tcookie

I'll take one, if the new ones are all up for grabs I'll take Lavelle

Throughout the 91-season history of the VHL, three-peats have not been a particularly common occurrence. The S48-S50 Toronto Legion & S80-S82 Vancouver Wolves have attained the feat at the VHL level, and it's never been done in the VHLM. As of yesterday, you can add one more team to that list, the first at the VHLE level, with the Cologne Express capturing a third consecutive Renaissance Cup with a five-game series win over Vasteras. What figured to be a close matchup on paper was turned on its head by the play of Express netminder Clark, who simply doesn't miss in the post-season. Clark posted an 8-1 record with a 1.55 GAA and .951 SV% in the playoffs and is quite likely going to take home a third Playoff MVP award in three seasons. Last year, Clark went 8-2-2 with a 2.28 GAA and .938 SV%. This time around, he took his game even one level higher. Across his VHLM and VHLE career so far, Clark has a ridiculous 28-6-2 record. The Express dropped the opening game of the Renaissance Cup finals, but came back with a vengeance to win the next four and capture the title. Joshua Schwarzer's team-high 5th goal of the playoffs marked the OT winner that sent Cologne into a frenzy. In a league with high player turnover like the VHLE, such a run is incredibly impressive and also unlikely. Each succeeding year, keeping the run going only gets more difficult as teams are built for short contention windows and players move on to the next stage of their careers frequently. This is partly why the three-peat has never been seen in the VHLM, and those at the helm of the Express during this run deserve a ton of credit. Next up for them will be trying to figure out a way to run it back for an unheard of 4th win in a row.

Claim for week 3/3

CHOO CHOO GG Vasteras

Never got to play for you in Calgary but I will always fondly remember the Miami days and the impact you had on all of us S75s that came in at once. You're an awesome GM, thanks for everything and enjoy the break!

happy birthday Josh

Game Review: LA vs. Toronto (Game 2) With the Legion holding a 1-0 advantage in the North American Conference Finals, the LA Stars hoped to get out to a hot start and even the series up in Game 2. The flow of play started out pretty even but LA did get on the board first thanks to a goal from Napoleon Dynamite just after the halfway mark of the opening frame. The Stars poured it on after the first intermission, holding a 40-10 edge in shots over the final two frames, and extended their lead to 2-0 thanks to a Jon Webber Jr powerplay goal 4:41 into the second period. Just past the second period's midway point, Toronto's Jimi Jaks took exception to a hit by Larry Abass Jr and went after the Stars' power forward. That led to a spirited fight, but also earned Jaks a game misconduct. The Legion, however, stepped up for their teammate with two late goals by Dens Oden and Montgomery Burns to tie the game 2-2 coming home. Tomas Sogaard's 5th of the playoffs gave the Legion their first lead of the night and, despite peppering Joel Castle's net with pucks all game, they could not find a third goal. Castle stopped 39 of 40 shots in the last two periods and 51 of 53 overall, helping his team to a 3-2 win and a 2-0 series lead.

1) Nothing too big; maybe Helsinki going on a bit of a run but on paper they are really good so still can't be too surprised by that 2) A Renaissance Cup ring would be perfect 3) I'm a competitive five-pin bowler and I guess for me it'd be a big goal achieved to finish in the top-12 on the western canadian tour and qualify for the tour finals this year. --- 1) Which VHL non-playoff team do you think has the best chance of making it next season? 2) Who do you think is this season's playoff MVP so far? 3) What's your favourite kind of holiday season baking?

The Cologne Express have won back-to-back Renaissance Cups, and now they have earned the right to play for a third straight. In a series that was expected to be hard-fought and close, reigning playoff MVP Clark got up to his old ways and took the series over. The Express knocked out Rome in a 4-game sweep, outscoring their opponents 14-4 as Clark put up a stellar .971 SV% with a pair of shutouts. With 7 assists in 4 games, defenseman Joseph Dubois led the Express in scoring while Joshua Schwarzer and Martin Kemp each tied for the team lead with 3 goals in the series. Meanwhile, Theo Allard stepped his game up after a relatively quiet regular season, putting 6 points on the board. The Express' next opponent will be from Sweden, as they await either the Vasteras Iron Eagles or Stockholm Vikings. That series is currently tied 2-2. Vasteras has been Renaissance Cup favourites all season, but we will see how that series plays out. If Clark, who won the VHLM Playoff MVP with San Diego in S89 before winning VHLE Playoff MVP with Cologne last season, can maintain his usual playoff form, the Express stand to have a pretty good chance to extend their streak. However, their next test will likely be the toughest.

Claim for week 2/3

Game Recap: Game 576 - Prague vs. Chicago With their playoff lives on the line, the defending champion Prague Phantoms came into Chicago to wrap up a somewhat disappointing regular season, but hopefully punching their ticket to a chance to redeem themselves in the playoffs. Their desperation showed through early on, as they outshot the Phoenix 23-4 in the first period and took a 2-0 lead on goals by Nikolas Kauppi (his 32nd) and John Jameson (his 46th). Although they kept their foot on the gas possession-wise, a couple of defensive slip-ups in the early part of the second frame saw Chicago strike right back. First, it was Dank Turtle's 13th of the season that cut the lead in half and then, 50 seconds later, Scotty Sundin's 49th of the year that knotted it up. With one period separating the Phantoms from heartbreak, they continued to push hard but Ryan Artyomov (who finished with 52 saves) stood his ground. The Phoenix capitalized on a powerplay opportunity approaching the midway point on a goal by PJ Daniels, before another untimely Prague penalty resulted in an insurance goal from Sigma Freud, set up by Scotty Sundin picking up his third point of the night. The Phoenix shut the door from there and completed a 4-2 victory, with Sundin and Artyomov being named the first and third stars of the game, respectively (the second star went to Prague's Jameson).

i don't like you either simon

I looked yesterday when I was working on my fantasy corner media spot and noticed I was winning my group by 0.9 with one day to go. Glad to hang on for the win! Good season, Scurvy.

After a bit of an up-and-down season, the Cologne Express finished the year on a hot streak to end up 43-25-4, good for second overall in the VHLE and finishing the season with the most wins in the league. The Express ended up with the highest-scoring offense (231 goals for) and tightened up defensively as the year went on, with their 185 goals against finishing third and much closer to the top two teams than it was looking like at one point. Anthony Simmons (31 goals, 79 points), Joshua Schwarzer (35 goals, 73 points), and Jordan Bennett (18 goals, 74 points - tops among VHLE defensemen) all finished within the top-9 in league scoring, though well back of Nick Sansoe who led the league with 94 points. At one point, goaltender Clark was struggling along with a 0.910 SV% but he brought that up with a strong finish to the year. Clark ended the year with a 0.919 SV% which, while not spectacular, represents a big increase in level of play in the season's second half, and he has a reputation in the playoffs. Cologne went 9-2-0 in the season's final 11 games and now turn their attention to the playoffs where they hope to continue recent success and win a third straight Renaissance Cup. They are certainly getting hot at the right time, so we'll see if that bodes well for their post-season chances as they prepare to take on Rome.

Note - I’m not affiliated with VHFL in any way. I pulled the data from the VHFL group updates thread because I thought it would be fun to look at, and did some similar stuff with VSN a while back, but this is all very much unofficial! 1581 words, good for the next 3 weeks. — A thrilling season of VHL action wrapped up yesterday and with it, a slew of VHFL group champions crowned. How did you fare in your group this year? Who helped you win your league, or who didn’t live up to the expectations you had for them? In this edition of VHFL Fantasy Corner, we’ll take a look at the season that was in S91 and the stars and duds of the fantasy campaign. Group Winners There were 14 VHFL groups in S91, with some very impressive seasons among them. 32 teams crossed the 1400 point mark overall, a number that was required to win each of the 14 groups, while 7 teams (6 group winners and one unlucky 2nd-place, @JCarson) hit the 1500 point mark. The tightest group was Group 11, separated by just 6 points. Here are your group winners for S91 (another disclaimer, please do not take this as official results): Group 1: @twists - 1518.9 Group 2: @jacobcarson877 - 1456.2 Group 3: @Triller - 1440.5 Group 4: @kirbithan - 1516.3 Group 5: @VattghernCZ - 1495.8 Group 6: @hedgehog337 - 1490.0 Group 7: @Arce - 1516.6 Group 8: @leandrofg - 1461.3 Group 9: @Grape - 1508.8 Group 10: @cLoWn - 1480.1 Group 11: @tcookie - 1485.6 Group 12: @STZ - 1425.8 Group 13: @eagle_3450 - 1548.3 Group 14: @MexicanCow123 - 1508.9 The highest-scoring team across all VHFL groups was managed by @eagle_3450, who put up a whopping 1548.3 points. That team consisted of Larry Abass Jr, Leandro Goncalves, Dogwood Maple, Jake Thunder, Skor McFleury, and Jesse Teno. Highest Scoring Players The overall highest scoring player in VHFL this year was Larry Abass Jr of the Los Angeles Stars. The 6’3, 212 pound power forward really came into his own this season. Abass was already a solid fantasy contributor in recent years thanks to a tendency to pile up 300+ hits while contributing on offense, but this season, Abass didn’t just contribute on offense, he dominated. Scoring career highs across the board, Abass finished the year with 46 goals, 55 assists, and 101 points while going well over the 300 hit marker for the third-straight season (357), and was the only player to top 300 fantasy points this season (301.6). The highest scoring defenseman in VHFL was Malmo defenseman Skor McFleury, another player who changed teams last off-season. McFleury was owned in 100% of groups, and for good reason. McFleury was a fantasy stud last season with 25 goals, 96 points, 211 hits, and 158 blocks. That made him defenseman #1 last year and pushed him over the 300 fantasy point mark with 300.8 overall. It was a similarly dominant performance this time around as he put up 22 goals, 89 points, 224 hits, and 142 blocks to lead all VHFL defenders by almost 17 fantasy points with 282.1. The highest scoring VHFL goaltender was Davos’ Lachlan Summers, which you can file under “entirely expected”. Davos was always supposed to be a great team this year and they delivered on that promise, leading to Summers piling up a bunch of wins (46). Summers won the Shaw, Clegane, and Slobodzian Trophies last season and he’s got a good shot to take home some more hardware this year, with a 46-12-6 record, 2.24 GAA and 0.933 SV% to go along with 5 shutouts. It was a dominant year and Summers just edged out Art Vandelay for the league lead in fantasy points among goalies. VHFL All-Star Team F - Larry Abass Jr (301.6) - AK92 Wit da Hoodie (289.3) - John Jameson (282.1) D - Skor McFleury (282.1) - Elias Lampi (265.4) G - Lachlan Summers (244.0) @RileyL @hedgehog337 @Frank @Alex @Pifferfish @kirbithan Fantasy MVPs When we talk about Fantasy MVPs, we’re talking about the guys you regularly find on winning rosters. This isn’t always necessarily the best players, although there is strong correlation. You might find a big name who had a great season a little lower in the FMVP rankings because a similarly good player was able to be found later in the draft, leading to an even stronger presence on winning rosters. This plays into this year’s selection as while big names like John Jameson are definitely found on group-topping teams (Jameson was on 5 group winners himself), Larry Abass Jr was both fantasy’s top scorer AND available later in drafts in general. We’ve already talked about the dominance of Abass Jr this season, but what really earns him the title of VHFL Fantasy MVP is the fact that he was found on a whopping 10 of the VHFL’s winning rosters. Shockingly, one group didn’t even draft Abass (group 14), so Abass finishes the year up at 92.9% owned, but in the 13 groups he was owned in, his team won 76.9% of them. No team with Abass on it finished worse than third overall. Skor McFleury can be found on several VHFL champion squads, too - 6 to be exact - but one other player that deserves a mention here is defenseman Elias Lampi. Lampi was only owned in 71.4% of groups (10) but his teams won 4 of those groups. In his second year with the Los Angeles Stars, Lampi put together his best all-around season as he set a career high in points (82) and +/- (+28) while still posting strong defensive numbers (215 hits, 151 blocks). With production like that, you have to figure Lampi will find himself universally drafted next time around. VHFL All-MVP Team F - Larry Abass Jr (10 group winners) - Landon Wolanin (5) - John Jameson (5) D - Skor McFleury (6) - Elias Lampi (4) G - Jesse Teno (4) @RileyL @jacobcarson877 @Frank @Alex @Pifferfish @aimkin S91 Fantasy Steals (Highest-Scoring Players <40% owned) F Henry Eagles, Malmo Nighthawks (35.7% owned, 247.2 points) @Greg_Di In hindsight, it looks kind of silly that so many people passed on Henry Eagles in their fantasy drafts this year. Malmo was looking at a big step forward, particularly with the off-season additions of Skor McFleury and Yaroslav Bogatyrev, so why wouldn’t a guy like Eagles take a big step forward to match? There was some skepticism around Eagles’ fantasy relevance this year, probably due to the fact he only put up 58 points last year, but Eagles flourished in his seventh VHL season, matching a career high with 42 goals and setting a career high in points, too, with 96, convincingly leading the resurgent Nighthawks in scoring. F Francesco Mancini, New York Americans (7.1% owned, 237.5 points) @GioSivo Now this one, on the other hand, is completely understandable. The Americans are a bad team, finishing with a 29-38-5 record as the second-worst team in the North American Conference, and Mancini had 58 points in his entire VHL career coming into this season. So, nobody could realistically have predicted a 100-point campaign out of him, but here we are. With 47 goals and 101 points, Mancini had a downright massive year. He was only drafted in one group, and in that group, the team that picked him won. Guess they knew what they were doing. D Rex Wolffe Gregor, Seattle Bears (7.1% owned, 241.4 points) @oilmandan Gregor had the best season of his five-year career in the VHL in S91, with 27 goals, 79 points, 165 hits, and 137 blocks. His previous career highs of 20 goals, 67 points, and 166 hits were all comfortably eclipsed as he became one of the highest-scoring defenders in VHFL this season. As the #1 defenseman on a Bears team that hopes to take a step forward next year, it wouldn’t surprise anyone if Gregor’s on a lot more VHFL rosters in S92. S91 Fantasy Disappointments (Lowest-Scoring Players >70% owned) F Vincent Laroche-Gagnier, DC Dragons (78.6% owned, 192.8 points) @vincentlg2007 It’s not like it was a bad year for Laroche-Gagnier, but after he put up 100 points in his first season in DC in S90, more was expected and he was drafted accordingly. Laroche-Gagnier doesn’t provide too much in the way of physical presence, so he needs to score to put up big numbers in VHFL, and his 35 goals and 78 points overall didn’t quite do it for teams that drafted him high. F Randy Bobandy, Calgary Wranglers (71.4% owned, 168.4 points) @AJW Bobandy scored 174 points over his last two seasons in Seattle before heading to Calgary, and there were high expectations of him taking a big role for the Wranglers. It didn’t quite work out that way for Calgary, who struggled to produce offense all season long, and Bobandy dropped off to 59 points, a number reminiscent of his sophomore season. If the Wranglers can fix their offense, you can bet the points will come back for Bobandy next time around, but for such a highly-drafted player to end up with this VHFL score was a disappointment. D Phil Strasmore, Calgary Wranglers (85.7% owned, 170.5 points) @Phil It seems to be a trend with Wranglers on the list, and it makes sense, because much of fantasy is simply about putting points in the board and the Wranglers struggled to do that as a whole. Strasmore, a longtime Wrangler, had four straight 60+ point seasons before this one but dropped off hard to 40 points in S91. His defensive numbers didn’t quite live up to expectations either, as his hits total (225) was his lowest in five seasons, and his shots blocked 106 was his lowest of his career. There doesn’t appear to be much reason for the sudden decline, as Strasmore still passes the eye test with flying colours, but the eye test doesn’t do much for the 12 VHFL teams that drafted him.

With 6 games left in Phillip Rave's season in Cologne, it's safe to call it a disappointment on a personal level. While expected to grow into a bigger role and start producing by the end of the year, Rave has languished on the third line and has seen no increase in production, sitting on 11 points in 66 games. That has some scouts wondering if Rave will make the jump to Malmo next year after all. It's long been Rave's plan, but his numbers this year suggest that may not be left up to him - he simply may not be ready for the next level just yet. To his credit, Rave has said the right things all season long about his stagnant production but at the end of the day, the VHL is for the best of the best and Rave will need to come to camp for Malmo in prime form next season to prove he can handle a promotion and earn his spot. Fortunately for him, Cologne is headed to the playoffs and that will be a chance to make a strong impression. When you perform your best with the chips down, everyone takes note. That will be the task ahead of Rave for the rest of this season.