It’s finally here! Cup Final week is upon us and we have the last two remaining teams fighting for the FHL UK trophy.
Latvian Hawks and Oeppen both made it through their semi-final ties with Scott Conway being the difference maker. As highlighted in our cup preview Conway was the captain of both teams, and his 60 points doubled up to 120 points made up a large portion of their respective scores.
Here’s our in-depth preview of the final –
Latvian Hawks – GM James Brodie has chosen his roster for the cup final (image below) and made one trade in preparation for the cup final. Brandon McNally has been dropped after he was suspended for the final two games of gameweek 11 and in comes Mathieu Roy to replace him. This could be a risk as according to the Elite league site McNally’s suspension has now ended so he could be back playing for Cardiff in the Cup on Wednesday. As highlighted in our fixture breakdown below the Cardiff Devils and Dundee Stars are both playing three times this week, so McNally could have the opportunity for one more game than Roy. However picking up the Clan’s leading scorer who is averaging better than a point per game is surely a positive.
Apart from this one trade the roster remains the same as the one which scored a huge 446.3 points last week. In terms of a captain for this week James has opted to stick with Scott Conway after he scored a hat-trick on Sunday against the Panthers. Belfast have two home games this week for Conway to continue his scoring streak, however both these games are against the league leading Sheffield Steelers.
Oeppen – GM Luke Oeppen has obviously had his scouting network working overtime prior to the deadline for the roster selection for this gameweek. He has made two trades on the blue line and a further two up front with the majority of these looking like they are taking advantage of the fixtures this week.
Defensively, in come Kyle Haas and Jake Bolton for Taylor Doherty and Brock Beukeboom. We’ve already mentioned how Dundee have an extra fixture this week and in Jake Bolton you have a player who is averaging 25 points per gameweek over the last month. Only Matt Register is hotter at the moment, with an average of 27 points over the same time frame and he’s already in the team!
Justin Crandall and Sebastian Bengtsson are brought in up front, with David Goodwin and Michael McNicholas making way. Again both Crandall and Bengtsson have an extra game this week and have hit some form as of late. Bengtsson has averaged 45 points over the last two gameweeks and Crandall has had at least 15 points in the last eight gameweeks.
Brodie Reid has been made captain this week with the Devils having home games against Dundee and Nottingham before a trip to Glasgow on Sunday. This looks to be a sensible choice with three games to play however the Cardiff offence and Reid himself aren’t scoring as many goals as they were at the start of the season.
Fixture Breakdown – one important aspect to consider for the cup final is the fixtures for the gameweek. Due to re-arranged league games and extra cup games there are going to be teams who are playing more than others, and therefore giving the players in those teams more ice time and chance of scoring points.
For gameweek 13 the Cardiff Devils and Dundee Stars are playing three times whereas all the other teams are playing twice, apart from Nottingham and Manchester after their fixture on Wednesday has been called off again. If you look across our finalists the Latvian Hawks have three players with the extra game and Oeppen have got the maximum eight players with the extra game due to their trading activity this week. This could play a huge part in who wins the trophy at the end of the week.
Another point to note around the fixtures is that the Belfast Giants have two home games this week, so it gives their top point scorers a potential advantage. However both games are against the league leading Sheffield Steelers so both our finalists have six players involved in these fixtures.
Difference Makers – with both finalists being near the top of the league standings it is no surprise that there are a number of matching players across both teams. We have therefore had a look at who could make a big difference to the final scores for the week. The Goaltenders will play a big part this week as Oeppen have a back-up in their roster so it is unlikely Brython Preece will get many points. Their other goaltender, Tyler Beskorowany, has split a lot of games with Jackson Whistle and has two tough home games against Sheffield. The Latvian Hawks have CJ Motte and Kevin Lindskoug who are both likely to play two games each. This should be advantage Latvian Hawks.
In defence both teams have Evan Mosey and Jamal Watson. Matt Register is likely to play a huge role for Oeppen as he has three games this week and is scoring better than any other defenceman at the moment. For the Latvian Hawks Nathanael Halbert could make a difference as he has just come off a 42 point week. We think this a slight advantage to Oeppen.
In the forward positions JJ Piccinich, Scott Conway, and Brodie Reid are common picks across both teams, although Latvian Hawks have Scott Conway as captain and Oeppen have Brodie Reid as captain. Both teams have two Sheffield Steelers forwards, although they are different, so this could be a huge factor depending on who performs in their away games in Belfast. Latvian Hawks have Matias Sointu and Robert Dowd whereas Oeppen have Martin Latal and Marc-Olivier Vallerand. Keep a close look across the two games as this could be where the final is won or lost.
Overall it is too close to call between the two teams, good luck to both and may the best team win!
