NHL 95
Sega World
Championship
Colin regains O.E Cup as Sean Collins moves into 'true contender' status!
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Ladies tournament a success!
The women's side:
For the first time in the history of this illustrious event a ladies tournament took place in 2018. Women from as as far away as Ottawa, Sudbury and Toronto begrudgingly descended on Waterloo to get their hockey on. After much grumbling the tournament began and immediately frowns were turned upside down. It turns out they did like Green Eggs and Ham. They just had to try it.
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The original schedule did not provide enough games to satiate the now voracious hockey appetites that suddenly manifested in the room, so more games were added on the fly.
The finals saw a battle between Shannon and Marah, with Shannon emerging the victor and getting to name the newly minted trophy. She chose "The Stan Lee Cup".
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The 3rd place match-up was won by Lily who bested Margie in a classic Toronto beats Ottawa affair.
The highlight of the 5th place match-up was Nat punching Tammy square in the face to celebrate her victory.
Afterwords everyone was euphoric with the event and danced aggressively to DJ Kahled's hit song "All I Do is Win".
The tournament was so successful that emails were immediately received requesting a spot in the 2019 affair.
The men's side:
Round Robin
With 12 players on the men's side, the round robin consisted of 7 randomly selected games for each player. Having won the past two tournaments, Shawn Bell came in as a slight favourite over former World #1 Colin.
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The tournament started off in typical fashion, as Colin sent an early message dismantling Jon N 9-1. Colin continued to run up the scores and looked to be in peak form until he met up with the new and improved Sean Collins. Coming off a disappointing 5th place finish in 2017, Collins was out for blood, as witnessed by both the colour of tournament shirts he chose and his 4-3 win over one of the world's best. Outside of a random 2-2 draw to Mark the Shark (before the dangerweed...), Sean ran roughshod over the field - accumulating 13 points and a 1st place finish after pool play.
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Colin took care of his other opponents and finished in 2nd place, while the defending champ Shawn Bell came into the tournament a bit cold and laboured through two ties to little bro Nate and Stefan. Shawn and Colin both accumulated 12 points but Colin's ability to run up scores gave him the 2-seed. Stefan and Nate finished the round robin with an identical 9 points (4-2-1 record), rounding out the top 5.
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After arriving late - with a broken foot! - James showed what kind of dedicated competitor he really is. Full of scotch and adrenaline, James finished just behind Nate and Stefan with 8 points. The remaining six Segathletes all finished with points totals between 2 and 5.
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John J lead this group with 5 points and looked to be on the cusp for more with two close losses to Nate and Stefan. Jon N and Dasri finished tied with 4 points each, however Dasri won the head-to-head matchup and therefore rounded out the top 8. Ian (3 points), Mark the Shark (3) and Chris Collins (2) finished 10th,11th and 12th in what was the closest round robin the OE Championship has ever seen.
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Championship Round
One game knockout
With the top 4 seeds getting byes, the first round of the playoffs proved to be a close and stressful one game do-or-die battle. Winners would move on to the Quarterfinals.
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The first game saw the 8th seeded Dasri play some lockdown D and squeak by 9th seeded Jon N 2-0.
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Next, Nate Bell (5 seed) felt the pressure vs Chris Collins (12) as the game was scoreless through 2 periods. Finally, with 22 seconds on the clock, Nate was able to dry his palms enough to sneak one by the keeper - managing to scrape by 1-0 into the quarters.
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The 6 vs 11 matchup proved to be a mismatch as James crushed a rapidly fading Mark the Shark 6-1.
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The first upset of the knockout round came from Ian (10) over Jon J (7)! After a promising start to the tournament, many thought it would be an easy walkover for the 7 seed. However, following a 3-2 loss to upstart Ian, Jon J was left questioning his earlier choices of consumption. Strangely, Ian seemed to be the only competitor thriving from the now infamous 'dangerweed'...
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Quarterfinals (best 2 out of 3)
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Dasri (8) vs Sean Collins (1)
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Game 1 saw Dasri jump out to an early lead before finally falling 2-1. Again in game two, Dasri battled and put some pressure on Sean Collins before eventually losing 3-1 and being eliminated from the championship bracket. Solid defending to hold the #1 seed to 5 combined goals.
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Nate (5) vs Stefan (4)
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Over the past 3 years, Nate and Stefan had matched-up twice in the elimination round - with each of them winning one series. Additionally, both players had identical 4-2-1 round robin records so this series shaped up to be the most anticipated of the quarters. Stefan took early control in the first game and dominated 4-1. Game 2 saw a struggling Nate figure out how to stifle Stefan's attack and he managed a 2-0 win to even the series. The deciding game 3 came down to the wire and a stressful 1-0 Nate Bell win moved him onto the semis. To quote a 95% sober Sean Collins, '"What a battle!"
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James (6) vs Shawn B (3)
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James seemed to be in peak form coming into the 3-6 matchup but not one person thought he had a shot to knockoff the defending champ. After a 5-2 loss in game 1, it was looking just about over. Game 2 saw Shawn Bell get off to a fast start and start looking ahead to a potential semifinal matchup with his nemesis Colin. However, James roared back, winning the game 5-3 and evening the series at 1. Suddenly the crowd started to gather for a potentially massive upset. It was not to be. Shawn Bell dominated from the start and cruised to a 6-1 win. Onto the semis.
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Ian (10) vs Colin (2)
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After Ian's big upset last round, the crowd wondered if he could pull off the shocker of the night. He couldn't. 5-0 and 4-0 wins moved Colin into the semis where he would face the 2-time defending champ.
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Semifinals (best 3 out of 5)
Nate (5) vs Sean Collins (1)
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Their last elimination matchup was in 2016 with Nate Bell barely scraping by in a close 3-game series. 2018, however, was a different story. Sean Collins appeared to have reached a new 'peak' level - a level that included a 6-1 demolition of Nate in the round robin.
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Game 1 came and went with a quick 4-0 win for Sean Collins. He then followed that up with another dominating 5-2 performance in game 2. After finishing off the three game sweep with a 3-2 win, the SEGA gods seemed to be smiling down on Sean Collins. On to the FINALS!
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Shawn Bell (3) vs Colin (2)
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Shawn, the back-to-back champ with 3 career OE cups vs Colin, the back-to-back runner up with 4 career OE cups! The matchup everyone was waiting for did not disappoint.
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Game 1 was a defensive struggle as both players matched intensity with shutdown manual goaltending. Shawn Bell eventually scored the OT winner and took a 1-0 series lead. After a 4-1 game two destruction, the belligerent trash talk began for Bell. Colin seemed discouraged and the crowd wondered if his reign at the top was permanently over.
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As Colin looked for answers, some in the crowd swore they heard him whisper a short prayer to '95 legend Jeremy Roenick. Much like Lemieux in '91 and '92, Roy in '93 and Messier in '94 - Colin would have to reach into the depths of his soul in order lift one of the most illustrious trophy's in all of sports. Did he have it in him?
Impressively, Colin took game three 2-0 and game four 2-1. All of a sudden, we had a DO-OR-DIE game 5.
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In the fifth and deciding game, it all came down to a rogue face-off in the late stages of the 3rd period. Colin got to the puck and buried the game and series winner, taking the final game 2-1! What.a.series.
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Finals (Best 4 out of 7)
Colin (2) vs Sean Collins (1)
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Colin vs Collins for the OE Cup. Sean, having already beaten Colin in the round robin, came into the finals without a loss in the entire tournament. The crowd placed their bets and settled in to see if someone other than the Big 2 could finally win a 'ship.
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Game 1: Colin outclasses Sean with a 5-1 win. Uh oh.
Game 2: Sean evens up the series with a tense 2-1 OT win.
Game 3: Colin wins a tough road game 3-1 to retake the lead.
Game 4: 5-2 Colin and he's on the brink of another championship.
Game 5: Another 5-2 win and Colin is the 2018 OE CUP Champion!
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Final Results:
1. Colin: Finishes the tournament with a 15-4 record and his 5th OE CUP. *Will now have to drink a bottle of OE from the poisonous trophy to kickstart the 2019 tourney as a handicap.
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2. Sean Collins: Despite losing in the finals, Sean achieves his best ever tournament result. He also finished a career low in beers and this type of behaviour will have to be monitored in '19.
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3. Shawn Bell: A disappointing 3rd place finish shows just how hard it is to win 3 straight championships in any sport. He'll be on a mission to incur additional baggage fees, and the wrath of his wife, bringing the '19 trophy back up north.
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4. Nate Bell: Lost the bronze medal match to his older brother and overall had a disappointing tournament after missing '17.
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5. Stefan: Beat James for 5th place but can't be happy with another year outside of the top 3. Also failed to deliver any late night OE infused rants which was out of the ordinary.
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6. James: All in all, a pretty successful tournament for James as he continues to creep closer to the contenders.
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7. Ian: His highest ever OE CUP result, Ian seems to have vaulted into a higher tier, mainly due to his impressively high tolerance for dangerweed.
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8. Dasri: Improving on his 11th place finish in '17, Dasri, at times, showed lockdown D and he managed to stay in every game. If he can find a way to consistently score, he'll undoubtedly move up the rankings.
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9. Jon Niemi: Falling one spot from his '17 finish, Niemi had an up and down tournament but managed to pull it together to win the bottom half of the consolation bracket.
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10. Jon Johnson: In the battle of Jon's, Johnson came up short and settled for 10th place. While he can't be pleased with the overall result, Jon did cause a few of the big boys trouble in the round robin.
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11. Chris Collins: Really came on to end the tournament and almost knocked off Nate Bell in the first playoff round. Unfortunately, Chris won his finale by default as his 'not last place' opponent was roaming the streets of Waterloo in a OE/dangerweed craze.
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12. Mark the Shark: Admirably filling in for Shawn Kavanaugh, who left the tournament early, Mark peaked in the round robin by tying the 2nd place finisher. Alas, the substances took hold and Mark tapped out. He'll be back in '19 with a new game plan.