NA NHL 20 Cup Mid-Season Report

NHLGamers,

We are halfway through the regular season of the Northern Arena NHL 20 Cup, and we start to see some teams separate from the pack as contenders, and start to look at the potential playoff tree upcoming after week 2. Let’s go around the league and highlight some notable storylines and performances throughout the inaugural week. 
 

Stylistic Differences Between Both Conferences

As teams will only play teams in their respective conferences with no crossover until the championship series, it’s interesting to look at the style differences so far between the east and the west. In the west, the trend seems to be the crash and bang every game is a playoff game style, with 8 western conference teams having over 100 total hits, while the eastern conference only has 4 that fall into that range. The same thing comes in the form of shots on goal, where the west has 8 teams with over 90 shots through 7 games played, with the east only having 4 in the respective category.

It isn’t to say as much of the west is playing better hockey, but perhaps more so to the gameplan that each conference seems to be playing. The west seems to be playing a much more high volume, up-tempo style, with lots of hits thrown and plenty of shots to go with it, while the east has played more of a high percentage, high-quality type of style. It seems, however, that neither style is a better option over the other, as both conferences share similar goals for and against compared to each other. 

The Big Boys Have Come to Play
While the tournament has given some newer, lesser decorated teams the chance to compete with the best in a relatively smaller vacuum than what they’re used to, it’s the projected top teams who truly stand out in the standings. 

Teams like the New York Underdogs (6-0-0, T2nd in East), the Seattle Entourage (6-0-1, 1st in West), the Tampa Bay Vertigo (5-1-0, T5th in East) and Anaheim Ducks Gaming (5-1-1, 2nd in West) were all projected to finish high in the standings, and have lived up to those expectations with good starts to the season. 

On top of the pre-season contenders, some teams have stepped it up during the regular season to vault themselves into the contender conversation. Boston Nationalz (7-0-0, 1st in East) were slated to be a playoff team, but being one of two remaining undefeated teams was not something expected. The roster's core is made of players from One Nation, a team with good previous results that recently finished top 16 in the CBJ Summer Cup. Philadelphia Problematic (6-1-0, T2nd in East) is a team that has hovered around the playoff bubble for a few events with the name of Road 2 Glory, before being picked up by Problematic, and was slated to do so again in this event. They have since stepped up to the challenge with a very solid 6-1-0 record. The addition of @SkillzPayBills3 (1-11-12 +18 in 7 GP) at the right defense spot has paid off in spades and along with @Kernsy (4-0-0 1.5 GAA 81.82 SV%) in net has elevated this team to new heights.

Week 1 MVP Candidates 
While it may be too early to give someone the title of most valuable player, there are always some stand out performances that deserve to be highlighted. There will always be high volume scorers and good goalies, but there are also the ones who stand above the competition.

@Rockxt 5 always seems to be at the top of the points leaders in any event he participates in, so it’s no surprise to see him at the top with 23 points in just 6 games. However, he ranks high in pretty much all major categories, as he is 2nd in goals (13), 15th in plus-minus (+10), and tied for 1st in shots on goal (33). He is a major reason why Vertigo has had the success they’ve had so far this season.

While we’ve already touched on SkillzPayBills3 in the previous section, I think it’s important to highlight the value he has brought to the team. His 12 points rank him tied for 4th out of defensemen, and his +18 ranks him 3rd out of all defensemen. His ability to carry the puck and be a threat offensively gives Philadelphia Problematic a threat from the backend to attack and is a big reason for the run they have had so far.

While the players above are solid candidates, the goaltenders, or rather one goalie, is stealing the spotlight for MVP talks. It comes from one of the partner teams in the form of CBJ Gaming, and more specifically, their goalie @x welsh 16. In my season preview, I thought CBJ Gaming had the potential to struggle going up against the best the community had to offer, projected to finish in 14th place in the east. That narrative has been blown out of the water through the first week, with Columbus sitting nicely in a playoff spot with a record of 4-1-2. And while you can partially pin the success on the entire team, it’s been the standout performance of Welsh that has given CBJ the edge over these teams. Welsh currently boasts a record of 4-1-2, with a goals against average of 1.00, a save percentage of 93.2, and has 4 shutouts to boot. Oh, and he ranks first in ALL of those categories. It’s also not like he just isn’t facing a lot of shots and/or chances, as he also ranks first in shots faced with 96 shots he’s stopped. 
 

At the same time, with Welsh looking like a brick wall out there, his teammates are struggling to replicate the same potent offense their opponents are bringing. CBJ Gaming is averaging only 1.57 goals for per game, good for 28th in the entire league. They also only have put up 55 shots on goal, which ranks tied for last place out of all 32 teams. 

All of this is more impressive thanks to the partnership with The Goalie Guild and their new G3 Prospects Program, where all goalies competing in the event have a chance to win extra prize money for certain categories, such as most shots faced, most shutouts, and tournament MVP. Unfortunately for other goalies, Welsh is leading in all of these categories and seems to have no plan of stopping anytime soon. 

That’s it from me this week, good luck to all the teams competing in week 2 and making that push for the playoffs!