CFHL 2017 Week 3

This week we saw two of the three undefeated teams face off.  We also saw +/- be a key factor in which, of course, will be a source of controversy. 

Game of the Week:  Goon Crew 3  AshBusters 2

Scheifele scored the eventual game winner

This was a battle of the undefeated.  A heavy weight battle that went on all week.  The AshBusters led many of the categories all week, but never by much.  And it came down to the last day of the week.  With the Crew behind or tied in Goals, PPP and +/- they needed a big game after a flurry of offense from the AshBusters on Saturday that included 6 assists and 11 hits to put those categories out of reach.  But with a power play goal by Scheifele, the Crew tied the game by taking the lead in goals and PPP.  This game was heading for a tie, however the dreaded +/- came back to haunt the AshBusters as they had a -5  Sunday night compared to the +2 from the Crew and that stat was tied, giving the Crew the victory and a 2 game lead in the Norris Division.

Around the league...Assassins and La Femme Nikita skated to a 3-3 tie.  Nikita had 16 assists led by 3 players with 3 each (Barkov, Gaudreau, and Spurgeon)...Checkers pull out the win vs the Puck using their new strategy.  They had 61 hits to completely out hit the Puck, won both goalie categories and stole +/-.  Quick was impressive in net with 2 wins  and .961 SV%.  "Just need to win hits and goalie categories then steal one more category..." Owner of the Checkers explained in his post game conference...Mayhem on Ice remain undefeated after beating the White Mamabas 5-2.  Both goalies (Allen and Gibson) had 2 wins each and combined for a .917 SV% ...The USSR still haven't found the win column and this week lost to the Krampus 4-3.  Krampus were able to pull of the victory despite getting only 1 win and a .900 from just one goalie, Anderson. 

La Femme Nikita not happy with the tie.

Number One Star of the Week:  John Tavares, White Mambas; 6 goals, 1 assist, +3, 1 PPP

Number Two Star of the Week:  Sean Couturier, AshBusters; 3 goals, 3 assists, +1, 3 hits

Number Three Star of the Week:  Sergi Bobrovsky, Assassins; 2 wins in 2 games, .969 SV%.

Number One Goon of the Week:  Leo Komarov, Checkers, 16 Hits

CFFL 2017 Week 7

We are smack dab in the middle of the home and home series.  Mid season.  Hard to believe that we are halfway through the season already.  At this point everyone is still in the hunt...

The North

In the North its the Animals and then the rest of the stiffs in the North all 2 games back.  Animals survived the Chislers 36-35.  Both teams were led by their kickers, the Chislers with Zuerlein's 15 points and Animals Hauschka's 12.  In the end the Chislers needed just one score from Sanu.  He caught one on the 1 but couldn't get in the for the win...The Crew took an early lead vs. the Ferrets and never looked back.  24 points from Carr and Cooper on Thursday spelled doom to the Ferrets once again.

Cooper and Carr hooked up for 2 10 point connections!

The South

The Titans started 3-0 and looked to be the team to beat.  Since then they have lost 4 in a row and are looking like their old selves again.  This week they lost to the front end of the Home and Home against his brother the Dragons in another 1 point loss.  They almost pulled off the comeback closing the gap to one with an Ertz TD catch Monday Night.  But just like the Chislers they needed just one more, but came up short...Mayhem stay in the hunt defeating the Bees 25-15 led by 10 points from Brees.  Bees drop to 2-5 but still not out of it. 

Stills ready early for Halloween scored 2 TDs for Dragons

The East

The Krauts continue to goosestep through the league this week blitzkrieging the Juggernauts 34-18 to move to 6-1.  This game was close as the Juggs tied the game at 18 when Cooks scored Sunday Night.  However that's when the blitzkrieg started as Carson Wentz went off on Monday Night for 16 points...The Roulette appear to be done.  For the second week in a row without Rodgers the team just looked pathetic.  This week scoring only 6 points against the Cocktails who won 31-6.  Dak Prescott led the Cocktails with 18 points earning player of the week.

Wentz fired in 16 points Monday Night

The West

In the big match up of the week, the Sinistars moved to first place in the West all alone after dispensing the Bums 26-20.  It wasn't hard considering the only points came from Elliott's 3 TDs and 2 measly points from their kicker Bailey who got hurt...In the barn burner of the week the Crush outlasted the Killers 59-40.  The Kickers dueled 18-17 (Forbath and Boswell).  Crush had 4 players in double digits; Wilson-12 McCoy-12 Reed-12 and Boswell-17.

McCoy tallied 2 scores for the Crush

Player of the Week:  Dak Prescott, Cocktails, 18 points

Next week is the back end of the home and homes...The Animals can take command of the North with another win and move to 5-3...Dragons can do the same and if the Bees somehow beat the Mayhem Dragons could open a 2 game lead in the South and send the Titans back to the bottom of the sea...Cocktails get a lucky rematch against the Rodgerless Roulette to keep pace with the Krauts...A Sinistar and Crush win in the West could make this division a 2 team race.

CFHL 2017 Week 2

Week 2 already in the books in the CFHL.  The AshBusters continue to dominate and lead the CFHL in 4 of the 5 skater categories (Goals, Assists, Hits, PPP).  Only one he doesn't lead is +/-, which he has petitioned many times to remove.  Nah, I think we will just keep that stat...Here is a quick look at how last weeks action went:

Assassins 3 Krampus Carols 2
This was a close one as the Assassins edged the Krampus.  Goals were decided by 1, Assists by 1, Rating and Wins were tied and SV% was .891 to .895.  This could have been anybodies game.  It was a disappointing second week for Bobrovsky for the Assassins who earned player of the week last week.  This week he had no wins and a SV% of .865

"La Femme" Nikita Kucherov

Who Gives a Puck 4 La Femme Nikita 2
Puck kept Nikita win less in their inaugural season, this despite La Femme leading all teams with 10 goals led by 5 big goals from Kucherov!  But it wasn't enough to overcome the 20 assists, 33 hits and a whopping 6 goalie wins by the Puck.  Both Bishop and Vasilevskiy had 3 wins each for the Puck.

Mayhem on Ice 4 USSR 2
The USSR have yet to get in the W column this season.  Malkin came up big with 2 goals and 4 assists for the Mayhem.  The Goalies were the difference as the Mayhem swept the categories  behind net minders Allen and Gibson.  It wasn't stellar (total 2 wins and .928) but it was enough to out dual Dubnyk and Holtby.  If would have told me that before the game started I wouldn't have believed you.

Goon Crew 4 Checkers 3

Marchy had 3 goals for the Crew

In this storied rivalry the Goon Crew remain unbeaten as they didn't have much trouble with the struggling Checkers.  Marchand led the team with 3 goals and 2 assists to go along with his 2 PPP.  Matthews continued to be strong scoring 2 goals and getting 2 assists as well.  Checkers were strong in net, but it wasn't enough.  Quick and Rinne had 4 wins between them and a .951 SV%.  Not a bad week.

AshBusters 5 White Mambas 2
AshBusters continue to prove they are the team to beat.  This week they took it out on the Mambas beating them in all the skater categories.  They tallied 22 assists thanks in larger part to Stamkos' 9 assists!  They didn't have the goal production they had in the first week but it was enough to beat the Mambas who only had 5 goals.

Number One Star of the Week:  Steven Stamkos, AshBusters:  2 goals, 9 assists, +6, 4 PPP, 3 Hits

Number Two Star of the Week:  Nikita Kucherov, La Femme: 5 goals, 3 assists, +5, 3 PPP

Number Three Star of the Week: Andrei Vasilevskiy, Puck:  3 wins out of 3 games, .971 SV%

It was all about the Lightning Players this week!

CFFL 2017 Week 6

6 weeks are already in the books of the 2017 CFFL season.  The mighty Titans are faltering.  The game might have passed up the mighty Cherry brother franchises.  The Krauts are back sitting at 5-1 and control of the Eastern Bloc. 

Game of the Week:  

Juggernauts 38 Ferrets 32
If the Ferrets could have just survived regulation, they had the game won in OT.  However the Juggs had different plans.  With 12 points from Stafford, including a 10 point connection to Tate and a surprise Dion Lewis TD the Ferrets needed to just hold off the Juggs.  Didn't help that they got 12 from McKinnon and Palmer. But the game was tied 32-32.  Juggs had DeMarco Murray who seemed banged up throughout the game.  But late in the game with time running out the Ferrets couldn't keep Murray out of the endzone as he plunged in from 2 yards out.  Game over man, game over. 

Murray scores game winning TD for Juggs

Around the League:

Cocktails 22  Wrecking Crew 20...Pretty uneventful game, with the only reason the Crew was in this one was 2 TDs from their Defense the Rams.  Difference in the game was a 2 point conversion by Blount on Thursday night.  Little did anyone know that would be the difference. 

Bums 35 Titans 30...Are the Titans in trouble?  Are they resorting back to their old Titan ways.  I predicted they wouldn't, but then again...Titans just needed a Kareem Hunt TD Sunday to put this game away but the early season MVP candidate couldn't find pay dirt.  Titans now have dropped 3 in a row.  Uh oh.

Watson scoring big for the Crush

Crush 24  Dragons 21...Crush now led by the sensational "Houdini" Watson defeated the Dragons off of his 13 points.  Dragons had a chance Sunday Night with Eli "Mouth Breather" Manning and Roger Lewis.  They got one TD pass from Manning.  Just needed one more!  Nope.  Dragons struggling on which stiff QB to start each week.  Cutler or Manning? 

Killers 41  Killer Bees 16...In the first ever Killer Bowl the Killers hammered an anemic Bees team 41-16 with no points from their QB Winston.  It helped to have 23 points from their kicker (Forbath) and defense (Lions).

 Sinistars 41  Mayhem 28...The Sinistars were led by their star RBs Melvin "Commissioner" Gordon who had 12 points and 8 points from Doug Martin.  The win keeps them in first in the West at 4-2 with the Bums.

Season over for Rodgers.  Roulette?

Animals 29 Roulette 16...It would appear even though they are 4-2, the Roulette season is over as Aaron Rodgers was lost for the season with a broken collar bone.  It was almost like when he went down the entire team gave up as they only got 1 TD from Adams and 10 points from their kicker.  Animals finally got their running game going with 2 from Ingram and lead the North at 3-3.

Krauts 51  Chislers 38..What is the saying?  It sucks when you score a lot of points and the other team scores more than you and and you lose.  That is how you do lose...But wasting 12 points from their D the Ravens and 10 points from Tucker in the loss hurts for the Chislers.  Krauts were unstoppable as Cousins scored 14, Carlos Hyde had 12 and even Seferian-Jenkins got in the act with a TD (and should have been 2).

Seferian-Jenkins scored 2, oh I mean 1 TD for Krauts.

Player of the Week:  Kirk Cousins with 14 points for the Krauts.

What to watch for next week: 
Next week its the dreaded Home and Home series.  Ferrets/Crew is always entertaining, but this year lacks that luster...Cocktails/Roulette is the battle for the Mother Land, but lacks luster as well with Rodgers out...Dragons/Titans pits brother vs brother....and probably this years best home and home series is the Bums/Sinistars as both teams are 4-2 and a sweep of this series will get them a big leg up for the West division title....

CFHL 2017 Week 1

Hockey is back and the long Week one of the 2017 CFHL is in the books!  And suddenly there is a team that after one week appears to be the team to beat.  Is that possible?  Well anything can happen in the CFHL...

AshBusters 5  USSR 1
In the opening night of the CFHL it pitted the two powerhouse Russian teams...Well one proved they are still a powerhouse and that was the AshBusters who defended their cup vs the USSR led by an incredible 9 goals from Ovechkin.  They lead all teams in Goals (21),  Power Play Points (PPP) with 19 and Hits with 83 not to mention they were only 1 assist from leading the league with 30.

Ovie was big for the AshBusters last week

Mayhem on Ice 5  Assassins 1
Assassins must still have the hangover of losing last years Cherry Cup because the Mayhem handled them pretty good.  Bobrovsky carried the goalie stats with 4 wins and .952 SV% for the Assassins as Carey Price stunk it up.  Mayhem had a balance attack with everyone getting in the act for scoring except one skater.

Checkers 3 Mambas 3
The Checkers came from behind to get at least a tie out of the game down 2 assist going into Sunday.  Doughty and O'Reilly both tallied an assist to tie the game and helped them get a point for the week.  This despite Mambas' B.Saad who had 6 goals and a +6. 

B Saad celebrating one of his 6 goals with his Mamba Teammates

Krampus Carols 4 La Femme Nikita 2
And now we have a third team from Russia, La Femme Nikita who took over the folding Slow Icin'.  They didn't fair well in the inaugural game as the Krampus Carols defeated them 4-2.  Forsberg had 5 goals for the Carols and Kane had 6 assists to go along with his 2 goals.  Neither team hit too much and are the Leading candidates along with the Mayhem in the Lady Bing standings.

I'm liking the La Femme Nikita mascot!

Goon Crew 4 Who Gives a Puck 3
This game wasn't as close as the score indicated as the Crew controlled the game most of the week.  Matthews started out with a great week for the Crew scoring 5 goals, 3 assists, +7, and two PPP.  Goon Borowiecki didn't disappoint racking up 19 hits for the Crew.  The Puck who were too inebriated to draft his own team didn't do too bad with Crosby and Eichel combining for 10 assists. 

Borowiecki doing goon things for Goon Crew

Number One Star of the Week:  T.J. Oshie, 5 goals, 3 assists, +3, 4 PPP, 13 hits, USSR

Number Two Star of the Week:  Sergei Bobrovsky, 4 wins in 4 games.  SV% of .952, Assassins

Number Three Star of the Week:  Alex Ovechkin, 9 goals and 8 hits, AshBusters

CFFL Week 5

Week 5 is in the books and its wide open now as the Titans have lost their second in a row.  The once proud North has been over run by white walkers and now is in ruins with no team in the division above .500...

Games of the Week:

Chislers 34 Juggernauts 34 (OT) Chislers win...I have never heard an owner complain more than the Chisler owner when he is up.  The negativity of how he is NOT going to win is unbearable.  Even when he is up by 22-10 going into Sunday and Monday night.  Juggs tried to make it interesting but every time Butker would get them closer, Fuller would catch a TD bomb.  And even when the Juggs tied it up with a Rudolph TD catch on Monday night, Chisler luck prevailed as the Juggs started in the number one OT slot Henry and not McKinnon. 

Fuller came up big for the Chislers

Bums 25 Mayhem 24...A banged up Bums team with a QB that was hurt and not playing and another on a bye kept them from starting an active QB.  Mayhem had the lead going into Sunday Night, and got a bit more insurance with a Chief D TD.  But then DeAndre Hopkins finally woke up and scored 3 TDs to take the lead!!  Mayhem were not done yet having Latavius Murray on Monday night.  McKinnon would be the one to score and not Murray.  Mayhem go down to a very banged up Bums squad. 

Hopkins came up even bigger for the Bums

The Other Lame Games:

Wentz was a BEAST!!

Roulette 41 Wrecking Crew 21...The Roulette blew this game wide open when Rodgers hit Adams, not once but twice for 2 10 point connections.  The hapless Crew still reeling from the Carr injury continue to battle with themselves on a starting lineup each week.

Krauts 44 Animals 22...The Kruats doubled up the Animals led by Wentz's 16 big points.  It was a QB/Kicker show for the Animals getting only points from Newton and Hauschka. 

Cocktails 29 Ferrets 18...Dak Prescott making an early bid for league MVP scored 18 points which was almost enough to beat the Ferrets alone who have been decimated by injuries.  Cocktails have been so proud of beating up on the North, but I have a feeling everyone will be this year...

"Dak Prescott...Carson Wentz, Dak Prescott, Carson Wentz...."

 Sinistars 34 Killer Bees 23...Not often you can score 34 points with 0 from your QB, but the Sinistars did getting 2 TDs from "Commissioner" Gordon and a TD each from Martin, Brate, and Jimmy Graham.

Dragons 18 Killers 6...Dragons caught a little "Chisler Luck" as the Killers had 32 points sitting on their bench.  Apparently like father like son.  But who would have thought Beasley "Reese" would score twice.  And Dragons didn't think Charcandrick West would score twice either.  But instead he thought McKissic would?

Crush 43 Titans 17...Uh oh.  Titans drop their second in a row.  This week to a Crush team that got 22 points from this week's player of the week Deshaun Watson!  Could this be the beginning of the end of the Titans big run already?  With that team I hardly doubt it, but if Titans start doing some crazy stuff in their lineup because they are getting nervous and it could be back to the same old Titans.

Player of the Week Watson!

Wow...that is three Texans highlighted in this weeks article...

Week 6 Key Game of the Week:  Bums (3-2) at Titans (3-2)
Will the Titans lose their 3rd in a row?  As much as history is pointing to a Titan collapse, I find it hard to believe.  Bums face a second week in a row with injury and bye week issues.  Titans prevail 34-20.

Week 6 Killer Game of the Week:  Cams Killers (2-3) vs Killer Bees (2-3)
Which killer team will prevail?  Killers have issues all across the board, not sure who to start, kickers that suck, you name it.  Killer Bees will have their Falcons back in the lineup (Ryan and Gabriel)  Have to give the edge to the Killer Bees this week 26-24.