Toronto Legion Marching On

[animal74 1,856]

Toronto Legion Marching On

 

Over halfway through what has been decidedly their third consecutive season of a massive rebuild, the Toronto Legion have finally been playing at a level they thought they could achieve at the beginning of S89. After lounging at the bottom of the league for the first half of the season once again, largely due to an inability to score, the Legion just capped off a 13-game stretch where they were one of the hottest teams in the VHL, going 10-3-0 over that span including wins over top teams such as Seattle, Calgary, and Riga and two victories against the VHL’s number one team, HC Davos.

 

It was a total team effort by the Double Blue as every skater has scored during the run. Of specific note was the play of the defense core of Tater Tottingham, Bobby Bob, Jimmy MacElroy and Quinn Clark, all of whom have scored two or three goals and nine or ten points in the 13 games. All but three players have scored a game-winning goal and all but two have had at least one multi-point game. The offense has been led though by second-year center Jimi Jaks who has already eclipsed his rookie numbers and currently leads the team with 26 goals and 53 points. He took his game to another level during this streak as he scored 11 goals and 10 assists for 21 points. He also led the team with 85 shots, four multi-goal games, including one hat trick in a 4-3 win over Seattle, and six multi-point games. His on-ice brilliance garnered him four 1^st-Star selections, which also led the Legion, and five 3-Star selections overall, second only to goaltender Joel Castle. Phoebe Bridgers was second in scoring over the 13 games with 5-6-11 and three multi-point games. Forwards Mac Atlas and Dens Oden each had nine points.

 

Legion leading scorer Jimi Jaks

 

12 of the 13 games were won or lost by one goal including two victories in overtime. In such close games with no room for error, the Legion relied on star goalie to keep the puck out of the net. As he has been most of the season, Castle was zoned in only allowing 27 goals during the streak while facing over 34 shots a game giving him stats of 10-3 with a 2.07 GAA and 0.940 SV%. He was named the 1^st Star there times and earned three other 3-Star selections.

 

Goaltender Joel Castle

 

While the streak shot the Legion into a more favorable position in the standings, they are still sitting in last place in the North American Conference (although only one point behind Chicago) and 13^th place overall. They are nine points out of a play-in spot but with only 16 games remaining in the season, their play cannot slip at all in they want to sneak into the playoffs. Everyone must continue to contribute offensively and Castle has to be near-perfect. They have a chance but is it too little too late? At least Toronto is finally realizing their potential and it bodes well for GM Moon that his plan is starting to come together and if nothing else, the team’s confidence will only increase going into S90.   

 

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[dstevensonjr 455]

Nice article!

 

I've been looking for a better way to hide mentions on my articles, and you've done them well here, so thanks for the formatting idea!

[animal74 1,856]

6 hours ago, dstevensonjr said:

Nice article!

 

I've been looking for a better way to hide mentions on my articles, and you've done them well here, so thanks for the formatting idea!

Thanks! Just stole it from someone else!