Scottsdale Stakes Claim at the Top of the Table
At five months into the bizarre ride the the Pharcyde, the league table has finally taken shape and
Scottsdale is back to staring down everyone else from the summit. The Geckos have become a full-blown spectacle, blending blistering pace (a league-best
3.62 goals per night), a crushing shot advantage, and a sizzling
25.2% power play. Their
+66 goal differential isn’t just good - it’s era-defining. Just behind them lurks
Thornton, methodical and suffocating, riding the WIHL’s stingiest defense (
2.39 GA/GP) and a nasty
84.6% penalty kill. Garden Grove remains the zen master of control hockey, with slow pace, tight defense, and a faceoff game that steals your soul one draw at a time, while Inglewood continues to win through sheer relentlessness, throwing waves of pressure that grind opponents down over sixty minutes.
From there, the race gets gloriously cramped.
Spokane,
Reno,
Victoria, and
Provo are all nestled within a handful of points, each with a clear signature:
Spokane leans on faceoffs and physicality,
Reno boasts one of the league’s deadliest penalty kills,
Victoria keeps winning chaotic, high-scoring track meets, and Provo is the WIHL’s puck-retrieval monster, posting gaudy takeaway totals. The middle tier is a full-on
donnybrook…
Bellingham,
Compton,
Billings,
Beaverton,
Eugene,
Lethbridge, and
Tacoma all show flashes of brilliance but can’t quite string together the consistency needed to make any significant strides.
League-wide trends? Offense is booming again. Ten teams are averaging
over 2.85 goals a night, power plays are heating up (especially
Boulder and
Eugene), and pace continues to skyrocket as shots per game are up nearly across the board. The penalty kill is becoming the separator;
Reno,
Thornton, and
Tacoma are smothering teams, while shaky units in
Roswell,
Cheyenne, and
Red Deer keep dragging those clubs into trouble. And at the bottom,
Walnut Creek and
Boise simply haven’t solved their defensive leaks;
both give up north of 3.55 goals per night and spend long stretches glued to their own zone.
With just a month and a half left we have one dominant juggernaut, four snarling contenders, and a massive middle class all convincing themselves this is their year…
could be a stellar skate to the finish.
The WIHL’s ’94/95 scoring race has turned into a full-blown spectacle and Scottsdale is still the brightest light in the sky.
Alvin Fabbri has taken over the league scoring lead with
77 points, weaving passes through seams only he seems to see, while teammate
Alyaksandr Tarlowski keeps playing thunder-and-lightning hockey: big hits, big defensive plays, and
73 points to go with his league-best
+41.
Andrew Aulin (71 points) has rounded out Scottsdale’s monstrous trio, making the Geckos the undisputed offensive engine of the WIHL.
But the chasers aren’t quietly accepting their fate. Roswell’s
David Posejpal has surged to
76 points with a jaw-dropping
eight game-winners, keeping the
Meteors in every fight, while
Steffen Richardson remains one of the most versatile weapons in the league… he’s a playmaker, penalty killer, and the WIHL’s runaway blocked-shot leader.
Provo’s Max McMurdoch continues his marathon-man campaign, averaging nearly
25 minutes a night, leading the league in takeaways, and watching an endless stream of shots get swallowed by opposing goalies thanks to his
7% shooting luck. Meanwhile,
Thornton star
Roman Sevcik keeps producing on one of the stingiest teams in the league, and Eugene’s
Pierre-Luc Martel is scoring at a blistering
19.6% clip, proving that every touch of his stick is dangerous.
Toughness is trending too:
Winnipeg’s Fred Ferguson and
Inglewood’s Tom Moore are
wrecking-ball presences every night, while
Boulder’s Robert Monette and
Benedikt Richter keep their power play humming despite a rough year in the standings. And in the sneaky-good middle tier, players like
Vinzent Weiher,
James Brady, and
Nate Harwell are turning in dependable, difference-making seasons that keep their clubs in the mix.
