Claimed:A Look Back At The Express' Season [Final: 6/6]

[RomanesEuntDomus 442]

A Look Back At The Express' Season

 

Part I

 

The playoffs just ended in very disappointing fashion for the Cologne Express, but despite the fact that Cologne got swept by the Riga Reign in the conference finals, many of the people on and around this team still consider the season a success. With players like Thomas O’Malley and Mason Richardson playing their very first season and others only beginning to enter their prime, the future looks bright for the Express even though they are losing one of their best players in Wesley Kellinger. Last season marked the first time ever the Express were able to finish first in their conference and only the second time the team made it to the conference finals. There were rookie sensations and dominating veterans, quiet team players and slumping sophomores. Today we want to take a look at all of these players…

 

Wesley Kellinger

 

The leading scorer of the Cologne Express, Wesley Kellinger joined the team in an off-season trade and this trade might very well be one of the best value acquisitions the league has seen in recent memory. Kellinger basically came at the cost of only a second round pick and he didn’t just finish the season leading the Express in points, but also was second in the entire league. In his last career season, Kellinger proved that he wasn’t just a product of the successful New York Americans system but that he could be the focal point of a team’s offense as well. He finished the season sixth in goals (43), third in assists (73), second in points and points per 20 minutes (116/1.10), sixth in faceoffs (59.42%) and second in plus-minus (+66).

 

 

Kez Kincaid

 

This was Kez Kincaid’s first full season in the VHL and for much of the season, you could see that the young Forward was still transitioning. He played only limited minutes mainly concentrating on his defensive game, racking up 147 hits and 83 penalty minutes while only scoring 18 points. Next season will be a very important one for the young Irishman, who’ll need to show if he has what it takes to also be an offensive performer in the VHL or he’ll risk being pushed out of the line-up on a Cologne Express squad that is getting deeper and deeper.

 

Logan Laich

 

One of the players that settled into a quieter, veteran role this season even though he is actually still fairly young was Logan Laich. The power forward usually did a lot of the dirty work on the lines he played on, hitting everything in sight and protecting the puck while guys like Wesley Kellinger and Thomas O’Malley collected the points. Laich still did fairly well in the scoring department, finishing third on the team in goals with 35, but the big jump in production that some expected from him didn’t come this year (only 60 points, good for sixth on the team). His 295 hits and 230 penalty minutes along with a +60 rating show though that Laich made his presence felt whenever he stepped onto the ice and with Wesley Kellinger gone next season, it might be Laich who steps into a more offensive role in S41.

Edited November 28, 2014 by RomanesEuntDomus

[Da Trifecta 1,899]

Content: 3/3 Pretty good write up here. The Cologne Express really seemed primed for a few breakout seasons. With a solid core intact, it would be interesting to see how the next few years play out.

Grammar: 2/2 One thing below

Appearance: 1/1

 

Final: 6/6

 

The playoffs just ended in very disappointing fashion for the Cologne Express, but despite the fact that Cologne got swept by the Riga Reign in the conference finals, many of the people on and around this team still consider the season a success. (This is one big run-on sentence and should have been broken up.)

[Kesler 1,514]

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