Moscow unsung heroes-Mark Gerber and Dan Baillie

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There are two unsung heros for Moscow, Mark Gerber is one for being the first captain of the team. Dan Baillie is another for having played the most games for Moscow in team history. At this time he is currently the leading scorer in team history however  jet jaguar is quickly catching up to him

 

 Mark Gerber  @Sova

 

Mark Gerber began his VHL career with Calgary where he was drafted 4th overall. Mark has a successful but short VHLM career of one season winning the founders cup in season 63. He got a taste for winning early in his career with that win but was not able to taste victory in the VHL as its difficult to with an expansion team.  

 

Gerber had a decent rookie season with Calgary producing a total of 24 goals and 25 assists. Moscow GM noticed marks play and decided to trade a first round pick 6th overall (Elasmobranch Fish) to acquire him. Mark immediately found a grove with Moscow in his first season putting up a career high of 93 points including 36 goals. Sadly for Mark this would turn out to be the high point in his career as has never been able to come close to reaching those heights in the following seasons. He followed up that 93 point season with a 70 point campaign. The wheels began to fall off at this point as his production fell of a cliff. Just a couple seasons after that amazing 93 point campaign he posted a meagre 54 points while 3 seasons later he managed just 28. If you combine his last 3 seasons stats together you get just a little bit more production than that glorious first campaign as a menace. 

 

Some people may say that hitting 93 points with an expansion team is not a big deal as someone needs to put up some points even on a bad team. That may be true but it doesn't change how significant his production was to the team. Those 93 points translated to mark factoring being responsible for 60% of the goals scored by Moscow that season. That's a staggering number and thats another reason mark Gerber is an unsung hero. Another interesting stat from that season is that mark managed to have a positive plus minus rating of 2 despite Moscow having a - 177 goal differential  that season. 

 

Mark Gerber is an unsung hero for being the first captain in Moscow history and producing at such a high level for a couple of seasons with an expansion team.  

 

Dan Baillie @wcats

 

Dan Baillie is a true unsung hero as he is the leading scorer in team history. His picture should be in the VHL's definition of an unsung hero. He has never been the captain of the team like Mark Gerber or Jet Jaguar but he's been an integral part of Moscow history as he's been there from the start. 

 

Dan was drafted in season 64 going 19th overall by the Riga reign. Dan was the second pick in the Moscow expansion draft and he turned out to be the best selection. As of this writing Dan has played the most games at 351 and the most points at 317. Dan has been a consistent player for the menace scoring between 60-75 points per season. He is a true unsung hero as he shows up to play every game and doesn't get the limelight or attention some other players receive. Dan doesn't have the huge peaks and valleys that Gerber has had in his career and that has enabled him to become the leading scorer.  

 

Dan is the definition of an unsung hero putting up the most points and games played in Moscow history while seemingly flying under the radar while doing so.