Claimed: Toronto's Start

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Tronna's Hot Start

 

It's only been 7 games, but those 7 games have been exciting thus far in the VHL. The Toronto Legion are at the top of the VHL Standings, with a record of 6-1-0. Sure, they are only 2 points above the next best team, who are the Seattle Bears, but it is still an accomplishment. Surprisingly enough, no team throughout the first 7 games remains undefeated. That has been a recurring trend in the VHL in many seasons past, where there is usually one team staying undefeated over the first 10 games or so, but at 7, alas, we have nobody without a loss. This likely might have to do with the fact that the league contracted in the off-season, with the removal of both the Cologne Express and Stockholm Vikings from the VHL. There are only 8 teams in the VHL now, and things are definitely starting to look more competitive already.

 

Without surprising accompanying their 6-1-0 1st place start, the Legion have scored the most goals in the league (29), while allowing the least (9). The next best goals allowed are both the New York Americans and Seattle Bears with 15 allowed. Toronto has a goal differential of +20, and Seattle is behind them in 2nd with +12. Looking at the very bottom is the opposite of the Legion, with the Quebec City Meute sitting at -19. The Meute have quickly gone from contending to rebuilding, going from one of the top teams, straight to the bottom of the VHL. The teams currently in a playoff spot are from North America in majority, with 4 of the 5 hailing from NA, and only the Riga Reign from Europe. Riga is in 3rd, and is considering the favourite this season to win it all.

 

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Coming into Toronto on fire this season is Lee King Snatch, formerly of the Quebec City Meute. He was acquired alongside defenseman Pablo, while Toronto sent a S60 1st and Phil Bennington the other way. What might come as a surprise to many, but not Toronto's GM, is that Snatch is one of the top point producers so far. He is 2nd in the VHL in points, only 1 point behind Seattle's Shawn Gretzky. Even Pablo is in 3rd place with 13 points, only 3 behind Snatch, and 4 behind Gretzky. Both LKS and Pablo seemed to have come onto the Legion with intentions of stealing all the points away from Bo Boeser and Roman Sokolov. Rumour has it that there is a some anger and hostility brewing in the Toronto locker room because of this. That could be true, but maybe I just made that up right now.

 

LKS also leads the league in a tie with Takashi Fujimoto with 8 goals. Both Roman Sokolov and newly drafted from the Contraction Dispersal Draft, Marc-Alexandre Leblanc are both also in the Top 10 in goals with 5 each. The man you might expect to have been near the top of this list, Bo Boeser, is in fact near the bottom. He has only scored 2 goals so far in Season 58, and he expects more out of himself. Although we might expect more out of him as well, he is still producing in other areas, and more skilled veteran Lee King Snatch was somewhat expected to take some of the weight off of Boeser's shoulders.

 

Looking in the assists column, there are more than a few Legion players scattered throughout. Pablo is 2nd in the VHL (9), Boeser and Snatch tied for 3rd (7), and Reinholdt is tied for 4th with 7 assists in 7 games. Pablo has taken a lot of the load off of Roman Sokolov's shoulders already, and probably performing better than anyone expected so far.

 

One bright spot to look at is goaltender Torstein Ironside. He currently leads the league in shutouts with 3, whereas nobody else besides Astrid Moon (2) has any at all. Ironside also leads the VHL in wins (6), GAA (1.28), and save percentage (93.3%).

 

With such a hot start for Toronto, it will be a wonder if they can continue at this pace, as well as Lee King Snatch and Pablo themselves.