CFHL Update #5

Only three weeks to go in the regular season and many teams are still fighting to get in the top 6 to make a run for the Cherry Cup!  We have a new team on top of the standings.  Raisins have passed the Checkers as top team in the league. 

Here is what happened last week...

The USSR led the league in goals this week  with 11 beating a Goon Crew team that had all kinds of issues, despite leading the league this week in assists with 20.  The Soviets push for the playoffs is paying off, as they have moved to the 5th spot.  Not that long ago they were on the outside looking in.  Carter Verhaeghe led the Soviets in goals with 3.  USSR also led all teams with 13 PPP with Ryan Strome leading the way with 6!

Strome had 6 PPP for USSR

Checkers fall to the Raisins 5-1 as the Raisins have moved to the top spot in the league by 2 points!  Checkers led the league in hits (wait, what?  not USSR??) with 69.  Leading the way for the Checkers was Nikita Zadorov with 17.

Mayhem on Ice had an incredible week between the pipes getting 6 goalie wins and a SV% of .967 against Who Gives a Puck, beating them 4-2.  Connor Hellebuyck had 3 wins and SV% of .966 including a shutout.  Cam Talbot had almost an identical week with 3 more wins and a SV% of .967 and a shutout. 

 Krampus had little trouble with the White Mambas.  Krampus goalie Philipp Grubauer had 3 wins and a .936 SV% in the 5-1 win over the Mambas.  

Grubauer had another great week for the Krampus

The Skull Crushers are a mess.  Easy win for the Assassins shutting them out 6-0.  Crushers team decimated  with injuries.  

Skater of the Week:  Mika Zibanejad, Assassins - 4 goals, 3 assists, 4 PPP and 4 hits

Goalies of the Week:  The Mayhem tandem of Hellebuyck and Talbot, 6 wins and .967 SV%, 2 shutouts

CFHL Update #4: The Week of the Krampus

 It was the week of the Krampus....Krampus Carols that is.  They dominated the week leading all teams for the week in goals, assists and goalie wins.  

So let's take a look at last week's action...

Like I was saying the Krampus led the league for the week in goals, scoring 12 of them in their defeat of the Puck 4-1-1.  Draisaitl had 6 of them!  They also tied the league with 20 assists for the week as Tyson Barrie led his team with 5 helpers.  Oh, and the Krampus tied for most goalie wins for the week with 4.  The Puck had a league leading SV% of .951 which was all Varlamov.

Now the Crew also had 12 goals, but instead of a win, they lost to the Mayhem on Ice 2-3-1, a disappointing loss for the Goon Crew looking to try to get in the top 6 for the playoffs.  They currently are tied with the Puck for the last playoff spot.  Mayhem are now one point ahead of them. 

Tied with the Krampus for the week in assists was the White Mambas, who surprised the Assassins 4-2.  Morgan Rielly led the White Mambas with 2 goals, 3 assists and 1 PPP.  Assassins are in the battle for the playoffs with a one point lead over the Crew and the Puck.

Morgan Rielly of the Mambas

The Soviets upset the league leading Checkers 4-0-2 with a big game from their Senators Tkachuk and Batherson on Sunday.  They, per usual, led the league in hits for the week with 63.  Brady Tkachuk had 22 hits!  The USSR are 5 points out of the playoffs, but this win went a long way to get them back in the hunt.

Apparently Tkachuk can score too

And also per usual the California Raisins were at the top of the league in goalie wins with 4 getting 2 each from Jarry and Vasilevskiy in their 3-2-1 victory over the Skull Crushers, who suddenly paid attention to their line up and was at least respectable this week...

Skater of the Week:  Leon Draisaitl, Krampus Carols, 6 goals, 3 assists, 4 PPP and 4 hits

Goalie of the Week:  Philipp Grubauer, Krampus Carols, 3 wins and .932 SV%

CFHL Update #3

 Here is a brief update from last week's action

The Checkers led the week with 15 goals in their 3-3 split with the Mayhem on Ice.  Max Pacioretty led the Checkers with 4 gaols and 4 assists.  The Mayhem had 14 PPP, best for the week, but couldn't hold on to the victory as the Caps and Samsonov got a win late Sunday.

Samsonov seals the tie for the Checkers

Raisins led the league last week in assists with 25 in their 5-1 romping of the Krampus Carols.  Barkov had an amazing 6 helpers and Landeskog had 4 for the Raisins.  They also had the most Goalie Wins for the week with 5!  Leading the way was Vasilevskiy who had 3 wins plus a SV% of .944.

Barkov had 6 assists for the Raisins

While the USSR hasn't been winning much, they don't disappoint in physicality.  They led the league once again for the week in hits with 60 hits.  Gudas had 15 hits and Brady Tkachuk had an "off" week getting only 9 hits.  They are still 1 and 2 in hits.  Unfortunately the Soviets lost to the Assassins 4-2.

Gudas being Gudas...

Who Gives a Puck led all teams with a SV% of .952 for the week behind Varlamov and Rask. Rask didn't have a win, but Varlamov did notch two victories in the Puck's 4-1-1 win over the White Mambas.

Varlamov came up big for the Puck

Goon Crew got what the doctor ordered to hopefully get their season right, playing the depleted and injured riddled Skull Crushers.  Crew shut them out 6-0.

Goalie of the Week:  Andrei Vasilevskiy, 3 wins and .944 SV% for California Raisins

Skater of the Week:  Max Pacioretty, 4 goals, 4 assists, 1 PPP and 6 hits for the Checkers

CFHL Update #2

 Well we passed the trade deadline (as if anyone even realized it) and we are moving toward the second half of the season.  

Smythe Division:  It's a close race right now in the Smythe with the Krampus Carols holding a slim 3 point lead over Who Gives a Puck and Mayhem on Ice.  USSR are 7 points out of a playoff spot and going to need to string some wins together to make a move.  The White Mambas are nonexistent....

Cherry Division:  The Checkers are running away with the division with a 17 point lead!  Assassins and Raisins are tied with 45 in the 2nd and 3rd spots.  Goon Crew behind them by 6 points and like the USSR will need to string some wins together to somehow sneak into the playoffs.  Skull Crushers in their first year are looking like it...

The Checkers with 62 points on the season lead the league in goals (69) and PPP (69)..."69...hahahaha!" and they lead in hits with 345.  Toffoli leads the team in goals with 12 but also
have Pavelski and Marchand, each have 10.  But that's not the whole story.  All others have decent goal stats and their blue liners combine for 17 goals! 

Other key players on key teams:

Krampus Carols are led by Leon Draisaitl who has 10 goals, 24 assists and 14 PPP

Goon Crew have Draisaitl's teammate Connor McDavid who has 14 goals and 26 assists plus 18 PPP and 22 hits!  Too bad he doesn't have much help...

California Raisins' key to their success have been the goalies.  Andrei Vasilevskiy leads the team with 12 wins and a SV% of .938!  Plus Alex DeBrincat is no slouch with 11 goals and 14 assists.

Derincat celebrates a score

USSR are a tough out and teams feel it after they play the Soviets.  They have the number 1 and number 2 leaders in hits: Tkachuk (103) and Gudas (100).

Who Gives a Puck leader has been Mitch Marner who netted 10 goals and 22 assists thus far!  Hughes on D has been great with 19 assists and 11 PPP from the blue line!

Season Leaders:

Goals:  Auston Matthews - 18 (White Mamba)

Assists: Connor McDavid - 26 (Crew)

PPP: Connor McDavid - 18 (Crew)

Hits: Brady Tkachuck - 103 (USSR)

Wins: Andrei Vasilevskiy - 12 (Raisins)

SV%: Marc-Andre Fleury - .941 (Krampus Carols)

CFHL Update #1: Hockey Wives Edition

 Three weeks into the season.  Welcome to the CFHL Update.  We have two division and we are already seeing some separation in the divisions.  However it only takes a big 6-0 or 5-1 week to get back in it.    6 teams make the playoffs.  Top seeds go to the division winners.  So what is happening this year?

Cherry Division

The Checkers are clearly the team to beat so far this year and are firmly in first place in the Cherry Division.  They have gone 3-1-2, 5-1 and 5-1 to begin the season!  They lead the league in Hits and PPP.  With Bergeron and Marchand on their team its no wonder they lead in PPP.  Binnington and Vanecek each have 5 wins as well.  This team going to be hard to beat.

Right behind them are the Assassins and they face off this week!   At only 3 points behind could make a move this week.  They are not a prolific goal scoring team, but are tops in assists and Andersen and Khudobin are no slouch between the pipes.  

Hilary Knight, Fredrik Andersen's girl

Goon Crew are hanging in there, but their goalies are atrocious.  SV% below .900 and the line up has been a revolving door other than Price.  What's saving this team is Connor McDavid, who is having an MVP season so far.  He has 8 goals, 14 assists, 10 PPP and 12 hits on the season so far!

Carey Price's wife Angela likes to play the slots!

California Raisins and Skull Crushers bringing up the rear.  The Raisins are coming off an upset victory of the Goon Crew last week 3-2-1.  Wheeler and Landeskog clearly leading this team.  Both can hit and are play makers.  Andre Vasilevskiy one of the best goalies and has posted 5 wins with a .925 SV%.  The Crushers were dealt a blow with one of their best players, Nathan MacKinnon to miss some time due to an injury.  In net they have posted good SV% numbers but only Markstrom has more than 3 wins.

Blake and Sam Wheeler..

Smythe Division

The Krampus are having a great start to the season.  They went 4-2, 5-1, and 3-2-1 first three weeks of the season.  They have a 9 point lead over USSR and Mambas in the division.  They lead the league in goals, led by 8 from Boeser and 7 from Rantanen.  Lead the league in net minding as well behind Gibson and Grubauer who has 6 wins on the season and a .930 SV%

John Gibson's wife sipping on a cocktail

USSR, back 9 points, still trying to figure things out.  But with a very heavy blue line that combined 83 hits and Brady Tkachuck's 37 hits they are a tough team to play.  It will be interesting to see how they do once Patrik Laine gets into the line up.  He can be a force on offense.  

The White Mambas are right there tied with the Soviets.  However this team has issues.  For whatever reason they continue to carry a goalie on their team that has retired.  (Crawford).  Their best player has to be Auston Matthews, who has 6 goals to go along with 13 hits.  

One of many Matthew girl friends...

With a stache like this who can blame them...

And then we have the last two Cherry Cup Champions in last place.  The Mayhem on Ice and Who Gives a Puck.  Mayhem have decent goalies in Hellebuyck and Talbot (7 wins between them), but goal tender Lehner has been somewhat of a disappointment.  Maybe if the Knights play more he will get a chance to put up more stats (damn Chinese Community Party Wuhan Virus).  Puck also working on getting the right goalie combination, as they have 4 goalies, but only one with more than 3 wins.  He has quite a few Bruins too, with Krejci (7 assists and 4 PPP), McAvoy (7 assists and 10 hits) and Rask.  Let's not forget Ovechkin.  He has had a slow start because of the CCP Wuhan Virus.

David Krejci's wife Naomi Starr
(damn these hockey players!)

Number One Star:  Connor McDavid, Goon Crew - 8 goals, 14 assists, 10 PPP and 12 hits

Number One Goon:  Nikita Zadorov, Checkers - 41 hits

Number One Goalie:  Philip Grubauer, Krampus - 6 wins and .930 SV%, including 2 shutouts.