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.