Grit in the VHL

[Scurvy 1,150]

As I sit in my hotel room in Arizona to complete some much necessary point tasks for my club (much to the chagrin of my wife), I ponder what exactly to speak about today.  I know one thing for certain.  Arizona is MISERABLY HOT.  I can’t fathom how people can live here in the summer.   On a cool note I went to the Arizona Coyotes arena yesterday and walked around.  Pretty cool rink but a little far from Phoenix. 

Today I thought I’d talk about some of the bruising VHL players hitting, fighting, and banging away in this young S83 season.  Many times, these players are overlooked and/or unnoticed completely.  This is not always the case as there some mean, nasty players who are gritty and gifted in the scoring department.  So, lets chat about a few.

 

HITS

 

Duncan Idaho- Is there anything this dude can’t do??  54 points in 33 games with 165 hits.  I mean DAMN.  Impressive as hell.   Typically, Idaho is first overall pick on all of the fantasy drafts. He’s 6^th in scoring (54 points) and 3^rd overall in goals (29 goals).  A player like Idaho comes around once in a generation so it’s exciting to see this player compete.  I just hope when he plays Warsaw, he takes the night off.

 

Vasile Lamb- Ok Lamb had 402 hits last year with 82 points (as a rookie!).  Lamb can fight, hit, and score.  The former first overall pick just had a spirited fight with Warsaw Pred defenseman Brian Payne making the locker room awkward due to Lamb’s alter ego is the GM of the Preds.  Word on the street was Lamb was sending a message to Payne to start producing more offense.

Henri le Massif- This giant left winger next to Idaho makes playing against Moscow formidable. Another player who contributes on the score sheet but also physically.  155 hits already and 82 PIMS.

 

Penalty Minutes:

 

 Vinny Detroit-  112 PIMS.  Detroit reminds me of a young Keith Tkachuk.  Hits, fights, and can score some goals.  With 90 BC and 65 Grit I’m eager to see where he ends up stat wise by the end of the year. 

 

Brian Payne-  109 PIMs.   7 fights and 4 fight wins so far, this young Dman is making a name for himself early as a gritty and nasty player.  He sometimes can cost his team with an idiotic penalty but look for him to improve his game and mature (hopefully).  Or maybe not. A recent bar fight and smoothie bar fight along side teammate Tavish DeGroot, Payne has shown to have a little bit of an impulse control problem. 

 

Armani Calamari- 92 PIMS.  A little bit of a surprise that Calamari in his third year has taken a different role.  A talented goals scorer (32 goals last year) he has had 108 PIMS in his first two years and already has 92 in 34 games this year.  A smaller forward at 508 170 he is playing a hard nose game banging up opposing players. 

 

504

               

[Spartan 4,068]

Shout-out @OrbitingDeath  and @Garsh!