Wolves Rise Back Atop VHL Standings

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Wolves Rise Back Atop VHL Standings

Vancouver Associated Press

 

After a lot of shuffling in the standings as of late, the Vancouver Wolves have regained top spot in the North American Conference as we have just passed the halfway point of the season. Calgary and Toronto both had hot runs to start the season and had some limited time at the top, but now it seems like things have regressed back to what most people were prognosticating heading into the season. The defending Continental Cup champions have a fairly comfortable seven point cushion on the Seattle Bears for the top spot in the conference.  Meanwhile, there is only two points separating the Bears with the third-place Los Angeles Stars. Heading into the season, these three clubs are who I expected to hold most of the power in the NA Conference. Vancouver experienced a bit of a meandering start to their campaign, but it seems as though they have sorted out any issues they once had. 

 

They currently are first in the league in goals scored with an impressive 205 goals registered with another half of a season left to play yet!  Much like how they did last season, the Wolves are scoring by committee. They already have six players with 60 points or more. Aloe Dear leads the way with 75 points, and not far behind Dear are the Reinhart brothers. The defense has been top-tier as well so far, but they've gotten huge efforts from their newly acquired goaltender Thadius Sales, who came over from the New York Americans during this past offseason. Sales is 29-11-0 so far this season with a .912 save percentage and a 3.51 goals against average. 

 

Meanwhile, over into the European Conference, Moscow continues their dominant ways as they remain in first with a six point lead over the up-and-coming HC Davos Dynamo. Moscow is 30-10-2 thus far and will certainly be considered a Cup favourite heading down the stretch. Meanwhile, what looked like a two-horse race for second place has turned into a three-horse race thanks to Davos' red hot play of late. Davos is currently on a six-game winning streak that has launched them over both Malmo and Warsaw in the standings. Only 5 points separate the three clubs, so things are quite tight in this race. Warsaw seems to be consistent as they always are, but Malmo has been sputtering of late. There's still a ton of hockey left to be played, but things are finally starting to take shape in the VHL and soon enough we will have playoff matches to predict. Buckle in VHL fans, it's going to be a wild ride to finish out the season!