Around the League in 500 words

[Scurvy 1,576]

Happy New Year everyone and here for another installment of Around the League in 500 words.  I hope everyone is looking forward to the new year and not too hung over from last night’s festivities.  A lot happened this week in the VHL. For some of us the long off season begins early (which is SUPER Painful).   Some elite playoff contenders got eliminated and a Dark Horse Phantom team is taking the EU league by force.  Here we go

 

 

CALGARY ELIMINATED 

 

The seemingly unstoppable Calgary Wranglers dominated the regular season with 48 wins and only 13 losses.  They are stacked to the roof with talent with the likes of Daniel Janser (120 points), Landon Wolanin (99 points), and AirRig GoodBrandSun (93 points).  They seemed to be the team destined for a deep playoff run in the NA conference.  I had them picked to win the North American conference.  This is the second year in a row that this powerful ass team was bounced in first round of playoffs.  Not sure what happened really but that is the Hockey Gods at work.  I look for Calgary to make a few adjustments in off season and I expect them to be just as good next year.  Also, huge shoutout to Vancouver for such an amazing series. 

 

PRAGUE IS TRULY HOME TO PHANTOMS
 

If you recall (you probably don’t) I wrote an article at the beginning of the season about how good Prague was going to be this year and I even picked them to be at the top of the EU conference.  The regular season they stayed competitive after a strong start but they were o overshadowed by Moscow, Warsaw, and Davos trading punches for first place in division.  They stayed in the shadows until the end of the season where they went on a crazy run passing by Davos to lock a playoff spot and forcing Davos to play in Wildcard.  

 

Prague then went down 3 games to 1 to a tough offensive Warsaw club.  They didn’t panic and methodically came back and knocked Warsaw to some early Tee Times at the golf course.   This team is scary tough and has now taken a 3-1 lead over Davos in finals.  They have a league leading 45 goals in 11 games and they show no signs of slowing down. Congrats on the great run.

 

NA FINAL IS CLOSE

 

Fresh off their upset of Calgary the Vancouver Wolves are in a tight battle with Chicago.  It seems like yesterday to me that I saw Chicago at the bottom of the standings earning them the #1 overall pick where they grabbed phenom Scotty Sundin.  Adding him to the performance enhanced Glue Clue crew of Bo Johansson and Board Game Clue on Skates and the addition of Baby Bob this team has been contenders ever since.  This is an exciting matchup between two really close teams with great goaltending on both sides, tough defense, and some pure scorers.   

 

My Prediction:  Chicago in 7

 

Happy New Year VHL!