Fraser Wallace S83 Review

[Hoopydog 195]

Introduction

 

The 83^rd VHLM season is officially over as the Las Vegas Aces have bested the San Diego Marlins to win their first Founder’s cup in S64. However, that does mean that Fraser Wallace’s time in the VHLM is over and it ends trophyless. Nonetheless it is time to take a look at how Fraser Wallace got on in his first season of his career and the first season of the hybrid attribute era.

 

Regular Season

 

Wallace had a bit of a meh regular season in terms of point production this season. In a full 72 game regular season, he put up 23 goals and 28 assists for 51 points which ranks him 10^th on his team for scoring. Now your probably thinking, 51 points isn’t bad, it’s actually alright especially when the Marlins had 11 players who manage to score over 50 points this season but when you consider the amount of ice-time he got, playing just shy of 24 minutes a game and getting powerplay time, he definitely could have put up a few more points. He was quite productive on the powerplay, bagging himself 5 goals and 14 assists for 19 points meaning he scored just over 37% of his points whilst playing with a man advantage.

He finished the season with a +/- of 33 (ranked 2^nd on the team for +/-) which goes to show that the Marlins were a better unit with him on the ice. Wallace was dominant in the face-off circle winning a whopping 59.19% of his draw ranking him 4^th in league face-off percentage (ranked with players with more than 1000 face-offs taken) which is a pretty huge asset to have the roster. He was a staple on the Marlins’ special teams this season playing 25% of his minutes this season on special teams. More interestingly he played roughly the same number of minutes on the powerplay as his did on the penalty kill (224 on the powerplay and 216 on the penalty kill) showing that he was trust to help out at both ends of the ice.

So overall, it wasn’t a bad season for Fraser Wallace. Could he have done better and put up some more points of course but when you look at his stats overall, it is clear to see that he offered the Marlins a lot more than point production and when you take that into account you can see he was a valuable piece of the San Diego jigsaw.

 

Playoffs

 

The playoffs were not very kind to Fraser Wallace. In the 18 games he played, he scored 2 goals and got 6 assists for a total of 8 points. Not really what you want when the pressure is on and every point is vital. There’s not much else to say about his point production apart from the fact that it wasn’t good enough, you can’t quite make the same argument you could make about his regular season. He played 375 minutes in this season playoffs with 69 of those being on the powerplay and 52 of those being on the penalty kill. His face-off percentage was 57.2% so he again was able to be dominant on the draw. In the end, it wasn’t enough to help his team get over the line.

Wallace’s playoff performance was disappointing for sure but it’s still valuable experience and I’m sure it’ll help for when he is back in the playoffs at a higher level. Hopefully he’ll be able to go one step further with his future teams.

 

Interview

 

We managed to grab a chat with Fraser Wallace as he prepares to wind down for the off-season but also, as he looks towards the upcoming VHL and VHLE drafts.

 

Reporter: “Hi Fraser, thank you for taking the time to chat with us. Unfortunately, your season is over after that tough loss to Vegas. How are you feeling after that defeat?”

 

Wallace: “Yeah, I mean its tough man, it’s really tough. Especially after we had been so good in game 5, you know we outshoot them in that game something like 40 to 16 so to lose that it was tough and then we just weren’t good enough in game 6. Fair play to Vegas, we’ve been neck and neck all season long and they more than deserver their cup win.”

 

Reporter: “You played in Vegas last season but you weren’t able to win a cup in your short time there. It must’ve been a weird feeling being on the other side of the post series hand shake?”

 

Wallace: “I mean yeah for sure, it’s never nice to be on the losing side of those handshakes you know, you always want to be on the winning side but they fully deserved to win the cup and I got to wish the management and some of my old teammate’s congratulations.”

 

Reporter: “What are your thoughts on the season as a whole from your perspective? Are you happy with how you played this season despite falling short of silverware?”

 

Wallace: “Em I thought I played ok during the regular season. I could’ve put up some more points for sure but I felt that my defensive game was strong and I was strong on the draws which is important for a centremen. I didn’t play nearly as well as I could have during the playoffs and I apologise to the fans for that, I wish I could’ve helped out more but I need to keep my head up and look towards the next challenge.”

 

Reporter: “Speaking of that next challenge, you are in the pool for both the upcoming VHL and VHLE drafts. How are you feeling about those drafts?”

 

Wallace: “I’m feeling a little nervous but I think that’s only natural you know especially because it’s gonna dictate where I’m gonna be playing and where I’m gonna be living but I’m excited for the challenge of playing at the next level.”

Reporter: “I’m going to be cheeky with this last question but have any teams reached out to you ahead of the draft and if so, who?”

 

Wallace: “hahaha I’m not going to tell you who but I’ve spoken to a couple of teams so we’ll just need to wait and see who wants me come draft day.”

 

Reporter: “Oh well, I had to ask anyway. Thank you for taking the time to speak to me Fraser.”

 

Wallace: “No worries have a good one.”

 

That wraps up our season review on Fraser Wallace and he echoed our judgement of his season that it was ok but it could’ve been better. We will be back to chat with Fraser to see how’s getting on next season.

 

1113 words. Claiming for weeks ending 12/06& 19/06

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