VHL By The Numbers

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Not all can be positive, and that is the direction I am going with in this edition's article.  I focus often on the good but for this one I will look at three disappointments that have taken place so far through the Season 47 campaign.

 

52 - It was not a positive start to the off-season when Mason Richardson and Bismarck Koenig announced that they will be going to new teams.  It also wasn't positive when their GM upped and left, leaving the team with no one really in control and very little on the team, except Valmount and the not so active Freedom McJustice.  Their 52 points this season put them outside of a playoff spot in the European Conference, and now that the deadline is approaching, they are clearly looking like they will be trading off assets given their recent move with McJustice.  They are currently twelve points out of a playoff spot and really have no hope in catching Riga for the third and final regular season spot.

 

51 - Mason Richardson is not having a bad year by any means, but  don't really think he is having the kind of year you would expect from someone who won the Sterling Labatte Trophy just last season.  With just 51 points in 56 games, Richardson has struggled to provide offense on a team that has struggled as a whole to produce points.  He finds himself fourth for defensemen in points (behind Jeff Hamilton, Phil Hamilton and Biggu Kyanon) while actually being pretty solid defensively.  I think part of the reason I put Richardson here is not that he is actually one of the worst players or anything, but he is one of the big guys on Riga that has struggled to produce points (which is a vital reason why Riga hasn't really been able to make ground in the European Conference).  In fact, Riga finds themselves eighth in the league in goals and just one up on the ninth place Davos Dynamo.

 

.913 - You knew he would have to be on this list.  Hans Wingate has not been anywhere near the goalie we have come to expect over the past few years.  His .913 save percentage puts him sixth in the league (and the second worst among created players) and his wins total of 23 is the worst among created goalies.  Before the season, many would have ranked Wingate above the likes of Blake Campbell, Ariel Weinstein and Sandro Clegane.  Now, we have to wonder if Wingate has hit his peak and is perhaps on his way down.  While I don't expect this to be the case, and expect the talented netminder to have a terrific playoff run, this may very well be cause for concern for the Riga Reign, as Wingate is very much their leader now and in the future.

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Given that we are just reaching the end of the regular season now, I want to take a look at where I think the three major awards (MVP, Top Defender, Top Goalie) stand and who I think should win it and be considered.

 

120 - Predicted MVP (Scotty Campbell Trophy): Bismarck Koenig (HSK)

The Most Valuable Player Trophy is generally pretty well contested and while there are a wealth of excellent candidates who have had tremendous campaigns, I think there should be no argument on who should win this year's award.  Bismarck Koenig is not just the league leader in points, league leader in assists and a physical forward, but he is also the only player on the Titans to get more than 83 points.  Therefore, the fact that Koenig had 120 (37 more than anyone else on his team) is pretty sensational.  Add in the fact that his team was the top team in the European Conference and the second best in the league, and there is no one else that can stake the claim that he can this season.  Thomas O'Malley has had another fantastic year and is easily first on his Victory Cup winning Americans but it's hard to ignore that the team from New York has an absolutely stacked offense with many great performers this year, to go along with a terrific goalie who may very well be the favourite for the Aidan Shaw Trophy.  Lord Karnage has the claim that he is the favourite for the Two-Way trophy and led his Vikings to a perhaps surprising playoff spot but they too got some other good offensive performances including an excellent goaltender showing by Weinstein.  All in all, this is definitely Bismarck's to lose and I don't see any reason why he shouldn't be the next Scotty Campbell Trophy winner.

 

78 - Predicted Top D (Sterling Labatte Trophy): Jeff Hamilton (SEA)

I know he isn't necessarily the leading point getter for defenders, but is really hard to ignore how close he is to the top scoring defender and is third in blocked shots despite the fact that his Seattle Bears have a good team this year.  Some may also point out that his lack of hits should hurt his chances, but he also only has ten penalty minutes which should be considered as well.  Phil Hamilton may have five more points and a significant number of hits over Jeff, but he also has 134 penalty minutes and far less blocked shots (109).  Mason Richardson and BIggu Kyanon are two others who perhaps should get a look as well.  Richardson has disappointed this year with 63 points, but he does have 186 hits and 127 blocked shots.  In the end, his offensive contributions for the Reign aren't significant enough to earn him the trophy.  Biggu simply doesn't have the physicality and defensive ability to top Jeff Hamilton, especially when you add that he only has 73 points (5 less than Jeff Hamilton).  In the end, Jeff Hamilton is the top scorer on his solid playoff bound team, is third in the league in blocked shots and doesn't take a lot of penalties.  Those are facts too hard to ignore and it seems that he is bound to win the Sterling Labatte Trophy.  

 

.924 - Predicted Top G (Aidan Shaw Trophy): Blake Campbell (NYA)

I can't really drag on too long with this.  He leads all goalies in wins (51), goals-against-average (1.68), save percentage (.924) and shutouts (14).  He is contending with both the shutouts and GAA record and I really don't think any goalie will top him for this award, even if someone passes him in save percentage.  Simply put, he leads too many statistical categories and no one is going to break away from the pack in save percentage.  April Weinstein, Callem Sinclair and Greg Clegane have all had great seasons, but there is simply no chance that this award goes to anyone not named Blake Campbell.  What may be more noteworthy is that guys like Hans Wingate and Bernie Gow are no where near the trophy race.

Edited February 16, 2016 by Advantage

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A little late..I know (basically all weekend has been funeral stuff)

 

Last year there was a ton of controversy over who should win Playoff MVP, so this week's article will be about who should win Playoff MVP at this point and who is leading the way for each of the two teams in the finals.

 

11 - The New York Americans have been very much led by Biggu Kyanon this playoffs.  With eleven points in ten games, Kyanon is tied for the team lead in scoring as a defender.  Additionally, he has been a physical presence with ten hits and has been a tour de force defensively with fourteen blocked shots and an average of over thirty-one minutes per game.  However, does that mean that he is the surefire winner if New York takes the Continental Cup? Not necessarily.  Edwin Reencarnacion has had a solid playoff campaign with eleven points and nineteen hits in ten games.  Jorma Ruutu has also been solid as the captain has six goals and nine points to go along with his sixteen hits in ten games.  However, my pick for the best chance to upset Kyanon? Thomas O’Malley.  Why? For one, he is an exceptional player that you should never count out.  He is also just three points back of the team lead and has been their best player so far in the finals.  With three goals in three games he has had a far better impact against the Vikings than Edwin Reencarnacion (one assist), Jorma Ruutu (one goal) and even Kyanon, who has had a good finals, with one goal and two assists.  Blake Campbell has had a solid playoff campaign but I think he hasn’t been spectacular enough to earn the Daisuke Kanou Trophy, even if he does help them finish the Vikings off quickly.

 

90 - The Stockholm Vikings are a tough team to talk about because they have had so many guys contributing to their success.  Gifford Shock has a fantastic sixteen points; Lord Karnage has a terrific fifteen points and an absolutely ridiculous ninety hits.  Jeltz, Zhukenov and 3 Moons are all around a point per game as well during this playoff run.  At the end of the day, for me it comes down to two players if Stockholm can pull out the series.  First, the aforementioned Lord Karnage really cannot go overlooked.  We all know he is a tremendous offensive contributor who is also a very physical player, so the fact that he has fifteen points in thirteen games is not that surprising.  Even the fact that he leads in hits isn’t that surprising.  However, the fact he leads in hits by forty-eight is incredible.  To be honest, I have no idea who has the record for most hits in a playoff campaign, but I would imagine that this has to be a threat for the record.  His pace for this playoffs (6.92) would have Karnage averaging 498 hits over a seventy-two game season.  Additionally, Karnage has also been impressive in the finals with five points and nineteen hits over three games.  However, his biggest opponent if Stockholm wins is definitely Ariel Weinstein.  The elite goaltender has had a tremendous playoff run where he leads in save percentage, goals-against-average and wins.  Despite the fact that they have lost two of the first three games against New York, Weinstein is still sporting good statistics thus far in the finals (1-2-0, .923 save percentage).  Therefore, if he can string together a couple very good games and maybe help Stockholm steal this series, the debate between Karnage and Weinstein could be a good one.
 

Edited February 29, 2016 by Advantage

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I previously predicted who I thought would win MVP, Top Defenseman, Top Goalie and Playoff MVP.  Now that the season has finished and the award ballots are soon to be distributed, I want to take a look at who is likely to win some of the awards that people forget about.  Top Rookie, Top Two-Way Forward and Most Improved will be the three awards that I will look at this week.

 

67 – Top Rookie Prediction: Joel Jarvi (COL) – As a rookie defender, you are not necessarily expected to contribute more than a decent amount of points and perhaps some good physical and defensive statistics.  It can be a difficult transition, but it is one that Joel Jarvi made quite easily this season.  The rookie defender recorded 67 points (to lead all rookies) and 44 hits to go along with his very impressive 139 blocked shots.  While Jarvi is not necessarily the most physical defender, he was the most productive rookie offensively and also was one of the best shot blockers in the league.  While Tom Lincoln and LeAndre St. Pierre should provide some good competition due to their similarly solid offensive campaigns, it will be the strong defensive statistics that should get Jarvi the award.

 

331 – Top Two-Way Forward Prediction: Lord Karnage (STO) – This, to me, is one of the biggest no brainers of this year’s awards.  While Simon Valmount has received a lot of recognition due to his 406 hits, his weaker offensive campaign that concluded with just 64 points could really hold him back.  While we do feel he may have been the best defensive forward this season, Karnage’s combination of 331 hits (good for second among forwards) and 112 points (the best of all candidates) should give him the edge in voting.  It shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise given that Karnage has won this award three consecutive years.  If he does win the Boulet Trophy for the fourth straight year, he will join David Smalling as the only players to ever do so in four consecutive seasons.  Additionally, he would join Smalling and Jenkins as the only players to ever win the award four times.  This will set up Karnage for a prime opportunity to win what would be a record fifth straight Boulet Trophy in season forty-eight.

 

81 – Most Improved Player Prediction: Jeff Hamilton (SEA) – This is another easy pick for me.  While there are other solid candidates like Phil Hamilton and Ariel Weinstein, Jeff Hamilton is the player that clearly demonstrated the most improvement from the season before.  Not only did he improve by forty-one points (40->81), but he also went from a -79 to a +8, and even improved his shot block total by twenty-four, despite being on a far better team.  More importantly, Jeff Hamilton went from a struggling young player to a candidate for the Sterling Labatte Trophy.  This is what the award should show; a player that has broken out into a star and one that will get a lot of award recognition for years to come.
 

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Shocked by how offensive the start of the season has been? Same.  We aren't too far into the year now but there are twenty-nine players who are at least a point-per-game this season, and yet the goalies have also returned to form.  This week's edition will look at the forward, defender and goalie who have stuck out the most so far.

 

16 - Max Molholt is once again proving that he is one of the best scorers in the Victory Hockey League.  The Legion forward currently leads the league in goals with sixteen in sixteen games and also finds himself tied for second in points.  Molholt is well surrounded this year with the likes of Zach Parechkin, Francis York Morgan, LeAndre St. Pierre and Benjamin Zeptenbergs having tremendous starts to their campaign.  The Legion currently find themselves in first place with a 14-1-1 record and a league best sixty-five goals.  Is it sustainable? Probably not.  However, it isn't like they've only played bad teams either.  They have already played six games vs. New York and accumulated a 4-1-1 record against them.  Although, we do expect Toronto to start falling back to earth offensively as they have combined for forty-two goals in eight games versus Calgary and Quebec.  Can't expect this to last as they move through this season, but their series against New York shows us that they are for real and Molholt is a huge reason why.

 

23 - While Francis York Morgan may be the favourite to win the Sterling Labatte Trophy, I find Joel Jarvi's start to the season more impressive.  He is just three points back of Morgan and still finds himself as one of the best shot blockers in the entire league.  Often the best offensive players struggle to block shots because they are on better teams who possess the puck all the time, but Joel Jarvi defied those odds last year with a great two-way performance. Once again, we are seeing him off to a campaign like that with a pace of 103 points and 171 blocked shots.  He may very well have a difficult time keeping that pace up, as there are not a lot of significant threats surrounding him.  However, they have faced good teams and bad and while they have not played New York or Toronto, they also have not had to face the lowly Wranglers.  All in all, I expect Jarvi to be somewhere around 90 points and 150 blocked shots at the end of the year, and that very well may be enough for a Labatte Trophy.

 

.938 - Who would have thought that Atticus Von Braxton IV would have such a great start to the season? The goalie has a 4-2-2 record with a .938 save percentage and 1.71 goals-against-average so far this season.  What is perhaps the most impressive aspect, is that most of the games he has played have been against Toronto, who lead the league in goals and points.  His play has really helped solidify New York as they look to successfully defend their Continental Cup victory from last season.  While we certainly do not expect Von Braxton to keep this pace up, it is pretty surprising to see how well he has done this year.  You have to assume he will be strong against weaker teams so to get six games out of the way against Toronto, and still keep a save percentage of almost .940, that is very impressive.  While he didn't really receive much buzz for the Top Rookie Trophy, you have to believe he is in the conversation with the likes of Black Velvet and Unassisted, with how well he has started this season.

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As I look to change things up this week, I would like to look at three players who have not played their best this year and have under performed for teams that really need their production.  Just because I like to keep things evened up, I included one forward, one defender and one goalie for examination.

 

19 - With just nineteen points in twenty-seven games, Jorma Ruutu has been a significant disappointment for the New York Americans this season.  The captain and a player who has been very well-liked for his leadership and two-way abilities, has struggled to produce offensively as the anchor to their second unit.  On a team with players like Reencarnacion, McJustice and Kyanon, it seems that Ruutu perhaps has slipped through the cracks and will now need to bounce back in order to salvage his season offensively.  Unfortunately, he is hardly on a hot streak with just three points in his last five games (despite the fact that the team has scored seventeen goals over this stretch).  The Americans, who have slipped recently, will need Ruutu to step it up offensively as he is one of their most dangerous threats on a team with a young goaltender that is not likely to post anywhere near the numbers that Blake Campbell had last season.

 

26 - While Phil Hamilton has not a terrible season, he really has not stepped it up like you expect an elite player too.  Hamilton has just twenty-six points in twenty-eight games which barely helps him crack the top ten for defenders in scoring.  While the Titans have had a good start to their season, they could really use more help from Phil who is barely outscoring the likes of Theo Matsikas and Pablo Escabar, on his own team.  The forwards and depth of Helsinki have helped make them the top offensive team in the European Conference, and their goaltending has been tremendous.  With that being said though, Phil Hamilton needs to be producing more than a point-per-game and the fact that he is not only under this mark but barely above some of the depth defenders on the team, isn't good enough even when he has been excellent in his own end.

 

.888 - I talked about him last week for his tremendous start, but Atticus von Braxton IV has really been slipping of late.  Over his last ten games, von Braxton IV has gone 5-5-0 with a .888 save percentage.  Atticus has dropped to fifth position in save percentage, tied with both Blake Campbell and Fedir Okranitz.  While it is unfair to criticize AVB too much given he is a rookie and shouldn't be a top tier player immediately, he simply needs to be better.  No one expects him to be one of the best in the league quite yet, but if you could get at least get above average play from him, it could send the Americans right to the Continental Cup Finals.  As it stands now though, the team has begun to struggle and is looking at just trying to hold onto a playoff spot.  While the positive news is that their goalie situation will only get better from here, will it be good enough come playoff time?

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88 - With nine more points than anyone else in the Victory Hockey League, Edwin Reencarnacion is likely the top candidate to be this year's best performing player.  His 88 points and 242 hits make him arguably the best two-way talent in the league, alongside the likes of Lord Karnage and Aleksi Koponen.  As of now, if I was predicting player awards, I have to think that he would be sweeping the great majority of the awards.  All in all, his 42 goals ranks him first in the league while his 46 assists rank him second, 242 hits rank him second, 64.62 FO% rank him second, 11 GWG rank him first and 105 PIM ranks him first.  In almost every league category, offensive or not, Edwin Reencarnacion is right near the top of the standings.  His eighty-eight points are not just going to help the Americans make the playoffs, but it may also pace him to a sweep of the top awards this season.

 

77 - Arcturus Mengsk is going to win the Sterling Labatte Trophy this season and this isn't even a point that can really be argued at this stage.  His 77 points put him 12 higher than anyone else in the league and it can be argued that he is the main reason that the Bears find themselves ahead of New York in the VHL standings.  His 33 goals impressively rank him fifth out of everyone in the league and his 44 assists still put him 6th in the league.  Mengsk, who is a well-respected top young player in the league, has surprised many with his play even showing off a very solid physical presence (137 hits) and a good defensive presence (+31, 79 blocked shots).  With many predicting the likes of Francis York Morgan and Joel Jarvi as the likely winners of the Labatte Trophy, it looks like Mengsk will be the player coming home with the trophy this season.

 

.932 - While Greg Clegane, Ariel Weinstein and Blake Campbell received most of the attention coming into this season, it is Hans Wingate that has the majority of the league talking right now.  His league best save percentage of .932 puts him first in the league while his 1.75 GAA and 34 wins has him pacing in second for both categories.  While he is hardly a lock to win the Aidan Shaw Trophy this season, given how tight the race between him and Greg Clegane is, it is Wingate that finds himself as arguably the league's top goalie once again.

 

 

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@STZ

 

Can have mine done by tomorrow.

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This 'By the Numbers' edition will look at the Seattle Bears and New York Americans series (as the European Conference first round has been completed) and see which three players are making a difference and need to play well in order for their team to win.  

 

.867 - Atticus Von Braxton IV (NYA) has made a difference in the wrong way so far in this series.  The rookie goaltender who had such an excellent season for the Americans, has really slipped in the first four games of this series, as he shows off his terrible .867 save percentage and mediocre 2.50 goals against average.  The Americans have a team with some great forwards and defenders with tons of experience and history showing them as top performers.  However, the one question going into the season was whether or not Atticus Von Braxton IV would be able to replace last year's Shaw Trophy winner, Blake Campbell.  While he performed admirably in the season, no one will remember his good play if he doesn't step it up in the playoffs, and help propel New York to the next round.

 

5 - Jeff Hamilton (SEA) is the leader of the Seattle Bears and he has proved to be quite the handful for the Americans through the first four games.  With two goals and three assists, Hamilton leads the Bears in points as a defenseman, while also playing excellent in his own end and blocking just shy of a dozen shots thus far.  Hamilton is the newest player of agent Jeff "Sterling James, and he is poised to become a Hall of Fame player with his season last year, this year and now a potential long playoff run if he can keep up his great pace.  While he is not flashy or overly physical, Hamilton emulates many of the same characteristics that the likes of Sterling Labatte did in the past, and that could lend very favorably towards the chances of the Bears.

 

6 - Jorma Ruutu (NYA) is a guy that often gets overlooked on a team with players of the caliber of Edwin Reencarnacion, Freedom McJustice and Biggu Kyanon.  However, the captain of the New York Americans has been an absolute threat so far in the first four games.  With three goals, three assists and seventeen hits, there has not been a more effective player for either team thus far.  This is uplifting news for Ruutu who was expecting to have another elite level year but struggled to produce at a clip that would satisfy his expectations (36 goals, 75 points in 72 games).  While there is a lot of time left in this series for other players to step up on New York, their captain has led the charge and may be their key offensive player if they want to win this series against Seattle.

 

 

 

 

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Will have my one for Devise up tomorrow.

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Its not all the time I get to write an article for a friend here in the Victory Hockey League, but this week it is all about Mr. Ryan Power and his time in the league thus far.  He paid for this so while I try not to kiss his ass too much, I may have to make some exceptions here.  Hard to believe that at what time Mr. Power was not a member of this league.  I believe I was here almost eight seasons before he signed up and created his first player, and there was even a time that I was not a big fan of him.  He was my GM when I had Sullivan and I wasn't really sure what to think.  I actually thought he was a kid and was surprised to find out that he was three years older than myself.  Eventually, he wasn't my GM and we proceeded to become friends but also rivals as we both GM'd in the VHLM.  He was pretty good but I took advantage of him on a few trades.  With that being said, as we all know his true calling in the VHL was his GM'ing at the higher level.  He was great at it and I do believe that had he managed for longer, he could go down as one of the best.  With that being said, I want to talk about his players for a little bit and focus a little less on him for a few paragraphs.

 

Rauno Pajari was the eighth overall pick by the Riga Reign in the Season Twenty-Four Draft.  While he would get overlooked by fellow draftees like Daniel Braxton, Nikolai Lebedev and even by the likes of Jarppi Leppala, Genghis Khan, Dougie Daniels and Gunnar Axelson.  However, it would be the agent of Pajari that would become the most influential member on this league by the end of Rauno's career.  Pajari would never in a Continental Cup in his career and he never won any individual awards.  He was a one-time all-star who recorded 356 points in 360 games and was a +121.  With that being said, Rauno Pajari was the opening player in the agency of Mr. Power's and would lead him on to greater things in his career.  While he fell short of some of his goals in his five year VHL career, there were future opportunities to accomplish these goals that he would take advantage of.

 

Skylar Rift was the second player in Power's agency and the goalie was immediately ushered in under a new era of goaltenders that included Remy LeBeau and Tuomas Tukio.  Rift had an elite start to his career as he was the starting goaltender when the New York Americans would finally break their curse after years of disappointment.  On top of winning the cup in his rookie year, Rift would also take home the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy with a 40-18-6 record, 2.35 goals against average and .912 save percentage.  Skylar Rift would become the seventh goaltender to win the trophy and in the same off-season would be traded for future Hall of Fame defenseman, Ryan Sullivan.  Rift would play one season on Calgary before moving onto Quebec and finding the majority of his success there.  Rift would finish with a 221-75-22 record, a 2.12 goals against average and a .923 save percentage.  More importantly, Rift would finish his career with two Continental Cup victories (one with New York and one with Quebec) to go along with his Stolzschweiger Trophy, a Daisuke Kanou Trophy (for Playoff MVP) and an Aidan Shaw Trophy (for Top Goalie).  The accomplishments he would never reach with Rauno Pajari, Mr. Power would achieve them with Skylar Rift and it was here where the Power Agency really started to gain momentum.

 

Logan Laich was the third player of the Power Agency and he would come sooner than expected when Power decided to retire Rift early and push to help develop a physical leader that scores almost exclusively goals.  Sadly for Power, Laich would become more of a joke during his long career in the Victory Hockey League.  It started slowly with a tough first couple of seasons with New York and would continue with some under performing years on the Cologne Express.  It isn't that Rift couldn't score goals or be physical.  In fact, that is probably what he was best at.  He would finish his career with 172 goals and 351 points to go along with 1900 hits in 504 Victory Hockey League games.  Laich would simply never develop the offensive firepower needed to become a true two-way physical player.  The one year he would make the all-star team (and probably the one where he had his most success) was as a defender after deciding to switch towards the defensive side of the ice.  Unfortunately it does not seem that Laich was what Power was hoping for and unfortunately he never really reached the impressive goal total or even the two-way goals that he aspired for.

 

It seemed that Logan Laich drained some of Mr. Power's interest in the Victory Hockey League.  Thaddeus Humbert has been a solid defensive defender through most of his career, but he has never really shown himself to be anything but a solid defender that can chip in here and there offensively.  Up until this past year, he has recorded 170 points in 360 games with 144 hits and 369 blocked shots.  These are nothing to write home about and that is part of the reason the Americans decided to convert Humbert to center where he can show off his playmaking and defensive skills alongside the likes of Edwin Reencarnacion and Freedom McJustice.  As a center in his first year, Humbert recorded 45 points and a 60.38 FO%.  Additionally, he also did not take a single penalty which makes him a prime candidate to win the Mikka Virkkunen Trophy.  While Thaddeus is starting at a new position and really hasn't had a great start to his career, it does seem that he is trending up and that is a great sign for the Americans and the Power Agency going forward.

 

While I can talk about all four players Mr. Power has created, his real contributions to this league are not from his players.  He could finish with zero Hall of Famers and he is still an absolute lock to make the Hall of Fame as a builder.  He has been arguably the most involved member of the Board of Governors over the last decade and has been looked at as a leader in these league for quite some time.  Ryan is one of the league's better posters, and someone who represents everything that is great about our community.  He has also been one of the most successful General Managers ever with three David Knight Trophies which ties him with the likes of Mike Szatkowski, Jason Glasser and Christopher Miller for the most ever.  He is someone who the league should admire and while not all of his players have had the most success, the league has been bettered thanks to Power's impact on the league outside of the sim.

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WORLD CUP EDITION

 

38 - Team Canada is in first place in the World Cup Round Robin and it is not because of their goaltending.  The team surrendered the second most goals with Atticus Von Braxton IV posting a pretty abysmal .895 SV% and 3.27 GAA.  The reason the team finished with a 7-3 record is because of their offense which has scored thirty-eight goals, which puts them second in the tournament.  Marcel Faux and Bronson Faux lead the team in scoring with sixteen and fifteen points respectively but it really has been a team effort offensively.  Six players on the team are at at least a point per game while two others have recorded eight points in the ten games.  Team Canada has a tough journey ahead of them and they certainly need Von Braxton IV to really step up because while he is not an elite goalie in this league, he is also not this bad.  In the end, the offense has been carrying them, but that may not be enough to win the Gold Medal.

 

18 - Jorma Ruutu is the leading scorer in this tournament as he continues his great play from his playoff run with New York.  The winger has eighteen points in ten games and is a huge part of the offense that is trying to carry the young and inexperienced Sven Wolf to a Gold Medal.  Ruutu also has recorded twenty-nine hits and has made a huge different in special teams situations with four points so far.  Ruutu has been joined by the likes of Max Molholt (seventeen points), Simon Valmount (thirteen points) and Aleksi Koponen (twelve points), as the leading contributors on this top offensive team.  Team Scandinavia is the only team with more goals than Canada and if they can continue their tremendous offensive play, with the likes of Ruutu leading the way, they may be a tough team to knock out even with Sven Wolf tending the net.  

 

.935 - Sandro Clegane is the man trying to carry the Mercenaries to their first Gold Medal victory.  The team of castoffs are being led by the goalie who has posted a tournament best .935 save percentage and the second best GAA with 2.10.  He is also the only goalie with multiple shutouts and has been doing this on the worst offensive team in the tournament (twenty-three goals).  The Mercenaries don't have much in front of Clegane with E'Twaun Delicious, Kendrick Cole and Bubba Nuck leading the charge, but they have managed to become a darkhorse that everyone is cheering for with Sandro Clegane leading the way.  The elite goaltender of the Bears has once again showed up and he may have a chance to carry this team to the Gold, if their offense can step it up in the Elimination Round.

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103 - I feel like every year I write about how Max Molholt is just destroying the league, with this season proving to be no different.  Molholt currently leads the league in scoring with 103 points in 49 games.  He currently also leads the league in assists with 66 and is fifth in goals with 37.  This ridiculous pace would see the veteran forward finish with just over 150 points, which would be a career best for him and one of the single most impressive offensive seasons in quite some time.  As of now, it would be easy to call him one of the leading candidates for several awards, and on top of that, he has led Toronto to an incredible start in the North American Conference.

 

49 - Jorma Ruutu needs to get some love along with Molholt.  Ruutu is a forward playing for the Americans and after coming off a slightly disappointing season last year, Jorma has responded by exploding to 46 goals in 49 games.  He currently leads the league in goals as he has three more than Freedom McJustice and seven more than the Meute's Tom Lincoln.  Ruutu, who is well known for being a great leader and physical player, also sees himself in the top ten in hits with 172 and fourth in points for 93.  While Aleksi Koponen is certainly the overwhelming favourite for the Boulet Trophy, look for Jorma Ruutu to be in the conversation at the end of the year.

 

1.54 - It has been a decent year for goalies but Greg Clegane is clearly in a league of his own at the moment.  The Meute goaltender currently sports the best save percentage (.933), the best GAA (1.54), the most shutouts (14) and the second most wins (38).  How good are these numbers? With eighteen games remaining for Clegane, he finds himself in some pretty interesting record talk.  While his current save percentage would only sneak himself into a tie for the 24th best in a single season, his shutouts and GAA totals are definitely looking far more promising.  Clegane currently sits just 5 shutouts back of CAL G's record for most in a single season with 19.  Even as it stands now, Clegane is tied for the second most ever alongside Steve LaFramboise and Blake Campbell.  Additionally, if the season ended today, Greg Clegane would have set a new standard for the best GAA in a single season.  The current record is held by CAL G with 1.60 but as of now, Clegane finds himself just six points lower than that mark.  If he can hold on, that would be an incredible record set.

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Magazine 290 - All Star Edition

 

This week's By The Numbers will look at three players who were recently traded.  They all just happen to be All-Stars and we will see how these three All-Stars are trending going into the All-Star Game.

 

1.43 - Jeff Hamilton, whose agent has represented the likes of Sterling Labatte, Alexander Labatte, James Bencharski, Grimm Jonsson and Tom Slaughter, has had an incredible season so far.  Since being traded by Seattle to the Quebec City Meute, Hamilton has recorded 33 points in 23 games, blocking easily over a shot per game and handling just under 33 minutes per game.  He has been an absolute workhorse for the Meute, and while his stretch for the Bears this season was good as well, the way he has played with Quebec might help him bring some hardware home this season.  His play has earned him an All-Star birth as he has combined for 72 points, 81 hits and 95 blocked shots in just 59 games.  He is expected to be one of the league's best defenders and that will likely continue to be the case going forward.

 

19 - Lord Karnage is also trending upwards since being moved to the New York Americans.  He has recorded 19 points in 11 games for the blue, red and white.  This is a far cry from his disappointing start to the season with the Vikings which saw the four time Boulet Trophy winner record just 44 points in 50 games.  While his surrounding core is likely the reason to blame, it's hard to argue that he has been anything short of spectacular for New York so far.  Lord Karnage has also recorded 258 hits to go along with his 63 points to make him, once again, one of the best two-way threats in the league.  He is trending upwards as the New York Americans are looking for a spark to keep up with Toronto and Quebec who are currently one and two in the North American Conference.

 

2.89 - Atticus Von Braxton is trending down going into the All-Star game.  After being traded from the elite New York Americans team, it wasn't too surprising that he couldn't keep his pace up with the Stockholm Vikings.  Alas, Von Braxton has fallen a bit with a .925 save percentage and 2.89 GAA.  He also sports a 7-24-0 record, which isn't anything to write home about, but is expected given the team in front of AVB.  There are some who are surprised that he has kept a decent pace on the Vikings, but this writer sees him struggling as the season continues, leading to a save percentage in the lower 920's.  While he has held his own, it's going to be tough for him to handle the workload with how many shots he sees in Stockholm.

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Will have mine done by 8ish @STZ

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@STZ never mind..something came up that required my attention.  Ill submit one next week

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3 - The New York Americans were knocked out of the first round in six games after making two big moves to acquire both Ariel Weinstein and Lord Karnage.  While they had their struggles at times during the season, many thought they would hit their stride with the newly acquired Karnage and take off into the finals.  However, Toronto proved them wrong and dismantled New York in six.  Why? The New York Americans surrendered three goals per game (eighteen over the six games).  When playing a top notch goaltender in Hans Wingate, you really cannot afford to struggle that much in your own end.  While Wingate did not have a banner series, surrendering seventeen himself, he stepped it up in games six and seven, surrendering two in each of those all-important games.  Now the New York Americans have to get back to the drawing board as they lose Karnage and now need to figure out what the next step is for the team that has made the playoffs in six consecutive seasons.

 

7 - Lets be honest with ourselves, no one thinks Riga is going anywhere in their current playoff run.  However, after slipping past the Dynamo, Riga finds themselves the underdogs once again versus the Express, and yet still stand 1-1 through the first two games.  Why? Their offense has been absolutely exceptional, scoring twenty-eight in the nine games they have played.  Additionally, seven players on the Riga Reign are over a point-per-game, with Jordan Maverick leading the way with twelve points.  Of course, this is the same Riga Reign team who only has one player above 300 TPE in Bronson Faux.  Therefore, the fact that the two top players offensively so far during this playoff run, combine for around 580 TPE is rather ridiculous.  Nevertheless, the Reign could very well be the surprise horse in this year's race for the Continental Cup.  While they are still very unlikely to move on past the Express, you can never count out a team in the Victory Hockey League.

 

12 - Frankly, Jordan Maverick needs his own category with how well he has played during this playoff run for the Reign.  Maverick currently leads all players in scoring with twelve points, goals with seven and hits with thirty.  He has been the steady force behind the Reign's surprising play and could be the guy who drives them past the Express.  In terms of training, Maverick would be the fourth best on Cologne, yet here he is with all the talent on the ice, leading the way in practically every category.  Admittedly, I don't think he can keep it up because I don't see the Reign taking out the Express.  While they did have an offensive explosion in game two, I imagine that Cologne will get it together and prove why they earned that bye into the second round.  While Riga certainly has the confidence right now, they are going to need the likes of Maverick and Faux to propel them past the big green engine in Cologne.

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This season is upon us and it is time to look at one team, one skater and one goaltender who are off to tremendous starts to their season.

 

27 - Francis York Morgan is setting a historical pace through the first twelve games of this young season.  The defenseman (yes, believe it or not) has recorded an absolutely ridiculous ten goals and seventeen assists through twelve games.  Additionally, he has twenty-four hits and eighteen blocked shots, and he is doing all of this on a very good HC Davos Dynamo squad.  Those statistics put him fourth in goals, first in assists and first in points among all VHL skaters.  His pace would see him record sixty goals, one-hundred and two assists, one-hundred and forty-four hits and one-hundred and eight blocked shots.  Those offensive statistics would essentially signify that Francis York Morgan has had the greatest offensive season from any defender of all-time.  Will this likely continue to be the case? No, I cannot see it.  Morgan is a fine defender but his pace is not one that he can keep up.  What has likely helped contribute to this great start is playing ten games versus New York, Riga and Calgary.  Three teams who don’t have deep rosters and are not significant threats.  I expect Morgan will be a threat for the Sterling Labatte Trophy, but even then, I could see others catch up once they face some of the weaker teams in the league.

 

9 - Speaking of unexpected starts to the season, the Helsinki Titans are currently off to a tremendous start to their campaign.  They currently hold a record of 9-3-0 and have won against teams including the Seattle Bears, Cologne Express and the Quebec City Meute.  Kendrick Cole has really led the way for the Titans with seventeen points and rookies Thor Odinsson and Shayne Gow have been right there with him, recording sixteen and fourteen respectively.  This is another case where I don’t necessarily see them keeping this pace up.  The Titans are certainly on the rise, but they are not exactly a contender and I definitely think that Cologne, Davos and possibly even Riga will find themselves above the Titans at the end of the season.

 

.938 – Speaking of reasons why Helsinki is having a great season…here might be the number one major factor.  Dmitri Dadonov is off to a blistering start to the year.  Dadonov currently sports a 9-3-0 record with a 2.05 GAA and .938 Save Percentage.  He also has two recorded shutouts, and he has done all this with a defense group that features a rookie and Theo Matsikas.  Neither are number one defenders, and frankly, neither are ideal number one pairing defenders.  Nevertheless, Dadonov has shut down opposing offenses unlike other goalies like Atticus Von Braxton IV and Ariel Weinstein who also both see lots of shots per game.  While this pace isn’t likely to keep up, and could easily drop with the Titans likely to drop, but he definitely could be among the better goaltenders when it comes to the statistical categories.  In fact, I see Dadonov being in the same statistical tier at the end of the year with Wingate, Zhumbayev, the Clegane’s and Weinstein. 

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This week is all about the rookies because I frankly do not think they are featured enough in my articles.  Therefore, for good or bad reasons, I want to take a look at three rookies who are making headlines for one reason or another at this current juncture.

 

29 – Lets start with the obvious.  Thor Odinsson is currently leading all rookies with twenty-nine points in twenty-six games.  While he is not the only one to crack the twenty point mark (Gow, Donovan and Axelsson all find themselves with at least twenty), he is the only current rookie to be over a point-per-game.  Additionally, he also has a fantastic seventeen goals so far which puts him on pace for an insane forty-seven goals.  This would be a great total for any forward, much less a rookie on a young team that still needs to develop a lot.  Odinsson isn’t a top ten scorer in the league at the moment, or anything like that, but rather finds himself solidly fifth in goals and fifteenth in points.  If he can keep it up, Odinsson might just run away with the Stolzy this season.

 

2 – That is the amount of rookies who are featured on this years Stockholm Vikings squad.  While that is actually less than the Helsinki Titans and Calgary Wranglers (who have a remarkable eight rookies), it is noteworthy because they are really the two significant talents up front for the Vikings.  Maxwell has recorded thirteen goals and nineteen points while Ravenwing has fourteen assists and seventeen points.  Neither player has probably produced at the level they would like to, but their GM is looking forward to see how they develop.  “To me they are two of the best young players we have in the Victory Hockey League.  This year will be difficult for them due to our rebuild, but I see them persevering and helping others out as we continue to develop our roster.  We have several prospects that we expect to make the jump next year, and these two will be looked at as leaders for them.”  No other player on the Vikings has recorded more than four goals or eight points, so these two really are the life and blood of their offense.

 

0.5 – Sven Wolf is one of the top young rookies in the Victory Hockey League, but has unfortunately also been one of the most disappointing ones in his first season.  Wolf, who is a season fifty prospect, was expected to fill a good role on the Bears and try and benefit from having more developed players like AK47 and Podarok helping him along.  Unfortunately, Sven has recorded just two goals and twelve points in this young season.  While these aren’t awful numbers for a rookie, Wolf was expected to at least hit the 40-50 point mark.  Instead, there are questions about him even cracking thirty, which is concerning.  We believe that Wolf will pick it up and finish in the forty point range, but he needs to get it going to have the rookie season he expects from himself.

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This week I want to look at three teams and how their results have been slightly surprising given what they have to work with.

 

40 - Lets start with the obvious one.  While no one thought the Vikings would do anything special given that they are going through a rebuild, and the majority of their actives are in the VHLM, their season is still rather shocking due to how potentially historic it is.  As it is now, the Vikings have a 3-33-2 record with just 40 goals for and 127 against.  While the 127 against is certainly not an impressive number, and may be considered surprising given their goalie is their best player, but that really is not the truly shocking statistic.  The Vikings have scored 40 goals in 38 games.  They barely are a goal-per-game team which is frustrating to Vikings fans, management and players but great for the other goalies in the league.  The Vikings have scored 32 goals less than the next worst team, which is the Calgary Wranglers.  I do see their offense spiking up a bit as Ravenwing and Maxwell get better, but Stockholm will likely still un-impress for the rest of the year.  The brightside is that they have a very solid group of prospects that will be up next year, and a potentially very good free agent class to use their money on.

 

119 - Looking at the other side of the goals spectrum, the Quebec City Meute have gone on to a solid start to the season, mainly due to their 119 goals that they have scored this year.  Greg Clegane has not been what he was supposed to be, as the goaltender has recorded a .919 save percentage and 2.09 GAA.  While those hardly terrible numbers, they are not exactly as good as the Meute were hoping they would be.  Clegane, who is widely considered one of the best goaltenders in the league, has been led by his offense which has been the very best in the VHL.  Five players (Tom Lincoln, Unassisted, John Sleeman, Aleksi Koponen, Jeff Hamilton) are well over a PPG with Lincoln leading the way with his 61 points.  They already have three twenty goal scorers and Sleeman who is at 19.  Given we are just 36 games into the season, this is pretty ridiculous.  If the Meute keep it up, they could be a huge threat to Toronto, as we see Clegane stepping it up and leading the way in the playoffs.

 

95.64 - For me, this is the reason the Seattle Bears could find themselves outside of the playoff picture in not too long.  The Bears have recorded a 95.64 PP+PK percentage, which is signfiicantly worse than the Wranglers 105.16.  While some find these to be rather minuscule, over a whole season, this kind of differential can lead to a rather drastic difference in the standings.  As of now, Seattle has been the better 5-on-5 team, but with the Bears and Wranglers being two of the most penalized teams in the Victory Hockey League, special teams will be a crucial statistic that will greatly effect which team makes it and which team finds themselves in fourth or even fifth if the Americans can top them.  Currently, the Bears and Americans have the fourth and fifth best PP+PK percentage, and it just so happens that they are the two teams currently outside of the playoffs.

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@STZ Just got home from girlfriend babysitting (got her wisdom teeth out).  I can finish my article on my lunch tomorrow as I need sleep.

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This week’s edition of By The Numbers will be more of a regular addition as I will look at three players who are standing out for all of the right reasons.

 

98 – Tom Lincoln currently sits atop the league’s scoring leaders, and it really isn’t all that close.  The Meute forward has recorded 98 points in 61 games and currently has a 12 point lead over his teammate Unassisted and a 13 point lead over Toronto’s Edwin Reencarnacion.  Lincoln’s 43 goals is good enough to be second in the league, just two back of Reencarnacion, while his 55 assists has him four above anyone else in the Victory Hockey League.  It is realistic to think that Tom Lincoln may lead the league in goals, assists and points.  While the Meute are still ten points back of the Legion for first in the Conference, Lincoln seems prepared to not only win some individual hardware, but potentially his very first Continental Cup as well.

 

2 – There are two true candidates at this point for the Sterling Labatte Trophy.  One is Francis York Morgan who is a defender playing for the Davos Dynamo.  Davos is a very strong team in the European Conference and Morgan is one of the main reasons why.  He currently leads all defenders in scoring with 76 points and despite the strength of his team, he is one of the league’s best shot blockers with 110.  Additionally, he has recorded a solid 77 hits which shows that he is a very solid all-around defender with the ability to produce at an elite offensive rate.  The other candidate is Jeff Hamilton, who is second in scoring for defenders with 68 in 61 games.  While he is eight points back, which is not necessarily a small amount, he does have more hits with 91 and more blocked shots with 122.  While there are other really good defenders putting together solid seasons, like Black Velvet and Phil Hamilton, I feel that their offensive contributions are just a little too far back at this point.  The one thing that may separate the two for voters is that Morgan is nowhere near as active at this stage of his career in the training facility, while Hamilton is only continuing to better himself and work hard towards being the best.

 

.939 – Finally, let’s take a look at the reason the Toronto Legion are currently the best team in the league.  Despite having the third best offense in the league, the Legion find themselves ten points ahead of anyone else in either Conference.  Why? They have allowed the least amount of goals by 14! Hans Wingate has been masterful this season in easily one of the best goaltending performances in quite some time.  He boasts a league best 41 wins, 1.45 GAA, .939 save percentage and 11 shutouts.  Yes, he leads the VHL in EVERY SINGLE CATEGORY!  At this point he is well on pace to best Greg Clegane’s GAA record of 1.57, and while he is a ways off from the save percentage record of Anton Nygard, his current statistics would put him fifth on the list and just one point back from being tied for second with the likes of Nygard, Alex Gegeny and Benoit Devereux.  In other words, he is in some ridiculous company.  Regardless of what happens, Hans Wingate making a huge name for himself in his later VHL years and after a likely Scotty Campbell Trophy, the question will be if he is perhaps deserved of being considered up there with Shaw, Kanou and some of the other top notch goaltenders in league history.

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This week I really wanted to do 300 different snippets on By The Numbers.  Ultimately though, I am far too lazy to do that.  Therefore, I wanted to do a playoff edition of this article while also necessarily connecting it to the 300^th edition concept.  I am thrilled to be a member of this team and I have been since before Edition 100.  Here is my submission for the 300^th edition of the VHL Magazine!

 

3 – The Toronto Legion are going to try and become the first team to win three consecutive Continental Cups.  As a former General Manager who managed some very excellent teams, this is quite a crazy possibility.  Twice I thought that I had a good chance at repeating but to think that a team could potentially three-peat is incredible.  Last season, the Legion became the sixth team to ever repeat as Continental Cup champions, and just the second to do so since Season Twenty-Five.  Now, with the Legion up 1-0 in their finals matchup with the Dynamo, they could very well make history once again.

 

0 – The amount of games that the Calgary Wranglers won in their first round matchup with the Quebec City Meute.  Now, no one pegged them to beat Quebec.  Simply put, take away Weinstein and they are very simply a bad team.  Their offense is led by rookie Theo Axelsson, and while he is an excellent young forward, he is not good enough to lead a top contender anywhere.  With all that being said, I was a little surprised and disappointed to see Weinstein not steal at least one game away for Calgary.  However, on the backs of Koponen, Lincoln and Clegane, this became a clear and definitive reality.

 

0 – The amount of chance I give the Davos Dynamo of beating the Toronto Legion.  I really felt that the best chance of Toronto losing was against Quebec.  The Meute have Koponen, Lincoln, Sleeman, Hamilton, Unassisted, Humbert and Clegane.  That is seven legitimately very good players and they couldn’t even beat the Toronto Legion.  Much of the reason being that Hans Wingate continues to prove that he belongs alongside the greatest names to ever play goal in the Victory Hockey League.  As it stands now, Wingate has a .942 save percentage and as long as he plays like he can against Davos, they have zero chance at beating him and he will make some history himself, becoming the first goalie to win three Aidan Shaw Trophies and three Daisuke Kanou Trophies.  It would be an incredible accomplishment and one that would cement his career as arguably the greatest of all-time.

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This week we will look at three key free agents and how they could really change things this off-season.

 

1065 - Aleksi Koponen is more than likely the top Free Agent available with 1065 TPE to date.  He is an elite forward and one who could really change things for some of the top teams in the league.  Perhaps he could even take a mediocre team and make them a contender.  Regardless, besides the fact that he is a guy to watch due to his TPE, he also has a good relationship with the likes of STZ and Higgins, which could make him a major piece given the guys who could follow, if he does sign with a team that has money to spend.  One thing is for sure, we expect that he will be a huge contributor wherever he goes as he should be one of the league favourites to top the scoring charts at the end of next season.  With two seasons left, he may want to go for the cup, but either way, he should end up in a place where he can score a whole lot.

 

808 – Greg Clegane could be a very interesting Free Agent this year.  There are definitely some potentially really good teams who could make a run at him like Toronto and Cologne.  Stockholm has expressed interest which leads most to believe that AVB IV would retire if they acquired him.  While Stockholm is looking to be big players this off-season, an offer from two guaranteed good clubs in Toronto and Cologne, may be too hard for Victor to pass up.  With that being said, the potential is there for this player to make the biggest impact of anyone on the market.  We have all seen what Wingate has done for Toronto, and for the next two years, Clegane could do that for someone else.

 

681 – If we were just looking at the most valuable free agent available, it would have to be Black Velvet.  While Unassisted and Kohler certainly would make it tight, Black Velvet’s agency has a history of producing some of the most prolific talents in VHL history.  Tuomas Tukio himself came from that agency, and Black Velvet appears to be off to a wonderful start.  With almost 700 TPE already, Velvet ha the ability to give a team up to five years of elite service on the backend.  With the defensive position not being quite as strong as it used to be, a player like Velvet could truly take a team from average to a legit Continental Cup contender.  He is that good and you can bet he will see a lot of interest this off-season.

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Its been a few editions since I talked to you guys about the league happenings.  This week I want to bring you an edition strictly about this season's results, and specifically about three specific statistics that are just absurd at this juncture.  These parties are having seasons that we don't necessarily see every season, and deserve to have their accomplishments showed off in the Magazine.

 

.946 - Through fifty games this season, there is not a single goaltender who is even on the same tier as Toronto's Greg Clegane.  The veteran netminder is currently on record pace with a 1.46 GAA and is just three points off the save percentage record.  One, that this writer felt was absolutely untouchable in this day and age.  What is perhaps more ridiculous is that Clegane has still lost fifteen out of fifty games, despite this amazing play.  The main reason is likely that the Legion's depth just simply isn't there at this point of the season, but perhaps that does not matter.  We have seen goalies carry teams through the playoffs and the way Clegane is playing, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if they give Calgary a run.  The Wranglers are definitely the better team, but we have also certainly seen stranger things happen.  One thing is for sure, Clegane is easily taking that Shaw Trophy home this season.

 

83 - Zach Parechkin and Max Molholt have had tremendous seasons so far this year.  Both have hit the forty goal plateau and currently combined sit at eighty three goals through fifty games.  This puts the teammates on a 61 and 57 goal place respectfully.  This is absurd..in fact the last time that two teammates have hit 60 goals each was Season 35, when both Michal Wozniak and Volodymyr Rybak hit the plateau.  Therefore, if Molholt can pick up his pace a bit and Parechkin maintain his, we could see another piece of history happen.  The Legion have played Stockholm just five times and Davos three times, so there is definitely a chance for these two to both hit that ridiculous total to match their goaltenders impressive season.

 

91 - The Calgary Wranglers went out this off-season and struck gold.  This may not be a long-term thing for Calgary, but they are certainly taking advantage of it while they have the likes of Velvet, Draper, Unassisted and Kohler.  At this moment, the Wranglers find themselves with a 44-3-3 record.  While they certainly cannot challenge the S1 Wranglers who had a 69-3-0 season...they could very easily make their way onto the top ten list of most wins by a team in a single season.  At the moment, Calgary is on pace to win 63 games which would put them tied with Season 5 Seattle for second on that list.  Even if they do drop a slight bit, all they have to do is win 61 games (17 of their last 22) in order to be tied for 4th and go down as the best regular season team since Season 33 Helsinki.  One interesting tidbit though, is that of the sixteen teams who find themselves alone or tied in the top ten for wins, only six of them would go on to win the Continental Cup.  The odds may not necessarily always be in favor for the league's best regular season squad.