RHL Standings Updated

The RHL has released it's updated standings following the 2010-2011 season. Further statistics and a season recap to follow shortly.

Team Carlingview takes All Star Week!

Team Carlingview used their veteran managers experience to formulate a winning combination for the new format All Star game this season. The goaltending was key as they escaped with a tight 4-3 win, holding down +/- for bragging rights as the top division in the RHL.

All Star Roberto Luongo from the Kwik-E-Mart Gougers was voted as MVP as he won 4 games and allowed only 5 goals on 121 shots for a leading .959 SV%. Ryan Kessler of the Georgetown Keg Kings was a close runner-up as he lead the team in goals, plus minus, penalty minutes and was second in hits.

Carlingview Division All Star Selections

This season's RHL All Star game participants were hand selected from each division's leading team's manager. The Carlingview Division is currently being led by the Georgetown Keg Kings holding an 8 point lead over the Lindsay Wazooz.

Due to injury, what was surely to be the latest edition of "The Crosby Show" will instead be a much more decided grinding version of Carlingview All-Stars.

Keg Kings General Manager Filion has released his selections:

G - Roberto Luongo - Kwik-E-Mart Gougers

Luongo is red hot with the leagues best SV% over the past 30 days at .948 picking up 5 wins. Overall he is tied for 5th in wins at 21 and 6th in SV% with a .923.

G - Marc-Andre Fleury - Lindsay Wazooz

Fleury is tied for 5th in the RHL in Wins this season with 21, while his .922 SV% ranks 12th. Fleury's real value shows with his consistency, and Pittsburg's 5 games over the All-Star break.

F - Tuomo Ruutu - Burlington Firecats

With Sidney Crosby out due to injury the Firecats depth is being tested. Brent Seabrook was looking like the best selection but his 3 game schedule was tough to ignore. Tuomo Ruutu is no slouch, an un-drafted forward has turned it on as of late, ranked at #8 in the past 30 days with 19 points in just 14 games. He is a serious threat to score but his real value is the 186 hits that rank #2 in the entire league.

F - Ryan Kesler - Georgetown Keg Kings

Kesler is the top goal scorer representing the Carlingview All Stars. He has 25 goals, good for 4th in the RHL. His overall performance will be key as he is in the top 25 in +/- (+15), and just outside the top 25 in both PIM and Hits.

F - Jeff Carter - Moonstone Brewers

Carter will be the lone representative from the Brewers organization. Carter has a balanced attack making the team with top 25 numbers in goals (20) and +/- (+14). He also has 20 assists and the team is counting on a better than 'average' performance out of this mandatory selection.

F - Brad Richards - Lindsay Wazooz

Brad Richards is an all or nothing pick. Easily the best offensive selection now that Crosby won't play, he is top 25 in goals with 19, ranked 3rd overall in assists with 37. However his peripheral numbers in PIM and hits are low and so he will be counted on to score or will be considered a disappointment. However, his performance to date is above and beyond.

F - Eric Staal - Peterborough Mullets

Eric Staal has put together a strong season so far with 47 points including an 8th place rank with 22G. His 25 assists sits just off the top 25 and his 38PIM and 62 hits are decent production from a top scoring forward. Eric's biggest challenge will be not hurting the team with a team low -9 plus minus rating.

F - Nicklas Backstrom - Lindsay Wazooz

Nick Backstrom is the Ying to Ovechkin's Yang, and while the latter is not confirmed we can anticipate he will be facing off for the Westport All Stars. Backstrom just scored his first goal in 21 games and so his goal production may not help, he does have 32A and is +12. He will be insurance against a major Washington breakout and should help offensively regardless.

D - Nicklas Lidstrom - Kwik-E-Mart Gougers

No one would have guessed this 40yr old D man could be at the All Star game yet again this season but his production cannot be ignored. He is 3rd in goals and 4th in assists among all defensemen. His plus minus has slipped this season, currently sitting at -2, but considering his career number is +427 he may easily rebound during the All Star week.

D - James Wisniewski - Burlington Firecats

Somewhat of an unknown prior to this season, James has a disastrous -18 rating overall, but since he switched teams what you notice is there are few hotter d-men over the past 30 days. Wisniewski has 15 points and is plus 2 over that time. He can add to hits with 71 over the season almost 2 per game.

D - Chris Pronger - Chinatown Jets

Losing Crosby to injury right before the All Star game will hurt the chances of the Carlingview Division but on the flip side of that injury coin, Chris Pronger returns just in time to suit up. Chris may not have outstanding numbers overall, but he is big physical presence that will take penalties and plays serious PP time on one of the hottest teams. 11 of his 17 points come on the power play and in 32 games is already a +7.

D - Mike Green - Georgetown Keg Kings

When Green has been labeled as one of the biggest disappointments this season despite being ranked 9th in the division, you know the expectations are high. Mike's 5 games over the All Star game worked in his favour, as well as his top 5 hitting over the past 30 days. He still has the talent to bust out at any point, so here's to hoping it's now.

New Feature - What if they Mated?

A few years ago on this blog we had a separated at birth feature which compared league GM's side by side with NHLers that they resembled. This year I am beginning a new feature called. What if they mated?

Through the miracle of science, if two grown men were able to somehow conceive, who's child might this be?

That's right it's the love child of GM Trevor Filion and Edmonton rookie, Jordan Eberle. Technology has allowed us to morph photographs to see what their child may look like, fortunately this will never happen, but it doesn't mean that it will keep GM Filion from trying.

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2011 ALL STAR GAME

This year's All Star game will be very different from previous years as the RHL has decided to go with a divisional match up of All Stars chosen by selected captain GMs. The All Star game will run over a two week period from Jan 24th through February 6th.

The Carlingview All Stars will be chosen by GM Trevor Filion of the Georgetown Keg Kings while the Westport All-Stars will be chosen by GM Kevin Grover of the Sarnia Colts. Both teams are currently atop their respective divisions.

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Each team must pick from their division and assemble a roster of 6 forwards, 4 defence, and 2 goalies. Every team in the RHL must have a representative in the game. The GM's have been notified of their duty and have been asked to submit their rosters to the league by Friday.

The Lanny McDonalds - Movember

Movember is almost here - donate to the official team of the RHL- The Lanny McDonalds!

Movember

I've donated my face to Movember! Now I'm asking you to make a small donation to support my moustache and the 1 in 6 men that are diagnosed with prostate cancer. Thank you. http://ca.movember.com/mospace/537348/

Commissioner's Classic

The first week of the RHL season matches the two commissioners against each other in an opening week event dubbed "The Commissioner's Classic" Commisioner Filion and his Keg Kings will meet Assistant Commisioner Atkinson's Brewers in the fourth installment of the Classic.

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The Commissioner's classic was born in 2003-04 as the two league creators would meet in the first week of the season and battle to a 2-2 tie. Since then, these two franchises have met in the opening week only two more times. This season sees the return of the Classic after two seasons of scheduling conflicts and it has been decided to continue this opening week tradition for years to come.

Although they tied in the first classic, Filion`s team has never lost in this legendary match-up and hold a 2-0-1 record over GM Atkinson during week one battles and appear to be on their way to maintaining their winning record. For the opener of this season, in an extended week one, the Keg Kings held a 4-2 lead at the midway point and seem to have this win locked down with a 926 save percentage, 4 goalie wins, and almost doubling the Brewers in the hits category. penalty minutes seemed to be in reach and the offensive categories were up for grabs but favored towards the Brewers offence rather than the Keg Kings truculence, who are no doubt on their way to leading the league in hits. The extended week allowed the managers to adjust their lineups at the halfway point and we saw some very bold and risky moves from both GM`s who continue to set an example for the rest of the league. These moves show the entire league how badly these teams want to win not just the Commissioner`s Classic, but the whole fucking thing!

The Brewers top goaltender Varlamov went down with an injury before seeing any regular season action and put the Brewers behind severely in the goal-tending wins category while still maintaining a respectable .926 save % despite 2 losses from Backstrom. Varlamov was placed on IR allowing the Brewers to pick up overlooked solid goaltender Mike Smith for the second half of the match-up. However, no one could have predicted Filion`s rebuttal to the Brewers move as the GM would bench both of his goaltenders for the rest of week one, on the hopes that 4 wins is enough to clinch the victory while maintaining a solid save percentage, obviously playing the odds that the Brewers goaltenders save percentage will drop this week. This move is unheard of in fantasy leagues and Filion cold be considered a genius if it works. On the other hand, statistically, but highly unlikely, the Brewers can tie or even win the goalie wins category and increase save percentage in the process...... this would no doubt put the Commissioner under a lot of criticism at the hands of the other GM's.

While the Keggers were contemplating their goalie strategy, Atkinson was looking for a way to win more than just goals and assists, although it was far out of reach, he decided to go after the hits category. Already trailing by a large amount, The Brewers inserted Michael Rupp and Brad Stuart into the line-up while sacrificing Dustin Byfuglien to waivers. The two new additions have started slow this season, but finished last season combined for 404 hits. Again, the Keg Kings had  a plan of their own, fearing that PIM was still in reach for the Brewers, the Keg Kings added Sheldon Brookbank who immediately tallied 12 PIMs in his first appearance with the team .... add that to another 17 minutes contributed by Bobby Ryan, and this can ensure the Keggers have another category locked down. 

The score currently sits at 4-2 in favour of Georgetown and I expect to stay this way for the most part. The Keggers have PIM, HITS, and Goaile Wins locked down and also enjoy a sizable lead in +/- , while the Brewers maintain a slight edge in goals and assists. Save percentage is tied but will more than likely swing over to Filion's team. If the Brewers can hold on to the offensive categories, week one will end 5-2 or possibly 4-3 if the Brewers can claim +/-. 

It looks as if the Keg Kings will remain undefeated in the Commissioner's Classic, and the news gets worse for GM Atkinson as Tavares recently experienced a concussion which will keep him out of the line up. Hopefully, for the Brewers sake, they hold on to the offensive categories to avoid a blowout, but it is not a far stretch to predict this match-up could end up 7-0 Georgetown.

These two teams have matched up 15 times since the creation of the RHL and Filion holds the lead with 9 wins. Atkinson lays claim to 4 wins while the two have tied twice. The all-time total score of these matchups is 53-36 in favor of Commissioner Filion. They have also met twice in the playoffs with one win going to Atkinson in the 05-06  finals 6-1, and the other to Filion 4-3 in the 08-09 semis. The all-time total score of their playoff match-ups are 9-5 in favor of Assistant Commissioner Atkinson.