Now for my second ever deep dive I would like to discuss some of the teams in the minors of the Simulation Hockey League. The raptors are playing extremely well this season! At the time of me writing this deep dive, the Colorado Raptors are sitting very comfortably in 2nd spot in the Simulation Hockey League juniors edition ( I do not know what the abbreviation stands for unfortunately). After 56 games, the Colorado Raptors have 38 wins and 15 losses, with 3 games being lost in overtime. This would mean that the Colorado Raptors are sitting on 79 Points with the Nevada Battleborn. Granted the Colorado Raptors are 4 games ahead of 1st (Nevada Battleborn) and 3rd (the Vancouver Whalers). The lead up to the playoffs is hotting up with any one of Nevada Battleborn, Colorado Raptors, Vancouver Whalers or the Yukon Malamutes being able to take the 1st place in the standings during the regular season. The team that can manage to keep it consistent coming to the end of the regular season should be able to finish on top of the standings. Based on the stats, it is looking like home form could prove to be pivotal for the Nevada Battleborn as they have a record of 22-6-1 at home, which is extremely impressive. The Vancouver Whalers on the other hand are performing extremely well on the road with their 20-7-1 record, whilst seeming to struggle to find their rhythm at home with a record of 15-5-4. Interestingly enough, this is the lowest home record in the top 3 with the Colorado Raptors enjoying a 24-4-0 record, however they also have the 4 games in hand on their opponents so it would not necessarily be fair to say they have the best home performances so far this season. Anything can change in the next few days leading up to the playoffs and honestly the playoffs themselves could go any way. If I was a betting man I would say that overall the Colorado Raptors will manage to consolidate first place in the league as their own. On the basis I currently play on this team and I am not that unbiased. I need to rep the gang to some extent. However, I can totally see it coming down to the wire with the Nevada Battleborn, Vancouver Whalers and the Colorado Raptors all battling it out for the top spot. Once again, my lack of hockey knowledge is making it difficult to go into further analysis let alone understand what I am looking at. However, I can do the eye test of looking at a few players stats from these teams and determine which one of them is having a better season! Based on goal scoring, a metric that should be important because if you do not have players that are scoring, then how can you win a game. The player with the better offensive performance in terms of scoring has to be Pyotr Gallen from the Vancouver Whalers with 31 goals from 52 games. This is a technicality as the Colorado Raptors have 4 games in hand, their Right Winger Casper Nilsson has scored 33 goals from 56, so Pyotr Gallen gets the benefit of playing fewer games in my book. This does not detract from any of the performances from both teams and both players. These are great statistics to be putting up and to be able to be one of the main scoring options for your team is an incredible feat. Whilst the Nevada Battleborn’s top scorer only has 24 goals, it seems that a lot of their goals are more spread out when compared to the other two teams. Also alongside that, the Nevada Battleborn have a significantly better goals against average when compared to the Colorado Raptors and the Vancouver Whalers. This suggests that the Nevada Battleborn are utilising their defence to their fullest extent and minimising goals for their opposition. As the saying goes, defence wins you championships. 

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