VSN Presents: S92 VHL Power Rankings (Week 2)

[Gaikoku-hito 2,135]

 

When I started looking at doing an Power Ranking for the VHL, I was concerned that the Power Rankings would match the standing too much and simple be an over-view of the standings but so far I have been very surprised as it doesn`t reflect the standing and we are seeing a ton of movement with only one team actually not moving in this week’s Power Rankings so let take a look at that movement:

 

 

Ranked 16th

Goals For: 7th

Goals Against: 16th

Standings: 16th

Score: 13.00

Last Ranking: 14th

 

Reason: Nothing really changed for the Seattle Bears but other teams improved this week so they see themselves falling to last in the power ranking due to the weekly record more than anything else.  4 – 9 – 0 in the 13 games played is actually the second worst record of the week as the team slotting right after them had a worse week.

 

 

 

Ranked 15th

Goals For: 8th

Goals Against: 15th

Standings: 15th

Score: 12.67

Last Ranking: 9th

 

Reason: The worst record this week as the team went 4 – 11- 0 in 15 games played this week and gave up the second most goals against but it wasn`t that unexpected as they played the best team in the league four times. What was unexpected was dropping games to Vancouver as they lost all three meetings and a game to HC Davos. They basically kissed the play-off good-bye with this poor week. Now do they start selling off assets?

 

 

 

Ranked 14th

Goals For: 12th  

Goals Against: 12th

Standings: 14th

Score: 12.67

Last Ranking: 16th

 

Reason: Improved goal scoring as Davos scored 14 more goals in the second week but that could be aid slightly by also playing more games than I expected to be played in the second week with 14 games rather than the 11 games that they played this first week. 5 – 8 – 1 record also boosted this team ahead of two other teams this week.

 

 

 

Ranked 13th

Goals For: 16th

Goals Against: 2nd

Standings: 13th

Score: 10.33

Last Ranking: 3rd

 

Reason: What a fall and failure!! Such hope for the Americans after the first week sees this team drop like a stone as New York just cannot find the net this week or is it that Teno effect? (Nope!!)  As I did slightly predict a tough week with three games against the Teno and London United. In the end it was a low scoring high defensive week for New York with a 4 – 6 – 3 record. I would expect to see this team bounce back next week in the ranking if they can find more wins and more scoring tough. They are still in the hunt of the play-offs for now!!

 

 

 

Ranked 12th 

Goals For: 5th

Goals Against: 13th

Standings: 12th

Score: 10.00

Last Ranking: 13th

 

Reason: Scoring is way up this week for the Wolves as they scored 22 more goals this week than last week!! Woah!! Playing just under 500 hockey with 7-8-0 record also helps but management in the rebuild doesn`t seem to like the extra scoring as they have made a series of trades with one involving top goal scorer Ben McLaughlin as he has been sent to a contending team in his final season. In the end I don`t think this new found scoring is really going to disappear as Nick Sansoe is also having a career season. Hunting for the Play-offs; who would have thought?

 

 

 

Ranked 11th

Goals For:  13th

Goals Against: 8th

Standings: 8th

Score: 9.67

Last Ranking: 15th

 

Reason: Much better week in the standings for Warsaw with a 500 record, 7-7-1 seen the team get back within reach of the play-off as they are five points back of Prague for the final wild cards spot. Goals for stays the same but a lot better goals against see the Predators move up four places this week. Bit disappointed that Warsaw wasn`t one of the few teams improving their roster this week after all the chatter around the team but maybe they have something bigger planned? Warsaw needs find more scoring if they are going to true Predators of the play-offs!!

 

 

 

Ranked 10th

Goals For: 10th

Goals Against: 7th

Standings: 11th  

Score: 9.33

Last Ranking: 2nd

 

Reason: 1-3 against Malmo Nighthawks and 0-2 against Calgary Wranglers had Helsinki tripping over themselves this week; which resulted in a down turn in goals for and upturn in goals against. This week was expected to be tough for the Titans and could have been worse if Titans hadn`t won both games of the last season Continental Cup finals rematch against Toronto. Expect them to bounce back as the schedule should be easier. We can say that they were hang Titan this week!!

 

 

 

Ranked 9th

Goals For: 11th

Goals Against: 6th

Standings: 10th

Score: 9.00

Last Ranking: 7th

 

Reason: Lack of scoring is starting to catch up to the Phantoms as they seen a dip in scoring this week but you can also blame menace of the league from that place called Moscow as I somehow missed the fact these teams would play four times this week, so 1-3 against Moscow won`t help your record. Overall record of 6-6-2 this week keeps them right around the middle of the pack. I would also normally say a team needs to find more scoring but as of this morning Prague already made a move to address the scoring issue bring in Ben McLaughlin from Vancouver.

 

 

 

Ranked 8th

Goals For: 9th

Goals Against: 11th

Standings: 6th

Score: 8.67

Last Ranking: 12th

 

Reason: Huge improvement in the standing and improved scoring based on trade earlier this week? Or was it late last week? Either way Toronto tried to improve the forwards depth by bring in Steve Lattimer from Seattle and it seems to have paid off? 8-6-0 records also helps as they had the sixth best record last week. Toronto will need a Legion of hope if they are going to stay in the play-off hunt!!

 

 

 

Ranked 7th

Goals For: 6th

Goals Against: 10th

Standings: 9th

Score: 8.33

Last Ranking: 5th

 

Reason: Consistency in same number of goals for and against this week at 42 apiece is rather impressive but that means you didn`t win that many games or at least played around 500. Well, that is rather what happened with 7-6-1 record. More concerning might be the lack of attention around defensive play as going from the best goals against to 10th is rather large when you consider that they gave up 24 more goals this week. A trend that London will need to be United to buck!!

 

 

 

Ranked 6th

Goals For: 14th

Goals Against: 4th

Standings: 7th

Score: 8.33

Last Ranking: 11th

 

Reason: Panda is Red, Ice is Blue and Riga Reigns in more wins!! Ugh, I know I am trying to hard but, in the end, Riga can thank the up-turn in play to Red Panda or is it a switch of team commitment to playing better defense as goals for and goals against switch ranking this week. If Riga can balance out the two than they might just put even more pressure on Prague for the final wild card spot over the remainder of the season. Might even see a Panda Reign over the ROY trophy at the end of the season!!

 

 

 

Ranked 5th

Goals For: 15th

Goals Against: 3rd       

Standings: 4th

Score: 7.33

Last Ranking: 4th

 

Reason: 3-1 against Helsinki is a huge reason why Malmo didn`t drop down the power ranking this week as the Nighthawks went 8-4-1 during the week. While Malmo improved last week in the goals against department moving from 9th to 3rd best at the end of this week. Malmo also went the opposite direction in goals for but it was somewhat expected? Majority of the games were tight with maybe a goal or two making the difference. Again the Hawks would love to see a return to high flying offense but as long as the winning ways continue it will be bright as day for the Nighthawks!!

 

 

 

Ranked 4th

Goals For: 1st

Goals Against: 14th

Standings: 3rd

Score: 6.00

Last Ranking: 10th

 

Reason: Every team that struggled to score last week seems to found the answer this week but at the cost of defense but at the moment that seem also to be the winning formula as D.C. was amazing this past week with a 9-6-0 record seeing them flying high this week. But let me pour some cold water down the mouth of the Dragons here as 25 of the 54 goals that D.C. scored this week came against two teams; Seattle and Chicago. So, while D.C. scored a lot, they also gave up a lot of goals as the Dragons only finished with a +6 at the end of the week. So, is the Dragons roar all the mighty or are the Dragons going to come crashing back down?

 

 

 

Ranked 3rd

Goals For: 3rd  

Goals Against: 9th

Standings: 5th

Score: 5.67

Last Ranking: 8th

 

Reason: A lot of teams have been inconsistent this week but the Menace have shown some very strong consistency and some actually improvement across all categories so, while the numbers look similar to last week’s power ranking that had them placed 8th. This week Moscow has been able to move up into the top 3. Better goals for, better goals against and a record of 8-5-1 to show for it. One thing seems certain this season Moscow is going to be a Menace for any team to handle!!

 

 

 

Ranked 2nd

Goals For: 2nd

Goals Against: 5th

Standings: 2nd

Score: 3.00

Last Ranking: 6th

 

Reason: Scoring in Calgary seems to flaming an early season success and Calgary will hope no one wrangles them in!! Scoring by committee with the highest goal scorer only having 11 goals so far after 25 games played, just a bit off the league leader at 17. Scoring was a concern last season and so far, seem to have been addressed; add in some good goaltending and an 11-4-1 and you have the second-best team in the league; not to mention these Power Rankings!!

 

 

 

Ranked 1st

Goals For: 4th

Goals Against: 5th

Standings: 1st

Score: 2.00

Last Ranking: 1st

 

Reason: While not as dominate in the stats categories as the Stars last week missed the prefect week by only having the 2nd best goals against so one would assume a bit of a fall off was coming. Well, scaring to thing that Los Angeles took a step back and yet no one still could catch them as the Stars went 12-1-1. Both losses coming at the hands of a single team; the D.C. Dragons as the Dragons act more like comic book super heroes!! I don`t see anyone really up ending this team any time soon as Los Angeles has been the Stars of the league so far!!

 

Like always concern and comment below what you think of this week’s Power ranking, anything that can be improved or anything you would like to see add in the future. Until next week keep your head up and sticks on the ice!!

 

 

 

 

Edited January 23 by Gaikoku-hito

[Pifferfish 597]

@Gaikoku-hito we need to petition the Forum god's to add a green arrow that points up for you buddy. Like damn, I was so confused how every team dropped in the individual rankings hahahaha. Good shit though, fun read once I actually got into it

[Gaikoku-hito 2,135]

30 minutes ago, Pifferfish said:

@Gaikoku-hito we need to petition the Forum god's to add a green arrow that points up for you buddy. Like damn, I was so confused how every team dropped in the individual rankings hahahaha. Good shit though, fun read once I actually got into it

You should see how confused I get when I am trying to figure out if it is a drop or increase. So I know what you mean!! LOL!!

 

 

[Gaikoku-hito 2,135]

14 hours ago, Pifferfish said:

@Gaikoku-hito we need to petition the Forum god's to add a green arrow that points up for you buddy. Like damn, I was so confused how every team dropped in the individual rankings hahahaha. Good shit though, fun read once I actually got into it

Maybe I use happy face and sad face next week to make it easier!!