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***Citizen of Adraa*** · 01-04-2019, 04:32 PM

The league is 9 games in. The top of the table is nice and equal, fighting neck on neck for the top spot, top 5 teams have a difference of a whole single point. This article isn’t about any of them though. Because exactly three of those points are pretty much all Halifax, the team I want to write about, has to their name so far.

So, let’s see where the issue actually is. First off though, some basic introduction is necessary before we start digging deeper. Halifax, in their first 9 games, is sitting at 0-6-3. Their only three OTL are also SO losses, two to Colorado and one to Anchorage. Other than that, nothing else is going on point wise for them. They even lost to the team that is just barely better than them in Lethbridge, that is right now sitting at a whole one more point at 9th on the season so far.

Is there anything that has been good for Halifax? What went well? For starters, lets touch onto some more basic stats. Their goal difference is staggering -14, with 23 goals for, and 37 against. This accounts for second least goals for, and the most goals against aswell. This ain't quite it, chief, one might say. Suprisingly though, their shots for and against are only fairly average, both at about 27 shots per game, which for shots against is little under the average, for shots for is little over it.
Some strong points are starting to show with special teams. Well, at least one of them. Powerplays are something you don’t actually want to give up in games against Halifax, seeing as they have the best powerplay at 31,71%, only challenged by the powerplay units of Whalers, that is still over 2% worse. This, however, doesn’t compare well with the penalty killing unit. At only measly 63,64%, Halifax bodes the worst one with just under 8% to the second worst penalty killing team out there in Lethbridge. So even with their beastly powerplay, the combined score of 95,34% is showing just how bad has the penalty kill performed.

To some other stats, lets look at the two things I as a defenseman like to look at myself. Shots blocked and hits. With hits, you are looking at a very physical team, just short of the Raptors with 20,67 hits a game, Halifax has 19,33 hits a game and has a healthy lead to the third placed Montreal that clocks in at 18,56. This seems to be reinforced with the fact that out of the top 4 hitters in the league at the time of me writing this article, three of them (everyone but the leader) are a part of Halifax‘ roster. Shots blocked though, are very lackluster. Halifax here is last, with 57 spanning the 9 games they have played, with some teams having as much as 26 more blocks over them.

Lastly, lets look at faceoffs. This is a category Halifax looked decent in for the most part, with over 52% in their defensive zone, over 55% in their offensive zone, however, weirdly enough, trailing with only 44% in the neutral zone. This overall means a faceoff effectiveness of 51,86%, narrowly second ahead of Whalers, with Armada being miles ahead of the rest of the pack.

So, what can we do with these stats? Well, for once, we can see some major weaknesses that Halifax has within their play. Penalty kill is a big hurting point, and while their power play is fantastic, 5v5 scoring leaves much to be desired with more of Halifax‘ goals scored with man advantage than with equal players on ice. Maybe the lack of blocked shots is also something leaving their goaltending to take care of higher quality shots over the opposition that would step into those and not even allow them to get to the goal.

However, I think we can easily point fingers to few thing everyone understands here. Halifax didn’t make playoffs last season. So, to the already not that great team that lost a lot of veterans, you mix in a ton of rookies, especially with rookie goaltending. That makes for a roster that can be good at specific tasks on the ice, but be very lackluster in others where the few TPE these players have used aren’t allocated yet. It is worth mentioning that from their 9 games, Halifax still managed to lose by only one goal in 6 of them. So, they are not exactly getting blown out of water every single game. Yet, the hockey luck to snag win in at least one of these games hasn’t been there. Or, maybe it’s the lack of skill that shows here? This team shouldn't be surprising anyone with their performance right now. Nevertheless, it’s expected that the team will get stronger the better the rookies will be and eventually might become a decent threat already in the playoffs they are already qualified for. If not, next year should prove a massive improvment in the luck of Halifax, and we will be awaiting how this team exactly flourishes with better players, and more TPE.

Ready for grading. 886 words.

*slothfacekilla* · 01-04-2019, 04:38 PM

Great look at the start to the season! raiders

Flames1848 · 01-05-2019, 11:50 PM

Thx Man!

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