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M-Dawg · 05-15-2015, 09:54 PM

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The Edmonton Blizzard celebrate one of many goals scored in the regular season

The Edmonton Blizzard enter the S23 SHL playoffs as a legitimate contender, and are looking to improve upon the success of the past two seasons and take back the Challenge Cup.

After earning a second consecutive championship in S16, the Blizzard descended from the top and did not make it back to the finals for two playoffs. They proceeded to not qualify for the postseason at all in S19, and again the following season. Current captain Jackson Rogers-Tanaka, and rising RW Mark Longford, were both drafted in the second round at the S20 Draft, but it wasn't until Theo Kane was selected n the first round at the S21 Draft that the Blizzard started to look like a promising lineup again.

All 3 players were placed on the Blizzard lineup for their rookie seasons, and their contributions to the team helped Edmonton secure a playoff berth in S21, with just one point above the 5th seeded Dragons and a tiebreaker advantage over the LA Panthers for the 3rd spot in the West. A close, tight series with the Seattle Riot ended in game 7 overtime with the Riot winning and moving on to the second round. However, Edmonton promised to come back strong next season.

The Blizzard met expectations in S22 and sneaked into the last playoff spot in the west, despite obtaining the exact same amount of points as the season beforehand. A first round battle with the top team in the West, the Winnipeg Jets, was expected to end quickly in favour of Winnipeg. Instead, the Blizzard handled the Jets in 5 games and moved on to face the Panthers in the Western Finals. This time, the series ended up being much closer, but LA won game 7 and went on to face Manhattan in the Cup finals. Change was coming to push this team to become a contender, and the offseason brought a lot of change.

GM Tez had to face a number of problems during the S22 offseason. Longtime Blizzard captain Lucas Smith retired, and with some of the younger forwards moving up the lines to play with Scherbluk, Keenan and Berger meant having to make some trades to accommodate them. So soon enough, S15 first round pick and beloved forward Riko Muerto was traded to the Hamilton Steelhawks in exchange for key defenseman Fredrich Muller, as well as LW Nils Wahlstrom. Muller played a big role in providing great depth to Edmonton's defensive core, who had been struggling to ice good D-men outside JRT and Matthew Buchesner. Wahlstrom was later given to West Kendall, alongside an S25 1st round draft pick, and Edmonton acquired promising center Aviad Ratzon to fill out the top 6, as well as an S25 2nd round pick. Alongside other depth and prospect acquisitions, the S23 Blizzard looked to become a top team in the league.

Edmonton started the year off with 2 losses in a row. Not exactly what the doctor had ordered. However, they followed the beginning up with a 3, and afterwards a 5 game winning streak that propelled them to the top of the standings. The Blizzard continued to alternate between streaks of losses and victories, managing to string together 6 consecutive wins in the latter half of the season, and ultimately capping off the regular season with 2 losses to get a record of 29-17-6, securing the 2nd spot in the West. Despite not going out the way they wanted to, S23 was a major success for the Blizzard.

Many players contributed to making this roster a contender. Along with the aforementioned newbies Fredrich Muller and Aviad Ratzon, who had great stats playing with their new team, veterans Yousuf Scherbluk and Emils Vilmenietis led the way for the offense with 53 and 49 points respectively. After those two were Theo Kane and Kyle Keenan, putting up solid numbers with 40 points each. Kane broke out offensively after making it to 20+ points in his first two seasons. Miles Berger put up another great offensive year with 36 points, and Mark Longford bounced back from his less than stellar S22 to score 17 goals and 18 assists, playing on the top line with Scherbluk and Vilmenietis.

Newly appointed captain Jackson Rogers-Tanaka led all defensemen with 5 goals and 34 points, and Magnus Vikstrand wasn't far behind him with 29. Muller and Matthew Buchesner finished off the Blizzard's depth on the backend, with 27 and 21 points respectively.

Legendary goaltender Jakub Aittokallio had another great season, ranking 8th in save percentage at .902 and obtaining 3 shutouts. He piled up a record of 26 wins and 14 losses. Backup Antero Pelkonen played surprisingly well in his 6 games played, winning 3 and getting a shutout along the way.

The Blizzard are facing the Texas Renegades in the Western Quarterfinals. The Renegades are looking for another championship victory after winning consecutive Cups in S20 and S21*.

Lunaro · 05-15-2015, 10:53 PM

=D>

Sigs by Kit, Maxy, Mook, LazyEye, Wasty, Ragnar, Bushito, Frank, 701, Pandar

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FourFour · 05-15-2015, 11:12 PM

Minor error, our cup wins were in S20/21, but this was a really well written article, and I am looking forward to playing you guys Smile

Kel · 05-15-2015, 11:58 PM

M-Dawg · 05-16-2015, 03:35 AM

Quote:Originally posted by FourFour@May 15 2015, 07:12 PM
Minor error, our cup wins were in S20/21, but this was a really well written article, and I am looking forward to playing you guys

I dun goofed <_<

Looking forward to our series as well Cheers

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