Aces Fool Predictions With Cup Win

[animal74 1,886]

The Las Vegas Aces defeated the Halifax 21^st in Game 6 of the Founder’s Cup Final to win their first VHLM championship since their back-to-back Cup victories in S83-S84 and the 11^th in franchise history and 6^th since moving to Las Vegas. GM @sadie built arguably the deepest defensive foursome in the league and backed that with the signing of one of the top goalies in the league, Onyekachukwu Chidieber Oluwaseun (also known as OCO) @TenIQ. And while it seems ludicrous to some critics that the second-lowest scoring team during the regular season ended up winning the Founder’s Cup, I would suggest that the clues were there and the stats didn’t paint a clear picture on how formidable this Las Vegas team was.

 

S97 Founder's Cup Champions - Las Vegas Aces

 

Clue #1:

While it’s true that Las Vegas’ 126 goals scored were more than only the last-place Mississauga Hounds’ 120, their goals against was tied for third in the league. They also played in more 1-goal games than any other team. The Aces’ 20 overtime and shootout losses led the league by a wide margin and could have swung their way. If they were closer to the league average and had won 10 of those extra-time games, that would have made them a much-stronger looking 94-point team. During the playoffs, they also avoided overtime for the most part with only three games going past regulation with them winning two and losing one.

 

Clue #2:

I would also state that the goal differentials of the top two teams in the Eastern Conference, Miami and Halifax, that were both beaten by Las Vegas, were inflated due to playing the bottom two teams in the league many times. For example, the Aces’ Finals opponent, the Halifax 21^st, had the best record in the league and was the highest-scoring team. They may have looked like the far superior team but their record against the Philadelphia Reapers and Mississauga Hounds was a combined 18-1-2 with a combined goal differential of +56. Subtracted from their regular season goal differential of +96 and that leaves a +37 differential against the rest of the league which would have been fourth in the league instead of first.

 

The Western Conference was a much stronger conference as every team was just about at a .500 winning percentage or higher. Although, to be fair, Las Vegas did have a perfect 9-0 record against the Hounds as well.

 

Clue #3:

Special teams were a huge part of Las Vegas’ regular season having the top-ranked power play and the fourth-rank penalty kill. They were also the least penalized team in the regular season with 46 less penalty minutes then the next least penalized team. So it’s really no surprise that they were given more power plays (31-14) against their first round opponent, Miami, although the discrepancy in penalties could be debated. To their credit, the Marauder’s power play did do well against Las Vegas at 28.57%, the best rate behind the Aces, but their penalty kill was torched by the league’s best power play, which found another level in the playoffs. Whatever power play formations the coaches drew up for the postseason worked to perfection as the Aces operated at 29.87% for their playoff run. No one could stop them. 23 of their 47 goals scored in the playoffs were scored with the man advantage.

 

Their penalty kill also found another level as they only allowed 6 power play goals on 53 attempts. That means that after Miami went 4 for 14 against them in the first round, the Aces' penalty-killers only allowed an incredible 2 for 39 the rest of the way including blanking all of Saskatoon's 18 chances!

 

Clue #4:

Signing Oluwaseun in the off-season may have been the Aces’ shrewdest move in the off-season and did the Burkina Faso native ever deliver! One of the consensus Top-3 netminders during the regular season after leading the league in GAA (1.52) and finishing third in SV% (0.923) and shutouts (11), Oluwaseun continued his hot run leading the Aces with a 12-3-1 record, 1.68 GAA and a league record-tying 5 shutouts (former Ace Deadpanda @Alex set the record two seasons prior). Throughout the playoffs, it was more how OCO devastated opponents at crucial times that astonished the league. In both of the first two series, he posted a shutout in Game 1 and in the series-clinching game. While Halifax turned the table in the Final and shutout Las Vegas in the first game, OCO returned the favor and shutout the 21^st in Game 4 to tie the series at two games a piece. They then only allowed one goal on 16 shots in the Cup-winning game to go along with assisting on all three Vegas goals!. To summarize, OCO’s stats in series-clinching games was 3-0-0 with a 0.33 GAA, 0.974 SV%, and two shutouts. Definitely one of the more clutch performances in VHLM history!

 

Clue #5

That the Aces’ defense core would lead them offensively in the playoffs like they did in the regular season cemented a curious but effective strategy by GM Sadie. During the regular season, the Aces’ top four scorers and leading goal scorer were all defensemen. Led by Albin Algard’s 39 assists and 51 points and Kazuma Satou’s 22 goals, that duo continued their offensive brilliance along with Mathias Gunnarsson and Manuel Ceson especially on the power play. With a combined 98 power play points and 15 game winning goals, it was as inevitable as Thanos that those four would have to factor in every game for Las Vegas to have a shot at the Cup. And they sure did.

 

Satou led the playoffs with 14 assists and 22 points while Aldgard was second in the M with 9 goals. Satou was third with 8 goals while Aldgard was T-3^rd with 18 points. Satou and Ceson led the playoffs with six power play goals each and Satou set the modern-day VHLM record for game-winning goals by a defenseman in a single post-season with 5 (including both of Las Vegas’ overtime winners)! In fact, after Raoul Cyr and Lorenzo Mancini scored the Aces’ first two goals in Game 3 in the Final, defensemen scored the next nine Las Vegas goals to give them the 4-2 series win. And, true to form, the four Vegas blueliners were the top four power play producers in the playoffs with a combined 36 power play points. They also scored 9 of the needed 12 game-winning goals. Ceson was credited with the Cup-winning goal in Game 6 at 1:47 of the second period on – you guessed it – the power play.

 

Other notable Las Vegas contributors:

Cyr did have a great playoff as well finishing 3^rd on the team and 5^th overall with 17 points.

Danny Ross was held without a goal but finished with 6 assists, a league-leading 54 hits and 62.67% faceoff winning percentage (among those with 25 or more taken).

Ethan Ashcroft tied Cyr for the team forward lead with 5 goals including 2 game-winners.

 

To conclude, Las Vegas was perhaps more of a Cup contender entering the playoffs than the pundits assumed. The old adage states: “Defense wins championships.” And when your defense is also lethal on the power play and scores more than most forwards, then that saying is even more accurate.

 

Congratulations to the Las Vegas Aces – The S97 Founder’s Cup Champions!

Spoiler

Mentions: @animal74 @Spartan  @Spartakiller2 @dylanjj37 @ThatCanadian @EthanSea611 @Tyler @GioSivo

Aces: @Jayrad28 @Jaggerbomb88 @Viper @chris_time @Bigb33 @Big_Dyl @sadie @TenIQ

 

Edited Monday at 12:45 AM by animal74

[animal74 1,886]

Week 2/2 (1200+ words)

[TenIQ 25]

Absolutely incredible read!

As the person who runs OCOs player, Absolutely spot on! I'm starting to think you know more about OCO then I do! 

 

LVA had a rocky Regular Season, loosing a few games and coming close to a loss quite a few times. When we hit playoff time I think we held our hopes high and prayed for some good luck! We had an incredible defense, without a doubt the best in the M, but as shown by previous years, an incredible offense wins trophy's, defense just backs them up. Im shocked myself we won but the way Sadie played us was incredible. 

 

Again, amazing read, and absolutely spot on!