MLD11: Mickey Ion Preliminary Round: Amherst Ramblers (2) vs. Winnipeg Jets (7)

[seventieslord]

Amherst Ramblers


GM: Rzeznik
Head Coach: Viktor Tikhonov
Captain: Hobey Baker
Assistant Captains: Dave Maloney, Steve Konowalchuk

Sergei Kapustin-Brad Richards-Vladimir Vikulov
Rick Nash-Paul Haynes-Tom Hooper
Steve Konowalchuk (A)-Bobby Carpenter-Anders Kallur
Tony Granato-Keith Acton-Randy McKay
Gaetan Duchesne

Kenny Jonsson-Hobey Baker (C)
Normand Rochefort-Dave Maloney (A)
Dave Ellett-Lee Fogolin, Jr
Nikolai Makarov, Pat Quinn

Kirk McLean
Sean Burke

PP1: Kapustin-Richards-Vikulov-Ellett-Baker
PP2: Nash-Haynes-Hooper-Jonsson-Maloney

PK1: Acton-Kallur-Rochefort-Fogolin
PK2: Richards-Konowalchuk-Jonsson-Maloney
PK3: Carpenter-Granato


winnipeg jets

clint smith - alexei yashin - adam deadmarsh
alex tanguay - gus bodnar - marion gaborik
thomas vanek - charley mcveigh - ulf dahlen
darcy tucker - patrick marleau - eddie wiseman

george mcnamara - phat wilson
marty mcsorley - don sweeney
jack ruttan - doug crossman

miikka kipprusoff
mike palmateer

coach bob hartley

spares
chiasson
seibert​

Click to read more...

 

[Rzeznik]

Just a quick analysis of the two teams to start things off. I'll do a more in depth one involving strategy and what not tonight or tomorrow morning.

Amherst Advantages:

Coaching - Tikhonov is a first team all-star, Hartley is a borderline MLD coach. I think that says it all.

Bottom-4 Defenseman - You have Sweeney, who is a pretty good top-4 defenseman, as well as Crossman on the bottom pairing who is solid, but I can't say I'm sold on Mcsorely getting top-4 minutes, or Ruttan being a legit MLD starter. Meanwhile, as I've previously stated, all 4 of my bottom-4 defenseman are capable top-4 guys, to go along with having a tonne of character. I think this is a pretty big advantage for us as well.

Checking/Shut-down Line - I don't see either a shut down forward line or defensive pairing on Winnipeg's roster (which is wrong, I do believe. Can opener made a swap in the line-up assasination thread). Even with the change, I don't see the Jets' third line of Marleau, McVeigh and Dahlen as a true shut down or even energy line. It's an odd mix of players, to be honest, and I don't see it working, although it's better than the original you see in the OP. Marty McSorley, as tough as he was, can not be expected to play against either of my top-2 lines for more than a few minutes a game, or you may be in trouble. We will try to exploit this, as I will explain later. McNamara and Wilson are a great first pairing, but you can't expect them to play the whole game. On my side of the court, we bring a very legitimate shut-down line and shut-down defense pairing. Both of your top two lines will have a hard time scoring if matched up against this unit.

Winnipeg's Advantages:

Goaltending - I'll admit, I jumped the gun on picking McLean, one of the only picks in the draft I'd like to have back. Not a bad goalie, in fact he's very capable as an MLD starter, but Kipper should probably be an ATD back-up, and is a top of the line MLD starter. He'll have to stand on his head though to give his team a chance.

Top Defense Pairing - Although not as big an advantage as others I have pointed out, McNamara and Wilson are, IMO opinion at least, a better top pairing than Baker and Jonsson, although not by much. I would put Baker on par, maybe a little ahead of Wilson, but the difference between McNamara and Jonsson outweighs that by far. Even so, I have faith in my own defense, and believe they will be able to come together and make up for this small difference.

Other than that, I feel that our teams are fairly even. My top line is a bit better than your's, and our second and fourth lines are very close. Should be an interesting series.

 

[seventieslord]

Couple things:

- Rabbit McVeigh is a great defensive forward, one of the few best in the draft.

- I think Kipper is also better than McLean, though not by that much.

- Winnipeg has the best forward and defenseman by wide margins, IMO, with Clint Smith and George McNamara. But once you start comparing the 3rd-best, and 4th-best of everything, advantages for Amherst start to show.

- You're right, Winnipeg's lineup was updated in the assassination thread. I'll update it. Can anyone remember who their third spare was?

 

[the can opener]

i imagine i will get knocked out pretty quickly

however, i believe i have the best pure goal scorer in the series in yashin, and the best dman in mcnamara. goaltending shouldnt be a problem, kipper is capable of playing long stretches, and has cup final experience (we all know that puck was over the line game 6 and the flames shoulda won the cup), smith, bodnar, and tanguay give me fairly solid playmaking so yashin and gaborik shouldnt have too much trouble putting some pucks away.

dont think hartley is 'borderline' mld coach, the man does have a cup ring on his finger

my 2nd and 3rd pairings are also supposed to be switched

and seibert is supposed to be in 4th line c, with marleau on 3rd line LW, vanek 4th line lw, and tucker scratched

i posted an updated roster on 3rd or 4th page of assassination thread, forgot to update it in main thread, ill post it here

 

[the can opener]

clint smith - alexei yashin - adam deadmarsh
alex tanguay - gus bodnar - marion gaborik
patrick marleau - charley mcveigh - ulf dahlen
thomas vanek - oliver seibert - eddie wiseman

george mcnamara - phat wilson
jack ruttan - doug crossman
steve chiasson - marty mcsorley

miikka kipprusoff
mike palmateer

coach bob hartley

spares
sweeney
tucker

 

[seventieslord]

Amherst Ramblers defeat Winnipeg Jets in 5 games.
3 stars:
1. Vladimir Vikulov
2. George McNamara
3. Brad Richards

 

[Rzeznik]

Thanks for the great series can man, hope to see you in the main draft!