MLD11 Sir Allan Montagu Preliminary Round: Belleville Bulls (2) vs Toronto M.stars(7)

[seventieslord]

Belleville Bulls
Head Coach: Tom Johnson
Assistant Coach: Punch McLean
Captain: Dickie Boon
Assistant Captain: Jimmy Gardner
Assistant Captain: Boris Mayorov

Jimmy Gardner - Tom Lysiak - Rick Kehoe
Haviland Routh - Viktor Zhluktov - Boris Mayorov
Don Grosso - Brian Skrudland - Jack Findlay
Murph Chamberlain - Laurie Boschman - Paul Holmgren
Lasse Oskanen

Dickie Boon - Yuri Fedorov
Allan Cameron - Dmitri Yushkevich
Lee Fogolin Sr. - Willie Huber
Pavel Kubina

Viktor Konovalenko
Vladimir Myshkin



TORONTO MORNINGSTARS

GM's: kruezer & papershoes
Coach: Bill Dineen, Bobby Kromm
Captain: Al Hamilton
Assistant Captain: Paul Shmyr, Rick Ley

#8 Robbie Ftorek - #17 Mike Rogers - #17 Blaine Stoughton
#12 Morris Lukowich - #7 Andre Lacroix - #9 Real Cloutier
#27 Marty Howe - #23 Christian Bordeleau - #21 Serge Bernier
#24 Bobby Guindon - #88 Terry Ruskowski - #16 Rich Preston
extra: #11 Peter Sullivan

#2 Rick Ley (C) - #3 Al Hamilton (C)
#10 Gordie Roberts - #6 Paul Shmyr (A)
#60 Ron Plumb - #88 Jim Dorey
extra: #4 Barry Long

#31 Ron Grahame
#1 Joe Daley

PP1: Robbie Ftorek - Mike Rogers - Blaine Stoughton - Rick Ley - Al Hamilton
PP2: Serge Bernier - Andre Lacroix - Real Cloutier - Paul Shmyr - Ron Plumb

PK1: Bobby Guindon - Rich Preston - Paul Shmyr - Gordie Roberts
PK2: Terry Ruskowski - Andre Lacroix - Rick Ley - Al Hamilton​

Click to read more...

 

[chaosrevolver]

Haviland Routh - Viktor Zhluktov - Boris Mayorov
Jimmy Gardner - Tom Lysiak - Rick Kehoe
Don Grosso - Brian Skrudland - Jack Findlay
Murph Chamberlain - Laurie Boschman - Paul Holmgren
Lasse Oskanen

Dickie Boon - Yuri Fedorov
Allan Cameron - Dmitri Yushkevich
Lee Fogolin Sr. - Willie Huber
Pavel Kubina

Viktor Konovalenko
Vladimir Myshkin

That's our new lines..

 

[chaosrevolver]

I'll have some comments later today.

 

[chaosrevolver]

We feel we have the very clear edge in this series based on a few reasons.

Goaltending: Viktor Konovalenko is clearly the best goaltender in this series. He was voted MVP of the draft and is a top-2 goalie overall in the draft without a doubt. Until Tretiak he was the best Soviet goalie ever and was a MVP of the Soviet League in a very strong 1970 season. A 7-time all-star that is clearly an elite goaltender in this draft. Ron Grahame is an ok starter but I think it might hurt that you waited so long for a goaltender. He was good in his few years in the WHA..but really didn't experience that much success against the best hockey had to offer. Certainly not enough to keep up with Konovalenko.

Your Own Zone: I like Shmyr and Ley but I'm not sure about the rest of your defense. Really unsure how they will handle my fast skating, slick, hard-working forwards...also unsure if your forwards are good enough to handle our offense in their own zone. I had Gordie Roberts in my AAA draft as one of my top-3 defenseman and liked his puck-moving ability...but this is a new stage. And I'm not sure he's complete enough to hold his own in a top-4 role. You need to hope he can. Although, Shmyr should certainly help him out. Is Hamilton strong enough defensively to handle his own on the first pairing? The guy can rush the puck for sure...but I don't think he and Ley will be able to handle our forwards. Don't expect to keep pucks out of your net.

Offensively Gifted but Strong enough?: You certainly have some firepower on offense. Cloutier, Lacroix, Rogers and Stoughton. Not a bad core. But can they handle the assignment they are getting themselves into? I have five defenseman that can not only handle themselves defensively...but won't do it quietly. They can skate with the best of them and handle anything you throw out there. The other defenseman is a little like Roberts. Good skating, solid defender who was a very good puckmover...that's my sixth defenseman..want more? My 3rd line can punish with the best of them and include 3 forwards who can shutdown with the best of them. Brian Skrudland is arguably the best defensive forward in this draft. Jack Findlay one several retro selkes along with bringing some very good scoring credentials. Don Grosso also could handle his own end very well and had some offensive firepower to boot. And even if you do manage to get back all of those players.....you still have to beat Mr. MVP.

We can stop you...can you do the same?: I'm not sure whether you have the forwards to stop us. The reason we built the team we did was so we could matchup more than one line against top end players. You have one line that I think may be able to handle our offense...and that's the Preston line. Assuming you match them up with out number one line....how are you going to stop our second line which although has some question marks....also features 3 guys who can definitely light the net up...including hall of famer Jimmy Gardner and physical beast of a forward Tom Lysiak.

Good luck Papershoes and Kruezer!

 

[seventieslord]

Belleville Bulls defeat Toronto Morningstars in 5 games.
3 stars:
1. Dickie Boon
2. Viktor Konovalenko
3. Blaine Stoughton