CFHL Cherry Cup Update

Do we have an upset in the making??  After upsetting the AshBusters 4-3 led by Draisaitl's 4 assists and Pettersson's 3 PPP to get into the Cherry Cup, the Who Gives a Puck has a 5-2 lead over the heavily favored La Femme Nikita!

Draisaitl has come up big again for the Puck as he currently has 4 goals (including a hat trick on Tuesday), 2 assists and a +2, while Connor McDavid has 2 goals and 4 assists.  Their Edmonton connection hasn't disappointed thus far.  Panarin "Bread" is having a hell of a week as well with 2 goals, 4 assist and a +6.

Draisaitl scored hat trick Tuesday

La Femme Nikita have not been able to get their power play going with only 4 points to the Puck's 7.  Stamkos has Kucherov have only 1 PPP between the two of them.  The only thing keeping this game from being real bad is their 3 goalie wins between Price and Vasilevskiy. 

Stamkos getting some encouragement from his coach

Who Gives a Puck has a chance today to extend their lead as they have 6 skaters and both goalies going today and La Femme Nikita has no one. 

But, as the Assassins are well aware of, this game is far from over as another week of games starts tomorrow leading to the finale on Saturday April 6!  On that day both teams have every player playing.  So if La Femme Nikita can get it close Saturday should be a good one!

CFHL Playoffs and Round 2 preview

The first round of the playoffs didn't disappoint with two very close games.  One game was decided on the final day and actually was tied.

AshBusters 4 Mayhem on Ice 3
As predicted the AshBusters dominated in all the skater categories (goals, assists, +/-, PPP) but the Mayhem  made it interesting winning goalie categories and hits.  The Mayhem on Sunday needed just one PPP to tie the game or 2 assists.  On Sunday, the Mayhem did get 3 assists but the AshBusters countered with 2 to keep the Mayhem from pulling off the upset.  The AshBusters big names didn't disappoint as Bergeron, Scheifele and Carlson all had 2 goals and 2 assists each.  AshBusters move on and the Mayhem on Ice defense of the cup comes to an end.

Assassins 3.5 (W) White Mambas 3.5
This game was tight to the very end.  Just when it looked like the White Mambas had the game wrapped up and was commencing St. Patrick Day celebration maneuvers, the Assassins were not done yet.  Both teams were tied in +/- at -4.  That is when the Assassins' Rantanen, Dahlin and Pulock all tallied a +1 winning that category and ultimately tying the game at 3.5 each.  With the Assassins as the home team they were victorious in OT and move on.  A heartbreaking loss for the White Mambas. 

Rantanen helped Assassins to victory

Playoffs Round 2 Preview:

Assassins at La Femme Nikita - I don't see the Assassins getting as lucky as they did on St. Patrick's Day versus the number one team in the league La Femme Nikita.  They have significant fire power along the front lines with Stamkos and Kucherov leading the team.  Kucherov has been the team player of the year with 35 goals and 82 assists with a +20 and 45 PPP.  Assassins could compete somewhat here with Wheeler, Rantanen and Tkachuk, but they will need to have one of their best weeks of the season.

Can this guy be stopped?

Goalies is where this will be an even bigger difference.  La Femme Nikita will have in net 2 of the best goalies in the league with Price and Vasilevskiy.  Assassins have Crawford and Hart.  Enough said..

Prediction:  Nikita 5-2

AshBusters at Who Gives a Puck
This game could be closer than the stats would indicate.  Even thought the AshBusters lead the league in most of the skater categories, Who Gives a Puck will be leaning heavily on two pairs from Edmonton and Calgary.  McDavid and Draisaitl can light it up.  Gaudreau and Monahan can put up some points as well.  They will both need to do just that to have a chance. 

McDavid and Draisaitl look to upset the AshBusters

Who Gives a Puck has slight advantage in net as well with Dubnyk and Griess vs. Hellebuyck and Murray.

Prediction Who Gives a Puck 4-3 in an upset preventing a household Cherry Cup

CFHL Playoffs

Well after a scare from a Russian hacker, presumably from the USSR camp, that tried to screw up the schedules ultimately allowing the USSR into the playoffs, things were reset and the hacker failed.  The regular season is over and the two division winners this year were La Femme Nikita and Who Gives a Puck.  Nikita are clearly the favorite this year and will get a bye along with Who Gives a Puck.

That leaves 4 teams playing in the first round of the CFHL.

Voracek's dirty hit on Boychuck

White Mambas at the Assassins - This game should be a close one.  Both teams have some decent skaters with the Mambas having Crosby, Marchand and Voracek.  However Voracek will likely miss the first two games this week due to a 2 game suspension.  The Mambas do have edge in Assists, +/- and PP goals.  They are actually first in PP goals and have 5 players that have 20 or more.  Assassins could steal some categories with Voracek missing some time.  With Wheeler, Backstrom and Rantanen, the Assassins might be able to steal assists.  If they do that they could come away as the victor.

Prediction:  White Mambas 3  Assassins 2  - While they split goals and SV% the Assassins can't get past they strong Power Play of the Mamba.

Mayhem on Ice at AshBusters - The defending champ Mayhem got the short straw of the draw, drawing the AshBusters in the first round.  Despite the Nikita's record, the AshBusters were the most prolific scoring team in the CFHL.  They led the league in Goals, Assists and +/-.  Yes +/- Rich!  The stat you hate you led the league in!  Oh and they were second in PP goals.  Players like Scheifele, Kane (40 goals and 28 PP) and Aho lead a very impressive team.  Even though the Mayhem were better than AshBusters in goalie stats, when you compare Mayhem goalies Binnington and Markstrom to the AshBusters' Murray and Rinne, you have to wonder how?

Kane has been on fire this season

Prediction:  AshBusters 6  Mayhem on Ice 1 -  Their defense of the cup comes to an end as the AshBusters roll to victory.

CFHL Ice girl taking out the trash, or the two loser in round 1

The CFHL Update (Hockey Wife addition)

It really would appear that the playoffs are starting to take shape as 4 teams seem to be completely out of it.  Checkers are still seeking their second win of the season.  Krampus Carols haven't made a line up change in several weeks.  USSR have only 3 wins and just can't get anybody to trade.  Goon Crew only have 3 wins and just can't seem to put anything together or find any players worth replacing what they already have.

On the flip side, La Femme Nikita still have only lost once and are on a 4 game win streak.  The AshBusters are on a 6 game win streak.  Defending Champ Mayhem on Ice trying to keep their playoff hopes alive are on a 3 game win streak.   Who Gives a Puck have opened up a 3 point lead over the Assassins and White Mambas.

If there was a gambling site for the CFHL you would have been wise to put a ton of money on the favorites money lines last week as all the top teams played all the suck ass teams and didn't disappoint. 

White Mambas defeated the lifeless Krampus Carols 4-2.  Billed as a classic match up between Mambas' Crosby and the Krampus' Ovechkin, Crosby came out on the winning side with 2 goals and 8 big assists.  Ovi did have 3 goals and 3 assists.

Who Gives a Puck had little trouble with the fading Goon Crew 4-3 despite the  Crew excellent net minder play between Andersen and Smith (3 wins and .923 SV%).  Puck got  amazing blue line play with 5 goals and 5 assists including 3 goals and 3 assist from Kris Letang.

Kris Letang's wife Catherine Laflamme

League leading La Femme Nikita steamed rolled USSR 5-1.  I mean absolutely steam rolled!  16-5 in goals.  25-5 in assists.  17 to -23 in +/-.  16-3 in PPP.  16 PPP!  This team is rolling. Tarasenko was the First Star of the week netting 4 goals, 6 assists a +7 and 3 PPP. 

Vladimir Tarasenko with his wife Yana

AshBusters wouldn't allow the Checkers their 2nd win of the year, beating them 4-3.  It was close.  If the Checkers could get any play from their goalies, they might have pulled this off.  Ben Bishop was hurt and Fleury was winless.  AshBusters' Zibanejad had 3 goals and Couturier had 5 assists in the win.

Mike Zibanejad's girlfriend Nathalie Boucher

If any game that ended 6-1 could be any closer, this would be the one.  The Assassins just couldn't catch the Mayhem in almost all the categories but was so close.  They had 3 goalie wins and .913, but Mayhem had 4 wins and .938.  They had 12 assists...but Mayhem had 15 assists. 

CFHL Update

Have you missed me?  By the overwhelming outcry over there not being a newsletter I am guessing no one has missed it...

But hell I figured I should write something up to keep up the interest.

The season has been another same household runaway as the La Femme Nikita and AshBusters are 1 and 2 in the CFHL.  The nice thing is they are in the same division.

La Femme Nikita is currently 7-1 and have been steam rolling through the league.  Nikita Kucherov is the team captain and leads them in assists with 58.  Pair him up with "Stinky" Stamkos who has 28 goals and 31 assists its pretty impressive.  But even more impressive is their goalies.  Price and Vasilevskiy have 21 wins each and then on the bench is Tuukka Rask, who, after a slow start, is starting to play like he was expected to.  I don't see much slowing them down.  Only hope is they have a bad week in the playoffs.  I give them a 5:2 odd to win it all.

The AshBusters desperately want another crack at getting their name on the Cherry Cup and lead the league or at the top of most scoring skater categories.  Leading this team is Patrick Kane, who seemed to take last year off.  This year he has not disappointed.  He has 31 goals and 45 assists on the season, along with 24 PPP.   Teamed up with Scheifele, Aho and Zibanejad (who has 83 hits), the AshBusters have a starting line up that should take them deep into playoffs.  I don't see their bench as deep as their housemate Nikita's.  I give them a 3:1 odd to win it all.

Kane with his skills on full display at the CFHL All Star Game

The rest of the Smythe Division are not posing much of a threat.  The defending champ Mayhem on Ice are 7 points behind Nikita. USSR has 5 losses on the season despite Pastrnak's 30 goals and MacKinnon's 27.  Not to mention they have 3 players on the ice with 100+ hits.  Krampus Carols have only 2 wins and probably haven't changed their line up since the draft.  While it worked for him last year, this year not so much.

The Norris is significantly tighter thanks to the Puck's two ties.  Who Gives a Puck, Assassins and Mambas are all within one point of each other with the Crew barely hanging on 4 points back.  The once proud Checker's franchise has only 1 win the entire season thus far.

Who Gives a Puck brings both fire power and pure power to the ice.  With McDavid, Draisaitle, Gaudreau, and Monahan, they can rack up some goals, assists and PPP.  With goons like Dillon and Dumoulin they can bring the hurt.  Their weakness is in net with Dubnyk and Greiss.  Greiss only has 14 wins on the season.  I give them 6-1 odds to win it all.

Assassins and the surprise Mambas will be challenging Puck for first place in the Norris heading into the final 5 weeks of the regular season.

Trade deadline has been extended to next week, Tuesday February 12 by 11:59pm.  So start making your deals this week!

Fantasy Bowl XXXIV

FANTASY BOWL XXXIV

Cherry's Chislers 46  Molotov Cocktails 31

This was to be the match up of the decade!  Two of the highest scoring, high flying offenses.  One that weighed almost entirely on the Chiefs.  Another that was heavy on Rams.  Which team would prevail?  And is this the beginning of a new trend in the CFFL??

Well the Chislers were coming into their 11th Fantasy Bowl.  A veteran of the big game.  The Cocktails were on the big stage for the first time in their short franchise history. 

It started out slow, with an unexpected defensive TD by the Chislers/Patriots making the score 6-0, but most players were yet to take the field.  One player in particular that was supposed to play early was Davante Adams for the Cocktails.  However an injury kept him out of the game (while he was still in the starting line up).

Hill would score 2 TDs

4:00 was when the fire works were supposed to begin.  Chiefs and Rams.  6 of the 8 starting Cocktails were Chiefs.  The Chislers came with 4 starting Rams (Gurely was ruled out, so could have been 5). 

Mahomes would hit Hill for a big 11 point connection taking the lead for the Cocktails.  However, this would be the only 11 point connection for the 11 Point King Cocktails.  The Chislers however would get not one to counter, but 2 big 11 point connections from an unexpected source.

Josh Reynolds, a late substitution for Antonio Brown, would be the surprise player of the game for the Chislers as he caught 2 Goff TD passes!  Had Brown scored, there is no telling if he would have scored 2 TDs at all. 

Reynolds was the x-factor in the game!

Hill would score another TD, but on the ground, and Mahomes would throw another TD pass, but to a player that the Cocktails actually DIDN'T have.  Plus Kelce would be disappointing as he was shut out.

Jared Goff, FB XXXIV MVP

Jared Goff would eventually end the game with 16 points and earn Fantasy Bowl XXXIV MVP honors in the Chislers 6th victory in the Fantasy Bowl!  The closest to 6 titles is only 3 held by the Crew and then 8 others with 2 (Crickets, Jewels, Crush, Maulers, Power, Mooches, Mayhem and Krauts).  The Chislers are truly the Patriots of the CFFL.  All hail the Chislers!! (and the Chisler Luck)

Mahomes and Goff after the Fantasy Bowl

Player of the Year:  Patrick Mahomes, QB, Cocktails - 214 points

Rookie of the Year:  Saquon Barkley, RB, Juggs - 92 points

1st Team All Stars:
QB - Patrick Mahomes, Cocktails - 214
RB - Todd Gurley, Chislers - 132
RB - Alvin Kamara, Bums - 114
WR - Antonio Brown, Chislers - 90
TE - Eric Ebron, Crush - 84
WR - Tyreek Hill, Cocktails - 84
K - Ka'imi Fairbairn, Animals - 150
DEF - L.A. Rams, Ferrets - 40




2nd Team All Stars:
QB - Matt Ryan, Bums - 166
RB - Saquon Barkley, Juggs - 92
RB - Melvin Gordon, Crew - 88
WR - Davante Adams, Cocktails - 80
WR - Mike Williams, Krauts - 68
WR - DeAndre Hopkins, Animals - 66
K - Justin Tucker, Krauts - 141
DEF - Bears, Krauts - 38







All Nickname Team:
QB - Mitch "Bitch" Trubisky, Krauts
RB - Nick Chubb "Chubb, chubb, chubb", Chislers
RB - Alfred Blue "He needed the money", Titans
TE - George K.I."TT Boy" L.E., Dragons
TE - Mike "I don't always play fantasy football, but when I do I draft" Gesicki, Dragons
K - Jason "Michael" Myers, Crush





We will see everyone next year for the Cherry Fantasy Football Leagues' 35th season!!!

CFFL Playoffs and Fantasy Bowl Preview

Merry Christmas!

Well we are all set.  The big Fantasy Bowl XXXIV match up between the Chislers and Cocktails has come to reality.  Could this be an epic shoot out, or a complete blow out?  Let's look to see how they got there last week...

Chislers 41  Animals 26 - CHICAGO, IL - It was another battle between father and son in the playoffs, a place the Animals were able to defeat the Chislers last year on their way to a Fantasy Bowl title.  This year it would be different.  With no Happy or Sad Cam and facing the number one offense Chislers it was going to a tall task.  The Animals took a quick lead 18-0 but barley any of the Chisler main players had yet to play. 

Woods was a late line up change that paid off!!

But as the 4:00 games began, the Rams/Chislers were taking the field, however less one of the best players in the league, Todd Gurley.  Well it appeared they wouldn't need Gurley, as both Goff and Woods would actually run TDs in!  Then it hit!  Goff hit Woods for an 11 point play and Antonio Brown caught a TD just seconds apart.  It was all over for the Animals as their dreams for a repeat ended.  The Chislers were yet again back into the Fantasy Bowl for the 11th time in franchise history.

Cocktails 37  Krauts 32 - BERLIN - There is something about teams from Germany fighting teams from Russia that just doesn't end well for the Germans.  The Cocktails had beaten the Krauts twice in the regular season and was looking for yet a third to move on to their first ever Fantasy Bowl.

Mahomes had 14 points!

The Stage would be set by a colossal disastrous line up change by the Krauts.  The Krauts struck first as Kyle Rudolph "the red nose reindeer" scored two TDs including a Hail Mary TD catch at end of the half.  The big mistake was that the Krauts, for some reason, decided to bench Cousins for Trubisky!  Wait, what?  Was it because Cousins had played terrible last week? (No he threw for 2 TDs).  Was it because "Bitch" Trubisky was lighting it up lately?  (Not really, 4 points and 8 points last 2 weeks).  Well that move would come back to haunt the Krauts.


Trailing 32-6 going into Sunday Night, the Cocktails would need a decent game from the Chiefs who was playing a tough game up in Seattle in the cold, dark night.  It was really only a matter of time, as Mahomes continued his MVP year with 14 points along with 11 from Butker.  The  final seconds of the Krauts season ticked off the clock and the final was 37-32 for the Cocktails.

Cousins was perplexed about the decision. 

Trubisky had one TD pass.  Cousins had 3.  Those two extra TDs that Cousins, who led this team the entire year and played for the owner's favorite team the Vikings, threw, would have won the game for the Krauts!

Fantasy Bowl XXXIV Preview

Molotov Cocktails at Cherry's Checkers

Well this was the match up the entire league was expecting after they both stocked up on Ram and Chief players.  And with both NFL teams needing to win this weekend, they might not have any players sitting. 

QB - Mahomes vs Goff.  We saw this actual match up in the NFL and it was one hell of a shoot out.  Chiefs take on Raiders while the Rams take on 49ers.  Both will be at home.  This is going to be close.  I see Mahomes edging Goff here by one score.
ADV - Cocktails

RB - Some Chief RB vs. Chubb (Gurley?).  Williams seems to be the play here, even if he has West on the bench.  Chubb has been a pleasant surprise and has 10 TDs on the season.  However Browns play the Ravens.  Gurley may not play Sunday due to nursing a banged up knee.  If he does play, count on the advantage going to the Chislers.  However I have a feeling he won't be playing.
ADV - Cocktails

WR - Chiefs WRs vs. Brown, Hilton, Thielen and Woods.  While the Cocktails are banking on the Chiefs WRs and TE Kelce, the Chislers will be hoping to get some other production from Hilton and Thielen.  Hard to argue that the Cocktails wide outs won't out score the Chislers.  Hill and Kelce alone will be enough as each TD catch is 11 points. 
ADV - Cocktails

K - Butker vs. Zuerlein.  Well it depends on what the Chiefs and Rams do.  Either way, I could see Zuerlein getting more FGs than Butker (which would mean Cocktails probably getting more TDs)
ADV - Chislers

This should be a good one and will be a wild Sunday afternoon as both Chiefs and Rams play at 4:00.  Oh boy!  I don't know if the Chislers are going to be able to keep up with the scoring that the Cocktails will likely put up.  But you know there is one thing the Chislers have that no other team has.  Chisler Luck!  The Chislers are going to need to be at least 6 point behind by the end of the 4:00 madness so that Hilton can catch a game winning TD for the Chislers to get them their 6th Fantasy Bowl title. 

Prediction:  Cocktails prevail however as they will have an 8 point lead, and Hilton will only get 1 TD.  Cocktails win 52-50.