Yelnats Cup Revival: Closure for Year 1 + Start of Year 2

Hello Wilderness! Due to popular demand, I'm reviving this lost series that I made last season. Why did it die? Basically, I couldn't keep up with the daily updates and working two jobs. After I skipped a few days, it kind of... vanished. Kind of weird, and I apologize to the followers of the Yelnats Cup. I know there are a lot of newcomers here, so let me explain:

The Yelnats Cup Playoffs (Yelnats = Stanley in reverse) are a ''second chance'' for the teams that weren't invited to the real Playoffs. What I do is I take all the teams that didn't make the playoffs and pit them against each other in Playoff Mode of the most recent NHL video game (In this case, NHL12 for PS3). Last year, I just simulated all the games and invented recaps for each one. That proved to be a TON of work. What I've decided to do this year is have one game per night be a ''featured game'', meaning I will watch that game CPU vs. CPU and recap that game. For the other games that night, I'll just show the boxscores.

I download the most recent rosters available, but I don't control which players the CPU will use. Sometimes, if a player is injured in real life, he'll end up scratched in the game. Too bad for them. Stupid CPUs.

There will also be a bracket challenge for the Yelnats Cup. I haven't decided on the due date for the brackets, but I'll let you know. If you want to participate, just use the bracket model and rules from the HW Bracket Challenge and send them to me, not Bryan. My email address is on the bottom of the page.

After the jump, the seeding for the challenge and (FINALLY) the conclusion of last year's challenge.

The playoff tree for the 2012 Yelnats Cup is as follows:

So that's what it looks like. Before the start of the Yelnats Cup Playoffs, I will preview each matchup on HW.

As for last year's challenge, here's a refresher of what had happened.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

#9 Carolina Hurricanes vs. BYE

WESTERN CONFERENCE

#9 Dallas Stars vs. BYE

#10 Calgary Flames 4 vs. #15 Edmonton Oilers 0

#12 Minnesota Wild 4 vs. #13 Columbus Blue Jackets 1

So the second round looked like this:

EASTERN CONFERENCE

#9 Carolina Hurricanes vs. #13 Ottawa Senators

#10 Toronto Maple Leafs vs. #11 New Jersey Devils

WESTERN CONFERENCE

#9 Dallas Stars vs. #14 Colorado Avalanche

#10 Calgary Flames vs. #12 Minnesota Wild

And that's where I stopped updating the Yelnats Cup, sadly. Let's see what unfolded when I simulated the rest of the Yelnats Cup Playoffs:

EASTERN CONFERENCE

#9 Carolina Hurricanes 3 vs. #13 Ottawa Senators 4

#10 Toronto Maple Leafs 4 vs. #11 New Jersey Devils 3

WESTERN CONFERENCE

#9 Dallas Stars 3 vs. #14 Colorado Avalanche 4

#10 Calgary Flames 0 vs. #12 Minnesota Wild 4

Wow. Did not expect a Wild sweep! Also, Ottawa came back from a 3-0 series and New Jersey's elimination pretty much destroyed everyone's bracket.

The Conference Final was as follows:

EASTERN CONFERENCE

#10 Toronto Maple Leafs vs. #13 Ottawa Senators (Battle of Ontario!)

WESTERN CONFERENCE

#12 Minnesota Wild vs #14 Colorado Avalanche (Another fun rivalry)

Here are the results:

EASTERN CONFERENCE

#10 Toronto Maple Leafs 1 vs. #13 Ottawa Senators 4

WESTERN CONFERENCE

#12 Minnesota Wild 3 vs #14 Colorado Avalanche 4

Frowny face :( My cousin and I were hoping for a Minnesota - Toronto final. Minnesota lost 1-0 in OT in game 7 too.

Yelnats Cup Final Results:

Ottawa Senators 1 vs. Colorado Avalanche 4

2011 YELNATS CUP CHAMPIONS: COLORADO AVALANCHE.

And there you have it folks: The conclusion to year 1 of the Yelnats Cup Playoffs. What else were you waiting for? Well the results of the bracket challenge, of course! Here they are:

Total amount of series: 13 Total amount of games: 73

1. Jolonco Correct series: 7 Games: 73 Difference: 0

2. ADN Correct series: 6 Games: 75 Difference: +2

3. Jonogo Correct series: 6 Games: 76 Difference: +3

4. JS Correct series: 6 Games: 79 Difference: +6

5. ThatGuy22 Correct series: 5 Games: 72 Difference: -1

6. RedHeadZeb Correct series: 4 Games: 77 Difference: +4

7. JMarushin Correct series: 4 Games: 80 Difference: +7

A very belated congratulations to Jolonco for winning the first Yelnats Cup Bracket Challenge!

Don't forget to include the number of games each series will last and reseed the matchups appropriately. The highest seed will always play against the lowest seed available.

Last year's slogan was: History will be simulated (A play on ''History will be made'')... This wouldn't work that well with ''Because it's the Cup'', so, I'm open to suggestions for this year's Yelnats Cup Playoffs' slogan.