AFL Spring Meetings 1956

Philadelphia’s Bellevue-Stratford Hotel would be the home of both the league meetings and the upcoming draft to welcome the next slate of expansion teams into the league. The football world around the AFL has been rapidly changing, and the owners were ready to adapt to the new landscape around them. Commissioner Hasenkamp officially welcomed Philadelphia and St. Louis as the league’s two newest teams, and the meetings began with haste.

PHILADELPHIA, ST. LOUIS WELCOMED TO LEAGUE
The Philadelphia and St. Louis football clubs were officially welcomed as the 11th and 12th teams, both announcing their full identities at a later date. With the two entering the league, it now needed to align itself again like last year. Unlike past years’ struggles with aligning teams, these two teams will slot in without any issue, with Philadelphia joining the East Division and St. Louis the West. Just like the year prior, this season’s expansion draft will see both teams selecting 3 players from each team, except from Boston and New York where they will each select 2 players apiece. The protected player process will remain the same as last year, where teams are able to protect 12 players and 4 extra players under the age of 24. Philadelphia won the coin toss for either the first pick in the expansion draft or the rookie draft, and they would choose the latter, gaining the first overall pick in the upcoming draft. The league will continue to play a 12 game schedule, modifying the schedule so that teams play 2 games against each other team in their division and 2 other games against 2 teams in the other division based on where they finished the year before. The playoff format introduced last year will also remain the same, with the top 3 teams in each division making the postseason.

DETROIT HERE TO STAY
The fate of the Detroit Knights was left in doubt when longtime owner August Riddle died in the middle of the prev

Panthers vs Lightning: Panthers in 6
Bruins vs Maple Leafs: Bruins in 7
Rangers vs Capitals Rangers in 5
Hurricanes vs Islanders: Hurricanes in 6

Stars vs Golden Knights: Stars in 7
Jets vs Avalanche: Jets in 7
Canucks vs Predators: Canucks in 5
Oilers vs Kings: Oilers in 6

Florida vs Boston: Panthers in 6
Rangers vs Hurricanes: Hurricanes in 7
Stars vs Jets: Stars in 6
Canucks vs Oilers: Oilers in 5

Panthers vs Hurricanes: Hurricanes in 7
Stars vs Oilers: Stars in 6

Stanley Cup Finals: Hurricanes over Stars in 7 games
Conn Smythe: Jake Guentzel
Tiebreaker: 30 total goals scored in series

Well, it only took a couple of months, but we finally have a GEO Cup winner - and that's us. It was a massacre of Andes in our final regular season home match of the season, scoring 5 goals against their none to a dominating win. Ollie Watkins put in 2, and James Ward-Prowse, Bruno Guimaraes, and Jean-Phillipe Mateta each scored 1 of their own. We need just one more win to lock up the top spot on the table and hopefully a prize (there has to be a prize, right? It seems fitting), but we'll have to get a win on the road in our final two matches. The first of the final two is against Berlin, who needs a win this week to even have a chance of staying alive. Featuring for this match is D Rayan Ait-Nouri, who assisted on a goal, won a tackle, and drew a penalty kick in the short time he played last match. We're changing the lineup slightly, switching to a 4-4-2 to prevent Berlin from getting close. #StayGold

We started out strong, but unfortunately Tampa Bay ran away with the game at the end of the week to hand us our first opening day loss in the modern era. We can't dwell on that loss for now, as we have to immediately go back on the road again to take on our biggest rivals in the Los Angeles Condors. They're coming off a win against the Gemini, and they'll want to beat us bad after getting swept last year. While our pitching was disappointing to begin the year, our hitting was back to where it was last year, with offseason acquisition OF Ian Happ leading the charge, batting 0.333 to begin the year with 3 doubles, a triple, and 6 RBI's to start off the year hot. #Thunderstruck

After trailing almost the entire match, the Golden Lions of Joburg snatched victory away from Istanbul at the last second, retaining our 3 point lead in the table. We won't have time to collect ourselves from the previous match, as we're heading north to take on Munich in the last midweek action of the season. They're climbing the table after winning their last 2 games, so winning will once again not come easy for us. Our offense might struggle with an injury to F Ollie Watkins, but we have enough playmakers to make up for such a massive loss. One of those players is D Chris Mepham, who won 3 tackles, had 8 clearances, 6 aerials, and blocked a critical shot while substituting in our defense, solidifying a spot in the starting 11 once again this week. We'll be back in the teals in our attempt to stay on top. #StayGold