Going with my Royals to beat Buffalo and Providence to knock off Boston. Should be a fun playoffs!

1952 Semi-Finals

Ottawa Royals VS. Buffalo Blue Wings - Lansdowne Park - September 20, 1952 - 6 PM ET
The Blue Wings came onto the field with a great majority of the players now sporting the wings on their helmets. The change has inspired the league to encourage it with their uniform regulation changes this offseason. 
The game started with both teams trading drives. They were able to move the ball particularly well but were stopped by around midfield. Midway into the opening frame, QB Jean Matieau would find WR Allen Atkins open for a 23-yard gain to get them within scoring range. A couple plays later, Matieau would find WR Willard Brooks in the endzone for the score and the 7-0 lead. The Blue Wings would answer back not long after when QB Angelo Medina found WR Joseph Barry sneaking into the endzone. The opening quarter ended with the teams knotted up at 7.

Matieau would keep the offense moving in the second and score another touchdown early on. This time it was Allen Atkins scoring, reclaiming the lead for the Royals. It would take a couple of drives, but Medina would be able to get Buffalo back to scoring range. RB Arthur Conner would punch it in to tie it back up with 1 minute to go in the half. The Royals would be able to get down the field for a field goal just before the break to go up 17-14. 

In the second half, the Royals would continue to move the ball well. Matieau would get the ball to Atkins again for a 41-yard play that would set up his second touchdown of the day and extend the Ottawa lead to 10 midway through the third quarter. The Blue Wings ended up being slow out of the break, but once Ottawa had taken the lead, the team turned it up. Medina would lead the offense down to score just a couple drives later, with Arthur Conner scoring his second of the day. 

Medina took the momentum they had built up and ran with it. Completing pass after pass taking the Blue Wings to the endzone for a fourth time. WR Travis Gallagher had the touchdown this time as they would go up 24-27 after a missed point-after. The Royals would comeback attacking after blowing their 10 point lead. Matieau was making play after play to his receivers keeping the offense moving. Once the Royals got down to the Buffalo 24, it seemed inevitable they would score, however, DB Oscar Patterson had something to say about that. Matieau would try to get the pass to WR John Osborn when Patterson jumped the crossing route and took it back for Buffalo. The Blue Wings would drive back the other way and get deep into Ottawa territory. On a second and goal from 12 yards out, Medina would drop back to throw, Ottawa would try to prevent the major dropping back which allowed Medina to find some space. Rolling out of the pocket Medina would take off towards the endzone. The Royals started converging but Travis Gallagher and Arthur Conner would make a couple of solid blocks that allowed Medina to dive into the endzone. The Blue Wings now had put up 20 unanswered points and were well on their way to win. The only issue is the Ottawa offense is still the best in the league. Matieau would lead the Royals back on another strong drive. Not making any mistakes this time and getting them down to the 9-yard line. From there RB Alexei Volkov would take it in for his first on the day and pull the Royals to within 3. The Blue Wings would run down some of the clock, but the Royals would still get another chance. Once again they were marching but as they got to midfield the Blue Wings were able to force them to a 3rd down. On what could be the Royals last chance Matieau would try to get the ball to Atkins, but S Frazier Brooks would knock it away and seal the deal for the Blue Wings who would head home to play the McCallister Cup.  

Boston Independents VS. Providence Gold Stars - Richardson Stadium - September 21, 1952 - 3 PM ET
The Gold Stars entered their most feared stadium hoping to finally get over the hump of the Boston Independents. On the other side, Boston was playing for their coach who was entering what could be his final game on the sidelines. Boston would open up the game with a strong drive led by RB Joel Bonner. Bonner had 6 carries as he put the team into field goal range. K Arthur Wall would nail the field goal and give Boston the early lead. The Gold Stars would take over and things quickly went downhill. QB Bruce Woodard has already been getting the tag for playoff choker, and the start of this game did not help his case. Woodard would throw an interception on his 2nd pass to DB Lester Murphy. The DB would give Boston great field position in which Joel Bonner would quickly cash in for a touchdown. Boston led 10-0 after the first quarter.

Providence couldn’t get much going against the Boston defense, especially with Woodard looking a bit trigger shy. The teams would trade field goals for the entire second quarter resulting in a 13-6 Boston lead at the half.

First-year head coach Perry Powell would try to get his guys going after the half, but Peter McDuffin always seemed to be 2 steps ahead. The Gold Stars started to fall even more apart in the 3rd quarter. It would start with DB Francis Veillette picking off Woodard and setting up another Boston touchdown for Bonner. Then, it was RB Gene Fischer who lost the football to LB Carlos Bennett. The Independents would capitalize again with another field goal and go up 23-6 heading into the final quarter.

Frustration was boiling over once again for the Gold Stars as they continued to make mistakes with another fumble. Their defense was doing all they could but with Boston having a short field it proved useless. However, they would come up with a huge stop, forcing a Boston 2 and out deep in Boston territory. K Arthur Wall could only punt it so far and giving Providence a shorter field. Bruce Woodard would turn it on and lead the offense down to the redzone. He would connect with WR Peter Brooks in the endzone for a touchdown cutting the lead to 10. The Gold Stars would get another chance and once again march down the field. They were at the Boston 21 and had a fresh set of downs. Woodard dropped back and saw WR Eugene Burns break off in a post over the middle. Woodard would throw a pass quickly and it sailed. The ball would be off the mark and S Michael O’Brien would take it and seal the deal for Boston sending them back to the McCallister Cup again. The Gold Stars flopped once again in the playoffs, which may call for major changes to the team this offseason.  

Players of the Week

OFF: QB Angelo Medina BUF - 2 Passing Touchdowns, 1 Rushing Touchdown, 237 Passing Yards

DEF: DB Lester Murphy BOS - 1 Interception, 4 Knockdowns, 4 Tackles

34th McCallister Cup Preview
Boston Independents VS. Buffalo Blue Wings - Buffalo Civic Stadium - SEP 27 - 6 PM ET
Head-to-Head: 
W2 - BOS 18-10 BUF
The Blue Wings will continue their hot streak heading into their first McCallister Cup. They will also be the home team in what was supposed to be a neutral site game. The Blue Wings are slight favourites in the showdown, but you can never count out the Boston team that has been to every NAAF championship so far. The major storylines will be centered around Boston HC Peter McDuffin in his final game and DB Oscar Patterson who may also be playing his final game.  

Ah fudge, my Royals choked! Oh well, here's hoping Buffalo can win it all. 

Also, it's been awhile since I have read this topic, and I'm not sure if this has been brought up already, but is there a timetable as to when the next expansion is? I was just curious as to when and if there will be any teams in New York City and/or Ohio. And who televises NAAF games?

Anyway, as I said, I'm pulling for the Blue Wings, even if they upended Ottawa. Keep it up!

Slapshot Kirby wrote:

Ah fudge, my Royals choked! Oh well, here's hoping Buffalo can win it all. 

Also, it's been awhile since I have read this topic, and I'm not sure if this has been brought up already, but is there a timetable as to when the next expansion is? I was just curious as to when and if there will be any teams in New York City and/or Ohio. And who televises NAAF games?

Anyway, as I said, I'm pulling for the Blue Wings, even if they upended Ottawa. Keep it up!

All good, welcome back

As mentioned before, I like to keep most of my plans under wraps, I have an idea around when, but there are plenty of other things that are going to happen first, but expect some expansion to happen near the end of the decade. 

As for TV, I hadn't thought about it much, but for the most part, it is local stations that host most of the games as this world doesn't have like an NFL, so there are a lot of other leagues also competition for television time. CBC hosts lots of Canadian based games specifically in Ottawa and Montreal, while local channels in the US host the others. The McCallister is to be on most channels with CBS likely headlining. I may touch more on that in the offseason. 

Slapshot Kirby wrote:

Ah fudge, my Royals choked! Oh well, here's hoping Buffalo can win it all. 

Also, it's been awhile since I have read this topic, and I'm not sure if this has been brought up already, but is there a timetable as to when the next expansion is? I was just curious as to when and if there will be any teams in New York City and/or Ohio. And who televises NAAF games?

Anyway, as I said, I'm pulling for the Blue Wings, even if they upended Ottawa. Keep it up!

Totally with you there brother