Erik Summers

I'm in!

My first playoff goal! I'm excited for this series!

Lets go!

@Cxsquared I like the idea of having a personal rival.

Revisiting the Goalie Shortage in the S68 Dispersal Draft My Previous Work Prior to the S68 Dispersal Draft, I wrote about the shortage of goalies in the upcoming draft. After submitting my piece, the situation became even more dire, with Prague declaring their intentions to call up rookie goal tender Bruce Grimaldi, my projected first overall pick. This meant that the remaining two goalies would likely end up going in the first round instead of being spread across the first two. I also predicted that Mississauga would take a goalie with the first overall pick. Obviously, for reasons that I will talk about later, Mississauga ended up with the second overall because they believed that they would get their guy at second. In the VHL, sometimes narratives write themselves, and this is one of those situations. In the first round of the playoffs, the five seed Mississauga Hounds are facing the four seed Yukon Rush and the goalie that was once theirs, Block Buster. The History When Mississauga joined the league in S66, they were blessed with one thing above all else, incredible defense. The pairing of Hulk Hogan and Noah Hanley carried the Hounds to the playoffs in their first season. These two made Rayz Funk look like a top-tier goalie, and despite their first round loss, really made this team look like a contender. However, the loss of Hogan, Funk, and forward Callum MacElroy, left Mississauga in a rough spot in S67. The team plummeted. The only bright spot of that season was the addition of goal tending superstar, Block Buster. Despite having significantly less defensive support and facing nearly three hundred more shots, Buster had nearly the same SV% as Funk. This still developing goalie was playing out of his mind, and with the core of young players around him and the multiple first round picks in the upcoming draft, it looked like Mississauga was about to make the breakthrough. In this time frame, Yukon had been on an opposite trajectory. S66 had been the bottom of a hard rebuild for Yukon, but the tank had earned them a high draft position and they managed to snatch up A. Red Guy. Guy helped Yukon reach the playoffs in S67, but just as Mississauga had the season before, the Rush left the playoffs in the first round. They simply lacked the depth to make a deep run into the playoffs, but the core was there and a lot of eye were watching to see what Yukon would be able to do with it. Entering S68, it was clear that Guy was going to get called up to play for the Americans, so high on Yukon's shopping list would be a replacement goalie as well as some new offensive weapons to win potentially high-scoring games. It is worth mentioning that there were two other teams in dire need of goalie going into the S68 draft, Mexico City and Las Vegas. So, with four teams and only two goalies, I had predicted that goalies would be going for a high price in S68. The Draft Coming into the S68 Dispersal Draft, Missisauga had the first and ninth overall picks, while Mexico City had the second, Las Vegas had the third, forth, and seventh, and Yukon had the eighth. While goalies were in short supply, this draft offered more offensive options than possibly any that came before it. It had high-scoring defenseman, generational talents at center, and more play-making wingers than you could shake a stick at. So, teams in need of a goalie had seven of the first nine picks, and shortly before the draft we all learned that the pool of goalies had just gone from three to two. To get an idea of how this affected the draft strategies of these teams, I interviewed @GustavMattias, and asked him about his thoughts looking back at the S68 draft. "What was your thought process going into the S69 Dispersal Draft?" "In just about any draft, I don't really head in with a strategy, but instead I look at the board and take whoever happens to look good to me when my pick comes up. Most of the time, I've got my very first pick planned out (i.e. I want this player, but if they're taken I'll take this player, and if they're taken I'll take this one, and so on), but after the fact I'll just look at who's there when I'm up and take who I think is best." This was interesting to me, because I have been asking myself whether or not you would have to reconsider all decision made in the draft if you imagine the first round differently. But what Gustav is saying here somewhat confirmed what I had already believed. GMs plan out their first round, but after that it is more about taking the best player on the board than about filling specific roles on your team. Later, that is the logic I will be using when considering how the draft could have gone differently and what that might have changed. "Did you consider drafting a goalie in the first of second round?" "I certainly did, and I can say that I was heavily considering taking Block Buster later in the first or early in the second. Yukon ended up picking Buster at #8, though, if I remember correctly... ...After Buster went off the board, there was simply nobody left--the only remaining goaltender was Bruce Grimaldi. I almost picked him, too, but learned at the last second that he'd been drafted by Prague and had expressed a desire to be called up. So, that wasn't a chance I was willing to take, at least not with a first or second round pick." This implied that Buster hadn't been a consideration for Gustav's first pick. According to Mattias, he had his guy with Brock Louth. But this begs the question, why? Was Louth worth the first overall pick, or could have they gotten a comparable player later in the draft? What made the chance of missing out on a goalie worth not picking Buster right away? Maybe this was a tactical decision, but perhaps it was more? I continued my interview to find out. "Were there any behind the scene's conflicts that contributed to your decision not to use your first overall pick to secure him for S68?" "Not at all; in fact, I was very happy with how Buster did (if I remember correctly, Buster's SV% was within 5 points of that of Rayz Funk the season before, and in that season, Funk was playing with a much better team). I had my eye on Buster during the draft, but goal tending is just one of many positions out there. In the VHL, you don't need an elite goalie to win games; you need an elite offense, and an OK goalie will get the job done. I try not to put a ton of emphasis on the goalie, and regardless of what happens in our series against Yukon, we've proven that we can beat good teams this season without having elite goal tending talent. I actually never tried to go for a goalie. I feel that this may end up drawing a bit of criticism, and that's understandable. Throughout the season, though, I was focused on getting some of our less experienced active goalies some good starting time--first Lukas Schweitzer, then Nicolas Fomba, and finally Aleksander Aleksandrov." But this is only one side of the story. I interviewed Block Buster as well, to get his side of the story. "Were you expecting to stay in Mississauga after S67?" "I thought that I would be selected in the draft by Mississauga... ...I am not one to talk much but the Locker Room is quieter in Yukon." Beyond that, Buster didn't want to say much about his former team or the circumstances of his departure. He said that he was just focused on winning at the moment, regardless of who the opponent was. Before we take a look at how things could have gone differently, lets take a dive into how these decisions turned out for these two teams throughout the season. The Season I'm going to break the season down into twelve six-game section and discuss each. Mississauga: 1-6: It was a rough start for the Hounds. They opened up with a five game losing streak, including a shut out. Something had to change. 7-12: Things started to turn around, but slowly. They managed to go .500 through this stretch. 13-18: While improved, Mississauga was extremely erratic early on, within four games of each other, the Hounds were shutout by the Aces 0-4 and then turned around and shut them out 4-0. 19-24: Strangely enough, while still unable to manage a winning record yet in the season, Mississauga had beaten all of the top teams, LVA, Minnesota, and Houston. The potential is certainly here. 25-30: And BAM! The team took off, something finally clicked on the offense. 6-0 through these six games and finally above .500 on the year. 31-36: Probably the largest thorn in the side of the Hounds this season were the Minnesota storm, breaking their winning streak with two mid-season defeats. 37-42: Slowing off of their offensive explosion, it seemed like it was time for Gustav to decide whether to sell assets and prepare for next season or double down and make a run. 43-48: A couple of trades made it look like the Hounds might have given up on their playoff dreams, but that was just to fool the rest of us. 49-54: Another run of beating top teams behind them, Mississauga showed that they were still a serious contender. 55-60: Up against teams that made big late-season acquisitions, the Hounds struggled at times, but they had nearly secured their spot in the playoffs. 61-66: Keeping their head above water, now it is just a question of positioning. Would they be able to push the Storm out of third overall? 67-72: Fate had spoken. It was meant to be. The Hounds would be facing the bizzaro-world version of themselves in the first round of the playoffs. Yukon: 1-6: It was a hot start 4-2 start for Yukon. They came out of the gate ready to go. 7-12: Fighting for the #1 spot with Houston, Yukon looked unstoppable early. Despite lacking offensive superstars, they were winning high-scoring games and defensive slug-fests. 13-18: Then it came crashing down. It is had to explain this collapse, but the hottest team in the league went on a five game skid and fell to the middle of the pack. 19-24: What is a good way to bring yourself back from a near-collapse? Beating up on your rival in three straight games. Yukon looked like they were back. 25-30: Just as the Hounds were taking off, the Rush were struggling to keep their heads above water. A bit of a mid-season lull. 31-36: Back on their feet and beating some of the top teams in the league. Yukon was showing that they could still be a contender. 37-42: And just like that, the offense showed back up. Like at the beginning of the season, Yukon was burying teams and not looking back. 43-48: After splitting games with the Bulls, it really looked like these teams might go number one and number two over the course of the season. 49-54: Every time you make late-season acquisitions, you run the risk of disrupting the momentum of the team. You have to wonder if that is what happened to Yukon here. 55-60: As their new star defenseman got acclimated to the team, the strong back end of Yukon kept the team afloat as the offense struggled. 61-66: It was clear that Yukon was a serious team, but the question remained open about whether or not they could make themselves into a top contender. 67-72: Yukon wanted to answer that question with two shutouts in their last three games. Although sliding in the standings over the second half of the season, Yukon refused to be counted out. The Playoffs As if destined by the hockey gods, Mississauga and Yukon ended up facing each other in the first round of the S68 playoffs. Here's a breakdown of the series. Game 1: Twenty one shots, twenty one saves. I couldn't have asked for a better game to fit the narrative of this article. Block Buster took over the game and no one was going to take it back. This game simply couldn't have been won by Mississauga. No series is decided in the first game, but Yukon made the strongest possible statement with this game. Game 2: If it takes twenty four shots to get a goal past this team, none of us stand a chance, let alone 45 shots. We haven't seen a goalie perform like this in the playoffs in a generation. But perhaps this first goal will prove to be a turning point for Mississauga. Regardless, Yukon did their job and won their home games and are in control of the series at this point. Game 3: Things are getting dire for Mississauga. They were finally able to break through and score some goals against this Yukon defense, but that wasn't enough as the Rush put up four of their own. However, Yukon's offense has been inconsistent and if the Hounds finally found a way to score against Buster, this could be the turning point. Game 4: And just like that, the Hounds turned the corner, putting up five in a crushing victory. Regardless of where the series goes from here, Mississauga was looking to make a statement that they weren't here by mistake. Can Yukon regroup and find a way to close out the series? Game 5: THAT.. WAS.. BRUTAL.. Nate Wright, early in the third, scoring the only goal of the night. Both goal tenders played lights out in what might go down as the most exciting match up of the playoffs this season. Alternate Reality All of this has been building to one thing. What would happen if we imagined a world in which Mississauga didn't choose Brock Louth first and had instead gone with their S67 goalie? Obviously we can't know for sure. When I asked Gustav in my interview with he, this was his take. "I think things certainly would have been different, but whether better or worse, I really couldn't tell you. Had we picked a good goalie with our first pick, the only pick where one was available, we would have missed out on our top defenseman. That likely would have changed the whole draft for us." This kind of contradicted his earlier statement that after the first round he mostly just takes whoever he thinks the best player on the board is, regardless of position. So I'm not sure that it would have changed their entire draft, and because I don't want to have to try to redraft the entire thing, I'm going to assume it wouldn't. Now the rest here is conjecture, but here is how I think that draft might have gone. 1. Mexico City takes Crawford 2. Mississauga takes Buster 3. LVA takes Louth 4. LVA takes Graves 5. San Diego takes Washington 6. Houston takes Jensen 7. LVA takes Gilbert 8. Yukon takes Kidd 9. Mississauga takes Block But what would this change? It is hard to say, but I have a few ideas. Mississauga Until Yukon acquired Alyksander Hunter late in the season, the Hounds undoubtedly had the better defense. However, over the course of the season, their goalies gave up thirty more goals than Buster. I think, behind Mississauga's defense, we might be talking about Block Buster as the regular season MVP and Mississauga as a favorite to win the cup. But what would they have done with Cinnamon Block instead of Brock Louth? Exactly the same. They are both physical defenders, they both scored 87 points this season. While Block is slightly more defensive and Louth takes more shots, you could argue that difference is as much about circumstance as anything. I obviously can't say for certain, but I think in hindsight, the Hounds would have very likely been a better team if they had taken Buster and missed out on Kidd. There were just too many good substitutes at forward for me to believe that they would have been offensively hindered. Gustav was pretty candid in his interview about the possibility of drawing some public criticism for undervaluing not just Buster, but goalies in general. However, he truly believes that he has a strategy that will work going into the future, and only time will tell if he can bring better results to this young team. Las Vegas What if we took the highest scoring defenseman and put him on this season's goals leader? Well, we wouldn't have just had an offensive juggernaut in Las Vegas, we would have had one the highest scoring teams the VHLM has ever seen. It would have been a spectacle, but I'm not confident it would have been highly successful. They say defense wins championships, but this would have challenged the very notion of that. San Diego It is hard to overstate how big of an upgrade Washington is over Gilbert. I don't think this would have been enough on it's own, but it may have inspired the Marlins to sell future prospects to build a team around George now. Yukon Without elite goal tending, this team wouldn't have survived. You could argue that a forward like Balentine Kidd would have solved some of Yukon's offensive woes, but the slow spots in the Rush's season would have been twice as devastating without Block Buster keeping them in every close game. This may be bold, but I think Yukon may have missed the playoffs entirely with him. But the hockey gods have spoken and if Buster stays in the minors another season we might just see a dominate Yukon team like in the days of old.

This is great! Thank you so much!

Good series Kings! Well played!

Bench clearing brawl after it was clear that we had secured the Prime Minister's Cup. Vegas is furious!

Sksksk and I OOP!

Houston Greats - Ludvig Sederstom It's rare that a player peaks in the VHLM, but you might be able to make that argument for a player like Ludvig Sederstom. The Swedish center had a rough time in the VHL, making the playoffs with Helsinki in his first season before being traded to New York during their rebuild. Ultimately, Ludvig retired early, but he will always be remembered for the miraculous season he helped bring to Houston. It was S65 and the Houston Bulls were a newly formed expansion team in the VHLM. Sonnet was determined not to follow the path of most expansion teams and tank for a few seasons before become relevant. Instead, Houston had an amazing draft class with players like Finn Theismann, Beau Buefordsson, and Ludvig Sederstom. Ludvig lead this newly formed team to third place in the regular season with 70 points and 71 hits. But Sederstom didn't really shine until the playoffs. Ludvig put up 10 points in 7 games, including 3 points in the the Bull's heart-breaking OT loss in game 7 of the first round against Halifax. Ultimately, the dream died there, but Sederstom will always be remembered in Houston for how close they came.

The Rise of the Bulls The Houston Bulls are a young team with a short history in Texas. Although the share a name with the Fresno Bulls of the early days of the VHLM, the commonalities stop there. Despite being so new to the league, The Bulls are already looking to make history this season by leading the league by a strong point margin and having on eye on the Founders cup. The Bulls have a young GM and several players that have been with the team since the darkest of seasons, so let's take a look at the path this team took to get here. S65 - Horns Up! The newly formed Houston Bulls came into the league with a splash. Edging out the previous year's Founder's Cup winners, the Las Vegas Aces, Houston made the playoffs in their very first season in the league. Unfortunately, this journey ended in a crushing overtime loss in game seven of the first round against the Halifax 21st. In the opening minute of OT, Nathan MacKinnon killed the Bull's dreams. What many had called the "Miracle Season" had come to an end, just short of greatness. To this day, tensions flair every time these two team meet. S66 - Olé The following season, the league expanded again, to eleven teams this time, and the off-season was unkind to Houston. Despite the emergence of Houston legends Koda Adok and Banko Mulleto, there was simply no supporting cast for them on the Bulls at the time. The Bulls had an abysmal record of 6-60-6, with a goal differential of -215. This is truly one of the worst seasons in the history of the VHLM and created some real questions about whether the talent pool was deep enough to support eleven teams in the league. S67 - One & Well Done Things started to turn around for Houston in S67 as they turned a corner and made it back into the playoff. Adding pieces like Khalabib Stiopic, and growing many member of the existing roster, Houston was able to return to form and make another strong push for the playoffs. However, the goal-tending was not yet up to snuff, as Sean McGee was still very green. This resulted in Houston's second playoff appearance, this time against the Minnesota Storm, going even worse than their first. The first round sweep solidified the budding rivalry between these two teams. Although Minnesota was eventually defeated in the finals, Houston has had enough of seeing their first round opponent's make the finals. S68 - Mess With the Bull Get the horns! In S68, GM @FrostBeard, was determined to show the league how close this team was to putting it all together the year before. Drafting star forward Soren Jensen as well as up-and-comers like Erik Summers and Dagmar Havlova, everything finally clicked. This year, Houston has it's eyes set on the Founder's Cup, and victory will only be made sweeter if they are able to trounce Minnesota or Halifax along the way.

Howe Are They Doing? A look at the latest additions to the VHLM's greatest team. Just before the trade deadline, the Houston Bulls added six new players, the Howe brothers. This full line (including goalie) has only added to the excitement growing down in Houston about their chances at a cup run this season. So let's take a look at how these newest additions have impacted their team. In the eleven games since the Howes joined the Bulls, Houston is 7-1-3. Seventeen points in eleven games is impressive, but what is even more impressive is that they just keep getting better. Two of those four losses came in their first two games with the team. Since then, the Bulls have had three straight wins against 5th-ranked Mississauga and a win against 3rd-ranked Minnesota; both of these are teams that have given the BUlls trouble earlier in the season. So how are each of the Howe boy's doing individually? As you can see, Moe has been a hits machine, and he and Doc have each sat for ten penalty minutes. Although his group hasn't had major offensive production yet, they are still a young group of players and are developing quickly. The being, said Midas's 11.11% shooting percentage definitely isn't a bad showing. However, easily the most impressive player in this group so far has been Haz Howe. In his first three starts, he has had two wins and a shootout loss. While he has certainly benefited from having the best defense in the league in front of him, it has still been a great start for the young rookie. @MWHazard @emidas @TheNano74 @Molholt @Beowoof @Doc Holliday

Signature Template Name: Erik Summers Team: Houston Bulls Player Number: 88 Render Choice: Dealer's Choice Are you S69?: Yep I'm waiting on the approval, but I'll be over 150 today!

Claiming this for my second week.

VHLM Tier List S Tier: Houston Bulls If this team has ever had a do-or-die time to win cup it would be now. Houston has traded off every pick in the S69 draft for assets that will pay off now. Every goal you score against the Bulls is a major victory, because they will never come easily against this roster. Houston's offense has increased over the course of this season, and if they continue on their current trajectory, they will be a cup favorite when the playoffs arrive. Las Vegas Aces Can a team win a cup on pure offense? The Aces are going to try to answer that question in the affirmative. This explosive team can put up four goals in a period against any defense in the league. The only downside here is the 'live by the sword, die by the sword' mentality of this play style. Minnesota Storm This team has a frightening roster. The only weakness you could really ascribe to Minnesota is their lack of a true center capable of winning face-offs. However, this team is already put itself in a good position to make a cup run this season and will become even stronger next season with several mid-round picks in the coming draft. A Tier: Yukon Rush The say that defense wins championships and Yukon is banking hard on that truism. Don't be fooled by their disappointing offensive stats, when the playoffs arrive, this team is going to be a scary opponent in any round. Mississauga Hounds Mississauga is already my pick to win the S69 Founder's cup, but I'm afraid that the pieces just aren't there yet for them to make a cup run this season. With three first round picks in the next draft, this team is going to be a formidable opponent very soon. Halifax 21st Halifax is a goal scoring machine with no back-end. They are exciting to watch and might just upset someone in the first round of the playoffs, but they are a goalie and couple defensemen from being a series contender. B Tier: Mexico City Kings Mexico City's first overall pick in this season's draft is the only thing going for them so far this season. However, with a large number of collected picks over the next two seasons, Crawford may just be the first piece in a future cup-winning roster. San Diego Marlins The Marlins will likely barely squeak into the playoffs, just as they did last season. And, just as happened in that season, they certainly wont make it any further than that. Philadelphia Reapers So much potential, so completely squandered. Foolishly, I thought Philadelphia had it in them to trade away some picks this season and make a run at the cup, but the GM changes at the beginning of the season may have changed those plans. Now, it seems unclear what the plan is as they ride this season of mediocrity to it's end. Tank Tier: Saskatoon Wild Saskatoon has opened a fire-sale on all current assets as they try to race Ottawa to the bottom. Most of their eight wins came earlier in the season, before they started trading off players for picks Ottawa Lynx This team has shown that they can beat anyone, almost literally, as their seven wins have all come against different opponents, including some of the best teams in the league. Unfortunately, they can also get shut out by anybody, being shut out in more games this season than any other team.

Hatred Flows A new rivalry is heating up in the VHLM. The first-place Houston Bulls just finished a three-game series against the third-ranked Minnesota Storm and this might have been the most hard-fought series in the history of the league. Three games resulted in three shootouts, with each shootout allowing only a single goal, and the Bulls narrowly taking the series 2-1. The real heroes of this series were the goalies, with a combined SVA% of 0.923 for the series. That stat becomes increasingly amazing when you consider our next focus. Close games make for great hockey. but they can also make for some intense emotions on the ice. In this series, that emotion spilled over into a glass-shattering thirty-eight penalties over the course of the three games. These teams have not historically been major rivals, but after Minnesota's first-round sweep of the Bulls in the playoffs last season, there was definitely something to be proved for the Houston squad. On top of that, these two teams have been jockeying for position at the top of the league standings all season, so everyone expected this to be a close series of games. What is even more interesting is that these organizations have very similar styles on the ice. Both teams put forth a defense-first mindset with the two lowest goals allowed in the league, and as I already mentioned, both squads have 1st class net-minders that have proved pivotal to the teams' success. All of the hype and anticipation going into this series was fully justified by the play on the ice and culminated in one of the nastiest match-ups we've seen in years. What started as an officiating crew that was a little over-zealous with the hooking calls devolved into a knock-down, drag-out slug-fest. As you can see, hooking penalties made up for almost a third of the calls in this series, but besides those and a single delay of game, we still have twenty-five trips to the penalty box for violent offenses. Banko Mulleto of the Bulls was called for both charging penalties and the league may need to look into taking further disciplinary action regarding his dangerous and unnecessary targeting of vulnerable opponents. Similarly, the Storm's Shane Weibel had an egregious slash on Soren Jensen that cut Jensen's hand badly and earned Weibel and extra two minutes in the box with the double minor. The penalties were nearly evenly split, with the Storm being called to the box twenty times and the Bulls getting penalized eighteen times. Amazingly, amidst all the chaos, both sides showed enough discipline to avoid any fights or after the whistle nastiness. Seemingly, this stunning number of penalties was simply the result of two gritty, physical teams playing hard and getting caught up in the emotion and not a deep animosity toward the opposing players. As you can see, Chett Bandy of the Storm led the series with five penalties. Even more impressive is that he went the entire first match without visiting the box, so those five were accumulated in just two games. Bandy was called twice for high sticks (though neither was upgraded to a double minor), twice for hooking, and once for interference. Minnesota also spread the penalties around slightly more than Houston with nine players being penalized compared to the Bulls' eight. Erik Summers and Banko Mulleto led the Bulls in penalties with four apiece. Similar to Bandy, Summers picked up his four penalties in just two games, getting called twice for hooking and twice for tripping. Meanwhile, Mulleto was called for the two aforementioned charging penalties as well as two holding minors. Houston's Jesse Nyman is also worth mentioning with three penalties, including the only goalie interference and the only delay of game penalty of the series. Naturally, my next question was how each team capitalized on the resulting thirty-seven power-play opportunities. Astoundingly, each team only gave up a single power-play goal through the entire series. Both teams' penalty kill was perfect in the opening game of the series. However, in the opening seconds of the second match, Erik Summers was called for a ticky-tack hooking call and the Storm immediately set up in Houston's zone and scored just thirty-five seconds into the first period. Summers would go on to take penalties in each of the following two periods as well. Thankfully for the Bulls' sake, their penalty kill unit was able to holdout and Soren Jensen came up with two miraculous goals in the final minutes on the third, sending the game to overtime and eventually another shootout. In game three of this heated series, Jensen showed up again to put the Bulls up 2-1 in the middle of the second period on a power-play created by a Chett Bandy hooking minor. Interestingly, in this series, a power-play goal was something of a curse for the team that scored it, as each team lost the only game in which they score with the man advantage. This performance on the penalty kill by both teams further emphasizes the strength they each have both defensively and in goal. These presumptive first and second place teams in the league have shown the rest of their competition what it takes to be on top. Until teams like Vegas and Mississauga figure out what to go about their goalie situations, it appears that these two teams are poised to stay in position atop the league standings. I reached out to the players and GM's of each team for comment on the absurd number of penalties, the burgeoning rivalry between these two teams, and on the series as a whole. So far, neither side has offered a comment. I believe that this series was a good preview of what we might see late in the post-season this year and perhaps even a window into what the Founder's Cup finals may look like. As it stands, Houston and Minnesota are the teams to beat if you want to think about winning a cup this year in the VHLM. @FrostBeard @Rayzor_7

Helsinki 4-2

Vancouver Wolves @ Helsinki Titans Moscow Menace @ New York Americans Prague Phantoms @ Seattle Bears Calgary Wranglers @ Toronto Legion

A Goalie Away The Las Vegas Aces are an offensive powerhouse. Forwards, Benny Graves and Jeff Tates lead the league in almost every offensive measure and combining for 6 hat tricks so far this season, and Defensewoman Cinnamon Block leads all defenders in assists and is top five in points. Vegas is also plenty talented when it comes to defense, with Bolonee, Velvet and van Stronk all pulling in impressive defensive stats. In addition, the team's largest defensive assets is certainly 2-way center, George Washington. However, while leading the league in goals and having some of the strongest defensive talent in the league, the Aces are somehow 4th in the league standings. It might be easy to guess from here where their problems lie, the one position I haven't yet praised, the goaltender. Vegas hopes that recent addition, Boris Boris can develop and begin to fill the gaping hole in net, but it is going to take time for him to become a reliable option. For now, he isn't much more than a sieve. Vegas's only real hope with this recent signing is that he might be a serviceable option by that playoffs; and that the Aces will still be in the running when he is finally ready. It is possible that a trade could bring some life to the Aces' goal, but goalies are still in short supply in the VHLM and they may have to simply give up too much to acquire a valuable option on the trading block.

Claiming one final time, for the week ending on 10/6

My first goal!

Defense Makes it Shine As we approach the midway point of the VHLM season, we have to ask ourselves; what's happening in Houston? The league leader is making moves and showing off some impressive performances. First off, Saskatoon decided to enter a tank race with Ottawa and has sold off it's only remaining assets to Houston. With Center, Nate Telker, and Defenseman, Fernando Jokinen joining the Bull's squad, an already competitive team has launched itself into position as a favorite for Founder's Cup. But how are they doing it? Despite the efforts of explosive forward, Soren Jensen, Houston is only tied for fourth in scoring, although recently improved offensive play from skaters such as Edu Stava and Jesse Nyman may change that. This improving offense is being elevated by strong 2-way defensemen like Khalabib and Banko, each having a large number of assists so far this season. Similarly, Houston trots out, Sean McGee, one of the best goalies in the league, each night, with a league leading SSV% of 0.889 and the fewest goals allowed of any team in the minors. However, you have to credit at least a portion of McGee's 5 shutouts this season to the fact that he has faced 10% fewer shots than the next closest starting goalie. The newly added Fernando Jokinen has become something of a mentor to fellow shut-down defenseman Erik Summers, and the two of them leave opposing team's forwards begging for a shift change with their oppressive, physical play. All together, the Houston Bulls have a lot of things going for them, but the defense puts a polish on it all. It will be exciting to watch the team grow over the second half of the season and watch what other young players may have breakout success over the course of the year.

Riga wins. 4-2

175 Vancouver Wolves @ Riga Reign 176 D.C. Dragons @ New York Americans 177 Toronto Legion @ Helsinki Titans 178 Prague Phantoms @ Malmo Nighthawks