Victory Three

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Toronto possibly eliminated…
After Toronto went and picked up the pieces that they needed at the trade deadline, it seemed that it’s a little too late. With just a few games left in the season, the Legion are trailing the Calgary Wranglers by nine points at the moment. Basically, the Legion would have to go and win every one of their upcoming games while the Wranglers would have to falter at every turn. Considering the fact that Toronto will have to play TOR G going forward to meet the required back-up starts, it doesn’t seem like Toronto will even have a strong end to the season. When the Legion were able to sign the Hamilton bros and keep Greg Clegane on board, along with the pieces they already had, it just seemed like the Legion were going to coast to another playoff run. After all the spotlight Toronto has taken over the seasons though, we’re looking at the first post-season that won’t have the Legion pestering the other North American teams. Since joining the Toronto Legion, John Sleeman’s production has nosedived to about a point per game. While still exceptional at putting up points, it does not compare to the numbers Sleeman was posting in Cologne. No matter the reason, the result will not change. Toronto will be heading to the drawing board this off-season and it seems like the team is heading to some big changes.

Maximoff and Riga…
One story really focused on last week was the climb of the Riga Reign and the production of goals coming from the young upstart Captain, Pietro Maximoff. With the level of production from Maximoff, many expected that it would taper off and the goals would stop coming, but if anything… he’s putting up more! With Maximoff sitting at 64 goals in his 66 games, that is almost a goal per game. These numbers haven’t been seen through generations of players in the VHL. Of course, this would not be possible whatsoever without the chemistry that Pietro has found with Shawn Muller, the veteran forward of the team. Riga is still far behind the talent on the North American playoff teams, but with a bye coming up, Riga will be looking to quickly get to the Finals and hopefully surprise quite a few people. With the standout talent on the team refusing to let up on the point production, who is to say Riga can’t pull off a back-to-back? Keep an eye on Pietro as he continues to chase history.

Happy New Year…
Another year is upon the VHL. While seasons come and go through the calender year, it’s time to celebrate a proper year coming and going. Many memories were made through 2016 with the Toronto dynasty running through the competition and we’re excited to see what 2017 has to offer the VHL. On behalf of the VHL Magazine team, we hope you had some happy holidays and wish you all of the best in the new year! 

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Playoff Update…
In the week between Mag editions, we saw Calgary secure their spot in the playoffs, eliminating Toronto and sending them to an inevitable rebuild it seems. Calgary and New York are now tied at two a piece in their series which has turned out to be quite the battle of the goalkeepers with strong performances from Kopralkov and Weinstein. Then over in the European conference, Cologne and Davos are in a series that is surprising the entire league right now with the amount of exciting games between teams that seem to have no shot at the Continental Cup this time around. Three games so far have gone to overtime periods with Apollo Skye being a stand out to save HC Davos in the series. It seems that the Express will come out of the series with a date in Riga for the conference final, but the VHL fans are pumped up and excited to see this type of action so early in the playoffs. There are going to be a lot of interesting stories to follow for the playoffs, but it looks like the North American conference teams have a little more to be worried about rather than just ignoring the European teams. 

VHLM playoffs halted…
While the VHL presses on with the playoffs, the minor league affiliate seems to be having some trouble getting out of the gate for the post-season action. It’s not taking long for the league to react with some of the more vocal members wondering what the heck is going on. Simmer Higgins is potentially just working out some of the details before getting the show underway or it could be a tactic to make sure that the leagues are closer together in the later rounds to avoid being a day ahead or behind later on. A break in the simming in the first round is ideal rather than waiting in the later rounds without doubt. This will hopefully be resolved by the time the Magazine is even published.

VHL GM changes…
It seems that the league could see some changes in the team front offices this upcoming off-season with Calgary general manager Eaglesfan coming out and saying that his interest in the league was fading after a long run of league positions and a lengthy run as the Calgary general manager. It wasn’t long before Toronto GM Molholt and Riga GM Toast chimed in with the same thoughts. Where will the league turn to for new general managers though? With one of the lowest activity points currently going on and Molholt trying to step aside before seemingly with no appropriate replacement coming forward, it seems the league is low on interest for these positions. Maybe Smarch would be interested in the Calgary position, but what about Toronto and Riga? What other changes are coming to the league in the off-season? Either something will be done to combat the lack of activity or nothing at all will be done… but it seems that we’re at least looking at some GM changes!

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Helsinki finds Cornerstone…
After a troubling season for not just Helsinki, but all of the European conference, the Titans have found their new Franchise Cornerstone. Quite literally. At the S53 VHL Entry Draft, Helsinki used the first overall pick (which they acquired from Quebec in a day full of deals) to select Franchise Cornerstone, boubabi’s latest player. At a ridiculous amount of TPE to start his career, Cornerstone gave the boost that Helsinki needed. Helsinki also found some much needed boost in talent and led a resurgence in the Euro conference, being joined by the Stockholm Vikings. Season 53 looks like it’s going to be quite interesting with this moves happening throughout the league but the key point of the off-season thus far is Helsinki and Stockholm loading up on talent in hopes of conquering a weak conference and going to battle with whomever will be representing North American in the Continental Cup. Europe has a solid chance of bringing the Cup back to Europe this season…

The World Cup…
Somewhat forgotten with the rest of the drama and stuff going on through the off-season, the World Cup is set to begin. There is quite the cast of general managers for the teams this edition with everyone having plenty of GM experience throughout. Higgins, Street, boubabi, and Banackock are all experienced VHL GMs while this isn’t the first rodeo for Dwyer or hedgehog either. It will be crazy to see how it all plays out over the tournament, with the strong rosters and general manager team that we have this season. Thus far, one sim has been done with Higgins taking the charge once again, so if you are looking for anything head on over to World Cup subforum and check out all of the usual statistics and what not that are available there.

The Slobo vote…
In an interesting decision, there are only three players up for nomination this time in the Brett Slobodzian Trophy voting. Those three nominees are Sandro Clegane of the Riga Reign who posted a 46-13-5 record with an impressive stat line of 93.1 save percentage, 1.67 goals against average and 15 shut outs on the season. While they are impressive numbers, it seems many aren’t too impressed considering that the Reign were mostly playing in a god awful European conference. On the skater side of things there are two interesting choices with the first being Pietro Maximoff of the Riga Reign, who put up a ridiculous 69 goals over his 72 games. Maximoff led the league in points and also had some interesting stats otherwise. And finally, Unassisted from the Continental Cup winning Americans is the final nominee. Unassisted did not lead in points or goals but led in everything else. His +83 was untouchable and 299 hits and 13 game winning goals is crazy high. Lots of great choices for the Slobo this time around, so make sure to go cast your vote!