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Z0REM · 09-09-2020, 11:36 AM

Season 55 was not something that will likely go down in Phineas Gold's playbook of memories. This is a season where he struggled to find an identity while putting up the most points in the SHL in his entire career. Yet as he was scoring goals, and became the 4th highest goal scorer for the Rage, he could not help but feel like his path in the SHL has gone a little cloudy. The motivation is still there, but Phineas is ready to step into the limelight after a few seasons as an understudy to some of the greatest Rage players to ever grace the franchise.

I think the frustration began when you compare last season's ending to this seasons beginning. Last season, before the acquisition of New England superstar Ola Wagstrom, Phineas was getting 1st line time and major power play minutes. While S54 ended with a bit of an oomph when the team got shutout by the Hamilton Steelhawks, Phineas was riding high. Even though he was still a diamond in the rough, it felt like he could grasp his ultimate hockey form. You see, Phineas wants that first line and he know one day he will deserve it. He knew that being on the first line on his 4th season was a testament to the management's faith in him. When he could not produce as much as he wanted paired with Austin and Luke it definitely hit his confidence right where it hurt. For the first time, Phineas was accessing an emotion he had not felt since his final days leading up to the SMJHL draft. Doubt.

Doubt is a crippling emotion that worms its way into your heart. It does not matter the skill that you have when you have a little earworm digging into your brain and whispering things like "Are you even good enough to be here?" Throughout S54, as the Rage continued to do well while Phineas’s personal accolades remained dim. He kept on experiencing this doubt in many forms. This resulted in a less than stellar play by the young power forward. Barely finding numbers better than his rookie season, the forward’s goal of improvement every season was squashed. Something had to change in the off season and it had to happen soon or he was at risk of losing it all.

This is where I say that the bringing on Ola was probably the most relieving thing to happen to Phineas. Without the pressure of being on the first line and needing to be the best face of the time, Phineas felt like he had a huge load taken off of his chest. After the shutout series loss to Hamilton, Phineas was able to hit the ice knowing that he still had time to improve without worrying about carrying the team. He spent the offseason working on his physical skills. He skated with weights on his legs and worked on agility drills to improve his net front presence. His hard work paid off and he came into the season with explosive acceleration compared to his last season. His hope was that as long as he could be the guy that maintains possession, then he would be the biggest boon to the team. His play had improved but he still had one glaring issue that his management was not pushing. His defense was still not spectacular. Hoping that offensive prowess would outweigh his defensive liabilities, he went into the season with a little more panache.

Game 1 Rage vs Jets
In the season opener against Winnipeg, Phineas came out the gate swinging with energy. He was all over the ice with early possession control and some big hits on some of the star players on the other team. The first period saw the most effort by the young star as well as most of his significant appearances. It was clear that some of his offseason conditioning was coming through but as the game started winding down in the last period we saw less of our intrepid hero. This could have been due to many factors such as decreased endurance or not being able to make a showing good enough that the coach tightened his bench so that they could get that game 1 victory. At the end of the day the score was 4-2 for the Rage and Phineas had failed to register a single point.

Not a great start for our intrepid hero. But the rest of the season looked up as he went on to have his highest point total season in the SHL.

Until next time.

Credit to Vulfzilla for the awesome render pic

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