With Season 8 now at the halfway point, I'm checking in on how various storylines are unfolding. It's been quite an interesting campaign so far!
I'm not surprised to find the Victories in first place at 7-1-2 with a league-leading +13 goal differential. However, I've been stunned by the one-eighty turnaround of the Bearcats, who have clawed their way to second place at 5-1-4; they're also coming by those points honestly, as their differential is a solid +7. How does a team that won two out of twenty games in its inaugural season improve so quickly? Mostly by using different -- by which I mean better -- players! Last year's trade-deadline acquisition Scotty Davidson (6 G, 7 A, +5), rookie star Joe Malone (6 G, 6 A, +5), and offseason pickup Graham Drinkwater (4 G 3 A, +7) are leading the charge.
I can't go throwing around goal and assist totals without mentioning the scoring race. I expected the Vics' Newsy Lalonde to run roughshod over the league en route to a second storing title and potentially a first Forward MVP trophy, but the third-year superstar has been overshadowed by one of the league's golden oldies, One-Eye Frank McGee. McGee is the league's all-time leader in goals scored and a two-time Forward MVP, but the second of those trophies came way back in Season 3. McGee has been a good but not great contributor to the Comets' offense in recent seasons, and I thought his best days were behind him. Not so! With eleven goals in ten games (no one else has more than seven), McGee is delivering a vintage performance. If he wants more hardware, he'll have competition from teammates George Richardson and Dick Irvin, the aforementioned Lalonde and Davidson, along with the Bulldogs' Tommy Dunderdale and the Millionaires' Duke Keats, but I'm really enjoying McGee's resurgence.
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