NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, CFL stats



arenafootball2

af2 Conference Finals quick hitters

August 17, 2006 - arenafootball2 (af2) News Release


TWISTERS HOPE SECOND TIME IS THE RIGHT TIME: The Arkansas Twisters, a member of the af2 since the league's inaugural season of 2000, has reached the playoffs three times in seven years. The Twisters best result came in 2003 when they reached the National Conference title game. Arkansas came up a bit short in that contest, losing at Tulsa, 63-52. The Twisters hope their second time will bring a different end result.

COACHES WHO WIN WHEN IT COUNTS: Spokane head coach Chris Siegfried owns the overall lead in all-time coaching victories with 55. Of his 55 wins, four have come in postseason play. Siegfried's most successful playoff run came in 2002 as a rookie af2 coach with Cape Fear, a team that was in its first season of play. Siegfried won two games to reach the American Conference Championship game that season before losing to Florida. This week, guiding another first-year team, he'll be shooting to win his first Conference Championship and earn his first ArenaCup appearance as an af2 head coach. Former Peoria head coach and current Chicago Rush assistant Bruce Cowdrey owns the most postseason wins in league history with seven. The next closest active coach is Manchester's Ben Bennett with five wins (5-3 overall). If combined coaching victories (AFL and af2) factored into the equation, Arkansas head coach JOHN GREGORY would be the leader of the pack. In 10 seasons as an AFL head coach, Gregory scored six postseason wins. He guided the Iowa Barnstormers to back-to-back ArenaBowl appearances (1996, 1997). With Arkansas' two postseason victories so far in 2006, he has a total of eight playoff wins as a head coach.

TOP ALL-TIME PLAYOFF COACHES - RANKED BY WINS
NAME RECORD (PCT.)
1. Bruce Cowdrey 7-1 (.875)
2. Frank Haege 6-0 (1.00)
3. Ben Bennett* 5-3 (.625)
4. Danton Barto* 4-2 (.667)
Skip Foster 4-2 (.667)
Tommy Johnson* 4-3 (.571)
Chris Siegfried* 4-3 (.571)
Kevin Porter 4-4 (.500)
* denotes active coaches

KICKIN' IT BIG IN THE MIDWEST: A week after Oklahoma City K A.J. HAGLUND hit an af2 postseason record-setting 57 yard field goal against Arkansas, Tulsa K LUKE PHILLIPS connected on a record-tying 57-yard field goal against the Twisters as well. Phillips' 3-point boot was the first three points of the game. Both kicks, however, came in losing efforts.

CONFERENCE FINALS FEATURE REGULAR SEASON REMATCHES: This Saturday's American and National Conference Championship games feature rematches of earlier battles that took place in the regular season. Ironically enough, both games were played in Week 14. On the American Conference side, the Green Bay Blizzard defeated the Florida Firecats, 48-47, at Germain Arena. The loss was Florida's only home loss of 2006 (7-1). Another interesting note is that the Firecats scored an identical 48-47 win at Green Bay in Week 17 of 2005. On the National Conference side, this year the Spokane Shock defeated the Arkansas Twisters, 46-23, at ALLTELL Arena.

AN UPSET ON TAP?: In the ArenaCup playoffs, history has shown that a home game in the Conference Championship doesn't guarantee a victory. In each of the last six seasons at least one home team has lost when playing for the right to advance to the ArenaCup. In 2002 and 2004 both home teams lost.

SPEAKING OF HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE: Both Spokane and Florida posted 7-1 home records this season. Spokane lost to Bakersfield on May 6th, 52-20, and Florida lost to Green Bay, 48-47 on July 1st.

2006 af2 PLAYOFF SCHEDULE & RESULTS: The champion of the American Conference will meet the champion of the National Conference in The 2006 ArenaCup on Saturday, August 26 at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Conference champions will be determined in a three-round playoff format. In each conference, the two division champions and the four teams with the next best overall records qualified (6 teams per conference). The two division champions in each conference earned a bye for the First Round. The first seeded Wild Card team (No. 3 overall) hosts the last seeded Wild Card team (No. 6 overall). The second seeded Wild Card team hosts the second to last seeded Wild Card team (No. 5 overall). The lowest remaining seed from the First Round plays at the top seeded division champion in the Conference Semifinals. The other First Round winner plays at the second seeded division champion. The winners of the Conference Semifinals meet for the Conference Finals and the Conference Champions meet for The 2006 ArenaCup. In the Conference Championships, the team with the best overall record is the host. In the ArenaCup, the home team is decided on a rotating basis between the two conferences. This year the American Conference representative will be deemed the home team.

• Discuss this story on the arenafootball2 message board...

arenafootball2 Stories from August 17, 2006


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central