NHL 08 (360) blog
 

I am sure nobody will care nor read this but I thought I would create this for my own amusement. I am posting this on another site so I thought I would share it here.

This is going to be NHL 08 (360) blog. I am playing in dynasty mode and to make it more interesting, I will post my updates here and invite comments, criticisims, etc. I will post my games up 3 at a time and every 2 weeks, I will update everyone throughout the leauge. Here we go


The San Jose Sharks are entering their 17th season and are expected to be a contender for the most prized championship in sports, the Stanley Cup.

Lead by the likes of superstars Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Brian Campbell, and Evgeni Nabokov, the Sharks are looking to finally advance past the Western Conference Finals for a chance at hockey's holy grail.

The Sharks were active during the off-season making trades that should improve their team. In are Brad Boyes, Scott Hartnell, and Sami Pahlsson. Out are Mike Grier, Curtis Brown, Jeremy Roenick, and Sandis Ozolinsh. Even without the aforementioned superstars and new additions, this team still boast strong secondary scoring and toughness with the likes of Jonathan Cheechoo, Milan Michalek, and Ryane Clowe. The sharks also have a nice mix of young talent including super rookie, the the 1st overall draft pick in 2008, Kenny Colwell and prospects Devin Setoguchi, Marc Edouard Vlasic, and Matt Carle.

The 1st overall pick in this years NHL Entry Draft, Colwell, has had a very impressive training camp and should see himself on the top line with Thornton and Cheechoo.

Will the Sharks be contenders or pretenders once again? Time will tell.

Here are the projected lineup for the Sharks

LW C RW
Colwell* - Thornton - Cheechoo
Michalek - Marleau - Boyes**
Hartnell+ - Pahlsson++ - Setogouchi
Clowe - Goc - Pavelski

D D
Campbell - Vlasic
Carle - Rivet
Mclaren - Ehroff

G
Nabokov
Boucher

*My created player (me)
** Jeremy Roenick + 3rd rounder for Brad Boyes
+ Sandis Ozolinsh + 2nd for Scott Hartnell
++ Mike Grier & Curtis Brown for Sami Pahlsson

Go Sharks!

Campbell? Carle? Rivet? ;)

I hope Chris Pronger busts Joe Thornton's jaw in your first meeting. :grumble: :D

Go Wings!!

I always find these enjoyable to read, as long as your team doesn't have an undefeated season.

I hope that bastage takes another slapper to the chest and needs to be carted off. I hate that cheap-shotting a-hole.

So do I. :p But for the sake of this thread, I hope he messes up Joe Thornton.

Don't think you will have to worry about that as you will see. I am playing on Superstar mode(highest dificulty) and its pretty tough. First time playing it. Any suggestions on what else I should include. I was going to write an article after each game but that would be way to much work.

==========================================================
Game 1: San Jose Sharks (0-0-0) vs Edmonton Oilers (0-0-0)

Period 1: No Scoring

Period 2: SJ - Setoguchi (Pahlsson, McLaren)
EDM - Moreau (Brodziak, Torres)
EDM - Brodziak (Torres, Moreau)

Period 3: EDM - Hemsky (unassisted)
EDM - Stoll (Greene) en

Final Score: SJ - 1 vs EDM - 4

Shots: SJ - 28 vs EDM - 35

Goalies: Nabokov vs Garon

3 stars: 1 - Garon (27 saves)
2 - Brodziak (1g,1a)
3 - Moreau (1g,1a)

==============================================

Game 2: San Jose Sharks (0-1-0) vs Vancouver Canucks (0-0-0)

Period 1: SJ - Cheechoo (Thornton)

Period 2: SJ - Carle (Thornton)

Period 3: VAN - Burrows (Salo, Raymond)
VAN - D.Sedin (Naslund, Bieksa)

OT: VAN - Raymond (Morrison, Salo)

Final Score: SJ - 2 vs Van - 3

Shots: SJ - 28 vs Van - 30

Goalies: Nabokov vs Luongo

3 Stars: 1 - Raymond (1g,1a)
2 - Luongo (26 saves)
3 - Salo (2a)

==============================================

Game 3: San Jose Sharks (0-1-1) vs Colorado Avalanche (1-0-1)

Period 1: COL - Hejduk (Foote, Clarke)
COL - Svatos (Leopold, Guite)
SJ - Rivet (Michalek, Cheechoo)
SJ - Thornton (Michalek, Boyes)

Period 2: COL - Smyth (Wolski, Sakic)

Period 3: SJ - Marleau (Boyes, Michalek)

OT: COL - Sakic (Smyth, Liles)

Final Score: SJ - 3 vs Col - 4

Shots: SJ - 27 vs Col - 23

Goalies: Nabokov vs Theodore

3 Stars: 1 - Sakic (1g,1a)
2 - Michalek (3a)
3 - Smyth (1g,1a)

The Sharks are off to a rough start, winless in the first 3 games of the season (all on the road), with 2 of the 3 losses coming in overtime.

Sharks Record (0-1-2) 2 pts (12th in West), 6 GF, 11 GA

Leading Scorers

1: Michalek - 0-3-3pts
2: Thornton - 1-2-3pts
3. Cheechoo - 1-1-2pts & Boyes - 0-2-2pts

No line up changes coming up.

Or a winless season, but I suppose that would be a little more interesting then an undefeated season.

:lol: It'd keep me reading...

No line up changes for these 3 games.

Game 4: San Jose Sharks (0-1-2) vs Chicago Blackhawks (2-0-0)

Period 1: CHI: Sharp (Unassisted)
CHI: Towes (Kane, Sharp)
SJ: Thornton (Ehroff, Marleau)

Period 2: CHI - Havlat (Lang, Barker)
SJ - Cheechoo (Colwell, Campbell)

Period 3: CHI - Lang (Sharp, Havlat)
CHI - Perrault (Ladd, Sopel)
SJ - Marleau (Boyes, Rivet)

Final Score: SJ - 3 vs CHI - 5

Shots: SJ - 37 vs CHI - 53

Goalies: Nabokov vs Khabibulin

3 stars: 1 - Sharp (1g, 2a)
2 - Lang (1g,1a)
3 - Marleau (1g, 1a)

==============================================

Game 5: Boston Bruins (0-3-1) vs San Jose Sharks (0-2-2)

Period 1: SJ - Colwell (Thornton, McLaren)
SJ - Pahlsson (Ehroff, Rivet)
BOS - Schaeffer (Kessel, Savard)

Period 2: SJ - Boyes (Cheechoo, Hartnell)

Period 3: BOS - Lucic (Kreici, Sturm)
BOS - Murray (S.Thornton, Sturm)

OT: No Scoring

SO: Murray (winner)

Final Score: BOS - 4 vs SJ - 3

Shots: BOS - 21 vs SJ - 26

Goalies: Fernandez vs Nabokov

3 stars: 1 - Colwell (1 goal)
2 - Boyes (1 goal)
3 - Rivet (1a)

I thought this was hilarious. In the 6 games I played, this was my first and only game on home ice so far. Looks like whoever selects the 3 stars is a big homer. Reminds of certain Q teams

==============================================

Game 6: San Jose Sharks (0-2-3) vs Vancouver Canucks (4-1-0)

Period 1: VAN - Pyatt (Ohlund, Salo)
SJ - Boyes (Marleau, Michalek)

Period 2: VAN - D.Sedin (Edler, Naslund)
SJ - Michalek (Boyes, Marleau)

Period 3: VAN - D.Sedin (Salo, Raymond)

Final Score: SJ - 2 vs VAN - 3

Shots: SJ - 28 vs EDM - 33

Goalies: Nabokov vs Luongo

3 stars: 1 - D.Sedin (2 goals)
2 - Michalek (1g,1a)
3 - Salo (2a)

The Sharks continue their early season slide remaining winless in 6, although they did manage 3 points out of those losses.

Sharks Record (0-3-3) 3 pts (14th in West), 14 GF, 23 GA

San Jose Sharks Scoring Leaders

1: Boyes - 2-4-6pts
2: Marleau - 2-3-5pts
3. Michalek - 2-3-5pts


NHL Scoring Leaders

1. Heatly - 7gp - 6g, 4a - 10pts
2. D.Sedin - 6gp - 5g, 5a - 10pts
3. Tucker - 7gp - 2g, 7a - 9pts

At least you're getting some points. Turn those OT losses into wins and you're just fine.

I don't know if it works on the hardest difficulty you're on, but in SO's I found a cheap way to score 90% of the time - if you're moving "up" the screen, go up the left side (say in line with the faceoff dots along that side), get real close to the goal line, then cut across and shoot top right (maybe it was top left...haven't played in a few months).

Also, the cheap way I found to score regular goals: with a lefty, come up the right side boards, cut in between the top of the circle and the faceoff dot, and once you are to about the inside edge of the circle, take a wrist shot aiming for the top right. I was only on the middle difficulty, and started scoring about 10 goals a game that way with Kane. So I bumped up the difficulty, I could still score that way if I got in position, but the defense was much tighter.

EDIT: I'm bored. For your viewing pleasure:

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...kdiagram-1.jpg

LOL nice diagrams...I will try them but if they work, I'm not going to exploit them. There are always a few cheese goals that work in these games.

Pretty fancy, eh?

I know, I hate taking advantage of cheap goals in hockey games, but it's almost impossible for me not to once I get started. It's kind of like ok, if the real San Jose Sharks knew they could score if they did this or that, wouldn't they? Guess I take these games too literally when playing. :p

And the slide continues ???. Only line up change I made was bumped Michalek to the first line and Colwell to the 2nd line.

Game 7: Detroit Red Wings (2-4-1) vs San Jose Sharks (0-3-3)

Period 1: No Scoring

Period 2: SJ - Cheechoo (Michalek, Thornton)
DET - Samuellson (Lidstrom, Holmstrom)
DET - Zetterberg (Rafalski, Datsyuk)

Period 3: DET - Cleary (Kronwall, Filpulla)
SJ - Michalek (Campbell, Cheechoo)
DET - Hudler (Zetterberg, Franzen)
DET - Cleary 2 (Franzen)

Final Score: DET 5 vs SJ 2

Shots: DET 23 - SJ 24

Goalies: Hasek vs Nabokov

3 stars: 1 - Cleary (2 goals)
2 - Cheechoo (1g,1a)
3 - Zetterberg (1g, 1a)

==============================================

Note: Brian Boucher is getting the start

Game 8: Nashville Predators (3-3) vs San Jose Sharks (0-4-3)

Period 1: SJ - Chechoo (Colwell, Setogouchi)
NAS - Arnott (Devries, Hlavic)

Period 2: SJ - Pahlsson (Vlasic, Campbell)
NAS - Bonk (Erat, Hamhuis)

Period 3: No Scoring

OT: No Scoring

SO: Radulov (winner)

Final Score: Nas - 3 vs SJ - 2

Shots: NAS - 21 vs SJ - 31

Goalies: Boucher vs Mason

3 stars: 1 - Mason (29 saves)
2 - Arnot (1 goal)
3 - Vlasic (1a)

==============================================

Game 9: San Jose Sharks (0-4-4) vs Calgary Flames (4-2-2)

Period 1: CAL - Aucoin (Nilson, Langkow)
SJ - Rivet (Campbell, Cheechoo)

Period 2: CAL- Iginla (Lombardi, Sarich)
CAL- Lombardi (Regher, Sarich)
CAL - Moss (Aucoin, Sarich)

Period 3: SJ - Michalek (Thornton, Cheechoo)
SJ - Boyes (Colwell)
SJ - Thornton (Cheechoo, Michalek)
CAL - Nolan (Huselius, Sarich)

Final Score: SJ - 4 vs CAL - 5

Shots: SJ - 24 vs EDM - 27

Goalies: Nabokov vs Joeseph

3 stars: 1 - Sarich (4 assists)
2 - Cheechoo (1g,2a)
3 - Lombardi (1g,1a)

The Sharks are now winless in 9 with a record of 0-5-4 that has them dead last in the western conference. Shark fans have been calling for the firing of Ron Wilson and analysts say that will be coming soon.

Sharks Record (0-5-4) 4 pts (15th in West)

San Jose Sharks Scoring Leaders

1: Michalek - 3-6-9pts
2: Cheechoo - 4-5-9pts
3. Boyes - 3-4-7pts

Thornton, Colwell, and Hartnell are off to dissapointing starts this year. Thornton was to challenge for the scoring title this year but has only 6 pts in 9 games. Colwell was touted as the preseason rookie of the year but has only 4 pts in 9 games. After acquiring Hartnell from the Flyers in an offseason trade, he has only managed a dissapointing 1 assist in 9 games.2

Fire his ass...I'll bet some dumb team like Toronto would hire him.

What you need is a young, up and coming coach from a successful team. ;)

You should get Shelley in the lineup and start gooning it up a little at least.

And Joe Pavelski should be on your 2nd line. He can play either wing or center. :p

the Flyers would never trade Hartnell for that hack Sandis Ozolinsh...

GO FLYERS!!!

*edited for spelling typo*

Quick question: What is the rating of your created player?

You're so close to winning these games, so you need some kind of an offensive bump. Maybe move yourself to the 2nd line and see if the shakeup helps things out.

Also, SJ doesn't have anyone who can score goals on their D. Depending on how you play (personally, I involve my D in my plays quite a bit), maybe you should think about making a trade for a blueliner that can score.