Written by: Prod
Player of the Week: Week 5
Welcome to the fourth edition of VGNHL’s Season 23 Players of the Week. We are now officially passed the halfway point through the season, and the standings are painting a clearer picture for us to see who the true favorites are, who the contenders are and who the pretenders are. Most players have little to no excuse now to not do well, and it is time for each star player to help propel their team to a potential cup run. The Devils and Avalanche remain the favorites for their respective conferences, but the playoff race for those already in a spot remain close. However, each wildcard team is slowly increasing their lead, so we’ll see how close the race will be to end the season. But without further ado, let’s see which players have helped their team into comfortable playoff positions in week 5.
Forwards:
xCory95-: 7 GP, 23 G, 14 A, 37 P, 5.29 PPG, +27, 6-1-0
Captain of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Cory went off in week 5 to help keep Tampa in a very comfortable playoff position. 12 points ahead of 3rd place in just their division, Tampa can almost go into cruise control and be perfectly fine for playoffs. However, that’s not what they’re doing. Cory put up 23 goals and 14 assists in the 7 games he played this past week, good enough for a 6-1 record and lead all forward in points on the week by a significant margin. Just 5 points behind the Habs, the Lightning are within striking distance to take first in the division, and in large part thanks to Cory.
Honorable Mentions
VintageTrav: 6 GP, 9 G, 19 A, 28 P, 4.67 PPG, +27, 6-0-0
Memento_Mori_814: 6 GP, 10 G, 15 A, 25 P, 4.17 PPG, +16, 5-1-0
xNuge-93: 4 GP, 14 G, 9 A, 23 P, 5.75 PPG, +20, 4-0-0
Defense:
DudNastyy: 6 GP, 1 G, 22 A, 23 P, 3.83 PPG, +33, 6-0-0
The Norris race may have been decided already, as Dud has earned yet another defender of the week award. Having an outstanding season for his Devils not only as a manager, but as a skater as well. Norris and GM of the year may have to be added to his hardware cabinet, as yet another week of dominance with 22 assists on the week and a perfect 6-0 record. Setting up his teammates and scoring a goal himself, the only person who might challenge Dudnasty for Norris now may be his own linemate and management partner.
Honorable Mentions
LiIjegren: 6 GP, 3 G, 18 A, 21 P, 3.50 PPG, +32, 6-0-0
Bigya_n_: 4 GP, 3 G, 10 A, 13 P, 3.25 PPG, +4, 3-1-0
Vito_Corleone: 6 GP, 6 G, 9 A, 15 P, 2.50 PPG, +7, 3-1-2
Goalie:
xLeafs33: 7 GP, 6-1-0, .869 SV%, 1.86 GAA, 1 SO
Another Tampa player earns themself a player of the week badge, and this time, it’s Leafs for his performance in net this past week. Posting an incredible 6-1 record, what set him from the rest was the amount of saves he made per game this week. With a .869 save percentage (nice) and facing about 14 shots per game, Leafs did everything the Lightning could ask for and more. It is definitely weird talking about a Leaf fan doing good things for Tampa right now but eh, such is life. Hopefully the IRL leafs don’t lose again for his sake.
Honorable Mention:
newsy002qc: 5 GP, 4-1-0, .872 SV%, 1.09 GAA, 1 SO
Believe_Musty: 3 GP, 3-0-0, .872 SV%, 2.00 GAA, 0 SO
R6RankedBully: 5 GP, 4-1-0, .780 SV%, 2.20 GAA, 2 SO
