The S87 Clash - Riga vs. Toronto Finals Preview

[Alex 3,151]

No matter what happens in at most 5 days, the top 3 picks from the S87 draft will play their final games in the VHL. In the S87 Draft Toronto selected Mac Atlas 1st overall, Riga drafted Skor McFleury, and then it was back to Toronto who took Jimi Jaks 3rd.

 

 - Mac Atlas @v.2

The aforementioned 1st overall pick, has had a great career to date, having played 648 games and having 670 points, 337 of which were goals. Atlas played a major role in Toronto's Continental Cup in S91 where they had 29 points in 15 games. Atlas has one all-VHL team appearance from when they made the 2nd team in S94. While Atlas hasn't had a season strong enough to take home hardware, they have been nominated a couple times and have been a consistent fixture in Toronto, and very much the face of the franchise.

 

 - Skor McFleury @Alex

The 2nd overall picks career has been very different than both Atlas and Jaks. After spending the first two seasons of their career in Riga, McFleury would play for Davos, where they won a Continental Cup, Malmo, Calgary, and Prague, before returning to Riga. McFleury became the 2nd player ever to have over 700 points, 1000 SB, and 1000 hits in their career and won 6 individual awards along the way. McFleury has also made a All-VHL team 5 times over their career.

 

 - Jimi Jaks @ke1vi

The final pick of the top 3, Jaks has had a interesting career, having consistently improved every season, until S94 where they broke out and won 4 individual awards in one season as they racked up 62 goals and 131 points. In total Jaks has had 660 points in 576 career games. Jaks has made 2 All-VHL teams in their career.

 

This will be the 5th time Riga and Toronto have met in the finals, with the most recent being over 40 seasons ago in S51, in total Riga has won 3 of the prior matchups, with Toronto taking one. In the regular season Riga won 3 of the 4 games, all of which were later in the season. In terms of the series it's hard not to give the edge offensively to Toronto as there's 4 players with over 1000 TPE, Riga however is significantly stronger on the blueline and in goal. For Toronto to find success in this series it will all be about Diego Machado @Dadam30, Harry Callahan @dstevensonjr, Mac Atlas, and Jimi Jaks who will be tasked with trying to get the best of Riga's defense. For Riga it's very much the opposite as McFleury, Lucy Leitner @LucyXpher, and Fradin McGryer @Fradin99, will need to shut down Toronto's offense. Possibly the 2 biggest difference makers in this series will be both Axle Gunner @Steve, and Red Panda @Lemorse7, who will both be looking to turn the series on it's head. Either way the series goes, both teams have had a great run, and the retirees have carved out phenomenal careers in their own right!

[AJW 2,110]

4th overall Randy Bobandy crying in the corner