Cole Division Semifinals: Chicago Shamrocks vs Hartford Whalers

[Theokritos]

Chicago Shamrocks

Head Coach: Joel Quenneville
Captain: Syl Apps
Alternate Captains: Daniel Alfredsson, Lionel Hitchman


Cy Denneny - Syl Apps (C) - Daniel Alfredsson (A)
Gord Roberts - Pavel Datsyuk - Sergei Makarov
Vincent Damphousse - Anze Kopitar - Jimmy Ward
Don Marcotte - Brent Sutter - Eric Nesterenko

Spares: Murray Oliver, John MacLean

Lionel Conacher - Chris Chelios
Lionel Hitchman (A) - Harry Cameron
Gary Bergman - Bob Armstrong

Spares: Calle Johansson, Ron Stackhouse

Tony Esposito
Hap Holmes


Special Teams
PP1: Denneny - Apps - Makarov - Bergman - Cameron

PP2: Roberts - Datsyuk - Alfredsson - Conacher - Chelios


PK1: Marcotte - Nesterenko - Hitchman - Chelios

PK2: Kopitar - Sutter - Conacher - Armstrong

Extra PK F: Makarov, Damphousse, Datsyuk
Extra PK D: Bergman
​

Estimated Minutes

Forwards

Player | ES | PP | PK | Total
C. Denneny | 14 | 5 | | 19
S. Apps | 14 | 5 | | 19
D. Alfresson | 14 | 2 | | 16
G. Roberts | 13 | 2 | | 15
P. Datsyuk | 14 | 2 | | 16
S. Makarov | 14 | 5 | | 19
V. Damphousse | 13 | | | 13
A. Kopitar | 12 | | 3 | 15
J. Ward | 12 | | | 12
D. Marcotte | 6 | | 4 | 10
B. Sutter | 6 | | 3 | 9
E. Nesterenko | 6 | | 4 | 10
TOTAL | 138 | 21 | 14 | 173

*Makarov and Datsyuk will take a shift or two on the 3rd line (but not at the same time)

Defense

Player | ES | PP | PK | Total
C. Chelios | 19 | 3 | 4 | 26
L. Conacher | 17 | 2 | 3 | 22
H. Cameron | 16 | 5 | | 21
L. Hitchman | 15 | | 4 | 19
Bergman | 14 | 4 | | 18
Armstrong | 11 | | 3 | 14
TOTAL | 92 | 14 | 14 | 120

*Chelios will take several shifts for Armstrong at ES
**Bergman will take an occasional shift for Hitchman at the end of games/periods in offensive zone situations.



Chicago Shamrocks Real World Team History
In 1930, James Norris pursued the NHL for rights to a second NHL team in Chicago, but was spurned by the league who supported the NHL Chicago Black Hawks concerns regarding competition for fan base. He turned to the American Hockey Association who gave him rights to an expansion team in Chicago. The league had renamed itself the American Hockey League and declared itself a major league, to the anger of NHL president Frank Calder, who branded the league an outlaw league.

In 1931-32 season, their second, the Shamrocks won the league championship. Convinced they should be given a chance to play for the Stanley Cup, they petitioned the Cup trustees for that opportunity. However the trustees would have to convince the NHL to accept that challenge and the NHL would not. Perhaps frustrated by this, Norris once again looked to join the NHL.

In May 1932, the Detroit Falcons of the NHL declared bankruptcy, and Norris used that opportunity to convince the NHL he could take over the team. The NHL agreed on the condition that he disband the Shamrocks who were a thorn in the side of the Chicago Blackhawks. So he disbanded the Shamrocks and took three of the best players with him to Detroit, renaming the team the Red Wings. The American Hockey League reverted to the American Hockey Association after this and once again demoted itself to minor league status.

Click to read more...

 

[Theokritos]

Hartford Whalers

Coach: Pete Green

Johnny Bucyk - Phil Esposito - Wayne Cashman (A)
John Tonelli - Vaclav Nedomansky - Vladimir Martinec
Mats Naslund - Milan Novy - Larry Aurie
Igor Liba (A) - Don Luce - Jean Pronovost
Ryan Smyth, John Tavares, Patrick Sharp

Jan Suchy - Valeri Vasiliev (C)
Ken Reardon - Eric Desjardins
Leo Reise Jr. - Brent Burns
Robert Svehla

Dominik Hasek
Percy LeSueur

PP1: Bucyk - Esposito - Cashman - Suchy - Burns
PP2: Nedomansky - Novy - Martinec - Reardon - Desjardins

PK1: Luce - Aurie - Reise - Vasiliev
PK2: Liba - Pronovost - Reardon - Desjardins
​

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Chelios vs Esposito in the crease!

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

Here's to a good series MA. I should be able to post some stuff today or tomorrow

 

[MadArcand]

Good luck, though I probably won't be able to start on this until Easter.

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

Lineup Change

Lionel Conacher is being moved from the 1st PP unit to the 2nd, swapping with Bergman. Bergman is still not ideal on a 1st unit, but Cameron will be doing the heavy lifting and I think he's a better option than Conacher. This also give Conacher more ES time.

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

Ahhhh...I just had a whole write up done and I accidentally deleted it. Here's an attempt at quickly recreating it...

Preliminary Thoughts

- Large Goaltending advantage for Hartford

- Hartford has the best offensive player in Esposito, but I don't see anyone else on Hartford on the level of Makarov, Apps, or Denneny

- Chicago has a good counter to Hartford's main offensive weapon, Phil Esposito. Chelios, Hitchman, Conacher are all tough crease/slot battlers, which is where Esposito generates a lot of his offense from. Also, Esposito needs someone to carry the puck up ice for him, which it appears will mostly fall on the shoulders of Jan Suchy. While Suchy is an offensive defenseman, I think he's a little over his head here. I would want a better player filling such a crucial role, a #1 offensive type like Coffey/Pilote/Leetch/Gadsby. Chicago also has one of the very best centers of all time at breaking up plays in the neutral zone/in transition with Pavel Datsyuk, and on top of that, Datsyuk has on of the most dangerous counter-attack wingers in the draft in Sergei Makarov. Should Hartford manage to get the Espo-Suchy to avoid Chicago's 2nd line at times, Chicago has 2 good defensive centers in Kopitar and Sutter, who have the size to compete with Esposito, along with the aforementioned Dmen.

- Bucyk is a good choice to play Esposito's left wing, but Wayne Cashman is really out of place here...I know Cashman and Esposito have proven chemistry, but Cashman really doesn't have the resume of a top 6 player in a draft this size (probably not top 9 either). Also, he's not playing the LW position he played in real life...we have no idea how effective Cashman will be on the right side.

- IMO Hartford's lack of defensive ability at center is a weakness that will be difficult to overcome. They only have one center with any sort of defensive ability, and he's playing on their 4th line. They don't even have a center on the 2nd PK unit to take faceoffs. Who will Green try match up against Chicago's top line?

 

[MadArcand]

- I actually think Suchy is the ideal guy to play the Orr role here. He wasn't called European Bobby Orr for no reason, after all.

- Cashman started out as RW and it's actually his natural position. He's very much a third wheel on the line, but he's also an ideal fit for the role and pushes the chemistry of the line through the roof.

- Liba is LW/C and can easily take faceoffs on PK2. Also, there's a reason I have wings who are strong defensively to cover for the centers. Unorthodox compared to the usual "two way center and blackholes on wings", but hardly inferior.

 

[seventieslord]

- I actually think Suchy is the ideal guy to play the Orr role here. He wasn't called European Bobby Orr for no reason, after all.

haha, well said.

- Cashman started out as RW and it's actually his natural position.

I think this is fair.

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

- I actually think Suchy is the ideal guy to play the Orr role here. He wasn't called European Bobby Orr for no reason, after all.

haha, well said.

I didn't say Suchy wasn't an offensive/rushing defenseman, I said I thought a better player should have been drafted for such an important role. Surely the players I mentioned (Coffey/Pilote/Leetch/Gadsby) would do a better job than Suchy at driving the offense in the way that Esposito needs.

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

- Cashman started out as RW and it's actually his natural position. He's very much a third wheel on the line, but he's also an ideal fit for the role and pushes the chemistry of the line through the roof.

I did not know this about Cashman, how many years did he play RW in the NHL before switching to LW?

- Liba is LW/C and can easily take faceoffs on PK2.

This is better than a pure wing taking draws, but I have to think Liba's faceoff ability is less than players who were career centers, so there is still some weakness there.

 

[King Forsberg]

I didn't say Suchy wasn't an offensive/rushing defenseman, I said I thought a better player should have been drafted for such an important role. Surely the players I mentioned (Coffey/Pilote/Leetch/Gadsby) would do a better job than Suchy at driving the offense in the way that Esposito needs.

I almost felt bad for drafting Leetch right before Mad picked.

 

[seventieslord]

I did not know this about Cashman, how many years did he play RW in the NHL before switching to LW?

The TOI sheet (which is usually a good source) has him as a LW every single post-expansion season.

His hockey cards all say LW, with only one exception - his 70-71 "rookie" card. He had played 134 NHL games when that card was produced, so that's some evidence that he was a RW as of then.

...that's all I got. It's a tough one because it's well documented RW was his natural position, so it's not just 10-15% of his NHL career, it's more like 50% of the seasons in which he played organized hockey.

I "got away" with this in 2011; I think it's a somewhat solid case but I realize not everyone will agree.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

The TOI sheet (which is usually a good source) has him as a LW every single post-expansion season.

His hockey cards all say LW, with only one exception - his 70-71 "rookie" card. He had played 134 NHL games when that card was produced, so that's some evidence that he was a RW as of then.

...that's all I got. It's a tough one because it's well documented RW was his natural position, so it's not just 10-15% of his NHL career, it's more like 50% of the seasons in which he played organized hockey.

I "got away" with this in 2011; I think it's a somewhat solid case but I realize not everyone will agree.

So he was drafted as a RW but played LW his entire professional career?

 

[seventieslord]

So he was drafted as a RW but played LW his entire professional career?

...Or most of it, at least.

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

Just got back from vacation today and happy to see this result. Good series MA...although I think we both wish we had time to participate more.