So last season I decided to start a seasonal pair of articles where I simulate the entire playoffs of the SHL and SMJHL by flipping a coin. For the SHL it ended up being entirely wrong in like every way, but for the SMJHL it ended up very surprisingly predicting both finalists completely correctly, although the Outlaws won in 6 via flip, while the Whalers won in 7 in the real thing. This time, we go again with the same format, and will see what the coin says for this coin flip of a league.

Here is the coin for this season's edition. As far as I know this isn't the same quarter as the one I used last time, so we'll see what this one can conjure up!

Same rules as last time, higher ranked team wins when the coin comes up heads, underdog takes it when it's tails.

ROUND ONE:

(7) Colorado Raptors    VS  (10) Anchorage Armada  

Game 1: Heads,    win (1-0)
Game 2: Tails,   win (1-1)
Game 3: Heads,    win (2-1)
Game 4: Tails,    win (2-2)
Game 5: Heads,    win (3-2)
Game 6: Tails,    win (3-3)
Game 7: Tails,    win (4-3)

 ELIMINATE    IN 7 GAMES  

(8) St. Louis Scarecrows    VS  (9) Anaheim Outlaws  

Game 1: Tails,    win (1-0)
Game 2: Tails,    win (2-0)
Game 3: Tails,    win (3-0)
Game 4: Heads,    win (3-1)
Game 5: Heads,    win (3-2)
Game 6: Tails,    win (4-2)

 ELIMINATE    IN 6 GAMES

Round One Summary: This coin embraces the chaos. In both series', we see the underdog take it, with Anchorage coming out on top of a back-and-forth series with Colorado. Meanwhile, the tanking Outlaws get a 6-game series win over the Crows, who will be surprised that they even had to play in the first round to begin with. Crazy scenes so far, onto round 2!

ROUND TWO:

(1) Detroit Falcons    VS  (10) Anchorage Armada  

Game 1: Heads,    win (1-0)
Game 2: Heads,    win (2-0)
Game 3: Tails,    win (2-1)
Game 4: Heads,    win (3-1)
Game 5: Tails,    win (3-2)
Game 6: Heads,    win (4-2)

 ELIMINATE    IN 6 GAMES

(2) Kelowna Knights    VS  (9) Anaheim Outlaws  


Game 1: Heads,    win (1-0)
Game 2: Tails,    win (1-1)
Game 3: Heads,    win (2-1)
Game 4: Heads,    win (3-1)
Game 5: Heads,    win (4-1)

 ELIMINATE    IN 5 GAMES

(3) Halifax Raiders    VS  (6) Montreal Militia  

Game 1: Heads,    win (1-0)
Game 2: Heads,    win (2-0)
Game 3: Tails,    win (2-1)
Game 4: Tails,    win (2-2)
Game 5: Heads,    win (3-2)
Game 6: Heads,    win (4-2)

 ELIMINATE    IN 6 GAMES

(4) Vancouver Whalers    VS  (5) Lethbridge Lions  

Game 1: Heads,    win (1-0)
Game 2: Heads,    win (2-0)
Game 3: Heads,    win (3-0)
Game 4: Heads,    win (4-0)

 ELIMINATE    IN 4 GAMES

Round Two Summary: Well I guess I spoke too soon when I said this coin embraces chaos, because in round two all of the favourite won their series'. The falcons exacted revenge on the Armada for last season's series between the two, while the Knights, heroic semifinalists of last coin flip tournament, got an easy series win against the Outlaws, who won the S48 coin flip. Halifax ousted the Militia in 6 in the battle of the deadline buyers, while Vancouver managed an impressive sweep of the Lions. Only teams 1-4 remain!


SEMIFINALS:

(1) Detroit Falcons    VS  (4) Vancouver Whalers  

Game 1: Heads,    win (1-0)
Game 2: Heads,    win (2-0)
Game 3: Heads,    win (3-0)
Game 4: Heads,    win (4-0)

 ELIMINATE    IN 4 GAMES

(2) Kelowna Knights    VS  (3) Halifax Raiders  

Game 1: Heads,    win (1-0)
Game 2: Heads,    win (2-0)
Game 3: Tails,    win (2-1)
Game 4: Heads,    win (3-1)
Game 5: Tails,    win (3-2)
Game 6: Tails,    win (3-3)
Game 7: Heads,    win (4-3)

 ELIMINATE    IN 7 GAMES

Semifinals Summary: And the complete rejection of chaos continues into the semifinals, where both 1st seeded Detroit and 2nd seeded Kelowna win their respective series'. Detroit cruised through by landing four heads' in a row over the Whalers, while it wasn't easy for the Knights, who after blowing a 3-1 lead, managed to see game 7 through to make the finals. Now, who will we see take home this entirely meaningless final?

FOUR-STAR CUP FINALS:

(1) Detroit Falcons    VS  (2) Kelowna Knights  

Game 1: Heads,    win (1-0) 
Game 2: Tails,    win (1-1)
Game 3: Heads,    win (2-1)
Game 4: Heads,    win (3-1)
Game 5: Tails,    win (3-2)
Game 6: Heads,    win (4-2)

 ELIMINATE    IN 6 GAMES







Finals Summary: And it is the Detroit Falcons who are champions of this season's edition, as they meet expectations in this universe and rather comfortably take home the prize they earned with their regular season performance. Overall, the coin seemed to pander a lot to expectations, with the favourites for each series after the first round winning.

That will do it for this year's edition, congrats @notorioustig and @nour for the achievement, and hopefully it'll ease some of the pain of going out immediately in the real thing!