Claimed: Wild 2 wins away, Aces floundering

[Tyler 885]

Wild on the front foot

 

 

Despite a very poor regular season which saw them finish in second last in the league the Las Vegas Aces knew they had a chance to whipe the slate clean in the playoffs and that's exactly what they have done so far. Led by veterans like Rudy Ying, Slava Aleksei ,Rask Rowe and surprise youngster Mike Szatkowski III the Aces are now in to the finals after upsetting league powerhouse Oslo in the semi finals. Not many gave them a chance but despite a controversial finish the Aces have downed the Storm after a close 7th game in the Norwegian capital.

 

They are currently down two games to zero in the league final against Saskatoon but no one is counting out the defending champions. It was a minor  miracle to just make it this far, but to the Aces it isn't enough. They want to win their second league title in as many seasons and know they are just one win away from getting back in to the series. The key will, as always, be the play of netminder Shawn Brodeur who has struggled heavily many times this year while also looking like a star in some games. It seems unlikely the young goalie will find his consistency just yet, but if the team can get a Marty Brodeur type performance out of Shawn they might just be looking at an even series heading back to the West of Canada.

 

A bit of hope for the Aces is that they knew the second game was there for the taking heading in to the third where midway through that period they ran in to some serious penalty troubles, giving up two power play goals to put the game to bed. Brodeur played as well as you could hope with a .853 save percentage to keep the Aces in the game against the powerhouse Wild. Despite this he knows he will have to be better in the upcoming game if the Aces are to make it a closer series. The Aces so far are 6 wins and 6 losses in the playoffs but seeing as they were expected to be eliminated quicly the team, and their fans, will take a .500 record. Now the goal is to win that last game of the year.

 

For the Wild, it appears to be smooth sailing so far in the final round. Perhaps their toughest test was the semi finals when they dispatched their opponents Ottawa in six games. They aren't looking too far ahead though and know they are 2 60 minute games away from ultimate glory. The first period of the first game seemed to have been the Wild sending a message that it wasn't going to go the Aces way and that their Cinderella run may have been over. Scoring 7 goals on 13 first period shots seemed to have set the tone for the entire series with the Wild seemingly the first on every loose puck. It will take a minor miracle now for the Aces to climb back in to the series, but it could be just their luck.

Edited July 29, 2017 by Tyler

[Corco 1,267]

 

[boubabi 4,725]

Gottem

[CowboyinAmerica 2,911]

Hah didn't even need to check the game threads. I like it.