VSN World Cup

[diamond_ace 3,106]

 

The S74 World Cup has just completed the round robin stage, and things look incredibly close. Heading into the playoffs, every team is within 5 points of each other, and no result would be particularly surprising this season, which leads of course to a lot of incredibly exciting hockey that’s yet to be played. Of course, even if it’s only by the slimmest of margins, some teams have earned themselves the extra slight advantage going into the playoff rounds, such as byes or home ice. Let’s take a look at where everyone ended up. 

 

The Byes

 

Team USA: Team USA finished atop the standings by winning their last 3 games in a row, which was just enough to see them in first by a single point. With 5 of their 6 forwards finishing over a point per game (and the final one just a point shy of the mark) the Americans will like their chances, as the scoring is spread out and opposing teams can’t focus on one player or line. Also, every player but one has a positive plus/minus, showing there really aren’t any weak spots on Team USA.

 

The Mercenaries: The only team in the World Cup to be composed of people other teams passed up on, the Mercenaries have been playing with a chip on their shoulder which has led to strong defensive hockey. They’ve only conceded 25 goals in the round robin, when the next fewest is the 31 of Team Nordic. Jimmy Spyro has stood on his head, with a GAA that’s more than half a goal better than the next best goalie in the tournament. Also, credit to defenseman Seabass Perrin, who leads the tournament in assists with 12.

 

The Bracket

 

Team Canada vs Team Western Europe: This is where the margins are even tighter. While the entire standings are only separated by 5 points, the teams in the opening round are only separated by 2 points. Canada did finish slightly ahead of Western Europe, 15 points to 13, but it’s yet to be seen whether that edge will be enough to see them past this round of the playoffs. On paper, Canada looks to have a slight edge at forward and defense, and despite splitting starts between two goalies, a strong advantage in net no matter which way they go (Western Europe goalie Nicolas Fomba is less skilled than either Rayz Funk or Jaxx Hextall, and that has shown in Western Europe’s tournament-highest goals against). This talent advantage of Canada’s didn’t really manifest itself in the round robin though, so it’s uncertain whether it’ll make that much of an appearance in the knockout rounds. Based on how they’ve played so far, either team will like their chances, and Western Europe certainly aren’t out of it, but I can’t in good conscience look at these teams and not pick Canada. Plus they’ve won both the round robin games over Western Europe, and avoid World and Mercenaries who beat them twice. Canada 5-3.

 

Team Nordic vs Team World: These two teams were separated by a single point, with Nordic getting an advantage there, but looking at the rosters World actually seem like the slightly stronger team. Obviously something hasn’t quite gelled for them in this tournament, and it’s mostly borne out in a poor offensive performance, as they’ve scored fewer goals than any other team by some margin (24, the next closest is 31). Of course the team will be training together in the coming days trying to develop a chemistry, which is always the risk with big international tournaments like this where guys who haven’t played together are suddenly placed onto the same team. Perhaps a line change would do Team World a lot of good heading into the Nordic match and potentially forward from there. Still, judging strictly from what we’ve already seen from these two teams, it will ultimately be as close as they finished in the standings but World simply won’t score enough to see off Nordic. Nordic 3-2 OT.

 

The Winner

With a round robin as close as this one was, it’s going to be incredibly difficult to predict a winner with any degree of confidence. Canada in theory are the best team, but again, they didn’t play quite to that standard. Do we pick the Americans, who have shown a strong balance up and down the roster, or do we take the line that if everyone stands out, ultimately no one does? It’s going to be impossible to predict, and no matter which team is said here, there’s a high probability it’s wrong - so with that said, who doesn’t love an underdog story? Mercenaries.

[rory 1,759]

USA USA USA