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***Rankle*** · 02-20-2020, 03:36 PM

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Well, as well all know, SimonT is quite random. So, I figured that the easiest way to predict the playoffs without losing any hair was to simply flip a coin. The coin I used is a 1987 Canadian dollar coin I got in Kingston, Ontario on a trip last fall. Apparently y’all call these Loonys? Anyway, let’s get into the meat and potatoes of this post. Each series was, as you might guess, decided completely by a coin flip. One team was assigned heads, the other tails, and each coin flip victory was counted as a single game victory in the series. Just as in the regular playoffs, each series is a best of seven games. Without further adieu, let’s get started.

WILD CARD ROUND

Stars

Toronto North Stars vs Buffalo Stampede

Heads - Toronto
Tails - Buffalo
Series Result: Toronto 4 - Buffalo 0

The coin starts out strong with a bold prediction, the North Stars once again have their plans to tank the season thwarted by SimonT. Not only do they make the playoffs, but they end up advancing past the wild card round in shocking fashion.

Los Angeles Panthers vs Calgary Dragons Dragons

Heads - Los Angeles
Tails - Calgary
Series Result: LA 4 - Calgary 3

Calgary managing to sneak into the playoffs was a bit surprising for me personally, as their season wasn’t looking great about halfway through. If my memory serves me right, the coin predicted them going up 3-1 in the series, and then blowing the next 3 games, falling to LA. Quite the exciting series and honestly, flipping this coin is a little more exciting than it ought to be.

QUARTERFINALS

Stars

Toronto North Stars vs Hamilton Steelhawks

Heads - Toronto
Tails - Hamilton
Series Result: Toronto 4 - Hamilton 2

It would seem that Toronto is destined to never draft high, as they come in from the wild card round and manage to upset last season’s champions in an incredible 4-2 series victory. Can Toronto somehow go all the way this season? The coin says: perhaps.

Chicago Syndicate vs Manhattan Rage Rage

Heads - Chicago
Tails - Manhattan
Series Result: Chicago 2 - Manhattan 4

In my head this matchup is pretty even, so I really can’t say I was expecting some grand result out of it either way. Frankly, since I am deciding the result of these matches using a coin I’m not sure why I would expect anything to be happening, the coin knows all. Long live the coin.

Los Angeles Panthers vs San Francisco Pride pride

Heads - Los Angeles
Tails - San Francisco
Series Result: LA 4 - San Francisco 2

Another wild card team manages to pull an upset, this time against the regular season champion San Francisco Pride. Now not only are the defending champions out of the playoff picture, the regular season champions are gone as well. It really is anyone’s game from here on out.

New Orleans Specters vs Edmonton Blizzard

Heads - New Orleans
Tails - Edmonton
Series Result: NOLA 2 - Edmonton 4

The playoff snakebitten New Orleans Specters face off against last season’s runner up and, as is tradition, NOLA simply cannot find playoff success. The coin may allow for some sense of randomness, but not even the power of the Loony can help NOLA win in the playoffs.

SEMIFINALS

Stars

Toronto North Stars vs Manhattan Rage Rage

Heads - Toronto
Tails - Manhattan
Series Result: Toronto 1 - Manhattan 4

Well, I think this is likely a matchup that nobody would have predicted to be the Eastern Conference Final, but here we are. Toronto’s pipe dream of somehow winning the Challenge Cup in a season where they should have tanked is over. The coin gave them hope and then swiftly took it away in a flash. For a wild card team, it’s a pretty respectable playoff run. But from the standpoint of a team that wants to draft well, this is probably not the outcome you’re looking for.

Los Angeles Panthers vs Edmonton Blizzard

Heads - Los Angeles
Tails - Edmonton
Series Result: LA 2 - Edmonton 4

With our Eastern Conference Final we see the other wild card team falling in similar fashion. LA fought valiantly and, similarly to Toronto they did the best they could with the seeding they were provided. But the will of the coin is too strong, and the will of the coin would see last season’s runner up make an appearance in the finals once more.

FINALS

Rage

Manhattan Rage vs Edmonton Blizzard

Heads - Manhattan
Tails - Edmonton
Series Result: Manhattan 4 - Edmonton 3

Here we are, the Challenge Cup Final. We have last season’s runner up, the Edmonton Blizzard, up against a new challenger, the Manhattan Rage. After losing in the Challenge Cup Finals last season, Edmonton is back with a vengeance, here to prove that if it were anyone else but Hamilton in the finals last season, they would have won. Well, things didn’t go quite as planned for Edmonton, as they fall to the Manhattan Rage. It was a hard fought series, going all seven games, but in the end the Rage pushed through and managed to capture a Challenge Cup victory in the last season we have here with SimonT.

THE COIN

[Image: 47T4LaM.jpg]

As a bonus, I decided to take a look at some light analytics for the coin.

Heads Series Wins: 5
Tails Series Wins: 4
Heads Wins: 27
Tails Wins: 26

While going through it felt at first like I was getting a lot of wins for Heads, but by the end things reverted to the average and we ended up with a roughly 50/50 split between Heads and Tails throughout the experiment.