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HOFF · 11-08-2013, 06:31 PM

During the offseason, the West Kendall Platoon franchise was at a bit of a crossroads. The team hadnâ€™t made the playoffs in 4 seasons and changes were necessary. Lead by outspoken Head General Manager, Jon â€˜Maxyâ€™ Maxfield, the organization began the extensive facelift by bringing in an abundance of young talent to go along with the promising draft class from the year prior. Along with the new talent, Maxy put together a solid group of veterans to help mold the 1st and 2nd year players into top shelf SHL talent.

The offseason also brought some controversy to West Kendall. A founding member and player for the Platoon, and former beloved member of the SHL, was marred in a very disturbing legal situation. Management, players, and coaches were left stunned and disgusted by the situation and many outside the Platoon family were scared away. Some free agents who were once interested in joining the roster went elsewhere for contracts, making Maxfieldâ€™s rebuilding job that much harder.

But to his credit, the roster was filled out quite nicely. There was a balance to the team that hadnâ€™t been present over the past few seasons. The forward lines were stacked, and the blueline was evened out. And, for the first time in recent history, the franchise was loaded with talent between the pipes.

The locker room was coming together and becoming unified. There was virtually no drama, no beefs, between players, a bit of a rarity in the SHL.

Almost unanimously, the team voted Emma Watson Captain, Christian Bauer and Ammon Tutankamun Assistant Captains, and the lines began to form strong bonds and chemistry. Maxfield seemed to be pushing all the right buttons and the future was looking brighter with each and every team skate.

With confidence running high and adrenaline pumping, Season 15 started.

When the team started the season winless in their first 4 contests, the captains called an impromptu meeting to straighten some things out. The team responded with 4 straight wins, capped off by a 5-4 shootout win against the mighty Edmonton Blizzard.

The rest of the regular season would go by with many ups and a few downs. The West Kendall Platoon finished Season 15 with a final record of 24-23-3. But, most importantly, they broke the 4 year postseason drought. A great accomplishment for a team so young and inexperienced. There were many great individual performers for the Platoon during the season, but ultimately it was all a TEAM effort.

The captain, Emma Watson, put together an MVP caliber season, ending the regular season in the top 10 in both goals and assists, and winning the scoring title with 57 points. Watson also showed how clutch she could be by leading the league with 4 game tying goals.

In his first year in the SHL, â€œKing Tut,â€ Ammon Tutankamun made in instant impact for the Platoon. He finished with a very impressive line of 21 goals, 19 assists, a plus/minus of 10, and an astounding 190 hits. His 40 points put him in a two way tie for the rookie points lead with New England Wolfpack defenseman Gabriel Dujardin. King Tut is an obvious candidate for SHL Rookie of the Year honors.

Tutankamun wasnâ€™t the only rookie to make a splash this season for West Kendall. Ryan Bolt, Jim Lahey, John Anderson, and Barnabas Hoff played major minutes for the Platoon. Bolt, Hoff, Lahey, and Anderson all ended up in the Top 10 for rookie scoring along with King Tut.

Itâ€™s amazing to think with all the great young talent the Platoon has up front and on defense, the goalie position may be their brightest spot. In a shocking move, Maxfield, with blessing from 1st year tender, Urijah Winnfield, the team drafted blue chip goalie prospect Jermaine Tennyson. Although Tennyson played a majority of his first season down in juniors for the St. Louis Scarecrows, he earned his first career SHL shutout in a late season call up start. Both Winnfield and Tennyson have the developing skills and potential to be Jesster winning caliber netminders.

GM Maxy had this to say:
â€œHaving such a promising young team is very exciting as a GM. We have a great group of guys and they all are primed to be something great, we have such a wide array of talent and youngsters that we really have the start of something great. We went for a younger team in the past and it worked quite well at the start but something or other would cause us an inevitable downturn, I don't foresee that happening again, we have a GREAT young core of team first guys. We have depth at forward and the best 1-2 punch at goalie in the entire league (And the youngest goalie core as well) With Tut, Hoff, Anderson, Bolt, Bauer, We have a stud cast of forwards, add in a young ambitious Lahey on defense and Tennyson and Winnfield who are going to push the other to be the best they can be... And you have a very bright future. The biggest driving force in this rebuild movement was not making the same mistakes as we've made in the past, before we went for the BPA regardless of character issues or whether they actually wanted to be on the team, we steered completely clear of that this go-round and we are better off for it. We now have a strong core of guys who want to be in WKP, are having a blast being here, and are going to be a very strong core for seasons to come! With a ton of help from Syckez in getting this rolling, we definitely love the direction we're heading.â€

The future is bright in West Kendall, and the current Platoon players realize that something special is beginning.

Brought in from a long career for the Minnesota Chiefs, respected SHL veteran Jackson Turksa sees the potential of this team.

â€œ"This Platoon team is built for the future. It's incredible that a team can start a rebuilding phase, and be able to compete throughout the season like West Kendall has done. I've been through this kind of thing in my time in Minnesota, where we went from last in the league to the final all in the span of 2 seasons. I'm definitely feeling that vibe here in West Kendall, and I am lucky to be a part of it. The Platoon are ready to compete this season, and for many seasons to come."

Young, versatile Ryan Bolt is very happy to be in West Kendall.

â€œIt's great being on a team filled with such young talent. The youth movement is strong in WKP and at every key position we have a young player who's primed to be a stud and that's really quite exciting to be a part of.â€

Rookie of the Year candidate, Ammon Tutankamun also sees big things happening for the Toon: â€œEveryone counted us out this year and so far we've been pushing the Wolfpack 2 close games so far. Were young and willing to do whatever it takes to win. The skys the limit for our core aslong as we keep progressing together.â€

They may not be well respected yet throughout the league, but their play is undeniable. The went to war in the first round of the playoffs, pushing the heavily favored New England Wolfpack to 7 games. And in shocking fashion, the Platoon, behind a fantastic performance by Urijah Winnfield, shutout the Pack 4-0 to clinch the series.

The West Kendall Platoon continue to roll in the playoffs. At print time, they have a commanding 2 games to None lead in the SHL Eastern Conference Championship.

Regardless of how the series ends and the rest of the playoffs finish, one thing is for certainâ€¦â€¦

The Platoon are for real and they will be legitimate contenders for seasons to come.

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