S4 World Cup

[HOF 91]

S4 VHL WORLD CUP

Moving into the S4 World Cup, the preceding tournament caused General Managers to rethink their mentalities when selecting their ten man roster as most teams had an invitee list in which the team was selected. In the S2 World Cup the favorite was Team Canada or Team Switzerland, but instead team Western Europe came away with the Gold even though being touted as a team not even to win a medal. Analysts currently attribute the gold medal to the outstanding play of their defense and it reinforces the law that championships are won by defense.

Within Pool A there was Team Canada which was once again supposed to do quite well in the tournament even though their star player, Brett Slobodzian, having knee surgery which drastically hurt his career and performance. Also their was Central Europe which was always a threat as they have VHL superstar Scotty Campbell who is deadly whenever he is on the ice. Lastly there was Northern Europe, which was led by Christian Stolzschwieger, but unfortunately were not expected to make a whole lot of noise in the tournament as their was a limited offensive supporting cast and lack of all-star goaltending. After all games were done Team Canada finished with a perfect record moving onto the medal round, while Central Europe was joining them with a .500 record. Northern Europe was unable to solidify a win and were eliminated from the tournament.

In Pool B there was the always deadly United States of America, which was not an overpowering team, but had depth better than any team in Pool B. Also there were the defending Gold Medalists which once again was representing a defense heavy line-up. And lastly Team Scandinavia drastically improved and with goaltending like only Maxim Desny could provide the team was looking quite good. In the end it was Team Scandinavia that came away with the 1st place finish followed closely by Team USA. This meant that the defending champions could no longer contend for Gold, or even a medal for that matter.

In the Semi-Finals it was the bitter rivals, Team Canada and Team USA to play in the first, and Scandinavia was to take on Central Europe. Within the Team Canada, Team USA game it was a very one sided affair as Team Canada took control and never looked back. The final score of the game was seven to four (7-4) and Team Canada once again moved on to the Gold Medal Game. Game two was a much closer game as Scotty Campbell gave Central Europe a goal at the half point in the third which brought the deficit to within one. This made for a very entertaining final ten minutes, but Team Scandinavia was able to hold off the offensive onslaught led by Maxim Desny and they were headed to the Gold Medal game to face off with Canada.

In the Bronze Medal Game (Team USA vs. Team Central Europe) it was another exciting decision. Scotty Campbell once again scored at the ten minute mark in the third, but this time it was to tie the game. This was the last goal until the shootout where Campbell and McLovin solved Goldberg and allowed Central Europe to celebrate a Bronze Medal.

In the Gold Medal game, Canada’s offense and constant pressure was too much for Maxim Desny and the Scandinavia team as they fell to a five to two loss. Jesus Christ was just too much for the Scandinavian offense and they could not beat him after they opened up the scoring in the first period. This meant that in the second World Cup Canada was coming away with a Gold Medal and proved that they were the top nation in the VHL. As for the defending Gold Medalists, they lost in the 5th Place Game, to go from first to last at the World Cup stage.

S4 Gold Medalist: Team Canada

Roster:
F - Matt Defosse
F - Alex McNeil
F - Brett Slobodzian
F - Brad Janssen
F - Dust'n Funk
F - Alex Watson
D - Sterling Labatte
D - Raymond Funk
D - Shawn Howard
D - Alex Staal
G - Jesus Christ
G - Greg Eagles

S4 Silver Medalist: Team Scandinavia

Roster:
F - Daric Radmonovic
F - Tahk Paccenn
F - Alec Miller
F - Fabian Brunnstrom
F - Edward Holm
F - Anders Heissman
F - Sergei Trepanov
D - Markus Lidstrom
D -Alex Kachur
D - Luciano Marjamaki
G - Maxim Desny
G - Anton Nygard

S4 Bronze Medalist: Team Central Europe

Roster:
F - Scotty Campbell
F - Scott Boulet
F - Branden Snelheid
F - McLovin
F - Tomas Ziegler
F - Luca Lottner
F - Cody Banks
D - Cole Hagstrom
D - Dave Bauer
D - Petter Vishnofski
G - Fernando Garcia
G - Teuvo Tikkanen

Round Robin Standings

POOL A
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Team                   GP    W    L    T    P   GF   GA   GD
*Canada                  4    4    0    0    8   20   11   +9    
*Central Europe          4    2    2    0    4   17   19   -5
Northern Europe         4    0    3    1    1   12   19   -7

POOL B
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Team                   GP    W    L    T    P   GF   GA   GD     
*Scandinavia             4    3    0    1    7   12   10   +3
*USA                     4    3    1    0    6   11    9   +2    
Western Europe          4    0    4    0    0    5   10   -5

Final Rankings
Gold - Team Canada
Silver - Team Scandinavia
Bronze - Team Central Europe
4th - Team USA
5th - Team Northern Europe
6th - Team Western Europe

Top 10 Tournament Scorers
1. CAMPBELL, scotty (SWI) - 6GP . 7G + 12A = 19P
2. BOULET, scott (SWI) - 6GP . 10G + 17A = 17P
3. SLOBODZIAN, brett (CAN) - 6GP . 9G + 5A = 14P
4. JANSSEN, brad (CAN) - 6GP . 4G + 9A = 13P
5. STOLZSCHWEIGER, christian (TNE) - 5GP . 10G + 2A = 12P
6. WATSON, alex (CAN) - 6GP . 6G + 5A = 11P
7. SZATKOWSKI, mike (USA) - 6GP . 6G + 4A = 10P
8. PACCENN, tahk (SCN) - 6GP . 3G + 7A = 10P
9. LABATTE, sterling (CAN) - 5GP . 1G + 9A = 10P
10. FUNK, dust'n (CAN) - 6GP. 4G + 5A = 9P