NHL 95
Sega World
Championship
Shawn Bell takes 2nd title as tourney continues growth
Eleven competitors, 196 cans of Collective Arts beer, three TVs and a handful of spectators. It may have been the best NHL '95 tournament yet.
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In the end the Defending Champ was dethroned, two new challengers made their marks, Myles beat Ian, again, and Stefan Todoroff got himself back into the elite company.
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Here's the final standings, combatant by combatant.
1. Champion - Shawn Bell
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In some ways, the outcome was never in doubt. Shawn started the tournament by beating Nate and Colin, and rolled through the rest of the round robin going 10 - 0. It was a no-doubt quarter final win over Jon Niemi, which set up the semi-final re-match against Nate Bell.
Remember last year, when Nate shocked the tournament by beating Shawn in the semis? It didn't happen this time around, as Shawn took the series 3-1.
In the finals, Shawn faced the defending champ Colin. The two competitors split the first two games, before Shawn reeled off two straight wins to take the Trophy.
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This is Shawn's second OE Cup victory, after his first win in 2014. Its hard to argue that this was the easier of his two wins. Two losses all tournament, and even the finals wasn't all that close. A well earned championship.
2. Colin Pardoe
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It was as bad of a tournament as you could have and still finish second.
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Starting with a round robin loss to Shawn, and then later a loss to Stefan, Colin went 8-2 in the round robin - just good enough for 2nd. He had no trouble beating Brent in the quarters, and most of the spectators assumed Colin would march to the Championship despite his round robin trouble.
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In the semi-finals Colin swept Stefan, geting a mesure of revenge after the round robin loss. The finals, however, didn't go well. Colin lost game one, bounced back to win game two, but then lost games three and four to give up the trophy.
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There's no doubt Colin will be back in contention in 2017. But all in all, 2016 will be a year he will want to forget.
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3. Stefan Todoroff
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This was a dream tournament for Stefan, culminating in a third-place victory for the first time in three years.
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It started with a round robin victory over Colin, the first time Stefan had ever beaten Colin. That in itself would have been good enough, but Stefan followed it up with an excellent round robin where he finished third.
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In the quarters Stefan took a bit of a scare from James, but came out on top two straight games.
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That set up a semi-finals with Colin, which ended pretty quick.
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In the 3rd place finals, a tight battle with Nate ended up in game 5 OT winning goal and Stefan as the victor. It also ended with a glass chandelier smashed in the victory.
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4. Nate Bell
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After his upset victory over Shawn Bell and finishing 2nd in 2015, Nate was looking for big things in 2016. It didn't really come to fruition.
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The tournament did not get off to a good start for Nate, as he lost game one to Shawn and then lost again to Colin, Stefan and tied Jon Niemi in the round robin. The end result was a 5th place round robin finish and a quarterfinal battle with Sean Collins.
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In the quarters Nate showed that his 2015 result wasn't a fluke, beating Sean in a tight 3 game series. In the semis, Nate took game one against Shawn, which brought back memories of last year's big upset. But this time around Nate couldn't keep up the momentum, losing the next 3 games and the series.
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In the 3rd place match, Nate put up a battle but in the end fell just short against Stefan to finish the tournament in 4th place.
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5. Sean Collins
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Sean missed last year after the birth of his daughter. The layoff may have affected him this year.
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In the round robin, Sean won the games he was expected to win and lost the games he wasn't. In the end he finished 4th, setting up the tough quarterfinal matchup.
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In the quarters, Sean fell just short to Nate, and dropped into the consolation round.
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The rest of the tournament was pretty much as expected, given Sean's experience. He dominated Jon, then beat Brent to secure the 5th place finish. But Sean cannot be satisfied with a 5th place victory.
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6. Brent Kaesler
Brent's first tournament was an overwhelming success. A 6th place finish, with no experience, may be the most surprising result of the tournament.
In the round robin, Brent took a lot of players by surprise and finished 7th. He quickly lost to Colin in the quarters, dropping down into the Consolation round.
In the Consolation round, Brent set up against James in what may become one of the best new rivalries of the tournament. After a game one loss, Brent rebounded to win the next two and knock James out of 6th place.
Although Brent lost to Sean in the 5th place game, a 6th place finish is an amazing result for a rookie.
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7. James Wuergler
James has carved out a little niche for himself, sitting just above the bottom players but not yet able to challenge the top 5. But this year he lost his hold on 6th, and so the tournament has to be considered a failure.​
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In the round robin James did enough to secure his usual 6th place finish, getting himself into the quarterfinals. Although he lost, as expected, to Stefan in the quarters, he had a good chance to finish 6th or even 5th.
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However, despite winning game one of his series against Brent, James couldn't hang on and lost the next two games. As a result, Brent went on to the 5th place game and James was sent down.
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In the 7th place game James had a forfeit victory, but that will be a bitter finish.
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8. Jon Niemi
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Another rookie who had an impressive tournament, it would have been interesting to see what would have happened if Jon could have better handled his beer.
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Jon had an excellent round robin, helped out by two wins from Thom Brott on his behalf. It was culminated by a tie with Nate, totally unexpected. In the quarters, Jon lost to Shawn in two quick games. Then he had a tough round against Sean Collins. After losing that one, Jon would have had a chance against James for 7th. But all he could do was shake his head, too drunk in the corner.
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However, as a rookie with no experience, just getting into the top 8 was an accomplishment.
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9. Myles Dunn​
With two rookies, this was supposed to be the year Myles established himself as a cut above the bottom feeders. But the round robin turned out to be a disaster, as Myles lost to Brent, Jon/Thom, and James. The result with a round robin finish out of the top 8, and regulation to the bottom pool.
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The only consolation for Myles was that he steamrolled the bottom group, including a couple wins over his rival Ian to finish 9th.
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10. Ian Lawrence
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Everyone has been wondering if Ian can move up. But as new contenders join, Ian finds himself falling further down the charts.
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The 2016 tournament wasn't Ian's best performance, although he competed well in the round robin but still ended up out of the top 8.
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He did beat Chris to get to the 9th place final series, but a two-straight series loss to Myles has to burn.
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11. Chris Collins
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Chris lost every game all tournament, although he had a couple of close ones including an excellent performance against Colin in the round robin. He's getting better each tournament, but a disappointing finish in the 9th place mini-tourney will have him looking forward to better things next year.
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