Erik Summers

Last week, our biggest customer was in town and we were trying to get them to sign another long-term contract for our services so I had several presentations and it was just a nightmare of a week in general. It is entirely possible that I filled it out and then closed it without submitting.

@Victor Can you double check for my name? I guess its always possible I forgot to hit submit.

Part I - Pick em' (Pick the correct winners of all three games for 2 TPE) Game 3 - Moscow Menace @ Calgary Wranglers Game 4 - Moscow Menace @ Calgary Wranglers Game 5 - Calgary Wranglers @ Moscow Menace Part II - Predict the Score (Predict the correct score and winner of this game for 3 TPE) Game 5 - Calgary Wranglers @ Moscow Menace - Menace 4-1 Part III - Player Predictions (Predict the correct player for each category, 1 TPE for each correct answer) Series leader in points: Jet Jaguar Series leader in goals: Jet Jaguar Series leader in assists: Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen Who has the series PIM lead: Mikko Lahtinen Who scores the series winning goal: Jet Jaguar

Playoff Previews: Semi-Finals Calgary Wranglers v. Seattle Bears In a turn of events that, at this point, is no longer shocking, the Seattle Bears look to be headed to the finals again. In their way stand the Calgary Wranglers looking to deny them their third straight North American Conference title. First Round Results Calgary probably struggled more in the first round than they rightfully should have. Or, I should say, the series looked closer than I feel it actually was. Aside from one awful game, the Wranglers were in the driver’s seat the whole way. Game five could have easily gone their way, but some bad puck-luck and the craziness of overtime hockey in the playoffs sent the series to six games. That being said, I think we did see a glimpse of Calgary’s biggest weakness, their extreme variance. Throughout the season, it was really hard to predict which Calgary team would show up each game. One Wrangler’s roster was among the most smothering in the league and truly looked like this could be their year. The unfortunate dark side, however, showed up seemingly at random and when it did, it was always ugly. On the other side, Seattle seems to be returning to form as they return to where they seem most comfortable, the postseason. Many people joked about it, some even thought that the Bears had a good shot, but I don’t think anyone predicted they would dominate the Wolves so completely. Despite facing nearly two hundred shots, Rayz Funk showed up in a major way to keep them in every game. The downside for Seattle is this, they are hot right now, and if that heat runs out before the series is over, they are going to be in for a bad time. However, given the recent history, I think it would be hard not to call the Bears the favourite to take this series. Why Calgary will win Factor number one for Calgary is their depth. You have to get seventeen players deep in the list of first-round players by points per sixty minutes to find a Wrangler. However, as a team, their offence showed up in the first round to complement their always stellar defensive play. There is a reasonable chance that this will turn into a battle of the goaltenders and if it does I have to give the advantage to Calgary. JB Rift has been amazing all year and is undoubtedly hungry for more playoff success than he has seen in the past. The question mark that will really swing things for or against the Wranglers is going to be their top line. In big games or big series like these, you have to have your top guys show up. If Tyler Barabash Jr. isn’t a difference-maker they are going to struggle to keep up with how explosive Seattle has been so far. Why Seattle will win It is hard to bet against the reigning champs right now. After such a big upset in the first round, they have officially removed any underdog status from themselves. But maybe being doubted was doing something positive for this team psychologically. Let’s see if they can continue to perform when everyone is expecting them to succeed. The key to victory for the Bears is going to be straightening out their defence. Rayz Funk is a top tier goalie, but you can’t continue to allow him to face forty or more shots a game and expect him to hold the game together for your team. If this series becomes a shootout it will be too unpredictable to have a clear favourite. I believe Seattle can maintain their advantage by slowing the pace of play and dominating possession the way they do so well. For the Bears, the biggest hurdle is going to be overcoming a lack of depth. Their stars perform magnificently in the first round, but it is going to take a whole team effort to win the cup. Can some of the younger talent on the team rise to the occasion? That may very well be the deciding factor of this series.

@Cxsquared Having yourself a game!

It was definitely Kriketers' fault.

This is going to be the most exciting series of the first round.

@Cxsquared This one's gonna be fun.

Playoff Previews First Round: Calgary Wranglers vs D.C. Dragons Probably one of the most exciting matchups of the first round, Calgary vs D.C. has the potential to wow us with star power and keep us on the edge of our seat the whole way. Each team overcame some serious adversity to get to this point and we will explore that further as we look to the road to the playoffs for each. Road to the Playoffs The North American Conference was a gauntlet this season if you wanted to make it to the postseason. The Wranglers got out to a hot start this season, much to the surprise of many. As many of you know, Calgary was in the middle of serious team drama at the end of last season, with several players wanting off the team entirely. Instead, the GM was replaced, a few major trades occurred, and the Wranglers entered this season with a new mindset and chip on their shoulders. One of the biggest changes for Calgary this season was the addition of goaltender JB Rift. Probably the third or fourth-best goalie this season, Rift recorded a personal best six shutouts this season. Part of that, however, should certainly be credited to one of the best defences in the league. Outside of Jordan Tonn, this is not a defensive core that shows up on the score sheet a lot, but when it comes to playing shutdown-style defence there is no one who compares to Calgary’s blue line. For the Dragons, this is their first playoff appearance in franchise history, and for much of the season, it looked like they had another year to go before they would get here. At the midway point of the season it looked like D.C. was going to finish dead last in the conference, if not in the league. However, the veteran leadership this team acquired in the off-season paid off and the team rallied to make a late-season push for a playoff spot. Somehow, not only did they end up with a spot in the postseason, the Dragons managed to avoid a first-round meeting with Vancouver by just edging out the reigning champion, Seattle Bears, for the third seed. As I mentioned before, the success of this season was largely built on the backs of D.C.'s off-season additions in John Frostbeard, Elasmobranch Fish, and Kallis Kriketers. Acquiring top-tier goaltending, defence, and a possession machine in Frostbeard allowed D.C. to shut down other teams and finish the season with the second-fewest goals allowed in the league. Why Calgary will win Currently, on a three-game winning streak, Calgary is hot at the right time. The Wranglers had a fierce start to the season and slumped a bit in the middle, but they are hot at the right time and everything seems to be clicking as we enter the playoffs. Cracking forty wins is usually the sign of a real cup contender with every team for the past five seasons who won the cup earning at least that many. One of the many things Calgary has going for them is the best youth line in the league with Ondrej Ohradka, Kris Rice, and Mikko Lahtinen. Despite being the bottom three forwards on the team, this trio combined for a point per game in their rookie season and played a big role in the Wranglers recovery from last season. Calgary’s biggest strength almost matches up well against D.C.’s biggest weakness. D.C. was the second-lowest scoring team to make the playoffs and Calgary made a habit of punishing teams who were unable to sustain consistent offensive pressure. I would call Calgary the moderate favourite in this matchup, especially considering how dominant they were against D.C. in the regular season, going 6-1-1 against them. Why D.C. will win On the flip side, D.C. has some unique advantages that just might allow them to steal the series. First and foremost among their advantages is playoff experience. For a team that only recently entered the league, the Dragons went out of their way to add a number of players who know was it takes to win in the postseason. In fact, Kallis Kriketers has more playoff wins than most of Calgary’s roster has playoff games played. Similarly, John Frostbeard has two championship rings and is among the league’s experts in what it takes to win a cup. This matches up favourably against a Calgary roster with zero players that have won a cup and only a handful with experience making in our of the first round. That being said, Elasmobranch Fish has so far had the ultimate playoff curse being eliminated from the playoffs in four consecutive first-round game seven losses. I expect this series to be low-scoring and D.C. has typically won those types of games this season. However, they are going to have to find a way to be more offensively productive than they have been all season if they are going to score on what is possibly the best defence in the league.

Welcome to the sixth and final edition of VSN’s S70 Weekly recap (Games 372-432). We’ll cover a host of things in this recap each week including highlights of important VSN happenings, three stars of the week, power rankings, rookie profiles, and anything else of importance. Recap And just like that, the regular season is over. I’m eagerly anticipating my post/off-season hiatus, but first, let’s look at what happened in the final games of S70. After the European Conference got off to a strong start, many European teams ended up sliding in the standings. This means that, despite having five more points than both Helsinki and Prague, New York will be sitting at home this postseason while those teams’ playoff dreams survive. Malmo narrowly missed the postseason by just four points despite having complete control of their own destiny after last week’s sims. While Helsinki also did not have a winning record, Prague is the only team with a negative goal differential to make it to the playoffs. In the North American Conference, we saw a tight race that went down to the wire between D.C., New York, and Seattle. Going into the final day of sims, any one of these teams could miss the playoffs in the right scenario. However, it was the Americans who would miss out and boy would they do it in spectacular fashion, but we will see more about that later. Both of the most recent expansion teams have made the playoffs for the first time this year but they are both darkhorse candidates to even make it through the first round. One of the most exciting questions yet to be answered is whether or not one of them will be able to bring enough magic to this postseason to make a deep run and maybe even contend for the cup. 3-Stars First Star Jet Jaguar (MOS) - 4 G, 9 A Second Star Joseph McWolf (NYA) - 4 G, 9 A 19 SB Third Star Mikko Aaltonen (DCD) - 5 G, 7 A Playoff Seeding European Conference Moscow Menace - The clear favourite to win the European Conference. Moscow has been a Menace to every team this season. Riga Reign - Except for one slump mid-season, Riga had a very strong year and have put themselves in position to be a real contender. Helsinki Titans - It was an up and down season for Helsinki, but they fared pretty well against their first-round opponent in the regular season. Prague Phantoms - Just beating out Malmo to reach their first playoff series, they are definitely the biggest dark horse this postseason. North American Conference Vancouver Wolves - This team does not take their foot off the gas for anything. Even the best teams struggle to slow them down. Calgary Wranglers - What a roller-coaster the past season has been. Who would have guessed this team would be here? D.C. Dragons - An exciting first appearance in the postseason for D.C. Let’s see if they can do something with it. Seattle Bears - The back to back champs are back at it again. Just eeking into the playoffs this year, can they overcome a tough first round? Notable Games Game 409 The theme of our notable games this week is games that decided playoff races and we begin with the race in the European Conference. There has been a lot of negative talk about Prague making the playoffs despite stronger teams missing out. However, when it came time to decide things they took their fate into their own hands. Seven and a half minutes into this game, Malmo was up 3-0, but over the course of the next forty minutes, Prague fought back to earn two points secure their spot in the postseason. Game 420 Another example of an expansion team doing what it took to pave their own way to the playoffs, D.C. earned their spot the hard way. Momentum swung wildly back and forth during this game, but just when it looked like Helsinki might have the upper hand, Erik Summers was sent to the box for roughing. On the ensuing powerplay, Guy Lesieur scored the game winner that would send the Dragons to the playoffs. Game 427 Finally, we have an example of a team falling short. New York needed just one point to have a chance to make the postseason and two points would guarantee their spot. Instead, they got shut out, by a backup goalie, despite taking twenty-five shots. Jimmy Spyro is making his case as one of the most impressive future goalie prospects in the league. This was the biggest choke we’ve seen in the VHL in some time, perhaps the birth of a new meme? We shall see. Events of the Week Fights Game 379 - Perry draws with Gritty Prague has been in the middle of a tight playoff race and emotions were running high as they fell behind 3-0 late in this game against Moscow. These are exactly the makings for good fights and boy was Jacob Perry verses Gritty a good one. We had haymakers and solid connections, some pushing and shoving, and eventually a stalemate as two worn-out players got pulled apart by the linesmen. Game 384 - Marleau draws with Martin Having some fight in you is a great thing when you are just a few points out of the playoffs. However, it would have been good if Malmo would have fought in more ways than dropping gloves in this game. Aston Martin may not have won his fight against Phil Marleau, but scoring the first goal and eventual game-winner was probably a nice consolation. Game 389 Slade beats up Lahtinen For a team on the edge like Seattle, this was just a dumb play by Orion Slade. Tied 3-3 with ten minutes left in the game, even an OT loss at this point is a big deal, and Slade agrees to drop gloves with Mikko Lahtinen. Just fifteen seconds after the fight, Calgary scored the game winning goal and cemented their spot in second in the North American Conference. Game 394 - Jaguar beats up Bailey The Moscow Menace have played the bully of the European Conference, both in the standings and on the ice. There is no better example of this than starting a fight with an opposing team’s veteran player when you are still within striking distance on the scoreboard. Jet Jaguar made his presence known with a convincing defeat of Kronos Bailey, but Moscow probably would have liked his continued presence on the ice more in their eventual 4-1 loss. Game 402 - BRAWL? This is the saddest line brawl I’ve ever seen. Two teams eliminated from playoff contention decided to have a brawl with two seconds left on the clock. However, for some reason, only two players actually ended up dropping gloves, Brendan Plunkett and Nethila Dissanayake. Tony Bolonee, Chad Magnum, and Shawn Glade Jr. each picked up a penalty as well, but I think the refs just want to get everyone off the ice. Game 406 - Garcia beats up Okada For one final time this season, the heavyweight championship belt has changed hands. Hiroshi Okada has fought a lot this season as there have been a lot of people looking to claim the title. However, I don’t think anyone was expecting Jerry Garcia to be the one to steal it away. Both of these teams were fighting for playoff positioning so it’s no surprise that things got chippy. Four of the five goals were scored on the power play in this one. Game 411 - Hafkey draws with Stava After an explosive first period, this game slowed down majorly. I’m not saying Toronto didn’t want to win, but by the third, they were down 4-1 and didn’t really have any reason to try and hurt their odds of the first overall pick. Ben Hafkey and Edu Stava were happy to give us some excitement as we were waiting for the game to come to a close. Game 412 - Nolan draws with Lynch This was one of the best games of the week. The first period was explosive with each team scoring three goals a piece and this fight came right in the middle of it all. Shortly after Berocka Sundqvist was called for hooking, tempers were still high and Jack Lynch gladly accepted an invitation from Owen Nolan. The fight was great, but it was certainly better for Seattle as they killed the penalty on Sundqvist and then scored shorthanded after a penalty on Odin Omdahl. Game 418 - Stark draws with Kastelic I swear Ryan Kastelic and Apollo Hackett made a bet before this game to see who could get more penalty minutes without getting ejected. After getting his goal, Ryan started racking up his minutes and Ambrose Stark is always willing to throw down. The fight wasn’t very long, but the game winner was scored while they were sitting in the box, so I guess the overly physical style worked for Riga in this one. Game 424 - BRAWL! Now, this is a real late-season line brawl. Two teams that would end up missing the playoffs, a blowout score, and haymakers for the highlight reels. New York decided that winning 4-0 wasn’t enough, so early in the third, they potted two more and Toronto responded exactly how you would expect. Literally every skater on the ice got a penalty, Walter Clements, Nethila Dissanayake, Jaxon Walker, Rusty Shackleford, Ryo Yamazuki II, Chad Magnum, Joseph McWolf, David OQuinn, Aron Nielsen, Bjorn Scoringsonn. The only downside was that the goalies didn’t get involved. I will mention that this is the third time this season that Joseph McWolf has tried to chop someone in half with his stick during a line brawl, an activity that has gone largely unpunished. Game 425 - Martin draws with Greene It has been a long and violent season, and this is a fitting end to the fighting. Aston Martin drug Scott Greene to the ice away from the play and as each player got up, Martin dropped his gloves and started swinging. Aston was ejected and Seattle scored on the ensuing power play, but it was too little too late for the bears. Thankfully for them, New York would fall short against Vancouver and gift them the final playoff spot. Hat-Tricks Game 383 - Randoms Randoms has been on a roll recently as he guns for the number one spot in goals scored. At this point in the season, Moscow’s place in first is pretty set and every team they face seems to be playing for their playoff dreams. For the first two periods, it seemed like New York might just want this game more, but Randoms showed us all that he can turn it on at will. In just over eleven minutes, Randoms became the first player this season to hit three hat-tricks. He even did it in style, scoring a shorthanded goal to finish it off. Game 396 - Condor Adrienne Condor Adrienne has been mentioned a lot in these recaps for his physical play and multiple fights this season. However, it is extremely exciting to see this up-and-coming defenseman. Adrienne is becoming one of the leagues, foremost powerplay specialists, with all three of his goals on the night coming on the man advantage. Game 403 - Borris the Forest Every goal was exciting in Borris the Forest’s hat-trick. His first goal opened the scoring in the opening second of the second period. His second came just six minutes later while the New York Americans were short handed. He finished it off just four seconds into the third with a shot from the blue line that Kriketers simply didn’t expect. Game 412 - Acyd Burn Acyd Burn has had a slower season, almost completely changing his style of play. His shooting percentage and goal scoring went down while his hits, and subsequent penalty minutes, have gone way up. Seattle was fundamentally a different team this year though, so I don’t know if that falls entirely on Burn. Acyd showed that he still has that same spark with an amazing performance in an important game against New York. Game 416 - John Frostbeard He got hot late this season, but that worked out perfectly for the Dragons as they made their push for their first ever postseason appearance. John Frostbeard becomes one of only two players this season to reach three hat-tricks. He and Ricky Johnson were perfectly in sync this game and racked up seven points between them, six of those coming in the second period alone. Shutouts Game 382 - Helsinki vs D.C. A good ‘ol fashion goal-tender duel. Kallis Kriketers and Alexander Pepper both looked unbeatable for the first half of the game. Finally, after a stint of sustained pressure, Benny Graves was finally able to break the stalemate. The Titans went right back to their defensive dominance after that but proved unable to sneak a tying goal past Kriteters. Game 384 - Riga vs Malmo When you are fighting for a playoff spot, every point matters but Riga just had the Nighthawks number this time. Finn Davison has fallen behind in a number of categories, but having faced an ungodly number of shots this season, he still has a chance to have the best SV% in the league. This convincing performance contributed greatly to that. Game 404 - Riga vs Seattle Another great performance from Finn Davison. We have seen a lot of shutouts this year that came on the back of defences holding teams to single-digit shot totals in every period. It seems like Davison’s shutouts never come that easy. He faced thirty-one shots in total and fourteen in the third period, to hold onto a lead that was only a single goal for over forty-five minutes of this game. Game 424 - Toronto vs New York Are you familiar with the phrase, “What goes around comes around”? Yeah, this is the what goes around the part. New York ran up the score in a 6-0 blowout that resulted in some of the best violence we’ve seen all season. But A Red Guy deserves credit for the thirteen saves he made in this game as he locks up his spot in second for most shutouts this season. Game 427 - New York vs Vancouver And here’s the comes around the part. New York needed one more point than Seattle or D.C. as each team went into their last game of the season. Instead, they got shut out by rookie phenom Jimmy Spyro. In his second shutout in just fourteen games this season, Spyro killed the Americans’ playoff dreams in the cruelest way possible. Rookie Spotlight Chad Magnum Finishing fifth overall among rookies, Chad Magnum had a solid first season in the VHL. Toronto had a rough season, but this is exactly the type of player they need moving forward. Interestingly enough, Magnum had much the same experience in the VHLM playing for the Yukon Lynx. They were a struggling team that excelled at physical play but lacked offensive talent. Does that sound familiar, Legion fans? Well, scoring might not be his speciality, but maybe Toronto should give him some opportunities to shoot the puck next season. Magnum posted an impressive 11.5% shooting percentage this season and a crazy 23.5% in the minors. Maybe this type of high-efficiency shooter is what we will see dominating the league in a couple of seasons. But if taking shots isn’t what Chad does, then what is his speciality? Hitting people. Magnum lead the league in hits among rookies and was 10th overall with two hundred and fifty-one. He seems to be learning his physical style of play from his teammate, Rusty Shackleford, as he had over a hundred more hits this season than he did in the minors.

That's right, I'm writing my future Hall of fame piece about myself, deal with it. Erik Summers wins, it is what he does. In his first season, he won the cup in the VHLM. In his second season he won Gold at the World Juniors. In his third season he is currently the favorite to win Rookie of the Year and who knows, maybe he even walks away with another cup. Sure, many of these are team accomplishments, but if he keeps filling his trophy case at this pace, there no one who could argue against his induction. The biggest factor that may hold Summers back is the extra heat he spent in the VHLM which will cap his VHL seasons at 7 instead of 8. However, at a one trophy per season pace, maybe seven seasons is all he'll need to make his mark on the league. What do you think? Will he make it? Only time will tell.

Welcome to the fifth edition of VSN’s S70 Weekly recap (Games 289-371). We’ll cover a host of things in this recap each week including highlights of important VSN happenings, three stars of the week, power rankings, rookie profiles, and anything else of importance. Recap This week's recap has been delayed by the coronavirus trying to murder my family. My apologies. The regular season is quickly drawing to a close and we still have two heavily contested playoff spots. Moscow has nearly locked up first place in the league, but the rest of the European Conference has been thrown into disarray as League slips further and further and Riga and Helsinki continue to be middling at best. Vancouver has pulled into a commanding lead of the North American Conference while Seattle and Calgary will almost certainly face off in the first round of the playoffs. The first of the incredibly close playoff races come in the European Conference with Prague struggling heavily this week and Malmo finding their stride. I think Prague still has the slightly stronger roster, but getting hot at the right time counts for something and Malmo is streaming right now. Malmo also holds the tie-breaker, so if they can make up the two-point deficit they will be in control of their own destiny. In the North American Conference, we have a similar situation transpiring between New York and D.C. These rivals are separated by just two points and D.C. has a game in hand. Despite the slow start, the Dragons have had an intimidating roster on paper all season, but this week their talent really showed. With D.C. having a game in hand, the Americans will have to stay on their toes to keep their playoff spot. 3-Stars First Star Greg Eagles (VAN) - .912 SV%, 2.21 GAA, 4 SOs Second Star Matthew Materazo (DAV) - 7 G, 10 A Third Star Randoms (MOS) - 10 G 8 A Power Rankings European Conference Moscow Menace - The only question that remains for Moscow is if they will be able to maintain their dominance into the post-season. Riga Reign - It was a rough slide, but their talented roster keeps them afloat. Helsinki Titans - (+1) Helsinki didn't improve as much as they would have liked this week, but their weakening conference helped them out. Malmo Nighthawks - (+1) After an extremely slow start, Malmo is actually making a playoff push. Prague Phantoms - (-2) They need to find their identity pronto if they want to hold on to their post-season dreams HC Davos Dynamo - Ah Davos, at least they got to embarrass some playoff contenders this week. North American Conference Vancouver Wolves - Easily the best team in the conference. If I had to pick today, my money would be on Vancouver to win the cup. Seattle Bears - (+1) The power difference between second and third is narrow, but Seattle gets the edge this week. Calgary Wranglers - (-1) Wranglers are a bit schizophrenic, but when they show up they are a real threat. D.C. Dragons - (+1) It is exciting to see a recent expansion team begin taking steps in the right direction. New York Americans - (-1) At one point, New York looked like a real contender, but a lack of discipline has cost them dearly. Toronto Legion - Not completely out of it yet, but at this point, they are at the mercy of two other teams to keep their dreams alive. Notable Games Game 309 - New York vs Toronto This week's notable games have a bit of an upset theme and our first game is a doozy. I'm convinced some pumped cocaine into the locker-rooms through the vents because we could hardly keep up with the right goals in the first thirteen and a half minutes of the game. It took less than a minute to open the scoring and the rest of the goals averaged just a minute-thirty between them with the smallest margin being just twenty second between the fifth and sixth goals. After that sixth goal, the game was tied 3-3, but New York stopped scoring there. Toronto did not. They went on to score two more times in the first and one in each of the following periods for the blowout win. Game 327 - Davos vs Riga HC Davos actually had a few good upsets this week, including a shutout of Helsinki, but I chose this one to highlight what is actually going right in Davos. Matthew Materazo is in his final season in the league and he is making the most of it. Materazo has had a phenomenal week and a strong season in general. The entire team went through an extreme slump that lasted almost two weeks, but when they've looked good, they've looked really good. The top-tier playoff Samuel Ross has also been a big factor and they have him locked up for another season, so I expect to see a lot more from this team next season. Game 329 - Vancouver vs Seattle This last recap isn't necessarily an upset (although the team with more standings points lost), but I had to feature such an amazing game between the top two teams in the league. In what could very well be a preview of our cup final this season, we had exciting, physical hockey, exactly what we would want to see in that kind of match-up. The lead changed five times in the game and was ultimately decided just eight seconds into overtime. Julius Freeman continues to be a force in this league and one of the brightest stars on Vancouver's roster. Events of the Week Fights Game 291 - Sasakamoose draws with Okada Hiroshi Okada was the hero of this game, leading his team in goals, points shots, and penalty minutes, including scoring the game-winner in OT. However, a few minutes into the second period he levelled Guy Sasakamoose well after the puck had left his stick. No-call from the refs, so Sasakamoose took matters, and fistfuls of Okada’s jersey, into his own hands. Game 294 - Stark beats up Ritchie Ambrose Stark tied the game up, but when it came to fighting Raleigh Ritchie, he wasn’t going to let anyone think the word tie. Sometimes a good beating is all it takes to motivate a team and this momentum swing was all Seattle needed to hold onto their lead to the end. Game 295 - Laughton draws with Okada Okada is thugging it up this week, but at least he, and the rest of the Wranglers, have been playing well. I don’t think it shocked anyone to see Hiroshi drop gloves with Blake Laughton as they both establish themselves as heavy-weight powerhouses in the league. Game 298 - Dissanayake draws with Jaguar Twice This game was tied, but these two just kept going at it. Good on Nethila Dissanayake I guess for taking one of the most dangerous players in the league out of the game for ten minutes. However, it didn’t exactly work as planned, as Jet Jaguar went on to get the assist on the game-winner. The hit that initiated the first fight was rather innocuous, so I don’t think they were still angry about the play. It seems like Nethila and Jet just believed that they had been broken up too fast the first time they started throwing hay-makers. Game 305 - Kastelic beats up Marleau This wasn’t a great game for the Reign, but this was an excellent game for Ryan Kastelic. He scored Riga’s only game and convincingly won the fight against Phil Marleau. Hopefully, this can inspire his team to live up to the physical play he has been exhibiting lately. Game 309 - Forest beats up Dissanayake There were eight goals in the first period, a brutal fight in the second, and a hat-trick in the third in this game. Borris the Forest brought us the second-period excitement after getting tackled by Nethila Dissanayake. Both players scrambled to their feet and seemed to agree to drop gloves, but Nethila didn’t know what he was getting himself into. I think a dentist might be is Dissanayake’s future. Game 311 - Bailey draws with a nobody When you are a player at the calibre of Kronos Bailey it looks pretty bad when you let your emotions interfere with a game in this way. Who knows what was said, but Bailey took exception and attacked the unsuspecting Dragons player. The clear initiation from Kronos got him ejected and his team went on to lose in OT, where they really could have used his help. Game 318 - Gritty draws with Martin Both Gritty and Aston Martin made contributions to their teams in this game, Gritty scoring the first goal, and Martin getting the primary assist on Riga’s comeback attempt. But being a role-player doesn’t get you mentioned in the weekly recap for that, the easiest thing to do is fight. Their fight happened immediately off a faceoff in the neutral zone, so neither side had too much to lose. They gave the crowd a good show and broke it up quickly when the linesman stepped in. Game 320 - BRAWL! This is the second ugly brawl the Americans have been in this season, and they are starting to develop a reputation as one of the dirtiest teams in the league. After a bad boarding penalty by Joseph McWolf, which probably should have been a major, John Madden came in hot and started swinging at anyone who could get his hands on. Eventually, he paired off with Soren Jensen. Brendan Plunkett got the better of Boris the Forest and Matthew Materazo and Dalton Wilcox also duked it out. In the end, Andrej Petrovic and Fernando Jokinen both received minors for their involvement as well and Madden was ejected for instigation, although I’d say he was justified. Game 333 - Perry draws with Nygren Looking at the box score, it would be easy to assume that this fight was in response to a high-scoring first period that the teams wanted to reign in a bit. Nope! This fight in the fourteenth minute of the first opened the floodgates to the following four goals to be scored before the close of the period. Jacob Perry and Markus Nygren were uninvolved in any of those scoring plays, but perhaps the fighting spirit is just what their benches needed to get going. Game 335 - Washington draws with Okada Hiroshi Okada continues his thuggish streak and the refs have finally seen enough. After drawing George Washington into a fight he clearly didn’t want to be in, Okada got ejected from the game as the Wranglers got blown out by D.C. Washington held his own, and manage to stay upright long enough for the refs to get in a break it up. Game 351 - Hafkey draws with Baillie This could end up being the two teams battling for the European Conference title, and both sides played accordingly. It is no surprise that tempers flared in this game that was eventually decided in the shutout. Ben Hafkey and Dan Baillie were both prepared to fight for their teams in more ways than one. Game 357 - Perry beats up Helmsley Jacob Perry deserves some respect and the rest of Prague could use his fighting spirit this week. Beating the pants off Hunter Hearst Helmsley isn't an easy task and neither will be to hold onto a playoff spot be for the Phantoms. This is exactly what they need. Game 358 - BRAWL! It wasn't particularly close when Gritty scored in the closing minute of the second period, so it wasn't exactly a shock to see a line brawl to start off the third. When Vladimir Pavlov crashed the net and crashed hard into A Red Guy everyone knew what was coming. Gritty, Owen Nolan, Dan Baillie, and Joel Ylonen were the only ones penalized for fighting, but Mat Tocco and Keven Foreskin each got minors for their involvement in the fray as well. Game 360 - Dissanayake beats up Washington Nethila Dissanayake tried to do it all for Toronto in the first period. He scored the team's only goal and convincingly won his fight when challenged. However, George Washington would end with bragging rights of his own as his goal would become the game-winner. Game 363 - Hogan draws with Martin Is Hulk Hogan going to go an entire season without winning a fight? It is certainly starting to look that way. The game was a 4-1 beating already and Seattle has in control of the momentum so a part of me wants to believe that he challenged Aston Martin just in hopes of not going winless this season. Hat-Tricks Game 302 - Tyler Barabash Jr. I was honestly starting to wonder if it was going to happen! We finally have a player with two hat-tricks this season. Getting himself back on the top-ten list for point, Barabash scored four in this match. Toronto actually manages to keep in close for the first fifty minutes, always staying within a goal but, after RJ Jubis scored on the power play, Barabash kept piling on with two more of his own. Game 304 - Owen Nolan When you are playing against the top team in your conference, you need a player to step up and make an exceptional individual effort. Owen Nolan did just that for the New York Americans. When Nolan scored his first, it was to take a one-goal lead, his second was to bring it back to a tie, and finally, the hat-trick goal becomes the game-winner. Game 309 - Teemu Lehtinen Jr After scoring the first two of the game, Teemu took a back seat and let his teammates score the next four. However, after things had seemed to cool down in the third, Lehtinen Jr took the opportunity to pot one more and make it a hatty, his first of the season. Game 331 - Randoms It looks like we have another contender for most hat-tricks of the season. Randoms opened up the scoring early and then scored his second to bring the Menace back to a tie in the second. From there, Helsinki’s defence began to look exhausted from the extremely fast game and Moscow took full advantage, racking up a 6-4 lead. Randoms was able to finish his hat-trick late in the third to put the cherry on top of the night for Moscow. Game 343 - John Frostbeard After the disaster that was my highlight of John Frostbeard’s play last week, hopefully, my benevolent task-master will not further punish me for this piece. Frostbeard got his first hat-trick later in the season than many, but he is getting hot at the right time. He has joined the exclusive club of players who have scored their second hat-trick already this season. Game 366 - Pat Svoboda Of all the talent on Riga's roster, I have been most impressed by Pat Svoboda this season. With this four-point game, Svoboda joins the growing list of players scoring their second hat-trick of the season. Ryan Kastelic also went nuts in this game with three assists, including two on Pat's second and third goals. Game 368 - Phil Marleau Remember when we were in the middle of the season and defenses had taken over the games? Yeah, that seems to be over now. Phil Marleau is the seventh and final player to score a hat-trick this week. It couldn't have come at a better time either, as Malmo makes a late-season push for a playoff spot. Condor Adrienne, who usually only gets mentioned for thugging it up also had a great game with assists on all four of Malmo's goals. Shutouts Game 292 - Vancouver vs Malmo Vancouver came out hot, racing to a 2-0 lead in under five minutes and a 3-0 lead by the end of the first. From there, they played a much more defensive game, allowing just six shots in the third period. However, Malmo managed to sustain some strong offensive pressure early in the third that made Greg Eagles really work for this shutout. Game 296 - Davos vs New York I don’t want to pick on Davos, they were eliminated from the playoffs this week, but this was ugly. The Americans outshot the Dynamo 47-13 and I’m honestly surprised Samuel Ross didn’t refuse to come out of the locker room after the second period. A Red Guy got what will probably be the easiest shutout of his career, but it keeps him in the running for the shutout leader of the season. Game 319 - Prague vs Malmo Shutouts are a bit down this week, but we almost had a double in this game. Was it a defensive showcase? An offensive failure? A goal-tending extraordinaire? A little bit of each. The first period was dominated by defensive hockey, with both teams collectively managing just seven shots. The second exploded to twenty shots but no production, neither team could really sustain pressure or create high-danger chances. In the third, we finally saw both teams firing on all cylinders and now it was time for the goal-tending to shine. This is a shutout Brick Wahl is happy to have under his belt because there were many moments it looked like it could go the other way. Game 322 - Calgary vs Toronto This game was a nail-bitter. Calgary went up by one just six and a half minutes into the game, but they were then unable to ever fully put the game away and ended up winning on just that one goal. Thankfully for the Wranglers, the combination of their defence and the stellar performance of JB Rift secured the shutout and won them the game. Game 334 - Riga vs Vancouver Fisted anally by a circus monkey! What do you have to do to record a shutout and still be left of the three stars of the game? Greg Eagles just found out. Eagles faced just ten shots the entire game, as he starts to pull away from the crowd in total shutouts this season. Riga needs to figure out what has happened to their offence this week as they are beginning to slide in the standings. Game 344 - Vancouver vs Helsinki The treatment Eagles got in the last game was nothing compared to this snub. I mean, at least Alexander Pepper got a game star, but the third star for a twenty-three save shutout? That’s crazy! Borwinn and Smeb do deserve some recognition for their excellent play this game, but Peppers is starting to get really hot as he nears his three-hundredth win. Game 356 - Davos vs Helsinki Virgil Ligriv did everything he could to steal a win as a backup goalie. If he performs like this as a starter next season, Helsinki will be in good shape. However, the Titans have struggled to maintain any sort of offensive consistency. Samuel Ross took advantage and demoralized this so-called contender. Game 357 - Vancouver vs Prague Greg Eagles is one step closer to cementing his place as the best goalie of the season. At this point, regardless of where his stats end up, it's going to be hard to argue that he hasn't been the most effective goalie of the season. Preying on struggling teams is what good teams, and good players, do. This is why Vancouver is in such a good position going into the final stretch. Game 370 - Davos vs Moscow One-shot. That is how many Davos had in the third period of this game. I know you're in the basement, but this is professional hockey and you can't convince me that being held to a single shot isn't a result of just giving up. Raymond Bernard has that effect on teams and for his effort, he can be added to the list of goalies who were FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY from the three stars despite getting a shutout. Rookie Spotlight Patrick Tallinder After playing two full seasons in the VHLM, both with the Mississauga Hounds, Patrick Tallinder has reached the ranks of the VHL. The immediate selling point for Tallinder is his accurate and quick shooting ability, which was on full display in the M. In his first season with the Hounds, he scored 34 goals, adding 30 assists to finish with 64 points. After being drafted tenth overall by the Riga Reign, he spent another season in the M with Mississauga to season further. All Tallinder did was make Riga extremely fortunate to have taken him. He nearly doubled his point production, scoring 63 goals and showed off an improved passing skill with 64 assists, finishing with 127 points. He proved to be deadly on the power play, scoring 16 man-advantage goals. He also added 14 game-winning goals for the Hounds, as they reached the Founder's Cup Finals, ultimately falling short to the legendary Season 69 (nice) Saskatoon Wild. While he hasn't yet produced at that level in the VHL, Tallinder has a bright future. His offensive skills are only getting better, he plays responsibly in his own zone and he's willing to play physically if needed. To be honest, I'm surprised he hasn't put up more points with this build because it is rock solid. Riga has an absolute gem in Patrick Tallinder, and VHL Fantasy Hockey players would do well to remember his name when they draft next season. He has serious potential to win the Dustin Funk Trophy as the most improved player in the VHL in Season 71. ~ Feature Writer for Rookie Spotlight - @Doomsday

Positions are hard... I was trying to comment on him being a defense-minded forward. Lol

Welcome to the fourth edition of VSN’s S70 Weekly recap (Games 206-288). We’ll cover a host of things in this recap each week including highlights of important VSN happenings, three stars of the week, power rankings, rookie profiles, and anything else of importance. Recap We have entered the back half of the season and the playoff picture is beginning to take shape. The Moscow Menace had run out into a commanding lead of the league early in the week, but by the end, they had once again been caught by Vancouver. Meanwhile, at the bottom of the league, HC Davos has begun free-failing to lock up their position in the basement as fast as possible. In the European Conference, the teams are beginning to space out a bit, with the smallest point-gap between teams currently in playoff positions is four points, between Helsinki and Prague. While in the North American Conference, only six points separate the second place Wranglers from the fourth place Bears, who regressed back to the mean a bit this week overall. The bubble teams, D.C. and Malmo, both had strong weeks and remain within striking distance of a playoff spot. We saw a slight bump back up in scoring as teams respond to the defensive dominance that prevailed last week and this might have something to do with a decline in fights as well. A lot of exciting hockey was played this week with close matches between top teams and some huge upsets by teams that were starting to seam down and out. Altogether, it appears that our final standings may be shaping into their final form, but there is still plenty of time for a big move or a hot streak to shake things up. 3-Stars First Star Raymond Bernard (MOS) - .915 SV%, 1.95 GAA, 3 SOs Second Star John Frostbeard (DCD) - 11 P, 30 H, 5 SB Third Star Ben Hafkey (HSK) - 8 G, 8 A, 3 FGT Power Rankings European Conference Moscow Menace - Moscow spent the week pulling ahead and has nearly secured the top seed. Riga Reign - Despite falling further behind Moscow, Riga is continuing to prove their relevance as a contender. Prague Phantoms - Their record suggests they are good, but I’m still unconvinced for some reason. Helsinki Titans - The team has a chip on their shoulder, but will that be enough? Malmo Nighthawks - One really excellent win and a lot of close losses. Maybe they are better than they look? HC Davos Dynamo - Back to the basement with you! North American Conference Vancouver Wolves - This week was a blown opportunity to pull away, but they held onto their lead. Calgary Wranglers - (+1) The only power ranking change of the week. Calgary had a really good week. Seattle Bears - (+1) I may have overreacted to their success last week. Third seems like a better place for them right now. New York Americans - Only team below .500 in a playoff spot. New York needs to be careful if they want to hold on to it. D.C. Dragons - This week had its ups and downs, but a good run could have them back in the hunt. Toronto Legion - It might be time to write this team off for the season. Expect to see some pieces sold before the deadline. Notable Games Game 232 - Riga vs Seattle Battles between top teams in opposing conferences are always exciting because you feel like you may be getting a preview of the cup series. However, if this was a glimpse into this season’s cup final, things are looking a little lopsided. This game was fairly even for the first two periods, going into the third with a score of 3-2. However, Riga turned on the heat for five and a half minutes late in the game as Jagger Philliefan racked up points on three straight goals. As an entertaining side note, Finn Davison got an assist on Jagger’s first goal of the third, putting him one point behind Pepper for the lead in goalie points. Game 248 - Helsinki vs Moscow I picked this game, but I want to talk about the entire home and away between these two teams. We saw the extreme volatility that both of these teams have exhibited throughout the season on full display here. The Menace dominated the first game, 8-2 chasing Alexander Pepper while Mat Tocco became the first player this season to score six points in a game. In the second match, Helsinki made the first game look like a fluke. Ben Hafkey had an amazing game with three assists, a goal, and a fight where he clobbered Gritty. I think we will all be well-served if we get to see these teams face each other on the big stage in the playoffs. Game 263 - Vancouver vs Calgary Calgary has been nipping at the heels of the Wolves all week, but with this game, Vancouver finally bought themselves some breathing room. The Wranglers gave Vancouver way too many opportunities in this match, spending almost an entire period worth of time trying to kill off penalties. They made JB Rift stand on his head to keep them in it with forty-three saves, but in the end, it was Greg Eagles and Julius Freeman in the shootout to keep the Wolves on top. Events of the Week Fights Game 208 - Bailey draws with Scott I saw some response to last week’s recap about how the VHL was becoming a thug-league, and honestly, meh. There are several players on pace to rack up more penalty minutes this season than the PIM leaders of the last two seasons. However, they won’t even come close to the likes of Evgeni Komarov’s S66 season. I talk about that here because this fight was just MGS being a thug in a game the wolves had already lost and that isn’t too exciting. Game 211 - Stark beats up Matthews Maybe this will be a turning point. Fights got a little out of control last week, and maybe some heavier enforcement from the refs can help control the trend. Anthony Matthews got a double punishment for starting this fight. First, Ambrose Stark beat the pant off him. Second, he got ejected from the game, followed by five more goals from Seattle. Game 213 - Kastelic beats up Stava Maybe Edu Stava was just doing his part to slow down the sustained offensive pressure being created by Riga, but he paid the price heavily. The rookie squared up against the Veteran Ryan Kastelic, but Kastelic’s age hasn’t slowed him down yet. With a lot more fights under his belt, the more experienced play won the fight decisively. Game 230 - Greene draws with Hafkey The Titans had a rough week last week and their frustration is coming out on the ice. After going up 2-0 and killing an important power-play, Ben Hafkey got tangled up with Scott Greene and neither player was happy about it. They dropped gloves and went to town. The fight was eventually broken up, but this was one of the more exciting bouts that resulted in a fairly even outcome this season. Game 234 - Nolan beats up Jaguar Ejections are back! Fights are slightly down this week from last, and maybe that is due to the stiffer consequences and to the growing importance of every game as we enter the second half of the season. These two teams enter the second period tied, but when the American’s coach told his players at intermission to go out and hit someone in the mouth, Owen Nolan may have taken that remark too literally. He jumped Jet Jaguar almost as soon as he set foot on the ice and Jaguar didn’t shy away from the fight. However, Nolan got a in couple solid hits in early and knocked Jet to the ice. Owen Nolan was ejected for his actions, and rightfully so. Game 248 - Hafkey beats up Gritty I told you the Titans are playing with a chip on their shoulder and Ben Hafkey found himself a second sparring partner for the week. Hafkey went beyond the Gordie Howe Hat-Trick with a fight, a goal, and three assists. Despite getting decked in this fight, Gritty got a point of his own just a few minutes later and second in the third. Game 249 - Dissanayake draws with Okada I’m not quite sure what Hiroshi Okada was thinking here. The game was tied, Nethila Dissanayake has been making people regret fighting him all season, and Okada clearly instigated this altercation. Hiroshi held his own against the more experienced combatant, but once the refs pulled them about the Wrangler was done for the night. His team probably could have used him past the beginning of the second as they went on to lose 5-4 in OT. Game 264 - Clements draws with Nygren Look, I know that games filled with great goaltending can be exciting, but this wasn’t one of them. Watching A Red Guy and Michael Johnson face off in the shootout was cool, but neither one had to bend over backwards to achieve the 1-1 tie at the end of regulation. Thankfully, Walter Clements and Markus Nygren gave us something to watch in the midst of this otherwise uneventful game. Game 265 - Washington beats up Perry Perry might not feel this way after getting his nose smashed in, but this fight worked well in the short-term for Prague. After failing to produce high-quality scoring chances all game, the Phantoms seemed to respond to George Washington’s pummeling of Jacob Perry, scoring their first, and only, goal of the game. Game 269 - Helmsley draws with Dissanayake Second-period fights have become a staple of the VHL this week, and this one was the only excitement we got in the period. It looked like Vancouver was going to dominate Toronto all game for the first two thirds. However, Teemu Lehtinen Jr gave the Legion a fighting chance with two quick goals early in the third. Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Nethila Dissanayake looked similar in their fight, with HHH connecting on a couple hard rights early before Dissanayake could even things up a bit as it went on. Game 270 - Wright beats up Greene Scott Greene and the Seattle Bears nearly threw this game away. Despite being on the power play with less than two minutes left in a tied game, Greene dropped gloves with Nate Wright over almost nothing. Some pushing and shoving in front of the net from Wright managed to get under Greene’s skin enough to risk the best shot Seattle had at putting the game away. Scott is lucky the Bears managed to still sneak away with a win in the shootout. Game 275 - Zoiderberg beats up Hafkey Ben Hafkey had an amazing week, but this wasn’t one of his brightest moments. Helsinki really could have used their leading scorer of the week in a game that ended in a 4-3 loss to the reigning champions. It’s bad enough to get trounced in a fight like this, but it is even worse when it is a fight that you clearly started. This is Hafkey’s third fight of the week, so he is going to need to learn some restraint if he wants to continue putting up top-tier numbers. Henrik Zoiderberg was mostly invisible on the ice for the rest of the night, but he did his job and Seattle got to walk away with the win. Game 276 - Perry beats up Dissanayake This fight might have been a draw, but Nethila Dissanayake is the winner in my book as he went on to put the dagger in the heart of the Prague Phantoms with his goal late in the third. Jacob Perry on the other hand left the night with a -2 after being on the ice for every Toronto goal. Maybe Perry thought he could accomplish something in this fight, since he couldn’t on the ice, but that idea also failed. Game 279 - Paddywagon draws with Nygren It is always interesting to wonder about how early fights affect the outcome of games. This fight didn’t last long and wasn’t very decisive, but could it have played a role in the upset Malmo handed to the Wrangler? Charlie Paddywagon and Markus Nygren both had fairly lack-lustre nights, but the Nighthawks managed to draw enough inspiration from somewhere to win a tough game in which they were the heavy underdog. Maybe, just maybe, this fight was a factor in that. Hat-Tricks Game 224 - Guillaume Fontenette The Helsinki Titans spread the scoring around this game, but even then Guillaume Fontenette was able to score thrice and chase the Nighthawks goalie. Maybe he just really likes playing with players named Erik, receiving three combined assists from Summers and Draven. With that, Fontenette becomes the first defenceman to score a hat-trick in S70. Game 247 - John Frostbeard Apparently someone told John Frostbeard that defensive players were scoring this week, so he figured he’d get a hatty of his own. It took just thirteen minutes for Prague to chase Kallis Kriketers, but Frostbeard tried valiantly to bring the Dragons back into it. His third goal brought them within one with just over eight minutes left in the game, but D.C. came up just short of the miracle comeback. Game 262 - Randoms Randoms based himself in this game with a goal in each period. His most exciting came at the end of the second period. Davos was only down 2-0 with twenty-one minutes to go and there was still at least a spark of life left for the Dynamo. However, with less than thirty seconds to go, Randoms snuffed out all hope on a tap-in off a beautiful feed from Jet Jaguar. Shutouts Game 207 D.C vs Calgary The three stars of this game couldn’t tell a more complete story. 1. Kallis Kriketers gets an impressive shutout, stopping all thirty-two shots faced. 2. JB Rift stopped all twenty-five shots up until the game-winner in OT. 3. John Frostbeard is one of the top defensive forwards in the league and it showed in this game. It is a little sad that DC is having such a rough season, but it is nice to see the glimmers of possibility from what this team could be. Game 214 - Calgary vs Moscow Getting shut out is rough. Getting shut out in back to back games is demoralizing. That is where Calgary is right now. In the standings, they are going great, but when they lose, boy do they lose big. I’m going to give a lot of credit to Moscow’s defence in this one, allowing just eighteen shots, but spoiler alert, Raymond Bernard is about to get really hot and we are going to see him more than once in these recaps. Game 222 - New York vs D.C. There was a little bit of shutout karma this week, D.C. got the shutout against Calgary first, and now A Red Guy shows up with a massive performance in this game, stopping twenty-three straight. Surely, nothing bad will happen to New York in their next game. Game 227 - Vancouver vs New York Yeah, I foreshadowed it, in New York’s very next game they got obliterated by the Vancouver Wolves and the spectacular net-minding of Greg Eagles. It is honestly hard to predict the goalie awards this season because we have seen so many great games from goalies around the league. However, I don’t think anyone can argue against Eagles being a favourite for multiple awards. Game 237 - Davos vs Malmo Michael Johnson has had an interesting season. He has faced more shots than any other goalie and there is really only one other player who might catch him in that regard. He has also given up more goals than any other goalie, but he is still in and around the top five in SV% consistently. Johnson is likely still in the first half of his career, so if he ever gets more defensive talent in from of him, he is going to be a major threat. Game 253 - Helsinki vs Malmo Two shutouts in three games for Michael Johnson. This was a defence-heavy game to begin with, with only forty shots combined. Neither team scored until the first minute of the third and that was the only goal of the game. Alexander Pepper is looking for his three-hundredth win this season, and he performed like it as well tonight. Unfortunately for him, the Titan’s offence just couldn’t figure Johnson out in this game. Game 262 - Davos vs Moscow HC Davos is in a rough place right now, after a beginning to the season that gave a glimpse of hope, they have once again fallen to the basement of the league. What happens when a red hot goalie meets a struggling franchise? It isn’t pretty. Raymond Bernard faced just twenty-one shots and stopped them all while Randoms went to town on Samuel Ross. Game 267 - Moscow vs Davos Part II of the beat-down, Raymond Bernard was lights-out with back-to-back shutouts. This time, it was Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen who got the three-point game as Moscow’s power-play units wreaked havoc on the Dynamo all night. Bernard is undoubtedly one of the best, if not the best, goalies in the game, but we can’t forget about the Menace’s defence. It is hard to pick out a singular star from this league-best blue line but the Pavlov, Werbenjagermanjensen pairing has been outstanding. Game 268 - D.C. vs Riga Riga is currently fourth in goals-for, so to shut them out is an accomplishment. Kallis Kriketers has had the strangest season so far because he is the only goalie on pace to both get five shutouts and get pulled for his back-up five times. D.C. can’t blame any of their defensive shortcomings this season on lack of talent, and that talent showed up big-time in this game to secure the shutout against one of the hottest teams in the league. Game 284 - Davos vs Helsinki After going up 4-0 in the first period, the Titans played extremely conservative hockey. In the end, they actually gave up more shots than they took, but many of those were weak chances that Alexander Pepper had no issues stopping. Pepper is just seven wins from his three-hundredth, and with another twenty starts likely this season, he should have no trouble reaching that milestone with a play like this. Rookie Spotlight Erik Summers After playing two full seasons in the VHLM, including a Founder's Cup championship win with the Houston Bulls, the German defenseman has quickly established himself as the front-runner in the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy race. The eighth overall pick in Season 69 (nice) has really been a pleasant surprise for the Helsinki Titans, as not only has Summers been a big boost on the blue line, but he also leads all rookies with 29 points in 47 games played. Although Summers was highly touted as a power-play quarterback, due to scoring ten power-play goals in Season 69 (nice) with the Mexico City Kings, he has instead done his damage offensively by cycling the puck. His responsible play on both sides of the ice show advanced maturity and awareness for a rookie, boasting among the league's best +/- ratings with 14. Don't expect the strong play of Erik Summers to stop anytime soon either, as his position as a top-line defenseman and special teamer is locked in. Playing with the likes of Julian Borwinn, Guillaume Fontenette and Kronos Bailey will continue to boost his production as well, and his seven-point lead over Kris Rice could even grow bigger as the season winds down. In our opinion, Erik Summers will take the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy home this season. ~ Feature Writer for Rookie Spotlight - @Doomsday

Seattle 3-2

268 D.C. Dragons @ Riga Reign 269 Toronto Legion @ Vancouver Wolves 270 Malmo Nighthawks @ Seattle Bears 271 Helsinki Titans @ Calgary Wranglers

240 Prague Phantoms @ Seattle Bears 241 Helsinki Titans @ Moscow Menace 242 Riga Reign @ D.C. Dragons 243 Vancouver Wolves @ Calgary Wranglers

Welcome to the third edition of VSN’s S70 Weekly recap (Games 124-205). We’ll cover a host of things in this recap each week including highlights of important VSN happenings, three stars of the week, power rankings, rookie profiles, and anything else of importance. Recap We have nearly reached the midpoint of the season and defences around the league have hit their stride as we saw an extremely low-scoring week all around the league. This included multiple games that went scoreless until the shootout and the most shutouts we've seen in a single week so far this season. This has been especially true for the North American Conference and anyone playing against the Helsinki Titans (sorry Titans, it was a rough skid). It shouldn't be shocking at this point, but after the rough start, many wondered if Seattle had lost a step. However, the Bears came roaring back up through the standings and are threatening to take the top spot at their current pace. Seattle has probably benefited most from the defensive surge around the league as they have consistently shown the ability to win low-scoring games while struggling to keep up in more offensive matches. While Seattle soars, Helsinki, New York, and Davos have all had a rough week. I think a lot of people were cheering for the Dynamo to succeed under their new leadership, but it may take longer than it first appeared to recover. The Titans were the highest-scoring team in the league entering this week, but their offensive production completely shut off midweek and they have struggled to get back up to speed. New York faced the toughest part of their schedule this week, so I would expect the Americans to make a comeback soon. 3-Stars First Star Hunter Hearst Helmsley (VAN) - 6 Goals, 14 Assists Second Star Finn Davison (RIG) - .935 SV%, 2.1 GAA, 3 SOs Third Star Jet Jaguar (MOS) 7 Goals, 11 Assists Power Rankings European Conference Moscow Menace - (+1) Back on top of the league, and now also the scoring leader. Riga Reign - (-1) A bit of regression to the mean this week. Prague Phantoms - One of the quietest good teams in the league. Helsinki Titans - Oof. They need to find their identity quickly. Malmo Nighthawks - (+1) A much better week than last, even sniffing a playoff spot. HC Davos Dynamo - (-1) It was a tough schedule, but definitely a disappointing result. North American Conference Vancouver Wolves - Fell behind Moscow slightly, but could still be the best team in the league. Seattle Bears - (+3) This team finally woke up from their cup hangover; Watch out! Calgary Wranglers - (-1) A middling performance this week. This team can produce better. New York Americans - (-1) A tough schedule leads to a bit of a slide. D.C. Dragons - (+1) Wins are wins, and not being in the basement is nice. Toronto Legion - (-2) The N.A. Conference caught up to Europe this week. Toronto did not. Notable Games Game 137 This game sums up Seattle's week. The Bears had solid point distribution across their roster, with only two players going without a point this game, they managed top-notch goal-tending from Rayz Funk, and their defence shut things down after the first period. For Vancouver, this game should be a wake-up call. Just because you are at the top of the North American Conference, doesn't mean the former champs aren't still a threat. Hopefully, this game broke any potential complacency building in the Wolves locker room. Game 176 These are the two quietest playoff teams in the league and this was an excellent inter-conference match. New York needs to win these games if they're going to hold on to their playoff spot, especially in the middle of their toughest schedule of the season. For Prague, this game was a great example of what is keeping them in striking distance of the top teams in the league. They walked away with two points in a game where they easily could have earned none and have nearly locked up their position in the playoffs. Game 194 A battle for dominance of the European Conference, Moscow walks away with the win and the too spot in the league after this one. We saw excellent net-minding and defensive play from both teams, but the Menace were able to capitalize on their limited scoring opportunities early in the game. Despite out-shooting their opponent twenty to twelve, Riga went into the third period down by two. They managed to avoid the shutout, but Moscow's defence proved to be too much for the Reign this time. Events of the Week Fights Game 127 - Laughton beats up Clements I don’t call him the top enforcer in the league for nothing. Blake Laughton must have heard he was falling behind the number one spot for penalty minutes. After a hard hit on Ryo Yamazuki II by Seabass Perrin, Walter Clements took exception and started looking for some retribution and Laughton saw his opportunity to keep up his reputation. Despite winning the fight, his team was unable to hold on to their 3-0 lead and had to settle the game in the shootout. Game 128 - Hafkey beats up Kastelic When scores are lopsided between rivals, fights happen. It was 4-1 to start the third when Ryan Kastelic hit Brian Strong cleanly. However, the legality of that hit was in question by at least one person, and when Ben Hafkey saw that the officials weren’t going to act, he stepped in to seek his own justice. Hafkey won the fight and his line won this game for the Titans. Game 131 - Scott draws with Nygren and Marleau It is good to see that in the third week of the season we are still having some season-firsts. Micheal Gary Scott got into fights at the beginning and end of the game. First, after a very physical first minute of the game, MGS was called upon to send a message that Vancouver would not be a victim to such heavy play. Markus Nygren was happy to oblige and get one of the Wolves top players off the ice for five minutes. That worked in Malmo’s favour as the scored just seconds later. A similar outcome came in Scott’s second fight, although Malmo would have to also sit one of their best players to make it happen. Unsatisfied with the first fight being called a draw MGS thought he could at least win something this game by fighting Phil Marleau. Alas, he could not. Two even fights and the Nighthawks were able to cling on to the lead to win it in regulation. Game 141 - Meyers beats up Laughton Blake Laughton took an absolute beating, but he took it for the team. Despite being in the offensive zone with the man advantage, Bert Myers thought it would be a good time to drop gloves with Laughton. Perhaps Laughton was still a little sore from his last fight since it has never been a long time since his last, but he did not look ready for the beating he received. Game 142 - Helmsley beats up Washington D.C. has been looking for a solid rival since joining the league and the top team in the conference is always a good choice. HHH and George Washington met in the faceoff circle and had a few choice words for each other. Reviewing the replay, it doesn’t look like either player even touched the puck before going for one another. Helmsley only had an inch on his opponent but used his seventy-five-pound weight advantage to pummel Washington to the ice. Game 155 - Stark draws with Jaguar Seattle vs Moscow has consistently been one of the most exciting matchups of this season and despite losing in their early meetings, the Bears have gained the upper hand in the most recent games. Tensions flared as the two teams went into the third period tied at two. After a hard hit from Jet Jaguar, Seattle enforcer Ambrose Stark stepped in to settle the score. Despite not winning the fight decisively, his protective instinct inspired his teammates to score the game-winner just nineteen seconds later. Game 158 - Jaguar beats up Clements and Nolan draws with Gritty Good to see this type of scrappy mentality from Moscow. We have watched them throw away too many close games this season with low-effort moments. The third period of this match-up against New York was a great example of the opposite. Fighting to hold on to a 3-0 lead, Jet Jaguar and Gritty both put it all on the line to deal with the building momentum of a surging Americans’ team. Game 160 - Stava draws with Hafkey Down by just one, Edu Stava gets levelled by Sidney Crosby. However, just like his team, Stava would not be kept down. Coming up the ice looking for more, he was cut off by Ben Hafkey before reaching his assailant. He must have figured that was good enough and they dropped gloves. The fight that ensued was entertaining but was ultimately broken up before a winner could be declared. Toronto went on to tie the game before the Titans sealed the deal late in the third. Game 170 - BRAWL! Of the ten skaters on the ice, only Joey Boucher walked away without a penalty, but that likely only because he was bleeding on the ice from the high stick of Jordan Tonn that started it all. The pairs of combatants were as follows, Hiroshi Okada and Ben Hafkey, RJ Jubis and Chico Smeb, Kefka Plazzo and Brian Strong, and Cody Smith and Sidney Crosby (although these two only got minors). Helsinki was unable to capitalize on the ensuing three on four and was ultimately unable to manage a comeback. Game 178 - Okada beats up Graves We have a new heavyweight champion! Hiroshi Okada has become quite the fighter this season, and he may now have his crowning achievement, the championship belt. Okada fights often enough that we will hopefully get to see him defend his title soon. Game 182 - Nygren draws with Matthews This game felt like it was over already, just a minute and a half into the second period when these two dropped gloves. Malmo already had a 3-0 lead after a dominant first, so perhaps Anthony Mathews thought he could give his team some life with this fight, but Markus Nygren stood his ground and ultimately, so did his team. Game 188 - BRAWL! What is it with Calgary and fighting European Conference teams? So far, it has worked out for them, as they have won both games, but this is the second time in a week that they had five players sent to the box at the same time for a brawl. This time, the refs decided everyone must go, filling the boxes with all ten skaters on the ice. The fighters paired off as follows, Tyler Barabash Jr. and Phil Marleau, Sigard Gunnar and Dan Wilinsky, Kris Rice and Aleksander Rodriguez, Charlie Paddywagon and Condor Adrienne, and Cody Smith and Lucas Nygren. Game 195 - BRAWL! Following a bad hooking penalty by Jerry Wang on Dagmar Havlova, both teams paired off and we got a good ‘ol fashioned punch-fest. The individual fights were as follows, MGS and Gert B Frobe, Kevin Low and Scotty Bigshotty, Brock Louth and Ben McGirr, and Shawnomir Jagr got the worst of it from Edward Vigneault. Despite losing their entire second line to penalties for five minutes, Vancouver went crazy in the third, racking up a 7-2 lead in the end. Game 202 - Scott beats up Hafkey and draws with Bailey A four-game series between Vancouver and Helsinki has gotten off to an exciting start, with two games decided by only one goal. After MGS got the upper hand over Hafkey about halfway through the first period, each team scored their first goal of the game within the next two minutes. MGS’s second fight, against Kronos Bailey this time, didn’t have the same effect of spurring on scoring, but he was desperate for a second win on the night and got the game-winning goal as well in the closing minute of the third. Game 204 - Martin draws with Gritty This game was a battle in every other sense of the word, so it is fitting that we got a fight as well. Although the result was rather anti-climatic, being broken up quickly by the refs, Aston Martin and Gritty served as a great metaphor for the rest of this match. In the end, there were more shots taken in the shootout than punches thrown in this fight. Hat-Tricks Game 128 - Chico Smeb Scoring his fifth, sixth, and seventh goals of the season all in one game, Chico Smeb helped Helsinki’s second line dominate this game with four of the Titan’s five goals. If this line can continue to produce against top-tier opponents like Riga, the Titans will be a scary opponent going into the second half of the season. Game 157 - Shawnomir Jagr I wouldn’t have believed you if you had told me this game was a hard-fought and evenly-matched contest with eleven minutes left in the third. However, over the next seven minutes, Vancouver went crazy. Of the five goals scored in that stretch, Shawnomir Jagr picked up his second and third for his first hat-trick of the season. Game 185 - Matthew Materazo D.C. thought that the slumping Davos Dynamo would be a safe game for them to start their back-up goalie. It took Matthew Materazo less than seventeen minutes to chase Pekka Pouta from the game. Even better, he was then also responsible for chasing Kallis Kriketers as well, late in the third. The Dragons’ goalies were thoroughly humiliated, each going five for eight for an SV% of .625. This was one for the record books as well for Materazo, scoring a hat-trick on just three shots. Game 195 - Julius Freeman You almost have to feel bad for Tzuyu this game, having a five-point performance and still only getting the second star because a teammate got a hat-trick. However, I’m sure it was celebrations all around the Vancouver locker room after this game following the clinic they put on in the offensive zone. Julius Freeman got his first hat-trick of the season, but the way this team has been playing recently, I don’t expect it to be his last. Shutouts Game 129 - Davos vs Calgary It is a hard case to make, but I would argue that Calgary, despite getting the shutout, looked like the worse team in this matchup. That isn’t to take away from what JB Rift accomplished, stopping twenty-five of twenty-five shots is always a good night. However, when you spend almost an entire period on the powerplay and only manage to outshoot your opponents by five shots and score a single goal, it is hard to say the Wranglers looked put together. But two points is two points and a shutout is a shutout, so keep up the good work. Game 130 - Moscow vs Toronto This is what we expect to see from Moscow on a regular basis. The toughest part of their schedule is ahead of them and they haven’t always been this impressive against teams they should be putting away easily. Goal-tending has probably been the biggest concern for the Menace so far this season, so it is good to see Raymond Bernard get his feet under him and put together his first shutout of the season. Game 133 - Prague vs Riga I don’t know what is happening, but this isn’t the last double shutout this week, but it is the first of the season. Something has gotten into the defences around the league to lower league-wide scoring significantly in the first few days of this week, but this one was all on the goalies. Finn Davison and Brick Wahl managed to stop a combined sixty shots without letting a single one go in through regulation and overtime. It was not until the shootout that they each gave up a goal and Davison ended up gaining the win. Game 135 - Calgary vs Davos Remember what I said last time these two played? Yeah, none of that applies this time around. Calgary walked all over the Dynamo in this one, opening up the scoring while shorthanded. Instead of spending over fifteen minutes on the powerplay, they only got a single call in their favour, and yet, they were able to hold Davos to just fourteen shots the entire game. The Wranglers’ defence was overbearing, but the third period was nearly perfect, allowing only a single shot. The goalie always gets credit when they get a shutout, but this was probably the easiest perfect game of Rift’s career. Game 136 - D.C. vs Malmo I am not certain (feel free to correct my work on this one), but I believe this game saw fewer shots than any other so far this season, with Malmo getting stuck in the single digits. The second period was the only sustained excitement with D.C. getting over half of the game’s total shots. Even then, the only goal of the game came on one of D.C.’s last shots in the third. Game 151 - New York vs Riga Some people may claim I shouldn’t count games going scoreless to the shootout as shutouts, but I think they count. However, even if that is your position, A Red Guy got a true shutout stopping both shots he faced in the shutout. Another defence-heavy game, Finn Davison only faced sixteen shots, including the three in the shootout. If the defence we have seen so far this week keeps up, we may see one of the lowest-scoring seasons we’ve seen in years. Game 159 - Davos vs Riga Finn Davison has been making his case for the Aiden Shaw this week at a crazy pace with his third shutout of the week. Riga’s defence once again shut things down, allowing only eighteen shots all game. For Davos, scoring has become a real problem. They have been shut out four times in the last seven games. Game 161 - Vancouver vs Seattle Seattle has been surging back after a rough start, but it was time for Vancouver to show who’s the king of the North American Conference this season. It took one period to do so, denying all thirteen of the Bears’ shots and scoring four of their own. The rest of the game was just gravy as Greg Eagles went on to collect his third shutout of the season. Game 166 - Helsinki vs. Moscow Alexander Pepper was the only reason this game was even close, stopping ten more shots than Raymond Bernard faced, but Moscow’s sustained offensive pressure simply overwhelmed the Titan’s defence. The Menace managed so much offensive zone possession that Helsinki could rarely even threaten a scoring opportunity in this one and Bernard walked away with his second shutout of the season. Game 167 - New York vs Vancouver I realize now that I should have started counting at the beginning of the week, but this is yet another game where the goalies took both the first and second stars of the match. Greg Eagles finds himself back on top of the shutout leader-board with his fourth of the year while A Red Guy still maintained a .953 SV% in this 2-0 loss. Hopefully, for the sake of excitement, the offences around the league figure out their slumps and we see a little more scoring next week. Game 185 - Davos vs D.C. D.C. has been replaced by Davos at the bottom of the league for now, but it did not show at all in this game. Samuel Ross has been the Dynamo’s MVP so far this season with another excellent showing. However. Davos’s young defensive core still looked shaky, allowing a total of thirty-four shots. If Davos is going to finish above the bottom of the league, solidifying this strong defensive identity will be the way they do it. Game 198 - New York vs Malmo The American’s had a rough week in many aspects, but games like this can be looked back on with pride. New York’s defence allowed only sixteen shots, helping A Red Guy achieve his third shutout of the season. They also played an incredible disciplined game, giving Malmo zero power-play opportunities. Ultimately, that discipline was a deciding factor, as the game-winner came on a New York power play in the first period. Rookie Spotlight Edu Stava After back-to-back championship wins in the VHLM. Edu Stava has finally arrived in the VHL and he is giving everyone something to talk about. He is currently shooting with 15% accuracy but hit limited opportunities have held him to six goals so far this season, behind only Rice and Tallinder, who each have a more impressive supporting cast around them. It will be hard for Stava to top his performance last season in Saskatoon, but it is possible that he might find himself packaged up to a contender in need of some depth before the trade deadline. If that happens, his recent championship experience might really help the rookie centre. This may be an outside chance at the moment, but I think a strong case can be made for Stava for Rookie of the Year. If he finds a hot stretch and bumps up his point total a little more, his performance looks even more impressive when you take into consideration the limited help he is getting from lacking top-level talent on his line.

Welcome to the second edition of VSN’s S70 Weekly recap (Games 49-123). We’ll cover a host of things in this recap each week including highlights of important VSN happenings, three stars of the week, power rankings, rookie profiles, and anything else of importance. Recap The second week of the S70 season has commenced. Let’s take a look at some of this week’s highlights and low-lights. Competition is fierce in the European Conference and I wouldn’t be shocked to see any of the top four teams at the moment in the first place spot by this time next week. As for the North American Conference, I don’t know if you can pay one of the bottom three teams to take the last playoff spot willingly. Week performances this week from Toronto and D.C. have allowed Seattle to begin clamouring at the door again and they will be a threat to everyone in the conference if they manage to make the playoffs. We saw an uptick in hostilities around the league as several teams faced off against bitter rivals with thirteen fights in total and two bench-clearing brawls. One such helter-skelter resulted in some of the dirtiest hockey I have seen in this league and calls player safety strongly into question. This correlated with an uptick in scoring across the league, but whether the fights were the cause of or the result of the scoring isn’t clear. This includes the highest-scoring game of the season so far, 6-5 fireworks show between Moscow and Malmo. This week also featured several players who were traded over the off-season facing off against their former teams for the first time. Most notable among these was the league’s current winningest goalie, Brick Wahl, facing off against his former team, the Calgary Wranglers, with an outstanding performance. But that is just some of the excitement from this week’s games, so strap in and get ready for a lot of recapping. 3-Stars First Star JB Rift (CGY) - .935 SV%, 2.05 GAA, 1 SO Second Star Aston Martin (RIG) - 5 Goals, 10 Assists Third Star Guillaume Fontenette (HSK) - 7 Goals, 7 Assists Power Rankings European Conference Riga Reign - (+3) Skyrocketing to the top after a very strong week of sims against top teams. Moscow Menace - (-1) They need to start beating top teams if they want the #1 spot back. Prague Phantoms - (-1) Wildly inconsistent, beating good teams, losing to lower teams. Helsinki Titans - (-1) Once again, Europe looks very strong this season. I’d rank Helsinki #5 in the league. HC Davos Dynamo - Falling behind isn’t an option in this conference, but Davos is still in striking distance. Malmo Nighthawks - They beat Vancouver this week! That’s about it... North American Conference Vancouver Wolves - (+2) Stop losing to teams at the bottom of the table! That being said, this was a successful week for the Wolves Calgary Wranglers - (-1) Calgary is currently playing all of the top teams. It shows in their record this week. New York Americans - (-1) A late-week slide really hurt New York this week. They still have a high upside. Toronto Legion - The bottom three here is almost interchangeable at this point. That is bad news for Toronto. Seattle Bears - There is a light at the end of the tunnel that maybe even includes sliding into a playoff spot. D.C. Dragons - A couple of impressive wins by Seattle slips D.C. into the last spot. Notable Games Game 58 - Vancouver vs D.C. What an upset! D.C. has some great veteran talent, but it just hasn’t come together often for them so far this season. This was a flash of the greatness that we wish we could see from them on a regular basis. The veterans really stepped up this game with Frostbeard and Kriketers dominating the shootout for an important 2 points. We also saw some cracks begin to form for Vancouver with the disgusting OT play of Jeff Downey. There is no place in the league for that kind of play, and doing it out of frustration in OT cost his team a chance to win the game before it went to a shootout. Game 75 - Riga vs Prague A battle for the top spot in the European Conference, Moscow leads both these teams but is yet to face either on the ice, so for now, this is the closest we get to a title bout. The first period was insane with a combined twenty-three shots and six goals. Riga got out to an early lead, up 3-1 after seven minutes, and didn’t take their foot off the gas. The Reign can be truly explosive at times and showed it here. However, to be fair to Prague, they went on to win the rematch in Game 98, so their defence is certainly cable of hanging with even the best scorers. Game 89 - Vancouver vs Moscow The rematch of one of the best games from last week, this could very easily be a preview of this season’s cup final. Both teams executed their game plans with excellence. Vancouver appeared to dominate offensively through the first two periods, but still, Moscow stayed within one with very efficient shooting on their limited offensive opportunities (at one point, they were scoring on 1/3rd of their shots). In addition to that, both teams produced on the power play, scoring two goals apiece while holding the man advantage. The Menace looked as though they would force overtime through defensive mastery in the third, but Vancouver was able to resist their continued pressure and secure the win. Events of the Week Fights Game 49 - Nolan draws with Vigneault After an action-packed first period, it had been twenty-eight long minutes since the last scoring. Nolan and Vigneault must have been getting bored because they decided their last fight needed round 2. This time, they each got in a few solid blows but there was still no clear winner. These teams face each other again in Game 127, so key an idea on these two to see if they get up to these antics again. Game 51 - Kastelic draws with Plunkett After going up 3-1 on the Dynamo, Ryan Kastelic decided to add injury to insult. Right from the faceoff, Kastelic started throwing his weight around. He was eventually able to find a sparring partner in Brendan Plunkett, but even he didn’t seem interested in a real fight. After a lot of jersey holding and jabs, refs broke it up and sent Kastelic off for instigation. Game 56 - Jubis beats up Vigneault In his third fight in as many games, Edward Vigneault finally got what was coming to him. Fighting is fine, but being a goon is different. One can only hope that the beating Vigneault received at the hands of RJ Jubis was enough to make him think twice before dropping his gloves at the drop of a hat again. Jubis’s victory was the only one the Phantoms would find in this game. Game 61 - Barabash Jr. draws with Vigneault So much for knocking some sense in the Edward Vigneault; this makes four in a row. This time, the job of fighting Vigneault fell to Tyler Barabash Jr. It took the refs four games to finally have enough of Vigneault’s nonsense and ejected him from the game following the fairly meaningless fight. Game 62 - BRAWL! This was a shameful display by both teams. Hockey sticks are dangerous weapons and should be treated as such. Brendan Plunkett and Walter Clements got into a heated discussion right off the faceoff and their fight sparked complete chaos. John Madden ended up bloodying Jaxon Walker and Fernando Jokinen threw a few punches at Ryo Yamazuki II but the smaller forward had no interest in that matchup. The truly horrific part was the four skaters who wildly and dangerously tried to hit others with their sticks. Matthew Materazo, Joseph McWolf, David O’Quinn, and Jagger Philliefan should all be ashamed of their actions and the league should take a hard look at further discipline for those involved. Game 70 - Adrienne beats up Dissanayake After scrapping in the corner for the puck, these two came out swinging. It is unknown what really sparked the hostilities in a game tied 1-1, but Adrienne definitely managed to get the upper hand over Dissanayake. Play resumed uneventfully while these two sat in the box and another goal wasn’t scored for another thirty-five minutes. Game 91 - Summers draws with Laughton Blake Laughton is the most penalized player in the VHL, but sometimes he is answering the needs of his team. Prague was down by a goal going into the third period and they needed a spark. Laughton provided that when he dragged Erik Summers into his first VHL fight. Summers managed to hold his own through the fight, with both sides landing several blows, but it lead Titans to draw four more penalties in the third, with one of them resulting in the tying goal. Despite Laughton’s ejection from the game, Prague went on to win in the shootout. Game 101 - BRAWL! These undisciplined melees are becoming more common as the season goes on. After Jack Lynch bodied Gritty on the forecheck, Gritty came up swinging and found Ambrose Stark ready to drop gloves. Dan Baillie picked up Lynch and started wailing on him. Neither fight had a clear winner, but both Moscow players were ejected from the game for instigation. Plenty of sticks and fists flew from other players as well resulting in penalties to Oskar Lagesson, Vladimir Pavlov, Henrik Zoiderberg, Berocka Sundqvist, and Mat Tocco. Game 109 - Tear draws with Okada Two players who rarely fight, these two had simply seen enough of each other tonight. Following a puck tipped away from ACL Tear as he entered the zone by Hiroshi Okada, the play moved on but the players different. It was a long fight, as both players refused to go to the ice, but in the end, they each sat their five minutes and by the time they returned, the game-winner had been scored. Game 123 - Forest draws with Crosby It isn’t clear what transpired between these two earlier in the period, but they had some words a few minutes earlier. That conversation continued on the bench with chirping back and forth. Eventually, both players decided to give in to the inevitable and as soon as Crosby stepped on the ice, he skated straight to Boris who was eagerly awaiting him. The fight was over quickly, and both sides seemed to cool down as they went into the second period. Hat-Tricks Game 55 - John Madden After going down by two goals in the first period, John Madden put the rest of HC Davos on his back and got to work. Over the next twelve minutes, Madden put up three unanswered goals. From there, Bert Meyers took over with two of his own to put the game away for the Dynamo. Game 57 - ACL Tear With an empty-netter in the final seconds, ACL TEAR has secured his first hat-trick of the season. The early season series between Helsinki and Riga has been intense and each side now has a hat-trick in the series as well. Apollo Hackett deserves recognition here as well with assists on all three goals. Game 66 - Mat Tocco Mat Tocco becomes the second player in S70 to put together a four-goal game. To do that and somehow still not be the highest-scoring player in the game is a cruel fate. At least they were smart enough to give Tocco the first star, but Vladimir Pavlov’s five assists should also be made note of. Game 80 - Codrick Past A one-period hat trick! Svoboda tacked on one more in the second, but this game was over as soon as Codrick scored his third goal in less than eleven minutes. Also of note, Ryan Kastelic had four assists (two primary and two secondary) in this game to move himself up into the top ten in assists in the league while Past moved into the top five goal scorers. Game 95 - Jet Jaguar It took overtime, but Jet Jaguar managed to put together his first hat-trick of the season. Jet scored the game-winner with just twenty seconds left in OT to save his team from the ever-fickle shootout. Moscow and Riga are racing to lead the league in hat-tricks. Game 108 - Dan Baillie And just like that, Moscow ties Riga with three hat-tricks so far this season. Dan Baillie counted for nine of Moscow’s forty shots and ended the night with three goals and an assist. Despite having four points in the game, Moscow still needed one more goal from Nate Telker, his first of the season, to put Malmo away. Game 117 - Tyler Barabash Jr. Tyler Barabash Jr. opened up the scoring for Calgary on the power play just over three minutes into the game. In the second period, he went on to score the game-winner and then put the cherry on top with a phenomenal short-handed goal. He also nearly had another goal in the second put it was tipped in by his teammate instead when Barabash’s shot seemed to be on target but Kris Rice secured the goal with a last-second tip to beat Samuel Ross. Shutouts Game 56 - Calgary vs Prague Sweet, sweet revenge. After threatening to retire if he stayed in Calgary, this matchup holds an unimaginable amount of significance for Brick Wahl. How sweet, then, it must feel to get a shutout in your first game against your former team under such circumstances. Brick Wahl is showing us all that he still has some great goaltending left in him. Game 65 - Malmo vs Seattle Is Seattle getting over their cup hangover? Maybe back-to-back cups means double the hangover. If Seattle wants to 3-peat they are going to have to have performances like this from Rayz Funk a lot more often. Seattle’s defence also deserves a shoutout for only allowing four shots in the second period. Game 67 - Calgary vs New York Oof! That is two shutouts in a week against Calgary. This team has the weapons, but scoring has been ice cold recently. A Red Guy records his first shutout of the season and New York manages to keep the series between these teams close and the rankings at the top of the North American Conference even closer. Game 86 - Calgary vs Davos JB Rift has been on a tear this week and this shutout was the finishing touch on his this masterpiece of goaltending he has put together. Davos has struggled to produce a lot of scoring opportunities in a few of their recent games and the Calgary defence took full advantage of the struggling Dynamo to hold them to only seventeen shots. Game 113 - Toronto vs Seattle This game was a goal-tending clinic. The two goaltenders walked away with the first and second star and combined for sixty-eight saves on sixty-nine shots (nice). However, only one can walk away with the win and the shutout, and that honour goes to Owen May with his first of the season. Game 114 - Malmo vs Vancouver In what might be the most shocking box score of the week, Malmo shut out the Vancouver Wolves despite allowing forty-nine shots on goal. Michael Johnson records his second shutout of the season and he deserves every ounce of the glory. His team hung him out to dry again and again and he simply could not allow a puck to slip by him. Easily the most impressive single-game performance of the season. Game 119 - Vancouver vs D.C. Greg Eagles must have felt inspired after watching Johnson’s performance in the Wolves’ last game. Either that, or he didn’t want someone else to have more shutouts than him because he came into this game with a chip on his shoulder. By the second half of this game, with a 3-0 lead, Vancouver’s defence simply became oppressive, allowing only twelve shots in the final thirty minutes of play. Game 120 - Moscow vs Seattle Remember what I said about the Malmo/Vancouver score being the most shocking of the week? This is the only game that rivals it. Rayz Funk wasn’t going to let another amazing performance go to waste as he was a Walrus in net while his team chased Moscow’s starting goalie from the ice. Toronto should be scared knowing this Seattle team is clawing up behind them for a playoff spot. Game 122 - Prague vs. Davos Brick Wahl is now the winningest goalie in the league so far this season. He has played a couple more games than his nearest competition, so we will have to wait and see if that stands, but performances like this one will keep him firmly in that position. Prague killed off nine penalties in this match, nine. It was a miraculous piece of goal-tending that saved them here. Rookie Spotlight Calgary’s Youth Line At one point this week, the Calgary Wranglers had the three highest-scoring rookie forwards in the league. Ondrej Ohradka, Kris Rice, and Mikko Lahtinen have combined for 27 points in their first season in the VHL. Ohradka and Lahtinen had some great chemistry coming into the season after spending last year together on the cup-winning Saskatoon Wild team of S69. There, they combined for 211 points while Rice put up 137 in Mississauga, first among forwards. Interestingly, Rice and Lahtinen also had a VHLM connection while playing together for the Mississauga hounds in S68, but found themselves on opposite sides of the ice for the S69 cup final. Apparently there are no hard feelings because these two have been playing off each other wonderfully so far this season. Calgary’s future is looking extremely bright with so much young talent at hand, it just took a strangely constructed tank last season to get there. If the Wrangler can entice these three to spend a large chunk of their careers in Calgary, expect this to be the top-scoring line in the league just a couple seasons from now.