Bartholomew Cechove was drafted 2nd overall by the Vancouver Whalers. The team promptly started the season with a disastrous eight game losing streak which they never truly recovered from. They finished the season with a horrid 13-33-4 record. This record was good for 30 points which was a healthy 13 points back of the St Louis Scarecrows who drafted goaltender Jimmy Wagner 1st overall, one spot ahead of Cechove. It is true very few if anyone expected Vancouver to be a strong team but the incredible depths the Whalers found were shocking.

Bartholomew Cechove individually faired marginally better than Vancouver. His save percentage was below .900, which will always be disappointing for a goalie, at .894. He was ahead of both Patrick Diehl in Detroit (.890) and well ahead of fellow rookie Jimmy Wagner (.878) which is a minor success given the “quality” Vancouver showed throughout the season. On the flip side his GAA was the worst in the league at 2.97, at least he pulled it below 3.00. He also finished the season with zero shutouts and had a terrible penalty shot save percentage of .500. Finally he did lead the league in two categories, shots against and losses… which might count for something?

Overall there is little positive to say about Cechove’s rookie performance. Now he sits quietly on the sidelines waiting for the SMJHL playoffs to finish up. Most if not all other SMJHL rookies who have been eliminated from the playoffs are eagerly awaiting the SHL S34 Entry Draft. However Cechove is not one of them. We were sent a statement he would like all general managers to see.

“I have no plans on playing at the SHL level. Judging by my pace of development I will not ever reach the TPE numbers to make it at the professional level. My plan is to play out my full standard junior career of four seasons. This may be standard for most goalies but I plan on taking it a step farther. I have heard that a player can play a 5th season of junior but the player would have to pass through waivers. I would like to announce that my intention is to play that 5th season. If a team attempts to call me up I will promptly announce my retirement.
I enjoy minor league play where people play more for passion and improvement than for money. The transition to the SHL is simply not enticing. I also do not ever plan on spending more than 500k a week on training or participating in any league point tasks. I do not have the time and would rather let the General Managers of the SHL know my intention; I would hate to see a team waste their pick on me. That being said just because I would feel bad about wasting their pick… because I have made this public I won’t feel bad if the General Manager does not do his due diligence.”

That is the main message here. With that said thank you for reading and I hope you have a splendid evening/afternoon/morning wherever you are.

Words: 520

:-?

Buffalo maybe?

Originally posted by Sorator@Mar 24 2017, 07:24 PM
:-?

What is it sir?

good news for junior players not on vancouver, they know they can keep lighting you up for 5 seasons now m8 lol jk

Need a sig :-/

Originally posted by Jakub@Mar 24 2017, 08:39 PM
good news for junior players not on vancouver, they know they can keep lighting you up for 5 seasons now m8 lol jk

i mean... you aren't wrong )