Under 250: The VHLM Review (S71 #1)

[Mr_Hatter 1,603]

 

Hello, and welcome to the first edition of a new season of Under 250: The VHLM Report. In these series, we will be taking a look at the trends and topics from the past week in the VHLM. What twists and turns will our minor league hold? Stay tuned to find out!

The Review

 

A new season, some fresh faces and some familiar ones, leads us all to wonder just how the rest of the season will turn out. It’s funny though, despite all the new beginnings and storylines, all the one thing you are looking forward to is the playoffs again, just to see who will be crowned. Well, that will have to wait! For now, we will just content ourselves with a review of games 1-59 of the VHLM Season 71. Without further ado, let's hop into the standings!

 

Starting the new season strong we have the Ottawa Lynx with an early lead for first place in the standings. Last season’s runner-ups have really hit the ground running, earning 20 points out of 11 matches with just the single loss. In the second place, the Las Vegas Aces are going strong with 8 wins out of their 10 played, having lost twice. Following the Aces is the Saskatoon Wild, rounding out the top three at 15 points. The Wild are having a great start for a team that owned no picks going into this season’s draft, doing really impressive stuff so far. 

 

Next up we have four teams all separated by a point. The Philadelphia Reapers are tied with the Yukon Rush for fourth place, each on 13 points, though the Reapers have a game in hand. Next up, tied for sixth we have the reigning Founder’s Cup champions the Minnesota Storm just ahead of the San Diego Marlins. Despite having won one fewer game the Storm has lost twice in the shootout, and are ahead on regular plus overtime wins, with five compared to San Diego’s four (though one of those shootouts was between the two teams, in which San Diego took the extra point). 

 

Following the Marlins there is another small drop-off before the Mississauga Hounds take the final playoff position at 8 points, just one ahead of ninth-placed Halifax 21st. The Hounds and 21st also mark our first foray into teams with a negative goal differential. One more point and position back of the 21st is the Mexico City Kings, although the Kings do hold a game in hand over the 21st. Rounding out the standings is the Houston Bulls, whose 1-7-3 record has earned them 5 points, their only win coming in Game 46 against Mexico City by a thrilling score of 5-4. 

 

Let’s take a quick look at the ELO charts to see if they paint a different picture:

 

 

As you can see, the Ottawa Lynx are at the top of both the ELO charts and the points table, but after that things get a little more interesting. The Reapers shot up quickly in the charts, stabilizing quickly, but remain number two by ELO despite ranking fourth in the standings. This can be explained in part by their fantastic goals against record, allowing three goals per game on average. Only the Lynx have a better defence so far.

 

The Aces and the Rush are just about tied, as the Rush made a huge jump up with their 10-0 thrashing of the Kings in Game 56.  Interestingly, despite being third place in the league, the Saskatoon Wild are more in the middle of the pack by ELO; taking a look at their goal difference, this starts to make a bit more sense, as their GD of 7 is worse than both fourth and fifth place. Outside of this, nothing really stands out from the ELO; the good teams are high, the bad teams are bad, and all is right in the world. 

 

The Highlights

 

The high octane offence of the Ottawa Lynx is kicking off yet another season strong with the top two scorers in the VHLM. Both Adam Syreck and Richard Penisson have scored over 30 points, with Syreck scoring over three points per game. Syreck leads the league in points, while Penisson has the most goals thus far. The top defender by points so far is Nikita Kulikovich of the San Diego Marlins, whose 26 points is good enough for fourth in the league. In fact, Kulikovich is the only defenseman in the top twenty, a very promising start for the Russian blueliner. Fantastically, he has scored a full quarter of all shots he’s taken so far. Goaltenders beware of this man’s wicked slapshot. 

 

Speaking of goaltenders, the Lynx lead yet another category, as their man between the pipes has been red-hot. Joakim Bruden has been a revelation thus far, earning a .907 SV% across his first 11 games, including a shutout against the Halifax 21st back in Game 25 (also a 9-0 blowout; Lynx fans should check it out). His GAA of 2.44 tops the league, and so far looks to be the frontrunner for goalie of the year. Another goalie worth mentioning, however, has one of the worst records by GAA and wins; but boy does he make up for it in carrying potential. Despite his 4.21 GAA, Hex Valentine has the second-best SV% in the league with .895%. And while Bruden and the Lynx have faced about 290 shots, Valentine and the 21st have had to deal with 449 shots, which makes his save percentage that much more impressive.  

 

Despite having just one player in the top five for scoring at this point, the Las Vegas Aces are a very balanced team, whose eight different points per game scorers puts them up as the best offence in the VHLM so far, with 62 goals scored compared to the Lynx’s 58. All of Jeff Blaze, Pengu, and number one draft pick Joe Proto are scoring at over a two-point per game rate. The Aces are proving to be a dangerous squad. 

 

One last observation: taking a look at third through seventh place, we see that each team has scored between 45 and 49 goals for, a remarkably consistent statistic for five different teams. However, their defensive records are all over the place thus far, ranging from 30 to 45 goals allowed. The key to this season’s playoff race might just be tightening up those defences, and weathering the storm. Then again, at this point in the season, it is likely too early to make any broad generalizations, as each team has not had enough chances to play the others; opponent variance holds a large deal of importance this early on. Regardless, one thing is clear: we can’t wait for more VHLM hockey. 

 

That’s all for this edition of Under 250: The VHLM Review. Thank you all for reading, and stay tuned next week for the inside scoop on all that’s going on in the league. Until next time!

 

GMs:  @Poptart, @Berocka, @Acydburn, @Dil, @Rayzor_7, @Motzaburger,

@MexicanCow123, @McWolf, @DMaximus, @iRockstar, @Sonnet

 

Players Mentioned: @Spade18, @bluesfan55, @PadStack, @Lockdown Defense, @DrHexDex,

@NyQuil, @Pengu, @Proto

 

 

VSN Writer Mr_Hatter

[McWolf 3,111]

Quote

The Saskatoon Wild, it's lit

- @Doomsday

[Mr_Hatter 1,603]

34 minutes ago, McWolf said:

The Saskatoon Wild, it's lit 

That is in fact the most important point of this article

[SweatyBeaver 132]

Houston Bulls aiming for 10th this year

[bluesfan55 103]

ello

i am big dick dick dicksson

i scor gol

[Pengu 87]

Hey let's go Aces! Great article!

[Oatex 235]

where am I, I have over 30 points as well. cry face cry face ez