Finals, Lukko vs Ilves:
Game 1: Lose 3-2 away, we were rolling after two periods but somehow gave it away.
Game 2: Another tough 3-2 loss, we rattled the net in the 3rd period but couldn't turn it around. Star RD
Polášek goes down with shin splints.
Game 3: Win 3-2, same scoreline but this time to us, the second line coming up with the goods.
Game 4: Lose 3-4 in OT, despite being 3-1 up, their goalie had a super game. Seems like we're going to be losing finalists for the second year in a row.
Game 5: A tight play-off tussle sees us win 2-1 and keep the series alive, no goals in the last two periods.
Game 6: Win 2-1 OT, another incredible goalie performance, eventually Lukko take a penalty in overtime and Maccelli scores his 13th goal of the play-offs. This means a game 7, which will clash with the world championships, unfortunate scheduling.
Game 7: Win 5-1 and
Ilves are the champions of Finland! Their goalie had been so clutch but now gave up 0-3 by the 5th minute of period 2 and it was easy from there. C
Karvonen came in to replace the tired Weigel and had a super game with two assists, Maccelli rounds off his career at Ilves with two more goals for a total of 69 goals in 144 games with the club, and picks up the Jari Kurri Trophy as playoff MVP. Really hoping he'll go to North America or something.
Other leagues:
NHL: Absolute chaos in the playoffs, #1 Colorado falls in the second round to Dallas who in turn crash to the #7 seed Nashville. Philadelphia miss out again, getting swept by #8 Carolina in the Eastern finals - G Alex
Nedeljkovic and C Sebastian
Aho leading the way.
Carolina Hurricanes eventually beat Nashwille in 6 for the Stanley Cup, with Aho picking up the Conn Smythe for 13 G/10 A in 22 games.
NHL awards: Art Ross (Pts): Nikita
Kucherov (TB), Maurice Richard (Goals): Leon
Draisaitl (EDM), Vezina (GK): Jordan
Binnington (STL, repeat winner), Hart (regular season MVP): Sidney
Crosby (PIT, 3rd after 2007 and 2014)
KHL: CSKA Moskva won in 5, for their third title in a row.
Sweden: Djurgården beat Malmö in 5 games for the title, Frölunda fell to relegation but survived easily.
Switzerland: Lausanne beat Biel in 6 games for their first ever title.
Czechia: Dynamo Pardubice started slowly in the play-offs but swept Olomouc for the title, on the back of goalie Kovář who signed cheaply from the KHL.
Germany: Düsseldorf win in 6 after beating Fischtown Pinguine, who upset Augsburg in the semifinals.
Finland win the World Championship after turning around a 0-2 deficit against Canada in the final, Czechia with Ilves RD Polášek finish 4th. Sweden won their group but then got upset by eventual champions Finland. Norway and Slovenia are relegated, to be replaced by Kazakhstan and Poland.
In my international job in division 2B, I end up 3-2-0 with team Netherlands, one point short of promotion - Taiwan win, so not exactly a great performance.
At the end of the season, Swedish league team
Örebro come to me with an offer. They have one of the larger budgets in the SHL, and although they placed dead last this year, they seem to have a solid core that could easily be upgraded by adding a couple of stars. I accept and wish Ilves good luck from here, which costs me some manager points (because of
this bug) but oh well.
Retirements: G Craig Anderson (OTT, 40), F Casey Cizikas (NYI, 30), G Corey Crawford (CHI, 36), G Devan Dubnyk (MIN, 35) D Ron Hainsey (OTT, 40), D Niklas Hjalmarsson (ARI, 34), F Ilya Kovalchuk (COL, 38), F David Krejci (BOS, 35), G Andrew Ladd (NYI, 35), F Trevor Lewis (LA, 35), D Matt Niskanen (PHI, 34), F Corey Perry (BUF, 36), G Tuukka Rask (BOS, 34), G Pekka Rinne (NSH, 38), G Mike Smith (WIN, 39), F Eric Staal (MIN, 36), F Travis Zajac (NJ, 36)