Under 250: The VHLM Review (S71 #3)

[Mr_Hatter 1,603]

 

 

Hello, and welcome to another edition 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!

 

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The Review

 

Welcome back to our weekly dose of VHLM action. This week things have continued to solidify a little in the standings as each team is settling into their slot in the standings. In fact, only two teams have swapped positions, but more on that later. In this edition, we will look at Games 199-297, For now, let’s take a quick look at the standings to see what’s what and who’s where.  

 

Once again the Ottawa Lynx are at the top of the standings, and at this point, it’s looking like they are there to stay. With only 18 games remaining in the season, it appears unlikely that anyone will be able to catch them, but the Yukon Rush are nonetheless doing their best. In the second place, for now, they are only 7 points back of the leaders and are looking very strong. Looking ahead to the next stretch of games, they do have a batch to play against the Lynx which could decide the eventual Prime Minister’s winner for this season. In third place we have the Philadelphia Reapers who are only two points ahead of the fourth-place Minnesota Storm; although the Reapers have a two-game advantage with which they could widen the gap significantly. 

 

After the Storm we have our first change in the standings, with the San Diego Marlins piggybacking the Las Vegas Aces, becoming the fifth team to clinch a playoffs berth. The Aces are following close behind, however, and will likely clinch their spot in the next batch of games. Coming up next is the Saskatoon Wild, whose 55 points is an interesting outlier, 9 points back off sixth but 19 points ahead of 8th. Certainly, the Rush (their presumed first-round matchup) are predicted to advance over them, but they could be an interesting dark horse candidate, especially with their recent uptick in form (which we will take a closer look at soon. Rounding out the playoff teams we have the Halifax 21st once again, who look to close out their position. 

 

Following the playoff teams, we have the Mississauga Hounds in ninth, the Houston Bulls in tenth, and the Mexico City Kings bringing in the rear at eleventh. These three teams are unlikely to climb to eighth at this point and are probably looking more to the lottery coming up, but there is still a chance, especially for the Hounds and Bulls, of them making the playoffs. 

 

Let’s look at the ELO charts and see just how the teams’ performances line up with their standings:
 

 

The Lynx are climbing, exactly as expected from their recent performances. As the standings suggest, the Rush are in second, having widened the gap significantly on the Reapers, whose recent downturn has dropped them off a bit, but still lie in third on the charts. The Storm have stayed relatively consistent, around the 1140 mark, but now for something interesting. 

 

The Aces and Marlins had been neck and neck throughout the last 20 games, but recently the Aces have jumped up in the charts, thanks in part to a few big wins by score differential. This is somewhat surprising based on the standings, as the Marlins, in fact, lead the Aces. Time will tell to see which team performs better in the playoffs, but grabbing that 5th slot may prove useful in the first round. 

 

Next up we have the Wild, who have had a nice little climb at the end of their games, despite experiencing a slow decline over the first 20 games of the stretch. Following them, there is a big drop off to the 21st who have been steady, and then the bottom three teams. Interestingly, the Bulls have jumped the Hounds despite being lower in the standings, although they do have a game in hand. 

The Highlights

 

First of all, there has been some recent news in the management sphere of the M. Congratulations to our two new GM’s, @DoktorFunk and @Proto! I speak for all of VSN when I say I hope your stays are filled with drama, success, and failure; really anything to make our job more interesting! The Doktor has taken over for the Ottawa Lynx, while Proto will be the GM of the Las Vegas Aces. We wish you good luck!

 

We are going to keep the highlights section relatively short this week; to kick it off, let’s take a look at a big trade that came in, in which the Ottawa Lynx acquired Andrew Su from the Mississauga Hounds in exchange for their S72 1st and 2nd round picks. Those Under 250 aficionados amongst you might remember last week we highlighted Su’s production for the Hounds as their primary scorer; as such we take all credit for anything good coming out of this trade. The Lynx are looking to solidify their depth scoring with this move, giving them a strong 2C to really round out their lines come playoffs. 

 

In an offensive showcase that left us with 15 goals scored, the Saskatoon Wild took out the Houston Bulls by a score of 10-5 in Game 290. The really wild thing about the game is the fact that despite trailing by a score of 7-1 coming into the third period, the Bulls managed to find some heart and score four goals in the third. Saskatoon’s Kazimir Komarov had a hat-trick of both goals and assists, ending the game on six points. In fact, three different players including Komarov reached ten shots, with Gary Neal and Gino Alkamino joining in. 

 

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:  @Proto, @Berocka, @DoktorFunk, @Dil, @Rayzor_7, @Motzaburger,

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

 

Players Mentioned: @Da_Berr, @Gooningitup, @LittleRiDog, @ChaceT

 

 

VSN Writer Mr_Hatter
 

[LittleRiDog 17]

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