HeadLine Mackie's Round 1 Run Down

I'm back to provide my useless opinion again folks! shoutout to all the teams that didnt forfeit away their season and congratulations to those of you who made ploffs! RIP to those teams in the Pacific who missed ploffs with 95+ points, welcome to the no wild card AHL!

Eastern Atlantic

Lehigh Valley Phantoms (4) v Charlotte Checkers (1)
Season Series: 1-3
Now that Charlotte has their cap figured out, they seem to have just way too much depth for Lehigh to handle. Nuge and the first line SHOULD be able to pull out two wins, as in my opinion Charlotte really lacks that big first line threat, but the depth of Charlotte just completely outclasses that of Lehigh. This whole series however is one that is going to come down to both teams starting goalies. Name Is Ricky and Jonas Petersson have been two of the best goalies in the AHL for 2 season in a row now, so it really completely comes down to which team can solve the other teams starting goalie, because you know both of these guys will be playing 5/7 games.

Prediction: Charlotte Checkers in 6.

Wilkes Barre Scranton Penguins (3) v Providence Bruins (2)
Season Series: 2-2
Statistically, this is SUPPOSED to be one of the closer match-ups in the first round, however WBS just banned Konecny which could come as a huge blow to them on a team that really doesn’t have a forward that can score goals when they need too. Top to bottom however, with Konecny out the door, it looks to me like Providence just has all the advantages over WBS now.

Prediction: Providence Bruins in 5.


Eastern North

Toronto (4) v Utica (1)
Season Series: 1-3
I’ll refrain from commenting on this series as GM of Utica.

Prediction: Lazy better let me score or we’re gonna have some issues with our relationship.

Rochester (3) v Laval (2)
Season Series: 1-4
This COULD turn out to be a close series with how Laval has failed to score in a lot of their games (they actually rank -21 in G/D, below Rochester who sits at a 0, as the 2nd seed in the division) but that hasn’t seemed to be the case when they play Rochester, actually outscoring them 15-7 through 5 games. This will probably be a series that comes down to how the starting goalies perform much like the Lehigh and Charlotte series. UT and AngryFawn are two of the better goalies in the AHL, both playing behind otherwise lackluster defense, and both facing over 12 shots a game on average. At then end of the day, though, we can all expect this series to have a LOT of one goal games, with both teams having over 40 games this season decided by one goal. In my opinion though, the overall skill advantage has to tip Lavals way.

Prediction: Laval in 5.


Western Central

Grand Rapids Griffins (4) v Manitoba Moose (1)
Season Series: 1-3
The Billsmafia line MAY steal one game, but let’s be honest, Manitoba is in every way the better team.

Prediction: Manitoba Moose in 5 games.

Cleveland Monsters (3) v Chicago Wolves (2)
Season Series: 2-2
If this series DOESN’T go 7 games, I’ll be shocked. These are two of the better teams in the leagues who are very evenly matched. At the same time though, Cleveland also only used 8 different players in their head to head series this season, so Chicago really hasn’t had the opportunity to see what the rest of the team has to offer, with them only playing the Dip City Don line this season in all 4 encounters. At the end of the day though, with a goalie like Darcy behind them I think Cleveland has the overall better G7 line if it goes that far.

Prediction: Cleveland Monsters in 7.


Western Pacific

San Jose Barracuda (4) v Stackton Heat (1)
Season Series: 1-3

San Jose quite literally limped their way into playoffs the last few weeks of their seasons, barely squeaking in because of an overtime loss at the end of the season. Honestly I’d rather see them replaced with San Antonio or San Diego, but alas it is what it is. With the removal of Malchesky though, I don’t think they have the depth required to go up against a team as deep as Stackton. The additions of xJLucas and Modemizer are big and really help round out a very good overall team that should be considered a favourite in the Western Conference with their offense and defense. The one potential weakness should be considered their goaltending, but with a D-core like Stacktons it shouldn’t really hinder them in the slightest.

But the same story happened last season so who knows, maybe I’m crazy like this division is..

Prediction: Stackton Heat in 6. 555.

Ontario Reign (3) v Tucson RoadRunners (2)
Season Series: 1-3
Realistically, this is a lot closer than seeding and season series really dictates. With the ability to line match, something Tucson really doesn’t get to do due to their teams availability on certain players, Ontario clearly gets a very good advantage with how much depth their team actually has. Tucson may have been a good regular season team. But if you look at their team and the head to head match ups between these teams, Tucson used 9/17 players in their games vs Ontario, not using their 3rd line or complete 2nd line D-pairing once as GiveMeDaPuck and Lamar1226 were actually the only D to play vs Ontario that remain on Tucsons rosters. Personally, I don’t believe Tucsons 2nd and 3rd line D have the slightest chance of shutting down any of Ontario’s lines, so in a full on series of 7 games, the obvious advantage lies with Ontario. You can’t play your first line 7 times this week when Brodie is on your team. Congrats on not finishing 27th though.

Prediction: Ontario Reign in 6.

Good luck to everyone in ploffs!

#MackieOUT

 

Good write up

Marlies in 6 btw

 

Cant trust your predictions because you predicted us 27th. You have no credibility. K bye.

 

Great write up. It's almost as if your involved with media.

 

nice write up

 

Lmfao sure was wrong about Tucsan’s D cause Ontario got shut down hard by our “shitty” 2nd and 3rd D line. What are they going to do when we use our 1st D line? lmfao

 

Too long, not ethical enough to grant my time. @l Mackie l

 

Cleveland getting swept

 

Media Team internally discussing the breaking news of the day:

 

Not even a mention for me WOW

 

EA saved you from going 0-2 this series.

 

Well.. Atleast you gave the predictions a try!