VHL By The Numbers

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For Mag 306 - Since I will be in Alberta

 

Season Fifty-Two continues to look ever so impressive as many players have continued to progress at a very high level.  This article will look at three players to watch out for going into this year's draft class.

 

183 - Phil Shankly is undoubtedly the top player in this draft at the moment.  With 183 TPE, he is about 30 TPE ahead of Jokinen and the rest of the pack.  The Englishman is looking at the possibility of playing for the Stockholm Vikings, who own two potential top four picks, and he has been vocal about having some interest.  With that being said, he also feels the Vasteras Iron Eagles were the better location and name.  Regardless of all that, Shankly should definitely go top-two with potentially Jokinen going ahead due to positional need.  Both are top end prospects and they should both be potential future Hall of Fame talents.  This draft is loaded with elite talent, and Shankly leads the pack to say the least.

 

0 - Edwin Threencarnacion was the goalie I felt was the top one going into this draft, but it does seem he has been passed by Rhett DeGrath.  Threencarnacion has seemed to stall a bit in his progression with 0 TPE earned this past couple weeks, and has fallen to number eight in the draft rankings.  Some speculate that this is because he wants to go to an elite team rather than someone like Stockholm or New York, while others feel that he is recovering from an injury and will get his training back up to an elite level soon enough.  Whatever is the case, Threencarnacion is my pick for the prospect to watch right now.  Either he will make a case for himself to go ahead of DeGrath, or I could see him completely stumbling and falling potentially close to the end of the first round.  In all reality, expect this guy to pick it back up and become elite once again.

 

30 - Lee King Snatch is a very interesting player to watch.  Not only is he a member of the famous and very successful Smarch agency, but he has been training a lot with Hall of Famer Conner Low, who in my opinion is the greatest defenseman of all-time.  With that being said, Snatch seems to be more of a raw prospect and there are a lot of people who seem to feel that he could easily fall out of the first round, and maybe even down to the third.  With just thirty TPE, Snatch finds himself tied for twenty-second, but we also know that this is not how we measure a raw talent like Snatch.  His potential is among the highest in this draft, and while he is a bit of an unknown, that could mean that a real solid team will take a chance on him if he falls towards the latter half of the first round or maybe even the first few picks of the second round.  That is where GM's will take chances and move on someone like Snatch.

 

 

[STZ 5,360]

Thanks for submitting in advance for this. Hope you're havin fun with your girl 8)

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This years All-Star Game promises to be one filled with lots of high scoring and the usual strong play from some of the league's top players.  However, this week I want to look at three players who could be the dark horses to put out a MVP performance in this season's mid-season classic.

 

48 - Thor Odinsson is having a second consecutive blistering year to start his career in the Victory Hockey League.  The winger has recorded 48 goals and 97 points in 68 games, leading the Meute in points and just one goal back of Sleeman.  However, what really fuels this writer's opinion that he could tear up the ASG, is just how hot he is lately.  The sophomore has recorded 14 goals and 31 points in the 18 games he has played since being traded to Quebec.  Additionally, he will have a chance to potentially be teamed up with fellow Meute All-Star, John Sleeman, who currently sits first on the team in goals with 49 and second in points with 94.  The Meute are looking like a two player offense going forward this season, and Thor Odinsson is a big part of that.  Lucky for Thor, he won't be counted on quite as heavily in the All-Star Game.  With that being said, I think his young legs and incredible skill could feature well in an event that generally sees a lot of goals scored.

 

98 - Tom Lincoln is another forward that I feel will break out and dominate the All-Star Game.  The Cologne forward has had a tremendous season with 45 goals and 98 points to his total, while playing for a solid Express roster.  Lincoln is one of our main picks because of how effective he has been at even strength play.  With 39 goals and 85 points at even strength, Lincoln has been one of the league's best five-on-five producers.  In a setting that generally doesn't see a lot of penalties, this could very well work in Lincoln's favor, as he will see a lot of even strength situations in the offensive zone.  Additionally, Lincoln is someone who generally does not like to get hit, so this environment could serve him well here as well.  With less hits going around, I expect Tom Lincoln will find more room than usual and that should allow for his skating and his hands to take over against these high-powered squads.  While some may not consider him a dark horse, I feel that Lincoln will get overlooked given his team not standing out like the Wranglers squad does, leading him to be a potential dark horse MVP in the game.

 

.940 - Most wouldn't say that the clear front runner for a major award would be a dark horse for the MVP.  However, with how offense is almost always the star in these All-Star Games, I believe that Greg Clegane, who is by many a favourite to win multiple awards, could very well steal the game for his team.  Clegane has recorded a .940 save percentage and 1.50 GAA to go along with 45 wins and 15 shutouts.  His numbers are impeccable and he is definitely a potential League MVP favourite given how well he has performed, and how much he has helped the Legion overcome issues with their offensive depth.  Clegane will be in tough against some of the league's best offensive players, but I do feel that if any goalie can impact the game in a way where they steal the show, it has to be this guy.  His track record is too strong and his season is too hot.  Like goaltenders of the past, Greg Clegane has the ability to steal games in ways where you may just not expect it.  Look for him to put together a strong performance this year.

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This week I want to look forward to Season Fifty-Three and more specifically the draft that will take place.  It will our second draft with the ten player rule, and I for one am very excited to see who will rise to the top and become elite players in the Victory Hockey League.  This week I want to look at some facts about this illustrious draft.

 

75 - Franchise Cornerstone is undoubtedly the top prospect in this draft.  There are some other really great ones, but Cornerstone has both an agency with elite history and far more practice hours than anyone in his draft class.  Cornerstone comes from the Boubabi agency who ran the Lord Karnage show and has had success previous to the Hall of Famer as well.  While at times, the agency generally represents controversial clients, there is no doubting the elite production that comes from them.  Cornerstone looks no difference at this juncture.  The smooth skating Mongolian pivot has a knack of getting into open areas and burying the biscuit in the basket.  While there is a long way to go for Cornerstone to hit the levels of a Lord Karnage, there is also the clear case that he probably has the best chance to hit such levels of anyone in this draft.

 

2 - Two GM Players have so far been created for this draft.  While those players, Jacob (created by Higgins) and Brock Dragonslayer (created by Advantage), will not be in the draft specifically, they will be a reflection on how much great talent may just come out of this class. The Higgins agency has a ridiculously consistent and long history of creating excellent players with Hall of Fame goalie Tuomas Tukio being his most famous.  The Advantage agency too has quite a history with both Ryan Sullivan and Brick Wahl being inducted for them.  With that being said, while Higgins has been consistent, Advantage's agency has been representing clients of late who just don't seem to have the long-term devotion to the sport.  Both Benjamin Dupont and Atticus von Braxton IV retired early, despite clear talent and a defined place in the VHL.  When asked about this, an agency representative had this to say: "While Ben and Atty did not work out as planned, they still improved quite a bit and showed off great talent.  With that being said, we see Brock in a very different light.  He is excited to go to the VHL and be a Hall of Famer.  Neither of the previous two players ever showed that kind of ambition and just wanted to make the league.  Brock wants to do more than make the league."

 

14 - There are currently fourteen players in this draft class, with twelve eligible to actually be in the draft.  Among this is four centers, four wingers, two defenders and two goaltenders.  The top prospects at this moment are likely Cornerstone, Xander Finn (who is from the illustrious Jericho agency), Sharpe (who also comes from a strong agency) and Locke.  Dragonslayer and Jacob also figure into this conversation which gives this class quite a group of top end talents.  However, not to be overlooked are the two goaltenders.  Mist4ke is a bright looking goalie with loads of potential.  While raw at the moment, his agency (which has produced Hall of Fame goalie, Benjamin Glover) seems to believe a lot in his future.  Glover himself has actually been working with the young netminder, and this could be a valuable teacher for a goalie that has dreams of being an elite netminder in the VHL.  Rubber Band too shows potential and it would not surprise me to see both of these goalies among the very best in practice hours come draft time.

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@STZ Will put mine up after class Tuesday.

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The VHL Playoffs are nearing their conclusion and this season's playoff campaign has had its fair share of surprises.  This week's article will take a look at three major headlines that have dominated this year's playoff run:

 

.948 - I called Greg Clegane one of my darkhorses for this year's Playoff MVP, and he has showed up in a big way.  With one of the current best goaltending performances in VHL Playoff history, Clegane has paced the Legion to a Finals appearance with a .948 save percentage and 1.47 GAA in fourteen games.  Clegane, who is the favourite to win the Scotty Campbell Trophy and Aidan Shaw Trophy this season, has put together a performance for the ages and not unlike some of the performances that Hans Wingate recorded in the past for the Toronto Legion.  Wingate of course, is considered one of the greatest goaltenders of all-time, much ado to his ridiculously successful time in Ontario's capital city. If Greg Clegane can put together one final historic performance versus the Riga Reign, this may go down as one of the single most incredible playoff performances by skater or goaltender in Victory Hockey League history.

 

5 - The Calgary Wranglers were the easy favourites to win the Continental Cup this season, after they blistered through the pack during the regular season.  However, as we have learned in the past, STHS can be very unpredictable and just because you were the best team in the regular season, does not necessarily mean you will have it easy come playoff time.  We noted that Toronto and Calgary had a tight regular season appearance, with the majority of the matchups being one goal margins.  With that being said, none of us expected the Legion to dispose of the mighty Wranglers in just five games.  Calgary, who signed Black Velvet, Unassisted, Tyson Kohler and Aleksi Koponen to play with Ariel Weinstein, were left shocked after the game with many social media tweets coming in about their happiness in seeing the mighty Wranglers knocked off.  However, while many of the team's core will hit Free Agency once again, they could make one final run with them as Weinstein is set to return next season.

 

4 - This was an easy choice for one of the numbers, as the Toronto Legion will be going for the VHL's first ever four-peat.  The Legion won last season to become the first ever three-peat, and now they have overcome the odds to give them a chance to make some more history.  Standing in their way though is the Riga Reign, who have already gone out and taken the first two games by scores of 2-1 and 3-1.  While Clegane will likely steal them some games, and the combination of Molholt and Parechkin will be tough to handle as always, the Reign are welcoming the opportunity to play spoiler to some history, and make some for themselves at the same time.  The Reign, who notoriously are not one of the more successful franchises of all-time, now have a chance to end the best dynasty in league history, and I feel that they very well could accomplish this goal.

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The Season 52 Draft concluded last night and therefore will be the focus for this week's By the Numbers article.  I will be taking a look at three major headlines coming out of this season's draft.

 

8 - The number of selections the Stockholm Vikings made.  Three of which would come in the first round and five were taken among the first twelve players.  It seems quite clear that the Vikings have acquired five active players, including three players who appear to either be approaching or are over the 200 practice hour mark.  Rhett DeGrath, the goalie of the future for the Vikings, was selected with the second overall pick.  He promises to be a loyal elite goaltender that may be a key difference maker in future playoff appearances for the Vikings.  Lee King Snatch was a bit of a surprise with the fifth overall pick, but his raw potential showed too clear for GM Christopher Miller to pass up on him. Conrad Jenkins and some really long name guy were taken with the tenth and eleventh overall picks.  However, the biggest surprise of all came with the fourteenth pick (after two voided picks to Helsinki and NY) when the Vikings took Die Domi, who many GM's eliminated from their radar due to him not seeming as invested.  While that may remain true, Domi has since come out and said that he still intends on being a good player and someone that can be counted on in the future.  That pick could very well be a massive difference maker when looking back on this draft in five seasons.

 

4 - The team with the next most selections in the first two rounds was the Cologne Express, who took four different players including Alexander Thrower, who is apart of the GM's agencies.  They also proceeded to sign the Syndergaard twins who haven't been consistently active, but could work well together if they manage to make the pro team in a couple seasons.  Their fourth and final pick was Austin Hickey V who could be a solid pick if he gets back to training.  This is an interesting draft for a team that isn't necessarily in a full-swing rebuild at this point, and it will be quite interesting to see how they do going forward.  The most interesting note about this Cologne draft is that they were the only team that saw them select their own GM with one of their picks, being Thrower.

 

1 - We have to end this with the number one overall pick, Phil Shankly.  This was hardly a surprise pick as the member of the Phil agency has been long rumored to be the desired selection by the New York Americans.  We call this a quality pick with Shankly being the best player available and someone that will stick with that team in the long-term while fitting in with their potential interest in competing.  Do I see Phil being the best player long term? Given his agency's decorated past with the likes of Gerrard, Rafter, Hamilton, etc., absolutely I think he will be the top talent out of this draft.  It's going to be interesting if he goes on to have the best career, but I do think he landed in the right place to give him the best position to do so.

 

 

 

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THREE HEADLINES GOING INTO THE SEASON - BY THE NUMBERS

 

3 - The Calgary Wranglers have seen three of the four major talents that signed with them last season, sign again.  These moves have made the Wranglers not only a competitive team but perhaps one of the favourites to bring home the Continental Cup.  These Wranglers are no strangers to this situation as they were easily the top team in the Regular Season last year, and then proceeded to get knocked off in the NA Conference Finals.  The Wranglers still boast one of the top goalies in the league with Ariel Weinstein, and with the surrounding cast including Koponen, Kohler, Velvet and young studs like Gowecny and Axelsson, this Calgary team will be out for revenge against the Legion and the rest of the Victory Hockey League.  I think they will fall short of being the best team in NA, but it wouldn't surprise me if they still end up top two in the league point totals at the end of the regular season.  I still think they are better than anyone in the European Conference, but will have some tough competition in their own conference to deal with.

 

2059 - The amount of TPE being added by the Toronto Legion in the form of brothers and elite defenders, Phil and Jeff Hamilton.  The Legion, who are coming off a failed attempt at winning four straight Continental Cups, boast what I consider the best lineup in the league.  With returning stars like Greg Clegane, Parechkin, Molholt and Free, I believe that adding the Hamilton's not only gives the Legion the best defense in the league but perhaps the best team as well.  My only concern with this team is that they really have no depth up front and this could hurt them against rosters that have more players.  I'll be curious to see if the Legion can make some changes as the season goes on, like they did last year, but as of now they look like a roster with seven great players but with three of six forwards being scrubs.  This could be a very dangerous team if things work out for the Legion, and I do think they will threaten the Wranglers for that top spot in the league.

 

4 - The number of teams in the European Conference that have some huge questions surrounding them.  You read that right....4....out of 5.  The Riga Reign, defending champs of the VHL, are the one team I fully think look solid and even then they have some defensive issues to shore up.  Lets start with the best out of the four though, the Cologne Express.  As it stands now, the Express look like the second best team in the league, but there are some concerns given their inability to pull in any Free Agents and the fact it seems they could be going in a more youthful direction.  The Express recently traded Joel Jarvi and have a roster mainly full of aging vets who are regressing, and young guys who won't be able to make a massive impact in the VHL.  In all reality, they probably wouldn't sniff the playoffs in the NA, but of course their goaltender may determine how good they do this year.  Then comes the Stockholm Vikings, Helsinki Titans and Davos Dynamo, all teams who have gone to the youth movement and are in the midst of a rebuild.  Helsinki projects as the worst of the three with no goalie and a bunch of 175-300 TPE players.  The Dynamo added some Free Agents and have Skye in net, so I expect that they will battle Stockholm for that final playoff spot.  The Vikings have a few rookies who look really good but have a pretty incomplete roster all together, with the majority of their recent draft picks going back to the VHLM.  It will be one helluva battle but it does seem that the European Conference, while full of parity from #2-5, could see four weak teams with two making the post-season.

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This week's edition of 'By the Numbers' focuses on three players who have surprised out of the gate for good reasons and in addition will outline my expectations as the season goes on.

 

87 - I am already breaking my rule because I will be looking at one additional player, with this one being a combination of John Sleeman and Niels Skovgaard.  Normally I would never write about an inactive player, but this combination has been absolutely electrifying this year and is a major reason why the Cologne Express currently find themselves with a 14-3-0 record, for the best in the European Conference.  John Sleeman has had a torrid start with 23 goals and 19 assists for 42 points (which is a pace of 97 goals, 80 Assists, 177 Points).  Sleeman, who has been a real good player in his career playing much of it with Quebec, was expected to be one of Cologne's offensive leaders, but even he could not have expected this kind of start.  Niels Skovgaard is the one I am most surprised about though, as I really didn't have any expectation.  Skovgaard has recorded 17 goals, 28 assists and 45 points through the first 17 games (a pace of 72 goals, 119 assists and 191 points).  How good are these seasons? Sleeman's pace has him breaking the record for most goals in a single season, as held by Scotty Campbell, by 8!  Meanwhile, Niels Skovgaard is on a pace to beat Patrick Bergqvist's assist record of 114 and narrowly beating Scotty Campbell's point record of 191.  With all that being said, there is no way that either of these players keep this pace.  I do expect both to be over 100 points, just because their starts have been too good not to expect that, but I don't think either of them will finish with record breaking statistics.

 

.943 - Speaking of Cologne, it is time to talk about their goalie and the one guy I supported the most out of all of them in the Fantasy Leagues.  Dmitri Dadonov is off to a brilliant 14-3-0 start with a .943 SV% and 1.88 GAA.  At the moment, Dadonov is first handily in save percentage, fourth in GAA and first in wins, with Jakub Holik just trailing behind him with some impressive numbers of his own.  With the Express lacking a lot of the depth, they needed their stars to come out and perform for them, and that is exactly what has happened.  We already mentioned Sleeman and Skovgaard, and Dadonov has been just as good as both of them,  I feel he has a better chance of keeping a similar pace than the other two, but I still expect him to finish around the .930 SV% mark with a GAA around 2.00.  This would certainly put him in the conversation for the Aidan Shaw Trophy, given the uncharacteristically average start by the majority of the 'elite' netminders in the VHL. 

 

25 - After the Legion's mediocre start to the season, the team seems to be finding their way and is starting to play as we all expected them to.  The Legion have won three of their last four and one of the big reasons why is the play of the potentially future Hall of Famer, Phil Hamilton.  Phil has come out flying as he leads defenders in scoring with 25 points in 16 games (on a pace for 112 points), which is a tremendous accomplishment if he can hit the triple digit mark.  Hamilton has even been quite physical with 35 hits in 16 games and has blocked 24 shots while averaging over 30 minutes a game on the ice.  I expect the Legion to be one of the best teams in the NA Conference.  I think they can pass New York and Seattle, but they will need to add depth and have their top players, like Phil Hamilton, playing at their best.  I think Phil has to be the favourite for Top D and is certainly in the conversation with the likes of Jeff Hamilton and Black Velvet for the award.

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7 - Phil Shankly is a rookie, and for that reason, you always have to be cautious before predicting someone a likely standout candidate.  In this case, they weren't wrong, except for the fact that Phil Shankly is standing out for all of the wrong reasons.  The rookie forward has an abysmal 7 points in 30 games and is just a +6 on a team that has a computer player in the double digits for positive reasons.  Shankly was the undoubted number one overall pick but this was certainly not an ideal start, with many of his fellow draft class mates having decent seasons, or at the very least far better years than Shankly.  The one good number for him is that he is over 130 hits but with also 52 PIM, it will be interesting to see if he continues to cost his team more than he helps.  I expect Shankly to improve and believe there's just too much talent around him to hold him down all season.  With that being said, I do wonder if they maybe hog the puck too much for him to succeed this season.

 

.911 - Speaking of New York Americans, Ilya Kopralkov is not having the kind of year many felt he would have. Kopralkov is a veteran tender who looked ready to break out on a great team this season but failed to spark much of anything as of this moment.  With just a .911 save percentage he is becoming the poster boy of someone who is being carried by a strong team.  With a 1.60 GAA it's becoming clear he can thank his team more than anything as they have limited opponents to very few shots.  Luckily for Kopralkov, he should be in a good position to win a lot of games and potentially improve as the season goes on.  With that being said, the Americans need him to be playing at his absolute best if they want any chance of going to the finals.  As it is now, they may have trouble making the playoffs as the Americans see themselves just five points up on the defending NA Champions, the Toronto Legion.  While I think it will be a tight battle all season long, Kopralkov will become a key piece if the Americans are to do any damage at all.

 

8 - The Stockholm Vikings have only managed eight points so far this season.  You read that right...eight points.  They most recently picked up their first two wins against the Davos Dynamo and Quebec City Meute, and perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that they have struggled so much.  A lot of the teams recent draft picks are in the VHLM, and even with Snatch, DeGrath and Domi in the VHL, the team really has no nucleus around them.  That should definitely change after next season's draft with the team owning two first round picks and multiple second round picks, and with some of those VHLM prospects likely making their way up to the big squad.  The Vikings look to be the favourite to lock up first overall pick and take someone with the potential of a Franchise Cornerstone.  Hard not to forget they also have Brock Dragonslayer who should make his debut with the Swedish club next season.  With all that being said, the Vikings have the least amount of points in the league by four points and even the Titans who only have twelve, have three more wins than Stockholm.  It will be a tough season in Stockholm but we see that changing in the future.

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@STZ  will finish mine tonight after work

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8 - Felipe Rodriguez has really been on the rise of late with a league best 8 game point scoring streak.  The defender, who is generally known more for his defense, has vaulted his point total to 48 in 54 games and is searching to end the year at the illustrious point-per-game mark.  Rodriguez's rugged two-way player has greatly contributed to the success the Bears have had this year, as they currently lead the Victory Hockey League in overall points.  Along with the 48 points he has recorded, Rodriguez also has a +44 rating with 148 hits, 58 blocked shots in over thirty minutes of ice time per game.  When asked for a quote on his play, a team representative had this to say: "Felipe is the glue to our defense.  Kyanon gets a lot of the attention and for good reason, but I think Felipe brings another dimension to our squad and his work this year has contributed greatly at even strength and on special teams."  At this point in the season, the Bears currently have the best combined PP and PK with a 109.71%.  The next closest team in that regard is the Calgary Wranglers who sit with a 107.30% combined rating.  Rodriguez has been one of the teams leading penalty killers and his vision on the point, especially of late, could help him get to the point-per-game mark and keep his team in first place in the Victory Hockey League.

 

97.25 - I love PP+PK ratings and have used them in mag articles quite a lot, especially back in the day.  I will use it again here and look at a team who has been playing really well this year, but not when they have a PP or when they are on a PK.  The New York Americans currently sit with the third most points in the league and have been easily one of the feel good stories of the year, but they could be so much better if they worked on their special teams.  The Americans have the second worst PP in the league with a 13.08% which is only just above the Stockholm Vikings in that regard.  Additionally, the Americans sit sixth in the league in PK with a 84.71% kill rate.  Combined, New York is seventh in the league and dead last among teams that play in the North American Conference, with a 97.25 rating.  Why? That's the tough question because they have gotten a ton of offense from players like Tom Lincoln and Unassisted.  Ultimately though, both players are already around or above 100 points and neither play has more than 18 of them coming from the power play.  I do wonder if at least offensively, they struggle more because of the lack of offense that gets generated by their defense.  Their highest scoring defender is Bobby Digital who has two goals and forty-five points this season.  Then again, they have forwards playing on the point for their PP and bots playing on PP2, which may be the greatest contributor of all.  Either way, it is holding this team back from their true potential.

 

49 - Pietro Maximoff has leaped over some impressive talent to take the league lead in goals with 49.  The Riga forward surpassed Sleeman, Lincoln and Unassisted recently and could very well be on his way to his best season yet.  Not only is he first in goals but he also finds himself in the points race as well, as he sits fourth and is just nine points back of Unassisted, and just two points back of Skovsgaard and Lincoln for second.  Maximoff has really ran his teams offense this year, with the help of Shawn Muller who currently has 41 goals and 90 points.  These are Riga's only players who are above the sixty point mark, and it wouldn't surprise me if they are the Reign's only players to hit the PPG mark this season.  Maximoff, who had a great season last year will look to finish this year strong with an outside look at possibly scoring 70 goals, a mark rarely hit in the Victory Hockey League.  If he can do so, the Kevin Brooks Trophy looks very likely to go to him and perhaps the Riga Reign can put a further clamp down on first place in the European Conference.

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Will have one up tonighty @STZ

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67 - Pietro Maximoff took over towards the latter half of the season and is this year's goal scoring leader in the Victory Hockey League.  In a season where at times it looked like Tom Lincoln, John Sleeman and Unassisted could all give the European forward a run at the lead, it was Maximoff that broke away from the pack and sailed on to a great finish.  Maximoff currently sits at 67 goals, which is 11 more than anyone else in the league. Teammates Unassisted and Tom Lincoln are tied for second in goals with 56 and John Sleeman is fourth with 55.  Maximoff, who altogether has 128 points (second best in VHL), was the dominant finisher and leader for the Riga Reign that will easily finish first in the European Conference.  The Reign are nineteen points ahead of the Express, who have a shoddy 83 points, less than the playoff-less Legion have in the North American Conference.  Maximoff is a real threat for 70 goals with four games left and could hit the 70 goal and 130 point mark for the first time in his career.

 

114 - The Seattle Bears have won the Victory Cup, and I can't say that many expected that to happen. The Bears made headlines when they made a move for Joel Jarvi right before the start of the season, and while many felt they had a really solid squad, there were several who went on record saying they still felt they were fourth best in that Conference.  The Bears made a lot of people eat crow and look to finish solidly in first as they have a 56-10-2 record, ten points more than the second place Americans and twenty-three points ahead of the fourth place Legion, who were the team many had finishing in the top three instead of the Bears. Seattle can thank a few players for fantastic seasons including their goaltender Jakub Holik, who has a .927 save percentage and both Jarvi and Podarok who will likely both hit the 100 point mark by the end of the season.  As a whole though, the team performed excellently as a unit and scored by committee with at least six players at a point per game and potentially a seventh by the end of the season.

 

4th - Where did it go so wrong for the Legion? It is not as if they have had a terrible season but nevertheless they will be missing the playoffs as they have been officially eliminated from contention.  Greg Clegane has posted a solid .924 save percentage but perhaps they did not get the goaltending they have come to expect with the performances of Hans Wingate and Clegane over the past five seasons or so.  Clegane was just solid and the team around him could not make up for the fact that he simply was not the league's best goaltender this season.  Parechkin and Molholt have both hit 90 points and are having good seasons, but once again, these are dominant offensive forces who are simply not even near the league's best in offensive statistical categories.  Once again, while a lot of players had solid seasons, it seems the Legion never got that driving force to lead them into the playoffs.

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Mag 315 

 

8 - Bobby Digital is having a really solid start to his playoff campaign.  The Americans find themselves tied with the Wranglers 3-3, and will be going on to a seventh game.  Digital has recorded one goal, seven assists for eight points to go along with his twelve hits and seven blocked shots, in the six games the Americans have played thus far.  This puts him currently first in points for defensemen, just two ahead of elite defenseman, Black Velvet.  Digital, who is generally more known for his defensive ability, may just be breaking out and finally coming into his own as an elite defender.  If this is the case, he could very well play a massive role in the seventh game against the Wranglers, and if fortunate enough to move on, the rest of the Americans playoff campaign.

 

6 - A rookie is currently leading the VHL playoffs in goals, and he has gotten to that total in just five games.  Max von Hohenzollern has continued to build off his tremendous regular season with a stellar start to his playoff run, with his Express knocking off Davos in just five games.  Max recorded six goals and three assists to lead all rookies in scoring thus far as well.  Of course, the reality is that as the competition goes up with Riga, Max could have trouble adjusting and may find himself struggling against a far more developed squad.  With that being said, don't be surprised to see him continue to play well.  Hohenzollern really stood out from the pack this regular season and easily lead all rooks in scoring, and it wouldn't surprise me to see him continue to find success offensively.

 

.899 - If the Wranglers want a chance to beat the Americans in game seven, they really need their veteran netminder to step it up.  Ariel Weinstein, who by all accounts is one of the league's best goaltenders, has struggled versus the Americans in the playoffs.  With a playoff worse 2.89 GAA and .899 SV%, Weinstein could prove to be an x-factor if he stands on his head in game seven versus the offensively powerful New York Americans.  The only consistency Weinstein has shown is his inconsistency.  In games two and three, Weinstein surrendered just one goal total but in the other four games, Ariel has allowed a terrible seventeen goals.  Therefore, if Weinstein is on, the Wranglers may have the upperhand with the clearly superior goaltender.  If not, it could be curtains for the only remaining Canadian team in the playoffs.

 

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Congratulations on the New York Americans on winning the Season 52 Continental Cup and as a dedication to the strong team Mr. Ryan Power put together, I wanted to dedicate this article to them by outlining the three big factors that led them to their victory.

 

55 - The New York Americans won the Continental Cup on the back of their offense.  The Americans scored fifty-five goals in seventeen games with a devastating seventeen goals in five games against the Riga Reign.  Tom Lincoln recorded twelve goals and twenty-nine points, Unassisted had ten goals and twenty-eight points and both Diana Maxwell and Bobby Digital recorded over twenty points, completing their break-out seasons.  The team dominated altogether with the Wranglers series being the only tight one and while their goaltending was strong, their offence carried them to the Continental Cup.  Meanwhile they managed to run through some great goaltenders like Sandro Clegane, Ariel Weinstein and Jakub Holik.  Offense is not a weakness for the New York Americans and in this case, it brought them a Continental Cup.

 

.927 - Ilya Kopralkov isn't the star goaltender that we have seen in the past carry a team to a cup, and in this case he didn't.  With that being said, Ilya was very solid and more than did his job on route to their Continental Cup victory.  Kopralkov, who had a fairly disappointing regular season, really stepped up and recorded a 12-3-3 record with a .927 save percentage and 1.91 GAA.  Considering the quality of teams New York faced, this is rather impressive to see a sub-2.00 GAA and .925+ save percentage.  One important stat to note is that Kopralkov allowed just seven goals in the finals versus the Riga Reign.  Additionally, he was tremendously solid in all three clinching games that the Americans won, and while he wasn't spectacular, he met and exceeded expectations on route to an American cup win.

 

119.96% - The New York Americans really controlled the puck this playoffs and there are a few statistics that show this.  First of all, the Americans had the best faceoff percentage in the playoffs by more than two percent, with a 54.46%.  The Reign finished second in this category with 52.67% and the Dynamo third at 51.17%.  The Americans possessed the puck after faceoffs more than anyone else and that helped with the next statistic I will bring up, shot generation.  The Americans had the best shots for/shots against value at 119.96%.  Second place was the Riga Reign with a value of 103.78% and third was the Calgary Wranglers at 97.52%.  These were undoubtedly the three best teams in this playoff run, but the Americans clearly outperformed others with their possession and shot production while also using their offense to help their defense from having to face too many shots.  The Americans truly dominated this playoff run and we will see if Season 53 will repeat itself.

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@STZ Will have before tomorrow night.

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Sorry @STZ some shit came up.  I can have it tonighy after class since I dont work but no worries if you put it up.

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This weeks 'By The Numbers' will look at three players who changed homes this off-season.  One is a forward who took to Free Agency and has started with a blistering goal pace in an effort to finally bring a cup to Stockholm.  Another is a defender who went back to where he started, out west in Seattle, in an attempt to overcome the mighty Americans and take the Bears to the Continental Cup.  Finally, the third is a goaltender who was traded from Switzerland to Quebec and is off to the best start of any goalie this season, with the hopes of not just cracking the playoffs but making some noise versus the more developed New York and Seattle squads.

 

8 - Tyson Kohler has been off to a blistering start to the season with eight goals in eight games for the Stockholm Vikings.  The former Calgary Wrangler has had a tremendous start to the season with fifteen points which is not far off the league lead pace, and he currently does lead the Victory Hockey League in goals.  Kohler was acquired through Free Agency and along with Muller, was expected to help pace the Vikings to an easy European Conference title.  While the Vikings haven't had the best start to the season (4-4-0), the team is getting some solid offense and they should progress as the season moves on.  For Kohler, he has a lot on his shoulders with the hopes and expectations resting on him as a leader of the offense.  All in all, this writer thinks Kohler has a great chance to lead the league in goals and I do project at least a sixty goal season for the veteran star forward.

 

15 - Jeff Hamilton is having an absolutely incredible start to the season.  The veteran defender currently leads all defensemen in points with fifteen and is second in assists with ten.    His five goals and ten assists have Hamilton on pace for a pretty ridiculous forty-five goals and ninety assists and if he can somehow keep that kind of pace, some hardware might be coming to Mr. Hamilton.  The Bears defense relies a lot on Hamilton and the offense also runs through him for the most part as well.  Along with Parechkin, Hamilton has the best history to go off of and we do expect those two to really lead the way for the Bears and give them the best chance to knock off the Americans for first place in the North American Conference.

 

.944 - Apollo Skye is not the guy you would normally name as the league's best goaltender.  However, with the Clegane's retired and Weinstein as well, you have to put Skye somewhere in the conversation behind the likes of Holik and Kopralkov.  Skye, this season, has really dominated for the Quebec City Meute with a 6-1-1 record, 1.84 GAA and .944 Save Percentage.  His numbers easily are outpacing any other goaltender in the league, and if he continues to play at this level, Quebec could be a team to watch in the North American Conference.  Unfortunately though, while I think he could finish with a very solid save percentage, I don't see him getting the consistent defensive effort or the offensive support to keep the Meute on the same level as the Bears or Americans.  Simply put, the rest of their team is too young and underdeveloped.  As of now though, Skye is playing well above expectations and is giving them a chance each and every game.

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319

 

This week's article will look at three players who have really stepped it up thus far this season and deserve the recognition.

 

77 - Can anyone catch Joel Jarvi? The veteran forward has recorded sixty points in twenty-six games this season and currently sits first in goals and second in assists in the entire league, while holding a definitive ten point advantage over any other player in the Victory Hockey League.  Jarvi has paced the top-heavy offensive Express team that has four players who currently sit on pace for 100 point seasons in Jarvi, AK47, MVH, and rookie, Alexander Thrower.  The Express have pretty much nothing else going for them offensively, so if they want to make noise this season and in the playoffs, they really need this quartet, led by Jarvi, to pace the way and out score the rest of the European Conference.  I expect he may be caught, but with how well he has been playing, it would take a significant slow down or a really sharp turn forward for someone like Maximoff or Maxwell, to make up the ground.

 

91 - Fabio Jokinen has had a really excellent sophomore season thus far.  The Meute defender has recorded thirty-four points and also has ninety-one hits and eighty-eight blocked shots in thirty-four games.  To put this into perspective, Jokinen is on pace for 72 points, 193 hits and 186 blocked shots.  While he may be a bit back offensively from the likes of Hamilton, Digital and Velvet, his all-around play deserves to get recognized, and given that the Meute have been a decent team this year, you have to be impressed by how effective he has been in each and every zone.  I believe his play is definitely realistically capable of continuing and I hope to see his offense pick up a bit and perhaps put him around the eighty point mark, which could potentially put him in the discussion for Top Defenseman, if some of the other elite defenders slow down a bit offensively.

 

.932 - I never would have predicted that Apollo Skye would be this year's stand out goaltender, but it's a pretty tough argument to counter at this stage.  Skye currently is the only goalie at the .925 save percentage level or higher.  The next closest is Ilya Kopralkov who sits at a .924 save percentage.  Skye is third in goals-against-average and while he is a bit back of Holik and DeGrath, his other statistics more than put him ahead of both.  Skye has fifteen wins this year and if any statistic could stop him from winning, it is this one.  At the moment, he is not a winning goaltender and while he isn't far off the mark needed to be above .500, his competition is well ahead.  With that being said, Skye has more shutouts than anyone who isn't Rhett DeGrath and once again, save percentage generally rules all in the grand scheme of things.  I do see Skye falling back a bit though and some of the top goalies moving closer, which could make those other statistics like wins and GAA important in the final vote for the Shaw Trophy.

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320

 

This week will look at three players who have struggled all season to meet expectations.

 

4 - Okay, so maybe picking on the rookie playing as a seventh forward isn't really fair, but Brock Dragonslayer has been that bad this season.  With just four points in thirty-four games, the young winger has definitely been the impressive rookie that was expected to do anything this season.  While he has been playing limited minutes, he has played just fifty-three less minutes than Conrad Jenkins, and sits twelve points back of him.  Additionally, he hasn't been as well rounded as expected with just 14 hits, 53 shots and 1 blocked shot in the thirty-four games.  To make matters worse, only one of his points comes at even strength with the other three being produced due to the power play.  When asked about his play he had this to say: "I know I have to step up and I want to do everything in my power to set this team up to win.  I hope I can do that here going forward."  This writer certainly hopes to see a jump in his play or he may go down as an equal or even a lesser to Logan Laich.

 

.916 - Jakub Holik has some really tremendous numbers and some that don't even come close to reaching expectations.  He was supposed to be the clear cut top goaltender this year and an easy favourite to win the Aidan Shaw Trophy.  Instead, he sits tied for fifth in save percentage with the young Rhett DeGrath and behind the likes of Apollo Skye and Artom Zhumbayev.  Holik does sit first in wins and GAA but given the nature of those statistics, it's hard not to believe that his team has severely been helping him in those areas but have been let down a bit by his lack of saves per shots that he has faced.  While Holik has been decent overall, that is no where near the level that was expected of the undoubted top goaltender in the league.  One anonymous GM had this to say: "I've never seen him look so shaken at times,  He's the best goalie in the league and I do expect him to come around, but our team sees some holes right now that we are not used to seeing with him."  I expect Holik to pick it up as well, and even challenge for the Shaw Trophy, but he needs to turn it on soon or the Bears and Holik could be in trouble when they hit the playoffs.

 

.901 - Two rookie goalies currently sit with .901 save percentages, and while I hate to continue to pick on goalies, both of these guys are on pretty darn good teams and really need to perform better if their teams expect to go anywhere in the future.  M.T. Power, of the New York Americans, and Astrid Moon, of the Helsinki Titans, are the two goalies in question.  Power has 20 wins, .901 save percentage, 2.18 GAA and 1 shutout, and while a couple of those statistics are pretty respectable, the other two are absolutely pathetic.  Moon has 18 wins, .901 save percentage, 2.56 GAA and 3 shutouts.  While I don't feel 3 shutouts and 18 wins are anything to write home about, they are decent enough that I can't really call them pathetic.  The 2.56 GAA is probably expected given he is less developed than Power and his team is too.  With that being said, these goalies are the starters on two of the top four teams in the league, and their play is not acceptable regardless of their status, experience or the team in front of them.  They can't be this bad if their team wants to win the Continental Cup.

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Mag 321 - Going to be in Alberta so want to get this in

 

This week will look at three teams who have surprised for good or bad reasons.

 

170 - The New York Americans offense has really carried their team this season, as expected.  They have tallied up 170 goals in 42 games which is a league best 4.04 goals scored per game.  The Americans currently sit at a 33-6-3 record with Diana Maxwell leading the way offensively with eighty points and the likes of Unassisted, Tom Lincoln, Essian Ravenwing, Sir William Covington III, Bobby Digital and Phil Shankly all sitting at above a point per game.  Their offense has made up for the weak goaltending of M.T. Power and they will need to continue producing at this level in order to beat the Seattle Bears and even some of the teams that are running the European Conference, like the Stockholm Vikings.  What is impressive from New York is that they currently sits seventh in power play percentage in the entire league, even behind teams like the Calgary Wranglers and the Riga Reign.

 

13 - The Seattle Bears have taken control of the North American Conference by winning thirteen consecutive games.  While they have played some weak opponents during this run, they have also played quite a few playoff teams including Stockholm, Quebec, Helsinki and Cologne.  They have seen great improvement by their star goaltender, Jakub Holik, who has really risen to the occasion in order to help put the Bears in front of the New York Americans.  Holik now sits with a .923 save percentage, 1.60 GAA and a 34-7-1 record.  While the Americans have hardly been slipping, they have lost three of their last ten games which has simply helped the Bears gain some ground and jump ahead with their impressive win streak.  Can they keep it up? The streak will end eventually but this has been a big stretch for the Bears and could give them some big confidence going forward towards the playoffs.

 

.833 - The Stockholm Vikings have won twenty-five of their last thirty games.  Lets let this sink in.  The Vikings have been the joke of the league but it does seem that they are finally on the right track and have taken a massive lead in the European Conference with a nine point lead on the Express and an eleven point lead on the Helsinki Titans.  Apart of this streak they have been on includes an 18-1 record at one point through a nineteen game period.  The Vikings have really relied on their offense, especially from Muller and Kohler but has really had some solid contributions from the entire team.  They aren't necessarily scoring at record pace, but the team with the most depth in the league, has used that to their advantage in order to run through the rest of their Conference.

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Coincidence that I am in all 3 LR's now? Boom the lucky charm  for   and 

 

Good read.

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Will have one tomorrow night for you @STZ

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162 - No I am not talking about the amount of games in a MLB Regular Season but rather about the point total of Joel Jarvi.  The veteran forward recorded 62 goals and 100 assists for 162 points this season.  While he finished well off the record that Scotty Campbell set with 190 points, Jarvi became the first player since Campbell and Alex McNeil in Season 5, to hit the 160 point mark in a campaign.  Jarvi finished tied with McNeil for fourth all-time in points and one point ahead of the Season 2 mark that Scotty Campbell had of 161 points.  It is hard to say if this season will launch Jarvi into the Hall of Fame, but it definitely gives him a much stronger case.  Jarvi finished his career with 639 points in 504 games, and while on the surface that is really strong, Wesley Kellinger still sits on the ballot with almost one-hundred points more.  Nevertheless though, the hardware Jarvi earns this year could put him well in the conversation and perhaps into the Hall of Fame pretty quickly.  What really matters though is one final playoff run to try and bring home the illustrious Continental Cup.

 

120 - I have to mention another player of the Gregreg agency here and that is Alexander Thrower.  Alexander is a rookie forward who dominated the rookie charts this season and should easily win the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy.  His campaign tallied 43 goals and 77 assists for a ridiculous 120 points.  How good is that?  Thrower passed Michael Angelo by one point to record the third most points by a rookie in VHL history.  While Angelo was a defender, and therefore perhaps had a slightly more impressive campaign, that should not take away from Thrower's tremendous accomplishment.  Only Jardy Bunclewirth and Christian Stolzschweiger are ahead of him in points by a rookie and given both of their careers, this writer thinks that Thrower is in some elite company.  In fact, one might say that Thrower is already well on his way to a Hall of Fame career.  Regardless of the case, Thrower will be winning some hardware this season and we look forward to seeing him potentially win some more down the road.

 

118 - The Seattle Bears held on to their tight hold on the Victory Cup.  The Western team finished with 118 points, just four better than the New York Americans and nine better than the European Divisional Leader, the Stockholm Vikings.  Jakub Holik finished the year strong with a 50-10-4 record, 1.58 GAA and .927 save percentage.  His GAA puts him sixth all-time in the statistic.  Additionally, five members of the Seattle Bears hit the triple digits in points.  Maximoff, Rodriguez, Parechkin, Podarok and Hamilton all hit the 100 point mark, while Sven Wolf had 86 as well.  The team was among the most physical in the league with three players hitting the 200 mark in hits and five players connecting on over 100 hits.  The Bears finished one back of having the most goals in the league and surrendered the least amount of goals by more than twenty.  Additionally, they posted the second best PP in the league and easily the best penalty kill in the league.  Safe to say that they dominated in all areas, were worthy Victory Cup Champions and may very well be the favourite to win this year's Continental Cup.