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StamkosFan · 10-15-2018, 09:48 AM

The Detroit Falcons took the St. Louis Scarecrows through regulation of Game 7 tied at 4. Yet again, St. Louis woefully outshot the Falcons, with 42 shots to Detroit's 28, but Cedric Robinson fought to keep them in the game. The Motown SMJHL team had taken a 1 goal lead on two quick goals from star forward David Fantobens, but with less than 9 minutes in the game, they blew that advantage. Steven Moyer evened the score 4-4 with his first postseason goal, a powerplay goal nonetheless. After rookie Bernard Freeman tallied his first goal at the perfect time, 7:09 into OT, sending the Falcons home and the Scarecrows to face the Whalers in the finals. The Detroit players crumpled to ice, shoulders slumped in defeat, and Cedric Robinson smashed his goalie stick into smithereens in frustration.

"We were better competitors than anyone thought, but St. Louis came through at the end. It was very close; it went down to the wire, to overtime, and it could've gone either way. This hurts, being so close to the finals, but we'll come back stronger next year. Our window is wide open for the next few seasons, and we won't miss again," said Ola Wagstrom. "Not only that, but we're going to get better. We'll add even more new blood in the draft. Maybe I can bring a few of my friends from other leagues, I think they would like it here."

Ola Wagstrom did not mention receiving his first assist of the postseason on Poopity Scoop's second goal, but hailed him as a star of the postseason. The recreate rookie defenseman had opened the scoring for the Falcons, and he wasn't as gracious as he surmised the causation of his team's loss.

"St. Louis cheated. Aleister Cain had a hidden puck. I saw it. He's not a good goalie but he tricks the referees with black magic and that's why they are in the finals. There should be a resim," said Poopity Scoop.

Detroit could, of course, petition for a resim, and if they use strong enough diction, HO is likely to grant it, because it's fun when results randomly change. However, it is doubtful that Detroit's management will elect to do so. So perhaps some players are laden with disappointment; but for a 5th place team to take the 2nd place finisher to a 7 game series, to be one goal away from the finals? It is easy to argue the emotion they should be feeling is pride.

"Everyone knows that we're the real deal now. We're not 'just Detroit'; we can give anyone a run for their money. We will have the offseason to rest up and train, and I'll be doing more of the latter than the former. If me and Coops can do our part, we can have an entire top-six of capped forwards. And if we have that much elite talent, we'll be a menace to the league," said Ola Wagstrom.

So with the offseason underway in Detroit, Wagstrom is already departing for international affairs, as are many of his teammates. It was recently announced that Wagstrom will be co-GM of Team Scandinavia at the WJC, and that he will play on Line 4 for Team Sweden.

"Getting to play for your home country in your rookie season against the big boys, to get a taste of IIHF action...I'm so honored to be representing Sweden. I want to play for my homeland for my entire career. As for how, I got co-GM of Team Scandinavia, I have no idea how that happened, but it's super exciting! We're going to recruit the best players from our region and we're going to pick ideal deployments that suit each of their strengths. We'll get to work practicing and getting to know each other early; we've already begun chatting on social media. This will be a great chance for me to learn about strategies and to understand as a player what is going on in the minds of my coaching staff," said Ola Wagstrom.

And of course, the SHL draft will take place shortly as well; some GMs have already begun posting Interested Prospects surveys online. The draft lottery took place a few days ago, with the New England Wolfpack winning the first overall pick. The Wolfpack are all but guaranteed to select Rainbow Dash 1st overall, but after that, anything goes. The Winnipeg Jets traded up from 5th overall to snag the 2nd overall pick from the San Francisco Pride, so it will be interesting to see who they want to select. The Jets have the potential to throw other teams' draft boards into disarray, as does the Edmonton Blizzard, who have two successive picks at #3 and #4. The Blizzard received one of those picks in a deal with the Manhattan Rage. Rounding out the top 6 will be the Pride at 5, who traded down from #2, and the Texas Renegades at #6.

"I have heard from some SHL teams, so we'll see what happens! I'll definitely be at the event, ready to meet whoever my new organization is and to don their jersey for the cameras. My hope is that I can be a high pick, and that I can join a good franchise. Everyone I've talked to so far sounds great, and it makes me look forward to reaching the big leagues even more. Definitely a motivational boost to have important people seeking you out," said Ola Wagstrom. "Mack did a great preview of my entire draft class, so we have a lot of good guys obviously. I'm going to have to work to stand out. One thing that has been mentioned is moving to center, and if that makes me more versatile and my team wants that, I'm open to doing it. I have past experience with faceoffs, and I'm willing to put the work in to have the extra TPE to allocate when I go pro."

There are varying projections for the Swedish winger, as well as his friend, Franz Cooper. With 274 TPE, Wagstrom is second in the S44 draft class, and Cooper is just behind him at 271. The two dynamic scorers, along with the Armada's Xena, are likely the top first gen forwards in the draft. It will be interesting to see what their destinations will be, what ELCs they get, and if any of them end up together to form a young, deadly combination.

Word Count: 1111 Words

***luke*** · 10-15-2018, 09:55 AM

Great article, This is sad, I was rooting for Detroit , F in chat

StamkosFan · 10-15-2018, 10:05 AM

10-15-2018, 09:55 AMluketd Wrote: Great article, This is sad, I was rooting for Detroit , F in chat

Thank you! It was disappointing for sure, but there’s always next year Smile

SlashACM · 10-15-2018, 10:46 AM

*stumbles and 6 pucks fall out of pant leg*
Haha not wrong about my goalie sucking, but what can ya do
Great article yet again, looked forward to these, love reading about in-depth stuff like this.
Best of luck to you in the draft, hope to see you in the second round next year!

StamkosFan · 10-15-2018, 10:48 AM

10-15-2018, 10:46 AMSlashACM Wrote: *stumbles and 6 pucks fall out of pant leg*
Haha not wrong about my goalie sucking, but what can ya do
Great article yet again, looked forward to these, love reading about in-depth stuff like this.
Best of luck to you in the draft, hope to see you in the second round next year!

Haha baelor (Poopity Scoop) is a character, you did well this series, got a shutout even! Thank you for reading, and thanks; hopefully both of our teams have another good year!

Mack · 10-15-2018, 10:55 AM

Great post man I hope you have fun at the SHL draft!

Coops · 10-15-2018, 02:16 PM

Awesome post! Looking forward to our draft night and tearing up the J with Ola next season Falcons

StamkosFan · 10-15-2018, 09:09 PM

Thanks Mack and Coops! Smile

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