Thunder’s Prediction - Davos in Seven

[Thunder 903]

The timing of this article may or may not be relevant, considering the series has already started and Prague came out strong and stomped on Davos in the first two games, leading to a two to zero dominance, and may be over before this is posted.  And day two of the series found it to be 3-1 Prague.  Then Davos won game 5 and the series is now at 3-2.  So depending on how things go, I guess I could make it easy on myself and do a story that may be titled “here’s why Prague won the series,” or “the teams are evenly matched,” but what this article is about, is a breakdown of the two teams and what my opinion is regardless of the outcome.  And when I’m done writing this hopefully I have a title that will be more accurate or more entertaining depending on how you look at it.

 

Starting with management, I’m going to look at the General Managers of both teams.  Being on Davos, I have a little more knowledge of Alex than Acydburn, but that doesn’t give me a real expertise of which manager is better.  If I were to do research right now, my attention span is that of a gold fish, and I’d get dizzier than shit with my reading glasses on, so I’m only going to opine on the quality of the GMs.  Don’t forget though, I also have more loyalty to Alex; nothing against Acydburn, just saying.

 

Both Alex and Acydburn are experienced in the VHL, and have experience running teams.  I assume they both know how the sims function and have been around long enough to apply any tweaking to the lineups that bring out the best in their respective teams.  That being said, they may be evenly matched as far as experience, it will come down to the team that advances scores the winning point for best general manager of this series.

 

Now on to the goalies.  Xavier Booberry is the dominant goalie and favored to be the better of the two.  But Clueless Wallob has shown that he is a respectable goalie who has what it takes to win games for Prague.  Clueless, out of the class of season 84, is lacking in leadership, yet is able to stop the puck enough to give an advantage to the Phantoms.  Booberry exceeds all expectations on paper, therefore has the advantage.  Being 400 TPA ahead of Wallob, there should be no question who the better goalie is at this point.  The best thing going for Wallob is that its not just the goalie who wins games, and being up 3 games to 2 proves that point.  We’re trying Boo!

 

I’m going to take a look at the defense.  Erlanz Jokinen and Mikhail Kovalchuk are the top two defenders for Prague, while Jari Karppinen and Faith Hope Love support the defensive lineups.  For Davos, Siyan Yasilievich and Jake Thunder lead the defense with help from Calix Pearce and Isamu Knievel.  At first glance I thought there is no way Prague can win because there’s only Jokinen who can compete, but when I dug deeper into their lineup, I discovered they have a pretty balanced defense and what makes it worse is they look like it will be strong for the next few seasons, even when Jokinen retires.  Not only does Prague have a balanced team, but their defense looks better on paper than Davos in several traits, to include: discipline, strength, puck handling, face offs, scoring, penalty shots, experience, and leadership.  While Davos is better at passing, defense, skating, checking, and fighting.

 

What does this tell me?  Well, even with Davos having Xavier Booberry in goal, its going to take a lot to overcome Prague.  And Clueless Wallob may not be as good as Booberry, he’s still good enough to keep Prague in games with the defensive support.  It also tells me that Davos, although not holding the lead in as many traits, is still able to hold their own and with Booberry in goal, they definitely have the ability to beat Prague and carry on to the championship round.  That brings me to the forwards and what they can do to help their teams.

 

Starting with Prague, at first glance, I have to point out that Prague has some serious experience on the forward lines.  Saku Kotkakoivu being the star on the team, but then you add Nils Godlander and Matty Fire and you have one hell of a group.  That’s not all though, as Prague also has Jason, John Jameson, and Perry Laperriere to complete their roster.  Acydburn goes all in by starting the top three forwards on the first line.

 

Davos forwards are solid in their own respect and have proven to be resilient all season.  Pete Mitchell, Mason Jones, and James Teekirque are having good seasons and have brought their talent to the play offs.  Alfred Champagne and Sunrise van de Schubbekuteveen are quieter in the locker room but on the ice they continue to produce.  And the VHL legend Vinny Detroit, is the biggest force to be reckoned with.  Alex masterfully sets line ups to maximize synergy and bring out the best in each player to overcome any strategies the opposing GM has put in place.  And this leads me to comparing the traits of the forwards.

 

Prague clearly has the advantage on paper, as the forwards overall have higher traits in checking, skating, strength, puck handling, face offs, scoring, defense, and penalty shots.  Davos leads in fighting, discipline, passing, experience, and leadership.  Luckily the defenders and goalies factor into the game for Davos and they can help the forwards score goals and win games.

 

When you piece all of this together, one might expect Prague to win the series 4-0, but that hasn’t happened and here is why.  Davos has grit and is putting it all on the ice to stay in the series.

 

This brings me to the summary of what I have discovered.  This is one hell of a series.  Prague has the advantage right now as Davos is in do or die mode.  It’s not the first time Davos has made it hard on teams and this won’t be the last.  I’m going out on a limb to identify some possibilities and some hope so’s.  If Prague can be undisciplined in the next two games and give Davos some power plays, Davos will come out of this series winning it big.  If the penalties dont happen and Prague steps on the ice to play hockey, then Davos will crush them with talent.  Vinny Detroit, Siyan Yasilievich, and Pete Mitchell are going to show up to light up the net.

 

Either way it goes, Prague goes down in 7 games and Davos moves on to win the cup.  Now, I appreciate both of you who have read this whole story!!

 

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[Thunder 903]

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