Dan O'Mac wrote:

Wow, that loss of Painter must doom the Raiders for this season.

It will hurt them for sure, but with the North as weak as it has been, they still can make a push for the crossover. They'll be relying on Stanis Ovechkin to make an impact

*I stand corrected Kramer is with Worcester not Long Island whoops* (the actual third string would be Matthew Justice, an old undrafted QB)
 

Last edited by Wallflower (8/14/2020 10:41 pm)

Buffalo and Providence Load Up for Playoff Push as Ontario Begins Unloading Stars
Just 2 days after the Ontario Tigers topped the Buffalo Blue Wings for the second straight week, the teams would make a trade. The Tigers sent their long time #1 DB Louie White to Buffalo for a 1957 2nd Round Pick and DB prospect, Amos King. Louie White has been a star for the Tigers over their surge into a mid-level team. However, heading into an offseason that White will likely become a free agent with the Tigers suffering from financial troubles. White was dealt to get some younger pieces and hopefully a part of a fairly short rebuild for the team. DB Amos King was a former 2nd round pick in 1954 and hasn’t broken into the line up yet for Buffalo, so a new location should help him out. 

That was not the only move being made, as less than 24 hours later, several more Tigers would be on their way to Providence. After the White trade, the rumours of a Brazeau trade spiked and the RB would be headed to Providence in this trade. He would be joined by DB Paul Gregory and OL Bernard Gide who both carry hefty salaries like Brazeau. The Tigers would get quite a haul for their starting RB in former 9th overall pick OL Chad Austin, 3rd round pick DB Ricardo Salvador, a 1957 2nd Round Pick, a 1958 3rd Round Pick, and RB Matthew Ferguson.  

The Gold Stars RB Johnnie Stafford had been struggling all season and Brazeau should add the much-needed power to the backfield. Gregory and Gide will fit nicely in their roles to give the Gold Stars a boost in depth and strength as they make a push. GM Virgil Gross was happy with the move and excited to bring the new players, but some are speculating that he might have overpaid for the trio, which could be tied to a shorter leash from Owner David Maxwell. With a likelihood of some of the players not returning, they are sacrificing a lot of the youth (they also traded their 1st rounder in a trade with Montreal in the offseason) The Tigers have a lot of youth joining the team and GM Joseph Johnson is hoping that the attempt to save money and go into a soft rebuild this season will open up the possibility to be more competitive in a year or two. 

Finally a big move for my Gold Stars trading for Brazeau which should get this team going and make an impact in the playoffs. Also Ontario might stick around in the hunt despite the major losses with the big trades.

H-How did we lose to the Tigers?! Maybe our title run stops right here

1956 Week 8

Worcester Athletics - 22, Long Island Raiders - 19 - Worcester Stadium - September 1, 1956 - 1 PM ET - CBS
1st
7-0 WOR - TD RB Marcus Devonshire
2nd
7-3 LI - FG K Thomas McFadden
14-3 WOR - TD RB Marcus Devonshire
14-6 LI - FG K Thomas McFadden
3rd
14-12 LI - TD RB Timothy Weeks
14-19 LI - TD RB Conner Riley
4th
20-19 WOR - TD WR Clyde McIntosh
22-19 WOR - 2PT RB Marcus Devonshire  

The game looked to be heavily in Worcester’s favour, but Long Island had a huge 3rd to pull themselves back into it
After Timothy Weeks scored, Worcester would go 2 and out and RB Conner Riley would take home the following punt
In the end, Worcester was able to hold on for the win despite a strong drive near the end of the game from the Raiders 

Providence Gold Stars - 31, Boston Independents - 10 - New Providence Stadium - September 1, 1956 - 4 PM ET - CBS
1st
7-0 PRO - TD WR Peter Brooks
14-0 PRO - TD RB Laurent Brazeau
2nd
17-0 PRO - FG K Bernard Barnett
17-7 BOS - TD TE Richard Stewart
3rd
24-7 PRO - TD RB Laurent Brazeau
4th
31-7 PRO - TD RB Laurent Brazeau
31-10 BOS - FG K Johnnie Berg 

Brazeau showed his comfort with his new team leading them to 3 touchdowns on the day
QB Caldwell Higgins III had another TD pass for Boston, but he also ran into the Gold Star secondary throwing 3 picks 
DB Victor Bean took in 2 of them while newcomer DB Paul Gregory had the other 

Montreal Rouge - 28, Ontario Tigers - 30 - Mount Royal Stadium - September 2, 1956 - 3 PM ET - CBC
1st
7-0 MTL - TD RB Scott Mallard-White
7-7 ON - TD RB Clifford Russell
2nd
7-14 ON - TD WR Marqués Gardner
14-14 MTL - TD WR Marty Jay
3rd
14-17 ON - FG K Nathaniel King
21-17 MTL - TD RB Scott Mallard-White
21-24 ON - TD RB Clifford Russell
4th
28-24 MTL - TD RB Élisée Marchal
28-30 ON - TD WR Wilbert Benjamin 

A surprisingly high scoring affair between the Rouge and Tigers was centred around the battle of the two rookie backs
In the end, they both had 2 touchdowns, but Russell had more yards mainly without having to share the role
Both defenses were off, but the Tigers were able to pull away with their 4th straight win of the season 

Ottawa Royals - 23, Buffalo Blue Wings - 13 - Royals Stadium at Brewer Park - September 2, 1956 - 6 PM ET
1st
0-3 BUF - FG K Donald Brewer
2nd
7-3 OTT - TD WR Allen Atkins
13-3 OTT - TD WR Chester Bennett
3rd
13-10 BUF - TD RB Arthur Conner
20-10 OTT - TD RB Alexei Volkov
23-10 OTT - FG K Maurice Lafayette
4th
23-13 BUF - FG K Donald Brewer 

Buffalo held the Royals back in the opening quarter, but WR Allen Atkins would make a fantastic play to get into the endzone and kickstart the Royals
They would take over from their never letting Buffalo get much momentum
The defense was a big factor with DL Olaf Viktorsson and LB Roland Hensley stopping most of the Arthur Conner attack and kept QB Angelo Medina contained 
Royals become the second team to clinch a playoff spot this season

Injury Report
DL James Beck LI - Season
OL Maxence Castex MTL - Day-to-Day
LB Liam O’Brien MTL - 4 Weeks
DL Stuart Howell PRO - 1 Week 

Players of the Week 

OFF: RB Laurent Brazeau PRO - 3 Rushing Touchdowns, 109 Rushing Yards 

DEF: DL Olaf Viktorsson OTT - 8 Tackles, 1 Forced Fumble, 2 Sacks 

Standings
NORTH
Ottawa 6-2 -x
Ontario 4-4
Buffalo 3-5
Montreal 2-6

NEW ENGLAND
Worcester 8-0 -y
Providence 5-3
Long Island 3-5
Boston 1-7

Power Rankings
1 - Worcester -
2 - Providence -
3 - Ontario -
4 - Ottawa -
5 - Long Island - 
6 - Buffalo -
7 - Montreal - 
8 - Boston -

Week 9 Games
WOR (8-0) @ BOS (1-7) - SEP 8 - 1 PM ET - CBS
PRO (5-3) @ LI (3-5) - SEP 8 - 4 PM ET - CBS
*PRO Clinches playoff with Win or Tie + ON Loss
ON (4-4) @ OTT (6-2) - SEP 9 - 3 PM ET - CBC
*OTT clinches division with Win or Tie
*ON clinches playoff with Win or BUF Loss
BUF (3-5) @ MTL (2-6) - SEP 9 - 6 PM ET

Last edited by Wallflower (8/16/2020 4:14 pm)