DollarAndADream

F- Phil Marleau @TheyBeCallinMeHoop

DC Dragons + Wolski's Rocky Start Well, the season has finally gotten off to a start, and some teams are rounding into form, while others have been a bit of a rollercoaster. The Vancouver Wolves sit at the top of the league with a 7-0-0 record, while a team like the DC Dragons sits tied for that last playoff spot with a 2-3-2 record at 6 points. Let's take a look at their first few games. DC Dragons vs. Helsinki Titans 3-0 W This was a competitive back and forth game against the Helsinki Titans where DC's goaltender Stone Wolski was dominant. In the 1st Period, Dragons' Ricky Johnson scored his first of the season, 2 minutes into the game on the PP with assists to Groovy Dood and Liam Flaten. Not long after that at 3:50, Xavier laFlament scored his first, also from Groovy Dood and Liam Flaten, putting the DC Dragons up 2-0 early in this game. The Dragons outshot their opponent 14-5 in that period, coming out with a hot start in the 1st Period of the season and leading 2-0. In the 2nd Period, Ricky Johnson scored once again, obviously his second of the season, with assists AGAIN to Groovy Dood and Liam Flaten. That was a 3-0 lead for the DC Dragons, and while the Helsinki Titans would pour it on in the 3rd Period, Stone Wolski held the door shut and the Dragons came out with the 3-0 victory. Wolski posted a 26 save shutout, while Dood and Flaten had 3 assists each. TItans goaltender, Zamboni Driver, saved 29 of 32 with a save percentage of 0.906. DC Dragons vs. Seattle Bears 5-2 L This next game was up against the champion team Seattle Bears, who were quite noticeably still in championship form in this one. The 1st Period started off more competitive than the rest of the game would turn out to be. Early in the game, Seattle's Ola Vikingstad scored his third of the season from Hulk Hogan to take a 1-0 lead. A minute later, Dragons forward Xavier laFlament would score a goal to tie the game up, with assists going to Groovy Dood and Ricky Johnson. It was then on to the 2nd Period, and this is where things fell apart for DC. At 2:39, Bears player Timothy Brown would score his first of the season, with assists to Kris Rice and Uhtred. Things would remain stable for most of the period, but Groovy Dood would take a roughing penalty at 13:30, and just two seconds in to the PP, Berocka Sundqvist would score his first of the season. Kris Rice had the helper. A little over a minute later, Isabella Campbell would score again for the Bears, and they would come out of the 2nd Period with a commanding 4-1 lead. In the 3rd Period, it was also a bad start for the Dragons. Lance Flowers took an early penalty and the Bears made them pay, with Ola Vikingstad getting his fourth of the season at the 2:42 mark. Xavier laFlament would add another Dragons goal late in the period, but the Seattle Bears would walk away with the 5-2 victory. Stone Wolski had a rough game, saving 37 of 42 with a 0.881 save percentage. Bears goalie Jacob Tonn was great, saving 27 of 29. ------------------------------ ------------------------------ Helsinki Titans vs. DC Dragons 3-2 SOL This game against the Titans was a rematch where the Titans wanted revenge after losing 3-0 in the first game of the season. In the 1st Period, DC's Luciano Valentino scored his first of the season on the PP, with assists to Lance Flowers and Boris the Forest. The Dragons would actually come out of the 1st with a 1-0 lead in a pretty uneventful period. In the 2nd Period, Helsinki took over. Erik Draven scored his first with assists to Seabass Perrin and Hiroshi Okada, just 10 seconds into the period. Late in the period, Benny Graves took an interference penalty and Seabass Perrin made him pay on the PP at 16:33, with assists to Erik Summers and Jared Spaz. The Titans outshot the Dragons 15-5 in the 2nd, and came away with a 2-1 lead. In the 3rd Period, it was more of an even battle, and Dragons captain Benny Graves would tie the game up at the 11:07 mark. This would hold all the way into the shootout, where the Helsinki Titans would get a shootout winner from Valtteri Vaakanainen to take a 3-2 SO win. Stone Wolski saved 33 of 35 while his team was outshot 35-18. Lucky for DC, Benny Graves tied it up and got them that valuable shootout loss point. While I don't have anymore game summaries for you, the Dragons would go 1-2-1 in their next 4 games, and are currently sitting with a 2-3-2 record. Wolski and the Dragons will need to come forward with a lot more consistency if they want to compete this season.

1. This will be hard to judge for a bit I think. We didn't have a pick until later, and as far as that goes I think we did pretty well getting Philliefan and the 2 Hoffmans. All 3 will need to develop for awhile, which is fine. We will see how they all pan out over time, but I think we came out of the draft with some great prospects. 2. To post better individual stats than last year in net and give my team a fighting chance to win every time I start. Most of all, the Continental Cup. 3. I have to tap both posts and the crossbar with my goalie stick before every game. 4. I think it will be Xavier! 5. Both London and Vancouver had three 1st rounders, so I think it has to be one of them just based on the talent alone. We'll have to see over time who actually develops into stars though. Some high picks fall off, some don't. Sometimes late picks develop more than high picks, etc. 6. A championship.

JP Camus. What a guy.

Late 3rd period comeback with Benny Graves as the tying goal and shootout hero. Woo!

F- Ray Sheilds @studentized

Tell Helsinki it was me.

Can't be too mad at a SOL, especially after those shot totals.

Hey, Seattle. Frick off.

D- Erik Killinger @TheyBeCallinMeHoop

F- RJ Jubis @studentized

@DarkSpyro I'll let this one go, but try to stray away from doing player cards for full 6 TPE PTs. Player cards are more meant for VHL.coms.

1. Did you believe that Seattle would win it all again this season, why or why not? 2. DC added Lance Flowers recently. How big of an impact will he have in the upcoming season? 3. What do you think will be the driving force of this Dragons team to get on top next season? 4. Which team do you think was the most successful on draft day? 5. Who do you believe will be the top teams next season? 6. Which FA signing so far do you think will make the biggest impact?

Yeah he ranks pretty high up there actually considering he traded Leph Twinger away when his value was high.

Bana managed to get Leph Twinger a cup in Seattle, so he's probably the best GM of all time.

Group 4 should be ashamed that they allowed me to win this. I don't win these.

yes

Sure is! Also had over 1000 TPE. That TPA was what he was at on retirement. Here's his player page on the site that has him over 1000. Back when we still had the player pages on the forum.

1. We had a great run, and a lot to be proud of. Right now, it's all about taking rest then getting back in the mindset to go on another run. 2. I think we'll be in the playoffs again. I think Wolski will be better as well, which works out greatly for the team. 3. Just kick back and relax, to be honest. Watch the rest of the playoffs then get right back in workout mode. 4. I believe my reaction and hand speed timing could use some work. I'll be pouring some time and effort into those areas. 5. I think it's going to be a very back and forth series but ultimately, Seattle will win. 6. Went straight to the lake and had a swim.

Oof. Gyrfalcon got lit up. Malmo outshot Helsinki 26-9 in the 1st and left the period down 2-1. Rough. What a game for Samuel Ross.

Pushed 2OT in Game 6 after being down 3-1 in the series. Not that bad. Would have loved Game 7 of course, but those shot totals were leaning towards Seattle. We came back and beat Vancouver, and had a rocky season before that. Proud of my DC people.

Thank you, sir. 1. Honestly, just being able to put up respectable numbers as a goalie in the playoffs. I always want to give my team a chance. 2. There's definitely still hope while down 3-1, especially in the VHL. Our Dragons team has what it takes to come back and win this. 3. Getting that series clinching win against Vancouver to bring us to the next round! 4. Boris. 5. Gotta be Aaltonen. 6. This is a big stepping stone for Wolski. It's his chance to prove that he's a gamer in the VHL and can come up big in big games.

Looking for Wolski to do some Mikaelson things for the rest of this.

Damn, what a Game 5 effort for DC!! Proud of us.