VSN Presents: S96 VHLM Playoff Preview

[Baby Boomer 753]

@LucyXpher

 

Welcome everyone,

 

We are finally here for the best part of the season, the playoffs. This season's playoffs are going to be weird ones. When you look at the standings, one Conference is clearly better than the other. Indeed, the first five teams in the standings are all in the Eastern Conference and they all have a positive differential and the five last teams in the standings are all in the Western Conference and they all have a negative differential.

 

Quarter-final #1 - Philadelphia Reapers (1)  vs Houston Bulls (8) 

 

Regular season series: PHI wins 3-2-1.

 

We are going to see some tough series in these playoffs, but sadly this is not one of them. Indeed, I just really don't see how the Houston Bulls can pass the Philadelphia Reapers. Philly had the best record of the entire league with 44 wins, 10 losses and 8 losses in overtime for a total of 96 points in 72 games and can count on players like Youre Not Fucking Retiring @twists, Taylor Swift @lilchrist and Einar Mathiesen @xsjack on their team. I am not saying that Houston does not have good players, but Robin Sierra @ethanjaeda and Scrungle Bungle @Novanod will have to play on top of their heads all series long if they want to win it. The outcome of this series is not already decided, but I don't really see how Houston can win this series.

 

VSN Prediction: Philadelphia wins in 5 games.

 

Quarter-final #2 - Mexico City Kings (6)  vs San Diego Marlins (7) 

 

Regular season series: series tied 4-3-1.

 

Even tough the Mexico City Kings finished sixth of the standings at the end of the regular season, they finished first of their Conference. So, they earned the second seed of the playoffs and are playing the seventh seed, the San Diego Marlins. Usually, the series between the second and the seventh seed is not supposed to be tight, but this one will be. On one side, Mexico City has one of the best goalies in the league in Chazz Michael Michaels @Xflexz and one of the best defense with Alagsantere Groenvold @VattghernCZ and Wladyslaw Mintus @mintusaurus, but has a lot of troubles to score goals. On the other side, San Diego is a more balanced team with a good offense led by Jean-Pierre Devote @eagle_3450, a good defense and a good goalie in Ricky LaFleur @DarkSpyro. 

 

VSN Prediction: San Diego wins in 7 games.

 

Quarter-final #3 - Ottawa Lynx (2)  vs Halifax 21st (5) 

 

Regular season series: OTT wins 5-4-0.

 

Just like the series between the Reapers and the Bulls, on paper this one should be pretty one sided and Ottawa should win it without any difficulty. The Ottawa Lynx are one of the best team in the league on paper with Brandon Petan Jr @sadie, Drosmis Sarkanis @Mr Bohannan and Ocean Codoller @FreshOceanCod as their top three forwards and River Harrington @kirbithan and Hugh Neutron @Corco in defense. As opposed to Ottawa, the Halifax 21st don't really have any super star player on their roster and I don't really see how they can compete in this series. However, they have Jon Webber III @Webberj as their goalie and when you have Webber on your team you know that he can win games all by himslef, so he can definitely win a game or two alone.

 

VSN Prediction: Ottawa wins in 5 games.

 

Quarter-final #4 - Mississauga Hounds (3)  vs Miami Marauders (4) 

 

Regular season series: MIA wins 7-6-0.

 

When you look at each teams roster, you can only imagine that this series is going to be very long and tough. Indeed, on paper these teams are very similar with a couple of good forwards, a really good defenseman and also a good goalie. Mississauga have Nikita Yolishev @Joel Main and Filip Zinek @FiZi as their top forwards, Slava Kovalenko @OblivionWalker in defense and Deadpanda @Alex in the net. On the other hand, Miami have Marek Nowaczyk @Chillybro and Elf Shoes @ELF_SH0ES in offense, Boris Bone-Breaker @RileyL as their top defenseman and Draw Mac @okochastar in the net. This series can really go both ways and will be really exciting to follow.

 

VSN Prediction: Mississauga wins in 7 games.

 

Semi-final #1 - Philadelphia Reapers (1)  vs Mississauga Hounds (3) 

 

Regular season series: PHI wins 6-2-1.

 

On paper, these two teams seems to be identical and it is the same thing for their record in the regular season as the Philadelphia Reapers only had one more win and three more points than the Mississauga Hounds. However, in the regular season Philadelphia seemed to have Mississauga's number and won the regular season series with 6 wins, 2 losses and 1 loss in overtime for a total of 13 points with a possibility of 18 against only 6 points for the Hounds. The series will definitely be really thight and exciting to watch, so the winner will be decided on the ice, even though I give the advantage to the Reapers.

 

VSN Prediction: Philadelphia wins in 7 games.

 

Semi-final #2 - Ottawa Lynx (2)  vs San Diego Marlins (7) 

 

Regular season series: OTT wins 4-3-0.

 

If the playoffs in the VHLM were only based on the standings and the second seed was playing against the seventh seed, the Ottawa Lynx and the San Diego Marlins would have played against each other in the first round. Unlike the first semi-final, I don't think this series will go to 7 games and I think the Ottawa Lynx will wrap this one pretty quickly. Indeed, both teams rosters are pretty far from each other and I think I can say pretty confidently that the Lynx will win this series.

 

VSN Prediction: Ottawa wins in 5 games.

 

Founder's Cup Final - Philadelphia Reapers (1)  vs Ottawa Lynx (2) 

 

Regular season series: OTT wins 7-1-0.

 

The Philadelphia Reapers and the Ottawa Lynx had the two best records in the entire league with 96 and 93 points respectively, but Ottawa had more wins with 45 against 44 for Mississauga. Both teams have really good first forwards lines and first defense pairs, but what will really make the difference are the depth. In this category, Ottawa has the advantage with Joel Jakobs @Plate and Cole Stermer @Bazeus in offense and Masa Akimoto @Hokikeijot and Taavetti Jokinen @Ahma in defense. Only history will tell us the winner of this series, so will Philadelphia win their second Cup in a row or will Ottawa win their first Cup since S87? In my opinion, Ottawa have a slight advantage, but really anything can happen in this series.

 

VSN Prediction: Ottawa wins in 6 games.

 

That’s all for me, thanks everyone for reading, I wish you all some good playoffs and see you in another VSN article! 

[Grape 738]

VSN jinx
 

[Pifferfish 593]

Just now, Grape said:

VSN jinx
 

Hahaha @mattyIceman is happy rn

[Mr Bohannan 130]

Well, I feel like Drosmis Sarkanis still is due to show his capabilities as a forward as in regular season he did not had good chances to get into the rhythm of good performance. Hopefully he opens up during playoffs!