It's Time!

[Noodle Enjoyer 165]

The founders cup finals are upon us

The founders cup finals have arrived and it will feature the top two teams from the regular season so no upsets this year. It will be the league leading Philadelphia Reapers taking on the Las Vegas Aces in a battle for the ages, we're going to look at some keys to victory for each team and predict the outcome of this battle of titans.

First let's take a look at the league-leading Reapers. Their strongest point is between the pipes in star netminder Jorgen Lovstrom @Pifferfish, and they will be looking to get another stellar performance out of him, they may well need it as they seemed to be outmatched in every regard besides the goaltending matchup. As such a strong performance from the likes of Yermolai Nabokov @fonziGG, Taylor Swift @lilchrist, and Walter Jinn @Adrest245 may be needed as they carry the load up front and are the stars of their forward group. On the back end they will be looking for Enn Jinn @jhatty8 to continue his magnificent post season play to help their scoring. Ultimately we believe it will fall on Jorgen Lovstrom to find another gear in this series if Philadelphia is to come out ahead.

 

Second we have the winners of the west, the Las Vegas Aces this is a team which has no shortage of offensive weapons. Looking at the forwards they have an impressive first line of Piston Maicupp @MandyManiac, Stinky @taylorherd, and Elle Aura Ashe @Lynersify this line has dominated every team they've faced, they've scored a combined 42 points in the ten games they've played. Part of the reason for that is their strong second line that teams can't ignore with Caesar Monterrey @CaptainGatsby, Finneas Finnegan O Cleirigh @Gorth, and Annie Oaks @Noodle Enjoyer this is probably the best second line in the league at the moment and forces teams to decide on who their top players will matchup against, they have combined for 26 points thus far. The backend is a significant strength for Vegas as well led by star blueliner Bric Sheithaus @Oldhead91 and has other quality players like Scored SVN Goals in a VHL Game @KitRas, and Harjen Van Araken @VaderTheTater this is probably behind only Houston's blueline as the strongest in the league. As the last line of defense the Aces have Hugo Boss @Dil who isn't thought to be the better goalie in this matchup but has provided strong numbers all postseason so far, and with the strong lineup in front of him the Reapers will have a hard time getting quality chances.

 

If Philly wants to win this series, they will need an elite performance in net and Nabokov to really light up the Vegas goaltending while finding a way to defend against Vegas' depth.
For Vegas they will want more of the same from their top two lines in the offensive zone, while their defenders choke out the Philly offense to keep the prime scoring chances low.

We believe that Lovstrom will steal a couple games here but Philadelphia will eventually fall in six games to the deeper Vegas lineup. What are your thoughts, feel free to write in and tell me why I'm wrong.

Jimmy "Tha Rat" Klondike for VHL.com

 

528 words claiming for week ending March 3rd

[Banackock 7,643]

Good luck all involved  

[LucyXpher 557]

Great preview!  Respectfully, I'm going to go the other way and pick Philadelphia to win (For whatever that's worth... I was totally wrong about the last round lol). Obviously, Lovstrom @Pifferfish will be a huge factor in this series, but maybe we've been overlooking the rest of this Reapers roster.  I have a hard time seeing Philly losing to any team over a 7 game series right now with the way they've got their whole team going.  On paper, maybe they're still not the most impressive, but they've been proving us wrong for a while now and maybe there is just something seriously right about the way this team is built.  I'd guess Philly in 7, but I can'tsay I'd be surprised to see Vegas take it either.   Should be a close and entertaining series either way!

 

Also, best of luck to you @Noodle Enjoyer and your player Annie Oaks!  One of my favorite players to follow all season and very deserving of being in the finals with a chance to win the Founder's Cup! 

[Noodle Enjoyer 165]

6 minutes ago, LucyXpher said:

Also, best of luck to you @Noodle Enjoyer and your player Annie Oaks!  One of my favorite players to follow all season and very deserving of being in the finals with a chance to win the Founder's Cup! 

Thanks for your kind words.

The way I see it all the Philly doubt has to catch up to them here, then again maybe they'll just make us all look like clowns. Should be a fun series either way.

[LucyXpher 557]

1 hour ago, Noodle Enjoyer said:

The way I see it all the Philly doubt has to catch up to them here

One can hope 

[The goat of hockey 80]

gonna be a fun finals

[fonziGG 1,065]

Just wanna say GL and I love Annie Oaks as a player! Hopefully it’s a fun finals!!

 

On a side note, everyone keeps saying Philly isn’t so great all season and we stormed in first place. That narrative continued until we made it to the finals. Maybe we’re better than just “luck”.

[Lemorse7 898]

19 minutes ago, fonziGG said:

Just wanna say GL and I love Annie Oaks as a player! Hopefully it’s a fun finals!!

 

On a side note, everyone keeps saying Philly isn’t so great all season and we stormed in first place. That narrative continued until we made it to the finals. Maybe we’re better than just “luck”.

Haters gonna hate let them talk