S68 VHL Games of Interest

[DMaximus 1,045]

S68 VHL Games of Interest

 

There’s a lot of things I love about stats and numbers, but one of the greatest things statistics gives us is the ability to find interesting stories in a whole mess of numbers. I took a look through the advanced metrics of all the S68 VHL games so far and focused in on individual games to pull out some memorable games from the first half of the season.

 

Most Dominating Offensive Performances – these teams had the largest Corsi For numbers in an single game this season.

5) Game 39 - D.C. Dragons vs Toronto Legion– In their 9-1 victory, Toronto racked up 112 shot attempts, 55 of which were on goal. Teagan Glover got a hat trick during this drubbing.

4) Game 81 - Moscow Menace vs Prague Phantoms – In an absolutely bonkers game that we’ll revisit later Moscow had 114 shot attempts. Unfortunately for them, their aim was dreadful and with only 40 % of those attempts landing on goal (46 shots on goal). There were multiple sequences like the following:

7:18 of 2nd period - Shot by Dean Clarke.
7:18 of 2nd period - Shot Misses the Net.
7:20 of 2nd period - Shot by Mat Tocco.
7:20 of 2nd period - Deflect By Jet Jaguar.
7:20 of 2nd period - Shot Misses the Net.
7:22 of 2nd period - Shot by Edward Vigneault.
7:22 of 2nd period - Shot Misses the Net.
7:24 of 2nd period - Shot by Mat Tocco.
7:24 of 2nd period - Shot Misses the Net.

That’s 4 shots in 6 seconds, all of which missed the net. That lack of accuracy helped Prague get more shots than Moscow (47 – 46 shots on goal) and win this game 6-5.

3) Game 132 - Prague Phantoms vs D.C. Dragons – Prague was feeling it tonight as they let loose 116 attempts on goal leading to a staggering 66 shots on goal. D.C. goalie Pekka Pouta faced the onslaught of all 66 shots, but was only able to stop 61 of them. Prague won 5-3.

2) Game 182 - Helsinki Titans vs Moscow Menace – Another game where Moscow went crazy on offense yet couldn’t win the game. Moscow had 121 attempts on goal with 62 shots on goal. Helsinki goalie Alexander Pepper had an all-time classic performance making 60 saves, leading Helsinki to a 4-2 victory.

1) Game 191 - Prague Phantoms vs Moscow Menace – With 3 of the top 5 offensive performances this season, it’s clear that Moscow has serious offensive chops. Their best performance was this game against Prague, 127 attempts on goal, 62 shots on goal, and a 6-2 win.

 

Most Dominating Defensive Performances – these teams had the smallest Corsi Against number, meaning they allowed the fewest shot attempts on their goal.

5a) Game 204 - Riga Reign vs HC Davos Dynamo – Davos was able to hold the 2^nd place Riga team to only 24 shot attempts resulting in 15 shots on goal. With the strong defensive performance, Davos was able to win 3-2.

5b) Game 155 - Vancouver Wolves vs D.C. Dragons  - Vancouver abused the expansion team allowing 24 shot attempts and only 13 shots on goal. Their backup goalie got the shutout in a 2-0 victory.

4) Game 170 - D.C. Dragons vs Vancouver Wolves – Besting their previous performance, Vancouver held D.C to 22 shot attempts and 12 shots on goal. 3-2 Vancouver victory.

3) Game 162 -  D.C. Dragons vs HC Davos Dynamo – In a particularly tough run of games for D.C., Davos only allowed 21 shot attempts and 11 shots on goal. They easily secured a 5-2 victory.

2) Game 126 -  D.C. Dragons vs Malmo Nighthawks – Malmo took their turn with the Dragons. They allowed 20 shot attempts and 11 shots on goal. A 5-2 victory was their reward.

1) Game 9 - Seattle Bears vs D.C. Dragons – In their 2^nd game of the season, Seattle set the defensive bar extremely high. They allowed 19 shot attempts and 10 shots on goal. Their backup goalie showed why he’s the backup, letting 2 of those 10 shots in. Seattle still came out with the win, 3-2.

 

Most Exciting Games – These games have the highest Corsi For by both teams in the game. That means they had the most shot attempts and probably the most action.

5) Game 177 - Toronto Legion vs Helsinki Titans – Interestingly enough this game featured 177 total attempts on goal, the same as the game number. Helsinki had 98 compared to Toronto’s 79 and won 5-4.

4) Game 160 - Prague Phantoms vs Helsinki Titans – Although this game ultimately ended in a 3-2 (1-0) shootout loss for them, I think Prague should be extremely proud of this game. They went toe to toe with the #1 team in a very exciting game. The teams combined for 178 shot attempts (101 for Helsinki, 77 for Prague).

3) Game 179 - Moscow Menace vs Calgary Wranglers – This was an extremely close, back and forth game. The teams combined for 178 shot attempts (91 for Calgary, 87 for Moscow). This game fittingly ended with the teams having the exact same number of shots on goal, 41. Moscow won 3-2 (2-1) in a shootout.

2) Game 97 - Moscow Menace vs Riga Reign – Moscow jumped out to an early lead, but Riga kept clawing back, tying the game 3 separate times and ultimately winning 5-4 (2-1) in a shootout. The teams evenly spit the total number of attempts, 181 with Riga making 90 shot attempts and Moscow making 91 attempts. The 181 attempts meant there were 3 attempts on goal every minute.

1) Game 81 - Moscow Menace vs Prague Phantoms – We discussed this game in the most dominating offensive performances due to Moscow accounting for 114 shot attempts in this game. Prague held their own with 80 attempts, creating a total attempt count of 194, 13 more attempts than the next closes game! Fans were treated to a fun Prague victory, 6-5.

 

Most Boring Games – These games featured the least Corsi For by both teams. In game reports say some fans actually fell asleep.

1a) Game 123 - Calgary Wranglers vs Seattle Bears – Not only did this snooze-fest feature a season low 79 total attempts (53 for Seattle, 26 for Calgary), it was a 4-0 blowout for Seattle

1b) Game 126 - D.C. Dragons vs Malmo Nighthawks – This game also featured a paltry 79 total shot attempts. Unsurprisingly, this game was also featured in the top defensive performance because D.C. only had 20 attempts. With Malmo in control for most of the game and a scoreless 2^nd period, this game is a forgettable one.

 

Closest Games – These games featured teams with a 0 Corsi total. That means they had the exact same number of shot attempts and shot attempts allowed in the game.

1a) Game 93 - Helsinki Titans vs Seattle Bears – Both Helsinki and Seattle had 57 attempts on goal. A empty net goal helped Seattle have a slightly skewed score line of 5-3.

1b) Game 198 - Moscow Menace vs Malmo Nighthawks – Both teams had 62 attempts on goal. Moscow snuck out a 4-3 victory on a Dan Baillie powerplay goal thanks to a Condor Adrienne OT penalty.

1c) Game 131 - Malmo Nighthawks vs Vancouver Wolves – The cross conference teams each tallied 65 shot attempts. Malmo rode the back of 4 powerplay goals to a 5-3 victory.

 

Not surprisingly the biggest blowouts, the games that had the greatest difference in Corsi For between the two teams are already featured in this article. Specifically, Game 9, the most dominating defensive performance by Seattle and Moscow’s most dominating offensive performance in Game 191.

 

I hope this was an enjoyable read, any insight is welcome. This took a fair amount of time to come up with and if no one else finds it interesting, I might refocus my time to other article ideas. If it’s something people want me to continue to produce on a periodic basis (or for the VHLM), please let me know.

 

Over 1,000 words. Will claim for Weeks ending 10/6 and 10/13.

[DMaximus 1,045]

claim for 2nd week, ending 10/13.