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Thelastheraclid · 02-25-2021, 10:12 AM

I am going to go with a personal story line rather a league wide one. The biggest story line is Nat Emerson proving he is human and slowing down after being one of the best pure defenders since the switch to FHM. It's a mixed bag of story. On the negative side it shows that Emerson's best years are certainly behind him now. After a career best 40 points last season Emerson is on pace for one of the worst of his career. He isn't just taking a step back offensively. He isn't blocking the same volume of shots that he was last season either. But that brings us to the positive side of this story. After holding down the blue line for the Platoon during their rebuild the young defenders that were mentored by Emerson are staring to come into their own. Emerson's D partner Valentin Kalashnikov is stepping into his own and picking up the slack and covering up any mistakes that old man Emerson may be making on the ice. It is a bittersweet story of a great player's career starting to wind down.

***Hordle*** · 02-25-2021, 10:17 AM

Not really surprisingly Quebec City is back in the top like they were last season. The team hasn't really changed much so there was no logical reason that they wouldn't preform just as well. The Knights have also taken up the top spot in the west. While Anchorage has fallen down to the middle of the pack. I'm sure that a lot of people were predicting this.

However unannounced to some. Tyler Ward, of Quebec City fame, has started to play in the SHL. Making the trip like many before him to play for both Edmonton and Quebec City. Having played in the preseason where the rookie preformed fairly well. Currently having a win lose record of 3-2 in the SHL with one recorded shut out. He is currently the first S57 goalie to play in the SHL. This news coming from his rival in Jon. St Ark. Ward was surprised to hear about this. Believing that surely Ark had played before him. But apparently that wasn't the case. Meanwhile in Quebec, Ward is hosting a win loss record of 9-1-2. The best start that he's had (I believe I didn't fact check this) since coming into the league. Having dropped two L's in a shootout. Ward will be looking to tighten up his defenses in the one on one battles.

Rabidsponge21 · 02-25-2021, 10:50 AM

Mikkel Asmus Sondergard TEX RD 28 5 12 17 24
VS
Bork Lazer HAM LD 30 2 8 10 21

Mikkel Asmus Sondergard TEX RD 28 101.9 5.1 2.1 44.9 22.4 667 352 65.5 1.6 498 248 66.8 3.0
VS
Bork Lazer HAM LD 30 100.1 4.9 2.6 43.3 22.9 705 386 64.6 1.2 526 295 64.1 -0.5

This is easily the biggest story line of them all when it comes to the current SHL structure.

Not only is MAS out performing Bork Lazer as is expected and really the usual when it comes to this league the advanced stats paint another picture.

MAS is beating Bork in not only Goals - assists - points but also...

PDO - GF/60 - GA/60 - SF/60 - SA/60

Now as we dive into the even more advanced stats what do we see? Out thats right, MAS beating Bork again across the board

CF - CA - CF% REL - FF - FA - FF% - FF% REL.

Really at this point is it really even and argument anymore who is better?

I am sure that Bork would come in here saying his swagger alone catapults him ahead of MAS but the reality of it all is that Bork is just not as good as the Danish super star defender. When Bork is on the ice the team just doesn't perform as well. The conversation will continue I bet as the seasons go, but one defender is showing his true colours of being what we call in the professional sports world as a 'coat tail rider'.

Fantobens · 02-25-2021, 11:21 AM

My favorite storyline this season has been how great the Texas Renegades are. You could say they aren’t in the Great Lakes division or whatever bull shit argument you have but at the end of the day, they aren’t anywhere near the Great Lakes. So shut up.

As of writing this they are 24-4. The top offense in the league led by FHM darling Eddie Williams. A top notch defense that is offensively gifted as well as defensively sound top to bottom. And maybe most importantly the performance of their goalie duo of Goodman and kavanaugh.

Not to say there aren’t any holes. The one that stands out is experience. Being a team that is almost entirely built from within, there’s no big game experience. It has been made evident getting pummeled twice by the defending champs. That’s only two games. The concern is that it was at the hands of the same team. They will have to learn to rise to the occasion. If they can do that, no team can stop them.

Cobbenstein · 02-25-2021, 11:50 AM

The biggest story line in the Simulation Hockey League this season is the number of hits Patrick Shepherd has so far this season. In season 57 Patrick had a whopping 8 hits over the entire season. He is a big bodied physically stronger player and just could not land a hit no matter how many times he tried. After the season he felt that he needed to address this issue if he was going to take the next step. He went about it in the only way possible, get a bunch of punching bags and place them at various points around the rink and practice skating into them. This ground breaking new training regiment has already shown its amazing effect. Through 1/3 of the season, Patrick already has 19 hits and is still racking them up. At this pace he may end the season with as many as 50 hits which would just be a ground breaking stat that the rest of the SHL would have to take note of going forward. Opposing coaches and scouts will always have to keep in the back of their minds that Patrick Shepherd might hit someone this game maybe like once or twice.

BarnabasCollins · 02-25-2021, 12:26 PM

I think the biggest storyline of the season so far would be the shocking shortage of chicken at Calgary's Big Parm. It appears that the hatchery on the roof of the Big Parm is missing several dozen chickens. Noone can seem to figure out what happened to them, whether it was a rival team trying to take away the Dragon's parm power or perhaps a greedy person who feels like he isn't getting his fair share of the parms. Suspicion right away fell on the rival Edmonton Blizzard but it was soon determined they didn't have the stones to pull off such a daring heist. So it was determined it had to be an inside job. And who do you suppose was the first suspect? Why of course the giant Esa Parmborg who is notorious for hogging down all the parms at the training table. His locker was thoroughly searched but no clues were found that would lead to him being the culprit. After several days a strange smell was noticed near the locker of retired Dragon Hall of Famer Mike Izzy. Sure enough chicken shit was found smeared all over one of Izzy's uniforms. So a hidden camera was set up and the culprit turned out to be none other than Izzy's son #A-rye Izzy, sneaking in at night and slipping on his father's old uniform to move about inconspicuously. When confronted his explanation was he needed all the parms to build up his strength faster to be called up to the big club more quickly. He was then punished by making him clean the chicken coops with a toothbrush.

Z-Whiz · 02-25-2021, 01:05 PM

The biggest story has to be just how few fights there have been in the league up to this point. There have only been 22 fights in 263 games. That’s just under 1 fight per 12 games!! What has hockey become? Gone are the good ole days where each team had at least one bare knuckle brawler who barely knew how to skate. Kids these days are all about goals and assists. The forefathers of this league are rolling over in their graves. You should all be ashamed of yourselves. Even more depressing is the fact that of these 22 fights, only 5 have been actually won! I don’t know what’s worse, the fact the league is averaging less than a tenth of a fight per game, or the fact that 77% of these “fights” have ended in ties. Even the tough guys are everyone-gets-a-trophy pansies. There aren’t even close fist punches, just open hand slaps. I can’t believe what these league has become.

164

mee · 02-25-2021, 03:33 PM

Andy · 02-25-2021, 03:48 PM

I think the rise of BAP is one of the top storylines in the league. I think there is an interesting trend with teams on the rise including TBB, Toronto and BAP in terms of teams tat are starting to emerge from their rebuilds and start to be serious contenders. We have already seen BAP beat Buffalo more than once which was not something that was expected to happen. I think what has been a surpirse mainly for BAP is their two rookie defenseman in Tanjiro Kamado and Teddy Park. Both of them have come up and have not been big liabilities for the Platoon. Looking at just pure +/- they are at only a -5 where other players go all the way up to a -25. They have shown so far that they are responsible in both ends although I am sure that both players would like to put up points. I think this a team that is a fun storyline now and as they develop they will pass Toronto who definitely are the team bursting on to the scene now with being second in their conference

BasedMinkus · 02-25-2021, 04:10 PM

A third of the way through the SHL season and there are a few storylines that deserve attention. I am going to focus on the standings in general and the idea that the West is the best has been clearly shown to not be the case. Where as last season the West was super deep with 3 teams winning 40+ games and 2 others winning 35+ games, this season is looking vastly different. The Renegades are steamrolling the conference having only lost 4 games. The Blizzard look mortal with a .633 win % compared to .720 last season. The Dragons are better than their record indicates with a goal differential of +39. Meanwhile, the Panthers and Aurora have been much worse than anticipated showing the latter should have kept the Jets name. Overall, the Western Conference got weaker and this is reflected in how many teams have been just average. This season the west is shaping up to a team conference.

160

zaynzk · 02-25-2021, 04:20 PM

What happened to Boyle? The biggest question on everyone mind is what happened to the rising star that they saw in the playoff last season who carried that form into the International Junior Tournament, Boyle seems to has lost the clinical instinct that he once had. Boyle who went 11th overall to new orleans seems have completely lost it talent wise. He seems a step slower and less confident than he was in his rookie year. Is this the new normal for Boyle? Is the emergence of ASM the young rookie from Canada who has been scoring hard hindered boyle. Is Zile breakout causing Boyle to struggle. Is the line issues with Kappy contributed to the lowered amoung of goals for both players. Have teams finally figured out how to stop him? Or is boyle done? There are questions to be asked if Boyle is good enough to continue playing on a high line. Will New Orleans have Buyers remorse from selecting him with a high pick? We will find out soon enough

Snuffalupagus · 02-25-2021, 04:36 PM

While it may not carry the same drama as the SHL, the SMJHL has its fair share. Something fans around the league have followed is the Nevada Battleborn's Rob Wright and his incredible record number of shots missing the net. Fellow Battleborn, Raivo Helmainen, who is second in the SMJHL in missed shots on goal had this to say, "yeah, it actually kinda sucks. We want to score, y'know?" But the two forwards have sixty and forty-five missed shots on goal in a row, respectively.

The phenomenal feat of missing that many shots on goal is pretty unprecedented, especially when you consider the SMJHL nets are actually three times SHL regulation size.

"At this point," Rob Wright tells us, "I'm actually kind of scared we might be cursed. I'm not a superstitious man, but this is kinda crazy."

The two forwards have already set the records for franchise missed shots on goal without scoring. Any more missed shots and they may be sued for collusion. Follow the story on SNORTSSPECTRE DOO-DOO-DOO.

Muford · 02-25-2021, 05:37 PM

To be honest with you, I am quite happy with what Vladmir Petrov has been able to put up so far as a rookie. He has put up sadly only 4 goals, when I wanted to scor gol, which hurts me, but overall he’s played great for the Tampa Bay Barracuda. He has 14 assists, which leads to 18 total points, and has a +/- of +7. Which is dope. I think. After that, he has 37 hits and 3 blocked shots, with only 6 penalty minutes. He’s being a great third liner for the Barracuda. He averages 19:37 minutes of ice time a game, which is basically a whole period. Which is fantastic, I think. I am not 100% sure how great I should be, but my PDO is 105.4 and my CF% is 43.5 and my CF% rel is 5.9. Please, could someone explain to me if that is good or not. Either which way I am quite happy with how Vladmir Petrov has turned out in his first season in the big leagues and I’m hoping for many more good seasons.

(184 words)

st4rface · 02-25-2021, 06:50 PM

Regular season is already in the middle. Season gets closer and closer at the point when Play-Offs hits in and teams fight for championship. However - biggest stories definitely are some teams comeback after longer time.

One of these teams are Toronto North Stars which was just at the bottom few seasons ago and now is third team in the league. Second in Eastern Conference. Only Steelhawks and Renegades have more points than them. That's some real comeback.

Similar with Tampa Bay Barracuda. At one point in this season they were like third place in Eastern Conference (I think, after 20 games played). Now they fell a bit and they are 8th place in Eastern Conference, but with a chance to get higher.

The opposite for this are New Orleans Specters who won championship few seasons ago and now are the last place in the entire league. They have won just 5 games out of 32.

Of course, there are some times who haven't changed - Steelhawks, Stampede, Syndicate, Blizzard, Dragons at the top of this league. However - it's interesting to think about it, because you see something like this pretty rarely. Teams change so fast and it's interesting to see it.

200 words

***Aephino*** · 02-25-2021, 07:54 PM

I may suffer a little from main character syndrome, but I knew something was up when I first joined the league and Edward Williams started off with a bang. Here I am, now nearly halfway through my third season in the SHL, and Edward Williams has the third most points in the league! Let's remember that Williams is a player who started the season just over 1350 TPE. He's the third-line center on Texas, but the Renegades third line is outperforming like crazy this season. So, do I think it will continue? Probably not. Currently sitting at 40 points in 31 games, I don't think Williams will end up being anywhere near 80 points. But, finishing the season with 1 PPG at 66 would still be quite remarkable. As for team stories, maybe others saw this coming, but I am still shocked at how many points Toronto has accumulated. It still feels like just the other day they were the worst team in the league. Now they're sitting above both Buffalo and Chicago in the standings. I doubt they'll end up this high, but we could see a crazy run in the postseason.

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