Season 12 Creighton Cup

Before this series started, I would have characterized it as the irresistible force of the Millionaires' offense (16 goals in 4 games) versus the immovable object that is goaltender Hap Holmes of the Bulldogs (.942 save percentage in the first round). Did both sides live up to those expectations? Read on to find out!

• The injury to key defenseman Phat Wilson loomed over the Millionaires as they took the ice for Game 1, but Barney Stanley got the home crowd rocking with a power-play goal in the first. After a scoreless second, Mickey MacKay scored with the man advantage in the third to make it 2-0 for the Millies. Their captain, Jimmy Gardner -- possibly in his final season with the Millionaires -- made it 3-0 late in the frame. Georges Vezina stopped all 27 shots for his first-ever playoff shutout. 
• Game 2 shifted to the Bulldogs' rink, and once again the Millies got a first-period power-play goal, this time from Gardner. Harry Cameron scored late in the second to make it 2-0. You may have noticed that I haven't mentioned any Bulldog goals yet; well, they went more than five straight periods without a goal before Jack Adams lit the lamp on the power play to make it 2-1 in the opening minute of the third. Neither team found the back of the net again, however, so the Millionaires claimed a 2-0 series lead. 
• With Wilson returning to their lineup, the Millionaires looked to win the Cup on home ice. They started started Game 3 on the right track with a George Hay power-play goal, making it three straight games with a power-play goal in the first. Tom Hooper tied it late in the period, but Hay scored his second of the game in the closing seconds to restore the Millies' lead. There was no scoring in the second -- the calm before the storm, so to speak. It was an absolutely wild third period. Gord Roberts scored early in the frame to tie the score at 2, but Wilson got one right back for the home team. Now leading 3-2, the Millies found themselves about nine minutes away from a championship. The crowd held its breath when Barney Stanley was called for a careless penalty, but soon they erupted in cheers when Mickey MacKay snagged a loose puck and skated the length of the ice for a breakaway shorthanded goal to make it 4-2. And...well...that's when it all started to come unraveled for the Millies. The Dogs still were on the power play, of course, and Roberts notched his second goal of the game before the penalty expired. The score remained 4-3 until the final minute, when Hooper scored his second of the night to tie it up. The Millies' fans could only watch in stunned silence when, moments later, Bulldogs captain Si Griffis blasted a slapshot from the blueline that ended the game. With a 5-4 overtime victory, the Dogs had survived to fight another day.
• After the their miraculous comeback, the Dogs returned home for Game 4 hoping to force a winner-take-all Game 5. A tepid first period ended with no scoring. Neither team scored in the second, either, and it was clear that Georges Vezina was back at the top of his game after his meltdown in Game 3. Frank Foyston gave the visiting Millies a 1-0 lead with a goal early in the third, and from that point the Dogs mounted a relentless attack on Vezina. The second-year netminder held firm, however, and among his many highlight-reel saves was a beauty of a stop on a Jack Laviolette slapshot with just over two minutes to play. Vezina held the line and delivered a 34-save shutout. 

By a 3-1 margin, the Millionaires won the series and their second Creighton Cup in franchise history. Vezina edged teammate MacKay and rival goaltender Holmes for the Playoff MVP trophy, finishing with a 1.88 goals-against average and .943 save percentage across both rounds of the playoffs. He also became the first goaltender ever to record multiple shutouts in a single playoff series. 

That just about wraps it up for Season 12. Stay tuned for Season 13, when we'll introduce one of hockey's all-time most fascinating characters -- SPRAGUE CLEGHORN!

Season 12 Playoffs

In the opening round, we had the first-place Millionaires against the red-hot fourth-place Bearcats in one semifinal series and the league's most storied rivalry -- the Victorias against the Bulldogs -- in the other. Here's how it all went down! 

Semifinal 1: Millionaires vs. Bearcats

• Game 1 of the first semifinal opened with a bang as Bruce Stuart of the Bearcats and Jimmy Gardner of the Millionaires took early penalties for roughing up members of the opposing teams. When tempers cooled and everyone got down to playing hockey, Joe Malone tallied twice to stake the visiting Cats to a 2-0 lead by the midway point of the second period. The Millies soon found their footing; franchise icon Barney Stanley scored, followed shortly thereafter by rookie George Hay, and the game remained tied late into the third period. Defenseman Phat Wilson launched a long-range slapper that eluded Riley Hern to give the Millies their first lead, and despite a furious assault by Malone in the closing seconds, the home team eked out a 3-2 victory. 
• The Cats turned the tables at home in Game 2; despite Mickey MacKay and George Hay scoring on back-to-back shots in the first, the Cats notched the next four goals -- by Frank Patrick, captain Harry Trihey, Didier Pitre, and superstar Joe Malone -- to claim a 4-2 win. However, an injury to Patrick cast a long shadow over their victory. 
• Game 3, back on the Millies' home ice, opened with Harry Cameron and Didier Pitre trading goals, but tallies by Mickey MacKay and Jimmy Gardner allowed the Millies to build a 3-1 lead by the end of the first. Frank Foyston tacked on a power-play goal in the second, and the Millies cruised to a 4-1 victory and 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series. 
• On the road in Game 4, the Millies started slowly with a goal by MacKay in the first, then exploded for five more -- another by MacKay, two from Foyston, and one each from George Hay and Harry Westwick -- in the second, while the Cats could counter only with a power-play tally from Malone. Bruce Stuart scored for the Bearcats in the third to make it 6-2, but MacKay responded with his third goal -- giving him a hat trick and two assists for a playoff-record five points in a single game -- to seal the 7-2 win. However, a late injury to defenseman Phat Wilson muted the Millies' celebrations as they prepared to vie for their second Creighton Cup in franchise history. 

Semifinal 2: Victorias vs. Bulldogs

• In the first game of the Victorias/Bulldogs series, the Vics held a 2-0 third-period lead on goals by Newsy Lalonde and Cyclone Taylor. Dogs defender Jack Laviolette scored to make things interesting, but Billy McGimsie's late goal sealed a 3-1 win for the home team. 
• The Dogs hosted Game 2, and scores from Ollie Seibert and Tommy Dunderdale set up a 2-0 win that evened the series at one game apiece. Hap Holmes was absolutely brilliant in a 33-save shutout. 
• A frustrated Vics team came out shooting in Game 3, but it was former Victorias winger Fred "Steamer" Maxwell who scored to give the visiting Bulldogs a 1-0 lead. Cyclone Taylor tied the game late in the first, and the score remained unchanged through the end of regulation. Gord Roberts won it for the Dogs in overtime, but Holmes was again the story of the game, making 35 saves in another stellar performance. Games like this are exactly why the Dogs made their blockbuster offseason trade to bring in a truly elite netminder. 
• Game 4 began with Gord Roberts scoring twice in the first period, with Lalonde getting one back for the Vics. In the second, Billy McGimsie tied the score at 2-2, and it remained unchanged until the Vics' Marty Walsh tallied a late power-play goal to give the Victorias a 3-2 victory and even the series at two games each. 
• Game 5, on the Vics' home ice, would be the winner-take-all finale. In the first, Roberts put the visitors up by one; with that lamp-lighter, the star left winger had scored the last four goals for the Dogs, dating back to the first period of Game 3. The Vics answered back on a goal by Billy McGimsie, continuing his strong postseason. In the second, Taylor tallied on the power play to give the Vics a 2-1 lead. In the third, however, sophomore superstar Jack Adams got his first goal of the playoffs and, two minutes later, Tommy Dunderdale scored as well. The Vics' 2-1 lead had quickly become a 3-2 deficit, and the score would not change again. 

Next up: The Creighton Cup championship series between the Millionaires and the Bulldogs!

Season 12 Highlights

The top highlight of Season 12 is that last year's Creighton Cup champs, the Comets, cratered in the second half. Even so, they had an opportunity to claim the fourth and final playoff spot on the season's last day, but lost to the cellar-dwelling Thistles. On the flip side, last year's worst team, the Millionaires, jumped all the way to first place as their talented young core took a huge collective step forward. No one on the Millies exemplified this improvement more than third-year center Mickey MacKay, who harnessed his prodigious talent and won the scoring title (11 goals, 20 assists) by a single point over perennial contender Cyclone Taylor. Taylor was also denied the Defenseman MVP trophy, which went to Millionaires star Harry Cameron, who mixed elite offense (10 goals, 15 assists) with solid play in his own end; at +17, he was tops in the league, while the next-best player was just +10. Speaking of MVPs, the Forward MVP was a close race involving MacKay, his teammate Frank Foyston, and Bulldogs center Jack Adams, but the award ended up going to Joe Malone, who led the league in goals with 15 (no one else had more than 11). Malone scored a whopping 29% of the Bearcats' goals, and his late-season heroics helped propel the Cats into the playoffs. Before I move on to the postseason, however, I should comment on the continued decline in scoring. Teams scored just 2.48 goals per game this year (in contrast to 2.76 last year). Goalies dominated the league like never before, with the Victorias' Bowse Hutton (.937 save percentage and a seventh Goaltender MVP trophy), the Bulldogs' Hap Holmes (.928), and the Millionaires' George Vezina (.927) leading the way.

Campaign Crossover

The boys wanted to get back to their old Shattered Realm characters, so I cooked up a bit of a campaign crossover with the upcoming Druid Cycle storyline. It's been fun to revisit so many fun Shattered Realm NPCs and locations!

Season 12 at the Halfway Point

With a lot of not-so-great stuff going on personally and professionally, I haven't been able to jump into fun stuff like Strat-O-Matic with the same time and energy as in years past. I am, however, chipping away at Season 12 in my historical hockey league. It's shaping up to be a really fun season!

The biggest story at the halfway point (each team having played 10 of their 20 regular-season games) is the resurgence of the Millionaires, who've finished dead last for three straight seasons. As of today, the Millies are sitting in first place at 6-1-3 and have already surpassed their Season 11 win total. Their years-long string of futility has allowed the them to draft high-end talent, and those young players are starting to come together here in Season 12. With a league-best +11 goal differential, the team's success seems legitimate and not the result of a lucky streak. With a deep roster of forwards who play a relentless attacking style, the Millies are fun to watch. It's too early to say whether they'll hang on to first place, but a return to the playoffs appears to be a certainty. 

How about the rest of the league? The Victorias are a well oiled machine and running a strong second, followed by the Bulldogs and the defending Creighton Cup champions, the Comets. With a -5 goal differential and many underperforming players, the Comets are really suffering from a post-Cup hangover. The Bearcats and Thistles will likely be chasing them for the fourth and final playoff spot.

As for individual players, the league leader in points is a flashy, high-scoring defenseman -- but it's not Cyclone Taylor! Harry Cameron of the Millionaires, in his fifth season, has unlocked his full potential and is having an incredible year. With 17 points (6 goals, 11 assists), Cameron is the only defenseman other than Taylor to lead the entire league at the midway mark. (Even more impressively, he's rocking a +13, also tops in the league, proving that he's elite at both ends of the ice.) Taylor is right behind Cameron with 16 points, so it's also the first time in league history that two defensemen have stood atop the leaderboard so late into the season. Right behind them are two Millionaires forwards, Mickey MacKay and Frankie Foyston, each with 15 points. That's right: The Millies have three of the top four point producers (and four of the top ten). 

Remember that big trade I posted about? Six players were involved, but it really came down to number-one center Bruce Stuart going to the Bearcats in exchange for superstar goaltender Hap Holmes heading to the Bulldogs. Thus far, the trade has worked out well for both teams. Holmes is allowing 2.20 goals per game and has a .932 save percentage that will keep him in the running for Goaltender MVP. He's a big reason why the Dogs are in playoff position despite a roster full of underperforming forwards and an offense that's tied for the league's worst. Over on the Cats, Stuart is putting up great numbers (5 goals, 7 assists) alongside Joe Malone, the league leader with 7 goals. Interestingly, Jack Adams -- the sophomore pivot who has taken on Stuart's former role as the Dogs' top centerman -- has the exact same goal and assist totals as the man he replaced.

A final theme for Season 12 is that many star scorers are scuffling. Newsy Lalonde, the reigning Forward MVP, has 2 goals in 10 games, and Tommy Dunderdale has just 1. Offense is down across the entire league, in fact. Teams are averaging 2.45 goals per game to date, down from 2.76 last season. On the flip side, goaltenders are having a season for the ages. The starting goaltenders on all six teams have a save percentage of .900 or better (with Bowse Hutton of the Vics leading the charge at a whopping .942). I was curious about how their stats compare to recent seasons, and the numbers are pretty interesting: Goalies are averaging .918 this year, compared to .908 in Season 11 and .911 in Season 10. Will goalies continue to rule, or will scorers get their revenge? Can't wait to see how it plays out in the second half!

Another Grand Champion!

Nathaniel's custom character Grandpa Nuker is now the second NBA Hangtime grand champion of our household!

Darkwater

I've had this strange feeling in the back of my head for the past several months.

It's been a while since there was a new Warhammer Quest game...

Well, a new entry in that series is on the way. It isn't a second edition of Blackstone Fortress, alas, but Warhammer Quest: Darkwater sounds like a lot of fun!