Atd#7 Minor League Championship Final: Springfield Ice-o-Topes vs. Penticton Vees

[VanIslander]

Springfield Ice-o-Topes

co-g.m.s.:raleh & arrbez
coach: Frank Patrick
captain: Tumba Johansson
alternate captains: Adam Deadmarsh, Normand Rochefort
team MVP: Yuri Liapkin

Real Cloutier - Tumba Johansson (C) - Mikael Renberg
Adam Deamarsh (A) - Jason Allison - Ziggy Palffy
Ab McDonald - Rob Niedermayer - Simon Gagne
Rich Sutter - Ron Sutter - Reggie Fleming
Joey Kocur

Yuri Liapkin - Normand Rochefort (A)
Pekka Rautakallio - Bryan Marchment
Lee Fogolin Jr. - Lee Fogolin Sr.
Pierre Bouchard

John Hutton
Guy Hebert
Bob Froese

vs.

Penticton Vees

co-g.m.s: VanIslander & Hockey Outsider
coach: Billy Reay
captain: Pit Martin
alternate captains: Don Lever, Rod Seiling
team MVP: Pit Martin

Camille Henry - Thomas Gradin - Alex Kovalev
Don Lever (A) - Pit Martin (C) - Ulf Dahlen
Pierre Mondou - Tim Young - Stu Barnes
Mike Krushelnyski - Gregg Sheppard - Petr Klima
Scott Gomez

Rod Seiling (A) - Doug Bodger
Dmitri Yushkevich - Brian Rafalski
Lyle Odelein - Scott Hannan
Jyrki Lumme

Kelly Hrudey
Reggie Lemelin
Michel Larocque​

Click to read more...

 

[VanIslander]

The league's number one seed and 2nd best powerplay units

PP1: Real Cloutier, Tumba Johansson, Ziggy Palffy, Pekka Rautakallio, Yuri Liapkin
PP2: Simon Gagne, Jason Allison, Ab McDonald, Lee Fogolin Jr., Pekka Rautakallio

PK1: Reggie Fleming, Rob Niedermayer, Normand Rochefort, Lee Fogolin Sr.
PK2: Mikael Renberg, Ron Sutter, Bryan Marchment, Lee Fogolin Jr.

vs.

The number two seed and 2nd best penalty kill units

PP1: Camille Henry, Thomas Gradin, Ulf Dahlen, Brian Rafalski, Doug Bodger
PP2: Don Lever, Pit Martin, Alex Kovalev, Rod Seiling, Jyrki Lumme

PK1: Mike Krushelnyski, Pierre Mondou, Rod Seiling, Dmitri Yushkevich
PK2: Don Lever, Pit Martin, Doug Bodger, Scott Hannan

 

[VanIslander]

Hmmm....

two teams voted to have good special teams during the regular season

and

the top two seeds after the regular season

and

two teams with co-g.m.s (and in fact every team with co-g.m.s made the playoffs)

Interesting!

 

[raleh]

Hmmm....

two teams voted to have good special teams during the regular season

and

the top two seeds after the regular season

and

two teams with co-g.m.s (and in fact every team with co-g.m.s made the playoffs)

Interesting!

I think having a co-gm makes you consider your pick a little bit more. Especially if you have one that tends to draft a little differently than you. I think Springfield is made up of the best guys we could have gotten when we got them. It doesn't have many of my sentimental favorites, but it is doing better than any of my teams ever have. I think that's the advantage of a co-g.m. I bet if I had one in the main draft my team might not have Lach or Lehman, but we'd go a lot further than the second round!

 

[ck26]

I really like the Penticton blue line and the Springfield's top 9 forwards ... neither coach does anything for me.

Where do we send our votes for this round?

 

[Hockey Outsider]

Penticons’ Advantages

Defense. Both teams have good puck-moving blueliners, but the Vees have more depth and balance. Liapkin was a good playmaker and PP quarterback, but was also known for his defensive limitations. (Liapkin himself admitted that he’s best known for turning the puck over to Henderson when he scored late in game 8 of the Summit Series). Conversely, Bodger was a bit less talented but consistently scored 50 points, was frequently used on the penalty kill, and was a much tougher, more aggressive hitter. Rafalski matches Rautakallio’s numbers and has more playoff experience and his better defensively. The two Fogolins were never more than solid depth players; while Hannan is regarded as one of the toughest defensive bluelines currently in the NHL and Odelein was nearly as tough as Marchment, but spent less time in the box and more time scoring on the powerplay.

Second line. Springfield’s second line is, admittedly, quite talented, but it is very one-dimensional. Palffy and Allison don’t contribute much if they’re not scoring. Deadmarsh is a tough, physical player but was merely average defensively, and he risks injury if he plays too aggressively. Our second line has great balance. Dahlen was a strong, tough grinder who was great at battling for pucks along the board and still had back to back 35 goal seasons; Martin was a tough, two-way checker with four 70-point seasons; and Lever was great penalty killer. Springfield’s line is a bit more talented but ours is much better defensively and more capable of playing a physical, grinding game.

Forward depth. This is the championship series; depth is very important because our players have fought through many hard series to get here. The Vees have a big advantage here. Mike Krushelnyski and Greg Sheppard were important parts of two championship teams; they both killed penalties, scored SHG, and were out in the last minute to protect narrow leads. Petr Klima was tough and highly skilled (five 30-goal seasons). It’s nice to re-unite two of the Sutters, but they can’t match the consistently high level of offense, and the strong penalty killing, provided by the three members of our fourth line. Additionally, Scott Gomez, who provides a similar level of offense to Springfield’s 2nd liner Jason Allison, is a solid depth forward.

Springfields’ Advantages

Powerplay. Their powerplay is voted as one of the best for good reason. There are two dangerous scoring lines and two skilled playmaking defensemen. However, we can counter this advantage by relying on our bottom two lines. Every forward on our bottom two lines, aside from Klima, was an elite penalty killer. Young and Krushelnyski provide the toughness and girt while Mondou and Sheppard rely on speed and positioning (Barnes is a balance between the two). Sheppard and Krushelnyski are SHG threats too. Seiling, Yushkevich and Hannan are all top defensive blueliners who repeatedly shut down the league’s best players. For example, Ovechkin called Hannan the “toughest defenseman to play against†and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat Philadelphia in the playoffs in the late 90s largely because Yushkevich shut down Jagr, fresh off an Art Ross victory. On top of all this, our team is quite disciplined in general, so there will be few chances for Springfield to test our PK.

Coach. Patrick is one of the most creative and innovative people ever involved in hockey. Reay had great success at the AHL but less so at the NHL level. Springfield should have the edge here.

Overall, I think Penticon takes the series in seven. We have better depth and, if our forwards remain disciplined, we can avoid Springfield’s strong powerplay.

 

[arrbez]

Reasons I believe Springfield should win this series:



Firepower

I believe we have the best offense in this series, and by a fair margin. Penticton has a number of nice complimentary offensive players, but lacks any true offensive gamebreakers (apart from the tragically flaky Alexei Kovalev). With Tumba and Cloutier on the top line, and Palffy and Allison on the second line, I think we have this element in spades. Having guys like Simon Gagne and Ab McDonald on the 3rd line is just the icing on the cake. And with two of the best offensive defensemen in this draft moving the puck, this team will score a ton of goals. The fact that our big guns are spread throughout the lineup should make them even more difficult to defend against.


Size and Strength Up Front

With the exception of Cloutier, Palffy, and Gagne, all our forwards are quite physical (much moreso that Penticton's forward group). Johansson, Allison, Niedermayer, and Sutter bring tons of size and grit up the middle, and I think Penticton's less physical forward group and relative lack of transition game can certainly be exploited in this matchup. Kocur can be inserted for Rich Sutter to maximize this physical advantage when need be.


Coaching

I believe Frank Patrick is the best coach in this series. He took his underpowered PCHL squad to the Stanley Cup 4 times, and swept the Ottawa Senators in 3 games to win it in 1915. He's considered to be one of the most influential hockey minds ever, and is credited with many of the rules and strategies still in use today. On the other hand, Billy Reay had a Blackhawk team featuring the likes of Hull, Mikita, Hall and Pilote, a squad that was consistantly among the best in the league in the regular season, but never once won the Stanley Cup.


Pedigree

This squad has 21 Stanley Cups, 1 AVCO Cup, 10 World Championships, 4 Canada/World Cups, and 2 Olympic Gold medals in it's trophy case. I've done the math, and this is far more than Penticton has in any of these categories. And of the utmost importance, our coach and starting goaltender have 6 Stanley Cups between them, while Penticton's have zero.

 

[BM67]

With 4 of the GMs being in the final, and thus not voting, we really could use some more voters not involved in the draft for the Final.

 

[VanIslander]

WE need 7 votes....

minimum

 

[pitseleh]

Sorry I didn't chime in earlier.

A couple of thoughts:

Penticton's biggest advantage is their quality two-way players, especially on their second line. Neither of Springfield's top-two lines are particularly good defensively, and if Penticton can get their second line matched up against either one of them, I think that they can exploit that matchup.

I also think that they have an advantage in defensive play from their defense. Combined with their two-way forwards, Springfield will have to step up their offense to win.

Springfield should look to get their third line matched up against Penticton's top line as much as possible. Kovalev is the only bigger player on that line and he doesn't exactly utilize that size. All three players on Springfield's third line are very responsible defensively and Gagne/McDonald should look to take advantage of that matchup offensively.

Springfield's other advantage is puck moving from their defense. They are much more capable in that respect, and I think that their transition game will be key to try and nullify some of Penticton's strong defense.

 

[BM67]

We have ten votes so far, and we might be able to say that the voting is close. Get those votes in folks.

 

[shawnmullin]

haha who wants to break the tie

 

[BM67]

OK, the series has been decided. A last chance for anybody that wants to do a write-up for the series. Otherwise I'll throw up something brief tomorrow.

 

[vancityluongo]

Random Question to Springfield (hopefully they've seen their own movie...): How did you guys play in your home rink with the freaking dome?

 

[arrbez]

Random Question to Springfield (hopefully they've seen their own movie...): How did you guys play in your home rink with the freaking dome?

Actually, I havn't seen it yet. Maybe Raleh has...

 

[BM67]

The Springfield Ice-O-Topes were pressing hard for the win in OT of game seven at home, when someone in the the crowd threw a puck into the Penticton net. After a delay of several minutes for a video review, play was resumed and the Vees seemed to have caught their second wind and turned the play to their advantage.

Hard pressed in their own end for several minutes, Springfield sent the puck down the ice and hurried for a line change, when disaster struck.

Kelly Hrudey raced out to play the puck, and moved it ahead to Brian Rafalski, who just as quickly found a streaking Camille Henry. The "Eel" caught Bryan Marchment flatfooted and using him as a screen fired a shot high off the post and behind "Bouse" Hutton to cap a third straight win and take the series.

 

[VanIslander]

Kelly Hrudey raced out to play the puck, and moved it ahead to Brian Rafalski, who just as quickly found a streaking Camille Henry. The "Eel" caught Bryan Marchment flatfooted and using him as a screen fired a shot high off the post and behind "Bouse" Hutton to cap a third straight win and take the series.

The Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelllllllll!

 

[VanIslander]

Credit to Springfield for pushing the series to the limit. The top seed had all the tools.

I would have loved it if most of us had voted for the 3-team tourney playoff option, as I think three to five teams are pretty much on par. Seriously!

Thanks to BM67 for stepping in to administrate the playoffs. He is the uber ATD administrator.

The draft itself took under a month, averaging a round per day. I think I speak for all of us when I say we learned a lot and have come to eye a few players worthy of the main draft in the fall.

See y'all in mid-September!

 

[vancityluongo]

First of all, thanks BM for running the playoffs. Second to VanI, who deserves many kudos for not only running the regular season amazingly, but also putting together a championship along with HO.

Congrats to all 4 GM's, I think most of us would agree that both teams were the best in the draft. This was a fun draft for a lot of reasons, and here's to another awesome Main Draft in September.

 

[raleh]

Well done guys. I think it really says something about both G.Ms that won. Van ran this thing incredibly well, and I have no doubt that the vees list was hundreds deep. HO has been in the top four of every draft we've had since we started having the playoffs.

Arrbez, it was awesome working with you. As I've said before, this was mostly Arrbez' team. I learned more from working with him than I have in any of the other drafts.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

Thanks to everybody who voted.

Congrats to Raleh and Arrbez for putting together a great team. This series really could have gone either way. Your team would be great to watch in real life, with so much speed and firepower.

Thanks VanIslander for being a great co-GM. It was great working with you because we have similar ideas for designing teams, and we both value doing a lot of research. For every player I came up with, you probably suggested 3 or 4.

Thanks to BM67 and VanIslander for all the hard working with organizing and administrating the draft.

See everyone in ATD #8 in September.

 

[God Bless Canada]

Congrats to VanI and HO on winning this thing. Good final series. Let the abreviated ATD off-season begin. See you guys in September.

 

[arrbez]

Sorry I'm late on this, I was away for the weekend.

Congrats to the champs, you guys had a great squad. I think I speak for Ralh as well when I say that we're very proud to have made the finals in this. I look forward to doing it all again in the fall with the main draft.

 

[shawnmullin]

Congrats on a strong draft running and picking for Van... and to everyone.

Looking forwad to the next ATD

 

[ck26]

Been out of town on business for 3 weeks ... wasn't trying to miss the voting. I didn't have either of these teams at #1, but as long as Bryan Marchment gets beat and surrenders the Cup-winning goal, I won't complain about the result. Can't wait for ATD 8.