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Insider Hockey Episode 1- Inside The Wolfpack (X2 media)
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(This post was last modified: 05-17-2020, 09:48 PM by The__Y-man__100.)

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Double media pay eligibility for week two as we are talking about"Articles about past playoffs" and “ championship runs”.

3100 words plus a video (credit to Ace for the video)


S53, the FHM era begins. You can see the hope in everyone's eyes as Simon the unfair beast has been slayed. What would the future hold for all these teams? Everyone, the Wolfpack included, started fantasizing about what could become of this season of the unknown. The Wolfpack already made cup gifs, made a podium for the cup winning team photo and started celebrating once the pre season ended. As the season began, they were the team to beat, and almost no one could beat them. Holding a league best 7 regulation losses, it was assumed the Wolfpack would crush everyone. While everyone was celebrating a presidents trophy win, the other teams were preparing for a battle of a lifetime. While the New England Wolfpack dug Manhattan's grave, they were going up against a beast they were not ready for. Hamilton came hungry as they wanted to seek revenge for losing the presidents trophy battle and they came in hot. Beating every ounce of hope out of the Wolfpack players by taking the series 4-1 and capping it off with a cup win in the finals.

It was a roller coaster of an off season. Loyalties slowly blurring, finger pointing and a drastic move that shook the team. Johannes Leitner for Benjamin Blue was the big piece of the trade and many were not sure how to react. Leitner found the move an insult to everything he’s given the team all these years, especially since it was so sudden.

With all these emotions all over the place, Doug Judy with Insider Hockey wanted to reach out to some of the Wolfpack players and see where everyone is at in these crazy times.


Today we are fortunate enough to sit at the round table with Boris Poroshenko, Dick Clapper ( @5ympathies ), Ensio Kalju ( @jRuutu ), Guy Zheng ( @goldenglutes ) and Slap McShotty (@bbjygm ) who are some of the bigger names out of New England. So gentlemen, tell Judy On a scale of 1-10 how confident were you that New England would beat Hamilton in the playoffs?

Mcshotty: I'd say 6-7. I'm not 100% confident that the circumstances would unquestionably favor our team at the time we compete, but I'm more confident than random chance that we can perform well enough to get a win.

Ensio Kalju: Optimistic 7. I knew Hamilton would be a tough team to beat, was expecting a tight series with maybe even a game seven ending, so 4-1 did not match my expectations. Perhaps the most unfortunate thing was to notice some kind of up and down movement in how we played as a team, during regular season we were playing on high level right from the start, but that did not carry to the playoffs. As mentioned before, in two different games New England scored only one goal, something that should not be possible with the firepower in the roster, but it happened. I would not say Hamilton deserved to win, but they were better in the series, I give them that.

Dick Clapper: 3-4/10

Guy Zheng: I think it was probably like a 4. I knew they matched up well against us.

Boris: You know I really thought we were going to win. I knew it wouldn’t be a cake walk, but i really thought this was the year to make everything right. So I’d have to say a 9 for me

You know hockey insiders even have footage of Boston media rep Billy Jaffe giving some words of motivation to the Wolfpack team before going up against the Steel Hawks. Randy roll the film!



I hate to say it Billy, but they let you down. On to the the next question. This comes from the Boston government. What is it about New England that keeps you coming back for more?

Mcshotty: I like the people and the team's planning. This team gave me a chance during the draft and picked me at the end of the 1st round. I've stuck out the mediocre times as a 3rd-line center due to the great locker room. Now the rebuild has come to fruition and the team and I are getting the payoff for our patience. I'm not sure how long I'd have stuck around if the human element of the team hadn't kept me coming back.


Ensio Kalju: I like the team, obviously the roster has a lot of potential, New England has been a cup favorite for who knows how many seasons, so that has played a part. I see a lot of players who steadily improve as players, that is a big thing for me, I can be one player among the others without needing to take an extra role or anything, everybody does their share in a way. Management of the team has been fair, contract talks have been honest, and I feel I can share my thoughts if I ever have anything to say, that is nice and makes New England a cool place to play in.

Dick Clapper: Before going into the draft over a year ago I publicly stated that I would only play on a team with my friend golden glutes and Ace traded up to be able to draft me before Calgary could. He continued to re-sign and so I continued to re-sign and so now here we are. Making it to the finals S49 was a very good motivator to re-sign as well. My support for the team was starting to wane in the last few seasons but I decided to hold out and wait for FHM as we should have been the better team for a lot of STHS. Of course this season didn't turn out the way we would have liked but I can only look forward to next season.

Guy Zheng: I think I was drunk when I signed my long ass contract, not sure what I was thinking tbh : )

Boris: For me it was the fact that this was the team that wouldn’t let me go undrafted. Somehow I fell to the 49th pick in the draft and I still remember seeing players who were inactive getting taken in the draft before me! I was jaw dropped scouts hadn’t even noticed me considering I trained hard every week since I started. While I did start later than everyone else, some teams took NO ONE (they passed) rather than taking a chance on me. So for that I am thankful and I stuck around during the mediocre days of New England and I want us to finish what we started together before it’s too late.

Guy feel free to text me what you were drinking because that must have been some gourmet shit! Well it’s great to hear that the environment inside was a functional family, we all know how disruptive it can be when you have a cancerous member, reminds me of my alcoholic step father but we’re not here to talk about Darnel. And of course Boris who could forget about that S47 draft, we all love an underdog story. Speaking of the city, the entire league can’t help but notice how many big name players have expiring deals. While we know McShotty signed a home town discount deal, a lot of the top 6 could be on their way out. How do you feel knowing a lot of key pieces have contracts expiring at the end of S54? who stays? who goes? Who gets traded?

Ensio Kalju: That is a tough one, I´m sure a lot depends on how the season goes, if and when the team goes all the way I don´t see that many players leaving, or wanting to leave at least. There are fair amount of older players in the roster who might be the biggest candidates on getting moved one way or the other to make sure the New England of the future is in good place. Of course, there are also star players who might not be pleased IF S54 does not end into cup celebrations, I have no idea which players could be thinking about leaving in scenario like that. In the worst case scenario one player leaving could result in one or two more wanting leave. That is unlikely in my eyes, but never know. New England is full of players who want to win, and when careers and prime years do not last forever, that almost forces players to think about all the options out there.

Dick Clapper: My contract negotiations have not yet started. I'm going to wait and see how things go this season before committing myself to anything and I think Ace is on the same page as me in regards to that.

Guy Zheng:No comment

Boris: Honestly the wolfpack team as you know it has the potential to fall apart if things do not go as planned. Ola, dicky, rafe, Sven, Jakub and Dylan have expiring deals and hypothetical could all walk out together to a new team. That could be a scary scene. I feel like one of them definitely get traded this year if we don’t win as the game plan has to get changed somehow. Also as Ensio said all it takes is for one guy to not resign and a domino effect comes into place. Just like this season that just finished, there will be a lot of eyes on New England going forward.


That you are right, the entire identity of the beloved Wolfpack could be in jeopardy depending on how this new season plays out. I hope it does not come to that, but we have definitely seen some strange events occur in the sports world and it is not impossible to see it again.

Alright guys, the local Boston fans are dying to know this. You lose the conference finals, the GM pins the blame on long time goaltender @AndrewWarren13 Johannes Leitner, trades him immediately after the finals and it just seems like there was not much closure since Letnier took to the media to vent his frustrations about the decision. Was he to blame for the eastern conference loss? If not then who was to blame?


Mcshotty: I think the fault of the loss was spread out a bit more than Leitner seems to believe NEW management thinks, not to mention we were up against the best team in the league. However, his lack of activity did not exactly help, either. I think NEW had some of the fewest shots against in the regular season, so I don't think he can prop himself up as the reason we did so well like he did in his autobiographical article.

Ensio Kalju: I don't think you can blame the goalie for a 4-1 series loss, or certainly its not fair. You can hope and expect the goalie to maybe steal one game, but there are other problematic areas if you lose four games out of five. Not saying the differences were massive, but New England scored one goal in two separate games, that fact alone shows that perhaps the offense, in general, was the biggest reason behind the series loss. Could not perform steadily throughout the series.

Dick Clapper: I don't think anyone was to blame per se for the loss, of course goalie was our weakest position, but throughout the entire series our whole team was outmatched when it came to what builds we had

Guy Zheng: I think everyone on the team deserves some blame, and while I think Leitner deserves less of the blame than he's getting, it's not hard to imagine the series being flipped on its head if Hamilton and New England traded goalies. However, a good amount of blame has to go out to our forwards for being all-offensive selfish fuckers who didn't care about their own zone.

Boris: You know I can’t help but put some of the blame on myself. While I almost lead the team in hits this playoff run, I had the 4th most shots on goal for the team and somehow only had 2 goals and 2 assists all playoffs. I definitely think the pressure and importance of this season got to me when the playoffs began and I hope that I can learn from this experience and come back strong next year.


Strong words from you Guy, it seems like Jakub, Gordie and Rafe had an awful +/- this post season, and Ensio personally I agree with you too. But back to Johannes Leitner. What’s done is done, the deal happened. What are your thoughts about the trade? Did you like the return?

Mcshotty: I thought it was a good return, we got a more skilled goalie with more peak potential and consistent activity. Leitner did not take it lightly, though, so that's a possible recreate that we'll never be able to consider playing for the team again.

Ensio Kalju: Got mixed feelings, Leitner played a long time in New England, he was there through the not so good seasons despite being among the top goalies around the league. That loyalty was rewarded with a trade to a lot weaker team that more than likely won't make it into the playoffs. From a cup contender to a bottom feeder, purely from a player perspective that is a tough move to witness. If I look at the whole picture it's more understandable, Leitner is not a young goalie anymore, but neither is Blue - the goalie New England got in return. It would have been a great story if Leitner won a cup in New England and then makes room for a younger goalie. Now that story had a bad ending, despite Blue having around 200 TPE more and New England improving the goalie department.

Dick Clapper: I think it was a pretty good trade, getting 200 TPE more? along with a goalie who is more active and can combat regression better than Leitner is a good addition. Goalie was our weakest position last season, so I do think the trade was needed in order to help us for next season.

Guy Zheng: I'm a fan. We needed a good stopgap between now and when Eller gets called up, and we knew that Leitner wasn't going to last that long through regression since he doesn't really update. The fact that the trade lit a fire under Leitner's ass and got him to start updating is honestly pretty funny, but then again if that's what it took for him to be convinced to update, he never really would've done it for us. I was a big fan of the return -- Blue is a nice guy and his player is going to pop off behind the NEW defense.

Boris: Man I will say, I feel like they did him dirty. All those years, I still remember when he was a McBride candidate when we did not even peak yet. The loyalty was rewarded with a trade to a bottom feeder team and let’s be honest he doesn't have a ton of hockey left ahead of him. I give him maybe another 3 seasons before he really starts to feel father times effect.  On the other hand though, management had to do something, blame had to go somewhere since we were not good enough and I guess they saw the logic with making him the escape goat.

It seems like the entire team is all over the place when it comes to this sensitive topic. While there is no “right answer” when having to deal with tough choices when you lose, but it is nice to see Johannes Leitner fired up. I must say it has been quite a while since I’ve seen him so passionate about his game. Before we go gentleman, lets look at the other half of the trade. Is Blue really the missing piece of this puzzle? Can you guarantee the fans of New England a Cup this year?

Mcshotty: I can't guarantee a cup, but I can guarantee a better chance at a cup. We have a more skilled goalie who currently has as much chemistry with the team as Leitner did before last season, and we all know how well that turned out. Not to mention that Blue has more peak raw potential.

Ensio Kalju: I hope so, Blue has a lot of pressure on his shoulders. Trading a legendary Wolfpack player like Leitner was a bold move, and with that comes huge expectations for Blue, and also for the management. Blue obviously did not have too much to say on the matter, but he is in New England now and I´m sure he can bring a lot of joy to the fans. As a team New England is an experienced team, the players know what they need to do, and what it takes to take that one more step. What is left now is going out and taking that step. I believe in the team, New England will win the cup next season.

Dick Clapper: FHM is much better in rewarding higher TPE than STHS was and I believe that our team continues to have the highest average TPE in the league, but even after saying that there is still a fair amount of randomness in the league and there is not way we can guarantee anything. This next season is giving everyone a free redistribution and I believe with the experience of the past season a lot of teams are going to come out with more strategic team builds and if anything next season is going to be tougher than this one

Guy Zheng: I'm not sure anyone can guarantee a cup. On paper, Blue improves the team by quite a bit, but since the rest of the team is in flux because of the free redistribution this season, we'll just have to wait and see how we do. Blue is definitely going to be one of our big keys to success though.

Boris: Here’s my take on this. If New England wins, management looks like geniuses and all the haters of the trade look like morons. On the flip side, if New England loses, well then the trade did not meet its purpose and some might say you “lost” if Tampa Bay ends up having a better year then before. I will go out to say New England will win the cup next season as I always believe in my team.


Wow, some strong words from the wolfpack boys. Well thank you gentlemen for coming on with Insider Hockey. If the Wolpack can in fact pull off a cup win in the upcoming season, you heard it here first! Until we come back for our next episode with a different team, I’m Doug Judy signing off


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First ever Yukon Malamute draft pick (1st overall S65)






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#2
(This post was last modified: 05-17-2020, 02:46 PM by jRuutu.)

Nice work! A fun read, thanks for letting me be part of it! Cheers
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#3

What a colorful article

hodOOOOr'hOOOdoooooooor hoooodor hOOdOOORRRR, Hooooooodooooorrrr HoooooddddddddoooooooRRRR

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