CFHL Week 16

Yes its week 16.  Almost as many weeks in an NFL season and we still have several week to go before the playoffs.  Right now only the Crew in the Norris division would be making the playoffs, and the rest would be from the Smythe as the Mayhem, Krampus Carols, and AshBusters are all over 100 points.

Mayhem on Ice vs. Krampus Carols 3-3
In the Battle for first in the Smythe division the Krampus Carols got a late goal to avoid the loss and came away with the tie.  Matt Duchene netted his only goal of the week late Sunday night to give the Krampus Carols the win in Goals 8-7 and tie the game.  Kris Letang for the Mayhem was the Number One Star of the Game getting 5 assists, a +4 and 10 PIM, helping the Mayhem win all of those categories.  Bishop and Rask (surprisingly) played well enough to capture 4 wins and a .923 SV% between them.  Mayhem still remain in first place by 4 points.

Letang had 5 assists for Mayhem

AshBusters vs. Goon Crew 3-1-2
The Goon Crew suffered their first loss since Week 11 losing to the AshBusters who dominated Assist and Goalie stats.  It could have been worse since the game was 5-1 going into Sunday afternoon.  Goon Crew were able to get 2 goals (1 each from Getzlaf and Giordano) to AshBusters zero to tie goals at 10 and then beat them in +/- -4 to -7 to tie +/-.  Rookie Panarin was outstanding getting a hat trick and then adding another goal later for 4 goals while Ovechkin continued to be a stud getting 3 goals and an assit.  Gaudreau had 5 assists for the AshBusers as well.  This team has a lot of fire power. 

Panarin had a hat trick!

Assassins vs. USSR 4-1-1
After a brief surge of life in the Mother Land, the USSR fall once again, this time to the Assassins.  This despite Kane, their best player, scoring 2 goals, and 4 assist and Anderson's 3 goalie wins and a .951 SV%.  Unfortunately their other goalie, Schneider, couldn't come up with any wins.  Delta Bravo of the game was USSR's Goligoski who had a -6 on the week. Kuznetsov for the Assassins was team Number One Star with 2 goals, 2 assists and +5, the complete opposite of Goligoski. 

Kuznetsov for the Assassins

Who Gives a Puck vs. Cherry's Checkers 4-2
The defending champs got back on the winning track even thought they lost both offensive categories (goals and assists).  They won all the others instead.  Jason Demers for the Puck was Goon of the Game getting 12 PIM.  And this was done with out a 10 minute misconduct.  4 minutes in 2 games and 2 PIM in 2 others.  So basically in every game he played he was sitting in the Sin Bin.  Checkers' Kings were fairly quiet with only 2 of them getting 1 goal and only one in the positive side of the +/-.  And Quick only had one win. 

One of many penalties by Demers

CFHL Week 15

This week we saw some changes in the standings as a new team has risen to the lead in the Smythe Division...

Goon Crew vs. Assassins 3-2-1
This was another close one for the Crew but somehow came out on top.  Brad Marchand was the Game's Number One Star in a losing effort for the Assassins as he tallied 4 goals, 3 assists a +6 and 6 PIM.  Backstrom and Couture for the Assassins had 5 assists each helping them win the assists 26-20.  The amazing stat of this game was that the Goon Crew and Assassins tied SV% .906 each.  However when tied it goes to the next digit... Assassins had .9064 vs. Crew .9063...Crew came out of the week banged up with Seguin and Edler out starting this week.  Edler looks to miss 6 weeks!

Marchand earned Number One Star Honors in losing effort

USSR vs. Krampus Carols 5-1
After looking to throw in the towel and trade away their best player, the Soviets put it together and hammered the then first place Krampus Carols.  Actually the stats were not that great on either side.  Krampus Carols are hurting on the blue line with Faulk and McDonagh out and it will depend on Karlsson who had no goals but 4 assist.  Bergeron for the Soviets led the team with 2 goals (team only had 8) and didn't play last 2 games due to an ankle.  Where the Krampus Carols took it on the chin was their goalies.  Bishop and Rask could only combine for 2 wins and a pitiful .876 SV%.  In fact Rask was pulled twice last week. 

USSR wore their throwback unis for the game.

Mayhem on Ice vs. Who Gives a Puck 6-0
With the Krampus Carols losing 5-1 the Mayhem were poised to leap in front of the Smythe division.  And they did it by sweeping the Who Gives a Puck.  Connor McDavid, the sensational rookie, led the Mayhem with 2 goals, 4 assists and a +4 on the week.  Simmonds was back earning 7 PIM to go along with his 2 goals for the Mayhem.  The Mayhem goalies were on this week getting 6 wins between Lundqvist and Mrazek. 

McDavid was big for the Mayhem

Checkers vs. AshBusters 3-3
The Checkers skated to another tie this week as they try to get back into the playoff hunt.  They couldn't survive the onslaught of Ovechkin and Eberle who combined for 9 goals!  Kopitar the Zombie did what he could for the Checkers scoring 3 goals but couldn't find any other real help.  Goalies were a problem for the Checkers as they only got stats from one player, Quick, who only played one game as he is dealing with an injury after he got his only win.  P.K. Subban was back to his Delta Bravo ways tallying 16 in PIM for the AshBusters. 

Keep in mind on some key dates:

Trade Deadline:  March 3, 2016

End of Regular Season:  Week 21, March 21-March 27

Playoffs:  Round 1: March 28 - April 3  Cherry Cup Finals April 4-9 (note this is only 6 days)

CFHL Week 14

Here is how the week, or weeks actually shook out.  It was a very long battle this week as the All Star Break extended the match ups to 2 weeks...

Goon Crew vs. Checkers 3-3
The Goon Crew faced one of their toughest weeks and could only manage a tie with their rival brother Checkers.  This game, while the 3-3 would indicate a close game, wasn't really that close at all as each team took big leads in each category early on and never looked back.  Crew had a pair of 3 goal scorers in Seguin and B. Saad as they took goals.  Kopitar the Zombie led the Checkers with 5 assist to win assists even though Voracek for the Crew had 7 assists. 

Seguin continues to shine for the Crew

Who Gives a Puck vs. USSR 6-0
This had to be one of the most lopsided games of the season.  Who Gives a Puck victory pulled them to within only 3 points of the Checkers for 2nd place in the Norris Division.  None of the categories were close for the most part.  14-7 in goals led by Okposo and Byfuglien each had 3.  26-13 in assists led by Giroux's 5.  +9 to -1 in +/-.  PIM 40-24 led by Byfuglien's 18 PIM goon like performance.  Plus the Puck got 4 goalie wins from Luongo and Jones.  The USSR have been trying to figure out their team all season and rumors have it they are looking to build for next season putting their top players on the trading block.

Byfuglien celebrates one of his goals for the Puck

Mayhem on Ice vs. AshBusters 3-2-1
The Mayhem moved to 2nd place in the Smythe division by defeating the AshBusters in a game that posted some big numbers.  The Mayhem had 19 goals and 56 PIM!  It doesn't hurt to get a match penalty from Simmonds who ended with 24 PIM on the week.  But he also had 6 goals to earn Number One Star of the game for the Mayhem. 2 other players had 9 PIM (Barrie and Phaneuf). Not to be outdone was the 29 assists the AshBusters had led by 7 from Subban and 5 from Panarin.  Both are still in the playoff hunt in spots 3 and 4.

Simmonds left cross that earned him the Match Penalty

Krampus Carols vs. Assassins 4-2
Krampus Carols continue to lead the Smythe and still hold the number 2 spot in the league.  This was a close one with the Krampus only winning by 1 goal and losing to assists by only 5 and PIM by only one minute.  Sid "the Kid" had a huge game and earned the Number One Star honors with 6 goals, 3 assists, +6 and 4 PIM for the Krampus Carols.  Erik Karlsson continues to impress netting 1 goal and 7 assist with a +5.  That "Little Ball of Hate" Marchand for the Assassins was their top goal scorer netting 5 goals!  Rask and Bishop didn't disappoint either combining for 5 goalie wins and a SV% of .925 for the Krampus Carols.

Sid the Kid for the Krampus Carols