Under 250: The VHLM Review (S74 Regular Season Review/First Round Preview)

[Mr_Hatter 1,603]

 

Hello, and welcome to another edition of Under 250: The VHLM Report. In this series, we will be taking a look at the trends and topics from the past week in the VHLM. What twists and turns will our minor league hold? Stay tuned to find out!

 

 

The Review

 

Well, the regular season is over, and we have our final standings. In fact, the first round has already begun, with a number of interesting results. Let’s take a look at just how the final standings shook out, and then see the first round matchups as they stand. Without further ado, here are the final Season 74 standings: 

 

 

First and foremost, congratulations to the Season 74 Prime Minister Cup winners, the Halifax 21st! Finishing with 129 points, 20 more than the closest team, the 21st were well deserving of this. Not only did they have the highest goals for with 316, their goals against was 119, conceding a staggering 52 fewer than the next best defense. Second overall is the Las Vegas Aces, Western Conference champs, whose offense was really the only to rival the 21st over the course of the regular season. The Yukon Rush and the Mississauga Hounds come next, tied for points, though the Rush took the first tiebreaker of ROW, as they finish 3rd and 4th respectively. 

 

Entering the second half of playoff teams we see the Saskatoon Wild seeking postseason glory as the first team yet to finish below 100 points, earning a matchup with the Hounds in the process. Coming up against the Rush is the Ottawa Lynx whose 80 points were good enough for 6th place. They are also the first team yet to have finished with a negative goal differential, though that seems to not be mattering in the first round of playoffs; more on that later. The Mexico City Kings finished in 7th, a position that perhaps treats them a little unkindly. The Kings, along with the Lynx, finished the season with 8 overtime losses, the most in the league. The final playoff team may come as a surprise to some considering how the season started, but after a fantastic race to the end, the Miami Marauders came from behind. Winning their final four games, the Marauders just snuck into a playoff position ahead of the 9th placed Philadelphia Reapers. 

 

Joining the Reapers as the final four teams failing to make the postseason we have the Houston Bulls, the Minnesota Storm, and the San Diego Marlins. The Bulls and the Storm ended the season with an identical 15-52-5 record, though the Bulls take the edge on ROW, in part thanks to their win against the Storm in the penultimate day of games of the season. The Marlins ended bottom of the league, despite sporting a better goal differential than the Storm by 15. 

 

Here is the final ELO chart of the season: 

 

 

Though I won’t dive into the chart too much, we see a few distinct trends over the season. One is the bottom three teams really split off from the pack, and were unable to compete around a third of the way through the season. Secondly, despite a fantastic start to the season, the Saskatoon Wild significantly dropped off just before the halfway mark and were unable to recover. The final point is right around the time the bottom teams drifted, the Marauders obviously hit their form, as they demonstrated in the final standings. 

 

 

The First Round

 

Yes, the first round is already in progress, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take a quick look at the first round matchups to see what there is to see. Let’s kick it off with 1 vs 8.

 

Halifax 21st (1) vs Miami Marauders (8)

 

So, first seed versus eighth. Should be a cakewalk, right? Well, maybe not. This Miami squad is showing a lot of tenacity and grit, and have already managed to take a game off the cup favorites in Halifax. Sheldon Juniper was the standout player for the Marauders as he scored once and assisted twice, including their overtime winner scored by Peter Louis II. What was their secret? Their fantastic PP and PK play. The Marauders scored four of their five goals with the man advantage, converting on 4 of 8 power play opportunities. Meanwhile, despite giving up 10 penalties, they held Halifax to just two goals scored from the power play. 

 

However, just because Miami wants it doesn’t mean it will come easily, as the 21st were happy to demonstrate in their second game. Outshooting Miami 37 to 20, the final score was 6-2 in favor of Halifax. Kate Upton had 2 goals and 1 assist, earning first star, while goaltender Kevin Malone earned an even .900 SV%, much improved over his Game One performance. It certainly seems like the 21st recovered from their Game One slipup in general, but with how the Marauders have played this season, an upset might not be completely out of the cards. 

 

Las Vegas Aces (2) vs Mexico City Kings (7)

 

It’s clear that regular season records don’t always matter; but sometimes they can be a pretty good predictor. The Aces beat the Kings seven of eight opportunities in the regular season, and they are perfect through two games in the playoffs. Game One had an incredible first period that saw 7 goals, including 5 in the final five minutes. The first five goals came from the power play, with the Aces ending the game converting 4 on 12 attempts. The Kings were very efficient, going 2 for 4. Chris Reynolds had a monster game, scoring 2 goals (including what would end up the game winner in the second period) and assisting twice as well, in addition to 4 hits. For the Kings, Magnus Verlander kept it close, scoring twice while bringing it back to within one with his second goal, but they were unable to close the gap, as the rest of the game went scoreless. Thanks to the first period, neither goalie’s stats appear good on first glance, but the King’s Markus Emerson Jr found his form, keeping the game close, going perfect on ten shots in the final period. 

 

If neither goalie had a particularly good Game One, Game Two was a clinic put on by the Ace’s ace goaltender Drew Minott. Despite shooting just 3 shots less than the Aces, the Kings only managed to score 1 to the Aces 4, thanks to Minott’s fantastic performance. He went 32 for 33, resulting in a save percentage of .970, with the only goal coming while a man down.  Chase Crosby’s 3 assists earned him a well deserved first star as he led his team from the blue line. Despite the early lead in the series and the apparent score discrepancy in the second game, both these games have been pretty close; I wouldn’t be surprised if the Kings have something left up their sleeve. 

 

Yukon Rush (3) vs Ottawa Lynx (6)

 

Well, we’ve had a 1-1 split, a 2-0 lead for the higher seed, so it’s about time for a 2-0 lead for the underdog; and that’s just what we’ve found in the matchup between the Rush and the Lynx. Despite being outshot 68 to 40, the Lynx have managed to take both games so far, really sweating the Rush here. In Game One, the Rush appeared to have forgotten how to execute their game plan, and gave up 5 unanswered goals through the first 45 minutes of the game from five different Lynx goalscorers. In the third period apparently someone reminded them they were there to play hockey, and they came back with three of their own, kicked off by first star Pistil Stamen, who scored the first two. But leaving a 5-0 comeback to the final 12 minutes of a game isn’t exactly a likely thing, and they were unable to bring it back fully. Realistically, they needed a wake up call, which is what this game certainly was. 

 

Game Two was a much better performance for Yukon, and at almost double the shots of Ottawa, the only reason they lost was due to some really fantastic play from the Lynx’s goaltender Sirkants Klamasteris, whose 37 from 39 was good for a save percentage of .949. The Rush took the lead twice, but each time the Lynx evened it up in less than two minutes. With just 22 seconds left in the second period the Jolly Greene Giant won the game for Ottawa as the final period was scoreless. Once again the first star of the game was for Yukon, as Alek Andreshnikov had two points split evenly. The Rush really missed out here, as they went 0 for 7 on the power play, and gave up 2 for 5 on the penalty kill. Shore these numbers up, and the game was theirs. I still think the Rush should be favorites for this series, but you can’t ignore the results, and the Lynx have managed to take it twice now. They should be quick before the Rush have the chance to fully wake up and get back to their regular season form. 

 

Mississauga Hounds (4) vs Saskatoon Wild (5)

 

What a Game One. In probably the most entertaining game through the first day of sims, the Hounds just snuck by the Wild in an overtime thriller. Despite being outshot 50-31, the Hounds were simply more efficient, and led the game 4 to 3 after another 7 goal first period.  After another goal, the Wild managed to bring two back to tie up the game in the second period. After such a first two periods, it makes sense to think the game would continue along in the same manner. But the next goal didn’t come for over 40 minutes, until the Hounds’ L scored the overtime winner with just a minute and a half left in the first overtime period. Looking at the stars, you’d think that either of the Hounds’ four point players R or Dan Dan would be the top player. That usually might be the case, if not for Saskatoon’s Brian Strong Jr. A five point game, including four goals, shows just how much this series means to the man. He played incredibly, but it wasn’t enough to win the game, and the Hounds took an early series lead. 

 

Game Two was a disappointment, to be honest, after such a fantastic Game One. Vsevolod Askarov was a standout player for the Hounds, keeping a .958 SV%. It was a 2 goal, 1 assist performance from Gustav Hjalmarsson, however, that took the first star of the game. All four goals this game for the Hounds came from the power play, showing fantastic execution on their 7 opportunities. To claw their way back into this series, the Wild will have to limit the gifts they give the Hounds. 

 

 

That’s all for this edition of Under 250: The VHLM Review. Thank you all for reading, and stay tuned next week for the inside scoop on all that’s going on in the league. Until next time!

 

Players Mentioned: @fyrefly, @CosmicStorm, @OscarTheSwagDude, @eaglesfan0366, @Crstats23, @Jbeezy76, @Xflexz, @DreMin15, @Wreckening, @DMaximus, @hedgehog337, @DoktorFunk, @PuckPushers, @Kylrad, @gorlab, @MMFLEX, @Wheaties, @Gooningitup, @McLovin

 

VSN Writer Mr_Hatter
 

 

[Kloxified 16]

My goaltending for Yukon hasn't been great, I need to step it up

[Mr_Hatter 1,603]

55 minutes ago, Kloxified said:

My goaltending for Yukon hasn't been great, I need to step it up

It hasn't been the best, but there is time to turn it around