One Final Shot: S64's Best First Gens (Part I)

[Renomitsu 934]

One Final Shot: S64's Best First Gens (Part I of II)

A theme week involving the Hall of Fame doesn't exclude first generation players from its scope. In fact, as I covered in the first article of this series, brand new blood often includes some of the most productive and memorable members of this community, bringing a fresh perspective to how the league is run - in fact, this mish-mash of new and old is necessary to keep the site running. While we could wax poetic about the potential builders emerging from those who have been in the league for scarcely a year and a half, my focus in this article will be players that have had a substantial impact on the league. I won't be discussing their members' community contributions, though it's often mirrored by their level of activity. On to more Season 64 specific material - shall we?

 

This is the second in a series of articles that will detail the best first generation players of their respective classes - excluding those that have retired before their seventh season. Unlike those in my previous article, the players detailed here have the Season 70 Playoffs, as well as all of Season 71 to set their legacy in stone. They've faced most of what regression has to offer, with the worst yet to come - and yet, they've gotten this far without most of the ill effects. This time around, I'll kick off Season 64 with the two goalies that define it: Brick Wahl and Finn Davison.

 

 

Image credit to @Jubo07

 

G Brick Wahl @BladeMaiden, Prague Phantoms (1341 TPE)

 

A veritable giant at 6’7” and 247 lbs, Brick Wahl’s name befits his physical stature and has an effectively prescient origin story. Born following a local avalanche, Wahl was born amongst the rocks and spent his early life in his father’s construction sites with brick-laying duties, co-opting a similar stone-faced expression while reading through his textbooks and excelling in academics – particularly math involving quadratic equations or rectangular prisms (that last bit might be a little bit of projection). Rigid and clumsy on skates, he was forced to switch from defenseman to goalie, and enrolled in ballet and power skating classes but never showed truly graceful skating.

 

Early on in his career, he was scouted and made the Moose Jaw Bucks, a AAA minor league team for which he earned 8 wins in 11 games and rapidly promoted to the NWHL. However, he acquired several penalty minutes from the net and was seen by several psychologists at the University of Saskatchewan, all-too-fittingly becoming a Husky. Almost too on-the-nose, Brick studied geology with intents of becoming a geoscientist as a second option. After three seasons, a tryst with 5’2” Caylin Aqua, and helping build a local animal shelter, he made his way to the VHLM.

 

Wahl didn’t have to move far for his stint with the VHLM. He started every game with the Saskatoon Wild, compiling a 46-win record on an 89% save rate and the second spot in the standings. He competed with future notables such as Rylan Peace, Matthew Materazo, and Carles Puigdemont. Indeed, in spite of competing with a Yukon Rush squad with the likes of Kronos Bailey, Ryan Sullivan Jr, and Jagger Philliefan, Wahl managed to lead the Wild to a league second-best in goals allowed. Perhaps more impressively, the Wild pulled a 1-3 series reversal on the 21^st in the first round, and eventually toppled the Lynx in an impressive four-game sweep in the finals. So oppressive was Wahl’s goaltending and defense that the Lynx scored just one goal per game – including a Game 2 shutout.

 

One criticism – or at least spotlight – that Wahl has had throughout his career is his storied love life. Though previously with Caylin Aqua in his pre-VHLM days, Wahl was rumored to be dating former VHLM Finals opponent Carles Puigdemont (@Eudaldkp), a finding eventually corroborated by Wahl’s own press release. Just a season or two later, he swept long-time Toronto defender Tzuyu off of her feet following an All-Star Game right around Valentine’s Day. Unsurprisingly, Wahl was met with criticism, suggesting that focusing on his duties as a goaltender might lead to better results for a struggling Calgary team.

 

Image credit to @Jubo07

 

However, Wahl’s lifetime statistics speak more to regular, intensive effort to improve. In six seasons with Calgary, the Canadian netminder’s wins may not have materialized at a desirable pace, but he’s been a… well, a brick wall for shots both flashy and subtle. His save percentage has never dipped below 91.4% and has peaked as high as 92.4% in Season 66 – a metric impressive enough to afford the goalie a tie for first in the league. Unfortunately, efficiency can only get you so far: Calgary’s defense up until last season or so didn’t quite match Wahl’s impressive feats in the net; in that very same season, he faced 2,112 shots. For reference, that’s over 250+ shots more than S66 Shaw and Clegane Trophy winner Kallis Kriketers faced.

 

Team contribution aside, Wahl unfortunately falls in the realm of “very good” rather than all-time great. As his agent herself has suggested, Wahl has fallen short in the playoffs; he’s never made it out of the North American Conference Finals. Though he’s posted a lifetime save percentage of 92.1% in the playoffs – an excellent metric for a goalie – facing ~36 shots per game on average isn’t a recipe for success for any goalie, and neither is 3.26 (Season 66) or 2.99 (Season 68) goals allowed per game. Several seasons of “very good, but limited supporting cast,” a lack of playoff success, and a sparse awards cabinet unfortunately means Wahl’s impressive feats will go underappreciated in the annals of time.

 

Image credit to @enigmatic

 

G Finn Davison @Poptart, Riga Reign (1250 TPE)

Coming off a reasonably successful Season 69 in which he faced a tremendous number of shots (2,395) on a fast-paced Moscow team, Finn Davison has faced the majority of regression without much fall-off in performance. A London native, Davison entered the VHLM at 18 – but he faced a difficult childhood before making his debut. One of three children, Finn was born to an automotive engineer father; his mother was a spender, to put it lightly – thus forcing the Davison family to move frequently between apartments. His friend groups constantly shifted, and as a result he found himself constantly isolated in a world of strangers and barely-acquaintances.

 

The one place Davison could escape – where he wouldn’t feel lonely or superfluous – was the rink. As soon as he put on the pads, helmet, skates, and stick, he was home. Despite new surroundings every several months, he was a goalie through high school and started consistently wherever he went. Most impressively, he found himself able to compartmentalize bad saves and learning opportunities away from his performance in game and became something of a rock for younger players. He was kept honest by his girlfriend April, who supported him even in the earliest stages of his professional hockey dreams – including moving with him across the pond to Ottawa. On receiving the $1.5M contract, he started the back 34 games for the Lynx. Like virtually every goalie in the VHLM, he struggled to an extent – in fact starting shortly after being approved for his flat in Canada, just a few days after arriving in Ottawa International Airport.

 

He played with classmates Elias Dahlberg, Pat Svoboda, Gritty, and Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen, and in fact seized the starting job from eventual Toronto goalie JB Rift. Those of you paying attention may have noted in Brick Wahl’s article that these two future VHL standouts played against one another in the S63 playoff. After disposing of the Las Vegas Aces 3-2 and 4-2 in the first round, the Lynx were nearly eliminated by the Rush in the semifinals, getting blanked in three of their seven games. But the Lynx tightened up after starting the series 0-2, eventually finishing the series with a Davison performance that included a 95.5% save rate. Their Founders Cup dreams were not meant to be, however, as the Lynx scored just 4 goals in as many games in the finals while being swept by Saskatoon.

 

Image credit to @BladeMaiden

 

Davison was understandably a high-value commodity coming off of his minor league season – drawing an endorsement from Haterade and being named to the World Juniors’ Team Europe (a sign of things to come). When the Season 64 Entry Draft rolled around, Davison’s draft position was largely unknown aside from being the second goalie off the board. In a draft otherwise reasonably deep with skaters, Davison fell all the way to the first selection of the third round to a struggling Davos team. Indeed, the Dynamo had compiled a 15-53-4 (34 point) record the season prior, and a nasty -157 goal differential. Davison had his work cut out for him.

 

The young Englishman was thrown into the fire from the first day of practice and played in 34 of the team’s games with a 6-21-5 record. But just like his classmate, Davison put up impressive efficiency numbers including a 91.8% save rate. Scale Finn’s 1,322 shots to a typical number of starts, and he would have faced nearly 2,500 shots on goal (over his career record 2,395, which is similarly impressive). He’d need improvement in the incredibly young talent around him in order to make an impact – and with former Lynx teammates Elias Dahlberg and Pat Svoboda, as well as a spritely young Randoms on offense, he’d get exactly that.

 

Regardless, Davos’s roster was constantly in flux; over the next few seasons, Davison faced a sophomore slump in Season 65 (90.9% SV) but a comparatively excellent record (31-29-5), followed by a surge in performance in Seasons 66 and 67. The team was formidable, having obtained GM player Katie Warren, a promising young core in Bjorn Scoringsonn, Aston Martin, and Don Draper, and having long-time stars Jake Davis, Ryuu Crimson, and Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen in the process. Tragically, the team underperformed on the season, finishing with a 30-31-11 record in spite of Davison’s most efficient year-to-date.

 

Image credit to... uh, Poptart's sig?

 

Davos scraped its way into the playoffs in Season 68 with a rock-solid core – and Davison saved an incredibly 92.7% of shots while compiling a 37-20-7 record. Ostensibly on the upswing, Davison would go on to win both the Aidan Shaw and Greg Clegane Trophies, only to lose to the eventual European Finals representatives in a 3-4 series loss to Malmo. This took the wheels off of the Davos train, derailing the team as various players jumped ship in the off-season. And once a player or two found their way off of the team, so did most everyone else. That included Davison, who was eventually shipped off to Moscow mid-season. His stats suffered for the first half of the year, returning to his career average 91.9% save rate before finishing with a total 26-37-9 record. Though he up-trended in the second half of the season, some had concerns about whether Davison would be able to perform at a high level after being peppered with shots all season.

 

Then came a trade to Riga, who are in the midst of a rebuild but managed to compile a fantastic 36-23-7 record with Davison on board; though the results of the playoffs and award voting are yet to be determined, Davison has a compelling argument for some regular season hardware this time around. Though he faces the worst of regression this off-season, he still has a season and some change to make his argument for the Hall of Fame.

 

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That concludes this week's coverage of Season 64's best first generation players, with three skaters to be explored next week. What do you think of this week's two selections -- do either have a realistic shot at the Hall of Fame, or are they to be relegated to the doldrums of "Very Good"? Is a Continental Cup a requirement for the Hall, or are regular season accomplishments and conference finals sufficient? As these players progress into their final season, they'll need to answer these questions.

 

[2,022 words. First claim, Theme Week 03/01/20]

[Nykonax 1,564]

ahem

[Bayley 419]

Love this!! @Renomitsu thanks for the words!

[BladeMaiden 1,807]

@hedgehog337 and @Poptart  You both are amazing

 

Btw i just realized my goalie is a Lothario @Renomitsu you forgot that he is chasing after @omgitshim"s Cinna now. You know what they say you can't keep a good Wahl down, he moved half way across the world to look at her fine ass in front of him on the ice

 

Much love, this article is very fun and as usual it is extremely well written

[omgitshim 902]

19 hours ago, BladeMaiden said:

@hedgehog337 and @Poptart  You both are amazing

 

Btw i just realized my goalie is a Lothario @Renomitsu you forgot that he is chasing after @omgitshim"s Cinna now. You know what they say you can't keep a good Wahl down, he moved half way across the world to look at her fine ass in front of him on the ice

 

Much love, this article is very fun and as usual it is extremely well written

 

No cup no buns.

[BladeMaiden 1,807]

1 hour ago, omgitshim said:

 

No cup no buns.

 
It’s coming baby, at lest flash me I got to to the playoffs gorgeous   

[Gustav 6,407]

On 3/1/2020 at 7:31 PM, Nykonax said:

ahem

What

[Nykonax 1,564]

3 hours ago, GustavMattias said:

What

wheres dahlgoat

[omgitshim 902]

On 3/6/2020 at 5:14 PM, BladeMaiden said:

 
It’s coming baby, at lest flash me I got to to the playoffs gorgeous   

 

[BladeMaiden 1,807]

On 3/7/2020 at 9:28 PM, omgitshim said:

 

 

Can't blame me for trying lol

[Renomitsu 934]

Claim #2, week ending 04/05/2020

[Renomitsu 934]

Claim #3, Week Ending 05/10/2020