Devise

2-1 Quebec Quebec in 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_-Qtz70_z4 I remember when so many of theses crazy European dance songs came over when I was younger...almost a teen...like 96-99. They were played at pretty much every school dance, community hall event etc. Jesus. My other youth memories are mostly things like getting into fights, stealing...and doing drugs....so not exactly a flood gate of good memories. Although I do remember watching an insane amount of VHS tapes when I was younger as well. And experiencing MSN messenger for the first time in like early 2000 or 99. Anyone else remember making your own webpages with yahoo geocities? Jesus that was a huge thing, so many homemade bad sites with like...click counters and hilarious bad web development. The internet used to be a crazy treasure trove of just poorly designed sites and hilariously bad things.

Just noticing as I was going through some of this hasn't been updated since S32 or S33. We have had two seasons since then. Don't know if we have people who are currently hired to do this but if not an application should be put up. I think we should also add some more stuff to the records section, the fact that there are no playoff records recorded...is kind of strange. Stats should be "overall" for all games played with records section being for individual seasons/playoffs. Be interesting to see who has the most goals in an individual playoff season...things of that nature. Just a bit to add to the history so people can see how they compare with other players all time etc.

The resident two face of the VHL Skylar Rift has had an excellent playoffs thus far in S35. Currently sitting with a 2-0 lead over the Helsinki Titans, and a strong case for Playoff MVP. However this is nothing out of the ordinary for Rift. While he has yet to turn in a Playoff MVP award yet, Rift has always excelled in the playoffs. While at times his numbers in individual seasons have dropped to average and below...Rift has won a lot of playoff hockey games in comparison to how many he has played...and overall has very solid playoff stats. Including the 9 games he has played this season Rifts overall playoff stats are as follows. Games Played - 46 Wins - 28 Losses - 14 OTL - 4 Shutouts - 1 Goals Against Average - 2.40 Save Percentage - 0.921 The numbers show that Rift is quite solid when it comes to goals against, although not elite considering the games he has played. However he is easily top 25 in league history in regards to save percentage overall in the playoffs. But the most telling statistic is the wins. Rift has won 60.86% of the playoffs game he has played. Probably the most interesting and ironic part of his playoff history. Rift was brought in to replace Benjamin Glover, Glover who played in tons of playoff games had a history collapsing in key playoff situations. Glover played in 72 playoff games and went 35-33-3. Including overtime losses Glover actually lost more playoff games than he won. Despite this, Glover had a glowing 0.920 save percentage and 2.37 goals against average in all playoff games. While there is merit to the fact that Rift has surrounded himself with quality teams throughout his career stats only tell some of that story. Glover himself had a plethora of Hall of Fame talent on his team in more than one season of playoff runs. Stats need to be translated into wins, and the key reason Rift has remained a goalie who excels in the playoffs is because when his team needs him to play good, he more than often does. Thus far Rift has played in the playoffs every single season of his VHL career, and that could be a trend that continues till he retires. Whether he will be able to maintain the consistent to great performances and a glowing win percentage throughout all the playoffs remains to be seen. But one thing is for certain, up until this point if you are entering the playoffs Skylar Rift is a goalie you can count on.

While a ton of Bruins fans are douche bags that can be said for any hockey city fans. The crowd was silent as all hell and clapped for Orpik in attendance. So saying "Bruins fans" is a bit of a generalization with your statement. You'll get people who are super negative/make you want to give up on humanity everywhere though.

It was all a very tough incident. I'm not going to condone what Thornton did...but at the same time...the game was SUPER chippy at that point. The opening shift you had Lou Eriksson go off injured on a hit by Orpik. While Orpik kept his shoulders tucked and it was a clean hit that way, it was easily a missed interference call. Especially on a player like Eriksson who has concussion history. Then Neal knee'd Marchand in the head, which also looked intentional. I suspect he'll get suspended a few games for that on his hearing. It's one of the reasons why while I still support fighting in hockey....I often wonder if the "enforcer" role needs to get removed. It DOESN'T work. People find all these use cases where they fight someone and it simmers the game down but when you have two heated teams going against each other in playoff style hockey with tons of hitting, enforcing does nothing. The best solution is to play through it. All the enforcing does is create fights that don't solve anything, then lead to these type of scrums. Thornton was trying to stick up for his teammates but went about it all wrong, do you think the next time these two teams play there isn't going to be fights, hits, and plenty of dirty stuff? Of course. The flood gates are open. To me this is no different than what Emery did to Holtby. If a fighter doesn't want to engage he shouldn't have to. It's the NHL not boxing. Fighting should be left to people who choose to fight. If nobody on a team chooses to fight then your enforcers and your team need to get your "payback" on the scoreboard and in the play. Play more physical on them without going over the line. Egg them into wanting to fight you to get your fight without sucker punching and hurting people. Thronton will easily get suspended for what he did and rightfully so, but the NHL needs to stop pretending the violence in the game isn't an issue. It has been at an all time high this season, concussions EVERYWHERE despite their stance on it. Enough is enough. Clear cut rules on when and how you can fight in this league, on what you need to do if someone isn't willing to fight need to be dolled out.

http://www41.zippyshare.com/v/4960980/file.html Chris is busy making sure he can continue to be a College student so longtime friend and last season arch rival Jason "Diamond Ace" Glasser joins the usual rascals Jericho and myself for what was a rather entertaining edition. We take a look at the "new era" of the VHL entering the league, recap some exciting VHL playoff action, take a look at the Super Cup draft as well as how the teams are looking out and give some thoughts on that as well as our usual shout out segment. Jericho also continues to prove how petty he can be....almost like a certain musician some people may have heard of..... ENJOY!

R.I.P. ......

Rift being left alone here. Come on team SUPPORT!

How does him letting in a goals against weak teams on low shot totals but his team still winning the games, versus him winning the games his team is actually going to have a challenge to win with good stats have anything to do with his overall save percentage? Save percentage is based on ALL games a player plays. Normally that wouldn't matter, but Higgins has a history of playing his own player against weaker teams. It isn't like they lose tons of those games....his stats just get nullified due to that. Hence why his goals against average is still so low despite his weaker save percentage. The fact is, Calgary Helsinki Quebec Toronto Cologne should or be expected to go 16-0 against New York and Riga in the season series. They have no rosters and the others are playoff competing teams. Stats compiled during those games are irrelevant. Why? Because the teams are so far apart that there is no "MVP' of those games. The better team is going to win those games 9/10 because the weaker teams there have ZERO real roster players. Ergo when you don't look at any performance against the two weakest teams in the league, since it is meaningless in regards to MVP....Wozniak played good against the stronger teams. But his team didn't have a winning percentage. Ergo, Wozniak playing good DOES NOT lead to Calgary winning. He needs support. Tukio won games against the top teams in the league without goal scoring support. He was the sole reason his team won several of those games. His team had a winning percentage overall against all the teams that scored more than them, and tied the season series across with teams like Quebec and Toronto despite not scoring as much goals as them. Tukio...is the reason for that. Tukio...won his team games when it wasn't a sure thing. I don't see how that isn't even a fact. I mean look at the season series between Helsinki and Toronto, or Quebec, or Cologne....Tukio was outstanding. I don't see why end season stats as the only base have to do with MVP at all. It's about what those stats mean and what it translates to. Ovechkin didn't win MVP in the league when he had 4 20 goal scorers on his team. But nobody else scores and he leads the league in goals scored and scores the majority of his teams goals in games they win? Oh look and MVP award. Again, it's because those stats translate into wins that would otherwise be losses. Unlike the NHL in the VHL it is nearly impossible for teams with even half a competent roster or some top star players to lose to the truly weak teams in the league. Every season we seem to have a few teams who only win like 5-10 games a season. Wins against them are essentially assured for playoff teams, meaning it doesn't matter how well anyone does against them individually for an MVP vote....

I don't see how Calgary having 5 forwards and 2 D at all compares to their success. Teams with no depth and tons of star power forwards have dominated the league time and time again. The Wranglers the year before barely finished out of first in the conference and had 106 points despite only having 5 forwards and 2 D. Marcellin that year was also top 3 in assists and Ryback/Chershenko dominated. They even had a weaker goalie in Satan. The year before New York had barely any real depth, mostly 200 TPE and under players on D basically just running on Sullivan, Labatte and 5 forwards...finished tops in the NA conference again with a roster running on star power. I could keep going...as it happens almost every season. A team with 4 or 5 forwards and 2-3 D but it has some of the highest TPE players in the league does well. Sterling Wozniak had a third of his points against the two worst teams in the league in Riga/NY. How does that mean "MVP"? How many times has the top point producer in the NHL won MVP? It RARELY happens. It's about the ACTUAL MVP not who produced the most. Wonziak deserves all the credit for top goals, top assists, top points, most outstanding player...I will not deny that. But he isn't the only reason his team did as good as it did. The star power plays on Calgary played well and it carried them through teams in the league, most notably the weaker teams. They struggled against the tougher teams, and in those performances he didn't play nearly as good.

Muete 1-0.

Wranglers Titans

Playoffs are irrelevant for regular season MVP. I don't see how Tukio's stats would be better if he was so good. He beat the toughest teams in the league during the regular season with very little goal support from his team during that time. Go watch him give up goals against Riga and Davos and you see why his stats aren't as high. Calgary didn't place higher than they should have. Toronto is still very young, and star power LEADS teams in this league. Calgary has a average and sometimes terrible record against the tougher teams in the league. Look at Calgarys roster, of course they dominated Seattle, Riga, New York, and Vasteras. Quebec and Helsinki placed ahead of Calgary because they were able to play better against tougher teams. Ultimately though I don't see much of an argument how Tukio didn't carry his team in tough situations. I will give Kendrick the point, as Chris mentioned Higgins had the lines set to 2-2-1 for the majority of the season. Which would explain his teams low goal scoring. But even still, he stopped pucks against the teams that scored tons this year. That matters.

Skylar Rift entered the league on a high note. Winning tons of awards in the VHLM, a gold medal as apart of Team USA in the World Cup and going on to win rookie of the year and a Continental Cup in his first and only season with the New York Americans. However another thing that Rift has seen as he entered the league is playoff battles with one of the best goalies of all time....Alexander Labatte. S35 marks the last season for the future Hall of Famer. So it is fitting then....that Labatte and Rift will duel it out one last time in the post season. Rift and Labatte first met in the Continental Cup Finals in S32. That would be Rifts first trip to the post season...and in a epic 7 game series that saw 4 one goal games...Rift would barely out duel Labatte en route to the Cup. In that series Labatte and Rift both played equally inconsistent. Some stellar games, some bad ones...but it would be Rifts stellar outing in Games 5 and 7 of the series that would be the difference maker. The two would face off again in the post season the following year. S33 when Labatte found his way to the defending champion Americans and Rift would switch over to the Wranglers. This best of seven would determine who would walk out of the North American conference and get to play Europe for the Continental Cup. 6 of the 7 games in this series were one goal games. Both Rift and Labatte played excellent this entire series...but this time it would be Labatte who got the last laugh, out dueling Rift and taking the Americans in overtime of game seven for the last laugh. The series was as much of a goalie duel as you will find. Now enter S35. Rifts fourth trip to the playoffs in as many seasons....and the third time he has found himself against Labatte in a crucial series. Labatte now playing for the Wranglers, the team Rift left behind via free agency in controversial fashion at the end of S33. While the Muete hold the series lead, goal tending has once again been brought to the front as these two net minders face off. They traded shut outs in Games 1 and 2 and Rift has slightly out dueled Labatte in Games 3 and 4 to have a commanding lead. If history says anything, this series will go to seven. These two goalies have a knack for bringing out the best of each other in the playoffs, and this series doesn't look to be that different.

Alright not to rain on your parade although apparently that is what I do, I have some factual numbers/stuff to discuss regarding Wozniak as MVP. I'll start out by saying I think Wozniak shouldn't be MVP. That was made known on my Pajodcast but it isn't anything personal I just think it is about more than just "you being on a great team with tons of people who played well." I think has more to do with the fact that Wozniaks stats were inflated by virtue of him playing amazing against teams that Calgary was going to beat anyway. If I saw evidence that Wozniak was the reason his team won so many games, I'd agree. It isn't anything personal either. I think you had a great season, one of the best in a long while and should handily win the Slobo for Most Outstanding Player. But here is my argument. Wozniak had a great season. 154 Points, 72 goals. Hard to argue with those kind of numbers right? Wrong. MVP isn't about just numbers. For the sake of my argument I'm going to look at Wozniaks performances coupled with how well the team did (wins/losses) against the two worst, and two best teams in the league. From a points and wins stand point Helsinki/Quebec are the two best teams in the league and Riga/New York are the two worst. In 16 games against New York and Riga Calgary won 16 times. Wozniaks performance in those games? 28 goals 27 Assists for 55 Points. That is SUPER HIGH. A third of your total points came against the two worst teams in the league including almost 30 of your 72 goals. Great numbers? Sure. But with the roster Calgary had, it didn't matter WHO on their team was getting the points against New York and Riga. The chances that Calgary wasn't going to go 16-0 against those two teams was very unlikely. Those are winning games REGARDLESS of individual performance, even if yours was amazing. In 16 games against Quebec and Helsinki Calgary won 5 games, lost in regulation 9 times and lost in OT twice. Not exactly glowing numbers. Wozniak was still solid in those 16 games posting 14 goals and 12 assists for 26 points. But those numbers don't jump out to you as "awe dropping." They are good, but even his good numbers couldn't get his team a winning percentage against the two toughest teams in the league. MVP's win the games for their teams that most think they are going to lose. Carry their team through slumps, take their team to wins that seem unlikely. The MVP vote is likely to be tough this year but as I said in the Pajodcast and I say it again here...I see one clear cut MVP this season despite many seeing it as tough. Tuomas Tukio. Helsinki had the least offense of all the playoff teams but one. They scored less goals than Toronto, Quebec, Calgary and Cologne. Only Davos scored less than them of playoff teams. Yet they gave up the last amount of goals against. Tukio doesn't have the save percentage that screams MVP, but again it isn't all just about base stats. Helsinki had their back up playing Seattle, meaning Tukio was playing against Riga and New York. Thus his save percentage took a hit from giving up the odd 1 or 2 goal on limited shot totals. At the end of the day Tukio won games against the best teams in the league for his team. Against the four teams that scored more than them, that being Que, Col, Cal, Tor Helsinki went 23-8-1. They barely outscored these teams on an individual bases even being as close to one goal apart or in some cases like against the Legion they gave up more goals than they scored. Ultimately they scored 84 goals while allowing 69 goals against those teams in 32 games combined. That is roughly an average of 2.15 goals against per game...against the TOUGHEST and higher scoring teams in the league! While only scoring an average of 2.65 goals per game. All while Tukio was playing. The fact is in most of the season series save for Calgary, where Tukio gave up 24 goals in 8 games...all of them were really tight and he gave up nothing. 11 Goals against Cologne in 8 games with 17 against Toronto and Quebec. It isn't like he was getting goal support in all of those season series as well. Only 22 goals scored against Cologne, 13 against Toronto and 16 against Quebec. They were outscored in the season series in two of those...yet managed to come away with a winning or even record. All because of Tukio. Tough games are on the line? He finds a way to win and against the highest scoring and other top teams in the league he made sure his team had a glowing win percentage.

I said he was too young to die true statement. But you can't deny the irony.

He was an okay actor but was never big on him. Still sucks though was only 40. Kinda ironic though that he died in a car accident.

Sorry for Legion tough loss. You are going down this time though Wranglers!!!!!!

Who stated Taylor made Jones? I don't think it was me, unless it was. Hard to remember exactly everything from a 2 hour podcast. Ha. RIGA RIGA RIGA! I always mispronounce things.

HOLY EPIC GAME! Both goalies played amazing, what shot totals and then Wozniak with the huge winning goal. Seven game series of epic!

Could this go to seven?

Reggie Dunlop with the clutch winner. Good luck against Helsinki Cologne!

Also since I said I would post it. Here is a vintage example of how Daniel Braxton would "play hard" in the playoffs for the New York Americans! And for more lols, here is Braxton doing another famous move in the playoffs that allowed a breakaway goal against Benjamin Glover. Braxton however reports that he somehow got hit with a very strong wind.