80s Mania Wrestling Returns - Tag Teams continued

 It was not enough for me to simply dust off the under utilized wrestlers in an attempt to inject some much needed variety in the Tag Team Invitational PPV when playing 80s Mania Wrestling Returns.  This time around I decided to force myself to use the worst wrestlers I had.  To make it more appealing, I would offset these poorly rated openers with a Main Eventer that would match well with each.

The first part of this was to get the lowest Draw wrestlers:

Brit Buckingham

Lifeguard Chip

Mark Bugg

Tonto Loco

Cesar Sleaze

DangerZone

Yuppie VP

Curt Grunge

The next step was to match them with a high Draw wrestler that "made sense".  Here are the teams following their draft.

Brit Buckingham-King V*

Lifeguard Chip-Dude Brohan

Slugger Johnson-Vin Voltage

Tonto Loco-Chicano

Cesar Sleaze-Hammerhead

DangerZone-Hairy

Yuppie VP-Pierre The Enormous

Curt Grunge-Lazer ALT

Mark Bugg-Buzzsaw ALT**

*King V won the World title, making him ineligible by my arbitrary rules.  Their team name would have been Royal Pain.  Brit did not match up with anyone else, so I went with Hotshot/Ezekiel as a substitute team

**Mark Bugg/Buzzsaw did not make the cut, but would have been named BuggSaw

Finally the best part of the process was to come up with a team name for each:

Hotshot/Ezekiel                 Snipers

Lifeguard Chip/Dude Brohan Beach Bros

Slugger Johnson-Vin Voltage Power Hitters

Tonto Loco/Chicano         Los Guapos

Cesar Sleaze/Hammerhead Head Bangers

DangerZone/Hairy*         Flyboys

Yuppie VP/Pierre The Enormous Stock Market Crash**

Curt Grunge/Lazer ALT         Mosh Pit

*Originally was going to be Chance Solar, but he was injured the previous week.  

**Could have been named Bull Market, Bear Market, Death and Taxes.  A lot of options.

Finally the Tag Team Invitational Tournament:

Round1:

Flyboys defeat Stock Market Crash

Los Guapos defeat Power Hitters

Head Bangers defeat Beach Bros

Mosh Pit defeat Snipers

Round2:

Flyboys defeat Los Guapos

Mosh Pit defeat Head Bangers

Final:

Flyboys* defeat Mosh Pit

*DangerZone/Hairy had the lowest average Draw rating of the teams, but won the tournament

80s Mania Wrestling Returns - Tag Teams

I have been playing 80s Mania Wrestling Returns, which is a mobile game that puts you in charge of booking wrestling match with a strong homage to 80s and 90s wrestlers and pop culture.  The game rewards you when you book better matches, so the events tend to be a little top heavy where the Main Eventers reap the highest rewards, which leaves wrestlers further down on the card underutilized.  To combat this, I decided to de-emphasize the Main Event wrestlers in the March Madness singles tournament.  I created arbitrary rules for my federation that would only allow Upper Mid Carders or lower to compete in the tournament.  I also disallow current title holders.  These new rules made the MM tournament more competitive.

Overall, the Tag Team division had its own set of problems.  First of all, there were teams that would dominate.  Teams like Lazer/Flex, Blade Blasters, The Scoundrels, Big Money, were no longer allowed to team up due to their dominance of winning the Tag Team titles and keep them for months.  For reference, Toxic Terror, Daredevils, and the Van Winkles were the better tag teams following this adjustment, which worked since each team could be beaten. The next problem was that I had collected a high number of Tag Team cards.  Unfortunately, the weekly events rarely have tag team matches, unless its for the Tag Team title.  This leaves the Tag Team division with 3-4 teams completing, while 15+ teams never get a chance.  The Tag Team division was stagnant.  

Due to the March Madness success following new rules, I decided to apply new rules to the Tag Team Invitational as well.  I had high expectations, but the same teams kept winning the Tag Team Invitational.  It became obvious that the Tag Team Invitational tournament would need more severe rules.  I decided that the next Tag Team Invitational would have the following rules:

• No Legendary or Main Eventers
• No teams already with a Tag Team card (most cards were for low end teams that had no chance)
• Average draw rating per team must be below 45 (this prevented Upper Mids from teaming up and dominating)
• No current title holders
• Infrequently used wrestlers are encouraged.  This rule was created to give opportunities to wrestlers that had been mostly forgotten or underutilized.  I removed wrestlers that wrestled in most current events.

I won't bog down this already long blog post with a list of every eligible wrestler.  Below is the list of the 8 teams that were created for the Tag Team Invitational with these new rules.  I wanted to pair up the Goods/Bads/Tweeners.  I wanted the team to "make sense" by matching similar wrestlers.  Then finally, I decided to come up with team names for each team.  (For reference, my Fed is in 1992)

Bearded Brutes: Troglo - Big Thugee.  Big, bad, bearded brutes.  Big Thugee was one of the few overachievers invited, since he was doing well as an opener.  Troglo was a recent addition, who still had his default stats and was being mishandled by management (me).

Balls of Anger:  Cabb - Fireball.  They made sense to match up due to their ECW ties.  I liked the team name although it doesn't make much sense.

Masked Glory:  Freedom Fighter - Magnifico.  FF is under used because of how much I use his alter ego, Hammerhead.  Magnifico has taken a run at the Cruiserweight title a couple times, but his low Draw rating and use of a mask balanced nicely with FF.

Intestinal Fortitude:  Dicky Thunderbird - Ronny Believer.  Dicky had fallen off most cards of late and never had a tag team.  Ronny is fairly new and needed a push.  I liked how both wrestlers work long, difficult matches.  The team name fits them both.

Fantastic Frenzy:  Orion Northstar - Beastheart.  Sword swinging heroes.  While they made sense to team up, the team name still needs some work.  Maybe just call them "The Sword"?  They can't all be winners.

The Quest:  Zen - Red Pirate Rogers.  RPR hadn't wrestled in my Fed for several years.  He had a good run with Arizona Chance as The Adventures, but that was along time ago.  Arizona was replaced by Chance Solo, so RPR disappeared.  Zen has a similar problem once 8-Bit and High Score disbanded in the 90s.  Named "The Quest", since the pop culture equivalents to each wrestler was on a quest to rescue a princess. 

Los Arrogantes:  El Presidente - Ricardo Suave.  Originally this was going to be Suave and Strongarm, but Strongarm won the TV title just before the TTI PPV.  The last minute substitution was pure serendipity since this is my favorite team/team name now.  The team name is a nod to The Model's fragrance, "Arrogance".

The Kliq:  Big Rig - VTC.  Obvious team name, but I couldn't top it.  VTC might get ignored because he's last in almost every alphabetical listing.  Big Rig is a true underachiever, who was been given plenty of opportunities but has a terrible win/loss record.  Originally was going to team Big Rig with Chicano, but their team rating was too high.

Here is how the tournament played out...

1st Round:

Bearded Brutes defeats Balls Of Anger

Masked Glory defeats Intestinal Fortitude

Fantastic Frenzy defeats The Quest

Los Arrogantes defeats The Kliq

2nd Round:

Los Arrogantes defeats Fantastic Frenzy

Masked Glory beats Bearded Brutes

Finals:

Masked Glory defeats Los Arrogantes to win the Tag Team Invitational.

Final thoughts:

This was an excellent way to dust off some forgotten/underachieving wrestlers.  While I will probably not do this for every TTI, it was a great way to mix things up.  Both teams that made it to the finals have earned a push for the Tag Team title.  

Bonus:  Coming up with team names was more fun than I could have imagined.  

All Time Carolina Hurricanes Team

Decided to curate a Carolina Hurricanes All Time Team.  To start the process, I felt like I needed some rules/criteria or else this would be chaos.  I started with hockeydb.com and get a list of all the players that ever played for Carolina.  Next I ordered the players by Games Played, highest to lowest and started there.  Right away, you can see the easy all timers, such as Eric Staal (909 GP), Glen Wesley (729 GP), Rod Brind'Amour (694 GP), and Cam Ward (668 GP).  However, using this method will only take you so far.  Quickly, you will notice that there are some players with high GP numbers that you may not want on your All Time team (Craig Adams, Patrick Dwyer), so obviously I need to go to the POINTS.  My thinking was that you had to have a decent amount of GP for CAR for starters, but you had to contribute on the score sheet.  That is where I tried to get Sebastian Aho on the list.  He may not have the highest amount of games, but he did play 100% of his NHL games for CAR, plus his Points/Game ratio warrants adding him.  Players started to fall into place, except there were some positional oddities from HockeyDB, for example Rod Brind'Amour was listed as LW.  This might have been true when he played for Philly, but while he was a Cane, Rod lined up in the middle winning faceoffs like a beast.  Then there were Jeff O'Neill and Jeff Skinner, who HockeyDB listed both as Centers.  They both moved around a bit from line to line, but I remember both of them as wingers.  This allowed me to take some liberties with some lines and I don't care enough to lose sleep over it.  You may notice that I lumped all the Defensemen together because I was definitely not going to fret over RD/LD designations.  Finally, I had to make tough decisions at the end to fill out the team.  The "tie-breaker" so to speak was to choose to include a player that I thought was the better Carolina Hurricane, a completely subjective and arbitrary criteria that only exists in my head.  This tie breaker kept players  like Joe Corvo and Joni Pitkanen off the list, who may have contributed, but did not represent what I want in a Hurricane.  Without further delay, I present my All Time Carolina Hurricanes:

1st:

Eric Staal - C

Rod Brind'Amour - L

Jeff O'Neill - R

Glen Wesley - D

Justin Faulk - D

Cam Ward - G

2nd:

Ron Francis - C

Jeff Skinner - L

Justin Williams - R

Tim Gleason - D

Jaccob Slavin - D

Arturs Irbe - G

3rd:

Sebastian Aho - C

Erik Cole - L

Sami Kapanen - R

Niclas Wallin - D

Sean Hill - D

4th:

Jordan Staal - C

Ray Whitney - L

Chad LaRose - R

Last Man Out at each position:

Matt Cullen - C

Martin Gelinas - L

Tuomo Ruutu - R

Bret Hedican - D

Brett Pesce - D

Kevin Weekes - G

Low Carb Diet: One month later

About a month ago, I made some dietary changes after noticing that my weight was creeping up a little higher than I thought it should.  Hitting 194 lbs was like a warning light for my human engine and some maintenance was needed.  For lack of a better term, I adopted a "lazy Keto" approach.  Instead of going the full Keto route, which apparently includes militant macro nutrient counting and obsessive label reading, I decided to take the simpler approach of eating more protein, eating almost no carbohydrates, and supplementing extra fats to help keep me fuller, longer.   I started this dietary change close to the beginning of September 2018.  I stuck with it for a month and now I'll share my experiences.

Scheduling meals:
I live in a house with 3 other people.  Changing my diet drastically was going to affect them.  I did not want to be a burden or an annoyance to them, so I did what I could when we ate together (dinner).  That meant that the other 2 meals of the day was where I would have the most control.  If rice or pasta made it to my dinner plate, I could deal with it as long as I kept closer to Keto at breakfast/lunch. 

New items:
I was concerned about stocking an alternate pantry to support my diet.  Although I did have to buy some new/different items, it was not as many as I expected.  Before this dietary change, I was already close to being a vegetarian, so increasing my protein intake was going to take some effort. 

I started with eggs.  I ate SO many eggs this month.  Two eggs every morning in some way, shape, or form.  I already enjoyed making omelets for myself, but now that I was doing Lazy Keto, I needed to get a jump on my protein intake and those omelets were a perfect solution.  I would mix up the variety with some combination of onions, peppers, spinach, mushrooms, and a collection of cheeses.  On occasion, I would also cook up some bacon.  By the way, for perfectly cooked bacon put your bacon on a parchment lined cookie sheet and cook put it in the oven for 15 minutes at 380 degrees. Works every time.

Smoked salmon and deli meats turned into my go to proteins when I had a feeling I was not eating enough protein and needed to eat it without much preparation.  I bought coleslaw and more cheese to supplement my fat intake in the same non-prep manner.

Desserts had essentially been cut out of my diet due to an effort to reduce/eliminate sugar.  However, I needed something to fill that void.  I went with mixing chia seeds with coconut milk as my dessert.  The chia seeds act like tapioca to create a pudding like consistency.  I had previously bought some monkfruit based sweetener that I used in the chia/coconut milk pudding as well.  The monkfruit sweetener was not some specialty health food purchase.  I found it at my local Harris Teeter.  I originally bought this sweetener for my coffee, but since I don't drink that much coffee I figured that traditional sweeteners would not be so terrible when I had a cup.  I use real sugar (!) or Splenda. 

Meals:
I mentioned home dinners, which did not change that much.  However when I was cooking dinner for the family, I would shy away from the rice/pasta/bread.  Usually, I would prepare a hunk of meat with a vegetable side and maybe a salad.  Rice/pasta/bread would still show up on occasion, but I treated these like "cheat meals".  If most of my meals were low carb/Keto, then I believed I would still see the benefits.  I never saw my weight or anything else get thrown off by eating a higher carb meal occasionally.  I would limit the carbs when I could.  Smaller portions or reducing the carbs in some way. 

Eating out:
I go out to eat for a majority of my lunches during the work week.  This required some creative entree selections at my favorite restaurants.  A salad with meat or a burger without bread became my go-to meals.  A noodle bowl became a poke bowl.  Burritos became taco salads (no shell).  Absolutely no fries.  Soup is out.  And of course, bread was gone too.  I stuck with my half sweet/half unsweet tea.  I could do a separate post on what to eat at restaurants when on a low carb diet.

Social constraints:
There are temptations to veer away from a low carb/Keto diet around every turn.   A box of donuts at work.  A food truck.  A beer.  Yeah, a beer is considered a cheat.  When I wanted an alcoholic beverage at home I started drinking spiked seltzer water.  A surprisingly delicious and refreshing option during the hot summer nights.

People are generally supportive of alternative dietary restrictions.  Any stigma I found was self-induced.  I felt like I set myself to allow for some "cheats", but rarely did I feel the need to do it.  Carbs are rarely forced on you.  Its just a matter whether you want to drop your own guidelines to make yourself feel like everyone else.

Results:
I started the end of August 2018 weighing 194 lbs.  Today I weighed in at 184 lbs.  While I consider this a success, I believe that this approach is a short term solution for me.  That is not to say that I will go back to my carby days of the past.  However, I will re-incorporate carbs into my diet with some trepidation.  In the future, if I see my weight getting a little higher than I want, I could easily go back to this Lazy Keto approach. 

Dietary Changes

Decided to focus on my diet after I noticed that I was increasing my weekly running mileage, but my weight was creeping higher and higher.  I have been in the 190-195 pound range for years, especially since I have given up roller hockey and went to running as my full time exercise outlet.  When I see the weight get to 195, that is my alert to check on what I have been eating and possibly make adjustments.  Typically, a night of beer and/or barbecue would spike the weight a bit, so I could dismiss it as being too indulgent.  As long as I did not eat/drink like that on a steady basis, the weight would stay in my self-defined safe zone.  One day I noticed that the weight was not going back down, staying closer to 195 than to 190.  I figured some changes were in order.

I had a good friend that had reaped the benefits of going to a Keto diet.  I won't get into the specifics, but essentially, its a low/no carb - high fat/protein diet.  The science behind Keto and other carb deficient diets is that you get your body to burn fat instead of carbs.  You do this by not eating sugar/carbs (carbs get processed as sugar in your body).  Then your body has no choice but to burn the fat since there's no carbs/sugars left.  Since carbs fill you up, you need to offset the carb reductions with an increase in protein and fat.  This could be right up my alley.

I did the research and noticed that there is a high barrier of entry to this diet and what seems like an even higher level of commitment.  All new foods to buy (what is monkfruit?).  Readily available foods I used to eat any time are now forbidden.  This was not going to be easy.  Instead of jumping in the deep end, I decided to take a more gradual approach.  I created some customized guidelines for myself.
No potatoes - I had already mostly phased out potatoes from my diet, but now it was real.  I had been eating fries out of habit, not out of desire.
Less pasta/rice - I'm married to a native Louisianan.  Rice is going to show up on my plate from time to time.  Smaller rice portions should do the trick.  Removing pasta will be a battle.
Much less bread - I was having toast with my omelettes at breakfast.  Those were easy to eliminate.  Decided to eat half the bread on most sandwiches/burgers.  I would either toss the top bun or cut the bread down to smaller pieces. 
Beer on weekends - I'm a craft beer drinker.  Almost every beer I drink has carbs out the ying yang.  No more beer with dinner on week nights.  If I need to imbibe, I go to spiked seltzer which has been a refreshing twist during this summer already.
No desserts - I was never much of a dessert guy anyway. 

After only a week of using these guidelines, I saw the pounds come off.  I weighed in at 191 before deciding to ruin my progress by drinking beer and eating carbs over Labor Day weekend.  This 3 day weekend helped highlight some of the obstacles I may encounter using my guidelines

Sweet Tea - A few years back I switched from full on Sweet Tea to Half Sweet/Half Unsweet Tea.  I'll admit that I am addicted, since its a staple when I go out for lunches.  If I remove tea completely, I would probably offset by increasing my coffee intake.  Bought some low glycemic sweetener just in case.
Pasta - Some of my favorite cuisines are based on pasta (Italian, Chinese, assorted southeast Asia fare). 
Bread - The wife made some awesome sweet zucchini bread.  That was extremely difficult to ignore.  Cereal -  For most of my life, cereal is all that I would eat for breakfast.  Recently went to making eggs in some manner, but cereal is close to 50% of my breakfasts.  The carbs are just too high, so cereal has to go.  This will be phased out over a longer period of time.
Cheese/Crackers - I make a killer cheese dip.  The cheese dip can stay, but its delivery mechanism will need to change.  Still working on what that will be.  Might be an actual spoon.
Dark Chocolate - If I drink red wine, I love to finish with some dark chocolate.  Its more of a habit, I know, but the craving will be a battle to subvert. 

Although I had some quick success, it was fleeting since I did not stick with it long enough.  Looks like I can focus on my breakfasts and lunches, Monday through Friday.  I would hate to force the rest of my family to change their diets just because I decided to change mine, so dinners will remain mostly the same. 

My favorite Christmas music

There are so many versions of Christmas music out there, I decided to list my favorite songs as well as my favorite versions.  I like the upbeat, happy Christmas songs over the overwrought melodramatic/somber/sad ones.

In no particular order.....

All I Want For Christmas - Mariah Carey
Overplayed?  Yes.  Bubblegum pop-y?  Yep.  Do I care?   Nope.

White Christmas - Bing Crosby
Classic version from such a fantastic crooner.

The Christmas Song - Nat King Cole
And I don't even like chestnuts all that much.

Something About Christmas Time - Bryan Adams
Might be my favorite contemporary Christmas pop song.

Santa Claus is Comin' To Town - Bruce Springsteen
Practice real hard so Santa can bring you a brand new saxophone.

Merry Christmas Baby - Bruce Springsteen
I'm really not that into Bruce, but this song makes me sort of get it.

Jingle Bell Rock - Hall & Oates
Might have more to do with their cheesy music video, but I love their version the best.

Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree - Peggy Lee
Fun fact:  I always thought it sounded like "later we'll have some f***ing pie".  Took me several years to listen to that without laughing

Sleigh Ride - Harry Connick Jr
I dig the swing-y style of this version over the doo wap-ish Rondelles version.

Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer - Harry Connick Jr
Harry's first Christmas album was a true gem.  This version is so much fun.

Wonderful Christmastime - Paul McCartney
Not sure why this song gets so much hate.  I have always loved this song.

I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - John Mellencamp
Johnny brings the folksy twang.  The violin/fiddle is a welcomed addition.  Could do without the children singing at the end, but what are you gonna do?

Do They Know It's Christmas? - Band Aid
All Star lineup singing about Christmas and helping the less fortunate with an 80s sound like nothing else.  Sign me up.

A Holly Jolly Christmas - Burl Ives
I have a theory that Burl Ives was actually Santa Claus for a few years, because Burl was more Christmas-y.

Christmas Wrapping - The Waitresses
New Wave Christmas music.  Once the horns kick in, this song is tough to beat.

I'll Be Home For Christmas - Bing Crosby
Another classic

Its The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year - Andy Williams
Because IT IS!  A few dated references and jargon might get a little cringy, but Andy mellow voice smooths over any rough edges.

Step Into Christmas - Elton John
Upbeat, fun, catchy, and dedicated to having the Christmas spirit. A big win for Sir Elton.

Christmas Time is Here - Vince Guaraldi
One of my few somber Christmas favorites.  This song's eternal connection to Charlie Brown and the Peanuts is perfect.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas - Johnny Mathis
I sing this song to myself every year while putting up the Christmas lights.  No, really.

Mele Kalikimaka - Bing Crosby
Best Hawaiian Christmas song ever.

Here Comes Santa Claus - Elvis Presley
The King knew his way around a Christmas album.  Just ahead of Blue Christmas for me.

Feliz Navidad - Jose Feliciano
Getting dangerously close to being overplayed for me since the local radio station makes sure they play it once every hour.

Let It Snow - Dean Martin
You're right, this isn't really a Christmas song, but I'll allow it.

Last Christmas - Wham!
George Michael knows how to sing a hit song no matter the season.

Christmas in Hollis - Run DMC
Helps make Die Hard a great Christmas movie

Handicapping NHL94, Take 2

Same basic format as the last time I did this, but a little stricter on the ceiling for overall ratings.  The cutoff for forwards is 70 overall (instead of 75), while defensemen have a cutoff at 60.  Belfour and Roy will stay off the ice as the only forbidden goalies, but might need to switch to the back up if a team with goalies in the next tier (BUF, PHI, PIT, STL, TOR, WPG) have a few too many shutouts.  I will not be as lenient this time around.  Lose in the 1st round?  Move on to the next team.  Hat trick gets you benched for rest of the game, but not the entire playoffs.  Been trying not to use turbo in my own zone to catch up to breakaways, but that is not necessarily a hard and fast rule.

Playing with these limitations has changed my playing style.  Fewer big hits and more poke checks on D.  Try to bump the puck carrier just outside of the goal instead of checking.  Much more patient on offense, always looking for someone cutting to the middle for a one timer.  Most shots are from in close to the net, unless its a one-timer.  I have to work SO much harder for every advantage.  Winning the Cup with these teams will feel like a real accomplishment.  Only teams that did not win 4 games:  BUF, DAL, HFD, QUE

Anaheim:
Semonov-Loach-Loney, Ladoucer-Hill
No lineup changes.  They have the lowest average player rating as a team.  Surprisingly, I could still find ways to score.  Loney scored a hat trick vs VAN (Rd 1).  Semenov with a hatty and a GWG in 2OT vs LAK(Rd 3).  Loach with 3Gs in the Final.  King was the sub.  D played well.  Surprisingly balanced team all around.  Missed the individual goal totals, but assume it was Loach leading with about 5 goals.
4 games, 4 wins.  15 GF, 7 GA (4 games)

Boston:
Donato-Ruzicka-Kvartalnov, Murphy-Featherstone
Best and fastest team in this format.  Could not get in a goal scoring rhythm in Game 1, or else the total goals would have been even higher.  Murphy added a goal scoring D to the mix, which is now rare.  Lost Joey Juneau from the first time around, but this team was so stacked he wasn't missed. Ruzicka, 9Gs
4 Games, 4 wins.  25 GF, 4 GA

Buffalo:
Khmylev-Audette-Erry, Ledyard-Smehlik
This team was slow the last time around, but benching Hawerchuk for Audette kept this team in 1st gear.  DH cleared the way for the offense the last time around, so without him there was less space.  Audette plays strong around the net for rebounds, but doesn't push the play.  Both wingers disappeared.  Scoring was already a chore, but getting pucks past Roy was too much for this squad.  2nd round loss to MTL, 1-2.
Audette, 3G.
2 Games, 1 win.  4 GF, 2 GA

Calgary:
Ashton-Ranheim-Skrudland, Musil-Johansson
Thought this team would take a beating after changing the overall skill limit from 75 to 70.  So wrong.  Ranheim and Otto are both perfect for this format, and Otto doesn't even start.  Any goal scored by anyone else is a bonus.  The team has the fiercest forecheck overall.  They can hem the opponent in their own zone and suffocate them.  Although the Flames bogged down vs DAL in round 2 for some reason.
Ranheim, 10G.
4 Games, 4 wins.  24 GF, 2 GA

Chicago:
Goulet-Graham-Noonan, Russell-Marchment, Waite (G)
Above average team.  They can score, but in small doses.  Don't have to work as hard as the Ducks, but goals don't come as easy as the Flames.  D is able to slow down the opponents, mainly by acting like speed bumps.  Marchment can make things happen with his passes.  But no question about it: Goulet is the scorer.  If Graham was a little more accurate, he would dominate (or be benched for being too good)
Goulet, 8G
4 Games, 4 wins.  21 GF, 6 GA

Dallas:
Gilchrist-Broten-Craig, Sjodin-Johnson
Team passing is their strength.  Scoring goals off of well timed passes.  Nothing individual here.  Sjodin is so tempting to use on offense, but he consistently misses the net....by several feet.  McPhee subs in well to keep the same dynamic, but this is ultimately the Neil Broten show.  Too bad Stevie Y one timed his way to victory in Game 3.
Broten, 4G
3 Games, 2 wins. 9 GF, 3 GA

Detroit:
Sheppard-Kozlov-Gallant, Racine-Konstantinov
Scoring started off as a chore until they figured out the one-timer.  Sheppard parks in the crease and knocks everything in.  Gallant tried to do the same, but from a little further out on the wing.  Cashed in on several opponent turnovers to generate their offense.  Kozlov padded his stats with a couple of breakaways in garbage time.
Kozlov, 7G
4 Games, 4 wins.  22 GF, 2 GA

Edmonton:
Elik-Todd-Ciger, Smith-Benning
Ranford(G) has a strange knack to give up the "Forsburg Goal", where the puck slides in on the opposite side of where the skater goes.  Elik forces the action when he drives to the net.  The other forwards will sort of pitch in.  Weight was a pleasant surprise off the bench.  Defense likes to guard the boards instead of the net, so that's a problem.  Offense was hot and cold, but at least its balanced across the front line.
Elik, 8G (including OT GWG in the semis vs VAN)
4 Games, 4 wins.  16 GF, 6 GA

Florida:
Hough-Lomakin-Berlanger, Richer-Cirella
No updates needed for this trash heap since they are still below the thresholds I set. Hough seemed to find the scoring touch with slot crossing backhanders, which turned into the foundation of the offense.  Then after making sure Richer rarely touches the puck, things started to click.  The non-Hough forwards started to contribute once they didn't have any expectations to meet.
Belanger, 6G
4 Games, 4 wins. 17 GF, 6 GA

Hartford:
Nylander-Cassels-Kron, Pederson-Ladouceur
Feast or Famine.  This team put up 8, 6, 2 and 2 goals.  Nylander has the speed/agility to be a decent player, but shots are spotty.  Cassels scores goals, but is prone to miss open nets.  Kron had zero expectations, but scored 5 goals.  I refuse to talk about the defense.  Yake was the first sub, but I can't remember why he wasn't in the starting line up, but didn't change it.  Lost to VAN in the finals in OT, 3-2.
Cassels, 6G
4 Games, 3 wins.  18 GF, 7 GA

Los Angeles:
Millen-Donnelly-Loach, Sydor-Huddy
The new skill cutoffs brings this team back down to Earth.  Donnelly is still everywhere, but he needs help and is not getting it.  Loach is dull but Millen was a decent contributor, who ended up getting goals from Donnelly's wheeling/dealing.  Solid D keeps them in games by not giving up dumb goals.  Sydor had a few goals for his efforts. This team has the best PP.  Lots of crisp passing (but only on PP)
Millen, 5G
4 Games, 4 wins.  15 GF, 3 GA

Montreal:
Leeman-Keane-Carbonneau/Dionne, Daigneault-Brisebois
Uphill climb for the offense.  The talent is there, but most shots are easily blocked/saved.  Cue Daigneault to come in to save the day.  His slapper actually finds the net on occasion, plus he carries the puck better than some wingers (looking at you, Carbonneau).  Dionne subbed in substantially and scored some goals that #21 couldn't.  The whole team had to keep an eye on their own net since they have Racicot back there, not Roy.  Total goals is misleading after a 9-0 win over ANH.  Only 4 goal scorers in 4 games.
Keane, 8G
4 Games, 4 wins.  22 GF, 5 GA

New Jersey:
Zelepukin-MacLean-Nicholls, Neidermayer-Albelin
Lost Driver at the last minute due to the new cut off, which significantly made the D worse.
Borderline player Zelepukin has good speed and decent moves around the net to get some good goals, but had to sit for the finals for being too dominant.  Stastny is a welcome addition off the bench, but can't quite break into the starting lineup.  Neids was a disappointment with the puck, but held his own in front of their goalie (who gives up a lot of softies).  Entire team has good chemistry, with some pinpoint passing, completely opposite of the last time.  This team hung 11 on HFD.
Zelepukin/MacLean, 9 G each
4 Games, 4 wins.  31 GF, 7 GA

New York Islanders:
King-Ferraro-Volek, Kurvers-Norton
Patient full backs that methodically bull their way to the net.  A few wrist shots/slap shots/one timers, but this team works best when they take it straight to you.  All skaters are relatively the same, so any of them can pull out a hatty.  Volek had a hat trick in the first 3 mins of the semis vs QUE.  Dmen are fast enough and agile enough to make handing the puck not a chore.
Volek, 8G
4 Games, 4 wins.  27 GF, 6 GA

New York Rangers:
Kovalev-Amonte-Olczyk, Zubov-Cirella
Tony Amonte is driving and Eddie Olczyk is riding shotgun.  Everyone else get out of the way.  Kovalev was a ghost, barely scratching the score sheet in the first 2 games, then became a beast in games 3&4.  The D is slow, but smart.  Zubov can make things happen with the puck.  Forgot about Graves and Turcotte completely.  They still qualify in this format, but I just didn't use them.  Could have broke 30 goals with this team with #8  & #9.
Amonte, 8G
4 Games, 4 wins.  22 GF, 6 GA

Ottawa:
Baker-Kudelski-Smail, Shaw-Hammond
Well rounded team that could use some shot accuracy.  Mostly grinders.  Defense was spotty and goal tending was good enough.  Used RW as a platoon position between Smail and Lamb for offense/defense situations.  Although both did well enough with their opposite specialty.  Kudelski led the goal scoring, but I believe that anyone playing C would have done the same.  Baker disappointed a bit.
Kudelski, 5G
4 Games, 4 wins.  13 GF, 5 GA

Philadelphia:
Acton-Lomakin-Beranek, Hawgood-Galley
Oh man, these new rules really stick it to the Flyers.  Big drop off in talent.  Goals had to be one-timers or they weren't going in.  Felt like an expansion team.  Had to play through a second time after losing what I typed.  Only forward goal scoring with Acton leading the way.  Beranek with the OT GWG in the Finals vs VAN.  Almost had 4 shutouts, which wasn't close to happening the first time.  Go figure.
Acton, 4G
4 Games, 4 wins.  9 GF, 1 GA

Pittsburgh:
Tocchet-McEachern-Straka, K.Samuelsson-Stanton
I loved playing with Straka.  He seemed to have a 6th sense about the puck, always in the right place.  Too bad that didn't translate to as much scoring as I expected.  Tocchet was a damn sniper. McEachern filled the middle lanes better than he carried the puck, so it was a balance.  D was non-existent, chipping in only a couple assists and cleaning up after Barrasso's rebounds.
Tocchet, 9G
4 Games, 4 wins.  20 GF, 4 GA

Quebec:
Lapointe-Young-Rucinsky, Foote-Tatarinov
Score a ton against mediocre/bad D, but struggle against decent/good D.  Feast or famine, like the Whalers.  Young and Lapointe are both on the cusp of being good, but both fall short.  Mostly interchangeable forwards but they have a bit of a scoring touch.  Foote can make some things happen, but has a terrible shot.  Huge upset in the semis, with HFD winning a defensive battle, 1-0.
Young, 5G
3 Games, 2 wins.  15 GF, 4 GA

San Jose:
Falloon-Berezan-Gaudreau, Ozolinsh-Wilkinson
Is there another player as frustrating as Falloon?  Good speed/agility can create shots, but will miss the water if he fell out of a boat.  All goals had to be in close.  The D have some speed to make things happen on the offensive end, especially Ozolinsh.  Scores were low and had to grind out victories.  Irbe was....not good.   Highest GAA for a goalie in this format.
Falloon, 6G
4 Games, 4 wins.  16 GF, 8 GA

St Louis:
Miller-Sutter-Bassen, Crossman-Butcher
Mostly a one man show with Sutter.  Team goes as Sutter goes, but Bassen can hang with him to chip in.  Miller is no slouch with some goals to show for his efforts.  D is passable, but far from game changing.
Bassen, 6G
4 Games, 4 wins.  18 GF, 5 GA

Tampa Bay:
Andersson-Kontos-Kasper, Hamrlik-Bergevin
Goals were initially tough to come by, but things opened up in later rounds.  Andersson has some jam, but Kontos has the touch.  Between them they make one good player.  Kasper is a prototype grinder, without much skill.  Bureau was awesome off the bench for a couple goals.  D is just meh.
Kontos, 9G
4 Games, 4 wins.  21 GF, 5 GA

Toronto:
Krushelski-Cullen-Zezel, Macoun-Gill
This is a great overall team considering the restrictions.  All Fs are in the 60s and all the D are in the 50s.  However, the D were consistently out of position, but they were able to unleash a few slapshots from outside that actually resulted in goals, so I could overlook it.  The Sabres gave them everything they could handle in the finals, but the Leafs gutted out their only close game 3-2 behind Zezel's hat trick.  The 3 starting forwards ended up with 11 points each.
Zezel, 8G
4 Games, 4 wins.  23 GF, 3 GA

Vancouver:
Semenov-Momesso-Craven/Nedved, Lidster-Plavsic/Diduck
What a struggle for a team that was supposed to be one of the better teams!  I even put Nedved in, hoping his high shot accuracy could generate some offense, but his concrete filled skates kept him from scoring much.  Could never quite figure this team out.  Probably the most underperforming team.  Had to remove Plavsic since he takes SO many penalties, like one per period.  A 6-0 blowout in the finals skewed the stats a bit.
Semenov, 5G
4 Games, 4 wins.  17 GF, 6 GA

Washington:
Carpenter-Miller-Pivonka, Cavallini-Woolley
Carpenter and Miller are all over the ice.  Great speed and control.  Pivonka fills in nicely.  But none of the forwards are much of a marksman.  The defensemen are fine as long as they don't have to play defense.  This front line made playing this game fun again.
Miller, 7G
4 Games, 4 wins.  19 GF, 6 GA

Winnipeg:
Davydov-Eagles-Tkachuk, Bautin-Ulanov
Plenty of goals to go around.  Multiple hat tricks and even Kris King chipped in off the bench.  Davydov probably shouldn't be eligible, but this is the last team in this experiment, so I wanted to leave on a high note.  Assumed Tkachuk would make a difference, but he would be dominant in one game and disappear in the next.  Bautin was a huge surprise, looking skilled enough to play F.
Tkachuk, 7G
4 Games, 4 wins.  21 GF, 4 GA.