Red Fisher Conference Quarterfinals: (1) Worcester Rail vs (2) Montreal Canadiens

[jarek]

@BenchBrawl @VanIslander

Post your rosters below.

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[BenchBrawl]

MONTREAL CANADIENS



GM: BenchBrawl​

Captain: Eddie Gerard
Assistant: Yvan Cournoyer
Assistant: Georges Boucher
Assistant: Charlie Gardiner
Assistant: Bryan Trottier
Assistant: Lionel Hitchman
Assistant: Red Sullivan/Ivan Hlinka

HEAD COACH

Al Arbour

ROSTER​

Bert Olmstead - Bryan Trottier (A) - Brett Hull
Jamie Benn - Mike Modano - Yvan Cournoyer (A)
Baldy Northcott - Jeremy Roenick - Bobby Bauer
Igor Liba - Red Sullivan (A) - Eric Nesterenko
Ivan Hlinka (A) , Viktor Yakushev , Milan Lucic​

Lionel Hitchman (A) - Eddie Shore
Georges Boucher (A) - Eddie Gerard (C)
Gary Bergman - Red Dutton
Andrei Markov​

Charlie Gardiner (A)
Miikka Kiprusoff​

PP1: Hull-Trottier-Olmstead
Boucher-Shore

PP2: Bauer-Modano-Cournoyer
Bergman-Gerard

PK1: Modano-Nesterenko
Hitchman-Gerard

PK2: Trottier-Sullivan
Dutton-Shore

Boucher takes Shore's spot on the 2nd PK unit when Shore is penalized.

​

Forwards Estimated Time On Ice

Name	ES	PP	PK	TOT
Trottier	14	4	3	21
Modano	13	3	4	20
Hull	14	4	0	18
Cournoyer	13	3	0	16
Olmstead	14	4	0	18
Northcott	13	0	0	13
Benn	13	0	0	13
Roenick	13	0	0	13
Bauer	13	3	0	16
Nesterenko	8	0	4	12
Sullivan	8	0	3	11
Liba	8	0	0	8
	145	21	14	180

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Defensemen Estimated Time On Ice

Name	ES	PP	PK	TOT
Shore	18	5	3	26
Gerard	18	2	4	24
Boucher	18	5	0	23
Hitchman	18	0	4	22
Dutton	10	0	3	13
Bergman	10	2	0	12
	92	14	14	120

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[BenchBrawl]

Good luck VanI.

First few thoughts, hopefully I'll find more time to debate later:

- Sawchuk and Gardiner were arguably the two best values for goalies.Both had a great peak.An advantage for Worcester.

- I'm switching Boucher-Gerard to Gerard-Boucher, so that Hitchman and Gerard are always on the ice to face Guy Lafleur on his side.

- Montreal is stronger on center, mainly because of Trottier.Both teams has a strong two-way center line.

- Montreal has far superior leadership.Eddie Gerard could be as high as a Top 3 captain of all-time, and is backed by a lot of great assistants.Gilmour is a pretty good captain but nothing extraordinary at the ATD level IMO.Same for Chara as an assistant.

- Both teams have fitting coaches, but still edge to Montreal with Al Arbour.

- Montreal has a better defense pretty easily, despite Worcester having two #1 defensemen.The difference between Shore and Seibert/Chara is bigger than between Gerard and Seibert/Chara IMO.And George Boucher is better than Wilson.Anyway, ignoring the simple inequalities, Montreal's defense unit has perfect chemistry.My opponent already conceded I had the best Top 4 as the draft was ongoing.

Conclusion: If Montreal were to win, it would be based on its defense which includes a top #1 defenseman and an above-average #2, #3 and #4 (and arguably #5 and #6 as well), on top of the guaranteed chemistry.Gardiner won't lose Montreal the series.Arbour is well suited to get the most of out of the team.Montreal has quite a bit of depth up front, and each line is self-contained.Worcester's big threat is Guy Lafleur, and MTL will have to contain him as much as they can.They have a good LW-line defensively, and Hitchman and Gerard to face him.Good luck.

 

[VanIslander]

Worcester Railers
coach Viktor Tikhonov
incessant skating, puckhandling, playmaking & shots
associate coach Roger Neilson​

Reg Noble - Elmer Lach (A) - Guy Lafleur
Herbie Lewis - Doug Gilmour (C) - Marian Hossa
John Tonelli - Marty Walsh - Ziggy Palffy
Camille Henry - Ryan Kesler - Ernie Russell
Milan Novy, Vsevolod Bobrov​

Zdeno Chara (A) - Earl Seibert
Herb Gardiner - Doug Wilson
Bert Corbeau - Brent Burns
Pat "Boxcar" Egan

Terry Sawchuk
Rogie Vachon
​

PP1: Henry - Lach - Lafleur - Chara - Wilson
PP2: Lewis - Gilmour - Hossa - Seibert - Burns
PK1: Gilmour - Kesler - Gardiner - Seibert - Sawchuk
PK2: Lach - Lewis - Chara - Wilson - Sawchuk

COACHING STRATEGY: The Railers have a hard-working bunch, with a defensive-minded center, creative right winger and puck-wielding defenseman on every shift, utilizing the strategy of rolling four lines (though of course the top lines jump the bench more often), as per the Tikhonov way, with each left winger renowned for their ability to get into opportunistic scoring positions by the crease. The squad is to maintain a relentless pace and focus on puck possession and puck recovery, with a lot of shots on net by blueliners and freedom to experiment by wingers. Tikhonov didn't stifle the on-ice creativity of his stars, like Balderis, Makarov, Krutov and Fetisov - quite the opposite - he has the reputation for getting the most out of his players and letting creativity reign as long as pivots backchecked and passing lanes were maintained (I'm confident he'll use associate coach Captain Video and his savvy scouting and NHL rules usage to the team's advantage more often than not, giving insight to Lafleur, Hossa, Palffy and Russell on the tactics of opposing goalies and tendencies of defensemen that they can capitalize on in their creative surges) . This is not dump-and-chase hockey, though a lot of shots on net will result in a lot of rebounds and deflections to corners for forechecking; as well, corner work will help dmen counter dumps by the opposition in the Worcester end of the ice (Lach, Gilmour and Tonelli are highly praised cornermen).

NOTE. Multipositional info: Lewis was once an NHL all-star RW, Kesler once a Selke finalist RW and Burns drafted as a RWer and for a couple of years a decent NHL RWer, so the options to cover for injuries to Palffy are numerous.

NOTE. Fighting is a part of the game in some eras of hockey history and the team can accommodate where need be with Egan, Corbeau, Russell, Tonelli and Noble able and willing to drop the gloves. The PK units could ice a 3rd unit of Selke finalist Tonelli with either Hossa or Walsh. That said, this team doesn't go looking for roughhousing. This blueline has giants that will contain physical dirty play by Messier types, as Seibert, Chara and Burns ain't gonna be pushed around!