606HL Three Stars

Worry not ladies and gents, computer has been fixed, Three Stars shall be up tomorrow most likely for the past week and a bit

Wahay, welcome back mate

Welcome back!

Making a return for Season 3 of the 606HL, slightly delayed for the first week and a half, here are the 606HL Three Stars of the Week:


Honourable Mentions:
There were a number of players challenging for a place in the Three Stars, including Henrik Sedin of the Penguins, league-leader in goals Jeff Carter of the MK Giraffes, and Sharks' right winger Mason Raymond; but most notable was Nottingham's second line center Mikko Koivu, who managed 13 points in 10 games - good for second in the league in points - but was let down somewhat by ill-discipline and defensive frailties, finishing just a +1, with 12 PIMs.
Koivu was one of 7 players to notch a hat trick this week. Pat Kane, Jarome Iginla, Devin Setoguchi all notched tricks. Astonishingly, Masons Marauders' fourth line center TJ Hensick, in just 8 minutes of ice time, scored on all three shots he took.
The first hat trick of the season came from Knight's of St.George winger Rene Bourque - though someone was bound to get a hat trick considering KSG ran in 10 goals against the unfortunate Fumblesaurus Rex!
And Monsters d-man Shea Weber was the first blue liner of the season to net three goals in a game, though did so with a little help from the honourable Nik Antropov who, despite entering the opposition (the Rex again) zone with the puck and an empty net in sight, sought out Weber who bagged his third.
There were also four shutouts this week. Both Shamrocks netminder Ryan Miller and Penguins' Kari Lehtonen stone-walled the Watford Capitals, whilst Steve Mason of the Chops stopped the Penguins in their tracks and Giraffes goalie Craig Anderson made 30 saves to shutout the Surprise.

Dishonourable Mentions:
Mathieu Garon was this week's most unfortunate goalie. The Rex backup netminder was called upon at possibly the worst time - in the middle of the KSG romp of Fumblesaurus - and Garon saved just 8 of 11 shots faced before returning to the bench to knock over some water bottles.
Only one brawl to report in a peaceful week by normal 606HL standards; and not the most exciting brawl ever. Divisional rivals Boston Shamrocks and Watford Capitals let testosterone rule just 9 seconds into the OT period of their game with Caps d-men Adrian Aucoin and Kevin Bieksa both ejected for instigating fights against Stephen Weiss and Mark Streit respectively. Lee Stempniak also took on Derek Morris, with all three fights ending evenly.
There were more exciting fights though; most notably St.Louis Spirit winger Chris Stewart giving Marauders star Joe Thornton a couple of black eyes. Pens winger Ryan Clowe also gave Mark Giordano a bit of a pasting in their game with the Iowa Chops, before the next day being soundly beaten to a pulp by rival Watford Capitals' left winger Milan Lucic. Clowe's teammate Matt Greene was suspended for a game after instigating and then soundly winning a fight with Steve Staios of the Buttercups.
There was an unlikely ejection of Pavel Datsyuk as the Russian star acted highly unsportsmanlikely. Brooks Laich of the Rex was also ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct and received a 1-game suspension for his troubles. The same punishment was given to KSG goalie Henrik Lundqvist for a similar offense.
But the big news this week was the shocking behaviour of Spirit star Johan Franzen who was handed a four-game suspension after being ejected for attempt to injure. With his side 3-1 down against the McGuire's Monsters, Franzen shattered a pane of glass with his stick as he only just missed Shea Weber's head with a two-handed chop at the d-man. Early reports suggest Weber said something not too complimentary of Mrs. Franzen's cooking.

And Finally...
Some like it rough - Dr Lovestinks Meat Surprise were guilty of 5 different instances of roughing, totalling 12 PIMs, compared to 0 from the opposing Scarabs. Erik Cole was the main culprit with 3 of those calls.
And the Stevenage Beefs can consider themselves very unlucky to have lost their game against the rival Fighting Ducks - or at least David Backes, Dany Heatley and Drew Stafford can, as they were given the three stars awards in that game despite the 3-2 regulation loss

Here are the 606HL Three Stars of the week for the slightly shortened week just gone:


Honourable Mentions:
The one man who really came close to breaking the Boston stranglehold on the Three Stars this week was MK Giraffes winger Alex Semin. The Russian sniper notched 7 points in 4 games to lead all right wingers in points. However he was let down by an ejection for instigating a brawl in the Giraffes-Spirit game.
Last week’s first star Patrick Marleau had a quieter week this week, though the Sharks center did notched one of four hat tricks this week, against the Rex. Simon Gagne scored all three of his goals this week in one game against the Penguins. And other triples came from Crunch winger Zach Parise in a 5-3 loss to the Chops, and Eric Staal of the Cherrypickers.
There were also three Gordie Howe hat tricks this week, first from Scarabs defenseman Kent Huskins, then two in one game for both Alex Semin and Jeff Carter of the Giraffes.
As well as the three of Ryan Miller, there were also shutouts for Crunch netminder Nik Backstrom and the Marauders’ Steve Mason.

Dishonourable Mentions:
One goaltender who didn’t have the best of times was Stevenage goalie Brian Elliott who was chased from the net just 12:31 into the Beefs game against the Badgers after yielding goals on all of the first four shots he faced.
After a quiet week last week there were four brawls to report this week. Two came in the same game with Giraffes stars sparking things against the Spirit, as first Alex Semin started one general fight before Jeff Carter was given a sound beating by Cody McLeod in a second. More stars were involved in a Beefs-Badgers brawl as Jarome Iginla came up evens against Zach Bogosian and David Backes beat up Evgeni Malkin. And Ryane Clowe was ejected for initiating a brawl in the Boston-Nottingham divisional matchup.
Other notable fights included Sharks d-man Mark Stuart taking on big Zdeno Chara and holding his own. Chara was ejected for instigating the fight. Similarly Victory blue-liner Brooks Orpik was ejected and suspended for one game for instigating a fight with Sheldon Souray.
Masons Marauders’ Rostislav Klesla was another ejectee for spearing. And whilst last week it was Johan Franzen who caused debate after his four-game suspension for attempt to injure, this week controversy came from a more expectable source – Monsters forward Matt Cooke. With his team down 4-1 in the 1st period against the Marauders, the Cookie Monster attempted to spark a reaction by chirping and taunting opposition goalscorer Jason Blake. As the two took to the ice, they came together, but as Blake appeared to invite Cooke to remove the gloves, Cooke launched a headbutt. The winger was ejected but not suspended.

And Finally...
I felt I couldn’t go further without a mention of the McBuck Cherrylabourers’ Unknown Player. The Cherrylabourers sit at the foot of the farm league standings with 0 wins and 11 losses, the most recent of which was a 10-0 loss to the Forerunners. However Player was credited with all 22 of his team’s shots, though he did finished with a shocking -35 rating in the game. In fact so far this season, the only other player to manage a single shot is Tim Jackman, with just that single one. It appears the Cherrylabourers are employing the ultimate one-man-army tactic this season.

After a long absence, it’s about time for the return of Three Stars of the Week, and here they are for last week:


Honourable Mentions:
Outside the Chops, there were only really two players to run the Three Stars close. Firstly KSG defenseman Duncan Keith moved to joint league-lead amongst d-men in points with 10 this week in 9 games. Secondly Fairytale Buttercups defenseman Brian Lee managed 8 points in 7 games with a +4 rating.
Two hat tricks this week came courtesy of the Giraffes’ Nikolai Zherdev and also Chatham Victory winger Daniel Sedin.
And there were three shutouts, from Watford Capitals veteran Jose Theodore, NYC Crunch goalie Nick Backstrom, and a 32-save SO from Yann Danis of the Rex
There is also a mention for Victory backup goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov who, despite only managing to appear from the bench in two games, stopped all 32 shots he faced in around 70 minutes of play.

Dishonourable Mentions:
Whilst the rest of the league seemed happy with a reasonably peaceful week in terms of fights, apparently the Knights of St George weren't, as they were involved in three out of four brawls this week.
First the KSG and Swansea Sharks got nasty with Ryan Malone involved in his first fight of the week, and Kris Versteeg beating up Nik Antropov.
There was also a tame scuffle in the Beefs-Buttercups match with Marian Hossa and Paul Ranger drawing the only fight.
Ryan Malone was involved in another brawl as he was ejected for instigating a fracas against the Spirit, pounding Barret Jackman, whilst teammate Shane Doan also humiliated Raffi Torres, with Torres also ejected for instigating.
And the Knights also took on the Ducks with the gloves off, Shea Weber getting an easy win against Ilya Kovalchuk, though Rene Bourque was vanquished by Ian White who was ejected for instigating.
Ryan Malone wasn't done there, though, as he also beat up the Cherrypickers' Ryan Getzlaf later in the week. Other fight highlights included Steve Stamkos and Chris Pronger both dropping the gloves in the Surprise's game versus the Marauders, and Scarabs star Vinnie Lecavalier laying a beat down on Matt Stajan of the Rex.
Marauders netminder Chris Mason was this week failure of a backup, as he saved just 10 of 13 shots faced in relief of Antero Niittymaki against the Buttercups, before returning to the safety of the bench.

And Finally...
One man doing his absolute best to increase his scoring was KSG defenseman Anton Babchuk. In their game against the Crunch, Babchuk had a mammoth 10 shots from the blue line, but to no avail. Not dettered, though, in the Knights' next game, against the Giraffes, he took 9 shots on goal, with one finally going through.

Wow...honourable, dis-honourable AND noteworthy. Quite a week for my boys

Another fantastic read Colonel. I know how long it takes to research these buggers, so you have my utmost thanks and respect

Thank you very much Azzy. And yes it was a big week for your boys, especially Ryan Malone!

6 wins out of 7, and the only mention is for being on the receiving end of some blatant thuggery. In those six wins, Bobby Lou made over 220 saves and only conceeded 14.... Can't believe the anti Spirit bias

Great read all the same Colonel. Your efforts are greatly appreciated, much respect sir

DRIZ wrote:
the only mention is for being on the receiving end of some blatant thuggery

Now now, it was Raffi what started it, and he got what was coming to him

Was disappointed that there were no fights in my game tonight

Thanks for this Mike, great read Well apart from the bit about how well Keith is doing

26pts in 23 games. I'm happy with that

The guys I got haven't been as productive as that individually but my team has played a hell of a lot better since the trade so something must have worked

Woooo... GO CHOPS GO!

Monty wrote:Woooo... GO CHOPS GO!

...all the way back to Iowa, and quickly...6-2

Here they are; the 606HL Three Stars of the Week for last week:

Honourable Mentions:
There was some decent contest for a placement in the Three Stars this week. Alex Ovechkin of the Sharks managed 9 points in 7 games, but was let down somewhat by his 12 PIMs. Chops goaltender Steve Mason also had a strong week, leading Iowa to a 5-1 record with .903 SV% and a 2.79 GAA. Ducks’ netminder Jimmy Howard did even better. Though he won 4 of his 6 games, and conceded seven in one game against the Scarabs, Howard finished the week with a 2.33 GAA, a .926 SV% and 2 shutouts. He was, perhaps, lucky though to have faced the woeful Watford Capitals twice this week.
Other goalies to blank opponents were Fairytale Buttercups goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, Mike Smith of the Scarabs, and the Badgers’ Tomas Popperle.
Hat tricks came from second star Marian Gaborik and Buttercups center Derick Brassard against the Buttercups and Sharks respectively.
The Chatham Victory were this week’s turn-around kings. After falling 4-3 down to with less than 4 minutes remaining of the third period against the Buttercups, Saku Koivu wasted only six seconds before tying the game. And it was Koivu who set up Jarret Stoll to win the game with three seconds on the clock.
Stevenage Beefs winger Steve Ott was once rated by TSN as the third best agitator of all time. But apparently he took things a little too far in the Beefs-KSG match, as defenseman Shea Weber left Ott blood-stained and embarrassed. Despite threats made on the Beefs twitter feed, Ott may struggle to do anyone any damage for a while.
And, once again, Sidney Crosby was left requiring a new nose by heroic Badgers center Jordan Staal.

Dishonourable Mentions:
Surprisingly there was only one brawl in the entirety of the week, coming in the last game of the week. And it was a rather tame one from the Penguins and Shamrocks, with only one fight – Jeff Woywitka beating up Cory Sarich – and just 16 PIMs in total.
However there were a fair few fights, notable ones including Beefs defenseman Craig Rivet making a large mistake in taking on Zdeno Chara, Capitals gritty winger Milan Lucic giving Sarich his first fight defeat of the week, Jumbo Joe Thornton giving an impressive display in overcoming Petr Prucha, young Caps d-man Luke Schenn beating up Ryan Callahan, and 3 fights in the Badgers-Victory game, with Zach Bogosian beating James Wisniewski, and Brooks Oprik drawing bouts with Jordan Staal and Stephane Robidas; the latter being ejected for instigating.
In the same game, Victory goaltender Ondrej Pavelec was ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct, als receiving a one game suspension.
There was also an ejection for headbutting for Swansea’s Matt Moulson, as the winger seemed to take offence at a jibe from Buttercups winger Sean Bergenheim and lunged literally head-first into a nasty scuffle with his surprised opponent.
After claims from St. Louis Spirit GM Driz last week that Spirit goaltender Roberto Luongo had been overlooked, it came as quite a shock to many, though not to some, that Bobby lou had such a bad week this week. He started all 6 of the Spirit matches, but only finished two of them in the net. He finished the week with a GAA of 4.78 and a SV% of .846
Over in Boston, though, whilst starter Ryan Miller struggled somewhat, being pulled in 3 out of 5 games he started, backup Marty Turco proved his worth, as he had a GAA of just 1.99 and a .920 SV%

And Finally...
In the eventful Badgers-Victory contest, Evgeni Malkin didn’t do too much to help his shot percentage statistic, peppering first Ondrej Pavelec then Ilya Bryzgalov with a total of 11 shots – with no return. Compare that to the Badgers scorers Rick Nash, who had the next best total with 3 shots, and Andy Greene, who only took 1 shot. Malkin did seem to learn his lesson – in the Badgers game against the Marauders he managed to score with just two shots. His mantle was taken over though by teammate Stephane Robidas, who took 10 shots with no goal.
And, the Scarabs and Rex participated in perhaps the most even game in 606HL history. In each period both teams scored one goal each, with no team ever having a lead of more than one goal, and it took 7 rounds of a shootout to finally find a winner, with Tomas Fleischmann winning it for the Rex.

Despite threats made on the Beefs twitter feed

I must have been hacked........

"Stevenage Beefs
@StLouisSpirit1 careful or I shall send in Ott to break his legs....I mean what?
29 Jul"

colonelbagpuss wrote:"Stevenage Beefs
@StLouisSpirit1 careful or I shall send in Ott to break his legs....I mean what?
29 Jul"

I'm not going to heap the blame upon poor Bobby Lou. The whole team went from being 'finger licking good' to 'arse wipe bad'. I'm toying with the idea of docking them all a week wages...

....Having said that - comments like the above, are completely over top. The Beefs should be (A)made to forfeit the next game against The Spirit and (b) forfeit their 1st round pick to another team, the recipient to be decided by ballot.

Like I said I was hacked....I think it was a secret agent from another team. Ok I will go to the hearing....

Commish Beef: GM Beef you are accused of threatening another team/player through the means of social media.

GM Beef: Wasn't me.

Commish Beef: I'm convinced, charges over turned.

mc_homer wrote:Like I said I was hacked....I think it was a secret agent from another team. Ok I will go to the hearing....

Commish Beef: GM Beef you are accused of threatening another team/player through the means of social media.

GM Beef: Wasn't me.

Commish Beef: I'm convinced, charges over turned.

Not a problem, Shea Weber is already laced up and ready for action

mc_homer wrote:Like I said I was hacked....I think it was a secret agent from another team. Ok I will go to the hearing....

Commish Beef: GM Beef you are accused of threatening another team/player through the means of social media.

GM Beef: Wasn't me.

Commish Beef: I'm convinced, charges over turned.

Alls good then...All I wanted, was a fair hearing

mc_homer wrote:
GM Beef: Wasn't me.

GM Beef sounds a lot like shaggy

Whilst I had a busy summer and found it difficult to find the time to trawl the game reports for intriguing, important and impressive events, now I am ready and raring to trawl away! So, here is the first of the Playoff reports. I decided as we’re in playoffs, to feature in the Farm players too. Your first 606HL Three Stars of the Week from the Season 3 playoffs are:


Honourable Mentions:
The closest challengers to the 3 stars both came from the Farm League, in first Jannik Hansen, who notched 4 goals and 4 assists for the Squires; and secondly aging Pirates winger Owen Nolan, who scored 5 goals and added 2 assists.
Nolan was the only player across both leagues to score a hat trick this week, netting a trio in Game 1 of the Pirates-Badgers series.
Five goalies managed shutouts in the first week of playoffs. From the Farm teams, Scott Wedgewood closed out the Bilos in Game 2 of their series with the Leprechauns, and Baby Beefs veteran Curtis Joseph stone-walled the Pirates, whilst Steel Wings’ netminder Pekke Rinne stopped 44 shots in Game 2 against the Old Women. Boston’s Ryan Miller and New York City’s Niklas Backstrom also both had shutouts in the pro league with 20 and 31 saves respectively.
There must also be a mention for the energetic Unknown Player of the Mini Marauders, who in Game 1 against the Squires of St George racked up 15 hits, then 12 in Game 2, and in fact across the series so far has notched 5 assists and managed 37 hits – 16 more than the next best from either league in Alex Ovechkin.

Dishonourable Mentions:
There were a fair few fights this week considering it’s playoff time, though many were tame draws. Notable bouts included big Zdeno Chara showing KSG’s Mike Fisher why not to take him on, before Braydon Coburn avenged his teammate’s honour with a sound win over Scarabs’ Gregory Campbell. Crunch d-man Sheldon Souray also beat up Badgers’ blueliner Stephane Robidas; whilst in the Farm League young Baby Beefs winger Jamie Benn was humiliated by the Pirates’ Strain who was ejected for instigating, as was Alexei Tezikov of the Wavendon Old Women who took on the Steel Wings’ Karsums. And young Pirates defenseman Jack Johnson was also ejected for instigating a spirited bout with Andrew Ference.
There were also ejections for Iowa’s Mike Green for unsportsmanlike conduct, and similarly for Squires goaltender Joey MacDonald, who was also suspended for one game after reportedly threatening making offensive jibes towards Mini Marauders forward Unknown Player. Player afterwards accused MacDonald of ‘insulting the Unknown race’.
In his Game 4 postgame press conference, the GM of the Portsmouth Pirates, and Chatham Victory, organisation Buffon Idol refused to respond to criticism of Portsmouth’s second line unit of Kadri, Nylander, Brunnstrom, Macdonald and Crashley, who all ended with a -4 rating in the 4-0 loss. It is thought that Idol was angry beyond words.

And Finally...
There was something rather bizarre about the final two ejections of this week, both of which occurred in the Wavendon Old Women’s Game 4 clash against the Glyn Ebwy Steel Wings. First, in the second period, Old Women goaltender Simeon Varlamov was ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct for appearing to threaten a linesman with his goalie stick. Then, late in the third period, his replacement Al Montoya was also ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct – after reportedly reducing Steel Wings forward Kyle Wellwood to tears by taunting him with a jam doughnut. However after a few minutes of confusion on the Old Women bench, Al Montoya was rushed back onto the ice from the dressing room, as referee and linesmen huddled to decide how best to proceed. There was fury on the Glyn Ebwy bench as Montoya on the next shift made a fantastic save from Wellwood before seeming to continue his taunting, this time producing a Belgian waffle from beneath his jersey. The Steel Wings had the last laugh, though, as Corey Potter netted the overtime winner, celebrating by removing the jersey and equipment of Wellwood and slapping him several times on the stomach. These incidents should certainly add some spice to this series.

This is bloody time-consuming eh Colonel? Took up my entire life when I did it - I wonder if there is some filter we could use to tell us the top scorers over the last 15 game days, or something. Homer - can the sim do that, or do we have to continue doing this the hard way?