VHL Weekly Review - S73 Week 1

[hylands 850]

Welcome to the first edition of VSN’s S73 Weekly recap (Games 1-126).  We’ll cover a host of things in this recap each week including highlights of important VSN happenings, three stars of the week, power rankings, rookie profiles, and anything else of importance.

 

Speaking of other VSN content, make sure to check out the other great work from the greater VSN family! Here are a few handy links to check out, from our weekly podcasts to in-depth history articles, scouting reports, and more!

Top 25: #5 - #1 | S73 Season Preview | VHL Awards | VHLM Awards

 

Recap

Before I get into the real recap, I would just like to take a second to welcome @PatrikLaine to the VSN family, he will be working with me each week to bring the VHL Weekly to your screen. We also have new release time for the article. Instead of the usual Sunday release, we will now be aiming for a mid-week release. Lastly, after reviewing how last season went, we have decided to change up our power rankings format. No longer will we be ranking each conference, but we will have an overall Top 8 that dynamically changes based on weekly performance. With those formalities of the way, let’s take a look at this week’s action!

 

We’ve had a whirlwind start to this expansion season, and our goalies are feeling the full effect as scoring seems to be on the rise, with 19 hat tricks and only 7 shutouts in the first week. We have rookies scoring at an increased rate, and some new stars are emerging as the old guard ages and gets ready for retirement. There are numerous players poised to be on point per game pace this season, and I would hate to be a goalie in this new era. Who knows if this will keep up as the season goes on, but it’s looking like we might be out of the dead puck era that has plagued the league as of late.

 

3-Stars

 

First Star

Sigard Gunnar (LAS) - 14 G, 18 A, 2 Hat Tricks
Second Star

Greg Eagles (RIG) - 0.943 SV%, 1.58 GAA, 7 wins

Third Star

Lincoln Tate (RIG) - 1 G, 23 A, 28 SB

 

Power Rankings

Players featured on this week’s Power Rankings are Acyd Burn of the New York Americans, Ben Hafkey of the Helsinki Titans, and General Zod of the Calgary Wranglers

We have the wonderful @Pengu to thank for this season's amazing power rankings graphic

 

This season is off to a surprising start, and no one could have predicted these power rankings. Finishing in 1st in this week’s rankings are the New York Americans, who rode a fast start to the season to a 13-2-1 record and 1st place in the VHL. Not too far behind in 2nd place are the red-hot Helsinki Titans. Helsinki starts the season with a 5-5 start but has won 6 in a row thanks to great performances from goalies Zamboni Driver and Samuel Ross. Next up in 3rd place are the Calgary Wranglers, who just like the Titans, rode 6 straight wins to end the week in 3rd place after a bad start. Coming up in 4th are the defending Continental Cup Champions in the Riga Reign, who despite only sporting a 10-6 record, have been getting excellent performances from goaltender Greg Eagles. In 11 games this week, Eagles won 7 games and had an 1.58 goals-against average to go along with a 0.943 save percentage through all 11 games. Up next in 5th is HC Davos, who started the season off strong with a 9-4-3 record this week. Our 6th place finisher this week is the Vancouver Wolves, who had an 8-6-2 record this week and have had a breakout rookie in Gregg Stallion. In 16 games this week, Stallion had 4 goals and 7 assists for the Wolves. The Seattle Bears finished this week in our 7th spot. Seattle started the season off strong with a 9-4 start, but have started to skid recently, losing 3 in a row to end the week. Concluding our list are the Prague Phantoms. The Phantoms started the week with a disappointed 6-7 record, but they have since won 3 in a row. I see them moving up into the top 6 next week. This first week was full of surprises and one can only wonder what else will happen as the week continues.

 

Notable Games

 

 Game 1: New York Americans vs Calgary Wranglers

We didn’t have to wait long this year to get a great game, and we would get our first goal of the season early. Hugh Jass would put one in the back of the net for the Americans just 1:52 into the game. New York would extend their lead to 2 on a late goal by Owen Nolan. It was 2-0 New York after 1. New York wasted no time extending the lead again. A power-play goal from Lance Flowers just 1:15 into the second would make it 3-0. However, Calgary would respond quickly as just 2:25 later, they would get a power-play goal of their own from Latrell Mitchell to cut the lead to 2. The rest of the game was about New York’s goaltender, A Red Guy. New York wanted to sit on their lead the rest of the game and it was evident by the shot totals. After Calgary’s first goal, New York was outshot 43-11. Red Guy would stop all 43 of Calgary’s shots in the final 36 minutes to preserve a win for New York.

 

Game 65: Helsinki Titans vs Riga Reign

Our second notable game is a clash between Helsinki and the defending champs in the Riga Reign. It didn’t take long for Riga to open the scoring, getting a goal from Codrick Past just 1:41 into the first. Despite this early setback, Helsinki would strike back late in the first on a goal from Valtteri Vaakanainen with just 49 seconds left in the first period. It wouldn’t take long for Riga to regain the lead in the second as Guy Saskamoose would score just 2:34 into the second to put Riga in front 2-1. Right after that goal, tensions between the two teams rose and we saw a fight between Phil Marleau and Jim Bob. The fight ultimately ended in a draw. After this point, it was all Riga the rest of the game. Across the last 2 periods, Riga would score 4 more goals after that fight, getting them from Shush Nyko, Patrik Tallinder, Lincoln Tate and Codrick Past’s second of the game would wrap up a 6-1 win for the defending champs. Even though Riga dominated with a 6-1 victory, the final shots were 35-35. Riga just made the most of their opportunities and pulled away from Helsinki early in the third.

 

Game 68: Los Angeles Stars vs HC Davos Dynamo

Our final game this week brings us to a showdown between HC Davos and the upstart Los Angeles Stars. Davos would jump out early, gaining a 3-0 lead just 12:24 into the game on a goal from Robin Winters and a pair of goals from Soren Jensen. However, LA would score 2 goals in 1:14 just a few minutes later to cut the lead to 3-2, receiving goals from Nate Wright and Markus Nygren. However, Davos would put an end to the late period surge from LA, with Fernando Jokinen scoring with just 1:16 left in the first to stretch Davo’s lead to 4-2. Davos came about battling to begin the second, leading in the shot department 11-6 in that period. Their determination would pay off early as Soren Jensen would pot his hat trick goal just 4:06 into the second to restore Davo’s 3 goal lead, making it 5-2. LA would get one in the middle of the second from rookie Jeffrey Pines to cut the lead to 5-3. The lead would be extended back to 3 just 4:17 later on Soren Jensen’s 4th goal of the game. He was having a night to remember and this would put his club up 6-3. LA wasn’t finished and just 1:35 later, Tyler Barabash Jr would score on a great breakaway feed from Sigard Gunnar to cut the lead to 2 again. We would head into the 3rd with the score being 6-4 in favour of Davos. The third was very quiet after the first two periods. Both goalies stood strong in net, stopping every shot in the 3rd as Davos would win a wild one over the LA Stars 6-4. Soren Jensen had a night to remember, scoring 4 goals in the win.

 

Events of the Week

 

Fights

• Game 1 - Kris Rice and Owen Nolan fight
  • The first game of Season 73, was a rematch of last season’s North American Conference Finals, and there was still bad blood between these two teams. Towards the end of this one, with about 5 minutes to play a fight broke out between Owen Nolan and Kris Rice. The fight was pretty even with both players landing some punches, and it ended as a draw. However, being the instigator, Nolan was sent for an early bath by the referees.
• Game 10 - Mac Hooper vs. Alex Pearson
  • As the game progressed, and tensions grew higher and higher between these two teams, a fight broke out between Mac Hooper and Alex Pearson. Perhaps Hooper was taking out all of his frustration on Pearson’s face because he wound up as the clear winner, and both men were sent to the dressing rooms as there were less than 5 minutes to play.
• Game 13 - Micheal Gary Scott ejected
  • It’s tough to pinpoint just exactly what set Micheal Gary Scott off here. Perhaps feeling the pressure of a tie game, Scott went on an expletive-filled tirade, directed at one of the referees. At first, it seemed like he just had a complaint to make, but after the yelling continued for well over a minute, the refs had seen enough and Scott was ejected from the game and given a major penalty for Abuse of Officials.

• Game 56 - Lewis Dawson vs. Scotty BigShotty
  • This game was the start of 4 in a row between these two division rivals, and the tone was set by these two heavyweights midway through the first game. It was Lewis Dawson who had the upper hand on Scotty BigShotty and he was able to land some nice shots and eventually send Scotty tumbling to the ice.

• Game 111 - Owen Nolan vs. Benny Graves
  • This was actually Nolan’s 3rd fight of the week, but the 2nd that is featured this week. After falling behind in the 1st period, Benny Graves decided to try and swing some momentum his way by picking a fight with Nolan. However, he met his match and the Americans rallied behind that fight and marched on to a 5-2 victory.

• Game 121 - Mikko Lahtinen vs. Andrew Su
  • Last year’s most improved player, Mikko Lahtinen was ejected after this fight for instigating, and he even took the loss on this one as well. This fight happened less than 2 minutes into the game and set the tone for a game that was extremely close and really could have gone either way.

 

Hat-Tricks

 

• Game 7 - Jeff Blaze
  • Our first hat trick of the season goes to a rookie! In his first game in the big leagues, Jeff Blaze defied all expectation and scored a marvellous hat trick that announced his arrival to the league with a splash. He will be thrilled to have hit the ground running.

• Game 8 - Ray Sheilds
  • On the same night, Malmo’s off-season acquisition made an instant impact by notching a hat trick in his first game for the club. He scored 3 goals which would’ve won the game single-handedly for Malmo, but he was also the lone assist on their other goal.

• Game 21 - Sigard Gunnar
  • A player who was selected in the expansion draft by the Los Angeles Stars, they must be ecstatic with the production of Sigard Gunnar early on. He notched his first hat trick of the season against the Toronto Legion, and his 3rd ended up being the game-winner.

• Game 34 - Scott Greene
  • The veteran Seattle forward Scott Greene had a phenomenal outing against the Chicago Phoenix and scored a hat trick in a 6-1 victory. His 2nd and 3rd goals were scored only 23 seconds apart in the 3rd period which all but confirmed Seattle’s victory.

• Game 44 - Valtteri Vaakanainen
  • This game between conference rivals and playoff hopefuls was just what we expected. A close-fought battle all throughout but Valtteri Vaakanainen stood out among the rest because of his hat trick that propelled Helsinki to an important win. His goal just 6 seconds into the 2nd period proved to be the game-winner as well.

• Game 46  - Damien Wolfe
  • Damien Wolfe has earned himself the honour of scoring Warsaw’s first franchise hat trick. The Warsaw forward had a solid outing against the Moscow Menace in this one, and Wolfe did everything he could and more to help catapult the Predators to a 5-2 victory.

• Game 54 - Raleigh Ritchie
  • This game was all offence from both teams. In this 8-5 D.C. victory, Raleigh Ritchie found himself all over the scoresheet and topped off a great night with a hat trick to boot. He will be looking to build upon this and hopefully have a breakout season for the Dragons.

• Game 55 - Sigard Gunnar & Jerry Wang
  • This is Gunnar’s second hatty of the week. The LA man is absolutely tearing it up for his new team and turning heads all around the league. This hat trick helped Los Angeles hand the undefeated at the time, New York Americans, their first loss of the season. The very same game had a hat trick from the Americans themselves. Jerry Wang notched 3 tallies of his own to match the Stars, but it just wasn’t enough to get them the win. What an offensive performance shown by both of these players in this one.

• Game 62 - Adam Syreck
  • Another rookie scored the first hat trick of his career, and this time it was Adam Syreck of the Chicago Phoenix. This one will also go down as the first in franchise history so Syreck will be ecstatic about that. He helped his team to a well-earned victory over last season’s finalists, the Calgary Wranglers.

• Game 64 - Condor Adrienne & Ray Sheilds
  • Who knows what was said before these two before the game, but they must’ve had money on who would score more. We had a pair of hat tricks from the Malmo men in a 6-2 win over Warsaw. Condor Adrienne had a hat trick of his own before Sheilds decided he had seen enough and went out and scored his own! What a show these two put on, and all fans of Malmo will have left the arena happy.

• Game 68 - Soren Jensen
  • Jensen scored his first hat trick for HC Davos after being traded in the off-season due to cap restraints. He actually had 4 goals in this game, and his General Manager will be happy that he is proving to be an effective acquisition. This game will hopefully be just a taste of what’s to come from Soren Jensen in an HC Davos sweater.

• Game 86 - Uhtred
  • Seattle finds themselves with another hat trick, and this time it comes from Uhtred. He helped sparked a magnificent comeback from the Bears as they stormed back from a 5-1 deficit in the 3rd period, to come out on top as 6-5 winners. Uhtred completed his hat trick with two key goals in the final frame and the team was able to rally behind that and come up with a winner with less than 2 minutes to play.

• Game 103 - Thomas Landry II & Boris the Forest
  • Another game with duelling hat tricks, and what a game it was! Thomas Landry II opened the scoring for Prague and potted another goal before the 1st period had ended. The Phantoms actually had a 4-1 lead and things looked to be over already. However, up steps Boris the Forest, who had his own idea for how things should be going. He scored 3 goals in the 3rd and Landry actually completed his hat trick in the middle of Forest’s scoring spree, but the hat trick from Boris was enough to lift D.C. to a 6-5 comeback victory in this action-packed game.

• Game 104 - Jerry Wang
  • Another player who found himself with two hat tricks in the first week. This time it’s Jerry Wang of the New York Americans. He got off to a quick start in this game, scoring two goals in the 1st period. It wasn’t until midway through the 3rd where he was able to complete the hat trick. The Americans absolutely exploded offensively in this one, with 68 shots on target and coming out with a 6-2 win.

• Game 114 - Kris Rice
  • In this victory over the Legion, Calgary Wranglers forward Kris Rice found his name on the scoresheet 3 times. Two early goals in the 1st period for Rice helped set the tone for Calgary and they kept that rolling all throughout the game. Rice was able to notch his 3rd tally early on in the 3rd period and helped to send Calgary fans home happy.

• Game 116 - Jerry Garcia
  • Davos fans will be thrilled to see Jerry Garcia score his first hat trick of the season. In this close game against the Seattle Bears, Garcia was the star of the show. He helped break the deadlock in the 3rd period between the two teams, and he was able to complete the hat trick on an empty net after some unselfish play from his fellow teammates.

 

Shutouts

• Game 14 - D.C. Dragons vs. Toronto Legion
  • Our first shutout of the season was awarded to Jaxx Hextall of the Toronto Legion who is looking to have a breakout season this year. Only 15 saves in this one, but that doesn’t make it any less valuable than any other shutout. Jaxx will be happy to have started off his season in excellent fashion as this shutout came in only the Legion’s second game of the year.
• Game 36 - New York Americans vs. D.C. Dragons
  • New York and A Red Guy pick up their first shutout of the campaign, coincidentally also against the Dragons. ARG is coming up on the tail end of his career and has shown early on that he will be among the top candidates for an Aidan Shaw trophy come the end of the year. He made a solid 26 saves in his first shutout of the season and will surely be looking to pick up more as the season progresses.
• Game 67 - Toronto Legion vs. London United
  • Jaxx Hextall finds himself with another shutout in this phenomenal performance against the new boys in town, the London United. This one was truly earned by Jaxx, as London peppered him with 35 shots, but he stood tall and had an answer for everything. Some help from the forwards allowed Toronto to run out as 3-0 winners in this one.
• Game 84 - D.C. Dragons vs. Calgary Wranglers
  • In bizarre fashion, we have 3 separate goalies who picked up their first shutout of the season against the D.C. Dragons. Jacques Lafontaine is the most recent addition to the list, as he stopped 13 shots en route to a 3-0 victory. He didn’t see a lot of rubber but that can sometimes work against goalies, but Jacques did not let it phase him.
• Game 97 - Seattle Bears vs. D.C. Dragons
  • The Dragons must feel like some kind of sick joke is being played on them, but that is not the case. Rayz Funk finds himself among one of four goalies to earn their first shutout of the season against the D.C. Dragons. This one wasn’t a show-stealer from Funk, but a solid 16 save performance is exactly what he will need to kickstart his season.
• Game 102 - Malmo Nighthawks vs. London United
  • Similar to last season, we have an emergency backup picking up a shutout victory. This is a weird one, as this is actually London’s first-ever franchise shutout. The emergency backup here is a bank teller by day and backup goalie by night, and he managed to stifle the leading scorer in the league and last season’s top point scorer as well. What a performance from the backup, he will go down in London United history, that’s for sure.
• Game 123 - D.C. Dragons vs. Seattle Bears
  • Our final shutout of the week finally goes to Stone Wolski of the D.C. Dragons. After being shutout 4 times of their own throughout the week, Wolski had seen enough and stopped 40 shots in what will probably go down as one of the best individual performances of the entire season! Seattle did everything they possibly could to put one past Wolski but he rose to the occasion every time.

 

Rookie Spotlight

@Pengu again with another amazing banner.

 

Just because you are a mid to late-round pick, doesn’t mean you can’t play better than a higher pick. This is especially true for Mickey Dickson, a former 2nd round pick from the S71 draft says that draft position doesn’t ultimately reflect how good a player is. “I want to show people that even though I am a lower round pick, I can produce points and have a positive impact on the team I play for” After 3 years in the VHLM, Dickson is ready for his first pro season.

 

Dickson, currently playing on the Malmo Nighthawks, has 3 goals and 10 assists for 13 points in 11 games so far. When asked about the totals, Dickson said he could never have imagined this. “I wasn’t expecting to be above 20 points this season, and I’m already at 13 in 11 games. I have a point per game and even though it is early, I have been able to put effort into my game to start my rookie year off so well.”

 

Dickson spent his first three professional seasons playing in the VHLM for Minnesota, Mexico and Yukon. He put up 187 points in 214 VHLM games and 32 points in 32 playoff games. He is often remembered for being one of the VHLM’s best performers in the clutch.

 

When asked about Malmo’s early successes, Dickson says there is still a lot ahead. “I think we have played extremely well so far. Better than I certainly expected and better than I think a lot of people expected. I do think we will make it to the playoffs, however, I do not know that we will make it past the first round but if we do I don't expect us to go further than the second round. I think next season will be our season to really go deep.”

 

Dickson says he still believes he can be a big player for Malmo all season long. “You always want to win and help your team. It's easy to want to play well when you have a great team and management behind you. You want to win for the guys you are working with or for. I want to be able to contribute to my team and help us win games and the only way to do that is to play my best.”

 

However, the most underrated part of Dickson’s game is his 200-foot aspect. Throughout his VHLM Career, he was always a plus and had a career Plus/Minus rating of 79 in the VHLM. He also had the defensive skills to stand up and play against the VHLM’s best lines. It is currently looking like Malmo is a contender for the S73 Continental Cup, and I can certainly say that Dickson will be a big part of Malmo’s push for a championship.

 

Spoiler

@Big Mac@Greg_Di@Tate@Acydburn@McLovin@Matt_O@Brrbisbrr@SweatyBeaver@TheFlash@studentized@CowboyinAmerica@.sniffuM@Kylrad@Jubo07@Cxsquared@Phil@jRuutu@SDCore@Patrik Tallinder@Sonnet@Velevra@73MPL4R@Devise@Ahma@rory@Bushito@Ricer13@MacH@Jayrad28@Motzaburger@Kendrick@FerdaJets@STZ@Beketov@NyQuil@Zetterberg@DoktorFunk@Laflamme@DangerGolding@ColeMrtz@Spade18@OrbitingDeath@Doomsday@chillzone@GustavMattias@ROOKIE745@SlapshotDragon@Rayzor_7@DollarAndADream@Brewins15

 

 

[SweatyBeaver 132]

The weekly reviews are always so good! Excited to read them as the season continues.

[McWolf 3,116]

1 hour ago, Hylands said:

Game 102 - Malmo Nighthawks vs. London United

• Similar to last season, we have an emergency backup picking up a shutout victory. This is a weird one, as this is actually London’s first-ever franchise shutout. The emergency backup here is a bank teller by day and backup goalie by night, and he managed to stifle the leading scorer in the league and last season’s top point scorer as well. What a performance from the backup, he will go down in London United history, that’s for sure.

 

Read the full story here: 

 

[samx 1,175]

Really appreciate being the rookie spotlight!!! Thank you! great article.

[ColeMrtz 574]

Pinch me I'm dreaming

[Spade18 1,308]

Holy shit, these are great.