S75 WJC Medal Ceremony

[bigAL 2,176]

The S75 World Junior Championship Medal Ceremony

 

Before we begin, I have to give a big shoutout to all our GMs, players, and fans who made this tournament possible. Without you giving a hoot about this thing, it'd just be lonely ol' Josh simming meaningless games so RJ and I can get our job pay.

 

Our Heroic GMs:

Team USA GM - Thaddius Sales @thadthrasher

Team Canada GM - FromTheInside @fromtheinside
Team Asia GM - Blazzer @Blazzer

Team Europe GM - Ledge & Dairy @Ledge_and_Dairy
  Team World GM - Jiggly Gumballs @JigglyGumballs

 

On that note, let me present the first award of the night:
 

The Cheerleader Award

The Cheerleader Award is something I literally just invented because of the support and awareness needed to make this tournament successful. The Cheerleader Award is for the team who builds the best hype train, screams the loudest, and obsessively cares about the WJC. This year's Cheerleaders were brash, bold, and unapologetically hyped. They made use of words, gifs, patriotism, videos, threats, chants, flags, motivational speeches to rile up their team, fanbase, and opponents. They struck fear and annoyance into the hearts of their opponents. Your S75 Team Cheerleader Award winner is:

 

Spoiler

 

Team USA!

 

 

 

 

[bigAL 2,176]

Now let's get to the reason we are all here. First, a Tournament Recap:

 

The round robin was tremendously exciting for all teams.

 

Team World separated themselves from the pack early and authoritatively. The misfits from everywhere else won their first seven games before ultimately dropping their round robin finale to Team Canada.

 

Team USA entered the medal round pleased with themselves, as the only over team over .500. They won 5 of their 8 matches and played a highly entertaining run-and-gun, defense-is-for-losers style of hockey. Their 33 Goals For led the tournament, and their 28 Goals Against were one point off the lead. They scored 4+ in 5 of their 8 games (and even lost one of those).

 

While Team World and Team USA finished with 21 and 14 points respectfully, Team Europe, Team Asia, Team Canada, all finished within one point of each other. Team Europe lead the three with 3 wins, and it was their OTL to Team Canada that set them atop the pack. Big props go to Team Europe for rebounding from a 4-3 loss to the USA by defeating them 6-5 in the second game of their back-to-back.

 

Team Asia, always the spoiler with a chip on their shoulder, finished ahead of Team Canada by virtue of the Goals For tiebreaker: Asia scored 22 times, and Canada only 19. Team Asia beat the other two teams in their tier, and were able to steal OT points from both Team USA (in another 6-5 game involving the Americans) and a 4-3 OTL against Team Europe.

 

Team Canada played the caboose in this WJC train. They actually won more games than Team Asia (3 W to 2), and beat the powerhouse Team World in the tournament finale, but ultimately couldn't put it together enough to avoid the play-in round. When Team Canada won, they won close games; when they lost, they lost BIG, including 5-1 loss to the USA to open the tournament, a 6-2 drubbing at the hands of Europe, and a 3-0 shutout by Asia.

[fromtheinside 1,290]

well at least USA won something, way to go guys

[Ledge 1,131]

5 minutes ago, bigAL said:

gifs

this was not fair. There were like three good Europe gifs

 

but USA did take this one soundly. In agreement with @fromtheinside, at least they won something

Edited January 18, 2021 by Ledge_and_Dairy

[JigglyGumballs 1,056]

Damn Canadians ruined my perfect run smh

[bigAL 2,176]

The Quarter-Finals

 

Team Asia and Team Canada, tied in points, had a quarter-final date together. Winner moves onto the semi's, and the loser goes home. The teams split their round robin series. In the tournament, Asia pitched the shutout against Canada, but the low-scoring Canadians found another gear for the medal round. Scoring a team-high six goals, the Red and White won a barnburner of a game 6-4 to move on. Asia gave Canada a serious run for their money, and Canada only scored the go-ahead goal with seven minutes remaining in the third period. Game MVPs go to Sheldon Juniper @fyrefly who did the heavy lifting, scoring two goals and adding an assist, to help propel the Canadians to victory, while Michael Schmitdt @Kmatt (2-0--2) did his part to keep the game competitive. Team Asia exits the tournament with the moral victory of not finishing at the bottom of the round robin table.

[bigAL 2,176]

The Semi Finals

 

Team Canada's defeat of Asia "rewarded" them with a date with the unstoppable, powerhouse Team World. Of course, Canada had slain this dragon in the final of the round-robin, and truly did give the strong team a scare. Canada absolutely showed UP to their semi-final game, and scored three unanswered goals in the first to put the World on their heels. However, this Cinderella run ended abruptly and thoroughly as Team World scored 4 in the second period, and another two in the final frame to win the game 6-4. Game MVPs go to Connor Sim @SimmerDown99 (Canada) who scored twice in the opening two minutes to scare the hell out of Team World. The Team World MVP is a tough one - every player but one scored at least one point - so the nod goes to Caitlyn Catowize @CrazyCaityCat who opened the scoring for Team World and got the primary assist on the Game Winning Goal.

 

Across the bracket, Team USA and Team Europe were gunning for a date with Team World. Team Europe, who finished well behind USA in the standings, came out of the gate hawt. Europe got the first goal, then USA tied it up. So Europe scored again, but the pesky Americans got that one back too. Europe gets a third goal, and the Americans again don't let them have a lead. Finally, Pekko Viitanen @Xdjk93 scores the Game Winner in the second. The Europeans held on, and Viitanen added an empty netter to seal the deal. Game MVPs go to Pekko Viitanen (Europe) and Thaddius Sales @thadthrasher (USA) for stopping 45 of the 50(!!) shots taken by Team Europe.

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The Medal Games

 

Losses by both Team Canada and Team USA set up an all-North American Bronze Medal Game. Neither team was happy to be there, and it showed in the sloppy defensive play at both ends. Shots were coming fast and furious, with the Canadians ripping 51 shots and the Americans not far behind with 47. The game got off to a spicy start, with Jakob Sosa @TMGSosa getting the Americans on the board within the first minute. Canada stormed back with two goals before USA tied the knot at 2 at the end of one. From here on out, the goalies stood on their heads. Kloxified @Kloxified was perfect in the final two frames (and even assisted the GWG!), and Thaddius Sales let in two powerplay goals. The Canadians and their lethal powerplay secured themselves a Bronze Medal. Game MVPs go to Dominic Gobeil @domg5 (Canada) who got the Canadians back into the game, and Its Guicci @frescoelmo (USA) for not letting the game slip away in the first period.

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Finally, the moment we've all been waiting for: The Gold Medal Game. The heroics of the semi-finals set up a rematch of the S74 tournament: Team Europe, defending champs, taking on their rivals Team World. Like everyone expected, this was a tough, tight match-up. Team World had no intention of taking home silver again this year. Chicken Wing @chikn got the World on the board in under 2 minutes, and they never looked back. Dolant Fertitta @Dolantgot one back for the Europeans (assisted by future Hall-of-Fame D pairing R and L @Kylrad and @gorlab), but those three Europeans were the only ones who got onto the scoresheet. In the third, already down 3-1, the R, L, F trio connected again for Europe, but Lenny Sanderson's @Gally second period marker for Team World stood as the medal-winning goal. Just to be safe, Pistil Stamen @DMaximus iced the game with two quick goals in the last half of the third, stifling any chance of a European comeback. Team World overcame their torturous history to defeat their rivals and claim the Gold Medal.

[bigAL 2,176]

GOLD MEDAL

Team World
 

GM: @JigglyGumballs

Captains:
Pistil Stamen@DMaximus
Phoenix Dawson@Toast
RJ Thatcher@jhatty8

 

 

SILVER MEDAL

Team Europe
 

GM: @Ledge_and_Dairy

 

Captains:

L @gorlab

Jeff Odinson @GoldGear88

Artair McCloud @Hoopydog

 

 

BRONZE MEDAL

Team Canada
 

GM: @fromtheinside

Captains:

Robert Bouchard @Gaikoku-hito

Dominic Gobeil @domg5

Edited January 18, 2021 by bigAL

[Ledge 1,131]

 

gg to all

[JigglyGumballs 1,056]

WORLD WORLD WORLD WORLD

[bigAL 2,176]

TOURNAMENT MVP:

From Team World, the tournament scoring leader with 19 points in 10 games:

Spoiler

PISTIL STAMEN @DMaximus

 

 

[JigglyGumballs 1,056]

[bigAL 2,176]

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM:

 

F - Pistil Stamen, Team World @DMaximus

F - Justin Lose, Team USA @youloser1337

F - Its Gucci, Team USA @frescoelmo

 

D - Chicken Wing, Team World @chikn

D - MuffBeav, Team USA @.sniffuM

 

G - Kunibuni UnGuri, Team World @Berocka

[bigAL 2,176]

And that's a wrap!

 

Thank you very much to everyone who made this tournament happen, especially @Josh for literally making the tournament happen by simming, @rjfryman for putting up with me not knowing anything, all the GMs who put the teams together and gave our VHLers of the future a ride they'll never forget.

 

We'll see you back here, same time, same place, for the S76 World Junior Championships!

[fromtheinside 1,290]

Our captains were
@Gaikoku-hito Robert Bouchard and @domg5Dominic Gobeil btw
and they were awesome

[Ledge 1,131]

 

S76 WJC HYPE

[Blazzer 759]

Congrats everybody with the awards. Congrats to the medal winners as well. Thank you for such a great tournament

[thadthrasher 1,692]

Woooot WJC!

USA
USA
USA

[frescoelmo 1,282]

[dlamb 1,328]

Congrats to all the winners, great job done by all for another successful tourney! 

[Berocka 2,263]

Winner Winner! Repping Fiji. The first time someone from Fiji has won something in VHL!!!

[jhatty8 675]

Yay world

[gorlab 4,321]

Thanks to everybody who helped run this event!  Great work everybody.