VHL This Week (December 28, 2014)

[Ninetyfourgoalie 168]

VHL This Week

Season 41 Edition 4

 

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and get ready for New Years!  We're at the halfway point of the season now and at this point, the standings are fairly set in stone.  Barring a late season surge, we virtually know all the strengths and weaknesses of every team, setting up for a long grind before the playoffs.  But that doesn't mean there isn't still excitement to be had as there are plenty of outstanding individual performances, as always.

 

Announcements

 

Don't forget to like the Christmas Gift Post for a free doubles week!

 

Make sure to check out Edition 222 of the VHL Magazine!

 

There's still a bit of time left to vote for the second round of the writing ranks - plenty of good material here so don't miss it!

 

Game Discussion

 

First, we'll take a look at a very close matchup between the Titans and Legion.  This one looked to be Helsinki's day from the start as they dominate the first period.  While they were unable to get on the scoreboard, shots were 9-3 in favor of the Titans at the end of 20.  The second period was more even with the Legion waking up from their slumber to give the Titans a challenge.  Perhaps caught off guard by this seemingly new team, Tyler Cote was able to quickly score the game's first goal after Jerrick Poole handed him a perfect pass after intercepting a Jake Wylde pass to put Toronto up by one.  But this would not last long as just over two minutes later, Willem Janssen scored his fifteenth goal of the season following a pretty tic-tac-toe passing sequence to knot the score at one.  After more back and forth action, rookie Sachimo Zoidberg put the Legion up 2-1, a score that would hold up for the rest of the second period.  But the Titans would come back ready to go in the third as Jake Wylde made in 2-2 early in the period, making up for his earlier mistake.  Although Helsinki controlled play, they were unable to score again, forcing overtime, albeit a quick one as Devin Sundberg secured the win for the Legion off Steve Tremblay's faceoff win. 

 

Next, we have a game between one of the league's best in Calgary up against cellar-dwelling Stockholm.  This game pretty much went how you would expect - utter dominance by the Wranglers.  But, things did not start out very easily for the Wranglers as their 18-6 shot advantage did not yield any goals and the first period ended with the score at 0-0.  But Calgary figured things out and Marcus Hurley picked up a loose puck given up by Kez Kincaid and found the back of the net to take the one goal lead.  This would begin an onslaught of goals as the Wranglers found themselves up 5-0 at the end of the period thanks to another Hurley goal, two from Lukas Nykvist, and one from Kez Kincaid.  While the win was all but a formality at this point, Calgary added a couple more goals to seal the deal.  Within a span of just over a minute, The first was a beautiful one, with the puck going through virtually the entire team before Andrew Erikson received a perfect pass and picked up a goal.  Then, Jakob Linholm tipped in a Lukas Nykvist shot to seal the deal with a 7-0 win, giving Martin Brookside a shutout to continue his strong season.

 

Finally, we have a matchup between the top two teams in the European Conference - the Reign and Express.  This was a big one as the Reign are trying to further increase their lead over the Express while Cologne desperately has to make up for the ground lost earlier in the season.  After controlling play in their offensive zone for around a full minute, Azi Ali connected with Bennett Wahl, who put the puck past Mike Szatowski Jr. for the first goal of the game.  About four minutes later, Azi Ali scored on of his own to give the Express a two goal lead.  Just a minute later after a Slaeter Fjorsstrom trip, Thomas O'Malley picked up a powerplay goal to get his team ahead by three.  The rest of the game would be a back and forth battle but neither team could find the net as Blaine Olynick came up big to earn the shutout and help the Express move up in the standings.

 

TPE Earning

 

Head to the VHL Magazine, where all you have to do is select a series of numbers to win free player store cash or TPE!  More details can be found in the magazine and make sure to check back each week to see if you've won!

 

Be sure to keep your eyes on the VHL Fantasy Zone, where you can earn uncapped points for correctly predicting the winners and score of selected games.  Come claim your points for the VHL Pickem and Predict the Score tasks for week two and make your guesses for week three's Pickem and Predict the Score!

[eaglesfan036 4,605]

Nice work m8