Well, this week I decided to put two teams that I don't normally use in this week's Game of the Week. They don't meet each other much in the regular season, but the Wild and Flyers seem like a good match up where the Broad St. Bullies may be able to slow down the Wild's momentum in real life? Could a simulated scenario work just the same?
I was intrigued by the way Coach Boudreau would help out a team that was building something special with a bunch of key free agent signings. Did they get everything to gel?
In Philly, I don't know if they are going to say they are in a rebuilding process. They are clearly middling with an underachieving roster and a young coach that doesn't get people that excited about the process. Should the Philly community "trust the process" with the team?
So, how did I do? Are you satisfied with this series? Are there two other teams that need featured in this Game of the Week series? Please tell me in the comments section below!
Do I need to use more junior teams or feature more teams from Europe? I don't quite know what you want from this series yet.
I don't think I do enough higher stakes games on the series. Perhaps I will do a Stanley Cup game between two random teams? So, make your predictions soon! What two teams will we see in the Stanley Cup finals this year? Pittsburgh versus Chicago?
After a midnight release of the much awaited NHL 16 by EA Sports, it is my duty as a fan of the franchise and as a pioneer hockey blogger to feature the new game here on my blog so that all over the world can get live broadcasts of the Confessions of a Hockey Fanatic review and for the first time on live streaming!
Of course, I've been a Playstation fan since the first version and continue to be amazed by the upgrade in graphics and design. I'm sure there will be some more things to criticize in the game, but I just have to praise the EA team for making a really great looking game so real to the real life counterparts.
The NHL 16 live-stream party starts approximately 12:30 AM once I get my hands on the copy and uploaded to the system. We all know just how long it usually takes to get everything into the complex PS4 system. I hope they take this into account and make it one of the smoothest transitions possible!
Thank you to everyone who could watch and attend the live event. Of course this will be uploaded in it's entirety to Youtube.com for those who didn't want to be up that late.
As the tradition continues to grow, the long historical Canada Day Cup Tournament will now be played live on the website (via Twitch). I had originally planned to do this last year, but thanks to my previous misfortunes with my latest laptop, I wasn't able to broadcast it. This year however, I was able to get things done in a more entertaining way.
I also did some preliminary matches with Team Canada and Team USA prior to the tournament. It got out of hand right away and Team USA won that one. We'll see if maybe Team Canada gets some revenge on July 4.
If you're not too familiar with the series, the tournament works like this. Each year, I hold a simulated tournament with each of the 8 Canadian NHL franchises. From there, I go through a match-up with the Provincial rivalries like TOR-OTT and MON-QUE with VAN-WPG and EDM-CGY. Of course it's quite an exciting breakdown and I keep up to date with the way that the Free Agent Frenzy on opening day plays out so that the teams are all square.
This years results were seen on Twitch and then later uploaded to YouTube where you can watch on the video below.
Since I've been doing it for 13 years, it's also one of the longest running traditions here on the Confession of a Hockey Fanatic weblog. I'm hoping to spin this off into a "matchup of the week" type video series were I upload a bunch of games to youtube for your enjoyment.
So, Happy Canada Day to all my Canadian readers! Please party safe and responsibly.
Previous Canada Day Champions
2002: Toronto Maple Leafs
2003: Edmonton Oilers
2004: Quebec Nordiques
2005: Montreal Canadians
2006: Montreal Canadians
2007: Winnipeg Jets
2008: Calgary Flames
2009: Vancouver Canucks
2010: Toronto Maple Leafs
2011: Quebec Nordiques
2012: Edmonton Oilers
2013: Ottawa Senators
2014: Montreal Canadians
2015:
