VHL This Week (6.07.15) - Bear Down

[Molholt 2,183]

VHL This Week

| S43 Regular Season - Fifth Edition |

 

Welcome
 
The regular season is over! Wow that went by fast. Let's get in to it. 
 
Announcements
 
Seattle Bears GM Bushito has been fired, the team will have Higgins stepping into an interim role for the time being as the league decides how to proceed with team ownership. 

 

The regular season has ended and playoffs are here!
 
Team Talk
 

There was a stretch of time where the Meute looked a little out of whack, but they sure finished the season exactly where we expected them to, at the top of the North American conference. Their 110 points was the third highest in the league, considering their rough start, they finished really strong. They'll be looking to carry that momentum into the playoffs and into their series with the winner of Toronto vs. Seattle.

 

The Legion's acquisitions during the season and a Seattle slump helped propel them in to second place in the conference. Early on it looked like Toronto might bring up the rear, but a strong finish has them hot going into the playoffs. They'll be taking on a Seattle team that has been struggling as of late. Toronto's 94 points are the second lowest among playoff teams, but they didn't feature the same team all season long and have looked much stronger in recent weeks.

 

The Bears are the opposite, they've looked weaker as the season rolls on, following a strong start that had them leading the conference for a good chunk of the year. They finished with 86 points, 8 fewer than Toronto for the worst among the 6 playoff teams. With no official GM, a struggling end to the season and all kinds of questions surrounding player retirements and the team's future, the Bears will need to come together and block out the distractions if they want to take down Toronto in the first round of the playoffs.

 

The Americans and Wranglers sit on the outside looking in, but they've known that all along. However they both saw some production and didn't look abysmal, which is always a plus. They look to be teams that will be back in the thick of competition soon enough.

 

Across the pond, the Vikings sewed up the top spot with a 1 point margin over the Express, 116 to 115. They finished the season strong, roaring ahead of the Legion who had started the season incredibly hot. The Vikings allowed the fewest goals this season, 9 fewer than the next lowest which helped them to the league's best goal differential. They'll be awaiting the winner of the Express and Dynamo during their first round playoff bye.

 

The Express will have to battle through the first round if they want to repeat as cup champions. They started out the season on fire, but sputtered down the stretch and were just barely surpassed by the Vikings. With 115 points and an 80% winning percentage, they are an incredibly strong 2 seed. They scored the most goals in the league, edging out Stockholm by one entire goal! They also managed the second fewest goals allowed.

 

The Dynamo will be Cologne's first round foe, and their season took a dive during the second half. They rode the incredibly hot start of their goalies, but limped to the finish to finish 20 points behind the Express. Their 66% winning percentage is nice, but unfortunately looks worse compared to the 80%+ of the two teams ahead of them. They'll need to get back to their stellar defensive form if they want to hold off the Express in the first round of the playoff, and Callum Sinclair will have to call back to those incredible games from early in the season.

 

The Reign and Titans will be watching from home this season, but both will be looking to improve next year. Neither of these teams were expecting to contend, so I imagine they are okay with the results so far. 

 

Bear Down

 

As I mentioned in the announcements, the Seattle Bears GM Bushito was fired. As a member of the Bears, this comes as no surprise. The past week has seen a non-stop outpouring of "I told you so." Well, we get it. Firstly, not all of the Seattle players supported the decision to keep Bushito in control at the time. Secondly, hindsight is 20/20 and although I'm on the side that said he should've been removed then, I'm also on the side that knows what is going on with Bushito and no one could have foreseen the exact circumstances. Anyone could've guessed that he would be missing for a couple of days at a time - so are other league GMs. No one could've guessed he would've been incognito for the entire season. 

 

I think the important thing to do is for the league to make a decision on what will happen with the team moving forward. The sooner the better, as the offseason is almost upon us. As of now, Higgins is controlling the team in an interim role. No word has been said as to if he has interest in maintaining the position for the long term. There are likely several interested candidates, and most are probably qualified. I just want to see the team have an official GM before the end of the playoffs so that they can proceed with the offseason normally and not be a step behind any other team, there is a lot of work to do with the team. 

 

Lastly, I wish Bushito well and hope he is able to return to full activity soon. I commend him for putting real life first, as everyone should. I also look forward to the future of Seattle, change can be fun and exciting and I hope it works out for the best. 

 

 

Player Talk

 

Thomas O'Malley is still good at hockey, and he might just be your league MVP this season. He led the league in goals with 53, topping the likes of Lord Karnage, XXX, Bruno Wolf and Bismarck Koenig, who all had 50 or more. He also finished with 78 assists, which was good enough for second place, trailing a familiar face in Jake Wylde who was passing the puck at an elite level early on and reclaimed his spot at the top over the last week. Tom Slaughter finished third in assists with 77 and XXX had 74. Slaughter fell from 2nd in goals to 6th, trailing O'Malley by 8 at the conclusion of the season. If you had asked me last week, he would've been a stronger contender for MVP himself!

 

Of course O'Malley leads all centers in points and Slaughter is second, but who else has been strong this season? Aksel Thomassen finished with 105 points and Bismarck Koenig with 100 even, rounding out a group of four with over 100 points. Bismarck Koenig was incredibly balanced, with 50 goals and 50 assists. 

 

While there were four 100 point scorers at center, there were none at left wing. Lord Karnage made a valiant effort though, finishing just shy with 99 points. Christoph Klose was the next klosest (ha) with 84. Left wing seemed to be a weak position this season!

 

At right wing we saw XXX lead the way with 124 points, followed by Bruno Wolf with 102. They were the only two in triple digits at the position. Sachimo Zoidberg was the only other right winger close, with 88 points.

 

Jake Wylde was the only defenseman to eclipse 100 points and should be a shoe in for defenseman of the year. He finished with 103, helped largely by his league leading assist numbers. Mason Richardson was the only other player to even have a point per game, nearly 30 less than Wylde with 103. Logan Laich, while somewhat successful, still found something to fail at - falling one point shy of being a point per game scorer. 

 

Not surprisingly, top pick E'Twaun Delicious finished the season with the most points among rookies with 73. Gigga-Bijou had 55 and Bronson Faux had 44. However, Faux also led the league with 365 hits, 22 more than the next closest! Faux was killing people on the ice! Will the voters value scoring or defense more?

 

Martin Brookside finished with the top save percentage in the league at 0.930%. He was followed by Szatkowski Jr. with a 0.926%, a big reason for Toronto's surge into second place. 

 

Brick Wahl had the lowest goals against average with a 1.80, followed by Brookside and Mike tied with a 1.84. Waldron was hot on their tail with a 1.85.

 

Wahl had 13 shutouts, so did Brookside. However, Wahl did it in 13 less games played. 

 

Trivia Talk
 
Answer these questions by sending a PM to me. Also, do not post your answers in public. Lastly, all answers are found within this article, not based on any games posted after this has been posted.
 
1. What team's GM was fired, according to this article?
 
2. True/False - The league's hits leader is a sophomore player, according to this article?
 
3. What is the combined shutout total of Wahl and Brookside, according to this article?
 
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 What would you like to see featured next week?

Edited June 8, 2015 by Molholt

[Phil 5,025]

Great Edition! Be sure to check out KnightTime #43 for my opinion about the whole Seattle Situation. 

 

I better have been the first to send in my Trivia this week...

 

Awesome work Molholt! Keep this up

[boubabi 4,725]

bump

[Phil 5,025]

can't believe I was the only one to comment on this, this week. 

 

*shakes head in disappointment. 

[DollarAndADream 3,356]

I've read all of the "This Week"'s, and I'm disappointed there weren't more.

 

Isn't there supposed to be some kind of reward for answering the trivias?

[gorlab 4,321]

Bushito 4 GMotY