Claimed: Round Robin Review

[Banackock 8,141]

It's one of the greatest times of seasons in any kind of spot. The joining together of every single nation and player to enter themselves into international competition to compete against the best of the best from each individual country (and sometimes, groups of the joined together). Despite having lower numbers from certain countries as opposed to the dominating Canada and United States, the Victory Hockey League has been called home by people from all over the entire world - from Canada all the way to China. You think it, we're sure there has had to of been a player from there (whether or not they became something is a totally new beast to tango with). This season, we're back in action since the last time the tournament took place in S52 and it turned out.. well, pretty realistically and obvious. Let's take a look.

 

Round Robin Standings

 

1. United States

2. Canada

3. World

4. Mercenaries

5. Scandinavia

6. Europe 

 

Team Review

 

1. United States (8-2-0)

 

Let's start this off with saying they were easily the best team in the entire round robin. They outscored the second highest scoring team by 12 goals, let in the 2nd least and had a goal differential of +16 (FYI, the next highest was +3 being Team World). Then, their special games were on point having their PK place them 3rd with 89.13 and their PP coming in at 2nd with a 25%. Now that we've taken that side of things into account, we could easily argue that they have a top 2 strongest rosters in the tournament with Canada giving them a run for their money. Travis Gowecny led the way with 17 points, with Maxwell and Dragonslayer finishing close behind with 16 a piece.

 

2. Canada (6-4-0)

 

Oh, Canada. Our home and native land.. something, something hockey, right? I'm Canadian and I know that's not how it goes, but it's generally how it should. Though, it's not how the cookie crumbled this season. While their record isn't terrible and they did manage to finish second (didn't someone great and famous once say "If you're not first, yer last"?), it's not something we expect from the Canadian international team. Other than a great goaltending performance by DeGrath and a top leading penalty kill, the rest of it was extremely average. I'd imagine after the finishing game, they immediately went to the drawing board in a desperate fashion. 

 

3. World (5-3-2)

 

 

Team World. A group of misfits that everyone has to love.  Honestly, they have the ability to take the tournament if they choose to do so and everything works out perfectly in their favor. Going through USA is a whole new tale too though. However, with a strong roster and easily one of the better skilled goalies in the tournament and VHL, they shit the bed and did it with a big, old, greasy beer dinger. Cornerstone, Maximoff and rookie Aleksei Federov on the blue line held down the fort the best they could. In my eyes, we're gonna blame this on a lack of depth and very poor scoring outside of the main few. Let's not jump and blame the goalie - as Holik stood on his fucking nuts posting some pretty attractive numbers.

 

4. Mercenaries (5-5-0)

 

They're young, dumb and full of something other than skill. With no player rating over 70 except for both their goalies (Moon and Jacob), the team lacks everything and everything needed to win. The fact that they placed 4th blows my mind more than toaster strudels. I wouldn't say it was thanks to scoring as a majority were extremely average or below. May regret this (kidding), but we're gonna point the finger at goalie Astrid Moon for being this seasons hero. 4-1-0, 952 SV% and a 1.58 GAA made him the best goalie in my mind. Kudos to him for shitting his pants hard in last years playoffs to becoming a true champion this season.

 

5. Scandinavia (4-4-2)

 

A couple good players and then the cliff drops and you slam your face onto a pile of someones piss. Little extreme and off, but you get the point. While both goalies played pretty good hockey, they got lit up too hard and couldn't save the day for their team. Another player who should of stepped up but when out hard in his last ever International tournament was center Sven Wolf. Being a key player to the team and one of the best the team has to offer, 7 points in 10 games for the experienced talent is embarrassing to our standards. Unfortunate for both parties but there's always next time for at least one of them.

 

6. Europe (2-8-0)

 

No goalie, no problem! Kidding. Big problem. Though Key Perought is young and nowhere near developed enough, he tried his best and that's all he can do. Aside from him trying his best, the team has 2 good players, 2-3 average players and then the rest sitting somewhere near the bottom of international hockey (and the VHL). Europe let in the most goals (let's not blame the goalie) and that's pretty crazy considering they didn't give up the most shots. What's even crazier is that they had the most shots for.. which blows my cock away.

 

 

 

 

@Higgins I can claim 3 bonus for each player?  

Edited June 2, 2017 by Banackock

[Banackock 8,141]

@Higgins @Kendrick Also am donating, so this will be a double. 12 + 3 bonus

[Da Trifecta 1,902]

@Banackock how did that feel typing that

[Banackock 8,141]

Just now, The Trollfecta said:

@Banackock how did that feel typing that

Mixed emotions, but not bad, haha. Burnt out from work and of course.. working Sunday again - so make that 12 of last 14 days and crazy amounts of overtime since May 13th. 

[Higgins 3,618]

+3

[DollarAndADream 3,357]

For the team in 5th out of 6th here, it's pretty great to come out with a bronze medal.