ATD #10 - Final: Montreal Canadiens vs. San Francisco Spiders

[Nalyd Psycho]

Game 5: I can't think of a tagline

Foyston crosses center ice with speed down the left wing line. Westfall gives chase, but can't keep up. Foyston cuts to the middle as he crosses the blueline. Vasiliev effortlessly glides into position. Foyston tries to deke out Vasiliev but is stood up. Davydov picks up the loose puck, but Foyston strips it off his stick and fires a pass to Savard. Savard with a quick snap shot. Vasiliev blocks it and clears the zone.

Montreal wins 3-0 taking a 3-2 series lead.

 

[Nalyd Psycho]

Game 6: No tagline, no tagline, NO!

McKenney is shadowing Gilmour in the Spider's zone. Mosienko tries to pass to Gilmour, but McKenney intercepts. McKenney to Ellis. Ellis comes in with speed. Passes to Prentice before he's face to face with Hajt. Rowe is on Prentice. Prentice passes back to the trailer McKenney. Hard shot. Hasek makes the save. Big rebound. Ellis to McKenney. Back to Ellis. Low slapshot. Prentices reaches and deflects it high and over Hasek.

San Francisco wins 3-2 in overtime to tie the series 3-3.

 

[Nalyd Psycho]

Game 7: This is the end, my only friend, the end.

Spiders on the power play. Lidstrom has the puck. Pass to Maltsev as he creeps closer to the slot. Bucyk is screening Hasek. Shot by Maltsev. Blocked by Sanderson. Maltsev gets the puck. Back to Lidstrom. To Foyston. Quick shot. Kicked to the corner by Hasek. Howe tries to clear. Held in by Lidstrom. Pass to Sakic. Fakes a shot. Hard pass to Bucyk. Redirected. Kicked aside by Hasek. Chara clears. Held in by Maltsev. Pass to Fosyton. Pass back to Maltsev. No shot. Pass to Sakic. Waits. Marcotte pressures. Back to Lidstrom. Sakic gets clear and receives the pass. Chara clears Hasek's view. Sakic looks Hasek dead in the eyes. Wrist shot. Top corner. Blocker side...


GOAL!

San Francisco Spider win 2-0.

San Francisco Spiders win the Milt Dunnell Cup in the 10th All Time Draft four games to three.

Charlie Gardiner Memorial Trophy for playoff MVP goes to Dominic Hasek in a losing cause.

Three Stars:
1. Dominic Hasek
2. Joe Sakic
3. Niklas Lidstrom

 

[Sturminator]

How you like them apples, Gilmour?

Heh, sorry...couldn't resist.



Congratulations to HO for putting together a tremendous team and much respect for the excellent and civil debate you gave me. In four appearances since the ATD switched to a playoff format, you have won twice, lost once in the conference finals to a legendary Clippers team and lost once in the finals to these Spiders. Your Canadiens are the closest thing to an ATD dynasty that we've seen yet, and it's an honor to have beaten you. Pitseleh and I are now a club of two. My hat's off to you, HO.

Thanks to all who participated in this ATD and especially to those GMs who voted right through to the end. This was the best and most competitive ATD to date, in my opinion, and there were just a ton of great teams out there.

I'd also like to extend a special laurel to Jungosi and MXD. That Victoria team came closer than anyone else to beating these Spiders and I think the Secrets would have almost certainly gone farther in another division, but the Robson was just murder this time around. You guys came within a single vote of beating the team that was the eventual champion. Going out in the divisional finals didn't really do you justice, but the margins in ATD#10 were razor thin.

Thanks to Nalyd and VanI and everyone else who helped run this thing.

Finally, thanks to my co-GM, Transplanted Caper. I squared off against the Caper in my first ever ATD on another site, and it's appropriate that we should win our first championship together here. Thanks a bunch, Caper.

See you all in ATD#11. I'm probably going to take one "off" in the sense that I don't really want to run a team next time around, but I'm willing to do some consulting as somebody's sidekick if anyone is interested.

 

[Sturminator]

I thought it might be interesting to do a bit of a retrospective on five "seasons" of ATD playoffs (correct me if I'm wrong, but ATD#6 was the first that featured a playof format, correct?). So, with no particular rhyme or reason, here are a few interesting ATD facts (from #6 to #10) for you all:

- Dean Prentice and Ed Litzenbeger now join Bobby Rousseau as the most successful ATD players to date. Playing his standard 3rd line left wing role, Prentice won the Milt Dunnell Cup in both ATD #6 and #10, and was on the losing team in the finals in ATD #8. Litzenberger is in his third consecutive finals, and second consecutive victory. He is thus far the only player to play in three straight finals. Prentice and Rousseau have played on the same line in two finals appearances, winning with Montreal in ATD#6 and losing with Nanaimo in ATD#8.

- Johnny Bucyk and Dean Prentice (who were teammates in real life in Boston for a while) have been teammates on two Milt Dunnell Cup winners, in ATD #6 and #10, once playing for Montreal and once against them.

- Joe Sakic and Doug Gilmour have squared off in the finals before: way back in ATD#6, when it was Gilmour's Canadiens who were victorious. Doug Gilmour is becoming synonymous with the Canadiens franchise.

- Hooley Smith has also competed in two Milt Dunnell Cups with Montreal, in ATD's #6 and #8, winning both times. He and Gilmour are, thus far, the defining players of the Canadiens' mini dynasty, which, when you consider the players, says a lot about that franchise, IMO.

- winning ATD goalies since the playoff format started: Bower, Hall, Broda, Rayner, Fuhr. Losing goalies thus far are Brodeur, Gardiner, Benedict, Brimsek and Hasek. No goalie has appeared in the finals more than once, and interestingly, the winning goalies are easily a weaker group than the losers.

- coaching seems to be nearly a constant thus far in the ATD. The following coaches have taken their teams to the finals: Day (3 times - 1 championship, two losses), Arbour (championship), Irvin (championship), Patrick (loss), Ivan (championship), Hart (championship), Nielson (loss), Green (loss). Of that group, the only one who I would place lower than the 3rd tier is Roger Nielson. I dunno if coaching is underrated in the ATD, but the teams that make it to the finals always seem to have at least a pretty good coach.

- Bryan Trottier has now lost in the Milt Dunnel Cup Finals twice, in ATD #7 and #10. Interesting how the real-life fortunes of men like Trottier and Prentice have reversed in the ATD.

- Ed Litzenberger (ATD #9 and #10) now joins Newsy Lalonde (ATD #7 and #8), Doug Risebrough (ATD #6 and #7), Bill Hajt (ATD #6 and #7) and Bobby Rousseau (ATD #6 and #7) as the only back-to-back Milt Dunnell Cup winners.

- amazingly, not one single defenseman has won the Milt Dunnel Cup more than once since the playoff format began. The Bills (White and Gadsby) have both won a Cup and lost once in the finals, and Vitaly Davydov has twice been on the losing end. Other than that, there are not even any defensemen who have appeared in the finals more than once. edit: Bill Hajt was a 3rd pairing guy for the winners of both ATD 6 and 7, and pit already pointed out that Ted Harris was a spare on both teams, as well.

 

[seventieslord]

"How do you like them apples, Gilmour?"

I remember seeing that somewhere before.

 

[God Bless Canada]

A big congrats to sturm and TC on winning the championship. They join HO, pit and pappy in the very exclusive club of ATD champions.

This is the first time since ATD 7 that a team assembled by HO has lost a series. (Keep in mind he came in as a co-GM with Nanaimo late in the draft).

TC now joins HO as the only GMs to hold both the ATD and the MLD championships at the same time. (TC won MLD 9).

 

[chaosrevolver]

Congratulations to Sturm and TC!

 

[pitseleh]

- amazingly, not one single defenseman has won the Milt Dunnel Cup more than once since the playoff format began. The Bills (White and Gadsby) have both won a Cup and lost once in the finals, and Vitaly Davydov has twice been on the losing end. Other than that, there are not even any defensemen who have appeared in the finals more than once.

Ted Harris was actually on both the ATD6 and ATD7 champs, though as a spare both times.

Congrats to TC and Sturm. A well deserved victory, you guys put together a heck of a team.

 

[vancityluongo]

Congrats TC and Sturm. The Spiders were a helluva team, and absolutely deserved to win this.

HO, I don't know how you do it, but congrats to the most consistent GM in the draft. Like Sturm said, the Habs are the closest thing to an ATD dynasty, and another finals appearance just adds to the legacy.

 

[camperjr]

Congats Guys, great series

 

[Hockey Outsider]

Sorry for not responding earlier, I've just finished my third consecutive 90 hour week...

Sturm and TC, congratulations on the victory. The Spiders are one of the most balanced and complete teams in ATD history, which is even more impressive given that this was closest and most competitive draft thus far. It's an honour and accomplishment to take your team to seven games. I'd like to think our discussion was a great example of a "good clean fight" -- an intense but respectful debate.

Thank you to GBC, pitseleh, EB and VanIslander for taking dozens of my (probably needlessly complicated) lists. Nalyd and VanIslander have once again done a great job administering the draft, which is remarkably smooth given the size and scope of the project.

A lot of people have said that this is the best/most competitive draft to date, and it's worth emphasizing one more time. Increasingly fewer obscure/underrated players are available in later rounds, there were remarkably few weak picks, and the quality of discussion during the match-up threads improves every draft.

I'll have to sit out of the minor league draft due to commitments at work but I'll see everybody in ATD #11.

 

[shawnmullin]

Sturm huge congrats to you on a well earned victory.