New Member

We would like to welcome our new member Omar.  He is brand new to NHL 09 and the entire NHL series.

Twenty Sixth Game

@MTL (J): 5
NYR (W): 0

Robert Lang posted the game winner and a hat trick. Four goals were scored in the first period.

Twenty Fifth Game

@NYR (J): 5 (OT)
STL (W): 4

Nikolai Zherdev got the game-winning goal in overtime while on the power play.

Twenty Fourth Game

FLA (J): 6
@NSH (S): 0

David Booth had the game winner 2 minutes and 29 seconds into the game.

Twenty Third Game

MTL (J): 1
COL (S): 0

Robert Lang scored the game winning goal late in the third period. This was the loudest game in league history and the most intense in recent memory.

Twenty Second Game

@ LAK (J): 3
STL (S): 0

Derek Armstrong was credited with a short handed game winning goal after a St. Louis defensemen put a puck into his own net in the first period.

Twentyfirst Game

LAK (J): 11
@FLA (S): 0

Denis Gauthier had the game-winner on a shorthanded goal in the first period. The Kings amassed 57 shots.

Twentieth Game

@DAL (J): 4
VAN (S): 2

Brenden Morrow scored the game winning goal in the 2nd period.

@SJS (J): 3
NSH (S): 1

Jonathan Cheechoo scored the game-winning goal on a breakaway while on the power play.

Nineteenth Game

@TBL (J): 3
LAK (W): 1

Evgeny Artyukhin had the game winning goal.

Eighteenth Game

NJD (A): 6
OTT (S): 0

Jonny Oduya scored teh game winning goal as New Jersey routed Ottawa.

Oh, Will.

I really hope that's how all my games with Will go. I doubled his time on attack and he couldn't handle my cycle. I never cycle, everyone knows how to defend against it and I don't know how to counter-attack. Apparently, though, Will doesn't. I'm excited for my next game with him.

Seventeenth Game

@TOR (J): 5
COL (W): 2

Lee Stempniak had the game winning goal.

Sixteenth Game

@MTL (W): 6
BUF (A): 4

Robert Lang scored the game winning goal.

Note: This was Will's first game in the league.

Seriously? WTF

Jesse's most recent post hit the nail on the head when he talked about "the tide turning." I won my most recent game in a shoot-out and honestly I really did win my last game. They scored three own goals! Even Jesse, who was being a much better sport than I was, admitted that he competely did not derserve to win that game. I had 20 PIMs, and kept Jesse 0 for 10 on the powerplay and cycled it at will.

New Member

We would like to welcome our new member Will.

-Management

Fifteenth Game

@PHX (J): 3
OTT (S): 1


Kevin Porter was credited for the game-winning goal off of an own goal.

I called it

I wonder if this would've happened if I hadn't said anything....

Fourteenth Game

@BUF (S): 3 (SO)
NYI (J): 2

Maxim Afinogenov scored the game winning goal in the shootout, as Buffola won a physical game at home.

The tide is turning...

I can feel it. There's something in the air. The past few games I've had against Sam have been really intense. He's going to win again sometime soon. I'm going to try my hardest to make sure he doesn't, but I feel that it is inevitable.

Bring it on, Sam.

Thirteenth Game

PHI (J): 3 (OT)
FLA (S): 2

Mike Richards scored both the game-tying and game winning goals as the Flyers overcame a 2-0 deficit to beat Florida at home.

Twelth Game

TBL (J): 4
@COL (S): 1

Vincent Lecavalier scored the game winner in the third period on a sweet goal from behind the net on the power play.

Eleventh Game

@ATL (J): 3
ANA (S): 1

Iyla Kovalchuck scored a beatiful game winning goal as the Trashers beat the Ducks in a intensely physical game.

Tenth Game

NJ (J): 3
@PHX (S): 0

New Jersey beat Phoenix in a game that was much closer than the score indicated. Brain Roloston scored the game winning goal.

Ninth Game

LAK (A): 7
TBL (S): 2

Patrick O'Sullivan scored the game winning goal as L.A. routed Tampa at home.

Well..

It's about time.

:)

(This is in response to the seventh game)

Eighth Game

@NSH (A): 4 (OT)

MTL (J): 3

Steve Sullivan had the game winning goal in OT after a bad pass from a Montreal defensemen caromed off of Andrei Markov and trickled in through Carey Price's legs.

It's About Damn Time

Finally, I got myself a win!  Things finally went right for me; I got the lucky bounces and didn't take too many stupid penalties.  Before the game I had a meeting with myself to revamp my strategy.  I played a far more conservative, Jesse-esque defense where I stacked the blueline in lieu of aggressive forechecking.  I also cut back on the risky onetimers and cycled it more, which Jesse had a hard time defending.  It also helped that I was very comfortable with Atlanta; in other games I had often never played with that team before.  All and all I hope to build on this, Jesse says he thinks I'm gonna go on a roll with this newfound momentum.

Ari Needs a Better Goalie

I simply cannot explain these loses (in games 5 and 6).  I don't think I have ever been more thoroughly dominated in my NHL career.  I couldn't even win in whistle goals!  Needless to say, there will be no pucks on the ice at practice tomorrow.

Note: This post is regard to game 6 and 7.

Seventh Game

ATL (S): 3
@CGY )J): 1

Byran Little knocked in a rebound of Mikka Kipprasoft to score the game winning goal in the second period. Deion Panef had turned over the puck deep in his own zone in the last minute of the third to allow the Trashers an insaurance empty-net goal to seal the win.

Sixth Game

@ATL (J): 4
NSH (S): 1

Marty Reasoner scored the game winner as Atlanta routed Nashville at home. The Predators out hit the Thrashers but could not compete in the face off circle.

Fifth Game

FLA (J): 5
@ANA (S): 0

Greg Campbell had the game-winning goal and 2 points. Bryan McCabe had the only PPG of the game with both Keith Ballard and David Booth scoring shorthanded.

J.S. Giguere was pulled after 5 goals in 22 shots, replaced by Jonas Hiller who made 7 saves.

Just one thing

I won because of my clutch skills.

- Ari

Enough With the Lefties Already!

This was by far the most entertaining game I have ever played during my short career in The League. It had everything: fights, hits, posts, and decades-old rivalry. The one gripe I have is that I simply cannot score with lefties in the shootout. I don't understand why I'm just so much better with righties (Ari feels the same way so I know it's not only me). It probably stems from doing All-Star shootouts with my friend during my off season training and using Ovechkin, Kovalchuck and Malkin as my first three. So, of course, all three of my shooters are left handed. Good game all around though.

Sam

I Don't Wanna Talk About It

Needless to say, there won't be any pucks at practice tomorrow.

Note: This is in response to the second game.

Fourth Game

@CHI (A): 3 (SO)

MTL (S): 2

The first league match up between Ari and Sam, a showdown of two storied Original Six teams, proved to be a thriller. A wild third period was capped by a a snipe from Kris Versteeg with 7.5 seconds left to send the game into overtime. Overtime did not disappoint either, as both teams rang several shots off the post, bringing the raucous capacity crowd of 20,531 to their feet. Jonathan Toews scored the lone goal in the shoot out on Chicago's first attempt for the game winner.

Note: This is the first League game to go into overtime and/or shootout.

We should move game speed up two notches

So, this is my first game over here in the league and I'm not chill with the settings. Overall, I think it was a solid outing. I've beaten Jesse before, so this was a fluke. I think we should put game speed and pass speed up and hitting power down. That's how I play it with my friends and I like it.

- Ari

Close, but good

This was a really good game. I scored off a kind of stupid goal for the first goal of the game but Ari came back anyway and scored off of a juicy rebound.

I always look forward to games with Ari. Ari and I always have really close games. We've been pretty much equal in skill since NHL '07. I was pretty happy when I got Ottawa because I play really well as them. The thing is, Ari knows pretty much everything about the NHL and as such, can play as any team. My knowledge is limited and I only really know the superstars of each team, but I do know the warriors of most teams.

Welcome to the league, Ari.

Third Game

@OTT (J): 2

COL (A): 1

Mike Fisher and Shean Donovan scored for the Senators and Wojtek Wolski scored the lone goal for the Avalanche.

This was Ari's first career game in The League.

New Player

We would like to welcome our new player Ari. Ari has established himself as a proven player in the minor leagues.

Management

Snipes

Hahahahahahahahaha...


....oh wow.

Second Game

NJD (J): 8
@ MIN (S): 2

Brian Gionta had the game-winning goal for New Jersey. Travis Zajac had a hat trick and Johnny Oduya had 2 goals and was +5.

Official Rules

League Rules:

1. All games must be played at the superstar difficulty level.
2. All teams must be in the same league.
3. No jinxing the Caps.
• No playing as the Caps or their opponents on gameday.
• During the playoffs, the entire series will be treated as gameday.

Note: These are not the official rules yet, they are simply "filler text".

Update: Seems like my late-night magic paid off, basic Google Docs integration seems to be up and running.

Management

Stupid, Stupid Turnovers

Honestly, I thought I had this game in the bag. I was doing everything right (aside from taking a ridiculous amount of tripping penalties). I wasn't relying on my trademarked "one-timer pass from the left corner to the slot" offense and I was making Jesse pay for his mistakes. Not that they were necessarily his mistakes, I got ALOT of help from the computer in the beginning. It was interesting to see how Jesse would react when the computer was continuously screwing him over. All in all, I'm glad we continued our streak of thrilling games decided in the last minute.

Integration With Google Docs

To me, it is quite obvious that we will be heavily relying on integration with Google Docs to do all the fun number crunching and collaboration that we do here on NHLAR. The problem is that, at the moment, Blogger is not co-operating well, and Google Sites is. But Google Sites is downright terrible for a blogging format, although it has awesome integration with all types of media (Youtube videos, Pisca photos, etc). As of now it looks like we'll be staying with Blogger and the current stats/records will be at the bottom of the page.

Management

Breakaway...wow

Wow, I had so many breakaways that game. I had at least 5 breakaways and I missed the net on all of them except my final one. Thanks Tkachuk! I gotta work on my breakaway moves some more, I miss all the time.
Also, the game did not want me to have a power play chance this entire game. Every time Sam would get a penalty, nine seconds in there would be a cross checking or slashing call on my team. I say my team because most of the time it was the AI controlled players that got the penalty.

My one timer snipe with Backes was pretty sweet though, clean snipe, no post hit, right above Brodeur's blocker. Sam wont talk about it, he's pretty angry at the way I got the puck to set up that goal. Something to do with pressing pass but instead it saucer passed it into the boards. Whatever, a giveaway is a giveaway.

Nail biter to the end.

First Game

STL (J): 2
@NJD (S): 1

After falling behind 1-0 in the first period on a goal by Dainius Zubrus, the Blues came back on a breakaway goal by Keith Tkachuk midway through the third. David Backes scored the game winner with 1:23 to go. Patrick Elias and Keith Tkachuk both left the game late in the third with undisclosed injuries.

Scoring Summary:
1st Period:
Dainius Zubrus (A Greene, J. Pandolfo), 18:55
3rd Period:
Keith Tkachuck (B.Boyes, A. McDonald), 10:44
David Backes (J. McClement, J. McKee), 18:37