VHL This Week (January 26, 2015)

[Ninetyfourgoalie 168]

VHL This Week

Season 41 Edition 8

 

Welcome back to VHL This Week.  The regular season has come to a close with the Wranglers holding off the Legion to claim the third playoff spot in the North American Conference while the three way battle in the European Conference has finished with Riga on top, Cologne in second, and Helsinki claiming the third and final playoff position.  In fact, the first round of the playoffs are already underway.  Currently, Quebec City leads Calgary three games to one while the Titans also are up three to one versus the Express.  Although this is a notoriously dangerous lead in the VHL, it is hard to bet against the Meute or Titans at this point.

Announcements

Round One of the playoffs is underway!  Soon the Americans and Reign will learn who their opponents will be in the Conference Finals!

The writing ranks competition appears to be stalled.  Round 3, which was scheduled to begin almost two weeks ago, will feature Noah!! vs. YEAH! and Doomsday vs. Green in what is sure to produce even more great writing!

 

Make sure to check out Edition 225 of the VHL Magazine!

 

The Super Cup will take place at the end of this season!  The competition will feature players from around the VHL and VHLM competing in a fantasy-style competition that will be sure to add some excitement to this off-season.

Game Discussion
 

With the playoffs in progress at this point, we will take a look at one game from each series.  As you will see, the playoffs have not been lacking in excitement this season!

 

First we have the opening matchup of the North American Conference playoffs between the Meute and Wranglers.  As has been the case since the trade deadline, the Wranglers have largely been relying on goaltender Martin Brookside to remain competitive and this was the case in this game.  The first period was one of total domination by Quebec, who managed a 19-7 shot advantage yet it was not enough to find the back of the net as each of their 19 shots were denied.  The second period was much of the same with shot after shot being turned away before Jakob Linholm finally put one in to give the Meute a 1-0 lead.  It would be another 20 minutes before the next goal was scored, this one a game-tying goal from the unheralded CAL RW2 that left the Meute confused as to how a game in which they were clearly controlling play could be tied.  But they used this goal as motivation, putting on a clinic for the rest of the period, ultimately outshooting Calgary 64-27 in a 3-1 victory thanks to team MVP Bruno Wolf's game winner.

 

We also have game four of the Express-Titans series, the first elimination game we have seen thus far.  With the Titans up 3-0 in the series, Cologne was looking to avoid yet another one and done after last season, where they earned a first round bye but were promptly disposed of in four games by Riga.  The Express came out of the gates strong as Logan Laich scored the first goal of the game just over a minute in.  But Cologne would not hold the lead for long as Oskars Harumpf scored his first playoff goal of his career to knot things up at one.  Feeling the pressure of once again being swept, the Express managed to go on a scoring frenzy, adding three to their total in just six minutes with goals from Wahl, O'Malley, and Yumalatopinto to take a commanding 4-1 lead that would hold through the end of the first frame.  In the second, Blaine Olynick continued to do a great job at staving off the Titans' attack before James Faraday snuck one by him just before the end of the second.  With a 4-2 lead and the series on the line, the Express bore down on Helsinki and limited their opponents to just four shots in the third.  While they weren't able to keep all four out of the net, they held on for a 4-3 win and will survive to see another day.

 

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. Claim your rewards for week five's Pickem and Predict the Score tasks and watch for the posting of round two's tasks once matchups are decided!