Cats and Kings: The top two [1/2]

[DangerGolding 222]

 

Let's look at the two top teams in the league and how they stack up head-to-head in regards to positional strength and depth.

 

Goaltenders

There's not much you can say about this position, it's clear that the Wild have the advantage with a much more experienced goaltender in the net with Fontaine holding the superior GAA and save percentage with 1.94 and 0.894 compared to Fomba's 2.63 and 0.892. This does, however, indicate the possibility that the two are fairly equal shot stoppers with Fontaine's lead in GAA possibly being a result of being behind a better defense. The Saskatoon goaltender has faced only 273 shots compared to Fomba's 296 with Fomba playing 3 less games as well.

 

Defensemen

The defensemen of both teams stack up fairly well with 3 high quality players on each side along with a young rookie as additional depth. Though this time it's the Kings that have the star power in Summers who leads the way in tpe, however after him the next 3 players all line up on the other side of the ice for the Wild. DeYeeto, O'Quinn and E.T.E make a defensive core that is the foundation of a solid wall at the back, no doubt a huge component of the Wild's league leading defence.

 

Centers

This is where Saskatoon could blow Mexico City out of the water, all 3 players in the depth chart at C would be the best player in the same position for the Kings with Stavu being the clear best player in the middle of the ice. Dawson will have hard time keeping up and the Kings won't get any respite even when Stavu takes a breather on the bench with two excellent players ready to come on in his place for the league leaders.

 

Forwards

Once again the Kings do have a star player in Jaxxon Walker to contend with the Wild's RW star in Killy Foilen, however they somewhat lack the wealth in depth that Saskatoon are enjoying, though that's not to say they don't have backup weapons in their own arsenal. Trades to acquire Daldo and Markus Nygren leave the Kings in a decent position to go head to head with Saskatoon at the forward positions. 

 

 

 

In conclusion  it's definitely advantage to Saskatoon, they have the talent and depth to make one hell of a season happen and at the time of publishing they are on a 14 game winning streak. Mexico do have the tools to challenge the Wild though and games between these two should make for some of the biggest spectacles we've seen in recent seasons.

 

Mexico handed Saskatoon their only loss of the season so far in their first meeting in a home game for the Kings, goals by Nyko and Dawson in the 1st and early in the 2nd shot them out to a 2-0 lead before Nyman cut the Kings lead to 1. 5 minutes into the final period Alex Armstrong rebuilt the 2 goal deficit before K. Foilen struck back just 14 seconds later. A cagey game went down to the wire with the Wild on an all-out attack that bore no fruit resulting in Armstrong sweeping home the empty net goal with 20 second left on the clock to seal the game 4-2.

 

The return game in Saskatoon was a less close game, a goal apiece in the 1st by Lahtinen and Foilen brought the home team an early lead which they extended in the 2nd. Ohradka, DeYeeto and Foilen combined for a further 3 goals with the visitors answering only once to go into the last period with a 5-1 lead. Saskatoon's Elliot Porter al but sealed the game with a penalty play goal 6 minutes in with Omdahl chipping in a consolation goal for the Kings for a final score  of 6-2.

 

With 6 more matchups in the schedule this season, VHLM fans are eagerly looking forward to these two team clashing again though many pundits question if the Kings have the necessary talent to keep up with the Wild over the course of the long season ahead.

 

@Peace @Motzaburger @Aye my name jeff

 

Edited November 21, 2019 by DangerGolding

[Peace 1,562]

Pretty good insight. 

However... 

Saskatoon has four forwards (including centers) above 200 TPA right now, while Mexico currently has one.  

[DangerGolding 222]

5 minutes ago, Peace said:

Pretty good insight. 

However... 

Saskatoon has four forwards (including centers) above 200 TPA right now, while Mexico currently has one.  

I took the positional data off the portal so if someone's playing a different position to what they are on the portal then that's why.

[Patrik Tallinder 1,087]

Review: There's a lot of things to like here. I like the analysis of each position, but what really stood out to me was the inclusion of the games they've played against each other. It's cool that you went deeper into the games than just their score, and even went the extra mile to find out how many more matchups they have left. I appreciate the work you put into this!

[diamond_ace 3,114]

It's interesting to note that Sask has a vhlm commie and a vhl commie at center, and there's another center better than both.