Fire Tortorella 2,653 Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 COMPARING CHAMPIONS: S35 LYNX VS. S39 LYNX The recent Hall of Fame Tournament gave me the idea to compare and contrast the two Founder’s Cup winning teams I was general manager of while I worked in the VHLM. Both teams were relatively stacked when compared to their competition, but they were both constructed in different ways that resulted in different ways of winning. The S35 team was well-balanced with an equal focus on offense and defense, while the S39 team was built to win games with their offense. FORWARDS S35 Brennan McQueen – Robin Gow – Jeevan Samuelsson Tom Slaughter – Frederik Ernst – Robert Gow III S39 James Faraday – Aksel Thomassen – Leo Tesla Thomas O’Malley – Andrew Erikson – Jacques Grande The S35 forward group featured a robust first line of McQueen and Gow, who are now both members of the Riga Reign, and Jeevan Samuelsson, who may go down as one of the best VHLM performers of all time. While this first line is impressive, the second line of Slaughter, a mid-season waiver pick up, Ernst, a VHLM star with an occasional VHL appearance on a rebuilding team, and Robert Gow III, who had just an awful regular season, just doesn’t hold a candle to the team’s first line. The S39 group can’t say the same. In reality, there was no clear cut first and second line on that team. With five 200TPE forwards, the ice time was shared evenly. With their clear cut edge in both top-end talent and depth, this group is easy to award to the S39 team. VERDICT: S39 LYNX DEFENSEMEN S35 Connor Low – David Januzaj Matt Rielly – Ron World Peace S39 Jerrick Poole – Jack Ryan Nicolas Caprivi – Teuvo Ruutu This position is probably the closest competition between the two teams. Both teams possessed up and coming VHL super stars (Low, Poole), solid VHLM veterans (Januzaj and Rielly, Ryan), and rising prospects (Ron World Peace, Caprivi and Ruutu). If Low and Poole wash each other out, while the S39 team contained much better VHL prospects, the S35 team had better overall players at the time. Once every player is retired, this part of the comparison may change, but for now, the S35 team wins this group. VERDICT: S35 LYNX GOALTENDING Mike Szatkowski Jr. (S35) vs. Soren Douffet (S39) Of the three different parts of the teams, this group is easily the biggest landslide. Szatkowski Jr. battled Brick Wahl and Martin Brookside all season long for the Sawchuk Trophy. After losing the trophy to Que Cumberbatch (in a decision that caused quite an uproar at the time), Szatkowski Jr. still finished with the second best save percentage in the league (.909). Szatkowski’s was more than capable of stealing a game or two. Douffet, on the other hand, had a different job. Going into the year as the number two goaltending prospect in the VHLM, Douffet was expected to be a top goalie in the league. To be quite honest, that just didn’t happen. Despite facing the least amount of shots in the league by almost one hundred shots, Douffet finished with a league worst .861 save percentage. The coaches quickly went from expecting Douffet to win a couple games on his own to just hoping that he didn’t blow the game for his team. If the S39 Lynx had even league average goaltending, it’s not inconceivable that this team could have gone on to have had one of the best records of all time. In a shock to no one, the S35 Lynx win this group. VERDICT: S35 LYNX CONCLUSION In a seven game series, the winner of the S39 defense versus S35 offense battle would most likely decide the series. While the S39 team had an overload of offensive fire power, with how close the two teams’ defensive corps are, I just can’t see the S39 team holding off the S35 team in a majority of the games. VERDICT: S35 LYNX IN 7 GAMES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fire Tortorella 2,653 Posted September 25, 2014 Author Share Posted September 25, 2014 Nothing more annoying than trying to type Lynx with a broken "x" on your keyboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smarch 3,112 Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 Poole has a long way to go to "wash" away what low has done. Victor 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fire Tortorella 2,653 Posted September 25, 2014 Author Share Posted September 25, 2014 Poole has a long way to go to "wash" away what low has done. I didn't take into account anything at the VHL level. This was purely a VHLM comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoop 3,386 Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 Nothing more annoying than trying to type Lynx with a broken "x" on your keyboard. Trying to type Xerox? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Victor 10,851 Posted September 25, 2014 Admin Share Posted September 25, 2014 Offence wins championships though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Higgins 3,618 Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 Faraday > McQueen! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fire Tortorella 2,653 Posted September 25, 2014 Author Share Posted September 25, 2014 Offence wins championships though. It's not like the S35 team was a slouch in that regard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Victor 10,851 Posted September 25, 2014 Admin Share Posted September 25, 2014 Dunno, bunch of Riga scrubs is all I see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HawksFan19 89 Posted September 26, 2014 Share Posted September 26, 2014 Content: 3/3 Really cool to see articles like this as for a newer member it is interesting to read. Really looking forward to reading all of these historical articles! Grammar: 2/2 Looks good. Appearance: 1/1 COuld have had some color, no biggy. FINAL: 12/12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da Trifecta 1,896 Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 Claimed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kendrick 4,741 Posted December 4, 2014 Share Posted December 4, 2014 Claimed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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