The Detroit Falcons have won the Eastern Conference Title and have earned the right to play for the Four Star Cup! This will be Detroit's first Four Star Cup Finals appearance since S15. Fans and Media in Detroit are going crazy and there's a great buzz around the city. No, for once it' not bullets whizzing by your head! The Detroit Falcons are in the Finals!
After winning the division and earning a bye, they knocked off St.Louis in the 2nd round in just 5 games. They now face an even bigger challenge in the high scoring Kelowna Knights in the finals. The two division winners will face off for the championship.
Captain Chico Four Byrde (Mazais) and Co-GM Tommy Creller (Mook) will be in this presser also!
Just post your questions or direct them to one of us and we'll answer them all!
Also please ask our excellent rookie Zach Morgan some questions in his presser, Here</div>
[Graders: I'll be updating the OP with mook and mazais answers, please do not grade until I finalize.]
<div align="center">Thanks.</div>
Quote:@C.J. - As someone unfamiliar with the Flacons. Sum up the style they play in one sentence?
Mook, as a team that is going to the big dance for the first time since the 15th Season, is the team finding a consistent success rate now? Or is it a one and done situation?
Mook:
The perfect combination of offense and defense.
Its definitely a challenge to find consistent success in the SMJHL as season to season the team never looks the same. Esa and I can only hope that we can continue to create a team that not only makes it to the finals, but can find success in winning the cup as well. I have confidence that we will be back in the finals next season as defending champions, and i hope we can get the repeat. Not only for the team, but for Esa. He is a great GM and definitely deserves some cups under his belt. I believe S9 was our last four star cup, and ending the streak this season would be amazing. Especially as Esa and I's first season as a duo.
Quote:@MarkH - What have you, as management, done differently than the last 6 seasons to find so much success?
Esa:
Thanks for the question Mark, just want to quickly say I've been really impressed with your contributions to the league and wish you the best of luck in the finals and also in your career.
To answer your question, Mook and I are in our first season as managers together, I served as co-gm in S19, then took over as Head GM in S20 and hired mook in S21. I don't think our philosphies are much different than past managers. Sometimes things just work out in your favor. We've tried to keep it simple and create a good environment for our players to stay active and keep improving. I think that goes a long way. We've been fortunate this season in having 7 of our 8 draft picks become 200+tpe players, some 230+. A strong rookie class and a strong send down class from last season has put us in a good situation. We have strength at every position and found some early chemistry in our lines. We've tried to keep it simple and I think that's helped a lot this season. Also our Captain Chico Four Byrde has been a great leader on and off the ice, we're fortunate to have such a player in our organization.
Quote:@MarkH - Who needs to play big and step up for your team to find success?
Mook:
Every member of the team has their role, and each one performs well in there spot. I know one player i would like to see put up some bigger numbers is Zach Morgan. He is a big part of our locker room and he has really fought to earn every point this season.I know he is going to have a great career ahead of him and his performance right now is less than what he had hoped for him to achieve. This is by no means a fault of his, it is just his place in the lineup that works well for the team, but isnt the greatest for his stats. If we can have all of our lines stepping up and putting points on the sheet, we will be unstoppable. A big part of that is Morgan finding his stride, and i know he is going to be a big part of this series.
Quote:@HFFO - Greatest defenseman to score a hat-trick in the minors this season
Esa:
Saoul Commeunebotte
Quote:@MarkH- Who do you find to be the biggest challenge facing the Knights?
What do you contribute most to your success?
Mazais:
This one is more for our GM's but in my opinion it is all team playing together as a team, and you could see that in regular season when almost all team had points throughout the regular season games. And that could be our one off our top trumps.
Quote:@MarkH- What do you think you do better than Kelowna? What do you think you do worse?
Mazais:
I think that our defense is better than Kelowna and if that will be on their top qualities we can win Kelowna. All team needs to play hard in defense so Robie (GK) have less job and shots isn't that dangerous.
Kelownas top trump might be their deep lines, with Leonidas in first line center. That duel vs Chico might be very interesting and promising. That one who will be better in this series
will lead his team to the cup.
Everything else is in about same level and bout teams are deserved to be here in finals.
Quote:@RaiN- The Falcons have had great offensive numbers heading into the series with the Knights. Do you expect the same amount of offensive production from Bryde and rookie Wahlstrom?
Mazais:
As a captain I can say yes, those are two of our teams leaders and were expecting a lot from them and those two are amazing duo right there and those opportunities what Chico is creating and Nils is finishing with goal have gave a lot to our team. Both of them been working all season long so they now can show their best game and hopefully bring the cup home. But we can't only think that Chico and Nils will make the game positize for Falcons we are a team and we need to play like a team.
Quote:@RaiN- What is your strategy against the Knights? How will you contain players such as Leonidas and beat a streaky goalie like Harter?
Esa:
Unfortunately I cannot comment on our strategy as we're in the middle of the series, but I will say that we plan to stick to the system that has gotten us to where we are today. We'll adjust if needed, but we expect our team concept to remain the same. As for containing a player like Leonidas, he's very good, but with our top pairing defense being a shutdown pair we should be able to limit his chances. We'll also try and get under his skin and throw him off this game. Mark Harter is a great goalie but we've actually had decent success agains this this season, chasing him from the net a few times, but that was back when he was just starting out. Now with him much improved we will need to get a lot of shots on goal and create traffic in front of him. Make him work for every save. If we do that we should find success. -Thanks for your questions.
Code:
1.095 Words, Answers only. Please give entire payout to The_Mazais.
#1 All-Time SHL Goal & Point Scorer - First 2,000 TPE Player in SHL History - - First 400 Goal Scorer in SHL History - - Only 500 Goal Scorer in SHL History - - First GM to Win 5 & 6 Challenge Cups - Esa Anrikkanen Award - SMJHL ROY - Est. S34 Vidrik Onoprienko Award Winner - S45
Mark H
Who do you find to be the biggest challenge facing the Knights? What do you contribute most to your success?
This one is more for our GM's but in my opinion it is all team playing together as a team, and you could see that in regular season when almost all team had points throughout the regular season games. And that could be our one off our top trumps.
What do you think you do better than Kelowna? What do you think you do worse?
I think that our defense is better than Kelowna and if that will be on their top qualities we can win Kelowna. All team needs to play hard in defense so Robie (GK) have less job and shots isn't that dangerous.
Kelownas top trump might be their deep lines, with Leonidas in first line center. That duel vs Chico might be very interesting and promising. That one who will be better in this series
will lead his team to the cup.
Everything else is in about same level and bout teams are deserved to be here in finals.
RaiN. The Falcons have had great offensive numbers heading into the series with the Knights. Do you expect the same amount of offensive production from Bryde and rookie Wahlstrom?
As a captain I can say yes, those are two of our teams leaders and were expecting a lot from them and those two are amazing duo right there and those opportunities what Chico is creating and Nils is finishing with goal have gave a lot to our team. Both of them been working all season long so they now can show their best game and hopefully bring the cup home. But we can't only think that Chico and Nils will make the game positize for Falcons we are a team and we need to play like a team.
As someone unfamiliar with the Flacons. Sum up the style they play in one sentence?
Mook, as a team that is going to the big dance for the first time since the 15th Season, is the team finding a consistent success rate now? Or is it a one and done situation?
Quote:Originally posted by C.J.@Jan 9 2015, 04:28 PM As someone unfamiliar with the Flacons. Sum up the style they play in one sentence?
Mook, as a team that is going to the big dance for the first time since the 15th Season, is the team finding a consistent success rate now? Or is it a one and done situation?
The perfect combination of offense and defense.
Its definitely a challenge to find consistent success in the SMJHL as season to season the team never looks the same. Esa and I can only hope that we can continue to create a team that not only makes it to the finals, but can find success in winning the cup as well. I have confidence that we will be back in the finals next season as defending champions, and i hope we can get the repeat. Not only for the team, but for Esa. He is a great GM and definitely deserves some cups under his belt. I believe S9 was our last four star cup, and ending the streak this season would be amazing. Especially as Esa and I's first season as a duo.
Quote:Originally posted by Mark H@Jan 9 2015, 04:32 PM
Who needs to play big and step up for your team to find success?
Every member of the team has their role, and each one performs well in there spot. I know one player i would like to see put up some bigger numbers is Zach Morgan. He is a big part of our locker room and he has really fought to earn every point this season.I know he is going to have a great career ahead of him and his performance right now is less than what he had hoped for him to achieve. This is by no means a fault of his, it is just his place in the lineup that works well for the team, but isnt the greatest for his stats. If we can have all of our lines stepping up and putting points on the sheet, we will be unstoppable. A big part of that is Morgan finding his stride, and i know he is going to be a big part of this series.
Greatest defenseman to score a hat-trick in the minors this season?
“The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. ... There are neither beginnings nor endings to the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning.”
The Falcons have had great offensive numbers heading into the series with the Knights. Do you expect the same amount of offensive production from Bryde and rookie Wahlstrom?
What is your strategy against the Knights? How will you contain players such as Leonidas and beat a streaky goalie like Harter?
#1 All-Time SHL Goal & Point Scorer - First 2,000 TPE Player in SHL History - - First 400 Goal Scorer in SHL History - - Only 500 Goal Scorer in SHL History - - First GM to Win 5 & 6 Challenge Cups - Esa Anrikkanen Award - SMJHL ROY - Est. S34 Vidrik Onoprienko Award Winner - S45
Steelhead77![[Image: u0cFTnH.png?1]](http://i.imgur.com/u0cFTnH.png?1)
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What do you contribute most to your success? ![[Image: cDMBWce.png]](https://i.imgur.com/cDMBWce.png)
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