Rome's Road to the Playoffs

[a_Ferk 760]

The Intro

 

In an unlikely set of circumstances, the Rome Gladiators secured a playoff spot in the VHLE in the final sim of the season. After leading Rome by 10 points at the trade deadline, the Bratislava Watchmen only managed to post a 6-8 record in their final 14 games. Rome on the other hand went 11-2-1, which put them ahead of the Watchmen by a single point and sent them to the playoffs. It does seem a little bit strange that a team with 91 points missed the playoffs, and perhaps some change will come next season. The 6th palace Oslo Storm were a respectable team with the addition of Yun Chiang after all. What exactly happened to Bratislava after the deadline? Did they simply have a tougher schedule than Rome, or did they choke?

 

Games: 233-240

 

The first sim after the Trade deadline saw Bratislava play the Istanbul Red Wolves and the Vasteras Iron Eagles. The Watchmen beat Istanbul 5-3 after Dolant Fertitta scored on the empty net with a minute left in the 3rd. Austin Towbaker recorded a hat-trick for the Watchmen and was the first star. In their second match the Watchmen chased VAS G2 out of the net in just 16 minutes of the first period, paving the way for Tadhg Byrne to enter the game. Bratislava would hold on to claim a convincing 7-3 victory over the Eagles. 

 

The Gladiators’ first match was against the Oslo Storm, who did not go out without a fight. Rome would storm back with 2 goals in the third to put Oslo away 5-4, despite Yun Chiang’s best efforts. In their second game Rome played against the  l;eague worst Geneva Rush, who they crushed 10-1. The game started ugly, with Gabby Dugan fighting Wolf Weiss and Noah Mashford fighting Zen Raider. Both fights were ruled draws. Raider would promptly receive a 10 minute misconduct and be ejected from the game for instigating. GEN G1 would enter the game 4 minutes into the 2nd period, after Rome had recorded 5 goals. 

 

At this point anyone would be forgiven for thinking Rome would miss the playoffs. There were 12 games left and the 2 teams were still separated by 10 points.

 

Games 241-248

 

Bratislava’s first game was against Stockholm, who won 5-4 over Bratislava in a close one. Matt Avens of the Vikings was the first star of the game, knocking in a pair of goals. Their second was against the Cologne Express. Cologne won the game quite convincingly, beating the Watchmen 6-3. Kyosti Karjalainen recorded a hat-trick for the Express in their victory. 

 

Rome again played the Geneva Rush in the first game, this time beating them by 7 goals and shutting them out. Geneva’s GEN G1 would again enter the game 5 minutes into the 2nd period, replacing GEN G2. It was quite similar to the last time the two teams met. Match two was a lot closer, a 2-1 victory over Vasteras. Tahdg Byrne did all he could and stopped 40 of 42 shots, but it was not enough to stop Rome. 

At this point Rome was now trailing by 6 points. Although it was a closer margin, they were still back 3 games with 10 games left to spare. It didn’t look that possible yet.

 

Games 249-256

 

The Watchmen played Istanbul next, and fell 4-3 in another close game. Orion D H Chiester IX was pulled from the game after allowing all 4 Istanbul goals. Bratislava’s Alex Parise entered the game and stopped all 17 shots he faced, but it was not enough as Bratislava would only be able to score once in the comeback. Bratislava won their next one 4-2 against Vasteras in what was a bloodbath of a game. Deagun Rust beat up Finn Davis and Nils Godlander and Willy Myers fought to a draw in a line brawl at 11:16 in the 2nd. Davis had not had enough apparently, as he was beaten up by Rust a second time at 15:59 in the third. 

 

Rome’s next 2 games would be against the Cologne Express. In the first of two, Rome was able to get up to an early 3-0 lead and Cologne was unable to recover. Rome would pile on ever more later in the game to take it 6-2. In the second match, the game went into overtime after the two teams were tied 3-3 after 60 minutes of play. After nobody scored in the overtime, it went to a shootout and Cologne took it 4-3 after Mats Zucarello scored the only goal. 

 

Again, this was not really that eye opening. Rome gained another point and were now 5 points back with 8 games left.

 

Games 257-264

 

The Watchmen convincingly beat the Oslo Storm 8-3 in their first game of the sim. William Groves had himself a hat-trick, and Bratislava chased Michael Fletcher out of his net. OSL G1 entered the game at 3:25 in the second after Fletcher allowed 4 goals on 18 shots. In the second game Bratislava again met the Cologne Express. The Express did not mess around and beat the Watchmen 5-4. Arthur Kimura scored the game winner 16 minutes into the second period. 

 

The Gladiators had two matches against the Vasteras Iron Eagles in this sim. In the first game, the Gladiators triumphed over the Eagles 5-3. Deke Rike had a very good game for Rome, with 2 goals and 2 assists, though strangely he was the third star. In the second matchup Rome won 6-5 in a shootout. Brendan Marner scored the only shootout goal for either team, and Rome defenseman Milk Jugs recorded a hat-trick. 

 

With Rome going 2-0 and Bratislava splitting their games, the gap between the two teams was now 3 just points. 6 games remained. The sim that came next would be critical for both clubs, as they played each other twice. In Rome’s locker room I sent the Jim Carrey gif, “So you’re telling me there’s a chance?”.

 

Games 265-273

 

In this sim Bratislava and Rome were scheduled to play each other, but the Watchmen also had a game against the Istanbul Red Wolves first. After getting up to an early 2-0 lead, the Red Wolves held on to win 3-1 over the Watchmen. In hindsight maybe this was a bad omen for Bratislava.

 

The next two games would be season defining for both. THe first match was a convincing Gladiators victory, as they took it 6-3. Rome had a complete team effort, with 6 players recording 2 or more points in the game. In the second match Ben Aky had a goal and 2 assists for Rome, including one with just seconds left in the 2nd period. Nobody would score in the third period and Rome would go on to win it 4-3. 

 

Rome was now a point ahead of Bratislava with a game in hand. What looked extremely unlikely at the deadline was now reality.

 

Games 274-280

 

In their first game of the day the Gladiators played against Istanbul, and beat them 7-4. After trailing 3-2 after the 2nd period Rome went on to score 5 straight in the 3rd. Istanbul answered with one of their own, but it ultimately did not make a difference.

 

Bratislava and Rome were scheduled to play each other for the 3rd time in 4 games in this sim, and Bratislava finally got revenge for what happened in the last sim, taking the match 7-5 after scoring 2 goals in the 3rd. Biggie Cheese recorded a goal and 3 assists for Rome in the match, but it was not enough to win. 

 

Despite Bratislava’s 1-0 record and Rome’s 1-1, Bratislava still trailed by a point due to their 3 game sim in the previous sim. Rome had Oslo and Istanbul in their last sim, while Bratislava had Geneva and Cologne. Rome simply had to win one game, and hope Cologne could help them out.

 

Games 281-288

 

Bratislava played Cologne in their first match and got absolutely dunked on, the final score ended up being 6-0. For the 3rd time since the deadline, they had been handed a loss by the Express. Orion D H Chiester IX was chased out of the net for the Watchmen after 4 goals and Alex Parise had to take his place. In their second game Bratislava won against Geneva, but it was a lot closer than expected. Austin Towbaker scored a hat-trick for the Watchmen in a 6-4 victory. For Bratislava to make the playoffs, Rome could only record a single point in their last 2 sims.

 

In their first game of the day Rome was upset by Yun Chiang and the Oslo Storm. Chiang recorded 2 goals, including the game winner in the third period. So it would be that Rome beat Istanbul, not Oslo in their final sim to clinch a playoff spot. Biggie Cheese recorded 2 goals, 2 assists and the game winning goal in Rome’s final game against the Red Wolves. Rome would win the game 5-3. 

 

The Conclusion

 

So why did Bratislava collapse so badly? They did have a tough schedule in the waning part of the season, but the Gladiators also thrived against the tougher competition. 7 of Rome’s final 14 were against the league’s worst 3 teams, but they also gained 3 of 4 points from Cologne, 4 of 6 from Bratislava, and 4 of 4 from the league’s best, the Istanbul Red Wolves. Bratislava beat Istanbul in their first sim after the deadline and took 1 of 3 from Rome, but failed to beat anyone else not named Geneva, Oslo or Vasteras. The Watchmen had the opportunity to take matters into their own hands by beating Rome and claiming their place in the playoffs. They ultimately failed to do so, winning only 1 out of 3 games against Rome. Furthermore, if Bratislava had gone .500 in the final 14 games of the season, Rome would have trailed them by a point. They also failed to do so. It may seem unfair that they missed the playoffs with such a good record, but looking back they weren’t good enough to participate over Rome with such a poor final stretch. Maybe next season they’ll introduce a wildcard round so this sort of thing doesn’t happen again.

[a_Ferk 760]

1717 words, claiming for week 1 of 3

[FrostBeard 1,977]

1 hour ago, a_Ferk said:

It may seem unfair that they missed the playoffs with such a good record, but looking back they weren’t good enough to participate over Rome with such a poor final stretch.

Bold of you to assume that my players after Christmas break were in the condition to play hockey. Everyone was feeling so full of spiced water that it was surprising we even could score goals. Rome would have had nothing on us if Watchmen would have stayed off spiced water but we can't, it is holiday season and what else are you going to do other than get spiced and wake up not knowing what you did last night. 

I blame cheap spiced water for this situation. 

 

[a_Ferk 760]

4 minutes ago, FrostBeard said:

Bold of you to assume that my players after Christmas break were in the condition to play hockey. Everyone was feeling so full of spiced water that it was surprising we even could score goals. Rome would have had nothing on us if Watchmen would have stayed off spiced water but we can't, it is holiday season and what else are you going to do other than get spiced and wake up not knowing what you did last night. 

I blame cheap spiced water for this situation. 

 

Spiced water 

[Shindigs 1,771]

4 hours ago, FrostBeard said:

Bold of you to assume that my players after Christmas break were in the condition to play hockey. Everyone was feeling so full of spiced water that it was surprising we even could score goals. Rome would have had nothing on us if Watchmen would have stayed off spiced water but we can't, it is holiday season and what else are you going to do other than get spiced and wake up not knowing what you did last night. 

I blame cheap spiced water for this situation. 

 

You should have used Clue Thirst as the mixer. It's the secret to getting absolutely smashed and still coming out ahead.

[a_Ferk 760]

claiming for week 2 of 3

[a_Ferk 760]

claiming for week 3 of 3