All Time Draft #7- Second round-#4 Montreal Maroons @ #2 Montreal Wanderers

raleh

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Oct 17, 2005
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Dartmouth, NS
Montreal Wanderers

GM: Lapierresports
Coach: Herb Brooks

Reg Noble - Wayne Gretzky (A) - Brett Hull
Billy Burch - Frank Nighbor (A) - Dany Heatley
Dirk Graham (A) - Dave Poulin - Hooley Smith
Wendel Clark - Frank Frederickson - Bill Guerin
Josef Malecek

Lionel Conacher (C) - Harry Cameron
Chris Pronger - Kevin Hatcher
Jack Laviolette - Mike Grant
Jiri Bubla

George Hainsworth
Pelle Lindbergh
Miikka Kiprusoff

Montreal Maroons

GM: raleh
Coach: Ted Nolan

Toe Blake (C) - Elmer Lach - Maurice Richard (A)
Herbie Lewis - Kirk Muller (A) - Reggie Leach
Eddie Shack - Derek Sanderson - Mario Tremblay
Paul Kariya - Pierre Turgeon - Blair Russel
Cliff Ronning

Sprague Cleghorn - J.C. Tremblay
Leo Boivin - Terry Harper
Ed Van Impe - George Owen
Brad Maxwell

Gerry Cheevers
Jim Henry
Hughie Lehman​
 
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raleh

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Oct 17, 2005
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Dartmouth, NS
Without the home ice advantage we don't feel comfortable with the idea of Turgeon-Leach-anybody out against Gretzky and Hull. With that in mind, we will be rolling three lines. The Punch Line, the 3 G's line (three generations, funny eh?), and the Party line. Lach, Muller, and Sanderson will have the job of making Gretzky's life miserable. We feel that Cheevers in the playoffs will be the better goaltender in this matchup and we are elated about the fact that he got past Billy Smith. Needless to say, Cleghorn will not be getting a letter based on the write ups of the last series. The Turgeon line will probably see about 7 minutes a game with PP time.
 
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LapierreSports

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Mar 9, 2007
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Montreal
Having home ice advantage will enable coach Brooks to send the Selke line on the ice in an effort to contain the famous punch line. This will be a difficult task, but thats why I chose leaders like Poulin, Graham and Smith. These guys are hard-hitting, defensive-minded forwards but most importantly, great leaders, who leave it all on the ice. In an effort to ''contain'' the Rocket, any of these guys can step up.

The Wanderers response to the all out attack assault of the Punch Line will consist of a line made up of Reg Noble-Wayne Gretzky and Brett Hull. A fireplug of a player at 5-foot-8 and 180 pounds, Noble will bring the grit and level of competitiveness needed to let Gretzky and Hull do their magic. Noble will attract the likes of the slower but tough as nails Cleghorn and Boivin, while Gretzky feeds Hull.

Our second line (Burch-Nighbor-Heatley) will use their speed to pass by the slower defensive core of the Maroons.

The 4th line will see sporadic action with a mission to disturb guys like Cleghorn, Shack and Boivin, dirty players who will get their share of penalties. Or if Tremblay wants to party...
 

LapierreSports

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Mar 9, 2007
346
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Montreal
Montreal Wanderers

GM: Lapierresports
Coach: Herb Brooks

Reg Noble - Wayne Gretzky (A) - Brett Hull
Billy Burch - Frank Nighbor (A) - Dany Heatley
Dirk Graham (A) - Dave Poulin - Hooley Smith
Wendel Clark - Frank Frederickson - Bill Guerin
Josef Malecek

Lionel Conacher (C) - Harry Cameron
Chris Pronger - Kevin Hatcher
Jack Laviolette - Mike Grant
Jiri Bubla

George Hainsworth
Pelle Lindbergh
Miikka Kiprusoff
 

LapierreSports

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Mar 9, 2007
346
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Montreal
Wanderers keys to success

1) ''Contain'' the Rocket. Can Graham-Poulin-Smith get in his face ?

2) Disturb the likes of Cleghorn, Shack, Boivin, the Rocket, etc. All these guys have short fused and will get into penalty trouble. Noble or Heatley-Gretzky-Hull will take care of the rest on the power play, quartebacked by the Big Train, Pronger and Cameron.

3) Use our speed to fly by a slower but defensive minded corp.

4) Win with goals ! pretty cleaver.... but let's face it, if the Selke line contains the famous Punch Line, the Wanderers will win this series. Outside of the famous trio, who will put the puck in the net for the Maroons ??? Our 4th line, looks like a second line on the Maroons team and outside of J-C Tremblay (who should be in the Hall) did any of the Maroons defensman get 15 points during the season ??? The Wanderers will respond with Pronger, the Big Train and Cameron who will quarterback the team.
 

God Bless Canada

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Jul 11, 2004
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Smart move with Noble, Lappy. I suggested in the last round, and while you could get away with Burch on that line when playing against Darren McCarty, Tremblay and Russell are a big step above McCarty. I felt you needed that all-round presence to play with Gretzky and Hull, and Smith and Noble were your best bets.

As much as I'm a fan of Hooley Smith, I think the "Selke Line" might be in over their heads. I said at the start of the draft that the Punch Line was the best around. Now that we're in the playoffs, and the Rocket is in his favourite time of the year, they're that much better.

Don't want to beat the dead Turgeon horse, but once raleh is eliminated, he's going to be kicking himself over that pick and the Ronning pick, if for no other reason than it reduces the effectiveness of Kariya and Leach. Two excellent second line wingers reduced to spot duty and power play minutes.

The beauty of raleh's team is they have two excellent defensive lines: the Muller line and the Party Line. Yeah, we make fun of Shack's DUI record, Sanderson's boozing and "Pom Pom" Tremblay, but that's an excellent line, and very tough to play against.

Do not underrate Harper. He was good enough to play a key shutdown role against Bobby Hull. If he can shut down Hull, he can shut down any left winger in the history of the game. Boivin wasn't fast, but he was very smart in his own zone.

I think the difference will come down to goaltending, and this is where raleh gets the edge. Cheevers is one of the best money goaltenders of all-time. He consistently took his play to another level in the playoffs. And one thing he did very well was advance the puck. He'll get the puck to the forwards without problem. It's an added dimension for the Maroons, and it'll make a forecheck very difficult for the Wanderers, especially the Wanderers' fourth line, which can be very dangerous.
 

Nalyd Psycho

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I'd use Nighbor against Richard. I'm of the mind that you want to use skilled defense against Richard, don't let him get on his game, but don't give him any motivators. Let him frustrate himself.

Nighbor is one of the best defensive forwards ever, use that to your advantage.

Cleghorn vs Gretzky, best match-up of the draft IMO. If Raleh loses Cleghorn to suspension, will that justify not having to go against Gretzky?

I'd keep Leach on the 2nd line, just change his linemates. Leach isn't going to hurt you and he gives more pop.
 

raleh

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Oct 17, 2005
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Dartmouth, NS
I'd use Nighbor against Richard. I'm of the mind that you want to use skilled defense against Richard, don't let him get on his game, but don't give him any motivators. Let him frustrate himself.

Nighbor is one of the best defensive forwards ever, use that to your advantage.

Cleghorn vs Gretzky, best match-up of the draft IMO. If Raleh loses Cleghorn to suspension, will that justify not having to go against Gretzky?

I'd keep Leach on the 2nd line, just change his linemates. Leach isn't going to hurt you and he gives more pop.

I had been thinking about this all day and just walked to the library to change it. Now it looks like I'm steaing your idea! haha. I'm actually a little confused. I don't want to break any rules here; is Cleghorn suspended for the first game of this series or possibly more? VanI should know the answer to this. What I've been thinking is switching Russel and Leach. Russel is a relatively unknown comodity who probably won't change the outcome of the series. Leach can pop a few in and give me some scoring behind the punch line.

Hey Lappy, I'll make you a deal...let's let the punch line and the Gretzky line go head to head all series! haha. I'll also change your lines up for you.

GBC, I'm already regretting the Turgeon-Ronning pick. My problem with Ronning is probably similar to guys like Lindros and the guy who's number I wore for a few years in the early '90's, Stephane Lebeau. I saw them when I was so young that they seemed to do no wrong!

The Rocket is going to play his best hockey in this series. The thought of potentially playing against the Canadiens and HO, the gm who so eagerly traded him away at the start of the draft has had him brooding since we came out of the Quebec series.
 

pitseleh

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Jul 30, 2005
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Vancouver
For the Maroons, the key without question is the Punch line versus the Selke line. If they can fight through the tough checking, they'll give themselves a good shot to take the series.

Their defense is going to make life very difficult for Noble-Gretzky-Hull. Noble is no Semenko and going up against a defense with Cleghorn, Boivin and Harper is a tough task. Conversely, I feel a lot better about the Punch line going against Conacher and Pronger.

For the Wanderers, they have a greater capacity for secondary scoring than the Maroons, especially with Kariya-Turgeon relegated to fourth line minutes. And obviously Gretzky-Hull will get their points even going up against a good defense and a fairly solid checking line. The Maroons will need a very strong performance from Cheevers to try and hold off the scoring ability of the top two lines of the Wanderers.
 

LapierreSports

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Mar 9, 2007
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Montreal
Well...it will be up to you guys to judge if my Selke line can stop the famous Punch Line. If you think it can, then vote for the Wanderers. We clearly have a greater capacity for secondary scoring than the Maroons and will benefit from numerous power plays resulting from their undisciplin.
 

raleh

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Oct 17, 2005
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Dartmouth, NS
Well...it will be up to you guys to judge if my Selke line can stop the famous Punch Line. If you think it can, then vote for the Wanderers. We clearly have a greater capacity for secondary scoring than the Maroons and will benefit from numerous power plays resulting from their undisciplin.

The Punch line will not be shut down by the Selke line. There is way too much firepower and chemistry on that line. They'll get their points just like they always did. Having said that, there probably isn't a shutdown line that could contain the Noble-Gretzky-Hull line for 7 games. Our goal will be to slow them down; that's the best you can do against a line like that.

The secondary scoring for my team is there. Lewis-Muller-Leach has some scoring punch to it, and will be especially effective when matched up against the indifferent Gretzky line. Two thirds of that line are pretty much useless without the puck, I see it ending up like the cup finals have been thus far. Kariya-Turgeon-Russel will see about 10 minutes of ice time if you include pp time. That's long enough for them to strike and Russel provides some semblance of a defensive presence. Not enough to risk having them out against Gretz though.

I concede that the wanderers have an advantage as far as secondary scoring is concerned. It's not as big as Lapierre would have you believe, but it exists. However, the maroons top scoring line is better with more cups and the greatest clutch player of all time. The secondary scoring of the Wanderers will be checked closely by three lines that are excellent defensively. Two of which will beat you in the alley and on the scoreboard. We feel that our defense is better at the front end and in deapth. We've got lots of guys with mean streaks who will deliver the bone crunching hit, as well as slick puck moving guys to help out on the pp. We also have one of the best shutdown duos in the draft in Boivin and Harper. Our goaltending is also superior to the wanderers.

I'm also getting pretty sick of hearing about my team's lack of discipline. Cleghorn and Rocket may have received lots of suspensions and the like during the regular season, but they both averaged well under 1 minor penalty a game throughout their playoff careers. A lot of voters seem to be forgetting, this is PLAYOFF TIME. Last time I checked Wendel Clark had 201 PIM in 95 playoff games. That's a waybigger average than Rocket or Cleghorn. Cleghorn never received major suspensions in the playoffs, but he's already been suspended for two out of the first four games we've played?

Keep in mind, if you guys do decide that he'll miss games that's fine. But remember what kind of stuff he used to do to get those misconducts. I promise, and take this however you want Lappy, if Cleghorn gets suspended in this series, Gretzky comes with him...on a stretcher. :naughty:
 

Nalyd Psycho

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Game 1:

The home crowd at the Montreal Arena is firmly divided. (I'm playing it so the Canadiens play at the Forum, the Wanderers at the Arena and the Maroons at the Bell Centre.) There will be no crowd advantage in this series.

Kevin Hatcher levels Richard early in the first. But, this backfires, Richard gets up, takes a pass from Lach and beats Hainsworth.

Later in the period, Reggie Leach scores on a wrist shot in the slot.

Still in the first, Toe Blake scores on a give and go with Richard.

In the 2nd, Brooks pulls Hainsworth in favour of Lindbergh. This doesn't work any better.

Richard gets another goal.

Herbie Lewis scores.

Richard completes the hat-trick.

In the 3rd, Hainsworth is back and settled. He shuts the door, and stops the bleeding.

Guerin adds a hollow goal to break Cheevers shut-out.

Game 2:

Gretzky is ready to roll. He sets up Hull early in the first. And then follows it up on the next shift with a goal of his own.

Lach answers back, scoring off a Richard rebound.

In the 2nd Pronger scores on the powerplay.

For the rest opf the game, Nighbor and Conacher smother Richard while Cleghorn and Harper neutralize Gretzky.

Game 3:

Nighbor opens the scoring.

Conacher, Pronger, Poulin and Nighbor continue to work Richard.

Cleghorn takes a bad penalty late in the third, Gretzky scores on the powerplay.

Burch seals the deal with and empty net goal, leaving the Montreal Wanderers up 2 games to 1.
 

Nalyd Psycho

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Game 4:

  • The Wanderers use momentum in their favour, coming out strong. Pronger begins the game with a thunderous hit on Lewis.
  • Later on, Gretzky spins away from Cleghorn, passes to Noble for the go ahead goal.
  • The Maroons battle back when Owen passes up to Lach who sets up Richard in the slot.
  • Clark takes a sloppy penalty, but Pronger prevents the Maroons from capitalizing.
  • Sanderson plows over Burch in the slot causing a turnover, Tremblay on the counter attack is stopped by Conacher.
  • Cleghorn strips the puck off Gretzky and gets a breakway, scoring for the go ahead goal.
  • Nighbor counters five minutes later with a nifty pass to Burch in the slot.

    This one's going to overtime.
  • Midway through the overtime period, Pronger crushes Muller, stealing the puck from him, he passes up to a cherry-picking Gretzky, who undresses Tremblay. Wrist shot high glove side for the win.

The Montreal Wanderers are up 3 games to 1.
 

Nalyd Psycho

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Game 5:

  • Cleghorn and Tremblay get beat by a tic-tac-toe passing play between Pronger, Gretzky and Hull.
  • In order to mix things up, Boivin and Harper pair off against the Great one, but to no avail as Gretzky scores again.
  • But, the Punch Line answers the call and goals by Richard and Blake tie things up after one.
  • Tough defensive play by Leach, Pronger, Cleghorn and Conacher keep thing scoreless for the rest of the game.
  • In overtime, the defensive play continues with only 5 shots in the first OT.
  • Early in the second OT, a bad change gives Lewis and Leach a two on none. Lewis fakes a shot, but passes t
o Leach who gets a quick shot off that Hainsworth just can't reach.

The Maroons close the gap, making it 3 games to 2.
 

Nalyd Psycho

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Game 6:

-Gretzky comes out flying, setting up Noble and Hull in the first. Pronger smothers Richard.

-In the second, Richard gets one back for the Maroons.

-The floodgates open in the 3rd. Gretzky gets a natural hat trick by the 5 minute mark and Pronger adds a spirit crusher with 30 seconds to go.

The Montreal Wanderers repay in kind with a 6-1 win.

The Montreal Wanderers win the series 4 games to 2.

Three Stars:
1st: Wayne Gretzky
2nd: Maurice Richard
3rd: Chris Pronger
 

Murphy

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Apr 2, 2005
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Well this series outcome is the most shocking to me out of all of them this round. Congrats Lapierre.
 

God Bless Canada

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Well this series outcome is the most shocking to me out of all of them this round. Congrats Lapierre.
Agreed. I thought raleh would win this in five or six games, despite the Turgeon/Ronning slip. The Punch Line, combined with proven playoff aces like Muller, Leach and the Party Line (I can't believe I won't be able to type that one again) gave raleh a strong forward nucleus, and I thought he'd have enough on defence to stop the Wanderers' forwards. And I thought that Cheevers vs. Hainsworth was a playoff mismatch.

If nothing else, the Maroons falter shows the value of those 13th forwards and 7th defencemen, as they can be used to compensate for a screw-up during the draft.
 

Nalyd Psycho

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For me, 2nd line center was the kicker. Nighbor vs Muller/Turgeon is absolutely huge. I think we're seeing the importance of a strong 2nd line. Really like the Wanderers top 3 as well.
 

Know Your Enemy

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Jul 18, 2004
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I thought raleh would win this in five or six games, despite the Turgeon/Ronning slip. The Punch Line, combined with proven playoff aces like Muller, Leach and the Party Line (I can't believe I won't be able to type that one again) gave raleh a strong forward nucleus, and I thought he'd have enough on defence to stop the Wanderers' forwards. And I thought that Cheevers vs. Hainsworth was a playoff mismatch.

If nothing else, the Maroons falter shows the value of those 13th forwards and 7th defencemen, as they can be used to compensate for a screw-up during the draft.

Agreed. You deserve better raleh.
 

raleh

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Oct 17, 2005
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haha, thanks guys. The best thing about these drafts is that I learn something every time. Hopefully I won't have any huge holes next time around!

Any time you're playing against the best forward of all time, you're in trouble. Well done Lappy. Good luck against the habs!
 

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