S72 Continental Cup Final Preview: Calgary Wranglers vs Riga Reign

[Laine 1,361]

S72 Continental Cup Final Preview: Riga Reign vs Calgary Wranglers

 

This season’s finals will be the Calgary Wranglers (8-5-1) against the Riga Reign (8-0-0). Riga won the regular-season series against Calgary, winning 3 out of 5 games between the two teams.

 

Riga Storylines:

 

Riga comes into this series having taken an easy road so far through the European Conference. Dominating their opponents with two sweeps so far in the playoffs. They are led by Apollo Hackett (@Renomitsu) who has 13 points in 8 playoff games so far and is 2nd in the league with 12 assists this postseason. They also have Pengu (@Pengu) who is tied for 3rd in the league in goals this postseason, notching 6 in 8 games thus far. However, the X-Factor in this series will be the play of Riga’s goaltender, Greg Eagles (@Greg_Di). His performance so far this postseason has been one for the ages, going 8-0 with 2.12 goals-against average and a stellar 0.931 save percentage. He will certainly be tough to beat in this series if he can keep this level of play up and can absolutely steal a game if need be.

 

Calgary Storylines:

 

The North American conference champion Calgary Wranglers had a much different path to the finals. They had two amazing series. Pushing both Toronto and New York to seven games and taking both series. Calgary’s offensive firepower this postseason shows, scoring 43 goals in the first 14 games this postseason, scoring an average of 3.07 goals per game through the first two rounds. They are led offensively by Sigard Gunnar (@Big Mac), who leads the league in both goals and points this postseason with 10 goals and 17 points. Fellow Calgary teammates Kris Rice (@Ricer13) and Willie Dredge (@Speed) are both tied for 2nd in goals with 7 goals each. The Wranglers also have Edwin THE Encarnacion (@Tagger) who leads the league in assists with 13 and fellow Wrangler Charlie Paddywagon (@DMaximus) who is right behind him with 12 assists. Calgary’s goaltender, Jacques Lafontaine (@SlapshotDragon) also has incredible numbers this postseason, going 8-5-1 in 14 games through the first two rounds with a 2.93 goals-against average and a 0.916 save percentage. However, Lafontaine has played great in seventh games this postseason. In seventh games against Toronto and New York, Lafontaine went 2-0 with a 2.50 goals-against average and a 0.918 save percentage. Lafontaine will be a big factor in this series for Calgary.

 

Patrik’s Prediction:

 

Even though Riga has been perfect through the first two rounds, I don’t think they will stay perfect through the finals. This will be a fast-paced series with high scoring games and a lot of hitting, but I think Calgary will take it. This series will certainly go to 6 or 7 games, but Calgary has been going the distance all postseason long and they know how to handle elimination games. This series could easily go either way. Riga will certainly not go down without a fight and this series will come down to the wire, but the play of both the goaltenders will be the deciding factor and Lafontaine has been great in elimination games thus far in the playoffs, so I see Calgary taking it in 7 games.

 

(536 words, 3130 characters)

[Andre LeBastard 112]

A really nice preview of the Finals!

 

I liked the break down of each club and the more than liberal use of player tags to draw people mentioned in and who doesn't like stats thrown in to back up your points. 

I also liked that you took a stand and added in a prediction paragraph at the end.

 

Two points:

1) I'd make the title line a bigger font & add colour to make it pop and

2) No use of the two teams logos.

 

Perhaps I'm nit picking, but I think the inclusion of both would have been the cherry on top, so I deducted a half point each, sorry!

 

7.5/10

[Baozi 1,658]

Good stuff. Go Eagles!

Short varied content but everything works, some tagging for relevant players  and some formatting highlights made it easy to read. Could use a few pictures but otherwise Riga up 3-1 and it looks like Eagles is going to close it down? Would've been good with even pictures or logos.

 

8/10