Alexander Pepper, Future HOF?

[McLovin 480]

 

(Alexander Pepper guarding the net against Malmo, S70)

 

It's hard to grasp how truly remarkable Alexander Pepper @Sonnet has been for the Helsinki Titans. Over his 9 season career between the VHLM & VHL, he's been an absolute machine, and has put up some elite numbers. (Not to mention he's also broken a couple Titans records along the way!) In this Theme Week media spot, we'll go over why Alexander Pepper could be (and quite frankly should be) a Hall of Famer at the end of his career.

 

Before he was even drafted by Helsinki all the way back in S63, he's been an elite player. His first season in the VHL-VHLM system had him put up an astonishing 50 win season, with just a super casual 10 shutouts and a GAA of 1.99. Despite falling short in the playoffs later on in the season, it was still good enough to earn him the Benoit Devereux Trophy, awarded to the player deemed to be the top goalie in the VHLM. Keep in mind this was his draft year as well, and by some stroke of a miracle, Helsinki was able to pick him up at 10th overall. How he fell that far after putting those numbers up in year one of his career baffles me. Pepper burned the teams that passed him up for that choice however, as the next 8 season would have him put up some world class numbers.

 

His first season as a Titan had him immediately thrown into a starting position by a struggling Helsinki team. And although he ended up losing more games than he won, putting up a 25-31-8 record, he proved he belonged in this league, as his sv% was at a .918%. It's also worth noting that this year was also the year in which he faced the most shots, that being 2599, so a 3.28 GAA can't really be blamed on a rookie tendy as much as a weak defense, but the save percentage is what is brilliant to me considering the teams he went up against. Once Helsinki improved their blue line and got some help offensively, they truly gave Pepper a chance to prove he deserves the Hall of Fame. That's because over the next three seasons, there wasn't one season where he lost more than 20 regulation games, won less than 38 games, and didn't put up at least 5 shutouts. (Pepper would also maintain this pace up until this current season, S70.) He also averaged a .918 save percentage during this stretch, but his best year had to have been his S66 performance. A true Hall of Fame season, as the great man put up 49 wins in just 65 games! That alone is an incredible feat, but he didn't stop there. .921 sv%, 2.45 GAA, 5 shutouts, the Aidan Shaw Trophy for top goalie in the VHL, as well as the grandest trophy of them all, the Continental Cup. The cherry on top of this simply legendary season was he took home the Daisuke Kanou Trophy, for MVP of the playoffs. S66 was the season of Pepper, and he simply dominated everything and everyone he came across. Despite this being his peak, Alexander Pepper still showed the league why you shouldn't sleep on Helsinki, as he still won on average around 40 games, kept his GAA low and his sv% high over the next three seasons. And now that leads up to this year, his final season in the blue and white, as well as in the VHL altogether. Though his numbers have been shaky this season, it's simply ridiculous to ridicule him for a down year after being a consistent legend over the past 7 freakin' years! With the season coming near an end & the playoffs right around the corner, Pepper did announce he would retire at the conclusion of S70, and despite the inconsistency of the aging Titans this year, Pepper managed to end his career with multiple Titans records before he'll call it quits. He's the Titans all time leader in games played and wins, and is in very close contention with Astrid Moon for best goalie in Titans history. 

 

Whether or not Pepper makes the Hall of Fame is still to be determined, but what he's accomplished over his time with Helsinki is truly that of legend, and will certainly make his case at the end of it all. But to me, and every fan of the blue and white, he'll always be a legend.