ecn ECN’s “VHL Now!” 5th Edition “Surprises and Letdowns”

[FrostBeard 2,046]

 

ECN’s “VHL Now!” 5th Edition “Surprises and Letdowns”

 

In this week’s VHL Now we will be looking at the standing in VHL, point totals and interesting stat lines around VHL. So hop on our ECN train for an easy look through most important things around VHL!

 

Malmo, magicians of VHL. They have managed to fool us at ECN with this strong start. Just last season Malmo joined VHL and was an expansion team and here we have them as one of the strongest teams in VHL. With 10 points Malmo Nighthawks are currently sitting in first place in European Conference standings. Most interestingly – they have scored 23 goals and allowed 24, which will probably show a bit more influence to the standings in the latter part of the season.

 

Helsinki, the best defensive team in VHL. Currently, with only 13 goals against are the best in that category. They are clearly one of the teams that should not be overlooked not only because they were last season Continental Cup champions, but because they will move on top of the standings in European Conference easily. The only team that in their conference can battle with them is Davos, but even then if we compare both rosters we see that Helsinki are plainly better than Davos.

 

Not many surprises to see New York as the worst team in VHL this season, as they are going through with a strong rebuild. There is a question of whether or not they will trade away some of their high TPE players closer to the trade deadline or will they keep their current roster intact and build-up for the next season already.

 

Toronto Legion with record 8-0-0 is clearly the best team in VHL right now. Their acquisitions of Veran Dragomir who is leading VHL in Points and Rylan Peace who is their second-best in points just behind Dragomir are giving them the necessary offensive power to push through opposition. The only question right now will be – will Toronto be able to sustain their success or will they fall back to the ground.

 

Comparing both conferences it is quite clear that North American Conference seems to be Top heavy conference with Toronto and Calgary dominating. With more spread out success in Europe we can see that teams will have to grab all the easy wins against New York and Seattle if they will want to be in the playoffs this upcoming season.

 

Looking at personal statistics for us at ECN the biggest surprise has been play of Matthew Materazo who is sitting in first place with 12 points together with Veran Dragomir on top of VHL. Materazo is showing excellence on the same level as we saw last season from Helsinki superstar Borwinn. Interesting that he is not only effective on the offensive end but he has been able to stay away from any penalties as he is the only player in Top 15 in points without a single penalty minute.

 

Elasmobranch Fish has been quite an interesting addition to the top defenceman list this season and has proved to be one of the biggest surprises in VHL. We at ECN have followed his development over the past season and it is truly great to see a young and promising defenceman be as effective as he is. Surely, we can say that with players like Sebastian Ironside, Diljodh Starload and Leph Twinger he just needs to pass the puck and points are almost guaranteed, but then again, you have to have a high hockey IQ to make plays and allow your teammates to take positions that allow points to be scored.

 

Finally. Finally, we can talk about a player who is showing why he was selected in the S66 VHL Draft as the 1st Overall. Hunter Hearst Helmsley is currently sitting with 8 points in 7 games played and leading his underperforming Riga squad this season. After last season was stolen away from the amazing skill of Jet Jaguar and Shane Mars, this might be the year when HHH will put everyone back into their place. But we will have to see about that and check back in after a bit more games as he might fall back down.

 

And that will be it for this week’s ECN’s “VHL Now!” We hope you liked our coverage of VHL News and we hope to see you back again next week – good luck for now and stay frosty!

 

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[Matt_O 897]

47 minutes ago, FrostBeard said:

Looking at personal statistics for us at ECN the biggest surprise has been play of Matthew Materazo who is sitting in first place with 12 points together with Veran Dragomir on top of VHL. Materazo is showing excellence on the same level as we saw last season from Helsinki superstar Borwinn. Interesting that he is not only effective on the offensive end but he has been able to stay away from any penalties as he is the only player in Top 15 in points without a single penalty minute.

Oh yeah. I’m just waiting for me to fall back to earth though