The Cursebreaker - Lachlan Summers HOF Article

[jacobcarson877 2,559]

Position: G
Birthplace: AUS
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 174 lbs.
Drafted: S86 – 12th overall (HC Davos Dynamo)
Username: @kirbithan

 

The S86 class was one with many great players in it. Many went on to have extraordinary careers, and it will be looked back on as one of the greatest classes of its time, but Lachlan Summers stands head and shoulders above the rest. A perfect combination of tact, enthusiasm, and kindness, Summers nailed exactly what all first generation, and many returning players, should emulate. Kirby would break barriers, curses, and hearts (of their opponents!) along the way, while remaining humble, and building everyone else up along the way. I’ve had the pleasure of spending a good chunk of time here with Kirby, and they are absolutely everything wonderful anyone has said about them. And Lachlan Summers, while decorated in just about every way, is somehow underrated yet. 

 

Career Awards

 

Individual

Scotty Campbell Trophy | S93, S94

Brett Slobodzian Trophy | S90

All-VHL First Team | S90, S93, S94

All-VHL Second Team | S88

Aidan Shaw Trophy | S90, S93, S94

Greg Clegane Trophy | S90

Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy | S88

 

Team

Continental Cup| S89

 

A Young Phenom

 

I got the opportunity to get Lachlan Summers off of waivers after the trade deadline in S84, and was so blown away that I simply had to draft them in the following VHLM Draft. While their first 8 games were certainly not the highlight of their Hall of Fame Career, I was certain that this player, and this member, would end up in the Hall of Fame before long. And so in S85, as the Marlins were beginning to work their way back into contention after going all in for the 83 and 84 seasons, Lachlan Summers became the backbone of the Marlins. The team had some issues, but Summers pushed past them, winning 34 games, and posting a great .916%, which I remember them being thrilled about at the time, and they had no idea what was going to come in the following seasons. Summers inspired many waivers to join and thrive on the Marlins, many of which who would go on to play many VHL games, have great careers there, and many would go on to hold league positions, and thrive in those as well. But Kirby was also a great earner, and while I was sad to lose such a great talent to the VHLE and beyond, I was very proud of what I knew would come down the line. 

 

Regular Season Stats

84 (SDM), 8 Games Played, 2 Wins, 5 Losses, 0 Overtime Losses, 0.884 Save Percentage, 3.46 Goals Against Average.

85 (SDM), 72 Games Played, 34 Wins, 30 Losses, 8 Overtime Losses, 0.916 Save Percentage, 2.57 Goals Against Average, 4 Shutouts.

 

Playoff Stats

85 (SDM), 6 Games Played, 2 Wins, 4 Losses, 0.912 Save Percentage, 3.1 Goals Against Average.

 

Almost There

It was off to Stockholm for Lachlan, and Stockholm had just assembled a great set of users at the draft, and were looking to be the most entertaining team in the league, even if they didn’t quite have the talent to pull of the big win. Summers got the majority of the starts, and in 64 games, Summers would essentially split games, winning 27, losing 28. But one can generally conclude that these losses were not in the hands of Lachlan Summers, and they took their previous totals to the next level. Kirby was thrilled to pick up a .916% on a winning squad, but dropping a .922% on a middling team showed the great progression that was beginning to show true. And it isn’t like they just got pelting by shots the entire time, as Lachlan kept opponents below 3 goals against the majority of the time. This is truly just a stellar goaltending performance hidden by a mediocre squad, one that would miss the playoffs in Summers’ only opportunity, as they were Davos-bound the following season, heading to another team working to find their place among the contenders. 

 

Regular Season Stats

85 (STO), 64 Games Played, 27 Wins, 28 Losses, 9 Overtime Losses, 0.922 Save Percentage, 2.74 Goals Against Average, and 3 Shutouts.

Cursebreaker and Heartbreaker

 

And so it would be Davos! At the time, the Davos net was being manned by none other than HOF Goaltender Xavier Booberry. So obviously having a hotshot first-generation goaltender and a long-time HOF-lock veteran is an interesting combination that obviously worked wonders while Summers was a smaller salary cap bracket, and Booberry still had some saves left in them.  It was a strange season for Davos, being led primarily from the back end by Yasilievich and to-be HOFer Thunder, with the young David Jokinen playing the 3^rd. Not a single natural center in the bunch, and some middling forward talent, but boy oh boy was this team set up to not let a goal in. And that was the plan, and Summers executed one measly extra inning below perfect. Dropping was became the standard for them at a .938% and winning 7, and getting the extra point in the 8^th. It became real in that moment that Lachlan Summers could be the one to genuinely send a Hall of Famer packing their bags, to Seattle as it would be!

 

And so in S88, and until they would retire, Lachlan Summers had cleared the crease, and took on the expectation that they would be the one to take Davos to the well-forgotten (at that point) promised land. They’d drop 39 wins in S88, conveniently outpacing Booberry’s record in Davos, taking the team to the playoffs, where they would would lose a tight 7 game series against the first-time Continental Cup champions (GMed by yours truly!), falling just shy of the finals. But the team was growing still, and there would be a lot more to be excited for in S89, even if it were just to be the growth of Lachlan Summers. Oh, and no biggie, Summers wins the Stolzschweiger with ease.

 

S89 rolls around and the team makes some major overhauls. Thunder is a top defender at this point, and Davos has also secured Skor McFleury. The usual suspects for the most part up front, but the new-age identity of the Dynamo is already established, and that’s Jake Thunder and Lachlan Summers. As long as Summers is in the net, and Thunder is out crushing opponents on the ice, who could score on them? And this earned Summers 43 wins, and a ticket to the playoffs again. This time they make no mistake, stomping their way through Riga, Prague, and finally winning a hard-fought series against the Vancouver Wolves. If it weren’t for a huge campaign for Thunder, a Kanou would have been in order for Summers I’m sure.

 

The curse is broken, so what’s next for Summers? Well, how about putting in a career season and seeing what happens? And so that’s what Lachlan got up to! 49 wins, an incredible .938% and barely more than 2GAA. Truly a feat of goaltending, leading to a Victory Cup, and a whole slew of personal awards. Summers isn’t just a curse-breaker at this point, and I think we all turned our eyes in their direction, knowing this might now be the greatest goalie in their generation. But there is still a lot of career left to be played, and Davos only has a couple more seasons left in the tank, constantly pitching new players in whenever they get to the point of collapsing. Again, as long as Summers is there, it seems like Davos might be invincible. It would be a tough playoff for Summers, too many award shows and press tours, and the future of the team starting to come into question put the next few seasons on the hot seat.

 

S91 is an interesting one. Calgary collapses and disperses their high TPA players across the league, with Davos landing Leandro Goncalves, their first forward to have the potential to lead the team in a long time. And he surely did, grabbing 112. Thunder had some hiccups, leaving that end of the Davos game in question. McFleury moves on, the D core dwindles a bit, and new depth players fail to make a major mark. But actually, it doesn’t actually matter, because Lachlan Summers wills them to another Victory Cup. Oops! Davos would go on to lose to the EU Champion Helsinki Titans (featuring yours truly!), and things would take a serious tumble for Davos.

 

In S92, Lachlan Summers and David Jokinen were essentially the only players on the team. Some may count it as a major career mistake, but Summers truly wanted to stick around with the team that they had spent their entire career thus far with. It was a noble act to sacrifice this season, and while it certainly was not a showing they were used to, picking up a measly 17 wins and a spectacular, but not for them, .922%, Summers was left out of the playoffs with lots of time to ponder, on what they would do with their final VHL seasons.

 

And so Summers went to the place that all MVP-calibre goaltenders did in that time, Warsaw! Lachlan would join an upstart young group, wait did I already say this? But in all honesty, this team felt a lot like what the opposite style of S86 Davos was, this time all firepower, with an all-star goaltender to bail them out. Honestly a roster construction style I am well used to! And so led by 3 100-point seasons and a quick and simple 40 win .935 season by Summers, with no defensive help in sight, Warsaw was off to the playoffs in rapid fashion! They would squeak their way into the wild-card round to get absolutely blown out of the water by Prague in 3 games. But, it was more than enough of a regular season for Lachlan to get back into the habit of winning personal awards! A second Shaw and their first Campbell, and it would soon again be time to decide where the next season would take them. I wrote one of my favourite Media Spots that offseason, involving a great excursion by my player through the Scottish Lakes over the course of the summer. If you search ‘Loch’ on the forum, I’m sure you’ll find it. But everyone, I mean everyone, was in on Lachlan Summers. How could you not be? This is one of the few players who could change the entire landscape of your team simply by existing. Now able to prove that they can be the best goaltender on two separate teams with completely different identities, this was a huge deal. And of course, instead of joining my team, Lachlan opted to do what Lachlan was obviously going to do, and stick by their team, and by their teammates. Because Kirby wasn’t the kind of person to simply chase awards and Cups. In fact, Kirby probably didn’t make the right career choices either of the times they got the chance, and still managed to win a Cup and every award under the sun. Because karma is real, and they deserved it.

 

And so in one final swansong, Lachlan Summers rolled into S94, this time with a little extra help, and picked up their final 38 regular season wins, and securing the best career save percentage by a full-time starter. Ever. Oh and ending pretty well neck and neck in the rest of the major goaltending stats with long-time rival and friend, and Hall of Famer in their own right, Jesse Teno. But the playoffs would come calling again, and in the EUs continually cruel way, sent Warsaw to the shadow realm via a Moscow whooping.

 

Lachlan Summers is one of the greatest goaltenders of all time without a doubt. Era-adjusted this, Hybrid-Era that, whatever haters. To have been able to bear witness and to have played even some part in the career that unfolded with Lachlan Summers is my pleasure, and I know many others across the community that would agree. Kirby made friends everywhere they went, all while absolutely destroying the competition. It was like being jumped in an alley by a puppy. You just couldn’t be mad about it. Kirby always spread love and joy across the forum, inspired us all to be better, and to care just a bit more about each other and the passion we share. Kirby is a role model to the new members and veterans alike. They’re back again, with the second player I remember hearing about in the Marlins locker room literally years ago, and I applaud the patience and the commitment to the bit. There are obviously huge expectations for a member like this, and I know they have what it takes to challenge for more Cups, more awards, and more HOF ballots.

 

Regular Season Stats

87 (DAV), 8 Games Played, 7 Wins, 1 Overtime Loss, 0.938 Save Percentage, 1.58 Goals Against Average, and 1 Shutout.

88 (DAV), 64 Games Played, 39 Wins, 18 Losses, 7 Overtime Losses, 0.932 Save Percentage, 2.3 Goals Against Average, and 4 Shutouts.

89 (DAV), 64 Games Played, 43 Wins, 15 Losses, 6 Overtime Losses, 0.925 Save Percentage, 2.4 Goals Against Average, and 4 Shutouts.

90 (DAV), 64 Games Played, 49 Wins, 12 Losses, 3 Overtime Losses, 0.938 Save Percentage, 2.06 Goals Against Average, and 7 Shutouts.

91 (DAV), 64 Games Played, 46 Wins, 12 Losses, 6 Overtime Losses, 0.933 Save Percentage, 2.24 Goals Against Average, and 5 Shutouts.

92 (DAV), 65 Games Played, 17 Wins, 40 Losses, 6 Overtime Losses, 0.922 Save Percentage, 3.48 Goals Against Average, and 2 Shutouts.

93 (WAR), 66 Games Played, 40 Wins, 23 Losses, 2 Overtime Losses, 0.935 Save Percentage, 2.61 Goals Against Average, and 4 Shutouts.

94 (WAR), 64 Games Played, 38 Wins, 20 Losses, 6 Overtime Losses, 0.934 Save Percentage, 2.45 Goals Against Average, and 5 Shutouts.

 

Playoff Stats

88 (DAV), 14 Games Played, 7 Wins, 5 Losses, 2 Overtime Loss, 0.92 Save Percentage, 2.91 Goals Against Average.

89 (DAV), 16 Games Played, 12 Win, 4 Losses, 0.937 Save Percentage, 2.47 Goals Against Average.

90 (DAV), 11 Games Played, 5 Wins, 3 Losses, 3 Overtime Losses, 0.9 Save Percentage, 3.33 Goals Against Average, and 1 Shutout.

91 (DAV), 6 Games Played, 2 Wins, 3 Losses, 1 Overtime Loss, 0.925 Save Percentage, 3.08 Goals Against Average.

93 (WAR), 2 Games Played, 2 Losses, 0.943 Save Percentage, 2.55 Goals Against Average.

94 (WAR), 4 Games Played, 1 Win, 3 Losses, 0.902 Save Percentage, 4.84 Goals Against Average.

  

Regular Season Career Record

459 Games Played, 279 Wins, 140 Losses, 37 Overtime Losses, 0.931 Save Percentage, 2.48 Goals Against Average, 32 Shutouts.

 

Playoff Career Record

53 Games Played, 27 Wins, 20 Losses, 6 Overtime Losses, 0.921 Save Percentage, 3.02 Goals Against Average, 1 Shutout.

 

 

Edited October 13 by jacobcarson877

[kirbithan 1,764]

honestly almost shed a tear reading this. i’m currently battling a cold so this was just what i needed to boost my mood.

 

thank you so much for such a beautifully written article and the extremely sweet words, jacob!! there’s nobody else who i would’ve rather seen write lachlan’s hof article than my first gm ever! feels unreal, but it means so much to me to hear that i’m impacting others positively and want to continue to do so. my time in the vhl has been absolutely incredible and i hope to run things back with river! 

[Aimee 1,148]

16 hours ago, kirbithan said:

honestly almost shed a tear reading this. i’m currently battling a cold so this was just what i needed to boost my mood.

 

thank you so much for such a beautifully written article and the extremely sweet words, jacob!! there’s nobody else who i would’ve rather seen write lachlan’s hof article than my first gm ever! feels unreal, but it means so much to me to hear that i’m impacting others positively and want to continue to do so. my time in the vhl has been absolutely incredible and i hope to run things back with river! 

Jacob is very good at making those he writes about she's a tear lol.