Vancouver finished Season 61 with 105 points and carried that momentum through the post season and walked away with the 4-star after sweeping Newfoundland.  As the SMJHL commonly has a lot of turn over it was tough to tell if they would be able to continue their dominance in Season 62. 

Draft in Review
Vancouver picked up 3 players in the S62 SMJHL draft.  1 in Round 1 (Pick 14) and 2 in Round 3 (Pick 29 and Pick 42). 

Pick 14:  Dexter Kirk - Kirk was definitely the best pickup of the Whalers in S62.  As of his last update, the Dman had 256 TPE and was 17th in the TPE totals among the S62 rookies.  He brought home 30 points and a very respectable +14 from the blue line and is looking great for the coming seasons.   
Pick 29:  Steffe Stenfors - Stenfors never created an update page and best I can tell he never played a single game.  Definite dud there
Pick 42:  Bobby Taylor - Taylor also never created an update, but I suppose Vancouver needed a bench filler and Taylor played all 66 games for S62


Pre Season
Pre season is always a real toss up as the newest players can't contribute much and the senior staff get called up.  However, Vancouver came out of pre season with a 5-2 record and set the pace for a season where they hoped to be a serious contender in the cup race.

Regular Season
But Vancouver's core was led by Leb Ledev who is a favorite for the MVP slot and continued it's dominance across the SMJHL.  They won the Atlantic division by 11 points and edged out the Aramda to claim the #1 seed heading into the playoffs.  Vancouver kept an amazing +76 goal differential and looked good throughout.  With a record of 46-16-4 they showed the league that they were eager to win the back to back cups.  6 of the Vancouver players had more than 50 points tallied for season 62 and a strong defensive core.

Playoffs
With their great performance in the regular season, Vancouver was able to take a first round bye.  Round 2 brought Nevada into town off the heels of a sweep of the Great Falls Grizzly and hoping to carry that momentum into Round 2.  The series took 6 games and Vancouver was able to send Nevada to the golf course early with a 4-2 series win. 

This has set them up to face the #2 seed in the SMJHL, the Anchorage Armada.  This will likely be the series that the whole league will watch the closest.  It's always a bit of a bummer when #1 and #2 play before the finals, but my gut says the winner of this round will likely be taking home the 4-star in a few short days.  While no games are "easy" games, I expect this series will be very tight and called in 7 games with the win going to Vancouver.  With the amount of momentum they have going for them the Whalers are a favorite and the Armada will have a bit of an uphill fight, though if anyone is to dethrone the reigning champs it'll be Anchorage. 

Good luck to all and watch out for Detroit in the coming seasons!  SKREE!!

 


Sig credit: Ragnar, Carpy48, High Stick King


Ivan Lacksamus || RW || Detroit Falcons
Number: 14
Height: 6ft 1in
Weight: 200 lbs
Birthplace: Switzerland

Approved! +5 TPE @thiefofcheese