The MI6 International Ice Hockey League.

[IYIyTh]

Sodor Tank Engines

 

 

Rollin' through a town near you SOON.

 

[Avakael]

Day One.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lf6gxf53dw2hpw7/S1F1.xlsx?dl=1
Vladivostok defeats Taipei in 5

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qlspuawdguikesb/S1F2.xlsx?dl=1
Zurich defeats Johannesburg in 7

Tomorrow;

Alexandria v Seoul
Indianapolis v Hamilton City

[Avakael]

I really need to factor this thread into organizations and stuff. Or encourage other people to post updates. idk.

The Hamilton City Highlanders, from 6th place, eventually defeated Indianapolis, Johannesburg, Vladivostok and finally Zurich to claim the Season One Championship.

The league is currently organizing the firing of unwanted players, player progression, and draft picks.

There are 15 human controlled teams (4 more have joined after the end of this season), and space for 5 more human controlled teams before I have to start editing things to increase the league size (which I can do- it'll just mean a few days longer wait before the next season starts).

Same instructions as always- head to http://cn-mi6.com/index.php?showtopic=2826&page=1 or #iihl on irc.coldfront.net to register interest, and the rules are at http://cn-mi6.com/index.php?showtopic=2830 (needs some updating).

[TheListener]

I really need to factor this thread into organizations and stuff. Or encourage other people to post updates. idk.

The Hamilton City Highlanders, from 6th place, eventually defeated Indianapolis, Johannesburg, Vladivostok and finally Zurich to claim the Season One Championship.

The league is currently organizing the firing of unwanted players, player progression, and draft picks.

There are 15 human controlled teams (4 more have joined after the end of this season), and space for 5 more human controlled teams before I have to start editing things to increase the league size (which I can do- it'll just mean a few days longer wait before the next season starts).

Same instructions as always- head to http://cn-mi6.com/index.php?showtopic=2826&page=1 or #iihl on irc.coldfront.net to register interest, and the rules are at http://cn-mi6.com/index.php?showtopic=2830 (needs some updating).

 

We're quick on masking if you haven't been masked yet, either head over to #iihl and bother me or #mi6 and bother someone with sops.

[Walshington]

The Screaming Red Asses are by policy pulling hard for the Aces.

[Avakael]

 

Season two is coming up soon.

 

Preseason Round Robin A

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mkkh9jxyl6floaf/Preseason%20NPC.xlsx?dl=1

Alexandria Aces
Taipei Titans
Johannesburg Owls
Vladivostok Foxes
Zurich Knights

 

Preseason Round Robin B

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xb008arebh5vcq7/PRESEASON%20S2%20A.xlsx?dl=1
Fort Wayne Minutemen
Darwin Crocodiles
Irlanda Celts
Goldshire Lions
Barkly Rovers

 

Preseason Round Robin C

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fga1nxggoup2s04/PRESEASON%20S2%20B.xlsx?dl=1

Indianapolis Mutants
Svalbard Ice Ducks
Monroeville Zombies
Hamilton City Highlanders
Auckland Shooters

 

Preseason Round Robin D

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6qrkzs4y6whb808/PRESEASON%20S2%20C.xlsx?dl=1

London Raiders

San Diego Scorpions

Sodor Tank Engines

Trenton T-Rexes

New Orleans Grenadiers

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGrpJWGl6tg&hd=1

Are you ready?

Edited June 19, 2015 by Avakael

[Avakael]

FYI these awards were handed out on the 10th, crossposting them here.
 

Goalie of the First Season.

This was the easiest award to pick.

Having fielded a .940 save percentage in the home and away season (the highest in the league), having shut down and embarrassed the efforts of some of the strongest offensive teams in the league, and having been perhaps the most important part of his teams finals campaign and eventual victory, the best goalie of Season One is declared to be Trenton Serrano, Captain of the Hamilton City Highlanders. This award, thus, will be known from now on as the Serrano Award.

Offenceman of the First Season.

This was the hardest award to pick.

Yep, that sounded ridiculous in your head, too. Because this guy is obvious, right? He is considered the league-wide yardstick for offensive prowess and goal scoring ability. I wanted to look a little harder. So I have. I couldn't find any reason not to award it to him at all. It was difficult to find someone who even remotely compared to his success this season.

The winner, at least among player owned teams, has been the most reliable player; perhaps the top scoring player across the entire league. When he's firing, Indianapolis wins. The entire team is built around him and most disgustingly of all (or good, if your name is NMA), he still has a minimum of 3 more seasons before he's even a chance to retire. The best offenceman is declared to be Bud Maupin of the Indianapolis Mutants. This award, thus, will be known from now on as the Maupin Award.

Defenceman of the First Season.

Just kidding. THIS was the hardest award to pick.

Defencemen get no individual glory. They don't score goals and they don't stop them. But they do shut down as many chances as possible, and they give their goalie every bit of help they can possibly give.

There was only one human team that proved top tier at both was Trenton; giving away the third fewest SOG in the H/A season (best of all human players), and similarly impressive figures for total goals against (27) and save percentage (.911)- one of only three teams with a better than .900 save percentage (the one team not being mentioned here is Irlanda).

The award, thus, is given to Enoch Goddard of the Trenton T-Rexs, and the award, thus, will be known from now on as the Goddard Award.

[Avakael]

Season two is underway.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rsdj1k5f5ip0gt9/S2R1.xlsx?dl=1 - Round 1

https://www.dropbox.com/s/q832fr1pn723hby/S2R2.xlsx?dl=1 - Round 2

[Avakael]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/p1r3t09q924ykul/S2R3.xlsx?dl=1 - Round 3

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tbnkttqfo5bpl1v/S2R4.xlsx?dl=1 - Round 4

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3hodchjtbp30zpr/S2R5.xlsx?dl=1 - Round 5

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3hodchjtbp30zpr/S2R5.xlsx?dl=1 - Round 6

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fqcpqzyut1x56pj/S2R7.xlsx?dl=1 - Round 7

https://www.dropbox.com/s/y6t7gei7bwwkwea/S2R8.xlsx?dl=1 - Round 8

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zl7p35il9e8nzxa/S2R9.xlsx?dl=1 - Round 9

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1k70vei5bxcyhfo/S2R10.xlsx?dl=1 - Round 10

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jw4okhvm61mbyqf/S2R11.xlsx?dl=1 - Round 11

 

Midseason Review to follow.

[Avakael]

From 20th position to 1st position on the ladder.

#20 - Vladivostok Foxes
 
This drop was always going to be pretty ugly. They had a shock series loss in the Preliminary final to Hamilton City Highlanders, having been defeated by a superior game plan and a team that had nothing to lose in the face of absolutely nobody predicting anything but a short exit from the finals. Then there was that nasty scandal with the dead hooker and the cocaine in the hotel room that cost several of their best players their careers.
 
Vladivostok managed to patch most of the holes in their organization in the draft, with a very respectable offence line keeping Vladivostok in the middle of the pack for both goals and shots on goal, and the same being the case for their defensive line. The reason why Vladivostok are so firmly planted at the bottom of the ladder is their newly drafted goalie, Federico Barajas, who has a save average so absymal that the actual 3 digit number is probably one of Bud Maupin's future horcruxes and thus should not be uttered here lest he descend from the heavens to kill us all. Federico Barajas is a GR53 goalie that's only just been drafted, so he'll be a quality goalie by the time he retires, but he needs time to improve- time that Vladivostok can't offer. Vladivostok will almost certainly need to use their first round draft pick on a goalie at the end of the season if they want to have a better season next year.

#19 - Alexandria Aces

Alexandria is a victim not of any single individual failing, but of being in a league where they flat out aren't good enough. Captain Zane Fallon is a stud and his top line pushes him to Sh 98, but the Off/Def ratings aren't enough to get him near the goals, or keep opposing players away from their own goals, where Dylan Maher (GR58) is doing everything he can in front of a team that just can't help him. Their top offensive lines look like they'll be very good in a couple of years, but it's mostly composed of players that are already retirement risks. They need to rebuild, and they need to do it from somewhere very close to "scratch".

#18 - New Orleans Grenadiers

Allow me to commence this short analysis by saying that the problems of the New Orleans Grenadiers are what I would describe as "Solvable". Very solvable, in fact. A rethinking of the order of the players in their offence lines, for example, would immediately improve the team (although not enough to make the finals, so maybe it's not worth the effort). That said, it needs to be stated that goalie Mitch Wilhite is just as bad as Federico Barajas is (GR53), and Mitch Wilhite has played 6 seasons. The New Orleans defence is good- but Wilhite is flat out letting them down. But frankly, there's not exactly any better options on the open market right now- New Orleans will probably need to find someone in the draft, and give them time to develop.

#17 - London Raiders

The London Raiders are in a similar situation to Alexandria. Their top 6 offence players are ALL potentially up for retirement at the end of this season, despite showing genuine potential if they stick around. This is depressing because their defensive lines are extremely good right now, despite some concerns on consistency on how well they support goaltender Cordell Bustamante. But take heart- Bustamante is a GR58 goalie who's only played 1 season thus far. There's at least 2 more seasons after this one for him to help lift London to a better place.

#16 - Irlanda Celts

If you know anything about team manager Grahamkeatley and just how proactive he was last season, you know that Irlanda is a team with a plan. You don't need to look very hard at Irlanda to see what the plan is, either- an attempt to copy what Hamilton City did last season to win the championship. The problem with this plan is two fold. Firstly, Irlanda does not have Hamilton City's goaltender, Serrano- they must make do with Montano instead. Montano is doing his very best, but GR56 isn't enough to make the Hamilton strategy work, and Montano is in his 7th season and will retire very soon. Even if he doesn't, Monanto's goalie skills are 20/16/20, and so improvement on his GR will only be by 1 point per season, not two. Secondly, Irlanda doesn't have the depth that Hamilton City had that enabled Hamilton to shut the top line down and brawl their way to a victory on lines 2 and 3- their third line is a lethal weapon, but the other 3 lines are average at best.

#15 - Taipei Titans

Taipei is a team with a promising future, despite having heavily regressed from finishing at the very top of the table last year. A mostly very young side that should grow to be something quite nasty to face in a few seasons, depending on who retires. But Werner Leeper is their only elite scorer, and he's probably going to be one of the people to leave within the next 2 seasons. They have no reliable scoring chances other than him. Also, they'll be faced with the difficult prospect of replacing captain Scott Seward very soon as well, a GR57 goalie who's done only his very best.

#14 - Indianapolis Mutants

I sure hope you don't think Indianapolis is going to sink further than where they are now. Bud Maupin is not about to retire, and neither are all but one or two of the players on their top THREE (Yes, THREE) offensive lines. They aren't a contender this year because those offensive lines need to get better at what they do, but they absolutely will get better, and when they get there, Bud Maupin with be a Sum 100 player. Be afraid.

Story isn't so rosy defensively, where they will almost certainly lose key pieces this season and have nobody to replace them with. Goalie Loyd Driscoll is a retirement risk and they have nobody to replace him with. But if they can manage to juggle that, watch out.

#13 - Zurich Knights

Zurich are not a bad team. You do not make the championship final by being a bad team. The problem with Zurich is that they are simply not good enough. The league got a hell of a lot better over the off season, and Zurich could not improve with it. The good news is that Zurich, like the last two NPC teams on this list, are going to get a hell of a lot better. Fidel Shores is a GR60 goalie in his second season and would be a genuine Serrano trophy contender if Monroeville's Calabrese wasn't busy doing his best Gandalf impression. The offence and defence lines have plenty of talent and ought to only get better. The real problem here? Mismanagement. Wonky offensive lines and all their decent shooters have been drafted as left wing players, which makes it pretty hard to construct a decent top line.

#12 - Auckland Shooters

Auckland's future is going to come down to the flip of a coin. They're stealing games now off teams much better than they are because they have 5 different players with 90 Sh or better on their top 2 lines, but 3 of those are likely to retire. They also have too many people on their 3rd and 4th lines that aren't pulling their weight yet. Darrick Bragg is going to give them a strong case for finals contention in the years to come but only if the rest of the team is ready to be there. Right now, however, the majority of Auckland's difficult games are already out of the way- of the 9 remaining, 7 are against teams that would be considered equally matched. Only Darwin and Barkly are probable losses, but they did claim the scalp of Hamilton, which is a team considered much better defensively than either of the former two...

#11 - Goldshire Lions

Goldshire ticks most of the boxes they need to tick to make the finals. There's only one box missing. It doesn't have a scrap of ink in it whatsoever, and it'll probably ensure they miss out this season. That box represents Goldshire's ability to put the puck in the back of the net. Currently, they have just two players out of 12 on the roster that could reliably put it there against even Goldshire's own defence. Those two players are Clarence Hudson and Angelo Mitchell. Both play Center and both are retirement risks at the end of this season. They have lots of other players on the roster that are chances, but the teams at the top of the table are teams that have lots of players that are consistent. The good news is most of those players are young, including all 4 of their players that are currently sitting at Sh 88 (and by young I mean 0 or 1 seasons played). Goldshire should keep an eye on their defensive players because they have 4 flight risks there, and they will probably have instability in their goaltending- Joshua Dean is a retirement risk at the end of the season, and while Galen High is probably the best backup goaltender in the league, he's also going to become a retirement risk right when he gets good.

#10 - San Diego Scorpions

San Diego is a team on the edge of being consistent. They're missing a few key pieces and that makes it hard for them to be good. Firstly, they don't have a Center player that can make their top line competitive with those of the very best teams. Davis Duke is punching way over his head in his efforts to keep teammates Trey Acker and Jamal Sales anywhere near the goal, and is a bloody good shot himself, but being one of the slowest players on the team makes it hard to get the puck down the ice in the first place, or prevent the very best teams from running roughshod over them. They're also majorly short on depth in general. This means that teams like Monroeville, Barkly and Sodor can clean them up without worrying too hard even if that top line is doing well. It also means that when that top line completely shits the bed and makes abysmal rolls against another good team (like what happened vs Darwin), a bloodbath ensues. They don't generate remotely enough SOG- they've averaged 11 a game, which is the absolute lowest in the league. Defensively they're fine, but the goalie is a retirement risk.

#9 - Svalbard Ice Ducks

The Svalbard Disney Ducks are an average team. Weak on defensive depth, so they give up too many SOG to be a championship contender, but finals are still possible. No major age inbalances, no unusual player selections. Success will depend more on the choices of the team manager than rolls of the dice.

#8 - Johannesburg Owls

Johannesburg are lucky. They're in almost exactly the same situation as Goldshire. They're only higher on the ladder because Hamilton dropped the ball in round 7 and let them steal a win. The future is riskier though; 4 of their top 6 offensive players are retirement risks and so is the goalie. Probably not a finals contender and if they do somehow get in, it'll be in 8th spot- meaning Barkly or Sodor will be on hand to remove them in the first round without much fuss.

#7 - Fort Wayne Minutemen

After last year's amusing hiccup where ForSparta basically gave Goldshire two young top players (draft picks) for one now retirement-risk top player in return (Luciano Mallory), Fort Wayne have recovered admirably and will probably finish in 6th or 7th position at the end of round 19. Assuming that Barkly and Sodor finish 4th and 5th (either way around), it's fair to expect that Fort Wayne will safely eliminate any one of Johannesburg, Svalbard, San Diego, Goldshire or Auckland that they face, but from that spot, they would then have to face the loser of the series between the teams that finish in 2nd or 3rd spot- which is almost certainly going to be Monroeville, Darwin or Hamilton. Fort Wayne isn't ready to play those three. But no major imbalances in player ages and goaltender Mrodeur is only in his second season, so what I need to say is that Fort Wayne isn't ready to play those three... yet.

#6 - Barkly Rovers

The Barkly Rovers are one of the best teams in the league and will be fighting Sodor for rights to the 4th spot on the ladder at the end of the season. Their depth is among the very best in the league, both offensively and defensively. But Whitten's boys aren't quite meshing it together yet- they're not as good as the best teams at putting it in the back of the net- only averaging 2 a game when Sodor, Hamilton, Monroeville and Darwin are all averaging 3 or better. The good news is that of their top 6 offensive players, only one player is a retirement risk- the player with the lowest Sh of those 6. Barkly is going to be absolutely brutal next season if they can keep their defence intact (a need to draft a replacement is assumed). The only thing to note is that Milford Alcala, being both older and inferior to the already playing goalie, has no meaningful place on the team and should probably be dismissed. Or kept to absorb a shitty retire roll on behalf of someone else. idk.

#5 - Sodor Tank Engines

Sodor is having a brilliant first season and ought to make it deep into the finals, although they'll be underdogs against Hamilton, Darwin and Monroeville. The problem they face is that 5 or 6 of their best 8 offence players are retirement risks. So are 3 of their 4 best defencemen. So is their goalie and Rosa is not yet a suitable replacement. The end of this season, no matter the result, is going to be spent patching holes, and it's not clear if IYIyTh be able to patch them all AND build a team that can contest for the championship next year.

#4 - Trenton T-Rexes
Trenton are currently overrated. Due to a quirk of the fixture and fixture sort order, Trenton has played just 1 team in 10 games (Barkly) that I would expect to see in the finals. That means in the next 9 games, they're slated to get reamed by Monroeville, Darwin, Sodor and Hamilton.

Here's the interesting part- they ARE a finals probability. They're in 4th right now because they've got what I would comfortably describe as a top 3 defence in the league, which has enabled their offence lines (that otherwise looks like that of Goldshire and Johannesburg) to prevail over all challengers thus far that didn't have the tools to reliably brute force their way through the ice (Barkly). They'll win around 4 or 5 of their last 9 games, which should put them somewhere near 7th or 8th. If they finish 8th, they'll be eliminated by Sodor or Barkly, but if they finish 6th or 7th, they'll probably play Fort Wayne, and that'll be an interesting series indeed.

I don't expect them to challenge next season- most of their good offensive players are retirement risks. So are many of their better defencemen. But Adrian is sitting on a secret weapon- so long as he doesn't retire, Trenton will have two GR 58 goalies next season. Both will be retirement risks next season, but that's the heaviest disposable tradebait in the entire league right now. If Trenton trades, they could land a very big fish indeed. Or more than one. Adrian needs to actually be here to find out...

#3 - Hamilton City Highlanders

Hamilton City is a championship contender. But only a contender. Not a favourite. To elaborate why, I need to talk about Monroeville and Darwin a lot. Before I do that, I want to discuss Hamilton's prospects.

Hamilton has a LOT of top players up for retirement. We're currently including GR60 goalie and captain Serrano in that mix. We're also currently including nearly all of his 1st line players. The good news is that for every top player that's a retirement risk, Hamilton has a player almost as good in the same position that isn't. The exception is goaltending, because GR56 backup goalie Cato -is- a retirement risk. The odds say Hamilton would be unlucky to lose more than 2 or 3 of those players, so Hamilton should remain a force next season unless an absolute disaster occurs.

Back to this season.

Hamilton is not a favourite because Hamilton isn't quite as good as Darwin or Monroeville. Of these three, Hamilton has the least goals for, the most goals against, the least shots for and the least shots against. Hamilton victories are never a sure-fire thing. Hamilton has been forced into shootouts in 4 of their 10 games thus far this season (Barkly, Goldshire, Zurich, Auckland), and could easily be sitting in 8th instead of 3rd right now if they lost them all. Which is quite possible because Hamilton's S-Off (Shootout Off- Accuracy + Power + Skill) ratings are bloody awful on their top line. Hamilton are not killers.

In comparison, the other two likely championship contenders are Darwin and Monroeville. Darwin averages 5 goals a game, has 6 players with 90 Sh or higher (and 2 at Sh 89), and has defence just as good as what Hamilton has. Monroeville has let in 1 goal this season. That's 9 shutouts in 10 games. Hamilton has also got just as many scoring opportunities as what Hamilton has and has indeed scored more goals than Hamilton this season. Both of these teams are Hamilton plus something else; some kind of x factor that means that they don't just win, but win in brutal or clinical fashion, and Hamilton is simply scraping through.

#2 - Monroeville Zombies

0.992.
What does this number represent, exactly? This number represents the save percentage of GR60 Monroeville goalie and team captain Tyson Calabrese. That's the number you get when you let in one goal in ten games.

Monroeville is absolutely outstanding in every area mentionable. Their depth is ridiculous and their bottom line offence crew is just as likely to shank you as their top line- they haven't scored as many goals as Darwin, but they've averaged 28 SOG a game. It's hard to see how a team this good is not a certainty for the championship, but that's a testament to the quality of their opposition.

The question is whether or not Monroeville can hold onto all this talent at the end of the season, because a truckload of it is at risk of retirement. But the truth is this- if 4 players retire, any 4 players that currently might retire... would it really throw this particular train off the tracks that much?

#1 - Darwin Crocodiles

Why is Darwin at the top of the ladder and not Monroeville? Goals.

Darwin is currently averaging 5 goals a game. This is a number that we in the analysis business like to call "ridiculous". Darwin's defence is conversely average, maybe above average a little; but Alonso Ladd is good enough to keep the bears at bay. He's only let in 9 goals this season on 152 shots against, and that might be enough. They don't have the same ridiculous depth that Monroeville has, but newly drafted players Alexis Metzler and Denver Craven on the third and fourth lines have been scoring plenty of goals. Sang Cousins also represents a bright future for the team and the anchor for the top line for seasons to come.

Darwin also has a lot of potential retirees coming through the ranks, including their goalie Alonso, and Mohammed Capps, and Dylan Echevarria, and, and... the list is not short. But Darwin doubled down on last year's draft- nearly a third of the players on their current roster were drafted at the end of the last season. Even if Darwin can't suicide-squad their way to the championship this year and drops out of serious contention next year as a result, there's a strong class of candidates coming up through the ranks yet.

In the meantime, #ACupForMohammed.

[Ying Yang Mafia]

Will you have openings for season 3?

[Avakael]

Yes! We're about a month away from S3 commencing, though, maybe 5-6 weeks depending on how quick people are with their rosters after the draft. Long term goal is 32 teams in the league, and next season I'm hoping to expand to 24.

[Facade]

How dare you call my team average. Goofy Goof is gonna wipe the floor with you Avakael.

Seriously though I don't really know anything about hockey but got pulled into this and it's really entertaining. If you have a passing interest in fantasy ice hockey or data analysis I'd recommend at least looking at it.

[IYIyTh]

Choo, Choo

[Avakael]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/19ns3ek6f1737ln/S2R12.xlsx?dl=1 - Round 12
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5lsgum4koa2vdje/S2R13.xlsx?dl=1 - Round 13

Current standings;

[Avakael]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/87nyy3l82x84o6s/S2R14.xlsx?dl=1 - Round 14

Current Standings:

[IYIyTh]

Third place, looking to overtake you next ava

[Facade]

#7 moving on up lets goooo

[Avakael]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fws8qimmkizsv73/S2R15.xlsx?dl=1 - Round 15

[Avakael]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5orxjxl5q6m4eke/S2R16.xlsx?dl=1 - Round 16

[IYIyTh]

time to take down umbrella

[Avakael]

time to take down umbrella

At this stage, Sodor is literally our last hope. Monroeville's other remaining games are Goldshire and Vladivostok, and neither of those are even outside chances.

[Avakael]

Welp, that actually happened.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xo3sx1p5fzekaxc/S2R17.xlsx?dl=1 - Round 17

[IYIyTh]

Suck it Umbrella Dylan Carter

[Avakael]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dsabbyfkriau9mk/S2R18.xlsx?dl=1 - Round 18