The most exciting VHLM game of S74 (so far)

[DMaximus 1,046]

The most exciting VHLM game of the season (so far)

 

As we move past the opening third of the season, I’d like to highlight the most exciting VHLM game of season 74 to this point (we’re currently at game 168).

Game 74 - Yukon Rush vs. Las Vegas Aces

Does the sim know that this is season 74 and that it should make game 74 special? Did the players of each of the teams sub-consciously know they should go all out for this one for that same reason? Whatever the case may be, this game was an evenly-matched back and forth battle ultimately requiring an extra shootout round to end it.

1^st Period

The game opened with Yukon registering the first 3 shots on goal. Las Vegas goalie Drew Minott @DreMin15 had their talent on fully display by making 2 quick saves from an initial shot fired by Daddy Derek @DirtyDerek and a rebound attempt by Pistil Stamen @DMaximus. Yukon’s offensive momentum was slowed by a charging penalty assessed to Fat palloon’s @UnkemptCL4PTP hit on Chris Reynolds @Crstats23. The ensuing powerplay led to nothing of note for Las Vegas, a harbinger of their poor special teams play this game.

Once 5-on-5 play resumed, Las Vegas sprang to life, scoring 3 goals in 54 seconds! The first Chris Reynolds 8 (Rhynex Entertainment 13, Gary Rush 11) at 6:48 resulted from an offensive faceoff win by Reynolds, who replaced and ejected Rhynex Entertainment @Rhynex Entertainment and a great passing sequence between 4 different Las Vegas players. Ultimately the puck landed back on Reynolds’ stick who fired it past a sprawling Yukon goalie, Kloxified @Kloxified. The second goal, Rhynex Entertainment 5 (Roseann Petal 12, Gary Rush 12) at 7:20, saw a chaotic sequence with the puck bouncing and bodies flying everywhere. Reynolds fired a shot which was blocked by Tee Pee E II @Goliathus. Rhynex Entertainment grabbed the loose puck and fired it on net. Kloxified redirected that to the corner where it was picked up by Gary Rush @G_Rush, who quickly passed it to Roseann Petal @Psanchez55in the high slot. Petal made a quick touch pass to Rhynex Entertainment on the right side of the goal, who easily fired it home into the open net. This goal was a direct result of the Aces’ hustle and strong puck movement. They showed they weren’t done yet by scoring again, Joakim Lund 3 (Its Gucci 8, Matt thunder 10) at 7:42. Yukon was obviously off-balance by the previous two goals because Vegas basically steamrolled them from the center ice faceoff until they slammed it home for their 3^rd goal. All 5 Las Vegas players touched the puck with Joakim Lund @Bouncyelf picking up the puck after a Fat palloon block and sliding it into the Yukon goal.

Yukon GM @MexicanCow123 realized his team was reeling and gave a quick speech to lift their spirits. His efforts worked as Yukon came out and fired right back a Vegas, scoring their 1^st goal less than 2 minutes later, Jeff Odinson 4 (Lucifer Olivier Leveque 14, Daddy Derek 6) at 9:41. The scoring play began with a Kloxified save of a Chris Reynolds shot. Yukon defenseman, Lucifer Olivier Leveque @InstantRockstar retrieved the rebound, passed it to Jeff Odinson @GoldGear88 in the neutral zone, who carried it into the Vegas end. Odinson fired a shot tipped wide by Daddy Derek. Both teams crashed the next, scrambling for the puck. Ultimately Leveque controlled it, passed it to Odinson, who fired it home for Yukon’s first goal.

Less than a minute later, Yukon was presented with a great opportunity to make it a one goal game as Aces defenseman, Chase Crosby @Wreckeningtook a penalty for hooking. Yukon was able to register 2 shots during the powerplay. Both we controlled by Minott. Credit to Rhynex Entertainment for winning 5 faceoffs during this penalty kill. That puck control and some unforced errors by Yukon kept the score at 3-1.

The period continued in a back and forth manner without either team dominating control. The Aces had a 2^nd powerplay opportunity during the opening period thanks to a Nolan McNalley @Nemcnall1 hooking penalty. They fared slightly better than their first powerplay, getting 2 shots on goal. Kloxified handled both and prevented Las Vegas from having any serious scoring opportunity.

The only other note-worthy moment is the unfortunate sequence where Aces winger Nicholas Sunderbruch @NickSunderbruchtook and missed 4 shots in the sequence of 6 seconds:

19:20 of 1st period - Shot by Nicholas Sunderbruch.
19:20 of 1st period - Shot Hit the Post.
19:22 of 1st period - Shot by Nicholas Sunderbruch.
19:22 of 1st period - Shot Misses the Net.
19:24 of 1st period - Shot by Nicholas Sunderbruch.
19:24 of 1st period - Shot Misses the Net.
19:26 of 1st period - Shot by Nicholas Sunderbruch.
19:26 of 1st period - Shot Misses the Net.

 

Rumor has it that he secretly replaced the official puck with this:

 

The period ends with the Las Vegas Aces up 3-1. Shots for the period were Yukon Rush: 11 Las Vegas Aces: 13.

2^nd Period

 

Yukon came out fired up and it showed. They stormed down the ice, fired off 6 shots that either hit the post or missed the net, yet somehow managed to maintain control of the puck the entire time. Lucky number 7 worked in Yukon’s favor as their 7^th shot taken in this sequence found its way into the back of the net bringing the score to 3-2, Pistil Stamen 3 (Muffbeav 7, Daddy Derek 7) at 0:58.

Las Vegas watched that sequence go down and said “what you can do I can do better” and reciprocated with a similar sequence of their own, rattling off 6 consecutive shots including 1 saved, 1 blocked, 3 missed, and 1 goal.  Roseann Petal 2 (Rhynex Entertainment 14, Gary Rush 13) at 4:45. 4-2 Vegas.

The remainder of the period was uneventful. Las Vegas had another shot-less powerplay from a Maksim Yakolevsky @Neptohooking penalty. Las Vegas returned the favor with Roseann Petal committing a hooking penalty of their own shortly before the end of the period. Yukon fared better on their powerplay, notching 5 shots on goal in the 2-minute span. Minott and the Aces stood strong and the score remained the same.

The period ended with Vegas leading 4-2. Shots for the period were Yukon Rush: 8 (19 for the game) Las Vegas Aces: 9 (22)

 

3^rd Period

As mentioned in the 2^nd period summary, Yukon started this period on the powerplay which helped them start off on the right foot by aggressively attacking Las Vegas. Their attack ended with Yukon’s Jim Allen @jimmyallen93taking a slashing penalty. Vegas had their best powerplay of the night, getting 3 shots on goal. It would have been more if not for Fat palloon blocking 2 shots during the penalty kill. Las Vegas’ offensive momentum was ended by a penalty of their own, holding on Chase Crosby. Yukon had one great scoring opportunity with two quick shots on goal in succession. Minott was able to save both.

Play was relatively benign until a Chris Reynolds hooking penalty at 11:18 of the 3^rd period put Yukon on the powerplay for the 4^th time of the game. Vegas did well for the opening minute of the penalty kill, clearing the puck deep into the Yukon zone a couple of times. A quick breakout from Kloxified to Stamen to Odinson to Muffbeav @.sniffuMled to a great finish from Muffbeav, Muffbeav 6 (Jeff Odinson 9, Pistil Stamen at 12:38 (PP). Las Vegas: 4 Yukon: 3.

You could tell the tenseness in both teams as play locked up for the next couple of minutes, until, stop me if you’ve heard this before, a Las Vegas penalty (Matt thunder @Matt thunder for kneeing) led to Yukon goal. After the penalty, Stamen won the draw in the Aces end, moved the puck to Odinson, who found Bobby Wyman @Lefty_S standing near the goal. In a wild sequence, Wyman fired a couple of shots wide, his teammate Daddy Derek recovered the puck and fired a shot of his own wide, that shot was recovered by Wyman who fired another shot, this one making it past Minott and into the net to equalize the score, Bobby Wyman 3 (Daddy Derek 8, Jeff Odinson 10) at 15:28 (PP).

The tenseness continued as both teams went all out to generate offense in the last couple of minutes of regulation. Las Vegas had a great opportunity that forced a big save from Kloxified on a Nicholas Sunderbruch shot tipped by Its Gucci @frescoelmo , shortly followed by a Chris Reynolds shot hitting the post. Yukon had a strong sequence of their own with Daddy Derek firing a shot on frame saved by Minott who was unable to secure the rebound. Alek Andreshnikov @PuckPushers slammed the rebound off the post, got the puck back and was stuffed by Minott on his second attempt. That rebound fell at the feet of Bobby Wyman, who just missed the net with his attempt. All of the action caused Vegas defenseman Joakim Lund to commit a hooking penalty with less than a minute left in regulation. Yukon’s powerplay chance started with some good puck movement, but a Stamen turnover allowed the Aces to clear the puck down the ice and survive until the end of regulation.

The period ended with the score tied 4-4. Shots for the period were Yukon Rush: 14 (33) Las Vegas Aces 7 (29)

Overtime

With just over a minute left on Lund’s penalty, Yukon started the overtime with a 4-on-3 advantage. An opening faceoff win by Rhynex Entertainment and a timely pass interception by Roseann Petal helped Vegas kill the penalty. Yukon was able to register their only shot in overtime in the waning seconds of the powerplay, a nice passing sequence ended by a solid Minott save from a Stamen shot.

From then on Las Vegas dominated the overtime frame. Holding the puck in the Rush’s end for much of the period, Vegas fired 4 shots on goal. All of the shots we saved and secured by Kloxified, not allowing any rebounds or follow up attempts.  The 5-minute overtime came and went with no scoring, which means we go to a shootout.

Score still tied at 4-4. Shots for the period, Yukon Rush: 1 (34) Las Vegas Aces: 4 (33)

Shootout

Kloxified stopped two consecutive shots to clinch the win for the Yukon Rush.

 

Yukon Rush
Vlad Imir	Goal
Lucifer Olivier Leveque	Saved
Pistil Stamen	Goal
Muffbeav	Goal

 

Las Vegas Aces
Gary Rush	Goal
Rhynex Entertainment	Goal
Chris Reynolds	Saved
Nicholas Sunderbruch	Saved

Detailed Stats

I'm sorry for the formatting of these, we basically have no tools to format tables in the post and they didn't maintain their table integrity when I copied from Microsoft Office. Any advice for that is helpful. I feel like this is a new issue because I copy tables in my unofficial award ceremony post without issue, granted that is from google docs and not Office.

Yukon Rush

PlayerName	TeamName	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	S	H	SB	GA	TA	GA/TA	GA%	FO	MP	PP MP	PK MP	HitLP	PassINT	LPPickup	RPass	DumpIns	Icings	LPfromHit	LostPuck	Passes	PassPct	SDelfect	SMiss	SBlock	SHitPost	Shots	SOGPct
----------	--------	-	-	-	---	---	-	-	--	--	--	-----	---	--	--	-----	-----	-----	-------	--------	-----	-------	------	---------	--------	------	-------	--------	-----	------	--------	-----	------
Alek Andreshnikov	Yukon Rush	0	0	0	-1	0	2	0	0	7	5	-2	20%	10/28	19:42	3:23	3:22	0	5	5	25	3	2	0	1	27/34	79%	0	1	0	1	2/4	50%
Bobby Wyman	Yukon Rush	1	0	1	-1	0	2	4	0	12	19	7	29%	0/0	21:55	5:35	3:23	4	19	10	13	3	3	1	1	16/27	59%	0	3	1	0	2/6	33%
Daddy Derek	Yukon Rush	0	3	3	1	0	5	1	0	6	7	1	17%	0/2	22:09	5:07	0:00	1	7	5	23	2	1	0	1	16/22	73%	2	3	2	0	5/10	50%
Fat palloon	Yukon Rush	0	0	0	-1	2	0	3	5	13	13	0	18%	0/0	23:30	3:23	3:35	1	13	10	48	6	1	2	0	49/61	80%	0	0	0	0	0/0	0%
Jeff Odinson	Yukon Rush	1	2	3	1	0	6	2	1	13	6	-7	19%	1/2	26:10	5:07	1:05	1	6	8	53	5	0	2	3	31/42	74%	0	7	2	1	6/16	38%
Jim Allen	Yukon Rush	0	0	0	-2	2	0	4	0	1	0	-1	50%	8/14	15:42	0:00	0:00	4	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	9/10	90%	0	0	0	0	0/0	0%
Lucifer Olivier Leveque	Yukon Rush	0	1	1	1	0	5	2	0	10	10	0	9%	0/0	25:52	2:29	3:29	2	9	13	91	6	1	4	1	80/89	90%	0	4	0	0	5/9	56%
Maksim Yakolevsky	Yukon Rush	0	0	0	-3	2	0	0	0	9	5	-4	38%	2/2	30:13	3:23	3:18	0	5	7	12	2	0	3	1	13/20	65%	1	0	1	0	0/1	0%
Muffbeav	Yukon Rush	1	1	2	1	0	5	1	0	15	17	2	17%	0/0	24:36	5:07	3:11	1	17	20	49	11	1	1	0	49/63	78%	0	3	0	0	5/8	62%
Nolan McNalley	Yukon Rush	0	0	0	-2	2	1	0	1	11	10	-1	37%	0/0	15:48	0:00	0:06	0	10	5	15	4	1	0	0	12/23	52%	0	1	0	0	1/2	50%
Pistil Stamen	Yukon Rush	1	1	2	1	0	5	1	0	11	7	-4	26%	25/39	28:52	5:07	3:29	0	7	12	23	3	1	1	3	43/50	86%	1	4	0	0	5/9	56%
Tee Pee E II	Yukon Rush	0	0	0	-2	0	0	1	1	8	11	3	17%	0/0	15:43	0:00	0:00	1	11	6	29	5	1	1	0	32/39	82%	0	0	0	0	0/0	0%
Vlad Imir	Yukon Rush	0	0	0	-3	0	3	0	1	16	4	-12	20%	0/1	32:18	3:23	3:24	0	4	16	60	13	1	2	2	35/49	71%	0	5	2	0	3/10	30%
β-YUK D1	Yukon Rush	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0%	0/0	2:09	0:26	1:43	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0%	0	0	0	0	0/0	0%
β-YUK D2	Yukon Rush	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0%	0/0	0:25	0:00	0:25	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0%	0	0	0	0	0/0	0%
β-YUK LW1	Yukon Rush	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0%	0/0	4:23	0:00	1:14	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0%	0	0	0	0	0/0	0%
β-YUK LW2	Yukon Rush	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0%	0/0	0:00	0:00	0:00	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0%	0	0	0	0	0/0	0%
β-YUK RW1	Yukon Rush	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0%	0/0	2:33	0:00	0:00	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0%	0	0	0	0	0/0	0%
Team Totals	Yukon Rush	4	8	12	-10	8	34	19	9	132	114	-18	20%	46/88	N/A	N/A	N/A	15	113	117	443	64	13	17	13	412/529	78%	0	31	8	2	34/75	45%

 

GoalieName	TeamName	Saves	ShotsAgainst	SavePCT	MP	SaveNoRebound	SaveWithRebound	PuckRetrieved
----------	--------	-----	------------	-------	--	-------------	---------------	-------------
Kloxified	Yukon Rush	29	33	0.879	65:00:00	22	7	34

 

 

Yukon Rush Advanced Metrics

Corsi For: 75                       Corsi Against: 68               Corsi: 7                                 Corsi For %: 52.45

Fenwick For: 67                 Fenwick Against: 59        Fenwick: 8                           Fenwick For %: 53.17

PDO: 99.643

 

Las Vegas Aces

 

PlayerName	TeamName	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	S	H	SB	GA	TA	GA/TA	GA%	FO	MP	PP MP	PK MP	HitLP	PassINT	LPPickup	RPass	DumpIns	Icings	LPfromHit	LostPuck	Passes	PassPct	SDelfect	SMiss	SBlock	SHitPost	Shots	SOGPct
----------	--------	-	-	-	---	---	-	-	--	--	--	-----	---	--	--	-----	-----	-----	-------	--------	-----	-------	------	---------	--------	------	-------	--------	-----	------	--------	-----	------
Andy Nexber	Las Vegas Aces	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0%	0/0	0:00	0:00	0:00	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0%	0	0	0	0	0/0	0%
Angel Wachiure	Las Vegas Aces	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	5	1	-4	12%	0/0	18:08	4:33	0:27	0	1	9	30	2	1	2	3	21/25	84%	1	4	1	0	2/7	29%
Artair McCloud	Las Vegas Aces	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	7	4	-3	44%	0/0	15:10	0:00	0:00	0	4	3	9	1	0	2	0	6/12	50%	0	1	0	0	0/1	0%
Bill Kapri	Las Vegas Aces	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0%	0/0	0:00	0:00	0:00	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0%	0	0	0	0	0/0	0%
Chase Crosby	Las Vegas Aces	0	0	0	0	4	1	0	3	18	13	-5	25%	0/0	17:40	4:33	0:33	0	13	18	40	6	3	0	2	39/56	70%	0	1	0	0	1/2	50%
Chris Reynolds	Las Vegas Aces	1	0	1	2	2	5	1	0	6	7	1	8%	2/2	23:22	3:23	3:04	1	7	6	60	7	0	0	2	44/50	88%	1	8	1	1	5/15	33%
Connor Sim	Las Vegas Aces	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0%	0/0	1:33	0:00	0:00	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0%	0	0	0	0	0/0	0%
Gary Rush	Las Vegas Aces	0	3	3	2	0	7	2	0	13	12	-1	17%	0/1	24:23	3:23	4:59	1	12	11	54	9	0	2	3	43/54	80%	0	1	0	0	7/8	88%
Its Gucci	Las Vegas Aces	0	1	1	0	0	2	2	0	1	1	0	6%	12/31	23:14	4:33	3:53	2	1	0	17	2	1	0	2	19/20	95%	1	2	2	0	2/6	33%
Joakim Lund	Las Vegas Aces	1	0	1	0	2	1	2	1	9	15	6	23%	0/0	21:37	0:00	3:53	2	14	11	14	3	0	1	0	26/34	76%	0	0	0	0	1/1	100%
Kasper Kankkunen	Las Vegas Aces	0	0	0	2	0	3	2	1	14	17	3	25%	0/0	26:42	3:23	5:30	2	17	10	29	7	0	0	0	29/43	67%	0	1	2	0	3/6	50%
Kelly Power	Las Vegas Aces	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	4	1	-3	22%	1/2	15:10	0:00	0:00	1	1	0	17	2	0	2	1	10/13	77%	0	0	1	0	0/1	0%
Linus Zetterstrom	Las Vegas Aces	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	10	4	-6	38%	0/0	15:10	0:00	0:00	2	4	5	17	2	0	1	1	14/22	64%	0	0	0	0	0/0	0%
Matt thunder	Las Vegas Aces	0	1	1	0	2	0	1	0	13	14	1	21%	0/0	24:35	4:33	5:15	1	14	14	33	6	1	0	2	39/51	76%	0	0	1	0	0/1	0%
Nero Endrizzi	Las Vegas Aces	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	4	5	1	31%	2/12	15:43	0:00	0:33	0	5	4	4	1	0	0	0	9/13	69%	0	0	0	0	1/1	100%
Nicholas Sunderbruch	Las Vegas Aces	0	0	0	0	0	5	3	0	8	5	-3	13%	0/0	17:41	4:33	0:00	2	5	11	45	7	1	3	1	33/39	85%	1	5	0	1	5/11	45%
Rhynex Entertainment	Las Vegas Aces	1	2	3	2	0	5	2	0	3	9	6	6%	25/40	26:03	3:23	5:06	2	7	11	30	8	1	1	0	56/58	97%	1	0	1	0	5/6	83%
Roseann Petal	Las Vegas Aces	1	1	2	2	2	1	2	1	12	12	0	17%	0/0	24:11	3:23	3:53	1	12	6	53	11	0	1	0	44/55	80%	0	1	0	0	1/2	50%
Team Totals	Las Vegas Aces	4	8	12	10	12	33	23	8	127	120	-7	18%	42/88	N/A	N/A	N/A	17	117	119	452	74	8	15	17	432/545	79%	0	24	9	2	33/68	49%

 

GoalieName	TeamName	Saves	ShotsAgainst	SavePCT	MP	SaveNoRebound	SaveWithRebound	PuckRetrieved
----------	--------	-----	------------	-------	--	-------------	---------------	-------------
Drew Minott	Las Vegas Aces	30	34	0.882	65:00:00	20	10	23

 

Las Vegas Aces Advanced Metrics

Corsi For: 68                       Corsi Against: 75               Corsi: -7                                Corsi For %: 47.55

Fenwick For: 59                 Fenwick Against: 67        Fenwick: -8                         Fenwick For %: 46.83

PDO: 100.357

 

Summary

A really fun back and forth game where both teams took control. The total attempts in the game reflected in the Corsi totals is in the top 10 of all VHLM games so far which means this was an offensively driven, back and forth, exciting game. Add to that it had an exciting overtime and a shootout going into an extra round and you have the most exciting game of the season so far.

 

Tagging the GMs and AGMs I didn't get in the article @Spartan @Blazzer  @JigglyGumballs Sorry if I missed anyone else with my tags!

 

1807 words not including the stat dump. Will claim for 3 weeks.

[MexicanCow123 916]

Fantastic article.

[Kloxified 16]

Great article didnt realize it was so close!

[Spartan 4,562]

ADVANCED STATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

My god Dmax, this is a beautiful article, loved every word of it. We need more of this - and all the advanced stats!!!!!

[JigglyGumballs 1,056]

Amazing Article!!

[NickSunderbruch 392]

Man really did me dirty lmaoo

[Ledge 1,131]

Review:

 

Probably the best article I’ve seen on here, funny and full of info. Easy to read, and it must have took a while to make this. Huge credit for taking the time to make this beautiful, loved the advanced stats. 

Favourite part: Nick Sunderbruch’s four shots in six seconds, plus your genius photo

9.9/10 because no one’s perfect

[JigglyGumballs 1,056]

1 hour ago, Ledge_and_Dairy said:

9.9/10 because no one’s perfect

Damn

[Blazzer 759]

This is an awesome one Dmax! 

Edited October 1, 2020 by Blazzer

[GoldGear88 18]

I'm not super active on the forums, but this is probably the best article I've seen up here. And I'm not even boast that this was a game I did well in lol.

[DMaximus 1,046]

Week 2 of 3 claim

[DMaximus 1,046]

Week 3 of 3 claim