Subject: II.3

How did everyone fair in the NC? The league this year doesn't seem quite as competitive as far as the top 8 go. Top 4 is super close but I would imagine by year end the top 6 will be fairly close

I briefly looked-- I think we have still in it. Will be a tough round for half of us to remain after next week. A top 16 finish is my goal year end and year out.

I agree about the league. Its almost tempting to conserve energy for E.O.Y.T. and hope that helps, but at the same point you get paid based off of how well you do.... Lose Lose.

Made it through, next week is going to be the tough week in NC. Looks like our league is pretty top heavy this year. We'll see I guess.. Good luck to all.

Yeah, i made it to the last 16 in the cup last year. The problem is usually that means going through one or two D1 teams... I can only win those by burning more energy. Oh well. If i get promoted this year I will get slaughtered next season

Wow 8-1 at home... interesting.. I guess my team must have been on spring break or something

wait until you face me. you will feel you are on summer break!!!

I am happy with my team's results. Still fighting for a playoff spot when most, if not all, thought I'd be fighting to avoid relegation ....

at the rate your burning energy, you might be hard pressed for points come year end

I dont have much to lose. I cant win the league. Cant even compete in playoffs even if i had 100% energy.

I am rotating players and best players not playing most minutes. And still have to "hire" to full lineups.

I will be fine as far as energy for this season.

GL. Just dont relegate.. #1 goal

My goal is to make the playoffs. I am not going for any less than that.

My opinion, do what I did in my first season in this league, which was a LOT more competitive than it is now. Conserve energy on games against stronger team such as the current top seven teams, ergo play on very low or low. Only spend energy on games against teams who're close to your teams overall.

In my first season here I was sitting in the relegation area for the first half of the season. I conserved all the energy I could and took the wins that I could waiting for the second half of the season. During the second half I used my energy against teams who had already spent a lot in first half and finished in 12th place and got 9th during the cup rounds.

Energy really plays a major factor and people tend to disregard this fact. For you I would be worried about the Cyclones, Rochester, Iceholes and Bohemians. All capable teams that could make a major impact in the second half of the season.

im doing pretty much this. And sometimes I play with more energy against better teams when i feel they will play VL and I could manage to come with a win.

When i cant win (or i know i cant win) i play my team B.

Most teams already have solid 4 lineup. I only have 2. I have plenty of room to buy players (without spending much) to improve the team. And if i buy players with 100% or close to energy will be good for 2nd half of season (or in my plan, 2nd third).

I am very aware of energy making big affect. I just feel i dont have anything to lose as my team is not finished yet and i dont fear relegation.

That energy-saving strategy was basically my strategy going into the season as well. Especially since I have a very young team that I'm trying to build with...once my last 26yo hits free agency in a month, I'll have two guys at 22, one guy at 21, and everybody else 20 or under, including a lot of 16's and 17's starting on my 3rd and 4th lines. So I figure that they'll develop quickly over the season and be a lot more effective late in the season than early, due to experience, chemistry, and in a lot of cases, an extra 100 or so OR.

But then I started not selling out my stadium, and seeing that my sponsor deals and ticket sales barely cover the expenses I'm paying for top facilities and top staff to develop my young talent. After a mediocre run in I.1 where the only reason I stuck around was by managing to draw a dead team in the first round of the 9-16 bracket more than once, I need to give the fans a reason to come back to the stadium this season, and the sponsors a reason to pay me more money next season. I'm running out of reasonable players to sell to make up for financial deficits. So I've started trying to steal games from some top teams. Some worked...I managed to weasel my way into the round of 32 in the NT with a 5-4 win last week. But some have been a waste, like my close 4-2 loss to the North Stars on Monday.

But for me, I'm not really hoping for much out of this season other than avoiding relegation, and even that wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, because I'd probably run the table in a III league next season and bounce right back up. So if I burn some energy now and have less for the playoffs, no big deal. In two seasons, when my youngsters have more experience and are all pushing 1000 OR, then I'll start thinking about playing the serious energy games.

good game dhc... i was thinking you might go on normal.. oh well

Just goes to show you that playoffs are going to be crazy!

Bulls, what I meant by watching your energy is we are still about two and half weeks away from midseason so don't go splurging right now like there's no tomorrow. Upsets do happen, maybe not as often as people think but they do happen and that extra bit of energy can give your team that edge. Buying players is a great way to get more competitive but pay attention to your lines chemistry. I bought players during my first season and mixed my top three lines up to keep them with around 50% chemistry.

Willmott your team will be something special in a couple of seasons. I mean the strategy sucks I'm aware this, I was in 19th for first half of the season. But in the long run it can be sooo beneficial, yet having to look at loss after loss drops moral.

I like that this league is still somewhat competitive even though teams such as the Saints, Spirit Crushers, Wookies, Grizzlies, River Rats and so on are not in it anymore.