World Cup of Hockey 11 (Rosters/RPs/Scores)

[Sorthern Northland]

Beningrad Morning Star Online

All to play for in final group match

A two-one victory for Sorthern Northland over Delaclava in their ice hockey World Cup match not only moved the Sortherners about their opponents in the Group Å table but combined with a one-nil win for Eizen over Shivat leaves them in a strong position to qualify automatically for the knock-outs rounds.

Despite the importance of the win the match itself was one that will not live long in the memory. A dull and timid first period was followed up by a second period in which the only noteworthy moment was a goal scored by the Delaclav team with seven minutes remaining. Particularly impressive was the manner in which the Delaclav players crowded into a tight pack whilst the shot was being taken to make it impossible to determine the identity of the scorer.

Whilst the third period was an improvement on the two prior, many spectators were seen to be throwing pistachios at each in a bid to liven things up. Possibly distracted by the pistachios Delaclav goaltender Ezekiel Faroza made a hash of a Jean Fleury shot, allowing Miĉjo Bruguera to deflect the rebound into the net to tie the match. A cynical trip by Delaclav defencemen Jimmy Sands in the closing stages of the match then allowed Aileen Ní Dheághaidh to score a power play winner and move Sorthern Northland into third place in the group standings.

Shivat's defeat to Eizen leaves them in second just a point ahead of the Sortherners and with the two playing each other in the final round of group matches both teams will have their chances of automatic progress firmly in their own hands.

“I have only praise for the players.” claimed Sorthern Northland coach Théophile Brodeur whilst speaking to media after the game.

“Okay, we are lucky to have the Shivat result to go our way today, but we still had to get a result against Delaclava to get into this position and we've done that. We've had to perform well in previous games to get the points necessary to be here as well, and we've done that. We now go into the final group game going with our destiny in our own hands, and that's a very pleasing position to be in. It will give us a lot of confidence.”

[Quintessence of Dust]

And a nice prompt cutoff for the final qualifying stage.

[Quintessence of Dust]

Group A (Kynythin)

Ad'ihan 2-5 Warkus
Swartaz 3-9 Valanora
Sarzonia 7-1 StevePolis

Pos                             P   W   D   L   GF   GA   GD  Pts
  1  Sarzonia                  10   9   0   1   47   15   32   18
  2  Valanora                  10   9   0   1   45   14   31   18
  3  Swartaz                   10   3   2   5   15   32  -17    8
  4  Warkus                    10   3   1   6   19   38  -19    7
  5  StevePolis                10   2   1   7   21   31  -10    5
  6  Ad'ihan                   10   1   2   7   15   32  -17    4

Group Æ (Toonmar)

Andrewboy 1-3 Tocrowkia
Qazox 8-1 Royalsoldiers
Cyrelia 0-2 The Fanboyists

Pos                             P   W   D   L   GF   GA   GD  Pts
  1  The Fanboyists            10   7   1   2   27   16   11   15
  2  Qazox                     10   7   0   3   41   22   19   14
  3  Tocrowkia                 10   6   0   4   35   25   10   12
  4  Cyrelia                   10   5   2   3   23   15    8   12
  5  Royalsoldiers             10   2   1   7   16   38  -22    5
  6  Andrewboy                 10   0   2   8   16   42  -26    2

Group Á (Greschmeier)

The Babbage Islands 1-2 Toyur
Euroslavia 2-1 San Giorgio a Cremano
Cassadaigua 1-2 Chocolate Pencils

Pos                             P   W   D   L   GF   GA   GD  Pts


  1  Cassadaigua               10   9   0   1   35   10   25   18
  2  The Babbage Islands       10   5   2   3   27   20    7   12
  3  Toyur                     10   6   0   4   23   21    2   12
  4  Chocolate Pencils         10   3   3   4   16   20   -4    9
  5  Euroslavia                10   2   2   6   11   24  -13    6
  6  San Giorgio a Cremano     10   0   3   7   12   29  -17    3

Group À (New Cleethorpes)

BrightonBurg 2-4 Plutoni
Kenavt 2-5 Newmanistan
Estresse Intenso 1-1 Jeffgordonville

Pos                             P   W   D   L   GF   GA   GD  Pts
  1  Plutoni                   10   8   2   0   38   15   23   18
  2  Newmanistan               10   6   3   1   27   12   15   15
  3  Jeffgordonville           10   3   4   3   16   16    0   10
  4  Estresse Intenso          10   2   2   6   15   22   -7    6
  5  Kenavt                    10   2   2   6   20   30  -10    6
  6  BrightonBurg              10   2   1   7   11   32  -21    5

Group Ä (Dareb)

Dancougar 3-0 Vitius
Taeshan 2-4 Toiletdonia
Kulverint 4-4 Sibirsky

Pos                             P   W   D   L   GF   GA   GD  Pts
  1  Dancougar                 10   8   2   0   30    9   21   18
  2  Taeshan                   10   6   3   1   27   17   10   15
  3  Kulverint                 10   4   2   4   25   24    1   10
  4  Toiletdonia               10   3   2   5   15   23   -8    8
  5  Sibirsky                  10   2   2   6   23   29   -6    6
  6  Vitius                    10   1   1   8   13   31  -18    3

Group Å (Highmark City)

Delaclava 2-1 Virabia
Shivat 1-3 Sorthern Northland
Eizen 1-4 Kelssek

Pos                             P   W   D   L   GF   GA   GD  Pts
  1  Kelssek                   10   6   3   1   35   19   16   15
  2  Sorthern Northland        10   5   2   3   27   23    4   12
  3  Delaclava                 10   4   3   3   24   18    6   11
  3  Shivat                    10   4   3   3   21   15    6   11
  5  Eizen                     10   4   1   5   14   21   -7    9
  6  Virabia                   10   0   2   8   13   38  -25    2

Congratulations to the teams in green, who have qualified for the playoffs. So have the teams in teal, who have earned three Moderately-Tempestuous-Card places. And we bid goodbye, sadly, to the teams in red, but hope to see them again for the next World Cup of Hockey.

Which leaves the two teams in a rather daring mauve taupe, who are tied for the fourth Moderately-Tempestuous-Card berth. They cannot be separated by points, wins or goal difference, and tied 1-1 in both their head-to-head encounters. As such, they will have a play-in game to decide who goes to the playoffs.

[Quintessence of Dust]

[Amended] Playoff Details

The qualifying teams have been seeded based on their finishing order. Interestingly, the top two seeds come from the same group (A, Kynythin). The playoff structure is based on the seeding:

Play-in game - 18th February

This will be played at New Cleethorpes Municipal Sporting Ground Rink #1.

Delaclava v Shivat

Round of 16 - 19th February

Games A1 and A4 will be played at Bracket Park in Toonmar.
Games A2 and A3 will be played at the National Stadium of Sports in Highmark City.
Games B1 and B4 will be played at Motor Hall in Kynythin.
Games B2 and B3 will be played at the Northern Astrodome in Greschmeier.

A1: Sarzonia (1) v Delaclava or Shivat (16)
A2: Plutoni (4) v The Babbage Islands (13)
A3: Dancougar (5) v Cyrelia (12)
A4: The Fanboyists (8) v Taeshan (9)

B1: Valanora (2) v Toyur (15)
B2: Cassadaigua (3) v Sorthern Northland (14)
B3: Kelssek (6) v Tocrowkia (11)
B4: Newmanistan (7) v Qazox (10)

Quarterfinals - 21st February

Game A5 will be played at Bracket Park in Toonmar.
Game A6 will be played at the National Stadium of Sports in Highmark City.
Game B5 will be played at Motor Hall in Kynythin.
Game B6 will be played at the Northern Astrodome in Greschmeier.

A5: Winner A1 v Winner A4
A6: Winner A2 v Winner A3

B5: Winner B1 v Winner B4
B6: Winner B2 v Winner B3

Semifinals - 23rd February

Game A7 will be played at Bracket Park in Toonmar.
Game B7 will be played at Motor Hall in Kynythin.

A7: Winner A5 v Winner A6

B7: Winner B5 v Winner B6

Final - 25th February

The final will be played at the Northern Astrodome in Greschmeier.

[The Fanboyists]

Volunteers get their revenge, win Toonmar group with 7-1-2 record

The Volunteers on the ice secured the third Fanboyist playoff spot (regardless of sport) after winning the Toonmar group with a 7-1-2 record (7 wins, 1 tie, 2 losses), sealing the deal with a 2-0 vengence game over Cyrelia, who qualified for a Moderately-Tempestuous Card slot alongside third place Tocrowkia, while Qazox took the second automatic berth.

The Volunteers managed two unanswered goals on Cyrelia in revenge of their last match where the Cyrelians won by a single goal.

The scoring opened with a powerplay in which Mike Green scored off an assist by Danielle Andicek. The other goal came in the third period by Kristin Maarks off of a Theo Braannur assist. There was one fight, not instigated by a Fanboyist, but Artie Weis, bruiser that he is, handily won it, encouraging his teammates leading into the power play.

[Cyrelia]

Shaw slammed his fist into the door as he entered the changing rooms,
"So what, you think qualifying is enough to justify your performance out there? What the hell do you think you're doing?" He was livid, todays match had been awful make no mistake. His team had not had their hearts in it and Shaw had noticed! "We're doing extra hours tonight, to make up for the work you didn't do out there on the rink tonight."
There were a few contemptuous groans but Shaw retorted in kind "Stow that or I swear I'll bench you, I don't care how good you think you are if you f*ck with our nations image like you did tonight EVER again I will cut you from the team so fast you'll think you got slashed by a Kardathan street player. I am beyond disappointment this evening, I came in to this with one goal: to ensure that you guys tried your best no matter what the score or the scenario... Obviously I have failed tonight, and I don't know what to do with you so Merrick is going to run training. You want my support and you want me to pick you then you better fucking work for it! I haven't sworn in a changing room for twenty three years and tonight I've done it twice, that is how angry I am with you!"
Shaw shook his head and made for the door, the team looked shocked at the ferocity of Shaw's post-game feedback. "Don't bother getting changed, you guys are getting back out on the ice and you are training untill Merrick is satisfied you guys have worked hard enough. We play one of the more successful teams next, I hope you guys step up and remember why we're here before we really embaress ourselves..."
Shaw slammed the door behind him, he needed to call his wife. He had been let down sorely this evening...

[Plutoni]

Plutoni ice hockey blog: WCoH 11, Matchday 10
Bumblebees hover in wait as group stage finishes

A win against BrightonBurg saw Plutoni take the fourth overall seed in the playoffs, setting up a rematch with The Babbage Islands. The national teams met last tournament in the first knockout round; Plutoni won the series two games to three. This tournament, however, will be single-elimination.

Mukwal Kuyem drew an early penalty for Plutoni, but scored upon returning to the ice. BrightonBurg would equalize later in the first period, however, and even take a lead in the second. However, Meefla Katlon converted a Turfli Jeamin pass to tie the game back up with five minutes to play in the second period, and in the third, Plutoni would pull away. Early dominance of possession allowed Jofri Spendral to score four minutes in, and Gregory Kotts added another goal at 7:25.

Plutoni and The Babbage Islands will face off in the Quintessential capital, Highmark City. The group there featured a tie for the final Moderately-Tempestuous-Card berth; the involved teams, Delaclava and Shivat, will play off for the spot in New Cleethorpes.

Comments:
1. flake: We're in luck, in a twisted sort of way; Emily Johnson, the Bumblebee goalie, has been hurt. Not sure if she'll make it back in time.
2. chchamp: like she was 2 much trouble last time???
3. bocky_boy: It was hard to tell, I'll admit, but BrightonBurg have improved a little. Better game than I expected.
4. seb: Katlon and Spendral as stars of the game. That one forward as the token Bruin.
5. icebaby: Which one forward?
6. seb: That one, you know who I mean.
7. icebaby: No, I don't.
8. seb: I'm going to bookmark this conversation for next time you complain about people refusing to draw "obvious" conclusions.

[Qazox]

Despite the 8-1 thrashing of Royalsoldiers, which clinched Qazox not only a playoff berth, but thanks to the Fanboyists win over Cyrelia, Qazox will have to face Newmanistan in the round of 16.

Scoring Summary
First Period
(QZX) 2:23- Sandra Guy (1-0 Qazox)
(QZX) 5:08- Issac Maynerd (2-0 Qazox)
(QZX) 8:00- Issac Maynerd (3-0 Qazox)
(ROY) 10:23 Defender #2 SH (3-1 Qazox)
(QZX) 13:17- Greg Thompson (4-1 Qazox)
Second Period
(QZX) 7:06- Sandra Guy (5-1 Qazox)
(QZX) 11:26- Mike Uwe (6-1 Qazox)
Third Period
(QZX) 1:06- Wesley Knight (7-1 Qazox)
(QZX) 7:25- Mike Uwe (8-1 Qazox)

(i'll have the WCoH Wiki Page updated tommorrow)

[Quintessence of Dust]

RP cutoff for the play-in game.

[Quintessence of Dust]

Play-in game

Shivat 0-3 Delaclava

Hosting announcement

A modification to the originally posted playoff draw has been made. This does not affect the Round of 16 matchups, but will come into effect at the quarterfinal stage.

[Cassadaigua]

Andrew’s Space

Now it’s time to play some real hockey! The group stage is over with and after we went undefeated with our main lineup, winning nine of the nine games with the personnel that will play in the playoffs, some people have taken it upon themselves to question why we played the reserves against Chocolate Pencils when a seeding was at stake. Simply put, it was more important to ensure the health of our team and for us to be completely fresh for once the playoffs began. We are a three seed, and we could have been a one or a two I suppose. If we were the top seed, then we play Delaclava. That’s a good team. If we are the number two seed, we play Toyur for the third time during the WCOH, and going three-for-three against a world class team is never easy. So as the three seed we play Sorthern Northland. This isn’t World Cup soccer, so playing Sorthern Northland in the first round is not as daunting as it would be in that sport. We should be favored quite nicely in the game, and we should be able to pick up a victory.

When one looks at Sorthern Northland, you see a team that looked a bit inconsistent during group play. Some days they were wonderful, and then on others, they seemed lost. They did tough it out though in what looked to be a group of decent parity, so they will be battle tested and certainly ready to play. But we are fresh, and ready to hit the ice against them. For it will be us that need to dictate the flow of this game, and with Melanie Roy in net, we can handle them. We plan on hanging around a while in Quintessence of Dust, after all.

[Sarzonia]

In the end, it didn't matter which goalie started for Sarzonia.

Young Kieran Barker started the final group stage match against StevePolis and ended up only having to make 10 saves en route to a 7-1 triumph. The victory not only gave Sarzonia the group crown in spite of Valanora's 9-3 victory over Swartaz, it also gave Sarzonia the top overall seed in the knockout stages.

"We wanted to give Kieran some experience," said coach Mark Browers. "He did a nice job when he was called upon. Fortunately, we didn't need to call upon him too much."

"We could have started Bozo the Clown in goal and it wouldn't have mattered," said starting goalie Matt Peterson, who watched the match from the press box while veteran Joe Cullen was the backup to Barker. "That team was hardly a threat."

Perhaps, but Peterson said that would be the last easy match the Stars would have for a while. Sarzonia (9-0-1) will face Delaclava, which defeated Shivat 3-0 in a play-in match that came about when both teams were level on all WCoH tiebreakers. Peterson will start the match barring injury or suspension.

"They're a strong club," he said. "They're battle tested after last night's match. We're going to have to be ready for them."

Sylvan Turcotte certainly looked ready for the playoffs in the match against StevePolis. He scored twice and added four assists. Cameron Granato added one goal and one assist, and Mark Ridley scored twice.

"It's certainly gratifying to see Sylvie regain his form in time for the knockout rounds," said Granato. "We're looking forward to it."

Browers said his team would have to learn "really damn fast" how to handle prosperity and not get complacent as the No. 1 overall seed.

"We had to work hard to get into the knockouts in good position," he said. "We're going to have to take [Delaclava's] best shot when we face them tomorrow night."

[Dancougar]

Last time, on World Cup of Hockey Side Story!

"She must not want to accept it," Reizenstein replied. He sighed deeply and rose from his seat, making his way to a filing cabinet. He shifted through it and produced a manilla folder after about thirty seconds and brought it back to the table. He handed it to Russ. "Leo isn't guilty of any crime, so it shouldn't hurt to show you this."

Russ flipped through the documents quickly and then handed him to Peter. Peter lingered longer on the first page and let out a whistle as he read the writeup. "Multiple personality disorder, huh?" asked Peter. "So that's what you were trying to treat?"

"I see many cases like his in this line of work, but Leo's was interesting," Reizenstein said. "He had two distinct personalities. One was very calm and hard-working, but he was also a bit of a bungler. Now, normally anyone who makes mistakes is going to get angry with themselves, but Leo went further than that. He had a violent personality who manifested whenever he made a serious mistake. And the target of that violent behavior..."

"... was Leo himself," Russ concluded.

Leo Cashman... promising intern for AGAINST, the sports network which wants so badly to be DSPN but fails hard. After botching a match report for a playoff game against Sarzonia, Cashman atoned for it with his life, apparently unwilling to accept the traditional intern pink slip. But is that what really happened? Peter Klingenschmidt and Russ Pauli are on the case because there is no one else. No, seriously, there isn't. We looked.

Peter was happy about the previous day's result, a textbook 3-0 win over Vitius which completed an unbeaten run through the group stage and earned the Wings a fifth seed in the knockout bracket. Only Taeshan had been able to take anything from them, so the team had to feel good about its chances of at least reaching the quarterfinals. Peter was bumbling around the office making phone calls around the country to gather rubber chickens for what he described as "a most appropriate sacrifice." Russ, in the meantime, was finally putting together the finishing touches on his final report. Leo Cashman had in fact killed himself, but there was slightly more to it than that. In order to figure that out, he'd drive all over the Stoneridge area in search of interview candidates to supplement what evidence he had collected from the Newmanistan hotel.

Peter hung up the phone and came over to the desk. "Hey, you have the professor's number lying around?" he asked. "I need supplies."

"Supplies for what exactly?" asked Russ.

"Dude, the rubber chicken sacrifice for the hockey team," Peter replied. "It's going to be so awesome. I figured burning and blowing them up was cool and all, but hockey's a cold-weather sport, so I figured I had to take it up a notch... or in this case, down."

"It should be over there," Russ said. "But before you do that, I need you to take a quick look over this draft." He handed Peter his case report. "It's still a little rough around the edges, but I think I covered everything."

Peter ran his eyes across the paper. "Yadda yadda, Sarzonia paper, blah blah multiple personalities, yeah this about covers it." He handed the documents back and started searching through a phone book for Professor von Steuben. After hurriedly dialing, he went back across the room with a clipboard in hand. "Professor, hey, I was wondering if you could do me a huge favor..."

Russ' final report, which he presented to the head of his division, detailed the unfortunate downfall of Leo Cashman:
* Cashman had been unable to collect firsthand information about the game due to his lack of a proper press clearance. Whenever this happened, he would usually turn to Todd Shane, a fellow intern, for assistance. Cashman and Shane would compile and compare game notes to make sure the information presented in Cashman's writeup reflected what actually happened in the game.
* Cashman and Shane were both competing for an exchange program hosted by the Portland Press-Herald in Sarzonia, with Cashman as the front-runner despite the fact that Shane was to thank for most of his work. But Shane, the less ambitious of the two, never minded the situation. This put him at odds with then-girlfriend Laura Zhitnik, who wanted Shane to be more assertive on the job.
* The night of the game against Sarzonia, Zhitnik arranged for Shane to leave his post early for a romantic dinner at the hotel where they were staying. That way, when Cashman came for game notes, he would run into her instead. Intending to sabotage Cashman's chances of earning the exchange spot, Zhitnik presented him with a false game writeup and somehow convinced him to use that instead of checking his own notes.
* Cashman put together a quick draft and submitted it, returning to his hotel room to learn that his report had contained multiple factual inaccuracies and that his job was forfeit. Meanwhile, Zhitnik met Shane for dinner in the hotel restaurant, with both completely unaware of what was happening in Cashman's room.
* The intense stress triggered by his sudden firing was enough to bring out his violent second personality, which had been lying dormant thanks to medication prescribed by Dr. Malcolm Reizenstein, a fact which Cashman's mother attempted to keep secret for personal reasons. A struggle between the conscious and subsonscious personalities led to the observed damage in the room and culminated with Cashman's death via a stabbing wound.

It was unsure where they could go from here. The family had been given a substantial donation by the Sarzonians in the wake of the event, and Russ wondered if they or the Dancougar Sports Ministry would reconsider once the facts he'd uncovered came to light. As for Zhitnik, she had done nothing criminal in influencing Cashman to write his story with bad information, nor would any court blame her for Cashman's suicide. But her involvement was probably substantial enough that the family could sue for damages if they wanted.

Russ and Peter headed to the car so he could file his report. "Hey, Russ, on the way out, can you drop my off at the I-Haul?" he asked. "I needed to rent a truck for this evening's festivities."

"What... exactly do you need a truck for?" asked Russ, afraid of the answer.

"A thousand rubber chickens and a few tanks of liquid nitrogen," Peter responded cheerfully. "A sacrifice for hockey requires a deep freeze."

"I'm sure it does," Russ replied as he turned the ignition. "At least now we can put all this behind us and enjoy the rest of the tournament."

"What do you think I've been doing?" Peter laughed as the car pulled away from the apartment building.

END

---

World Cup of Hockey 11 QUALIFIER
Dareb, Quintessence of Dust

DANCOUGAR  0  2  1  -  3
VITIUS     0  0  0  -  0

2nd Period
   11:16 DAN: Greinke (G Brancanto, Shilke)
   15:29 DAN: Chudzinski (Andreasen)
3rd Period
    7:01 DAN: Prier (Jacaruso, A Brancanto)

W Dunnegan (2-0): 18 SV, 0 GA

[Newmanistan]

The arrests of the three men in Pocono City for the attempted airline hijacking (or at least that’s what the cops thought the intent was) began to become what would be the undoing of the Dover Bloodhounds. Authorities began to look for similarities between the men, thinking that they could uncover some kind of terrorist organization, and the investigation of the parts that would be used to make the bomb also began to provide leads. Still, they needed one big break, and a tattoo would be the beginning. One official noted that one of these men had the same tattoo as did High Rolla, a tattoo of a dog on top of a pair of dice, an otherwise unique marking that clinched the fact that there was a connection between the two incidents. Momentum continued to work in the favor of law enforcement, even without contacting Joe Loggins or Brittany Allison to see what they knew. They wanted that to be a last resort knowing how much of a painful experience this had been for them, they didn’t want them to rehash it. For Brittany, changing her phone number was a simple way to get the Bloodhounds to stop being able to contact her, and she spent a lot of her time with her new boyfriend; a man by the name of Corey Ostroff who happened to play a little basketball and had hit a couple of IBC-winning shots. “Corey and I have so much in common,” Brittany said as tabloids enjoy this little tidbit about the two of them, “I’m glad some good will come out of this for me.”

None of the men that were arrested for the reporter abduction had cooperated until Biggs saw news of the attempted airplane hijacking (or so they thought). For Biggs, a man that was college educated and had been dealt some bad breaks growing up, thus beginning a downward spiral in his life, this is not why he joined the Dover Bloodhounds. The organization was about making money to him, and that was all. Sadly, the more money he won, the more greedy he got. His days in jail made him realize why he even bothered, he had been pretty good predicting results of sporting events on his own. For example in hockey, he not only thought the Rockets would do well, but predicted the Chocolate Pencils win over Cassadaigua with one of the prison guards due to the fact that he knew the Dagans would be looking ahead. It was that guard who, after the result, got Biggs thinking about doing what he was about to do when he simply told him, “Man, if you stayed clean you could have made a legitimate living at this, not a criminal living.” Those words began to sink in but the attempting bombing was the last straw. He did not approve of that and the next morning, he asked the guard to, “Get (police chief) Perry. The time has come. It’s time to talk. I can’t live with this any longer.”

Perry was more then thrilled to me woken up at 5:36 am to be told of the news even if he stayed out a bit too late last night, it being Newmanistanain Independence Day and all. He couldn’t wait an hour or two, if Biggs wanted to talk, he had to get there before he began to change his mind. Once at the prison he and Biggs and a security guard began to talk. Cameras and tape recorders rolled as Biggs began with an apology. He admitted that he was now feeling very guilty over everything that happened, saying it was only supposed to be about the money several times before ratting on the Bloodhounds, informing Perry of the specifics of the organization. He told Perry of important men within the organization, where they lived and what they did. As the police chief frantically noted all of this information, he was surprised to see that he was not dealing with a bunch of thuggish like individuals at all, but instead individuals who had good jobs and several of them, families. Somehow the allure of quick money via gambling had consumed them, and took over their lives. Biggs told Perry everything he possibly could, and was honest in everything. He apologized again and began to break down in tears. He had cracked, just like Perry had hoped, just like he had always been trained that a criminal who maybe never wanted to be a criminal always would. For a moment he looked at Biggs and realized that this was not was not a life that he should have had and was not a life he would have had if it weren’t for some tough breaks earlier in his life.

But once that moment was over, and Biggs had finished saying everything he knew, he would be escorted back to cell. Perry told Biggs that this confession would be very beneficial to his getting a much lesser sentence then what it could be, and he headed back to the police station. There the authorities began to put the pieces together, and the day after independence day was soon going to be a day of a major Bloodhound bust. Perry phone agent Merrill of Sarzonia of the information, and welcomed her to “join in on making the arrests” of what was a list of 63 names provided by Biggs.

Back in Quintessence of Dust, the hockey team was oblivious to all of this except for Slava Kolosov. He was happy that the bombing never came to fruition but kept wondering when he would get that next phone call that ordered him to do something else. The call never came, making him wondering what was up, as well as concerning him about what could be happening behind his back. But as he cleared his head, this began to become about hockey once again, and it needed to. Newmanistan had a huge game against Qazox, and for as good as the team had played, a loss at this stage of the tournament would mean that no progress would be made off of World Cup of Hockey 10. Qazox, obviously, is a good team, and a nation that on the ice has had success against the Rockets, though at the same time the team knew it needed that signature hockey win. The result that could not only help in this tournament, but in the long run provide the jumpstart towards the Empire becoming a greater threat in international hockey.

It'd be a great win, thought Police Chief Perry. On the day his men were going to bust a major gambling ring, the Rockets could knock out the nation that always provides odds for gambling via its New Bruxen Casino. That would certainly be a nice favorable angle to like Newmanistan's chances on this night.

[Qazox]

The Wikistates page is UP!, the NSWiki page will be up tommorrow...

QoD, where is the 3rd place game taking place at?

[Sorthern Northland]

Beningrad Morning Star Online

Coach plays down chances ahead of ice hockey Round of 16 clash

Sorthern Northland's ice hockey coach Théophile Brodeur has insisted that he'll be loosing no sleep over claims made by Cassadaiguan winger Andrew Preston ahead of the Round of 16 clash between Sorthern Northland and Cassadaigua that playing the Sortherners isn't particularly daunting.

Speaking on his Andrew's Space blog Preston said, “So as the three seed we play Sorthern Northland. This isn’t World Cup soccer, so playing Sorthern Northland in the first round is not as daunting as it would be in that sport. We should be favoured quite nicely in the game, and we should be able to pick up a victory.”

Whilst Preston's comments have gone largely unnoticed within the Sorthern camp itself, sections of local media in Finistère, the heartland of ice hockey in Sorthern Northland, have very vocally accused Preston of arrogantly dismissing a Sorthern team they consider him to know little about, whilst also thanking him for extra material for the Sorthern players to psyche themselves up with prior to the game.

Brodeur has however countered their viewpoint claiming, “There's a reason he possibly knows little about us, and that's because our only notable achievement thus far is getting this far in this tournament. Other than this tournament what have we done to make people sit up and notice us? Not a lot. They are very much the favourites in this match and for good reason, if they don't win it'll be an upset. He's completely correct in that it isn't football, and unfortunatly Sorthern hockey is a relatively long way behind Sorthern football.”

“If I was in his shoes, I'd probably be thinking the things he's said. As for his comments being used as extra motivation, it's the knock-out rounds of the World Cup, we've got the chance to test ourselves against an excellent team in Cassadaigua. If any of the players need any more reason to be motivated then I'll be seriously question their places in the squad for the future.”

[Tocrowkia]

NordicNation.net

World Cup of Hockey 11 coverage

As the beaten, tired and rather laconic Nordics prepare for their Round of 16 match up against Kelssek, this is a team that has a big question mark stamped on it. The question chief among them? How far will this team go into the playoffs? With the play-off schedule now a one game affair, the margin for error is exactly none. And this Nordics team has stumbled far too many times in the group stage to instill any sort of real confidence. But maybe something miraculous can happen. But maybe Nordic Nation used up all of it's miraculous for the time being during the World Bowl IX run?

Other questions include the goalie. The only thing consistent about starter Adrian Lais is his inconsistency. He has strong games here and there but frequently folds, especially during important games. Can the Nordics afford to start their veteran? And just how much of this team will remain together after this tourney? Aside from Audrey Haviland, most of the team is made up of veterans in their thirties that may wish to move on with their careers or retire from the sport all together. And there is still the question of rather or not the Nordics will have the same head coach next year.

[Quintessence of Dust]

RP cutoff.

[Quintessence of Dust]

Round of 16

Delaclava 1-7 Sarzonia
The Fanboyists 2-3 Taeshan
Plutoni 3-0 The Babbage Islands
Dancougar 2-1 Cyrelia
Valanora 1-2 Toyur
Newmanistan 3-1 Qazox
Cassadaigua 3-1 Sorthern Northland
Kelssek 3-1 Tocrowkia

Quarterfinals:

Sarzonia (1) v Taeshan (9) @ Bracket Park, Toonmar
Plutoni (4) v Dancougar (5) @ National Stadium of Sports, Highmark City
Toyur (15) v Newmanistan (7) @ Motor Hall, Kynythin
Cassadaigua (3) v Kelssek (6) @ Northern Astrodome, Greschmeier

[Sarzonia]

Sarzonia's football team already has a Friendly War with Isselmere-Nieland. However, the Stars hockey club faced a nation that is a quickly emerging second candidate for similar status in many sports.

With the recent negotiations between Sarzonian lieutenant president Nicole Lewis and former and current Delaclav presidents Michael Cheatham and Vasco Schneider resulting in an alliance, Delaclava has quickly become one of Sarzonia's newest friends on the international scene. In many sporting endeavours, the Stars and Phoenixes have faced each other to varying results.

They met in the Round of 16 in the 11th World Cup of Hockey after Delaclava defeated Shivat in a play-in match. Sarzonia routed Delaclava 7-1 to advance to the quarterfinals where they will face ninth seeded Taeshan, which pulled off a minor upset of The Fanboyists, 3-2.

Coach Mark Browers said he was concerned that Sarzonia (10-0-1) wouldn't know how to handle prosperity with his team earning the top overall seed in the World Cup of Hockey after finishing level on points with two other clubs for the best record in qualifying. Sarzonia topped the other two clubs in goal difference to earn the No. 1 overall seed. However, the Stars looked like they hardly broke a sweat in demolishing Delaclava.

"I was pleased with our effort, certainly," Browers said in his opening remarks following the match. "We played with a sense of urgency that you need to do well in the knockout rounds."

After two consecutive blowouts with reserve goaltenders Joe Cullen and Kieran Barker in the pipes, Sarzonia turned back to starter Matt Peterson for the match against the Phoenixes, who finish the World Cup with a record of 5-3-4. Peterson made 21 saves and only gave up a goal with the team trying to kill off a five-on-three power play.

"Delaclava are one of the best teams we've seen so far," Peterson said. "It may not look like it with the score, but they really are a solid hockey club. We just played out of our minds today."

For a goalie who has quickly developed a reputation as a shoot-from-the-hip sort, the comment sounded much like coachspeak. However, a source close to Peterson who spoke on condition of anonymity said the goalie very much said the exact same thing in private.

"These lads aren't like those cremepuffs we faced the last two matches!" the source quoted Peterson as telling his team. "We can't afford to play like we did against those chumps and expect to beat Delaclava. We've got to outwork them!"

Delaclava couldn't stop left wing Sylvan Turcotte, who tallied four goals and added two assists, or right wing Cameron Granato, who added a pair of goals. Nor could it solve Peterson, who made three difficult saves in a sequence that saw the Stars concede four shots on goal in 1:15 of a five minute five-on-three power play with two Stars off for fighting. However, it was the only goal Peterson would allow, and he would face a total of 18 shots in the other 58:45 of the match.

"That's why I signed on to play at this level," Peterson said of the stretch in which he faced those shots.

In other Round of 16 action, Kynythin group second place team, second overall seed and world No. 2 Valanora lost to Toyur 2-1 in the biggest upset of the stage. Besides Taeshan's victory, every other higher seed defeated its opponent. Two-time defending champions Plutoni shut out The Babbage Islands 3-0, Dancougar knocked off Cyrelia 2-1. Newmanistan edged Qazox, Cassadaigua knocked out Sorthern Northland and Kelssek took care of Tocrowkia all by the score of 3-1.

For Turcotte, the other results don't matter as long as the Stars take care of business.

"This format is far less forgiving than the last World Cup," he said. "Here, if you make one mistake, you're done."

[Cassadaigua]

Andrew’s Space

Prior to our game against Sorthern Northland, I went online briefly and noticed that some press clippings from Sorthern media sources were quite critical of my stating that their hockey team was not nearly as good as their soccer team, and some publications made an issue of it. None of their players seemed to really care, nor did the coaches but of course the media has to have their headline. Perhaps I should have added why I chose to mention the soccer at all. It is merely because Cassadaigua has a very poor head-to-head history with Sorthern Northland in the sport, much of the experience coming in the Di Bradini Cup between us. Some people pointed out that they could have been our quarterfinal opponent in World Cup 49 had they beaten Sarzonia in a penalty shootout. Soccer is the only sport where we have had any history with Sorthern Northland. Both of us are sporting nations, but it seems when we’re choosing to play in the World Bowl, they’re off playing Rugby. Different interests is all there is too it, and we probably have differing preferences in our alcoholic beverages as well. So with us meeting in hockey, I just wanted to mention that this time we should be the favorite.

Sorthern Northland is a pretty good team, but like I said in my blog, they are inconsistent. When they grow more as a team and play in more of these Cups, should they choose to do so, I think you will see them get better. Just look at the first period with all of the end to end action that we had, it was pretty intense. Melanie Roy made some big saves for us, and Thibaut Belair came up with the clutch stops for them. We did trade first period goals; Danielle Castleberry opening up the scoring, and their captain Breixo Mosquera responded with two minutes left in the period. Shots were even at eleven apiece. After the first period, the Sorthern Northland team was a far cry from what we had seen. They were sloppy in their puck movement and seemed to be confused on what constituted a delayed offsides and what didn’t on several occasions. When we were killing a penalty, one of their players shouted at the referee when we did a simple “hand pass” behind the net when my sister was on all fours to get the puck to Rachel Castelli. They must not have been clear on the rule that a hand pass is acceptable in the defensive zone while you are killing a penalty. We got an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on them over that, and got the eventual game winning goal with 4:11 left in the second period from Meghan Stafford. Then in the third, Sorthern Northland seemed to wake up and play smart hockey once again, but Melanie Roy would not let them tie the game. With 51 seconds remaining, an empty net score by yours truly sealed the victory. Next up for us will be Kelssek, and it should be a great game.

[Dancougar]

Leo Cashman's death has now been fully explained, but if you thought that was the end of the story, then you should start rooting hard against the Black Wings. Because now you guys get the World Cup of Hockey Side Story -- ALTERNATE ENDING!!

From the information they had, Cashman's apartment had been left pretty spartan when he started his internship. It was easier for him to commute from home, so even though he still had a lease, he'd moved most of his things back. The rest, and the things he had with him on the trip, had followed after his death. Now that the apartment had a new tenant, there was no need to check it out. Instead, Peter and Russ pulled up to a small house around fifteen miles outside of Stoneridge in the suburb of Fruitmarsh.

It didn't look like much from the outside. It was only a single story above ground, although the driveway sloped down into the back so the basement was probably finished as a second floor. An beat-up car sat in the driveway, a maroon Empire Motors model of some kind. The sidewalk leading up to the front door was lined with mounds of dirt that they guessed once housed a flowerbed. This being the middle of winter, though, they couldn't expect to find anything growing, especially this far north.

They rang the doorbell and a short woman in her mid fifties answered. Although wirey, she looked in good health and her strides did not show a hint of weakness. "May I help you two gentlemen?" she asked politely.

"Mrs. Agatha Cashman?" asked Russ. "If you don't mind, we have a few questions about your son, Leo."

"You can come right in," said Agatha, pulling the door back once she saw their badges. The three of them walked into a living room. A television set up across from the seating area was showing the playoff game between Dancougar and Cyrelia. It was a game that the Wings were expected to win, but they were currently down 1-0 after a power play goal in the first period. The team was hoping to at least match its quarterfinal appearance from the previous tournament. "We can turn this off while we talk," she said, reaching for the remote.

"Oh, no no no, it's cool, it's cool," interrupted Peter, who got to the remote first. "We'll just mute it, see?" With the click of a button, he could now watch the game in silence while Russ did the talking. It wasn't an ideal arrangement, but it was better than matchcasting on the phone.

The conversation mainly dealt with Leo's summer job. From what they were able to learn from his mother, he had a positive attitude throughout school and was very excited for his chance to work on the World Cup of Hockey team for AGAINST. The suicide had come as a surprise, then, which was why Agatha never really believed the initial police report. But when prodded for her reasons, she didn't say anything else... perhaps that's all these was. Or maybe she was hiding something. In any case, Russ decided not to push further.

"I'll make us some tea," she said at last, getting up from her seat. "It looks like your friend won't want to leave until the game's over." Sure enough, Peter was glued to the television. Dancougar had tied the game early in the third period after Krizan got his first international goal on a bullet from the point. The team was starting to exert its strength and the go-ahead goal seemed inevitable.

"I'd rather not bother you, so I'll pull him away if you'd like," Russ said.

"It's not a problem at all, in fact I'd enjoy the company." She shuffled into the kitchen. "It's been so lonely without Leo around the house. He never knew his father, you know, and the good-for-nothing bum ran out on us before we were married. That's why I'm still a Cashman, you know."

"I see, I'm sorry to hear that..." Russ walked to the door to the basement. "You said Leo's room was downstairs, right? Mind if I take a look?" When Agatha agreed, Russ tugged at Peter's shirt and eventually pulled him away from the television. They entered Leo's room and saw his luggage from the hotel piled on the bed. His other belongings lay scattered throughout the room. Russ unzipped one of the suitcases and leafed through the contents, while Peter did the same with the other.

"You sure it's all right to do this?" Peter asked. "More importantly, how will you take responsibility if the game ends before we're done?"

"You can get highlights later, and as for this, it does us no good to just stare at suitcases," replied Russ. "Aha, here we go!" He unearthed a notebook and began to flip through it. Sure enough, there was information about the various hockey games that Leo had covered during his time in Newmanistan. Interspersed between them, though, were some stranger notes that didn't go with the games at all. Strung together, though, they read like... betting lines? Street names? And in the margin was scrawled a phone number which was simply labeled Uncle Nick.

"What do you think all that stuff means?" asked Peter. "I don't really get it. What's a High Rolla, anyway?"

Russ' face turned white as he made a mental connection. He'd heard about what happened in Newmanistan during the International Basketball Championships. "Hey, hold on a minute, didn't his mother just say 'still a Cashman' just now?" asked Russ. "Which would mean that this Uncle Nick is probably..."

"What do you know about Nick?" The two turned to face the stairs, where Agatha had come down holding three cups of tea. They clinked as the tray rattled in her hands. Apparently they were onto something.

---

World Cup of Hockey 11 ROUND OF 16
Highmark City, Quintessence of Dust

[ 5] DANCOUGAR  0  0  2  -  2
[12] CYRELIA    1  0  0  -  1

1st Period
  18:26 CYR: Webb PP (Bale, Yann)
3rd Period
   5:58 DAN: Krizan PP (Grienke, Jacaruso)
  12:36 DAN: Jacaruso (Baillie)

W Sarmiento (7-2-0): 22 SV, 1 GA

[Toyur]

Toyurska Sportnyhet

LAST GASP....VICTORY?
Grizzlies top Valanora in freak accident
by Sven Magnusson

KYNYTHIN, QUINTESSENCE OF DUST (TP) - The number two team in the world, Valanora, entered round of 16 play with a 9-0-1 record, and finished qualification with a 9-3 thrashing of Swartaz, themselves no slouches despite missing out on the playoffs. Indeed, the mix of elves and other assorted humanoids had put 45 shots past opposition goaltenders on their way to a 2nd place finish in group A, mystifying until the performance of the Stars from Sarzonia is taken into account. Still, being on opposite sides of the draw, one would not have been surprised had the two teams met in Greschmeier later this month.

I had a report prepared with about 5 minutes remaining in the third period, when it was 1-0 for Valanora and Toyur were struggling to get anything offensive going, praising the Grizzlies for a strong defensive performance against such an agressive, talented team, yet lamenting their lack of offensive punch in a game that was, to be frank, there for the taking. Valanora took 34 shots at the end of the night, with Patrik Dahlin making good save after good save, yet the Valanorans were not overly threatening, and indeed, looked somewhat shaky on the back end. Perhaps it was the lack of work (only 19 shots made it towards the Valanora goal at the end of the game), but Morenthon Galonmin did not look comfortable in goal for Valanora. The offence, which was normally a strength for the Grizzlies, turned into somewhat of a problem in the elimination round for 57 minutes.

Valanora scored about halfway through the first period, while Andreas Silander sat in the penalty box for a holding infraction. Tamrauthon Haeviel slid a shot past Dahlin after a lovely pass from Lathdagelion Yraulithe, and the Valanoran side was (predictably) up 1-0. They had taken over most of the game from that point, with Patrik Dahlin earning his first star status with 33 saves in the effort. With 3:22 remaining, Jakob Hjerstedt stole the puck Galenronion Kialta, and flew in on a breakaway, finally ending Galonmin's shutout streak with a nice backhand deke, and ruining my report in the process. With only 23 seconds remaining, a Niklas Aspelin shoot-in ricocheted off the boards with a fortunate bounce to Anders Mjallby, who lifted a shot above a surprised Galonmin's glove to give the Grizzlies the lead. Pandemonium on the Toyur bench. Disbelief on the Valanora bench.

The win sends them on to play Newmanistan, who topped Qazox 3-1 to win their round of 16 game. The matchup with the Rockets can be seen on TSTV1.

Code: Select all

TOYUR vs Valanora
Scoring Summary

First Period

VAL T. Haeviel (Yraulithe) 11:10 PP

Shots on Goal: Toyur 7 (7), Valanora 11 (11)

Second Period

No Scoring

Shots on Goal: Toyur 6 (13), Valanora 13 (24)

Third Period

TOY J. Hjerstedt (6) (Unassisted) 16:48
TOY A. Mjallby (4) (Aspelin, Holmberg) 19:47

Shots on Goal: Toyur 6 (19), Valanora 10 (34)

Three Stars:
1. Patrik Dahlin (Toyur)
2. Tamrauthon Haeviel (Valanora)
3. Lathdagelion Yraulithe (Valanora)


[Newmanistan]

It was just after six in the evening when law enforcement agents set out to make some arrests. The plan would be that three agents would be assigned to one of the 63 people on the "to be arrested" list, and they would be in an unmarked car, stationed near the residence. When chief Perry gave them the word, each threesome would move in for the arrest, so that everything would go down simultaneously. This would be so the bad guys would not have time to contact friends and warn them that this was happening so that they could try to leave. It would be unlikely that all of the 63 people would end up being convicted of anything, but for now their association with the organization was enough in accordance to Newmanistanian law to warrant their arrest. They would be brought in for questioning; some would be scared and answer the questions while others would refuse to offer any assistance. Some would be released knowing they had a minor role, but this would also lead to the major people in the organization now being in handcuffs, and some more names to be provided.

There were no incidents in any of the arrests since in all of the cases, the criminal had no time to react, and they had no way of knowing that this was even going to happen. Most, if not all of them, were getting ready to watch the game against Qazox, and many of them had bets on the game. For the authorities, some of the arrests were hard, emotionally even though they are all trained to accept this aspect of the job. In one instance, a six-year old girl answered the door, and yelled out “daddy there’s someone here for you!”, and saw the father holding what appeared to be a newborn baby before he came to the door. Pretty much all of the people being arrested were people that society would consider successful, with jobs and families. Arresting drug dealers, even though they had families too, was always much easier.

These arrests occurred as the Rockets were getting set for their match against Qazox to determine who would advance to the quarterfinals. There had always been a huge history between the two nations in sports, with hockey included. Even though Qazox did not have a perfect record against us, most of the results were in their favor. “We feel very confident right now,” said captain Jacques Carpentier without having any knowledge of what was going on back at home, “it’s confidence that exists because of how well we have played to this point, better then the Empire ever has in hockey.” Some might credit all of this background drama as essentially getting the team to come together and play better, but Brett Stuart doesn’t buy into that, “We’ve always played hard and played together as a team and always had the desire to win, even when we weren’t. You just have to credit coach Hennessy and the fact that we are no longer focusing on gooning it up. That’s not us anymore, we are a team that tries to score goals and has the ability to do so, and that’s a better style for winning at the international level.” A lot of credit must also go to 20-year old right wing Trevor Anderson, who plays in this second World Cup of Hockey. He did well on home ice last time, but the young member of the Putnam Lake Eagles has been the leading scorer on the Rockets during this Cup, and that should just be the sign of the future. We drew parallels between Anderson and another former Putnam Lake Eagle known as Jeremy McAllister who as a youngster did much to carry his sport and the national team. Obviously in Putnam Lake, people will look for any possible way in which you can be compared to J-Mac, but Anderson is at least following that same path. “J-Mac is a Newmanistanian legend, the first name that comes to mind of nations across the world when it comes to Newmanistanian athletes,” said Anderson, “To be compared to him is an honor, but I am not at that level yet, so please do not get too carried away.” We won’t, but the modest young forward is certainly a leader of this team even if he doesn’t have a “C” or an “A”.

Newmanistan continued to play without injured forward Derek Bannister, so all the left wings moved up a line from where they would normally play and 18-year old Jacob Faulkner would dress for the game. They got off to a strong start, and at 6:01 of the first period, scored the games opening goal as an innocent appearing shot from the point from Steve Caldwell deflected off the skate of Qazox defensemen Sean Briggs, screwing up the angle Caleb Admele played it, and found the back of the net. Assists went to Ryan Spencer and a large roar by the Rockets fans in attendance when the secondary assist went to goalie Michael Reid to put the sky blue and white up by goal, which is how the first period would end. Both teams scored in the second, with Newmanistan taking a 2-0 lead at 2:44 of the period on a Trevor Anderson power play goal, assisted by Spencer and Slava Kolosov, but Qazox responded with a power play marker of their own thanks to Frank Davidson’s poking home of a rebound at 15:25. Both teams played well in the third, and Qazox put everything on the line, but Michael Reid was not going to let this one get away. Fourteen minutes into the period, Qazox had outshot the Rockets 13-3, before Hennessy opted to use his timeout. Shortly after, his settling down of the team was rewarded as the team put together some great shifts, and at 17:20, the two goal lead was restored off some pretty pass working by the top line. Matt Kalinski was the goal scorer, with Carpentier and Stuart getting the assists, and Qazox had no answer. Qazox ended up outshooting the Rockets 39-33 thanks to a 19-10 advantage in the final period. Each nation was 1-for-3 on the power play.

Next up for the Rockets will be Toyur, who is coming off an upset victory of Valanora by the score of 2-1, in dramatic fashion. With five minutes to go, Valanora had a 1-0 lead, but the Grizzlies were kept in the game by Patrik Dahlin, turning aside several quality shots from Valanora, the nation that eliminated the Rockets in World Cup of Hockey 10. Goals by Hjerstadt and Mjallby in the final 3:12 stole the game against the last nation not named Plutoni to win a championship. Hennessy says the team will be prepared for Toyur, “He had a great game, and we are at a stage of a tournament where you can ride a hot goalie to a championship. He will be tough, but Michael Reid will make it tough on them as well. He came up big for us especially early in the third period. I expect a good game.”

[Qazox]

The Rockets end Qazox' WCoH run, as once again, the Pheonix just cannot find a way to advance in yeat another tourney they once dominated.

Scoring Summary
First Period
(NEW) 6:01- Steve Caldwell (1-0 Newmanistan)
Second Period
(NEW) 2:44- Trevor Anderson PP (2-0 Newmanistan)
(QZX) 15:25- Frank Davidson PP (2-1 Newmanistan)
Third Period
(NEW) 17:20- Matt Kalinski (3-1 Newmanistan)

(i'll have the NSWiki Page updated tonight)