FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY - Jaxx Hextall, My S71 Rookie of the Year

[SlapshotWrangler 864]

Well, this is an interesting topic. Especially since I kind of played a role in this as a rival to this player. Jaxx Hextall is, in my completely objective and right opinion, the best goalie out of the S70 class. Hands down. I remember those days fondly. Me, Spyro, and Rookie (all overshadowed by Rayz Funk) had a great frenemy phrase where all of our backstoppers were going head to head. It all really started in S71 after Hextall joined the Toronto Legion as their backstopper. And my goodness was he amazing. Listen, Jacques Lafontaine also had solid stats but he had a stacked team in front of him.

 

The reason I mention Lafontaine was because our locker rooms ended up having a mini-argument about whether Hextall or Lafontaine deserved Rookie of The Year. As much as I appreciate the support from my fellow Wranglers, looking back, it was a no-brainer. Lafontaine had 8 games already in his belt and had a 0.91 SV% while Hextall was fresh to the league with a 0.95 SV% on a relatively worse team (the Legion weren’t bad; they were just really solid). The case for Lafontaine was a better GAA and more wins… which can be attributed to the fact that the Wranglers were a really good team.

 

So naturally, we were waiting for the VHL awards and I was waiting to congratulate Rookie745 on a great season and the ROTY. The Oscar- I mean, the Christian Stolzschweiger trophy goes to…

 

Roque Davis.

 

Seeing this result made me question whether people just ignore goalies for non-goalie/player specific awards. Surely that was the explanation! It was the VHL favouring forwards over goalies and the undervaluing of goaltenders. That HAS to be it. That’s right, I’m playing the “everybody hates goalies” card. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

 

I mean, cool, 25 goals and 44 assists for 69 points is awesome for a rookie (and also just an awesome point total number). But Jaxx Hextall was putting up excellent numbers on a struggling team and was a major part in turning around the team. He had better stats on a 28-25-11 team than Lafontaine (for comparison) on a 40-22-2 team. Without any VHL experience. 

 

Jaxx Hextall would turn into an excellent goaltender and a longtime cornerstone of the Toronto Legion franchise. If anything, this rookie season was a sign of things to come. Hextall would drag the underperforming Legion into the playoffs three times. But that is all stuff in the future that they couldn’t have predicted back then.

 

Still, Jaxx was an absolute stud in his rookie season (and the many more to follow) and definitely deserved Rookie of the Year. I was sitting there pondering why such a great season would be unrecognized. I mean, Jaxx was a true rookie wonder proving his worth. Roque Davis deserves all the credit for a good rookie season, don’t get me wrong. But in my heart, Jaxx Hextall is the season 71 rookie of the year winner as well as the best goalie throughout the season 70s.

[SlapshotWrangler 864]

I love that FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY automatically corrects to Fisted Anally By A Circus Monkey.

 

Edit: Fell for it twice, DAMN IT!

@ROOKIE745

Edited September 11, 2023 by SlapshotWrangler