An odd start to the VHLM Finals

[Shindigs 1,772]

Playoff hockey is pretty unpredictable. The series between SDM and LVA in the regular season has been weird to say the least. So to the surprise of no one, our finals series started in a completely logical and sensible way.

 

The Series so far

Game one SDM came out the gates hot and outshot Vegas, so in keeping with the tradition of this series. Their goalie promptly forgot what saves are and we won it regardless. Not the first time it happened this season, but for some reason I didn't think to expect that luck to hold in the finals, but it did.

 

Fast forward to the 2nd game and we light up their starter in the first period, leading to a goalie change after less than 6 minutes! During which we scored 3 goals on 12 shots. Clearly we can't choke this, right? Right?! Wrong...

 

Again in keeping with tradition DJ Fire Dragon comes off the bench and just decides to be mean (typical fire dragon antics amirite?). Putting up 29 saves on 30 shots (at least it wasn't a shutout after coming in early, that's happened twice this season) leading us a casual choke-fest where we let up 4 unanswered, only for Velociraptor Greg to tie the game up with slightly less than 6 minutes remaining in the 3rd. LVA captain Juan Ceson then proceeds to take a tripping penalty at 5:14 of OT, which leads to an SDM goal from Svatopluk Puk, assisted by Curtis Crumb and Boston. That's two ex Halifax players linking up to score after an ex Halifax player took a penalty after the Halifax GM's player scored the tying goal to send us to OT. That's a lot of Halifax for a series that doesn't have Halifax in it, I tell you!

 

The completely serious keys to success

So it would appear this series will come down to a few things things:

1) Which team's goalie will choke the most.

2) Which teams will have more ex-Halifax players do things.

3) How much of an ass Simon decides to be that particular day.
4) Which fan color Bek has on his sim rig, despite not actually simming the VHLM this season.

 

So really all those things are completely in mine and Frank's control, clearly. So it should be a true match of GM skill as to who wins this one. And by that I mean the opposite of what I just said, I kinda just inherited a contended and added some great pieces in the draft/waivers. Whereas Frank had to build a whole team from scratch sans like a couple players this season, including an amount of trades that I totally know the exact amount of.

 

Some actual good news

The one thing I will say that's pretty promising so far this series, is that our 1st line is back in action. They've had a bit of a rough go of it this playoffs. With Shot% that will make a grown man cry, actually we have some of that on the 2nd line too. But I'm just hoping that our horrid puck luck will start to even itself out, barring more heroics from a certain dragon.

 

Also in closing, I'd just like to remind everyone that Västerås sucks. That is all, thanks for reading!