KINCH'S CORNER
Brought to you by Lasse Kinch
Date:10/2-02
Playoffs, here we come
Ahh.. The playoffs is just around the corner, what a joy. Finally we will get to see some real action. During the last week there hasn't been that many important games in the league. In all but one division has the playoff teams been determined. In the Ali division there is still a fight between LA and NYR for that last spot.
Team Uniforms
Since the last Corner we've seen one addition. It was the Carnivals farm team the Paris Bastilles that presented their new jerseys. Team uniforms can be viewed at: http://www.fieldornithologists.com/twhl/teams.html
Templates for those who want to design jerseys can be found at the buttom of the page.
League Polls
No official Poll has been open during the last week. On the Rio Carnivals homepage you can vote on which rule you want to see be changed before TWHL3.
Streaks n slumps all together
Playoff format
Coaches having no effect
Trade board inconsistencies
Players over age 35 on the draftlist
Remove +2/-2 streaks and slumps
The Trades
The trading deadline was last weekend and we saw some action in the final minutes. Trading will now be suspended until after the TWHL2 FA draft.
First out we have Hong Kong and Montreal. The Hong Kong management have on several occation stated that they were looking for a backup goalie to Pat Desrochers. In this deal with Montreal they got one. Stephane Fiset will surely help out the Hurricanes. Unfortenatly for the HK team was Fiset injured in a recent game against Cairo. It was in Hong Kongs 7-1 win that Fiset got injured. He will now miss parts of the first round of the playoffs. With some bad luck the whole playoffs if HK lose in straight games to Singapore/Taipei. Montreal got an extra player that might be useful in the future.
To Hong Kong
36 Stephane Fiset L G 6 9 8 7 2 8 8 4 9 - - 61
To Montreal
21 Janne Niinimaa L D 7 8 8 6 7 7 8 6 6 7 6 76
50 Kristian Kudroc R D 2 4 2 2 3 5 3 1 1 5 4 32
Montreal was busy during the last couple of days before the deadline. This next deal sees retiring centerman Josef Marha going to Montreal in exchange for defensive winger Landon Wilson. Right now this looks like a poor trade for Montreal. Taipei was probably looking to shake their team.
To Montreal:
26 Josef Marha C 4 9 8 8 8 9 9 7 7 9 5 83 50%
To Taipei:
27 Landon Wilson RW 7 9 9 8 9 7 9 3 4 9 7 81 40%
This next deal looks better for the Canadian team. Promising winger Craig Johnson goes to Montreal and Radek Bonk comes to Stockholm. Stockholm has been looking for a backup center all season and they probably felt that they couldn't nter the playoffs without one. Especially now when Sundin is performing well below his usuall level.
To Stockholm
53 Radek Bonk R C 5 7 8 7 7 6 8 6 7 7 7 75 2
To Montreal
30 Craig Johnson L RW 4 8 7 7 8 8 8 3 6 6 8 73 3
The Divisions
ALI
Toronto keeps on dominating this division. They have been playing outstanding lately and they had a 18 game unbeaten streak ended earlier this week. Chicago and Vancouver are now on safe ground and will make it to the playoffs. LA are for the moment out of the playoffs. They sit 1 point behind New York with only two games left to play. Both LA's remaining games are at home vs Stockholm. Toronto is my favorites to come out of this division.
PELE
Cape Town and Mexico is battling for first place in the division and Havana and Rio is fighting for 3rd place. Santiago and Cairo will miss the playoffs. Rod Brind'Amour in Mexico is on his way to winning the scoring title this year. He has scored the most goals in the league so far. Mexico will have to pay a high price if they want to re-sign him during the FA draft. The Harlot sacked their coach earlier this week in a desperate attempt to bring some fighting spirit into the team. Rumors say that the team was seen boarding a plane to Amsterdam, Netherlands where newly appointed coach Bill Hicks reportedly owns a crack-house. Another rumor say that Carnivals head coach Dave King will be fired later this week if the team doesn't start winning 14-3 like Toronto do.
BORG
Prague and London will miss the playoffs. Stockholm will most likely win their second division title. The question now is which team they will play in the first round of the playoffs. It is very likely that Rome will win their series agianst either Berlin or Moscow. Stockholm leads the division with 90 points. That is one more than they had last year. It was in their game against division rivals the London Aces that the Ratz got their 90th point on the season.
LEE
Singapore is looking good for the moment. No they have been looking god all season. They must be held favorites to win the cup this season after their regular season display. They will most likely play the Hurricanes in the first round of the playoffs meanwhile will the Typhoons and the Dragons do battle in the other Lee division semi final. Calcutta and Melbourne have now dropped below .500.