Comparing all 3 of my goalies careers (so far)

[DarkSpyro 971]

I’ve been a part of this community since September 2019 and over my 5+ years of being here, 3 out of the 4 players I’ve created were goalies. This role on teams can be considered a double-edged sword-– if play great, you’re the hero for your team but if you don’t.. it feels like you’re the reason why the team isn’t succeeding. You are the backbone of your team and your goalie’s performance in net-– greatly decides the team’s success and morale in the locker room.

 

I’m fairly curious to see if there are any patterns-– or anything at all that stands out between how each of my goalies performed around this point in their careers, and maybe see if there is anything of interest to take notes of. Since my current goaltender, Ricky LaFleur, has only just completed his first full season in the VHLM-– I will only be looking at how he’s doing so far in comparison to my former goaltenders when they were in the VHLM, but I’ll try to give you some lore for context (or what I can remember anyways) about each season to paint a better picture about the numbers you’re about to read. Their stats won’t be moving since they are retired, so their player pages are linked below.

 

[S69] Jimmy Spyro 

 

[S86] Ash Sparks

 

[S97] Ricky LaFleur 

 

VHLM Drafted: 1st Round, 4th Overall (S96)[SDM]

 

VHLM Regular Season  

[HFX(S95)/ SDM(S96)]

Season 96 (SDM)

GP: 66

W: 34

L: 29

OTL: 3

SV%: 0.905

GAA: 2.12

SO: 8

GA: 142

SA: 1493

MP: 3991

 

Season 95 (HFX)

GP: 4

W: 2

L: 2

OTL: 0

SV%: 0.911

GAA: 2.26

SO: 0

GA: 9

SA: 101

MP: 239

VHLM Regular Season Totals

GP: 70

W: 36

L: 31

OTL: 3

SV%: 0.905

GAA: 2.14

SO: 8

GA: 151

SA: 1594

MP: 4230

 

VHLM - Playoffs

 

Season 96 (SDM)

GP: 12

W: 6

L: 6

OTL: 0

SV%: 0.893

GAA: 2.02

SO: 1

GA: 26

SA: 244

MP: 772

 

VHLM Playoff Totals

GP: 12

W: 6

L: 6

OTL: 0

SV%: 0.893

GAA: 2.02

SO: 1

GA: 26

SA: 244

MP: 77

 

Ricky will have 2 distinct advantages over my last 2 goalies-– he will be playing 1 more season in the VHLM than both of them, due to the VHLM’s TPA cap being raised to 400 in S96. Ash Sparks both played in an era where the TPA cap was still only at 200 in the VHLM. Jimmy Spyro played in a similar cap restriction as Ash Sparks (I’m fairly sure it was 200 but it might have been 250 back then-– I could be wrong tho) and he was in an era where league scoring was fairly high, so Spyro’s numbers are fairly misleading too. 

While both Sparks and Spyro were at their respective TPA caps for their 2nd season’s (1st full seasons)-– Ricky was not. Ricky was around 280 TPA when his 2nd season ended (1st full season) and is going to be over 300 TPA before S97 even starts. This season Ricky will be at the 400 TPA cap for a good majority of the season and I think that’s going to give him a big advantage when facing some players on teams across the league, especially ones down in the 100-200 TPA range.

Another statistic I want to point out, is the fact that Ricky accumulated 8 shutouts in the regular season, plus 1 more in the playoffs for a total of 9 shutouts in S96. This is an absurd amount and I’m pleased with it-– but it was actually 1 shutout shy of tying my personal best for shutouts in a single VHLM season. Jimmy Spyro had an amazing run in S69 with the Mississauga Hounds, collecting 9 regular season shutouts and 1 more in the playoffs for a total of 10 in S69. He also earned a playoff MVP in S69, for carrying his team all the way to the finals and for putting up a solid fight against the S69 Uber team at the time who was largely undefeated, the Saskatoon Wild. Moving on to Ash Sparks in the category, he had 4 shutouts in S85 and only 2 shutouts in S84 for a total of 6 shutouts in his VHLM career, but he went from being an underdog in the VHLM-– to having his jersey retired by Malmo as arguably the best goalie the franchise has ever seen, by setting the all-time shutouts and regular season wins records, and he even became a cult icon who is praised by many across our community. 

Next is Captaincy. Jimmy Spyro did go on to have a solid career, even winning a Continental Cup for the Vancouver Wolves in S74, and even did so in his 1st season as the franchise’s Captain. Spyro would retire after S76 so his Captaincy was short lived, but he dawned an “A” S72 and 73 for the Wolves, and also wore an “A” on his chest in S69 for the Hounds. 

Ash Sparks wore an “A” when he played for the 21st in S85, and didn’t see a letter on his jersey until after he was traded from Seattle to Malmo after S87 and S88 didn’t fair so well for him. Sparks became such an impactful presence and quickly grew into the beloved Nighthawk and face of the franchise that we all remember him as during S89, resulting in him becoming the Captain for S90-– but this didn’t last very long. Wearing the “C” in Malmo always came with a lot of pressure and this was the only season that Sparks didn’t play at his incredibly godlike standard, so the team decided to switch him back to an “A” for 91. Oddly this made the new Captain perform terribly with the new pressure, and Sparks ended up finding his game again but with even more fire than before-– he was ready to take the helm for sure now. Sparks would then become the Captain for S92, S93, and S94. He retired after S94 as a Captain and franchise leader in many important categories. 

Ricky has yet to be a Captain or an “A” but this doesn’t mean he hasn’t been a great leader on and off the ice. I could see Ricky wearing a letter on his chest for a team some day that isn’t on a Sunnyvale jersey made out of hockey tape-– but only time will tell.

Ricky is currently in the offseason but he’s been fairly proactive in his training camp. Right now he is serving as a backup goalie in the ProAM offseason tournament for the Flora Vista Vixens. It’s been 32 games and he hasn’t seen the ice, but he’s not complaining at all as he gets to watch and learn from their starting goalie who happens to be a goaltending legend. Who is this icon? It just so happens to be Ash Sparks! The man himself has come out of retirement for a chance to teach these future starts how it’s done-– and boy has he! Sparks has started in all 32 games so far and he has not disappointed. After a bit of a rocky start, he found his game again fairly quickly and wracked up a league leading 7 shutouts so far which is mind boggling. Well considering that it’s Ash Sparks-– this is proving why he is such a sensational goaltender and a cult icon to many. He’s also got a solid 2.09 GAA which leads the league as well, and an 0.930 save% which is also fairly impressive. Overall this is nice to see my current goalie, Ricky, have the once in a lifetime opportunity to play alongside the best goalie I’ve made so far, Ash Sparks. I have to thank Lucy for drafting them both, and especially for allowing me to see Ash Sparks light it up 1 more time!

Anyways I could probably sit here and compare notes between these 3 forever, but I should probably wrap this article up. Lastly I will note that each goalie I made has indeed gone through different ebbs and flows-– but each has been great in their own ways. Besides everything is random anyways so at the end of the day, I’m just grateful for the experiences.

 

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