S91 North American Playoff Race

[AJW 2,156]

S91 North American Playoff Race - Calgary Wranglers holding onto wildcard spot

 

Who would've thought that Randy Bobandy would be traded from Seattle to Calgary just to fight against them for a wildcard spot in this season's VHL playoff race.

 

 

 

Team 5. Calgary Wranglers*	GP 68	W 28	L 29	OTL 11	P 67	ROW 24	GF 159	GA 173	+/- -14	Last 10 4-3-3
6. Seattle Bears	68	27	30	11	65	20	174	219	-45	4-3-3
7. New York Americans	69	29	35	5	63	23	185	230	-45	5-5-0

Above shows the standings for S91 VHL North American Conference regular season, 5th place to 7th place specifically.

 

The VHL's 11th, 12th, and 13th ranked teams by points are all brawling out in the North American Conference this season for the final wildcard spot. The Calgary Wranglers and the Seattle Bears have 4 games remaining while the New York Americans only have 3 remaining. The Calgary Wranglers currently hold the 5th position and final wildcard spot in the North American Conference. Statistically you would think that Calgary has a good chance to clinch this spot, but in the last 13 games played, Calgary has been shutout four times and held a record of under .500.

 

Calgary Wranglers Last 13 Games Played

443	Calgary Wranglers	0	London United	3	L
455	Calgary Wranglers	0	HC Davos Dynamo	1	L
460	Malmo Nighthawks	4	Calgary Wranglers	5	W
465	Chicago Phoenix	3	Calgary Wranglers	4	W
476	Calgary Wranglers	3	New York Americans	1	W
481	Chicago Phoenix	4	Calgary Wranglers	3	OTL
490	Calgary Wranglers	1	New York Americans	2	SOL
502	Calgary Wranglers	1	Toronto Legion	4	L
509	Los Angeles Stars	4	Calgary Wranglers	0	L
518	Calgary Wranglers	4	London United	3	W
525	Prague Phantoms	2	Calgary Wranglers	0	L
535	Calgary Wranglers	3	Toronto Legion	1	W
538	Prague Phantoms	2	Calgary Wranglers	1	SOL

 

The Wranglers look to finish out their season strong in order to clinch the final wildcard spot, but standing in their way is a double header against two strong EU teams who could hold their own if placed in the NA. Although Calgary's road to the finish lane is not exactly smooth sailing, the Seattle Bears have some heavy waters to sail. HC Davos Dynamo, projected S91 Victory Cup winners, is next on the Bears' schedule and they have already shown Seattle how unbeatable they truly are. Seattle's second game is against the leaders of the NA, the Los Angeles Stars, followed by Vancouver and then another top team in the league, the Toronto Legion. Seattle will not have it easy at all, but the team with the best chances to win their remaining games is surely the New York Americans. New York gets a double header against the Warsaw Predators to close their season as well as a game against the D.C Dragons before then. Although D.C has cruised through S91 only a couple of wins more than Calgary, New York has struggled to beat the Dragons and could struggle in tonight's sim as well.

 

Calgary Wranglers

Game # 549	Home Team Calgary Wranglers		Visitor Team Helsinki Titans	Conference European	S91 versus Record 0-1-1	League Ranking 7th
551	London United		Calgary Wranglers	European	1-1-0	5th
562	London United		Calgary Wranglers	European	1-1-0	5th
569	Calgary Wranglers		Helsinki Titans	European	0-1-1	5th

Seattle Bears

Game # 547	Home Team Seattle Bears		Visitor  Team HC Davos Dynamo	Conference European	S91 versus Record 0-2-1	League Ranking 1st
552	Los Angeles Stars		Seattle Bears	North American	1-3-1	4th
559	Vancouver Wolves		Seattle Bears	North American	4-1-1	14th
573	Seattle Bears		Toronto Legion	North American	1-3-0	6th

New York Americans

Game # 553 Home Team D.C. Dragons   Visitor Team New York Americans Conference North American S91 Versus Record 1-4-0 League Ranking 10th   560 New York Americans   Warsaw Predators European 2-0-0 16th   570 New York Americans   Warsaw Predators European 2-0-0 16th

 

My predictions will be that Calgary clinches the spot, bias or unbias, New York has the best remaining schedule and will likely tie with or place higher than Seattle, but won't pass Calgary. If it comes down to a tiebreaker, Seattle will most likely not make it due to ROW's, and Calgary's goal differential is untouched giving them an advantage there. I honestly believe the only way Calgary does not clinch the spot is if they lose the next four of their remaining games, therefore believing one more win is enough to guarantee a wildcard birth for the Wranglers after an upsetting S90 finish.

[Banackock 8,044]

Calgary bombing hard ooooffff