Quote:AP.com
It just took four games for the New England Wolfpack to bring out the brooms for the Minnesota Chiefs, sweeping them in a merciless fashion as they took on the number one seed of the Eastern Conference. Following a long night after the ultimate 2-5 loss to the Wolfpack, Chiefs winger Michael Gerrard took to Instagram to explain what happened in the locker room and elsewhere following the second sweep as first seed in the playoffs in a row:

"First of all, I would like to apologize to our entire fan base for this shameful sweep we had to endure. It wasn't easy on us as a team, but it surely was even more harsh for each and every true Chiefs fan out there. We've had a long talk in our locker room afterwards, with a lot of guys reiterating their interest to come back for another run at the playoffs. We will be back, bigger and better. My respect to the Wolfpack team for beating us this way, and my condolences to the barkeeper who had to serve us beer last night."

Quote:Without a doubt, there is no other possibility for this year's Playoffs MVP than Jakob Tanner of the New England Wolfpack. Always known as a goaltender who brings his A game in the playoffs while facing motivational issues during the regular season, he proved this assumption right once again during this surprising Wolfpack run for the championship. An example of steady play between the pipes, Tanner gave it his all and bested every other goaltender competing in this year's playoffs. One of just three goalies to record a shutout in the postseason - with the others being the Rage's Bauer and the Renegades' Ciarelli -, he showed his worth in a high-scoring playoffs edition. Through 14 games he also came up with a league leading .929 SV%, a figure only Bauer came close to while playing just five games. Even more impressive was his goals against average, in which he distinguished himself from his peers by more than half a goal per game. Any other Playoff MVP than Tanner would be a travesty.

Quote:Eastern Conference Playoffs, Round One, Minnesota Chiefs versus New England Wolfpack

What I thought would happen: Without much of a surprise, when you are the first seed of the conference taking on the fourth seed you expect the outcome to be a predictable one. As in this case, with the way the conference being close in the standings and the Wolfpack surging ever since trading for Tanner, I've granted them like two wins in the series before we would close it out. This season should finally be the one where we got past the first round.

What actually happened: As anyone not completely blind from the league happenings knows by now, New England went on a tear these playoffs and they started off doing so by bringing out the brooms to sweep without any mercy whatsoever. It wasn't much of beatdown as they were a couple of overtime losses for us in the series, but in the end what will be kept in memory is the four on nothing the series turned out to be.

What should have happened: Of course, what should have happened is a series win for my Chiefs. With us being the first seed in the conference, it wasn't much of a pleasure to go down once again as the first seed for the second time in a row. The ponies should have been taken back to the shed.

Quote:In a team sport it is hard to pin point any move as the culprit and catalyst for a team to go on a cup clinching run, especially if it's with STHS which is a very inconsistent simulator in some areas of the game from what I've heard. However, this season it's pretty obvious that the New England Wolfpack's trade to acquire veteran goaltender Jakob Tanner from a team I can't remember right now (Hamilton?). Of course, it started with the Wolfpack being a pack in terms of staying active in updating throughout as a team but the acquisition of Tanner took them from perennial playoff aspirants to the dark horse they proved to be. Every series yet and again, they managed to upset higher seeded teams as they went on to win their first championship in seven seasons.

With their upgrade between the pipes sometime around the halfway point of the regular season, they started going on a surge after fiddling around a bit with their lines and roster chemistry. With his aforementioned elite tier stats through 14 games postseason games, he shouldered his team with a weird pony attraction and led them to the promised land. After doing well in the regular season, he turned it up a notch afterwards to win that elusive Champions Cup.