Nakamura Cup Playoffs 2056

Hokkaido fans had the best series they could hope after sweeping Tochigi. Archers tried really hard to keep up the score. In fact, the first two games were incredibly close ones, with four of less goals of difference. The pressure of Game 3 leaded them to defeat, giving up 25 goals and failing many scoring chances.



Contrasting from Hokkaido vs Tochigi series, Niigata and Saitama had to play until the feared game 5. The series was back and forth, one team winning a game at a time. Momentum was on favor of the Cyborgs after winning 25-12 in game four, but Niigata, already used to win a game after losing, also had confidence. Saitama Cyborgs had planned to wear silver and red for their last game, but noticed that every time they went with red shorts they lost against their rival. In favor of superstition, they changed their original set to red and white shorts. Cyborgs dominated that day, stopping Niigata’s offensive efforts and monopolizing every scoring chance. Maybe white shorts changed their fate after all.



The first NPBL finals had the first two teams of the league against each other: Hokkaido and Saitama. Hokkaido had more rest days than the Cyborgs, and it showed. Rangers won the first game with ease. Saitama tied the series after a really heated game two, scoring the winning goal late into the game. Unfortunately, Saitama’s efforts couldn’t stop Hokkaido of the cup run. The next two games were all Hokkaido, who played safe to secure their place as the first Nakamura Cup Champions.
 

Last edited by Nark24 (8/09/2019 12:10 am)

2st? That’s not a word.

2056 Offseason

The first offseason was a little boring. Not much happened. Uniforms or coaches stayed the same this offseason, but things got heated on the coaching staffs. After Hokkaido's victory with defensive strategies, teams started to experiment with their play style approach towards the next season. They also worked on how to manage the goal difference ratio, one of the game changers of the standings, and a very unexpected one, as the sport never had a position standings system before.
 
New players:

NPBL has a scouting system for their new players. No drafts were made this season. Instead, each team has a development camp on their own.  This camp has direct ties with the main team, and works in similar ways to affiliated teams in the NHL. Players can be called to the main teams in key moments, like strategy changes, injuries and other unexpected occurrences.

New players are selected by team scouts across the nation. The main events for scouters are the prefecture tournaments and the Nationals of Blockball, the biggest competition of the sport in the nation, even bigger than the pro league. Third year students are selected by scouts to join their respective Professional training camps, while breakout first and second years are tracked for future seasons.
 
This year, the top player by team were the following:

CHI – Ogawa Ken (RW) – Okayama Gakugeikan
OSA – Watanabe Jun (S) – Riseisha
SAI – Kurita Kenji (LW) – Chiben Wakayama
TOK – Kusakabe Hajime (D) – Waseda Daigaku Kōtō Gakuin Chūgakubu
NII – Tajiri Yuuji (C) – Kumamoto-kō
TOC – Sasahara Takumi (D) – Seiryō
KAN – Ushida Atsushi (D) – Chiben Wakayama
HOK – Koitabashi Tomokazu (D) – Sapporo Daiichi
 
Other news:

After a very successful first season, the league started to seek prospects for a future expansion. There are no details of the possible cities or the possible starting year, but the interest in new teams is well-known among fans and press.

The XI Nationals of Blockball crowned Okayama Gakugeikan (also known as Gakugei) as the new champion, after defeating Sapporo Daiichi 46-31. The school will keep the Sukai flag until the next Nationals. Many members of both teams were selected by NPBL scouts. This tournament was the first on having teams from every prefecture in the country, for a total of 48 schools (46 plus one for each division of Tokyo).