Vancouver Sucks! (but like, how Primus sucks)

[der meister 3,261]

The Vancouver Wolves are absolutely a force to be reckoned with this season. Sporting a 15-4-3 record for 33 points puts them at the top of the North American Conference, and tied for the league lead with the Malmo Nighthawks. Vancouver has the league's second-most potent offense with 80 goals scored, trailing only Moscow in that category, but has zero players in the top 10 in goals scored. Instead, the Wolves are led by a pair of dynamic defensemen in Bollos de Trueno and Guntis Gavilrovs, who are numbers one and two in defensive scoring league-wide. Each are on pace to far exceed their previous career highs of 64 and 70 points, respectively, and perhaps most frightening for the rest of the league is that neither player is particularly close to retirement. The elder statesman, Gavilrovs, is a Season 92 draft pick, and Trueno a Season 94. I thought it might be interesting to do an attribute-by-attribute breakdown just to see what makes them so good this season.

 

Top Marks

 

• Checking: 85 (Gavilrovs)

The Latvian holds the edge here by nearly a full 20 points over Trueno's 67, which explains Double G's 90 hits versus Trueno's 58.

 

• Fighting: 58 (Gavilrovs)

Winning this battle 58 to 40, the 6'8" Latvian has more than double his counterpart's minutes in the sin bin, 47 to 20.

 

• Discipline: 50 (Gavilrovs)

Despite the above categories, Double G has a 9 point lead over Trueno's 41 in this category. Shrug. Whatever.

 

• Skating: 90 (Gavilrovs)

According to the manual, this means that Gavilrovs is more likely to skate the puck up the ice than pass it, but maybe there's some impact on speed, as well. Trueno is sporting an 86 in this category, so it's a minor difference.

 

• Strength: 86 (Trueno)

Finally, the Mexican gets on the board with an 86 to 81 advantage. Stronger players are less likely to cough up the puck, simple as that.

 

• Puck Handling: 92 (Gavilrovs)

Again the older player holds an edge here, 92 to 88. Ties in nicely with strength and overall offensive aptitude.

 

• Faceoffs: 56 (Trueno)

Totally useful skill for blueliners, this one.

Seemed appropriate for this category

 

• Passing: 88 (Trueno)

This category is not even close, as Trueno's 88 in passing is 23 full points more than Gavilrovs' 65. Probably helps account for Trueno's 27 assists versus just 19 for Double G.

 

• Scoring: 85 (Gavilrovs)

Holding a decent edge here, 85 to 76, one can easily imagine Trueno slipping the puck past an aggressive winger in the offensive zone, and Gavilrovs blasting it on net. Probably best illustrated by Gavilrovs' 12 goals versus Trueno's 5.

Just look at that torque! 

 

• Defense: 95 (Gavilrovs)

Only a two point edge here as Trueno has a 93 defensive skill, so most likely a non-factor in any real, provable sense.

 

• Penalty Shot: 77 (Gavilrovs)

All those extra TPE in Scoring pay off in the Penalty Shot department. Unsurprisingly, Trueno has a flat 40 in this category.

 

* * * * *

Ultimately, what did this tell us? Well, for starters it tells us that Gavilrovs is almost certainly an older player (true) with more TPE (true - 1270 versus 1052, though both have a sizeable bank), and in his prime. Trueno, and this is scary to say, probably has another year or two before he hits his peak performance. It also tells us that the Vancouver Wolves are not a team to be taken lightly this season. As a member of the Toronto Legion, I can tell you that we either beat the Wolves in overtime or a shootout, or we lose badly, like 5-1 or worse. To me, the Wolves are the scariest team in the league, and Gavilrovs and Trueno are a huge reason why.
 

[Spartan 4,561]

Woods and Harrington clear

[der meister 3,261]

2 minutes ago, Spartan said:

Woods and Harrington clear

 

Something something Useless Goddess.

[Spartan 4,561]

1 minute ago, der meister said:

 

Something something Useless Goddess.

He'll be a very useful center next season thank you very much

[BOOM 8,846]

So that's what the different attributes do!

[der meister 3,261]

17 minutes ago, BOOM said:

So that's what the different attributes do!

 

Bigger number more gooderer, basically. At least that's how I interpret it.

[BOOM 8,846]

1 hour ago, der meister said:

 

Bigger number more gooderer, basically. At least that's how I interpret it.

 

That's genius dude. 

[Daniel Janser 2,223]

13 hours ago, der meister said:

• Faceoffs: 56 (Trueno)

Totally useful skill for blueliners, this one.

Seemed appropriate for this category

My educated, yet irrelevant guess is, that @Thunder took FO to boost strength without the need invest more into slapshot (as he seems to go for a pass-first build). Plus at the moment, he gets more bang for the buck (at least in terms of strength) if he takes FO...

[der meister 3,261]

3 hours ago, Daniel Janser said:

My educated, yet irrelevant guess is, that @Thunder took FO to boost strength without the need invest more into slapshot (as he seems to go for a pass-first build). Plus at the moment, he gets more bang for the buck (at least in terms of strength) if he takes FO...

 

Agreed. I just wanted to use the gif.

[Thunder 1,211]

19 hours ago, der meister said:

Winning this battle 58 to 40, the 6'8" Latvian has more than double his counterpart's minutes in the sin bin, 47 to 20.

Gotta rub it in that Bollos cant fight!!!  Yes, I’ll say it.  He’s a sissy, afraid to drop the gloves

[JCarson 765]

I have always loved some friendly rivalry and that happens best when looking at people who are playing for the same purpose.  How will these 2 defenders end up at season end.  Will they continue to push their team and themselves individually to glory. The other side is that they drop off and the team struggles over the long stretch of remaining games.  We will only see.  It would be interesting to see this analysis done at the half way mark, at the 3/4 mark at at season end to see how things change.

 

Keep up the great articles.  I give you a 10/10 on this one.