Ottawa Starts Season Strong

[scoop 3,432]

The VHLM season has just begun, and for Ottawa, it has gone well. The last remaining undefeated team, the 4-0 Lynx are coming off a season in which they lost in the finals. On paper, their team does not look the best; they certainly aren't the worst, but they have some holes that could be filled. Given that, their strong start could prompt management to make a move to elevate the team's game even further. Four games is of course not a great sample size to rely on, and two of those wins were against weaker teams. The biggest story here is really their two wins against last season's champions, the Minnesota Storm.

 

Minnesota won the Founder's Cup in six games last season, with an overall playoff record of 12-2; Ottawa was the only team to give them a post-season loss. Both the Storm and the Lynx have lost some of their top players, of course; but the Storm had six of the top 19 picks of the S71 VHLM Dispersal Draft. Minnesota was looking like a team that could repeat, while Ottawa had the make-up of a good-- not great-- team.

 

The first meeting between the teams was Game 13 in Ottawa. Richard Penisson was the star of the show, scoring four goals for the Lynx in their 4-3 victory. Penisson, who had 28 goals and 51 points last season, has been one of the early leaders for the Lynx. Their best player, though, has easily been Adam Syreck, who had 68 points a year ago. Not only did he assist on all four of Penisson's goals in their first game against Minnesota, but he also scored two of his own and added two more assists in their second match. Down 3-4 late in Game 22, Syrex scored the tying goal that sent it to overtime. The game went to a shootout, where Penisson and Syreck scored the only goals. Syreck scored or assisted on every goal the Lynx have gotten against Minnesota this season, aside from Penisson's shootout goal.