The TDS Quick 'n' Easy Guide to the NSCYH Inaugural SeasonBefore I start, I'd like to clear something about my last Quick 'n' Easy guide. Yes, the Winter Olympics one. And how people said I didn't really go in depth with all the other teams. To be honest, I couldn't really find any information about our group stage opponents. As in, I didn't know who we'd be playing, all I knew is when. For this, I apologise and I hope I won't make the same mistake with the QnE guide for the 13th Winter Olympics.
Now where was I? Oh yes, the NSCYH. We've got the NSCF for Gridiron and the NSCAA Basketball competition, so why can't we have an ice hockey tournament? Apart from the fact that it turned out we did have one many moons ago but it was cancelled due to a lack of interest. But we've got a new one now, so maybe interest will be renewed. I don't know, it's still early days. Give it a couple of tournaments and ask me again.
Either way, we've got a good team to represent us. The Longford University Lightning. Granted they're not as good as the University of Avon Ice Cats, the Davenport University Reds or even the Universidad de la Playa de Rocas team, but they're still able to hold their own. After all, they've had some famous players. Tim Furst, who's not only an assistant coach but also scored that single goal that ended the Davenport Dockers' amazing home winning streak, is one example. Another is Raheem Halabi, best known for being a Dockers right-winger, a frequent line-mate of Michael Madgwick and the first (and so far only) Muslim ice hockey player here in Elejamie. I guess I could throw Mike Keller into the pile, even though I think he has a long way to go before I can say he'll be an all-time great. Oh, and Jay Bailey, part of our Olympic ice hockey team over in Prescott. He played for the Lightning too.
Matías "Mat" Suárez, Lightning
captain. Will he lead his team
to glory? Or will they fizzle
out? Let's just hope it's not
that first one.
Now let's take a quick look at our first load of groupmates, which I'll go through in alphabetical order seeing as I haven't gotten a schedule handy and we'll be playing these guys a few times. And to start things off, we've got Kecrastrat University, all the way from Kecrazia. Their team is nicknamed the Lions and they play at the Kecratstat Hockey Arena, which can hold up to 5,000 people. And their playing style is mostly defensive although, from time to time, they'll hang around their opponent's net to get ready to score You may notice that I'm reading the basic info. This is because I don't know a lot about them, including who plays for them. Maybe it'll be obvious later on but for now that's all I know.
Next up is HC Dalena's under-23 squad, coming at us from Lisander, a nation that's very well known for their rugby (I think I can name a couple of Lisanderian players in the ERC) but they're not exactly there when it comes to ice hockey. But then again, they made their debut at the 32nd WCoH so it's still early days. Anyway, HC Delena U-23 plays at the Dalena Pavillion, which can fit up to 11,200 spectators. And they're a really offensive team, well known for quick passes and their speed. Again, not much information about players or anything like that but it's early days so they could still surprise us.
Then it's the Zoloroni Sports City Youth Academy, coming at us from Mercedini. Playing in Hall E the Zoloroni Sports City Academy, which can fit 3,000 people, they are an all-star team and another group of people bound to give us a bad time. On paper. I don't have a lot of information on these guys so I'm going to keep it short. If we're looking for domestic talent, then I've been hearing positive things about Oliver Penson. Maybe Lambeth Carpic as well. For foreign talent playing for the ZSCYA, then Novozemlyan goalie Dimitri Pavlenko and USI defenceman Ian Cassadini might be up your alley.
After that, it's the Musterfield Under-20 squad, playing at the 29,550 capacity Horizon Arena. Not the WJHC12 squad, this is a different set of U20s. Either way, they seem like a tough bunch so they're not really one to take lightly. Especially since they also play quite a defensive game, something that appears to be a running theme here. Also, sources tell me that any ENIHL GMs watching should keep eyes on Joe Henry (RW), Steve Calderon (G) and Dennis Workman (D), although in the end it depends on how well the Musterfieldians do in the conference. Not much else to say, so let's move on.
And, to round things off, it's the Maurikos Domestic University Reapers. And I've got a lot to talk about here. Playing at the 2,500-capacity Globaul Thisya, probably the only ice hockey arena smaller than the Sherbourne, they were a force in OUHL (Ontorisan Ülikooli Hoki Liigamäng, thank Greg for copy and paste) Division 5, best known for their rivalry with Baxalos Regional College. They probably still are but I very rarely pay attention to leagues overseas. Either way, the appear to be some tough cookies, playing a defensive game but excelling in passing and cycling. Indeed, they appear to have some of the best defencemen in the league, which is why we shouldn't really underestimate them. Klim Maksimov and Jakob Kadristam appear to be the best of the best, so I might recommend keeping an eye on them.
Before I can get too complacent and say that we'll win this thing, we've got some interconference games as the end. This, as you can probably guess from the name, is where we play two games - home and away - against all the teams in the Dream Conference. Teams from Kaboomlandia, Kebec, Lisianski, New Lusitania and Western Bjorniac, as well as another Lisanderian team, which should make an interesting match-up should they both meet. Those are the make-or-break games, games we can't afford to lose. Hell, even if we top the conference, we'll have to win these games or otherwise we could kiss the Championship Series goodbye. So, again, we've got to stay focused and then maybe we'll be in with a chance of bringing a trophy back home.
Speaking of which, where do I think we'll end up? In the top half of the conference, to be perfectly honest. While I won't say we'll come top, I will say that second or third; first is a possibility but not something I'd bet money on. We'll probably lose a couple of the interconference games, as you'd expect, but they won't be massive losses, losses that would shaft us out of the running. They'd just be moments where we analyse what went wrong and use that to avoid making those same mistakes.
So who do I think will be making it big once they graduate? Mat Suárez, obviously. Maybe his cousin Tommy García as well, although I don't think they'll play for the same club. Ben Evers is also a possibility; despite his young age, he seems like a goalie who can handle himself and play it cool - a possible successor to Peter Berg but probably not Antonio Cervantes. Kevin Baulin might make it big should there be any teams in need of a good two-way forward. And Rafi Fernández, oddly enough, although it depends on how much demand there is for a hulking grinder who'd fit perfectly on a checking fourth line. But if I had to pick my top three players most likely to make it big? Suárez, García and Evers. Obviously.
So there we have it. A quick introduction to everyone in our conference, the team representing us in that conference and a few of their best players. All that we need now is some good ice hockey. Make us proud, Lightning.