ROCKING GOLD -- Halifax Chiefs -- S77 ProAm

[JB123 728]

 

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA -- May 6, 2021. The Season 77 ProAm Tournament was getting underway, with a draft. I was honored to be selected as the GM of Team Six. I soon welcomed @Anomalijs as my assistant GM, and we named the team the Halifax Chiefs, a combination of hockey teams from two popular movies, Goon and Slapshot (Halifax Highlanders, Charlestown Chiefs). 

 

For those of you who do not know, the ProAm tournament is something to do in the offseason when not much is going on. Players sign up, from both the VHL and VHLM (and soon VHLE )? The players are then put into a pool to be drafted to one of six teams. The teams compete in a 10-game regular season/round robin to determine seeding. All teams make the playoffs, where they faceoff to find a winner. Three medals are given out at the conclusion of the tournament, the traditional gold, silver and bronze. 

 

Now it was time to pick up some players. We were picking third. With no goalies off the board at three, we were glad to pick Jacob Tonn, @MexicanCow123, who we felt was the best goaltender available. At 10th overall, we took center Isabella Campbell, @Banackock, who was an absolute steal in our minds. An elite two-way center who could win us a lot of draws as well. Not to mention that she was in the Cup finals with the Bears, who of course would win it a few days later. With pick 15, we selected Campbell's teammate Timothy Brown, @a_Ferk. Brown was someone who we didn't think we could get so late, but we did. He would be a great wing for Campbell, and their chemistry was already terrific. At 22, we took our top defender, Matt Thunder, @Matt thunder. Thunder is all you look for in a #1 D; a defensive stalwart, an excellent skater, and a puck-mover who could join the rush. We ended up trading our next pick, #27, as well as #39, for #29 and #32. With pick 29, we were happy to select Chris Reynolds, @Crstats23. Reynolds would form an unstoppable top line that would inevitably draw comparisons to the Perfection Line. Three picks later, left winger Dominic Gobeil, @Domg5 was a Chief. This pick in particular famously upset some people, not mentioning any names . Gobeil was intended to be a solid option in addition to Reynolds at LW. However, with the way things went, we felt it best to play Gobeil on defense, something he was willing to do and I appreciate very much. We won gold, right? So I guess it all worked out. Getting back to our picks, with pick 34 we gladly selected our second line center, Steve Eso, @Eso. Eso would create an outstanding one-two punch down the middle along with Campbell. Eso was very good on offense, but it was his responsibility in the defensive zone that really wowed us. He could win faceoffs and do the little things right. We had to wait a while to pick again, but when we were on the clock at 46, we took defender Joe Madison, @Brewins15. Madison was a defender who we could trust to play big minutes and play well. Madison gave us great flexibility in our lineup. At 51, we grabbed Gustislav Nasherov, @Vat, a 1st round pick of the Helsinki Titans. Nasherov somehow remained on the board, waiting to be picked. Nasherov, we envisioned, would be a great sniper to play with Eso on the 2nd line. With our second-to-last selection, we took defender Jannik Nylen, @DreMin15. Nylen, although a VHLMer, was very underrated. Nylen could play in many different situations, and made our top-4 a unit to fear. With our final pick, we were beyond happy to select the AGM of the Chiefs, Miks Sunish. Sunish would get to play on a line with former Hounds teammate, Gustislav Nasherov. Sunish had a lot of offensive upside, and what better line to play on? 

 

For reference, here were the main lines we rolled with throughout the tournament: 

Chris Reynolds -- Isabella Campbell -- Timothy Brown

Miks Sunish -- Steve Eso -- Gustislav Nasherov

 

Matt Thunder -- Joe Madison

Dominic Gobeil -- Jannik Nylen

 

Jacob Tonn

 

We were very lucky to get production from everywhere in the lineup. The team played great together. 

 

We finished the round robin 6-2-2, good for the three seed. The top line had a combined 35 points through those 10 games. The second line had a total of 17 points. The defense also pitched in with 21 points. Goaltender Jacob Tonn was a brick wall in net, playing all our games and posting a stellar .940 save percentage and 2.42 goals-against average. 

 

The team only seemed to improve as the tourney went on, elevating their game in the playoffs. We opened up the playoffs against the #6 seeded Subway Rats, winning the series 4-1. The next series was versus the tough #2 team, the Gila Monsters. Ultimately, we won in 6 games. And FINALLY we had reached the gold medal series. We were not going to lose now. This series was for all the marbles. No surprise, we would have to play the best team in the round robin, the Yakov Smirnoffs with EVERYTHING on the line. We split the first two games, split the next two, and now it was a best-of-three. We wrapped things up in Game 6, and we were crowned champions of the Season 77 ProAm Tournament. 

 

Overall, I really enjoyed this tournament and am very thankful for getting the opportunity to GM a team. Congrats to all the players, and thank you all. Best of luck both this season and in the future. Thank you to my assistant GM, @Anomalijs, as well. Also, thank you to the people who make this possible each offseason, @PatrikLaine, @MexicanCow123, @Zetterberg, and @Ricer13. It is a great experience, and I would most certainly recommend it to anyone who hasn't played/managed in it yet. I look forward to playing again next offseason under someone new who's getting involved. 

 

Word count: 1005 

[Greg_Di 999]

Loved this article about the pro-am off-season tournament. This gives insight to players that may not know about the tournament. While I do know about the tournament, I have not yet participated and this article makes me want to give it a go next season. Great information, great picture and title and overall a very good article. The only thing I would fix is the one super long paragraph. I would break it down into maybe 2 to make it an easier read.

 

9.5/10!

[diacope 2 764]

Three continental cup champs on the team? This team was built to win from the start 

[JB123 728]

Claiming week 2/2