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Claimed:Why Labatte Deserves Another Shaw and You Don't


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Why Labatte Deserves Another Shaw and You Don't

 

Here we are again for one last time. Alex Labatte has another good year, one that likely should have been better than it was statistically. Here you have a goalie ranked in the middle of the pack in terms of goals allowed average and near the top in save percentage. Labatte's save percentage was .922, ranking him third overall behind the leader Skylar Rift who had .926. Labatte's goals allowed average was 2.10, fourth best in the league. Now those stats don't jump out at you dramatically, but let's onion this shit up a little bit to take a closer look at how things really were this season.

 

Why does Labatte deserve another Shaw Trophy despite being on the best offensive team in the league? It's because the Calgary Wranglers don't statistically deserve to be anywhere close to where they finished in the standings. The Wranglers don't even come close to icing an entire roster. The team played the entire season with five forwards (Rybak and Wozniak the two league leaders in points are the key pieces), two defensemen (Marcellin the only player of note here) and one goalie for a roster total of eight players. That means Calgary's second line had more computer players on it than it had real players. The team was a respectable 55 overall, the lowest of any of the competing teams this season.

 

cal110113lrhc18.jpg

 

Quebec in comparison had two full lines, that means six forwards, four defensemen and a goalie. Their roster was 57 overall. The point difference between the two teams in the standings? Four. Calgary had 52 wins to Quebec's 55. Let's look at Helsinki. The Titans had the best roster this season with an overall of 58. They also were able to ice two full lines with six forwards, four defensemen and a goalie. Helsinki finished with 52 wins and 110 points on the year. Calgary allowed 150 goals, Quebec 146 and Helsinki 141 despite the obvious difference in skill between the three teams.

 

Equally noted, the Cologne Express had a 57 overall team and more than two lines in total with seven forwards, four defensemen and two goalies. The Express had 44 wins and allowed 152 goals despite their superior roster to Calgary. The Legion, with a better roster (56 overall and two full lines with a good defence) finished with 45 wins and allowed 143 goals. What was the difference between all of these contenders? Was it Calgary's superior offence? Perhaps it was, but it is important to note that the superior offence often left Labatte in shitty situations.

 

d-fence.jpg

Calgary's defence was piss poor with Calgary D1, D2, D3 and D4 having quality seasons over Lars Lessio.

 

The Wranglers allowed nearly 27 shots on goal per game, more than any of the other aforementioned contenders in the VHL this season. The Wranglers also played poor defensive hockey, lodging the fewest penalty minutes in the league and accumulating the second fewest hits per contest this season. Calgary ranked middle of the pack in terms of penalty kill. Labatte, meanwhile had to be spectacular at times. The goalie single-handedly won 13 games for his team with shutouts, far ahead of the next closest goalie. The save percentage and goals allowed average may be lower than some of his competition, but no one can deny Calgary's much higher place in the standings than they should have been. There is no way the Wranglers should have dominated the Toronto Legion or Cologne Express head to head like they did. There is no way the Wranglers should have finished with 109 points and yet they did. Labatte is your man.

Content: 0/6:  Calgary has better players and it seems that quality > depth. LeBeau therefor deserves credit for his actions this year. Have a happy retirement though Labatte ;)

The main point being Calgary has no defence, compared to three other goalies with full defenses and full forward lines.

 

You should look at rosters more closely. We played with two defenders on our roster. Valiq...and Valiq. Tomas Valiq is not a D, Higgins and Jardy changed him to that in the sim. Our lines show us having two D. Just saying. :P 

  • Admin

Marcellin is beast tbh.

This is a close goalie battle though. I do feel like your arguments are best suited for MVP. More on this in Edition 168 of your old article.

fact of the matter is Calgary has one actual defenseman and two players on its second line

 

yeah, but you said that quebec had 4 defensemen, when we have two.

 

Also, your first line earned more points than most teams combined.

fact of the matter is Calgary has one actual defenseman and two players on its second line

No actual defensemen, if you take into consideration the fact that Marcellin is a converted forward

  • Admin

No actual defensemen, if you take into consideration the fact that Marcellin is a converted forward

Well in that case we might as well give the Labatte to a real defenceman.
Content: 3/3 - Too bad Labatte has been statistically the worst goalie in the post-season after four games. Ouch.
 
Grammar: 2/2 - Looks good here.
 
Appearance: 1/1 - I should not give you anything for not only using Comic Sans, but making it red.
 
Overall: 6/6 - Nice catch Blanco Nino, but too bad your ass got serrrrvvvvvvvvvved.

Content: 3/3 I actually enjoyed reading this. It's good to read about players prior to my arrival.

Grammar: 2/2 I didn't pick up on anything

Appearance: 1/1 Looks good here

 

Final: 6/6

Looks like Doomsday has been owned again. First the Civil War, now Labatted

 

Was wrong here, but I'm kind of on the right side for the Civil War. Unless you're colorblind, then I can forgive that.

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