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spooked · 08-26-2022, 12:53 PM

Going into the season, Vancouver had added a number of new players to the crew. Meta Knight, Antonio Flusso, Gray Rosey, Gaston LeGume, Nichael Fitted, Sven Panda, Koda Judacia, and Bojack Calhoun when all was said and done. This group of incoming players were initially expected to just do their best to improve this season, with the team not being competitive the previous season, the focus was squarely set on just being a team that solidly progresses throughout the 66 games. Instead, Vancouver came out of the gate better than any other team. The Whalers did not lose a game in regulation for the first 17 games of the season, until St. Louis took an 8-2 contest in game 18. To that point Vancouver had won 15 of 17, losing just 2 games in extra time or the shoot out.

This start was not expected by the team really at all, we had seen some success in the preseason, but after the run was over, the team was squarely in contention for the cup this season, despite not looking like a competitor at all coming into it. Players like Aleksandr Iskandrov, Benjamin Surkhi-Ze’ev, Edge Rocks, and Pytor Gallen all were putting in big performance already, with B Jobin in net being strong throughout the early part of the season.
Unfortunately, the run was a bit of a flash in the pan, as the season was long, and Vancouver looked like they could not keep up with the competition throughout the rest of the year. Slowly Vancouver dropped out of the top position with inconsistent results, and still struggling to consistently get results against other top teams. But, the bright spot was that the large rookie group Vancouver brought were progressing well.
Meta Knight, Antonio Flusso, Gaston LeGume, Sven Panda, and Nichael Fitted all progressed throughout the season, with all ending the year above 20 points clearly, and many bright spots like Meta Knight having a very strong season on the Penalty Kill, and Gaston LeGume with 3 game winning goals, and more. There were a number of key performances throughout the season by new and old players alike that kept the team in contention despite clearly falling a step behind what their strong start looked like it could become.

Once all was said and done, and the regular season came to a close, Vancouver found itself in third place in the league, clearly good enough to be in contention, with just one point above fourth position in Yukon. Unfortunately, the league structure didn’t allow Vancouver to get bye come the first round, but with a strong 0.705 points percentage and a plus 67 goal differential, there would not be too many teams that could really keep up with the Whalers.
The first round brought the Whalers a matchup with the Carolina Kraken, who had finished second to last during the regular season, and the matchup was quickly decided with Vancouver brushing past the first round with a clean sweep. There could be some analysis done here, but the reality is, Carolina is not the team they have been in the past currently, and Vancouver were just in a different class at the moment.
In the Second Round, Vancouver were facing the St. Louis Scarecrows, a team which has been pretty middle of the pack for the past few seasons, not seeing much more success than Vancouver. But that first regulation loss in the regular season was foreboding, as the Whalers took an early 3-1 lead in the series in pretty convincing fashion. With a 3-0 win in game 1, a 4-3 OT loss in game 2, and 2-1 and 7-2 wins in games 3 and 4, it was pretty likely that the Whalers could close it out as the series has been close but clearly one sided to that point. This is where St. Louis really came out of the gate, with a close 4-3 win in Game 5, they had extended the series, and then shocked Vancouver with back to back shut outs, 5-0 and 3-0, over coming the 3-1 series deficit.

With that Vancouver’s season was over. They had a unexpected rise early and had high hopes to at least get a sniff at the finals, but St. Louis seems to have had their number from the get go. Ending that early streak of success, and also delivering the death blow to the Whalers in the second round.

*CptSquall* · 08-26-2022, 02:51 PM

Accepted, +5 TPE to @spooked

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