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*thevoicelesscreator* · 10-23-2020, 01:37 PM

The SMJHL Finals will feature a familiar team – the Newfoundland Berserkers! The Zerkers have struggled to find their championship winning form this season, but make no mistake, the Champs are here to take it home again

Mack · 10-23-2020, 03:19 PM

I see the Colorado will win a round in the playoffs this year as the underdog. They have a good team and have proven that they can beat top teams. They haven't been able to find any consistency though but I see them pulling off an upset in the Playoffs.

AW13 · 10-23-2020, 04:19 PM

Let's talk about the SMJHL and why the Vancouver Whalers are going to dominate. There is no better team in the league right now than the Whalers and they have Rikki Petrov who kicks it up a notch come playoff time. Let's keep this going and sweep every series! We are the only team who has not given up 100 goals on the season also so we are really good.

Mazatt · 10-23-2020, 05:14 PM

The SMJHL playoffs are a fickle beast, and with just three games left to go, most of the divisional seedings are figured out
For reference sake:

NE SE NW SW
NLB (55) CAR (61) VAN (76) NBB (57)
MET (49) STL (37) ANC (60) ANA (55)
QCC (46) DET (29) KEL (38) COL (44)

With the playoff format being a division leader pass, and a 5 v 12 first round beyond that we can safely say CAR and VAN get byes, leaving, Newfoundland/Maine in contention for the North east division, and Nevada or Anaheim for the Southwest division. With 6 games left, the best Maine can do is tie Newfoundland, however I don't know the tiebreakers for playoff seeding now. If it is head to head record--Maine currently holds that tie breaker with a 5-1-1 season series advantage over the Berserkers.

This is where seeding gets... difficult to read. Maine has three games left, as does Newfoundland, as does Quebec. Maine plays Quebec, Anaheim, and Kelowna. Newfoundland plays Carolina, Vancouver and Quebec, and finally, Quebec plays Maine, Newfoundland, and Detroit. With some degree of speculation, I feel that the biggest 'guarantee' I'd say Maine beats Kelowna, seeing as over three prior games Maine has allowed only a single goal en route to a 3-0-0 record against the Knights. Some would point to Detroit as an easy 'beat' for Quebec but they've oddly struggled against the struggling Falcons. However, they have only lost once and absolutely eat up their goalies so I'd opt to give them that win.

This gives us a the same standings but now it's
NLB (55, 3 remaining) -> (55 and 1 remaning)
MET (51, 2 remaining) -> (53 and 1 remaining)
QCC (48, 2 remaining) -> same

With Vancouver's dominance this season, I will gracefully, for the sake of myself, give them a win to put Newfoundland to the same record. Another move I will make, with the departure of Boxman II, and Aneheim's subsequent losing streak, give that dub to Maine. This is so I can put all the pressure on Quebec. For simplicities sake I'll opt to put Carolina in the win column to keep it exciting in this maxiumum chaos theory seeding race.
Here's how it goes;
Newfoundland clinches 1st in the division IF Maine loses at all to Quebec City, OR if Newfoundland beats Quebec City.
Maine clinches first ONLY IF Maine defeats Quebec City and Newfoundland loses to Quebec City in regulation

This all seems very complicated, and in this situation Quebec is locked into the three seed, however I wanted to demonstrate how crazy it is to decide seeding, so I don't have to do it for the Anaheim - Nevada split. It's like a fucked up game of sudoku where if I put Maine in B2 S5, it doesn't allow Anaheim to be put into Row 2 or column 5 every again, or in this case, into the 1st seed.

I have to be honest with you, that was a thought experiment I got carried away with and has no relevance other than showing different matchups, but I spent enough time on it I'm keeping it in.

Back to the matter at hand, with 4 teams getting byes we don't have to acknowledge Vancouver or Carolina for the rest of this idea. With the 5v12, on the other hand, we can find the potential seeding of every other single team in the league.

seed: Team Points Ceiling,
5: Anchorage 64, Nevada 63/Anaheim 61,
6: Anchorage 64, Anaheim 61/Nevada 63, Maine 55
7: Newfoundland 61/Maine 55, Nevada 64/Anaheim 61, Quebec City 52, Colorado 50
8: Colorado 50, Quebec City 52, Maine 55
9: Colorado 50, Quebec City 52, Maine 55
10: St. Louis 41, Kelowna 42,
11: St. Louis 41, Kelowna 42
12: Detroit 35

Anchorage is locked into 5 or 6, seeing as the teams with potential to pass (Anaheim, Nevada, Newfoundland) are going to be 2/3rds byes, with Newfoundland's case, any win to put them above 55 is a bye as demonstrated above, therefore it's between Nevada and Anaheim to overtake Anchorage and if both do so, one of them gets a bye as the division leader in points. This is where Maine comes in, as if they win out the rest of the season they tie with Anaheim assuming Newfoundland wins 1 game, giving them the possibility of the 6 seed.

The 7 seed is very busy for a very good reason. First, let's talk about Maine. They can finish between 6 and 9, where if they lose out they have the potential to finish 7-9, and if they win out the best case scenario is 6. There is a specific scenario where they get 9, and that is if they lose their remaining games with Nevada and Newfoundland getting byes. That leaves Anaheim to occupy the 6 seed, meaning the 7 seed is between Quebec, Colorado, and Maine. At 49 points on the season, the potential points ceilings of Colorado and Quebec can surpass that, leaving Maine as the 9 seed.

For the 8 and 9 seeds, Colorado and Quebec City are in an interesting situation where-in they are able to overtake Maine's points floor but no other teams floor other than themselves, essentially locking them in

St. Louis's points ceiling only surpasses the floor of Kelowna, meaning they the only teams in contention for the 10 or 11 seeds, seeing as Kelowna's ceiling is 2 behind Colorado's floor.

Detroit's point ceiling is below every other teams points floor, they are last no matter what.

So that's where the seeding comes in and we can look at the potential first round matchups:

5v12 - Detroit v Anchorage, Nevada, Anaheim

In any of these situations, I'm sorry, Detroit is absolutely fucked. They have guys like Blaze and Diporov who are good but Odinson can't carry them out of this one. Nevada and Anchorage could win off of goaltending alone while Anaheim, despite losing Boxman II, still features Flitterwind, Donair, and Jones as premier players behind a good D-core.

6v11 - Anchorage, Anaheim, Nevada, Maine v St. Louis, Kelowna

Let's start with the potential St. Louis matches. Once again, the teams above them are in the 6 spot for a reason. This time with Maine, they have an elite shutdown d-man in Bjerg alongside hella strong offensive talent, and ex-playoffs MVP Leo Bloomfield, really, no chance. Same thing with any Kelowna matchup... they're just not a great team during a re-tool/build year and aren't expected to be.

7v10 - I don't need to list these out (All of the above, take away Anchorage, throw in Colorado, Quebec, and Newfoundland)

It's essentially the same idea as last time, but now we have Newfoundland here to be an obvious candidate for dubbing it up against St. Louis or Kelowna. Then we have Quebec, who doesn't have a super strong top-end, yet gets by with strong, growing depth ahead of the playoffs. Mat Smith is essentially capped so goaltending isn't a worry and they have Bergman, Petrov(s), and Maximov as capped or near capped players to support. Can't see St. Louis or Kelowna getting by that. Then there's Colorado who has the high end talent compared to Quebec (imo), but falls off HEAVILY when it comes to depth and goaltending. This is one where I could see an upset with St. Louis or Kelowna being able to simply survive against the top line and pairings of Colorado and push hard against young goalies.

8v9 - Colorado, Quebec, Maine vs Colorado, Quebec, Maine..

Uhh... so... just like with the 10 and 11, there are only so many teams possible to cut it here. So it's like, the same, but it just so happens that these are the middle seeds that play each other. Kinda funny, ngl.

Colorado v Quebec
I've gone over each teams relative strengths, and I feel strongly that Quebec holds the roster advantage. Their top goalie is better than Colorado's combined (sorry), and the addition of Bergman gives them a strong top 4 D that, in a shut down role, takes away Colorado's biggest strength. If they cancel out, I prefer the bottom pairing and bottom 6 of Quebec compared to Colorado's

Colorado v Maine
I like Maine in this matchup. Not only do they have the D in Bjerg, Baranov, Jericson, and Thomas, they have a killer top-end. This is a team that, in most other divisions would be in 1st place and sipping on Pina Coladas waiting for the second round. I think I have a clear dislike of Colorado's roster makeup--which makes sense as they weren't expecting to be competitive, but I think it shows here when Maine is a cup calibre team playing down here.

Quebec v Maine
Here is the title match up of the playoffs, should the very specific paramters of it happening come true (definitely won't lmao). These teams have duked it out all season and there isn't a lot to differentiate between them. Bloomfield is capped but Smith might as well be after his next update, so that's essentially a wash. Defensively, Bergman and Bjerg cancel out into jman, which really means nothing, but I give the defensive upside to Maine with three capped defensemen outside of that. While Quebec City has 2 capped and Boris Petrov en route to cap, it won't be in time for playoffs and any amount makes a big difference on the big stage. Especially when one of the capped d-men is a S56 (Maximov). Down the middle Maine is sitting on three capped centres, though Hobbes is a S56 so they have two 425 capped centres, with Konrad Danke at 374. Quebec only has three natural centres, and while none are capped they are all in the 350-400 range which is good depth, but doesn't match up with Maine.

Down the wing, Quebec has 5 natural righties who aren't capped, though they are good wingers there in Beranek, Salming Kevens near cap, while Maine has 5 RWers, three of which are at the 425 cap with Hellquist near 400, and Ball at 340. Left side is the weakness for Maine with only Seppanen being a winger with above 350 applied TPE there, however with two RWers shifting to LW for Maine, they should have a top 6 of all capped players, and a third line all at or above 350 TPE. The left side for Quebec has Ryan Rieley as a capped winger but that is.. it? Sombreros is sub 300 TPE, and I fail to see another winger there. Of course, one will move over to play the left side from their hefty right side, but they lack the depth that Maine does.

In a situation like this, it's hard not give my vote to Maine in this potential matchup. They have really strong top players, strong depth, and great goaltending, and while Quebec has a solid d-core, and good talent up front, I feel they are slacking when it comes to their bottom 6--relative to Maine's that is.

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juniped · 10-23-2020, 05:29 PM

The Colorado Raptors are going to make a miracle run to the championship, only to go down to the elimination game in the championship where they rally and come back to win it all.

Fitted2106 · 10-23-2020, 06:45 PM

Hamilton wins everyone sins no one stands a chance dick Clapper will prance its cup number 3 in the fifths see, its hammys time dynasty again dont tell ur friends tampa will be there in swimwear

Nokazoa · 10-23-2020, 07:17 PM

I dont have to tell you that the Nevada Battleborn are the best team to ever grace this league and they got the silky mitts and dirty dangles to put Redacted and Arkz in their place. Holla at me, Nevada in 7 and four star.

Naosu · 10-23-2020, 07:24 PM

After experiencing the new format last year in the Js, I look forward to the reactions we'll get if the 1st and 2nd seed end up playing each other in the semi finals again. With Chicago locking down the 5th seed, it looks like our road will be: 12th seed (Winnipeg) round 1, 4th seed aka lowest divisional winner in round 2 with the locked bracket which will be Texas or NOLA, 3rd round is likely the 3rd seed which would be Manhattan, or maybe Buffalo/Edmonton. In the finals we would probably see an exciting Chicago vs Hamilton matchup.

Sean · 10-23-2020, 07:28 PM

I think we're going to see some surprising upsets early in the playoffs this season. I think we're going to see a team like Los Angeles or Texas surprise whoever they're up against. In the end though, I gotta believe my Blizzard

are taking it all home.

EDM All-Time Leader in Goals, Assists and Points

*fishy* · 10-23-2020, 07:39 PM

I bet on Chicago to win the cup in the SHL Casino, so I am going to say Chicago is going to win the cup. This is not meant to jinx anyone. Go Chicago go

Leoben · 10-23-2020, 09:52 PM

Hamilton, Chicago, or Calgary are probably the favorites depending who you ask but I expect at least one of these teams to have an exit in their first series and only one of the three make the finals. I see a lower seeded team making some noise but the challenge cup will probably be won by one of the teams listed above.

Toivo · 10-23-2020, 10:12 PM

Not a lot of expectations for an expansion team, but I fully expect the Inferno to catch some people by surprise. I’m not saying the Inferno wins the whole thing, but game 7 of the Challenge Cup final, book it. We’ll see what’s up when the seeding is more clear.

Jala · 10-24-2020, 12:34 AM

The Nevada Battleborn went out in the first round last year but I expect us to make it much deeper into the playoffs. The new format makes it hard to predict exactly where we go but if we can have a team knock out the Whalers I could definitely see us contending for the Cup this year.

lilstifler · 10-24-2020, 03:51 AM

Hamilton is very strong this season and they are going to cup. This will be a different playoffs because 12 teams are in. But I think it will be the best play offs so far. More teams, more fun. But my prediction is Hamilton.

Jogurtaa · 10-24-2020, 04:37 AM

It is great to see that Nevada has improved in their second season. Just last season we were dead last, but now, one of the frontrunners for the SMJHL cup. I think we can go all the way if the sim engine stays loyal to us not the opposition.

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