• Moose Goheen (F)
• Harvey Pulford (D)
• Jack Ruttan (F)

Victorias:

• Art Farrell (D, F)
• Fred Scanlan (F)
• Barney Stanley (F)
• Phat Wilson (D)

What can we say about this motley crew? The big name here is the Comets' Jimmy Gardner, a highly skilled forward who is almost certain to be selected. (The Comets have so many great players that they couldn't protect them all!) Davidson and Russell bring speed and scoring prowess, but also a propensity for penalties. Whitcroft and Drinkwater are versatile players who can suit up as secondary forwards or as puck-moving defensemen.

It's not a bad group, but it's sorely lacking in centers. Although several guys on this list can play center, there's no one here who routinely does play center in this league. That's going to be the biggest weakness for the Millies in their first season. They're going to get manhandled in the faceoff circle and end up chasing the puck a lot. Silver lining? The entry draft for Season 5 has several elite skaters who can play center!

It's Getting Drafty!

I'm inching closer to the exciting expansion draft that will give the Millionaires a full team!

Currently, each of the four existing teams has the rights to 13 players (including the guys who were just selected in the entry draft earlier this week). For Season 4, I'm setting the active roster cap at 10 players, so the Millionaires will need to obtain nine guys in this expansion draft -- six forwards and three defensemen to join the one goaltender who is already on their roster. We'll follow the process below:

• Each existing team must expose four players.
• Teams must expose at least one "pure" defenseman (someone who has played at least 80% of his games on defense) and at least three players who are eligible as forwards (any or all of whom can also be eligible as defensemen).
• From these lists of unprotected players, the Millionaires will select three players from each team.
• The Millionaires will conclude the expansion draft with 13 players (12 selected in the expansion draft and one selected earlier during the entry draft).
• The Millionaires will evaluate their talent, decide on which players to keep, and then cut players until they are down to 10 men on their roster. 
• Players who are cut become free agents.

At this point, the expansion draft is over and any subsequent player movement would be the result of trades or free agent signings. Free agents will be handled using the process below:

• Prior to the start of Season 4, or at any point during Season 4, any team that has fewer than 10 players on its active roster (due to injury or due to players being cut for poor performance) has the option to sign a free agent.
• A team with an open roster spot may sign any free agent, but first all teams that had a worse regular-season record in Season 3 must be given the opportunity to sign that player. (Those teams may cut a player to open a roster spot if needed.)

With the rules in place, I'll take a look at all four franchises and determine which players will be exposed for selection by the Millionaires!

James Creighton Cup

In my historical Strat-O-Matic hockey league, I've referred to the championship as the "Strat Cup", but that's rather uninspired. After naming my baseball championship in honor of an early baseball pioneer, I thought I'd do the same for my hockey league. My search for an appropriate honoree didn't take very long. 

To stand beside the Jim Creighton Cup, we now have the...James Creighton Cup.

This James Creighton (no relation to baseball's James "Jim" Creighton) was an early promoter of ice hockey and helped popularize the game in Montreal in the 1870s. He's recognized today as having organized the first indoor hockey game in history, and he captained his team to victory. Like his American baseball counterpart, he is not a member of the Hall of Fame for his sport, but probably deserves that honor. 

And now I have a Creighton Cup for both sports!

Jim Creighton Cup

The boys and I watched the classic Simpsons episode "Homer at the Bat" last night. The premise of the episode is that Mr. Burns recruits professional baseball players as ringers for his plant softball team. Nine real-life ballplayers from the early '90s show up as guest stars, but initially Burns wants to bring in old-timey players who are more familiar to him. Cap Anson, Nap Lajoie, and Honus Wagner -- all of them stars in my nineteenth-century Strat-O-Matic league -- are briefly referenced. The punchline occurs when Smithers points out that his boss's proposed right fielder has been dead for 130 years.

Matthew really cracked up at that line, but it's no exaggeration. The player's name is not spoken aloud, but you can see on Burns's poster that the right fielder is Jim Creighton, who had indeed been deceased for 130 years when this episode aired in 1992. It's hard to believe that baseball has been around for so long that we can crack jokes about star players who were born almost 180 years ago. Creighton was, indeed, the game's first true superstar. He does not appear in my historical league, but that's only because he's not in the Hall of Fame. 

And he should be! This guy was a baseball legend. As a young man of 19, he revolutionized pitching. (Contrary to the Simpsons gag, Creighton was a pitcher and not a right fielder.) Prior to Creighton, it was expected that pitchers simply lob the ball underhanded so that the batter could put it in play. Creighton, however, saw the pitcher's role as trying to prevent the batter from making good contact. He hurled the ball with heretofore unparalleled velocity, and also experimented with various types of breaking balls over a decade before the likes of Candy Cummings. Creighton was a great hitter, as well, and batted 1.000 during the 1862 season (65 at-bats). 

Sadly, Creighton didn't live to see the dawn of major-league baseball in 1871. He died at the young age of 21 from an injury sustained while -- of all things -- hitting a home run. Going forward, the championship of my Strat-O-Matic league will be the Jim Creighton Cup.

Our First Millionaire

With another baseball season in the books, it's time to switch back to hockey. When I put my pre-NHL Strat-O-Matic league aside a few months ago, I had made plans to expand the league with a brand-new franchise. As such, in Season 4, the Millionaires will become our fifth team! Soon, I'll conduct an expansion draft to select players from each existing team to populate our new franchise.

Today, however, the Millies -- they probably need a better nickname -- got their first player when I conducted the Season 4 entry draft. Below are the five new players who will be joining the league for this upcoming season. (As always, the teams select in inverse order of the previous year's regular-season standings. I had the expansion Millionaires select third, in between the two teams that didn't make the playoffs and the two teams that did.)

1. Bulldogs: Jack Laviolette, D
The Vics have Cyclone Taylor, the Comets have Mike Grant, and the Thistles have Hod Stuart. The Bulldogs have never had a true offensive defenseman to quarterback their attack. Now they've got their man. Laviolette (who also has eligibility at forward in case it's ever needed) is a fantastic shooter whose long-range shot will immediately become one of the best in the league. Put this guy on the Dogs' power play and watch him rack up the points as he joins forces with the likes of Gord Roberts and Tommy Dunderdale.

2. Victorias: Harry Hyland, C
After suffering through a down year, the Vics get a consolation prize with this solid centerman who isn't much of a skater but is good on draws and has shooting skills that may be top-ten in the league. Hyland can also suit up as a defenseman, but I doubt the Vics will play him back there. Instead, he'll likely take a spot on the team's second line as an upgrade over Barney Stanley (a player likely to be selected by the Millionaires in the expansion draft).

3. Millionaires: Hugh Lehman, G
A rookie goaltender on an expansion team? What could possibly go wrong? There was a chance that the Bulldogs might have taken Lehman with the number-one pick, but I ran the numbers and found no statistical advantage (in terms of Strat-O-Matic game stats) over incumbent goalie Paddy Moran. The Bulldogs, thus, passed on Lehman to select the talented Laviolette, and the Vics passed on Lehman because they already have an elite goaltender in Bowse Hutton. As such, Lehman was available for the Millies with the third pick. Their conundrum was either to draft him here or let another team draft him, thereby forcing the Millies to take a goalie in the expansion draft instead. As Lehman's game stats are, technically, better than Percy LeSueur's, there was a very real chance that the Comets might have taken Lehman and exposed LeSueur to the expansion draft. In that scenario, the Millies would've ended up with a cup-winning goaltender in their first season (remind anyone of another recent hockey expansion team?), but the game stats really do say that Lehman is better than LeSueur. The Millies thus played it safe and drafted Lehman. Good luck, kid!

4. Thistles: Rusty Crawford, LW
His offensive skills are, well, rusty. Crawford will be valuable on the penalty kill, but he's a complete zero with the puck. And he's penalty-prone, to boot. The Thistles already have a couple of great defensive forwards, not to mention a bunch of goons up and down the lineup, so Crawford is going to find himself exposed to the expansion draft. But will the Millies select him, or leave him to rust on the Thistles' bench?

5. Comets: Joe Hall, D
The real-life Hall was a colorful player and valuable to his teams, but in Strat hockey, he doesn't seem to be very good. The Comets are stuck with him as the last remaining player in the entry draft, and the team with the league's deepest defense has absolutely no need for Hall's modest services. Like Crawford, he'll end up exposed to the Millies -- but with a pretty solid long-range shot and eligibility at forward to provide some versatility, he might just find a home with the expansion team.

Season 4 Awards

It was a wild ride, but the fourth season of my historical Strat-O-Matic baseball season is complete. That means it's time to hand out the hardware!

Position Player MVP: George Davis, Canaries

This guy led the league in most offensive categories...including nose hair! (Sorry, but blame Bob Uecker for that one.). Davis clubbed five home runs to set a new single-season record. His batting line looks like Mickey Mantle's, and, like the Mick, he's a switch hitter who runs well and steals bases to complement his prodigious power. Throw in his passable defense as a third baseman, and he's the game's best all-around position player.

Pitcher MVP: Mickey Welch, Haymakers

Simply put, this man dominated. In eight regular-season starts, he compiled a microscopic 1.61 ERA, far and away the best single-season mark for any starting pitcher over the past four seasons. And although wins and losses are a lousy measure of a pitcher's performance, it's worth noting that Welch more than doubled his career wins after posting a 5-1 record in Season 4. (Coming into this season, he had a career record of 4-8 in 17 starts.)

Playoff MVP: Pud Galvin, Canaries

While I could make a good case for Sam Thompson or Honus Wagner, I think this award needs to go to Pud Galvin. With his team facing elimination, Galvin absolutely saved their season. He turned in a performance that's tied for the most dominant postseason start ever: nine innings pitched and one earned run allowed (matching Old Hoss Radbourn's performance in the play-in game last season). But with an expansion team looming for Season 5, has this stalwart starter pitched his last game in Canaries yellow...?

Season 4 Championship, Game 3

What a night of baseball! This game was epic from start to finish -- an amazing way to close out a great season! 

We began with a rematch of our Game 1 starters, with Tim Keefe going for the Canaries and Mickey Welch for the Haymakers. In a shocking twist, Keefe was injured in the second inning and left the game. The Canaries went to Kid Nichols, but the loss of their longtime ace was a crippling blow.

With no choice but to carry on, the Canaries went to work against Welch. They broke through in the top of the fourth when Hugh Duffy and Ed Delahanty -- recently returned from an injury of his own -- hit run-scoring singles to give the Birds a 2-0 edge.

Nichols, however, couldn't hold the lead. In the bottom of the frame, he gave up an RBI triple to Roger Bresnahan, a sacrifice fly to Deacon White, and a solo homer to light-hitting shortstop Bobby Wallace. It was now 3-2 in favor of the Haymakers.

In the top of the fifth, Buck Ewing drove in a run to tie the game. Later in the inning, with two on and two out, the Canaries lifted Nichols for pinch hitter Pete Hill, but they failed to tally any more runs. The next inning, though, Roger Connor doubled home a run to give the Canaries the lead once more at 4-3. In the seventh, Monte Ward picked up an RBI single to stretch the lead to 5-3. 

Needless to say, the momentum was shifting in favor of the Canaries. Rube Foster had taken over for Nichols in the bottom of the fifth and was pitching well, as he'd done all season. 

Meanwhile, the Haymakers suffered another setback when catcher Roger Bresnahan was pulled from the game due to injury. White moved from third to catcher, Joe Kelley came in from center field to man third, and reserve outfielder Elmer Flick took over in center. 

In the bottom of the seventh, with the pitcher's spot up first, the Haymakers removed Welch for pinch hitter Jake Beckley, who singled up the middle to start a potential rally. A few batters later, Cap Anson hit an RBI groundout to make it 5-4, but the Haymakers were unable to tie the game.

Cy Young took over in the eighth, making his first career relief appearance -- regular season or playoff. He fared little better than Welch, giving up a home run to Honus Wagner that restored the Birds' two-run lead. The Canaries put men on base again in the top of the ninth and removed Foster for pinch hitter Frank Chance, although Frank blew his chance and the score remained 6-4 heading into the bottom of the ninth.

Joe McGinnity became the Canaries' fourth pitcher of the night and had the unenviable task of shutting down the heart of the Haymakers' lineup. McGinnity was making his first-ever playoff appearance on the mound, and quickly found himself with runners on first and second with only one out. Next up was Cap Anson. After that, Sam Thompson. Gulp! 

With the tying run aboard and cheering Haymaker fans clamoring for a walk-off win to seal their threepeat, McGinnity started dealing. He got Anson on a shallow fly. Two down. Thompson stepped into the batter's box, looking to homer for the third straight game. Bat met ball, but this was not the towering home run that Thompson had blasted in the ninth inning the night before. It was a lazy pop fly that landed in the glove of center fielder Hugh Duffy. 

Game over! The Canaries have won the Season 4 championship and claimed their first title in franchise history!

Season 4 Championship, Game 2

With Ed Delahanty injured, the Canaries had to reconfigure the top of their lineup. Hugh Duffy retained his status as leadoff man, but slugger George Davis moved up several spots to the two-hole in place of Delahanty, regular cleanup hitter Honus Wagner took third, and Roger Connor fell back one slot to fourth.

These lineup changes made little difference at first. The Haymakers' Jack Chesbro worked quickly and efficiently, keeping the Canaries off balance in the early frames. His counterpart, Pud Galvin, matched him inning for inning. We had quite a pitcher's duel going, and neither team got a man as far as second base until the fifth.

In the bottom of that inning, the Canaries managed to load the bases with only one out. Unfortunately for them, the eight and nine hitters were up, and both Monte Ward and Pud Galvin failed to drive in a run. The Canaries had really struggled with runners in scoring position against Mickey Welch in Game 1, and it seemed that recent history was repeating itself.

Then we got to the bottom of the sixth. With one out, Davis smacked a ringing double. Wagner promptly singled him home, giving the Canaries a 1-0 lead. After Connor flied out, Buck Ewing and Fred Clarke hit back-to-back doubles, and in the blink of an eye the Canaries were up 3-0.

It was all the offense Galvin would need. Outdueled last postseason by the Blue Legs' Old Hoss Radbourn, Galvin made certain he was going to to lock down the win. The only question was whether he could pull off the first complete-game playoff shutout. With one out in the top of the ninth, Sam Thompson hit a moonshot that spoiled Galvin's shutout bid and pulled the Haymakers within two runs. They failed to score again, however, and the Canaries evened this series at one game apiece with a 3-1 triumph.

Next up is the winner-take-all Game 3 back on the Haymakers' turf. Galvin and Thompson are now the early frontrunners for Playoff MVP. I'm really impressed with Thompson so far. He's become the first player to hit multiple home runs during the same postseason, and it seems like he's in a position to change the course of the game every time he steps to the plate. If he were to win, it would be his second such trophy, as Thompson won this award in the Season 1 championship as a member of the Blue Legs after hitting the first grand slam in league history. Of course, we still have one more game to go, so perhaps another lad will step up and author his own heroic deeds!

Season 4 Championship, Game 1

Game 1 offered no small amount of drama! 

Right from the get-go, it was clear that Mickey Welch didn't have his best stuff. He allowed a lot of hits throughout the game, but managed to keep the Canaries off the board until Honus Wagner had an RBI groundout in the top of the third. Jesse Burkett tied the game in the bottom of the inning with a run-scoring single. 

In the fifth, Canaries star Ed Delahanty struck out on an awkward swing and was removed from the game. I consulted Dr. Dee Twenty (get it?), and it turns out that Delahanty will miss an additional game recovering from the strain. That's a huge blow for the Canaries. Delahanty has played his entire career for this team and has been a model of consistency and excellence over the past four seasons. Reserve outfielder Pete Hill will take his place in the meantime.

Things started to look up for the Birds in the top of the sixth, when ace pitcher Tim Keefe helped his cause with an RBI base knock, putting his team ahead by one. Their slim advantage wouldn't last for very long. Keefe took the mound in the bottom of the frame and promptly gave up a leadoff single to Cap Anson. Next up was Big Sam Thompson, who has absolutely owned Keefe this year. Thompson crushed a two-run shot that gave his team its first lead of the night. Thompson was followed by catcher Roger Bresnahan, who blasted a solo bomb on the very next pitch. For only the third time in league history -- and the first time ever in the playoffs -- teammates had hit back-to-back homers. Keefe wouldn't surrender another run, but the damage was done, and reliever Rube Foster finished up for the Birds.

Staked to a 4-2 advantage, Welch settled in and cruised through the later innings. In the ninth, he got two quick outs before giving up a single to George Davis. The next batter, left fielder Fred Clarke, legged out a triple that brought Davis home and tightened the score to 4-3. With the tying run just 90 feet away, Buck Ewing dug in against Welch. The veteran catcher couldn't square up to Welch's wicked screwball and grounded out to end the game. 

Game 2 will shift to the Canaries' field, and the Haymakers will try to claim their third straight league championship!

Series Preview

It will be the Canaries and Haymakers vying for the title -- a rematch of the Season 2 championship! Let's take a closer look at these two contenders.

Offense

• Haymakers: At 3.86 runs per game, the two-time defending champs are scoring almost a full run per game less than last season (4.7). Joe Kelley, Jesse Burkett, Cap Anson, and Sam Thompson are a fearsome foursome, but the lineup thins out quite a bit after that. The team's 10 home runs, however, is tied with the Season 2 Blue Legs for second-most by a team in a single season; Sam Thompson had three of those dingers.
• Canaries: This team smashed every offensive record in the books. Their 5.24 runs per game was the highest in league history, as were the 12 home runs they hit (George Davis collecting five of them). The Canaries also became the first team ever to eclipse 100 runs in a season and finished with 110. With Hugh Duffy, Ed Delahanty, Honus Wagner, et al, this team can flat-out rake.
• Advantage: Canaries

Defense

• Haymakers: Their defense was well behind the Canaries, but ahead of the Blue Legs. They're solid all around the infield aside from third (apologies to Deacon White), but the outfield is an adventure, to say the least. Bench player Elmer Flick is a capable late-inning defensive replacement for the outfield.
• Canaries: Honus Wagner struggled a bit at short (his four errors more than doubled his career total), but otherwise the team executed almost flawlessly in the field. I should note, however, that some less-than-elite fielders -- Monte Ward, Roger Connor, and George Davis in particular -- may have benefited from a bit of good luck, and although they didn't make lots of errors, their lack of range prevented them from getting to some balls that better fielders could have reached.
• Advantage: Canaries

Pitching

• Haymakers: The Haymakers allowed just 3.57 runs per game, the lowest in league history. Mickey Welch led the way with a 1.61 ERA and 5-1 record. He'll start Games 1 and 3, a prospect that ought to be terrifying the Canaries right about now. Jack Chesbro was 4-0 on the season and out-pitched Cy Young down the stretch to earn the Game 2 start. The Haymakers have power arms in Amos Rusie and Rube Waddell out of the pen, but expect Young to get the nod in high-leverage relief situations.
• Canaries: It was a great season for the Canaries staff, as they allowed 3.95 runs per game. Tim Keefe, last year's Pitcher MVP, had another solid year and will take the mound in the first and third games. Battle-tested Pud Galvin will start Game 2, but he'll have a short leash, with Kid Nichols waiting in the wings. Rube Foster and Joe McGinnity were both brilliant in relief, giving the Canaries a potential edge in late-game situations.
• Advantage: Haymakers

Prediction

They'll have to beat Mickey Welch at least once to do it, but I predict the Canaries will triumph by a margin of two games to one. They may have finished the regular season in second place yet again, but the Canaries are the better team.

We Have a Winner!

I hit the ol' Rewind button and brought Tiebreaker Take Two back to the end of the eight inning. This time, I made sure not to lift Amos Rusie for an ineligible pitcher. Rusie stayed in the game and carved up Canary hitters for four more innings, and the Haymakers won 6-4 in 12. As such, they claimed first place and home-field advantage in the championship series. After finishing Season 1 in last place, the Haymakers have reeled off three straight first-place finishes and will now be looking to claim a third straight playoff championship.

But are they the best team this year? Definitely not. Their 13-8 record gave them a .619 winning percentage, but their run differential was only +6. Indeed, their Pythagorean (expected) winning percentage, based on runs scored and runs allowed, was just .538. It looks like Lady Luck was smiling on Cap Anson's boys all season. The Canaries truly were the better team. They had a +27 run differential (the best in league history) and an expected winning percentage of .637 (compared to their actual winning percentage of .571). If their luck starts to turn around, they could become the first second-place team to claim a championship.

Strike Two!

Twice now I've tried to play the tiebreaker game between the Haymakers and the Canaries to determine first place and home-field advantage in the championship series...and I've whiffed both times! In the first attempt, I used an ineligible pitcher -- per my house rule preventing pitchers from pitching on consecutive calendar days -- in the middle of the game. By the time I realized my mistake, it was too late to go back and redo the innings I had played. I was disappointed to have lost an exciting game (home runs by Roger Connor, Fred Clarke, and Cap Anson in a wild 10-9 win for the Haymakers), but elected to start the game over because I had inadvertently given the Haymakers the advantage of using a pitcher who should have been resting. So I started the game over and THE SAME DAMN THING HAPPENED AGAIN! When Tiebreaker Take Two went to extra innings, I brought in a Haymakers pitcher -- a different one this time -- who was not eligible. Once again, I did not catch my error until after the game (won 5-4 by the Canaries in 13 innings on an RBI single by Monte Ward). I could play the whole game a third time, but I'm pretty confident that I can roll Take Two back to the top of the ninth inning, with the game tied at 4. Let's hope third time's the charm!

Extra Innings

For the second time in four seasons, we've finished with a first-place tie. Prior to tonight's contest, the Canaries held a slim one-game lead over the Haymakers. A win would secure them the regular-season title, but the Canaries could must little offense against a masterful Happy Jack Chesbro. Despite their record-setting offense (most runs scored in a single season, most home runs hit in a regular season, etc.), the Canaries managed only a single run -- a solo shot by outfielder Hugh Duffy. Chesbro's mates managed to score two runs against ace Tim Keefe, allowing the Haymakers to walk away with a 2-1 win. 

Now what? We've known for the past couple of weeks that these teams will face each other in the best-of-three championship series, but first we need to figure out who gets home-field advantage. The teams will play a single tiebreaker game (which counts as part of the regular season) to determine first place. That team will be at home for Game 1 and Game 3. However, the scheduling presents an interesting quirk. In my (imaginary) calendar, there was a single off day between the end of the regular season and the beginning of the championship series. The tiebreaker game will be held on that day. As such, both teams will be forced to use at least one pitcher who will not be available in Game 1 of the playoffs. (To avoid tracking tedious information like pitcher fatigue, I have a simple "house rule" that a pitcher cannot appear in games on consecutive calendar days.) 

I'd have to say that the Haymakers are favored in this situation, owing to their impressive pitching depth. I'll do a full write-up previewing the series, but the short version is that the Haymakers have the arms and the Canaries don't. I haven't decided on who will start for the Canaries, but the Haymakers can run Cy Young out there for the tiebreaker. Not too shabby!