Can Wingate Maintain?

[Devise 4,475]

In the VHL there is always positional battles, forwards, defenders and goalies all compete against each other for a few set of awards to try and determine who is the most dominant, and best every season. While we have seen more than our fair share of dominant forwards, it has been quite a while since a truly dominant goaltender has come around. For seasons now the Aidan Shaw trophy for top goalie has gone to a different player, since Martin Brookside repeated as winner in Season 42 and Season 43. While Hans Wingate has won the award twice in what is already a very prominent career. The one thing the goalie has been missing is the true dominance at the position some of the former greats and HoF goalies enjoyed. 

 

Part of that comes down to Wingates ability to simply maintain the pace he puts up throughout most of the season. Wingate is in his last season, now with the Toronto Legion who just won back to back Continental Cups and are going for the Elsevier third straight. The season for Wingate has begun like most do, dominance. The issue has never been how well he gets started, but more so how well he finishes. For the past several seasons Wingate goes on a rough stretch as the seasons come to a close, as his competition goes on a amazing stretch, and the right to be named the best at his position seems to get snatched away from him. Despite all the team success, and easily being the most experienced and highest TPE player at his position, Wingate hasn't won a Shaw since all the way back in Season 46. 

 

There is never any denying that Wingate is an elite goalie. But his inability to maintain the pace he puts up early slightly tarnishes his very impressive career. Currently Wingate sits with a .938 save percentage, 1.51 goals against average through 23 games. If Wingate could maintain those numbers he'd fine himself high up in the record books, as .938 would tie him for fifth all time, and his 1.51 goals against would be the lowest ever recorded. Of course, only 23 games in, those type of statistics are very tough to maintain. However most of these stats are not influenced by easy schedule, as the Legion have already played the "arguable" other top team in Quebec 5 times, and one of Europes top teams in Cologne 4 times. It will be interesting to see how well Wingate can maintain in his final season, and if he can finally put the exclamation mark on what is already a Hall of Fame caliber career. If he can, he may very well go down as one of the better goalies of all time. 

Edited August 2, 2016 by Mr. Power

[CowboyinAmerica 2,840]

Eh, I'll take the U-shape of starting out strong, fading down the stretch, but being dominant again in the playoffs, personally. I'm cool with my career even if this doesn't hold up. The schedule portion you mentioned is why I have some hopes it will though.