Claimed:Disappointment Despite MVP Effort

[Baozi 1,658]

Disappointment Despite MVP Effort

www.VHLHockeyNews.com

 

 

Pundits did not believe the Saskatoon Wild were a playoff team, they were wrong. Pundits did not believe they could win a playoff series, they were also wrong. Critics believed that Xin Xie Xiao could be stopped with focused defense. Despite beating all the odds and the critics, this was little consolation for Xin, as his Saskatoon Wild were eliminated from the VHLM playoff race in the North American Finals against the heavily favoured Ottawa Lynx.

 

 The path to the playoffs was a grueling one that XXX cannot forget. It took 86 goals, 24 first star selections, 14 game winners, and 387 hits to opposing players to lead the Wild to a playoff berth. For reference, the next player on the team with the most goals in a Wild uniform was Rick Roll with 22 goals. This was only in the regular season, as the Wild matched up against the Minot Gladiators, the 2nd ranked team in North America that had won 14 more games than the Wild and was the best team defensively in the league with only 158 goals against.

 

 At this point most people were already surprised, but nobody thought that once again the Wild would be able to go any farther. Scoring 13 goals in 5 games, XXX demolished the vaunted Gladiator’s defensive line against all odds. After that series, we talked to one scout from the Gladiators after he had recovered from the shock.

 

“We saw it in the regular season, Xin is good, but what we didn’t know was that he had another level in the playoffs to go up to. He was as dominant of a player as I’ve ever seen play in the VHLM in my entire career. He was up and down the ice, winning battles in the corners and ripping shots from every angle. The gameplan we had was to shut him down, because all the offense on that team is driven through him, we kept our best defensive players on against him and it didn’t slow him down at all. He was simply on another level and it looked like he wouldn’t let anything slow him down. Good luck to the Wild in the next round.” – Anonymous Minot Scout

 

 

 The Wild would then face off against the best team in the VHLM, and here is where the story pretty much ends. With depth at every position and arguably the best defenders in the VHLM, the Lynx made short work of the Wild as they eliminated them in 5 games. Despite the exit, Xin played superbly and managed 9 goals in the 5 games with multiple points in all games including 2 hat tricks during this time and was only held goal-less in one game.  XXX would end the playoffs leading scoring with 33 points and 22 goals good for 3.3 points per game. The next player that could challenge this is Roland Brice of the Storm, whom has 16 points in 12 games. At this point though, it seems that nobody will be able to catch up to XXX in terms of total points or goals scored. Connor Low may challenge for the points per game average though as his 14 points in 5 games puts him at 2.8ppg. This is just merely another testament to how dominant XXX was when he was on the ice. One coach even commented (tongue in cheek) that it was too bad that XXX couldn’t play 60 mins a game.

 

“Obviously this isn’t the way I wanted to end the season, everyone wants to win the title. I tried my best though, so the only thing now is to get myself prepared for the next level. I know players at the VHL level will be faster, stronger and better than in the VHLM so I have to be able to keep up with them. Work hard and hopefully I’ll get another chance at a title ring sometime soon.” – Xin Xie Xiao

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

Content: 3/3 - XXX definitely had a dominant year on the ice in both the regular season and the playoffs. I imagine he'll receive at least one award during the off-season and possibly more than one. Whatever franchise that ends up drafting you will be getting a great forward who'll be a staple on the first line for years.

 

Grammar: 2/2 - There were some, but not too many.

 

team, they = team. They

series, they = series. They

Gladiator’s defensive = Gladiators' defensive

him, we = him. We

Storm, whom = Storm, who

 

Appearance: 1/1 - Nice.

 

Overall: 6/6

[TheDanglingCellist 1]

Content: 3/3 XXX was the best player in the VHLM; in the RS and playoffs. I will never forget that series. My Gladiators will return.

 

Grammar: 2/2  There was that which flyers noticed.

 

Maybe I'm getting picky, but I would say here:

 

playoffs leading scoring -> playoffs leading in the scoring department with

 

 

Appearance: 1/1 No complaints from me.

 

Overall: 6/6

 

Final: 6/6

Edited December 11, 2013 by TheDanglingCellist

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