The "E" through the first dozen games

[hockeyis66 143]

Through the first 12 games of the VHLE season, the “E” has been pretty competitive so far as only 6 points separate the top 5 teams while only one team has fallen behind.  With more than 80% of the season left, there will be a lot of movement in the standings between now and the end of the season and whichever teams get hot or cold at the right or wrong times could go a long way to determine the final positioning for the playoffs.

 

1^st place – Vasteras Iron Eagles – 8-3-1; 17 points.  One of the main reasons why the Iron Eagles currently hold down the top spot in the league is that they are tied for first in offense and have the best defense so far leading them to have the best goal difference of 12 which is just one better than the second best team.  They have a balanced scoring attack up and down the lineup with no one above 6 goals so far this season and Panarella leads the team with 16 points while each of their goalies have won 4 games each with Gauthier posting a .936 save percentage and a GAA of 1.81 with 1 shoutout.

 

2^nd place – Cologne Express – 8-4-0; 16 points.  The Express have scored the same amount of goals as the Iron Eagles and only given up one more goal on the season.  They had been in first place for a few games early in the season and are riding a 3 game winning streak into second place in the “E”.  The Express currently have 5 players averaging a point or more per game led by Gamble’s team leading 17 points and Land’s 16 points.  Both of the goalies have split 6 games in net with each of them winning 4 games each.

 

3^rd place – Stockholm Vikings – 7-4-1; 15 points.  The Vikings have scored 30 goals but have also only given up 30 goals putting them currently in the middle of the league point wise but with 3 more wins than losses.  Anisimov and Machado are leading the team in scoring with 14 and 13 points respectively and the 3^rd overall pick in the “E” draft, goalie Artyomov, has played in 9 of the 12 games so far winning 5 of them with a nice .935 save percentage and a GAA of 2.53.

 

4^th place – Bratislava Watchmen – 7-5-0; 14 points.  Similar to the Vikings, the Watchmen have not scored as many goals as the top 2 teams in the league with just 30, but are tied for the second best defensive team by only giving up 29 on the season as they are only 3 points out of first place.  They also have a couple of players who are averaging more than a point per game in Boudreaux Jr who has 14 points and Callahan with 13.  Their rookie goalie, “W”, has been stellar so far with 6 wins in 9 games and a massive .942 save percentage, a GAA of 2.31 and one shoutout on the season.

 

5^th place – Rome Gladiators – 5-6-1; 11 points.  Here is where there is some separation among the teams, but the Gladiators are still only 6 points out of first.  They have scored the least amount of goals in the season with 26 but they have only given up 32 on the season which is keeping them in shouting distance of the higher places in the league.  Clark has played well in goal so far this season with a 2.56 GAA and a .931 save percentage and has started all 12 games this season winning 5 of them.  3 of their top 4 scorers are defensemen with RW Hoover II leading the team in points with 11.

 

6^th place – Oslo Storm – 1-10-1; 3 points.  Its been a tough season so far for the Storm as they have the second worst offense in the league and given up the most goals so far by a decent margin.  Getting themselves this far in a hole this early in the season gives them time to dig out of it, but the cards are getting stacked against them quickly.  They do have 2 players averaging a point or more a game in Goncalves and Dover.

 

705 words; claiming w/e 9-3-23 for 6 tpe

[AJW 1,781]

Oslo can’t have that many highs without a couple lows I guess