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***goldenglutes*** · 05-15-2020, 02:37 AM

S46 Four Star Cup Finals -- Crushed Hopes and Dreams

Quote:Double Media - Week 2 (Past Championships). 1454 words

Gather round eveyone. Come listen to an old player reminisce about his junior days, so many seasons ago.

Let me set the scene. It's S45, and the SMJHL had just pulled off the biggest draft in the site's history. Over 150 players were created and drafted, and Guy Zheng had fallen to the Kelowna Knights. While the whole league was talking about the other teams and their absolute hauls during the draft, I was quietly confident about the squad that @Zoone16 had assembled. In that historic draft, Kelowna drafted four of the best players in S46, who are still near the top of the TPE charts today -- Guy Zheng, Bobby @Nerio Sharp, Karlstraße @karlssens Scholz, and Barry @Katth Batsbak. These players now have an average TPE of nearly 1.7k, two full seasons from regression. Kelowna also drafted David @ImShiny Vent, now a star player in his own right -- an absolute steal in the 6th round. On top of drafting these 5 future stars, after the draft the Knights also picked up Dick @5ympathies Clapper, a free agent who created soon after the draft and is now also near 1.7k TPE, and Nathan @micool132 Explosion, now a 1.2k TPE player on San Francisco. Kelowna had quietly pulled off one of the most successful drafts of the season, and no one was really paying attention. For S45, these young, promising rookies played the supporting cast to a decent team, with highlights including Nolan Sawchuk (1.3k TPE, now on Chicago), Nickolas Klaus (1.2k TPE, now on Baltimore), Sanyi Kocsis (now retired, peaking at 763 TPE), and Vivian Leblanc (800+ TPE, now on Winnipeg). The team managed a third place finish, but were swept in the second round by the St Louis Scarecrows. The Scarecrows then went on to win their second Four Star Cup in a row. This was the beginning of a short-lived but bitter rivalry.

The young S45 rookies were relentless in their pursuit of TPE, and nearly every one of them had reached the SMJHL TPE cap by the time the next season rolled around. This team was hungry and eager to get their first glimpse of success in the league. During the S46 draft, Kelowna also managed to pick up Gunnar Soderberg, who would then go on to be drafted second overall in the S47 SHL Draft by the Tampa Bay Barracuda. The addition of Soderberg to the locker room injected a breath of life into the Kelowna discord, and it was safe to say that the off-ice contributions of @sköldpaddor far outweighed anything Soderberg could possibly accomplish on the ice while playing a measly 9 minutes per game. The fact that the soon-to-be superstar was stuck playing a grinder on the fourth line is a testament to the sheer amount of talent on the Kelowna roster -- we were the favourites by far, and we had a total of 11-13 capped players on our roster (my memory is failing me here, the point being we had the highest average TPE in the league). The only other team that had anywhere near the same amount of talent as the Knights were the Scarecrows, back to try to win their third Four Star in a row.

Kelowna went on to destroy the rest of the league in the regular season. We finished first with 69 points (nice), with the Scarecrows trailing behind in second place at 63. We knew we were hot shit, and there was no stopping us. The team was even on a five game winning streak to end the season before the Armada rudely took a game from us. It was time to see how the team would fare in the playoffs.

Since the Knights had finished first in the league, we secured a bye in the first round (back in the day before FHM, that was a thing). The Detroit Falcons managed to handily defeat the Vancouver Whalers, and they advanced to face us. We made short work of the series and promptly swept them.

While waiting on the rest of the quarter final games to finish, we just sat pretty and watched as the rest of the league cannibalized itself. We were enjoying the show -- GMs were openly hoping that the seeds would fall in their favour and they could avoid Kelowna in the semi finals. The Montreal Militia (RIP) were the next team on the chopping block for the Knoots, and boy did they put on a show. The Militia dragged the star-studded Knights to a 7 game series before eventually getting shutout by Vivian Leblanc in the final game. On the other side of the bracket, the Scarecrows handily defeated the Armada in 6 games, and the stage was set.

Sometime between the start of the playoffs and the finals, New England Wolfpack GM @Ace had contacted me and @5ympathies, suggesting that we would be called up after the conclusion of playoffs. Admittedly, at the time I was fine with this. My thinking was that Kelowna were the favourites to win the cup, and once I had a Four Star I'd be comfortable leaving the team and joining the SHL. Boy did that line of thinking backfire.

The Knights surged right out the gate with a 4-0 shutout. We felt unstoppable, and we felt like victory was inevitable. Of course, we ended up taking the second game against the Scarecrow as well. Neither of these games were close -- it was complete domination. Over the next two games, St. Louis managed to claw back with two extremely close wins at home, and the series was tied at 2-2. In the fifth game of the series, the Knights struck back with a stunning 4-1 win. The cup was now just a single win away, and although no one in the locker room dared say anything in case we jinxed it, we were all already secretly planning the cup parade. Game 6 was an absolute heart stopper, as the game was tied at 2 and was forced to go to overtime. Once again, St. Louis managed to claw their way to victory, as had been the trend in every close game of the series. The only thing left was game 7.

The game was tense. The first period saw the teams trading a goal each. The second period saw the same, and the score was tied at 2-2. It all fell apart in the third. The Knights, succumbing to the pressure, let in two consecutive goals. Although Nathan Explosion managed to pot one soon after, it wasn't enough. In a heartbreaking game 7, the Kelowna Knights were defeated by the St. Louis Scarecrows, who had now won their third Four Star Cup in a row, tying the record for most cups in a row previously set by the Kelowna Knights.

I was devastated. Since I had given my word to Ace that I'd be fine with getting called up, that was the end of the road for my junior career. Even if I had stayed down for another shot at the cup, the team likely wouldn't have made it, as all of the older heavy hitters were also leaving to try their hand in the big league. Even worse, Ace had also called up Gordie Boomhover, who scored the cup winning goal for St. Louis in game 7. Those next few seasons felt hollow, as if there wasn't much of a point to try anymore. I had gone from a ultra-successful junior team to a tanking, rebuilding New England, and it was just impossible to recreate those same emotions that we felt during the S46 run. Of course, we eventually found some success in New England, fluking our way to the Challenge Cup finals in S49 before getting swept by Edmonton, Ace's old team. Soon after, as our team steadily grew in TPE, we were paraded around by the league as the prime example why Simon T was a terrible simulation engine. On paper, we had developed one of the most stacked rosters in the league, but we failed to make the playoffs for many seasons in a row. We felt like the laughing stock the league, and it was definitely the lowest point of my career so far.

Of course, in recent history our luck began to turn when we switched to FHM. Now I'm starting to see that sparkle in the New England locker room again, the one that I'm reminded of every time I think back to the Knights' incredible run back in S46. The next time we make it to the finals, I'll make sure to finish it.

Signatures by Vulfzilla, Jepox, Jess, rum_ham, Ragnar, and myself
[Image: 9vAsr7c.png]

*5ympathies* · 05-15-2020, 02:54 AM

sad moment

Thanks to JSS for the signature

ImShiny · 05-15-2020, 06:29 AM

:(

*sköldpaddor* · 05-15-2020, 06:56 AM

oh man this hurt, that was such an amazing team to be a part of in my rookie season

*CptSquall* · 05-15-2020, 07:28 AM

You guys were absolute beauts back then and are now too. Heart

*Zoone16* · 05-15-2020, 08:30 AM

I still wake up at night because of how that season ended. :(

Also your draft class was basically my magnum opus of my time as GM.

SlashACM · 05-15-2020, 11:16 AM

Knights, crows, any cup winner is fine by me as long as it's not Detroit!

Scarecrows

Fuck detroit

***notorioustig*** · 05-15-2020, 11:52 AM

05-15-2020, 11:16 AMSlashACM Wrote: Knights, crows, any cup winner is fine by me as long as it's not Detroit!

Fuck detroit

Hoes mad

SlashACM · 05-15-2020, 11:56 AM

05-15-2020, 11:52 AMnotorioustig Wrote:
05-15-2020, 11:16 AMSlashACM Wrote: Knights, crows, any cup winner is fine by me as long as it's not Detroit!

Fuck detroit

Hoes mad

More of a tractor guy

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