The Final Regular Season for Sales

[thadthrasher 1,692]

 

            When Sales received the news that he would be moving to Vancouver from New York he never expected for it to result in anything this good. In fact, he was worried that things could only get worse, which of course was not the case. The move may have displaced Sales’ home, but his career took a huge leap, and it proved to be an advantageous move for Sales and Vancouver together.

 

            Coming into S81, Sales’ career meant little to nothing to everyone around the league. Never the highest in the stat column, but never the lowest, Sales’ first 5 seasons in the VHL were, well, forgettable. New York locals loved him, they knew him, but that was it. No one else really cared. Then it all changed when he found himself trading in the red, white and blue for the black, white, and silver. In just one season Sales went from 27 wins to 51. He lost half as many games, increased his SV% from .91 to .923, and reduced his GAA from 3.62 to 3.02. On top of that, Sales 3 more shutouts than in S80 with New York, which is the most he had earned in one season. The tail of end his first season with Vancouver not only included the most playoff games he'd ever played, but the first time he would lift the Continental Cup.

 

            In S82, his second and last season with Vancouver, Sales gave a similar performance to S81. While he did lose a few more games, he was able to bring in a .926 SV% and lowered his GAA even more to a 2.89. He matched his 3 shutouts and even let it 7 fewer goals than in the previous season. Needless to say, it’s a shame that the rest of Sales’ career didn’t look like this last season. At the end of his regular season career, Sales has played 444 games, won 237 games, lost 169 with 32 OTL. His SV% averages at .917 with a 3.35 GAA. All together he earned 10 shutouts and allowed less than 1500 goals over the course of his regular season career. In all, Sales spent 26,451 minutes on the ice in the regular season, which comes out to just about 441 hours, or 18 full days on the ice.

 

            After showing Sales the overall statistics, this is what he had to say.

 

            “You know, I never thought back in S74 when I played my first VHLM game that I’d be here today, a Continental Cup champion, and hopefully a 2-time champion after this next playoff series. Sure, I hoped for it, but I just didn’t think it would happen. I was just happy to play the game. Fast forward to now, and I still feel just as happy playing this game. It’s what gave me hope in prison, pulled me out of a dark place, and inspired me to do better. I’ve met an innumerable amount of amazing people in my career, and I don’t think I would have done any of it differently. At the end of the day, whether others think so or not, I’ve had an amazing career and I’m hoping to stay in Vancouver as a goalie coach after all is said and done. But, if not, maybe I’ll go back to selling paper. Either way, I might just switch back to being called Michael Scott after all of this.”

---

569 words, claiming week ending 13 March 2022

[der meister 2,909]

A nice little mini-retrospective and a fun read. I like the style and flow of the piece a lot, and it made me want to go back and look at Sales' stats. I noticed no grammatical issues or errors. Really the only thing I can think is that an inclusion of a pic/gif would have been nice, but that's such a minor quibble. 10/10 and congrats to Thad Sales for ending on a strong note.

[Eynhallow 412]

Sales @thadthrasher, been there with ya.  Just retied Isau DaMoose.  He had a great ride, although Riga suffered mightily at the hands of STHS during his stay there...which, coincidentally, was his entire VHL career.

[thadthrasher 1,692]

26 minutes ago, Eynhallow said:

Sales @thadthrasher, been there with ya.  Just retied Isau DaMoose.  He had a great ride, although Riga suffered mightily at the hands of STHS during his stay there...which, coincidentally, was his entire VHL career.

May we both have better luck this time around!

 

[Eynhallow 412]

Interestingly enough, my new guy, Noodles Marconi, is starting off in Mexico City.....same as Isau DaMoose........fate, karma.......