Around the League with Bana #8

[Banackock 8,176]

CREDIT: Shoutout to @InstantRockstar for making this. Thank you always for all you do.

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VHL

• The North American race has started almost how I thought it was going to. I figured Seattle would be somewhere top-middle and that the teams currently in playoff positions would be. I think the one exception would be the Toronto/New York/Chicago placement. Now that I've given it thought, maybe Toronto and New York should be in the playoffs. If I picked between the two, I think I would take New York over Toronto, but between the three teams, I'd have to give Chicago the short end of the stick. Right now, New York is 5 points behind Chicago for that final spot, but I could see New York making things quite tight and difficult for all three teams heading into the Trade Deadline. DC  and LAS are bad. 
• The European race is quite competitive if you close your eyes in the wildcard round. If you want an exciting watch, both conferences are for you, but there's certainly way more action and fire right now in the NA. Europe is a 4 team conference, with Moscow, Malmo, Riga and HC in the top 4 with solid rosters. Rounding out the top 5 and finalizing the wildcard round is London, and they're a burning tire fire right now. I think this tire could burn bright for some time without luck or intervention. 
• Moscow players reign supreme, with Ruutu @jRuutu and Goncalves currently leading the league for points with 47 and 51 through 29 games. King Kisslinger @Kisslinger and Antonia Bucatini @CowboyinAmerica lead the league with 21 goals and OSCdB @Grape is the apple king with 34. Seattle took a sizeable gamble when moving @Victor but decided to make the move as they were nervous Del Rocco would want to jump ship due to mediocrity on numerous levels. At least for the time being, it seems the move worked as Del Rocco has 10-22-32 in 28 games and who the Bears traded for, Forum Content @frescoelmo, is 20-21-41 in 29 games.

 

VHLM

• Western Conference action is always good, right? Things are certainly a little tighter here than over in the East. Houston is at the top, with San Diego right on their heels. Mexico City and Las Vegas are tied with 30 points, and last place Saskatoon is still making things somewhat fun with 24. This isn't bad and is a lot better than seeing teams with this amount of games played sitting with records of 2-25-1. I think this will be a positive for the league, and we're working in the right direction for some things. 
• Over in the East, things drop quicker in terms of competitiveness but we're still in a healthy range here. Miami is topping the charts both in the East and VHLM. They're an awesome team that I've always loved and it was thrilling to be part of the commissioning team when we expanded to Miami. Halifax and Ottawa, impressively, follow 2nd and 3rd in the East and VHLM, 2 points behind Miami with 39 each. Mississauga and Philadelphia are both bottom of the East and VHLM, but they're still putting in solid efforts. 
• This one is easy to do. Pelayo Bolivar @SMYLS4 is league MVP right now without looking at D and G. They're topping charts for goals, assists, points and shots right now. Danny Ross @Spartakiller2 is throwing their weight around as they lead 2nd place for hits by a massive 12 with 105 on the season so far. Jortikka  @Kavadar has been a career VHLM guy, putting up great numbers each season. They lead all D-men right now for points with 32. Zaps Cat @scudmuffin19 is Goalie MVP right now. Impressive numbers all around. 11-2-2 --  .926 - 1.47GAA - 3SO. What an incredible start to their career. Houston has some amazing pieces like Cash Carti @v.2 helping push things forward, but the play of Cat is just too hard not to single down to.

 

 

 

 

Doubles Week - Donations  Need to start using these up... I still have the Xmas one as well...