Hextall: S71/S72 season comparsion

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With the season over we thought it would be a good time to look at how Hextall's first 2 seasons compare to each other. Find out if this season was tougher for him or easier, though I think most fan's of Toronto already know the answer.

 

Season 71 of course was Hextall's rookie season, posting a .915 save percentage with a 2.87 goals against average, allowing 182 goals on 2132 shots in 64 games. He had 28 wins, 25 looses, and 11 overtime looses showing that season he battled hard every game. He got 4 shutouts and played a total of 3806 minutes. Hextall did get one vote for rookie of the year but that was it. Overall for a first season in the VHL it was solid, considering he joined a rebuilding Legion team that had a few prospects that didn't quite turn out as they hoped.

 

Season 72 saw Hextall get off to a fantastic start and while he would cool down a bit as the season went on he still played at a high level, but at the very end of the season the whole team seemingly collapsed going on a 11 game loosing streak and Hextall himself was struggling with the rest of his team, this brought his stats down although most of them are still better than his last. Lets start with an oddity, somehow the exact same amount of pucks got pass Hextall as last season, 182 but he faced more shots at 2184, an additional 52 shots showing that he did indeed have to play behind worse defense. He also appeared in more games at 66 and played more minutes as a result, 3822. Hextall wrapped up 31 wins, 27 losses and 4 overtime looses with 3 shutouts, 1 less than last season. He finished the season with a .917 save percentage and 2.86 goals against.

 

Despite the tough end to season 72 for the Legion and Hextall, he still played better than last season, we can only hope next season sees Hextall and the Legion team take that next step, and it will be an interesting season with 4 new teams joining in, we look forward to it!

 

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