Mr_Hatter

Congrats on winning the race! Would have been more fun if you could have choked though

Actually, nobody answered me earlier in discord, is ROW the first tiebreaker? Because if so I think we are officially out even if we sweep and they choke, because they are 6 ahead on ROW with only 4 games left

No worries haha. Technically still a chance, but only mathematically

No playoffs for Moscow

.667 .... wow that's, uh, unfortunate

There it is ?

?

Please sweep Davos in the rest of the games Riga.

I swear if we actually do this

Claiming this for the themes week (but NOT yet as a Media spot), in addition to this VHL.com article, for a combined 8 uncapped TPE.

Cleganebowl By Beat Reporter-Mann A review of the best goalkeeping duel in a playoff series, ever. In honor of VHL theme week, we will be diving into the annals of VHL history and take a look at possibly the most intense goalkeeping duel we have had the pleasure of witnessing. Showcasing two of the finest goaltenders in VHL history, this playoff series was for the Continental Cup, and went to 7 games no less. Let us take a dive into the archives and see just what made this series so special. Let the bowl begin! The Players The two goalies in question were the Clegane brothers, Greg @Victor and Sandro @JardyB10. The elder, Greg Clegane, was drafted in season 45 at the second overall pick by Helsinki, and is considered to be one of, if not the best goaltender to ever stand between the pipes in the VHL. A massive, 6’8” 250lbs, this towering figure has put up some of the best career stats out of any goaltender, including the most shutouts of all time, the most wins of all time, and the lowest goals against average of all time. In S51, Greg found himself playing for the Toronto Legion for the first time, and boasted a .940 SV% in the regular season, and came into the playoffs looking hot, but before being crowned Victor (hehe), he had to face one final test; his younger brother Sandro. The younger of the two Cleganes, Sandro came out in the S45 draft as well, at 4th overall pick to Cologne. Unlike his older brother however, Sandro took an extra year in the VHLM to hone his skills before moving up to the big leagues. Although a slightly shorter figure than his brother Greg, Sandro was nonetheless just as massive, weighing in at 250 lbs and standing at 6’6”. Although not considered quite as skilled as his older brother, Sandro was nonetheless a HOF goaltender, and boasted some really impressive statistics and achievements, mostly on the backend of his career, unlike brother Greg. Going into S51, Sandro was involved in a massive, 6-person trade that ended with him on the Riga Reign, once again similar to his brother Greg. Despite a SV% less than his brother’s, at .931, Sandro’s 1.40 goals against average and single season shutout record of 22 set him apart during the regular season, earning him the Scotty Campbell Trophy, although splitting the Aidan Shaw trophy with Greg. Going into the playoffs, the stage was set for a fantastic showdown, and when the finals came around, it failed to disappoint. After a first round bye, the Reign scraped by the Express in a seven game series, winning their final 3 matches. Toronto, on the other hand, ploughed their way through the Bears in six games, and the Wranglers in five, to set up a finals matchup for the ages. The Brothers Clegane stood toe-to-toe in a series for the ages. Game 1: REIGN Win, 2-1 Best Bro: Sandro Opening up the series was a 2 goals to 1 win for Riga, setting the tone for the series. As expected, the favorites came out strong right at the start. Greg Clegane had a decent match, posting a SV% of .913, but Sandro took this match with a SV% of .947, taking second star of the game. The story of this match, however, was both the Legion’s lack of discipline, as well as the startling poor power play from Riga, who went 0/10 with a man advantage. More importantly, they only put 23 shots, meaning they only averaged 2.3 shots per power play, assuming they had no other shots the other 40 minutes (of course this wasn’t the case; for one they only scored their two goals on the full 5v5). In the end it didn’t matter and they took the game, but wow that was poor. Game 2: REIGN Win, 3-1 Best Bro: Sandro The Reign continued their strong start, winning the second game of the series with a score of 3 to 1. This game was a little more interesting on the goaltender front. Greg had what must really be said was a relatively poor game from a goalie of his quality, managing only a .885 SV%. Sandro stole the show this match, letting in only a single goal in 33 shots, off a power play as well, good for a SV% of .970. Once again, Sandro was named second star of the match. Game 3: LEGION Win, 2-1 in 2OT Best Bro: Greg 60 saves. Enough said. Really though, in the third game of the series, Greg decided he was done being outshone by his younger brother, and put up one of the best showings of a goalie, ever, in a single match. In a double overtime classic, Greg made 60 saves on 61 shots, good for a SV% of .984. Let it be said, however, that Sandro was no slouch in this game, only allowing 2 goals on 35 shots for a SV% of .943, what was also a fantastic game for the younger Clegane. Greg is the winner of this game however, and took the well-deserved first star (though I think Sandro had a shout for second or third star as well, despite not being named). The Legion once again had a fantastic PK, stopping the Reign on 8/8 attempts. Game 4: LEGION Win, 2-1 in OT Best Bro: Greg In back to back games, Greg Clegane took his team to 2-1 OT victories, this time with 39/40 saves, for a SV% of .975, and was once again named first star. His brother Sandro let in the game winning goal 2 minutes into the OT period, going 36/38 on the game, or a SV% of .947 (and once again was not named a star of the game, despite a very good performance). Having tied up the series after two back to back OT victories, Greg Clegane and the Legion looked on the front foot to take the series. The Legion tightened up their PIM woes, and didn’t take a single penalty in this match, alleviating a lot of the pressure on their goalie Greg. Game 5: LEGION Win, 3-1 Best Bro: Greg In the fifth game of the series, Greg led the Legion to their first game lead of the series, going up 3-2 on the series. Named second star, Greg once again posted a strong SV% of .964, allowing just 1 goal on 28 shots. For the first time this series, Sandro posted a SV% less than .940, a relatively poor .906, allowing 3 goals on 32 shots. Toronto outplayed Riga this game, and looked to be completing a strong comeback, having won the three past games. The single goal let in by the Legion came in on a Reign power play, but continued strong play from the faceoff circle led them to victory; in fact, in each of the 7 games Toronto won the draw more often than not. Game 6: REIGN Win, 3-2 Best Bro: Pietro Maximoff The sixth game in the series was the first and only in which neither Greg nor Sandro was featured in the 3 stars of the game. In fact, neither goalie did much to deserve the title of Best Bro this game; therefore, I have decided to award this game’s best bro to the 1st star of the game, Riga’s Pietro Maximoff. The top-line left winger for the Reign put forward an offensive clinic in a series stacked with defensive powerhouses, and claimed a huge hattrick to tie up the series at three games a piece, sending it to a decisive game seven. Sandro posted the better SV% of the two brothers, at .935 compared to Greg’s .914, but he also faced 4 less shots, at only 31 to Gregs 35. Each team this game scored a PP goal, but it was Maximoff’s PP goal for the hattrick, 6 and a half minutes into the 3rd period that sealed the game for the Reign. Game 7: REIGN WIN, 1-0 Best Bro: Sandro Unlike some of the previous performances this series (Greg’s Game 4 victory comes to mind), this classic Game 7 wasn’t some marathon game with each goalie posting record-setting save numbers, but they didn’t have to. In an incredibly tight performance, Sandro shutout his older brother Greg’s Legion on 25 shots. Thanks to a power play goal from Jeff Hamilton with 24 seconds left in the 3rd period, the only goal of the game, the Riga Reign became Continental Cup Champions. A true heartbreaker, this game, and this series deserved to go to OT, but it was not to be. Sandro was named the first star of the game after his shutout performance, but his older brother Greg’s 28/29, .966 SV% was a well deserved second star performance. At the end of the day, someone has to score, and the series has to have a winner, but this game 7 remains an iconic display of goaltending, and is a microcosm of the series as a whole. Two standout goalies just standing on their head, two well-matched teams, and a series in which both teams had an opportunity to take the championship. Final Word I think at the end of the day, we need to look back to appreciate the moments like these in VHL history. A series of this magnitude, and performances of this magnitude from two Hall of Fame goaltenders has left us spoiled. I name both Cleganes the Best Bro™, due to their fantastic performances. Hopefully one day we can have a goalie duel of these proportions, but I sincerely doubt it will ever match the intensity these brothers showed in this all-time classic matchup. 1625 words, will claim starting the week of 10/20-10/27

The Music of the VHL By A. Simon-Cowell-Type ~Special Edition~ Welcome back to a very special edition of The Music of the VHL! This week, in honor of the history of the VHL, we are going to be covering a team that has long since been out of the VHL. The winners of the very first season of the VHL, this team were the first ever to hoist the cup. Västerås, here's to you! Västerås IK Tonight I'm Burning, Bombshell Rocks For our choice song this week, we are going with bonafide punk rockers Bombshell Rocks. Hailing from the city of Västerås, Sweden, itself, these guys were no doubt fans of the famous IK team that took the first season of VHL play. Västerås never quite reached the same heights however, and despite winning the league in Season 26, they faded into the history books of the VHL, their final season being Season 40. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned next week as we return to our regularly scheduled content!

usa! usa! usa!

Question, if I want to get this out of the way, but I already claimed a MS this week, can I write a new MS, claim the doubles this week for that new MS, and then next week claim the actual MS?

What? I didn't have a bad game against DC?

I love this! Cool to see, would have liked this for my draft class

10/13-10/20 Answer 6 questions to claim 2 TPE 1) The first team has clinched a playoff position, Houston. Do you think they deserve to claim that first spot? 2) At the other end of the spectrum, Ottawa has been eliminated from playoff contention. Any thoughts on the frail mortality of a VHLM team, even one who just won a cup? 3) Speaking of playoff contention, there is currently a neck-and-neck race for the final playoff slot, between Philadelphia and Mexico City. Who do you think will take it? 4) If you could give yourself at the beginning of the season any advice, what would it be? 5) When you aren’t playing hockey, what do you like to do? 6) Do you have a favorite cheese? 7) We are situated in third right now, only a point behind Las Vegas. We play them three more times. How important is it to take those games? 8) Would you rather win a cup one season and finish last place the next, or would you prefer to be in the playoff semifinals and lose two years in a row? 9) With 15 games left, we stand at 36 wins. What do you think our final total wins will be? 10) In a shootout, do you prefer to shoot first or second?

Let's go!!!! Big SO win for Bernard

Claiming for second week, 10/13-10/20

Doesn't matter if Davison comes back cause @Brrbisbrr will hold it down

Somewhat less good but y'know it happens

Thanks for the faith! Close one there gg Davos

That's a big oof

1082 words Moscow’s Form By Beat Reporter-Mann Of all the teams in the league so far, the performances of the Moscow Menace have been perhaps the most perplexing. After starting the season with five wins in six, they have since gone through patches of form. At times, they look on top of the world, winning four in a row, or six in seven games, but at other times, they have slumped, losing six in a row earlier in the season (including two losses to expansion teams DC Dragons and Prague Phantoms), or their current five game losing streak. In this highly competitive league, any slip in form can be disastrous, and sitting currently eight points out of a playoff spot in the very competitive European Conference, Moscow needs to make some moves with only 18 games remaining in the season if they want another shot at the playoffs. Let’s take a look at their recent run of form to analyze what is going wrong for them (hint: they’ve allowed 21 goals in the last 5 games). 6-2 Loss vs. Malmö Nighthawks In this away match to Malmö, the Menace went toe to toe with the Nighthawks through two periods, but slipped away in the 3rd, allowing 15 shots compared to a total of 14 allowed through the first 2 periods. Owen May ended with a save percentage of .793, something Moscow will need to improve on if they want to compete anytime soon. Unfortunately, it does not appear that they will; May has stagnated so far this season, despite having some really good games at times throughout, and rookie backup Raymond Bernard doesn’t yet look ready for the VHL, with a GAA of 3.65 through 9 games this season, mostly against the worst teams in the league. Furthermore, veteren goaltender Ismond Kingfisher has failed to make an impact, often left as a scratch in favor of giving Bernard some more experience. 1-0 Loss vs. HC Davos Dynamo In a nailbiter of a match, Davos shutout the visiting Menace via what must be said is a truly outstanding performance from Davos netminder Finn Davidson. There’s not much you can do when your opponent goes 41/41 for saves. Owen May performed as well, with a .950 save percentage. This came down to a power play goal from Katie Warren early on in the 3rd period, after defenseman Komarov was penalized for Holding. Not much to take from this one, other than Moscow’s penalty kill being a little lackluster and perhaps not being decisive enough with their finishing. 41 shots is great, but they need to look more dangerous. 6-5 Loss vs. Helsinki Titans This match was really just an exhibition of offense. Neither team played particularly well on the backfoot, with both goalies posting a save percentage in the .870-.880 range. The first period, both teams scored 4 goals each. Both teams went 0-6 on the power play. All it came down to was in the end, the Titans were more clinical, and their prowess shone through, coming from behind in the third period with two back to back goals only 30 seconds apart. If the Moscow are to take anything from this game, it’s that they are lacking in discipline, and perhaps the grit to see a game out. They even had a golden chance late in the final three minutes after bad-boy Orion Slade sat out with a double minor for Roughing, but were unable to convert on the power play. This game really was fantastic for the neutral fan though. A thrilling 11 goal match, complete with a fight from two star players. Podrick Cast and Kronos Bailey dropped the gloves early on in the third period and fought to a draw. 5-2 Loss vs. Malmö Nighthawks For the second time in this five game stretch, Malmö dismantled the Menace. Off a stellar performance from Michael Johnson, allowing only two goals on 41 shots, and a poor showing from Owen May, with five goals in 36 shots, the Nighthawks looked dangerous. Podrick Cast, perhaps still fiery from his tumble with Bailey in the past game, tried taking it to Malmö’s big man on the blue line only 30 seconds into the match. Bad move, as Cast was thoroughly beaten. The take away from this game was that Moscow’s penalty kill needs to improve, letting in two goals on only three power plays. Moscow went down early, and basically were unable to come back, the game being essentially over at 4-1 by the end of the second period. 3-2 Loss vs. Prague Phantoms Their latest game is perhaps the worst of the bunch. In a tight 3-2 loss to Prague, the Menace looked absolutely outplayed versus this expansion team. The biggest statistical difference? The shots. Moscow put only 18 shots on net, of which Grimaldi really did not do that great with, letting in 2. In fact, Owen May posted a respectable .919 SV % to Grimaldi’s .889. However, Moscow allowed 37 shots on goal, just over double what they put up. Surprisingly, Moscow did very well on the penalty kill, allowing no power play goals on seven opportunities; however, herein lies their problem this game. They allowed seven power plays! Even if they never conceded from one, they were shoved onto the back foot so often it makes sense why their offense was so lackluster. Undoubtedly this game was the result of good play from Prague combined with the recent bad form of Moscow, but if they want to close the gap with Davos, they are going to have to do better. So what now? Moscow still has time to move into the playoffs. They play Davos four times, and if they win all four in regulation they will be behind them by only a point. At that point, it is conceivable that Davos will drop enough, and Moscow will win enough, to have them swap places. Unfortunately for Moscow, there are a lot of ifs in this situation, and I do not see them sweeping Davos to close out the season, having split the prior four games with the Dynamo 2-2. However, that being said, the chance remains, and I think I speak for the league when we say that we would love to have the chance to watch Podrick Cast in the playoffs for the last time; this is his last season in the league of course, and what better way to end it than a thrilling underdog comeback. EDIT: During the posting of this article, Davos and Moscow have played, with Moscow taking it in a shootout victory. Certainly a helpful swing, but not enough, as Moscow also lost 0-4 to New York.