Ubuyalot Games Sponsor Shield Preview

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Ubuyalot Games is one of the teams who will be competing in the upcoming Sponsor Shield Tournament and here is a quick look at the roster

 

Forwards

Ubuyalot Games roster which is quite thin up front in terms of depth at this time.   The team has signed just 7 forwards to go along with 5 defenseman and 2 Goalies. The team will be looking to round out the roster soon.   The teams top endorsement of $3 million slot went to Jasper Canmore who is having a great season and is second in the VHL in scoring. Ubuyalot will be hoping that high quality forwards will make up for the lack of depth up front currently.  The biggest bargain in the Sponsors shield is leading scorer forward Gabriel McAllister of seattle who has graciously taken a zero dollar endorsement to lead Ubuyalot. McAllister currently has a 13 point lead in the scoring title over Canmore and is also leading the league in goals by 1. The third member of the top line is expected to be Edwin Preencarnacion.  Edwin is currently 4th in the league in goals and 9th in scoring. Ubuyalot’s top line on paper is a dominant force. You have the league's top two scorers who will make it difficult for the opponents to shut down.

 

Defense

Ubuyalot’s top pairing on D is expected to be Mats Johnsson and Luc-Pierre Lespineau-Lebrunette although Jacob Smith is having a better season than Lespineau-Lebrunette and that recent form may elevate him to the top pairing.   Whichever Dman is not on the top pairing will most likely be paired with the giant Lew Bronstein. Bronstein is a towering 6’8 and will provide an intimidating presence on the blue line.  The final defenseman on the roster is rookie Paolo Nano. Nano is coming off an excellent performance with Team Europe in the World Junior Tourney and will be looking to take that form into the Sponsors Shield Tournament.   Nano was traded from Riga to Helsinki earlier in the VHL season and that has lead to an increased role. Nano is now playing on the top pairing and that has allowed him to gain confidence to put up a first team all star performance in the WJC.   Nano will look to build upon that success with Ubualot. As Nano will likely be the teams 5th defenseman, he will likely see a significant drop in Ice time from Helsinki.

 

Goalies

Norris Stopko from the Calgary Wranglers will be manning the pipes for Ubuyalot.   He will be taking a 916 save percentage to go along with a 2.3 GAA into the tournament.  Hes an experienced veteran playing in his seventh season. Ubuyalot will lean on that experience to provide a brick wall in the crease to mitigate any issues with the forward depth.  He will be backed up by Brick Wahl who ranks 4th in the VHLM in save percentage.

 

Outlook

Ubuyalot looks to have an excellent top line that will be very difficult for opposing teams to handle.  The lack of depth upfront currently on the team may be its achilles heel. The second forward line only has one VHL player in it and will likely struggle to score.  The defense however is where the team has some depth with all 5 Defenseman playing in the VHL this season. It will be interesting to see if the elite talent on the top line will more than makeup for the lack of depth.