It Has a Title Now!

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. 

Holmes Sweet Holmes

The expansion Bearcats came home after losing their third straight game. At 0-4-1, they remained winless on the season. Taking on the Millionaires tonight, however, they were determined to make a better showing in front of their fans. 

Early in the first, winger Rusty Crawford shook off the rust and scored his first goal in three seasons to stake the Bearcats to a 1-0 edge. The scrappy Cats imposed a suffocating neutral-zone trap in an effort to protect this rare lead. Harry Trihey doubled their advantage in the second with a power-play goal. 

Heading into the final frame, the Bearcats were cautiously optimistic about their chances. Just a minute into the third, Dickie Boon flipped a pass to center Harry Hyland, who blasted his first goal of the year to run the lead to 3-0. Moments later, Trihey picked up his second power-play tally of the game. Around the midway point, captain Billy Gilmour scored to put the finishing touches on his team's offensive onslaught.

Rookie goaltender Hap Holmes, meanwhile, was having the best start of his young career. His only blemish was a Frank Rankin goal late in the third that spoiled his shutout bid. Holmes nonetheless stopped 26 of 27 shots, and the Bearcats won for the first time in franchise history, 5-1 over the Millionaires.

At the Quarter Mark

With six teams, the season is now up to 20 games; the teams play each other four times, twice at home and twice on the road. To date, each team has played the other five teams once, meaning we're at the one-quarter mark of the schedule. If the playoffs started today, the Victorias, Comets, Millionaires, and Bulldogs would snag the four spots in the expanded playoff format, while the Thistles and Bearcats would be out. These results aren't much of a surprise, nor is it surprising that Cyclone Taylor currently leads in points (10) and Frank McGee leads in goals (6). 

Nevertheless, Season 7 has provided a few interesting twists thus far. Bulldogs blueliner Frank Patrick finished as runner-up for Rookie of the Year and Defenseman MVP last season, but he's mired in a horrific sophomore slump (0 G, 2 A, -6) that's dragging down his team. This year's most heralded rookie, goalie Hap Holmes of the expansion Bearcats, has struggled tremendously, while winger Jack Darragh (2 G, 4 A, +1) of the Thistles has emerged as the leading candidate for the rookie crown. I thought Holmes might help the Bearcats stay competitive, but at 0-4-1, the Cats are having a historically awful season; they're last in goals per game (1.80), goals against per game (3.40), and goal differential (-8), and second-to-last in both power-play percentage and penalty killing. As for other interesting tidbits, we're seeing a remarkable disparity in penalty calls, as the Millionaires have been shorthanded only six times in five games, while the notoriously rowdy Thistles have sent 23 men to the box over that span. Finally, although I would have put my money on Harry Hyland, Rusty Crawford, and Fred Scanlan of the Bearcats to be the worst five-on-five line in the league (based purely on their stat cards), that dubious distinction goes to Oliver Seibert, Tom Hooper, and Scotty Davidson of the Bulldogs, who are each at -6 and have combined for a measly four points (three of them by Hooper).

Multiverse Mayhem

Don't ask me when we're going to find the time to run it, but I've been cooking up a new campaign for the boys that will link together many of the modern-setting storylines from across the Front Porch multiverse. Starting out as a direct sequel to Earth Commanders -- the first-ever Front Porch campaign from way back in 1988 -- and pulling in key characters and/or themes from The Other World, Cyberwars, and many more, this yet-to-be-titled story will give Matthew and Nathaniel a good foundation in our extensive catalog of non-fantasy campaigns. It's also an opportunity for me to untangle needless complexities and create a clearer narrative throughline from our earliest modern-setting campaign (The Ladder, set in 1895) through the various Cyberwars games of the late twenty-first century. More details to follow as this campaign takes shape, but I'm excited to get into some design work again!

Season 7 Is Underway!

Season 7 began with Duke Keats and Harry Trihey meeting for the opening faceoff between the league's two newest teams. The hometown Millionaires were commencing their fourth season of play, while the visiting Bearcats were suiting up for the very first time. It was truly a memorable contest!

Keats won that opening faceoff, but it was the expansion team that drew first blood. Just moments into the first period, Trihey fired a shot that netminder Hugh Lehman turned aside, but the puck ended up on the stick of defenseman Dickie Boon, who blasted it home for the first goal in franchise history. The Bearcats' lead was short-lived, however, as Millies captain Art Farrell tallied a shorthanded goal a few minutes later. 

The score remained tied into the second period. Lehman was magnificent, and so too was rookie goaltender Hap Holmes of the Bearcats. He stymied a number of high-quality chances until a superb individual effort by former MVP Barney Stanley gave the home team its first lead of the night.

Both teams attacked furiously, but the keepers put on quite a show. As the minutes ticked away in the third, the Bearcats grew desperate. With under three to play, Boon flipped a pass to Ernie Russell, who wired a one-timer past Lehman to tie the game at two. For a moment, it looked like the expansion team might steal a point. Alas for the Bearcats, they'll have to wait at least one more game before they pick up that first point or two; less than a minute after Russell's goal, crafty veteran Harry Watson managed to sneak one past Holmes to give the Millies a 3-2 victory in the season's first game. It was a deflating finish for Holmes and the Bearcats, but there's a lot of hockey left to be played, lads!

Season 7 Preview

The Millionaires host the expansion Bearcats tonight in the first game of Season 7 of my historical hockey league. Below are the three major storylines I'll be following this season!

Bearcats Hit the Ice

The Millionaires joined for Season 4, and now the Bearcats will hit the ice as our sixth and final franchise. All eyes will be on the Bearcats' rookie goaltender, Hap Holmes, whose Strat-O-Matic game stats surpass even the great Bowse Hutton. Holmes should be able to steal some wins for our newest team, but his value as a trade chip is almost incalculable. Teams like the Comets or Thistles might inquire about a deal -- one that would surely rock the very foundations of the league.

A New Victorias Dynasty?

On the heels of the most successful regular season in league history (10-1-5, +21 goal differential) as well as the franchise's third Creighton Cup title, the Victorias remain strong contenders to reach the championship series yet again. On this superstar-heavy team, however, any regression by key players will have an outsized impact on the team's overall performance. A lot will depend on second-year forward Newsy Lalonde and whether he can reproduce his gaudy rookie stats (12 goals, 13 assists, +11, in 16 games).

Expanded Playoffs

In the three seasons since the Millionaires joined the league, the playoff format has involved the first-place team getting an automatic berth in the best-of-five Creighton Cup Finals, and the second- and third-place teams playing a single winner-take-all game for the other spot in the Finals. In all three of those seasons, the wild-card game went to overtime and provided incredible drama. Sadly, the wild card is no more! Going forward, the top four teams will reach the postseason (first place against fourth, second place against third). With more teams involved and two full rounds of best-of-five play, the road to the Creighton Cup has never been more difficult.

Squats Are Back...?

Check this out and draw your own conclusions. Or maybe it's just an elaborate April Fools' joke?