VHLM Playoff Preview [1/2]

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The playoffs are underway in both the VHL and the VHLM, and while most of the interest is on what’s happening in the senior circuit there’s some intrigue* going on with the minor league as well.

The wild card round is complete, with Las Vegas easily dispatching Saskatoon in five games. Vegas won with a heavy dose of offense, as Robert Malenko and company scored at least four goals in each of their wins.

 

 

Their reward is a matchup with top-seeded Yukon. The Aces and Rush faced each other 18 times this season, with Yukon winning 14 of those contests in regulation (and one in overtime) while going undefeated at home and outscoring Vegas 76-42. Yukon is probably going to bring too much for Vegas to handle, but the Aces may win a game (or even two) before bowing out.

 

On the other side of the bracket is the much tighter matchup between the Ottawa Lynx and Oslo Storm. Oslo holds an 11-7 edge in that season series, including two overtime wins to go along with two shootout wins for Ottawa. Oslo performed very well in Ottawa this year, winning six of their games in Canada’s capital compared to five in the Norwegian capital. This one should go to six or seven games, but the Marvin Harding and Rauno Palo-led Storm should be able to make it to the Founder’s Cup finals.

 

 

So how will the Yukon vs. Oslo series play out? The Storm were victorious against the Rush on four occasions in season 61, which may not sound like a lot but is actually the most victories any team has against Yukon this year. Furthermore, all those wins were in regulation, and those wins account for exactly half of Yukon’s regulation losses this season.

 

The Storm are the only team with more than one multiple-score victory against Yukon, and they’re also the only team to shut out the high-scoring Rush this season (way back in game 21). Promising up-and-coming goalie Ismond Kingfisher is capable of hanging with the best of them in net, and the Storm defensive unit led by Maxim Kovalchuk and Lukas Novacek is a very formidable foe.

 

That said, the Rush are the top team in the league for a reason. Three players scored 100 points in the VHLM this season, and they all reside in Yukon. Four of the top five and six of the top nine scorers in the league are on the Rush, and two of those players are defensemen. Their goaltender was the only one in the league to top a 0.900 save percentage.

 

Oslo can certainly hold their own against the Yukon powerhouse, but it would be a stunner if the Storm win more than two games in the finals. Yukon had to go through a twenty-season drought the last time they waited to win the Founder’s Cup, but this time the two-year wait should be much easier for their fans to handle.

 

Here is a six word sentence.

 

*not really

 

-500 words on the dot

[diamond_ace 3,114]

*Standard hockey answer* Next year is Ottawa's year!

 

Probably true though, I have a lot of early picks

[Banackock 8,146]

Hehe

[TheLastOlympian07 2,388]

Review

RIP Yukon. Great write up detailing all of the series in the VHLM. Crazy how STHS works sometimes though. Yukon losing in the finals is probably one of the biggest shocks in recent history.