Lockdown Defense

e

I think the question everyone has in their minds right now is "who will win this seasons playoffs?", in this artice I'll be talking about each teams likelihood of winning. So first off we have the clear cut favorites in the Ottawa Lynx who've been dominant all season long and swept the wildcard 21st in their first round matchup. Ottawa's only real competition would either be Yukon or San Diego, both teams have had dominant seasons and the Marlins look like they're ready for 1 last deep playoff run before star players move on. Yukon has been the talk of the league besides Ottawa, they have a good enough record for 2nd and they have dominated almost every team all season long. The main pieces of Yukon have got to be players like Vin Calia and Alex Armstrong, both have been ridiculous in the playoffs so far and they're 1st and 2nd respectably. Nicolas Fomba, the young Rush's goaltender has been a beast for them in the regular season and it's starting to translate into playoff success as well. San Diego is lead by pieces like Alex Bridges, JaredN, Ike Bennett and Nikita Kulikovich, while San Diego has an ok goaltender I think the offense certainly carried the team to the playoffs and has translated into great success so far in the playoffs as they have already taken out Minnesota in 6 games. Now we have Vegas and Philadelphia who are currently battling it out in game 7 to advance on in these playoffs, their series is the only one to go 7 games so far these playoffs which is no surprise considering how close these teams are on paper and in the standings. If I had to pick a winner of this series I'd give the slight edge to Vegas only because of how dominant they've been against top tier teams this season. Now I will finally make my decision of who will win the cup. I predict that the Ottawa Lynx will continue on with their domination and take home the cup in 6 games against the Marlins, the marlins have had great runs against Ottawa but I really don't think they can beat ottawa 4 times in 7 games especially after Ottawa's players finish earning this season. Conclusion: Ottawa Lynx 4-2 San Diego Marlins for the cup.

Seattle 3-2

17 Calgary Wranglers @ Vancouver Wolves 18 D.C. Dragons @ Seattle Bears 19 Malmo Nighthawks @ Moscow Menace 20 Riga Reign @ Prague Phantoms

This season wasn't very surprising when it came to defensemen as the #1 candidate for the Sullivan Trophy is the defenseman with the most hype built up so far and he also seems like a clear favorite over the leading defensive scorer who only sits 1 point ahead. The player I am talking about is Nikita Kulikovich who has dominated the VHLM all season long and has seemed to be farming stats with Alex Bridges as most of Bridges' goals were assisted by the young defenseman who put up 95 assists this season. This is what progression looks like and it won't be long before Kulikovich is reunited with his former teamate Roque Davis which could mean that HC Davos isn't that far away from being competitive again. Now with Kulikovich more active than ever we could definitely see a solid rookie season in the VHL upcoming for him and it wouldn't be surprising for him to put up around 30-40 points as a rookie which is pretty impressive if you compare it to current defenseman in the VHL. Next time we will see Kulikovich will be in the upcoming VHLM playoffs tournament where we could see Kulikovich eventually reach 250 tpe to make that huge jump everyone expects. If the Marlins somehow pull off the upset and win that cup you already know Bridges and Kulikovich will be up there for playoffs mvp.

I'm happy for viper that he gets to be AGM but I'm also sad about fever stepping down because of how long he's been with our organisation but I think viper is doing a great job so far. I feel that we have more than enough offensive pieces as well as a possible boomchenko trophy winner along with loads of defensive depth to stop shots. I feel great about myself and I definitely think I have lived up to the hype and that I have a great chance at taking home a trophy this season (boomchenko). No, I think Alex is the one that abuses viper as I have seen a bit of proof of this in the Marlins server and I don't know how this rumor appeared as it is the complete opposite of what most people think. I'm very happy with the team this season and I think we performed to the best of our abilities and now we will wait to see what happens in the playoffs. I usually eat dry oatmeal before games to help gain strength by way of fibre and protein which will help me out a lot with all the excersize that I do during a game and before.

MOS 3 - 2

391 D.C. Dragons @ Helsinki Titans 392 New York Americans @ Riga Reign 393 Seattle Bears @ Moscow Menace 394 Toronto Legion @ Vancouver Wolves

+4