Around the League

[Scurvy 1,149]

Ok so were about 8 games into the season (finally) and there I plenty of news to chat about.  In the big league, the Chicago Phoenix are on fire while the Wranglers struggle, and In the E Bratislava is unbeaten with two studs in net.

 

VHL NEWS

CHICAGO

As I looked at doing my predictions at the start of the season I had not even thought about Chicago as a potential first place club. While they have lifelong Chicago presence, Scotty Sundin @fromtheinside in play and he is always dangerous I thought the club would be still considered a young club rebuilding.  But man did they come out firing this season at 7-0-1 with 32 goals scored.  

 

Now it’s no surprise that Sundin is killing it with 7G 10A 17A in 8 games but what is great about this team is the team scoring.  Looking down the roster every member of the club already has at least one goal.  So, team scoring and a commitment to team defense seems to be working.  Added that their young goalie, Ryan Artyomov @enorama is 6-0-1 with .0930 SV and 2.62 GAA he is showing why Chicago was wise to select the huge goalie with the #3 pick in the S90 draft.  

 

CALGARY WOES

Since I came into the league and was a noob looking at the stats and standings day in and day out waiting to eventually progress the VHL there were certain things that stood out about a few clubs.  Teams like Moscow, Vancouver, Calgary and others always seemed to be competing deep in the playoffs. Winning seemed to be the norm so it seems strange to see Calgary at the bottom of the standings and without a win yet.  Now I know that all clubs eventually must rebuild and that is what makes the VHL so cool but after an off-season re-tool I expected Calgary to be fighting for a high playoff spot again. I mean they even re-tooled Rip Wheeler @ScottyP trying to make him a better teammate (good luck). 

 

What’s more shocking to me is that after 8 games the Wrangler have only managed 8 goals.  This team has way too much talent for this so I am guessing it’s an anomaly and by the end of the season Calgary will have reversed its misfortune and will be competing in the playoffs.  

Prediction: 3^rd in NA 

GOALIE DUE IN BRATISLAVA WRECKING TEAMS
I don’t touch too much on the E until I am in the league usually, which is unfortunate.  Right now, Bratislava is 6-0-4 after 10 games.  But what is more amazing is they have only scored 29 goals (good for 2^nd lowest) but have only allowed 24 goals (good for 2^nd best).  

 

This low numbers can be attributed to the clubs two goalies Red panda @Lemorse7 and WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW @rory.  Red Panda .919 Save Percentage and 3.14 GAA with 1 shutout and WWW--- is 3-0-3 with 1.44 GAA and 1 shutout as well.  Both are tough in net and have some good defenders in front of them as well.   Excited to see how this club fares as the season continues. 

 

Best of luck everyone