Claimed:The Iron Side of the Crease

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Take It On the Ironside

 

This is an article that starts with a title relating to the Red Hot Chili Peppers for no good reason. Now that the title is out of the way, let's take a look at goaltender Torstein Ironside's numbers so far this season. He has been pretty decent for the Saskatoon Wild in the VHLM. Coming into the season, Ironside was likely not a favourite to win any awards, considering the class of goalies in the minor system right now. Goaltenders like Markus King on the Brampton Blades, or Jacob for the Ottawa Lynx were expected to perform well in Season 53.

 

The Ottawa Lynx goaltender, Jacob, and his goaltending teammates have had great outputs so far this season. The Ottawa Lynx's firepower are probably the reason for that, considering the team is 17-0-1 with a goal differential of +64. Although, out of their goalies, Jacob has been the best, with a save percentage of .933%, and a goals against average of 0.99.

 

Looking at Markus King, he has underperformed greatly thus far. He is 7-7-4 with a save percentage of .870% and a goals against average of 2.40. Brampton as a team just has not had the goals go in for them however, with a differential of -4, so King's numbers reflect that. But, knowing Markus King, as the season goes on he should settle in and get better.

 

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Now onto Saskatoon's Torstein Ironside. Torstein is 2nd in the VHLM in wins behind Yukon Rush's Chet Manley, with 11. He also has a save percentage of .912%, good for 3rd. Ironside's goals against average is also 3rd at 2.18. Of all the goalies above .900SV% though, Torstein Ironside has faced the most shots. He has had 398 shots come his way. There is one category where Ironside leads the rest though, and that is his 5 shutouts on the season. The next best is Ottawa's Jacob with 3, and he may catch up as the season wears on.

 

If one thing is for certain, Torstein Ironside has bailed his team out on plenty of occasions. Let's take a look at a couple of them.

 

Game 47 vs. Ottawa Lynx

Game 47 was a shootout loss that Saskatoon suffered to the powerhouse Ottawa Lynx. Ottawa outshot Saskatoon 38-11, and the Wild were able to salvage a point in the shootout with a great performance by Torstein Ironside. He saved 37 of 38 shots, but ultimately could not hold the door shut in the shootout. The Saskatoon Wild lost 2-1. Ironside put up a save percentage of .974%, trying his best to earn the victory, but lost.

 

Game 43 vs. Brampton Blades

In a game which Saskatoon only had 9 shots on goal, they somehow came out with the win. The Wild won 2-1 on a late powerplay marker in the 3rd, where Aeschylus Jigglejawns CXXXVII potted it home to take the lead. Ironside saved 22 of 23 shots on net, putting up a save percentage of .957%. Getting only 9 shots on net should surely be a loss any game of the week, but Torstein Ironside made sure that did not happen.

 

 

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