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***FuzzSHL*** · 01-07-2019, 06:32 PM

Defending SMJHL Champions St Louis have found themselves starting off not in the fashion they had hoped for, with their record through the first 15 games being 7-8-0. One bright side is that rookie netminder Lee Marshall has a rock solid save percentage, sitting at .924. However, this comes with only 4 games played and a record of 1-2-0. Other rookies on the St Louis roster have been lackluster in the scoring department, with the most points by a Crow rookie being 5, with 4 rookies tied for that mark. Tyler Tougard is the only rookie of the team's 6 rookie forwards to find himself in the top-6, and Michael Fox is finding himself currently playing on both the 3rd and 4th lines. The Scarecrow rookies are steadily improving, however, and should see these numbers improve as the season wears on. This team could very well make a deep playoff run if and only if the rookies continue to improve. If any of their rookies starts to get complacent, this team could be in trouble, as the entire bottom-6 of their forward core is comprised of rookies. One other thing the Scarecrows need to keep doing is finding ways to win in extra time, as they are currently 2-0 in overtime games thus far.

Aleksi Kettu

MCP_ · 01-07-2019, 06:35 PM

The Lethbridge Lions have looked like...well...an expansion team at 3-12-0 (only beating out the Halifax Raiders at 1-11-3), second to last in the league. In terms of positives...not a whole lot that can be said: the only positive quality the Lions have is that they have the second least amount of penalty minutes per game (7.73 minutes per game). Other than that, they are consistent bottom feeders in the other categories. For example:

- Lowest Goals For/Against percentage (60%; next highest 63.75% by Halifax)
- 2nd lowest Power Play and Penalty Kill averages (11.11% and 72.55% respectively)
- 2nd lowest hits per game average (15.80%)
- 3rd lowest faceoff percentage (47.49%)

In short: not great.

So, how do we fix this? Well...it's simply a matter of time. Most of the lineup consists of rookies, and we'll only grow over time.

DJ_THE_PROFESSOR · 01-07-2019, 07:37 PM

Currently, the St. Louis Scarecrows sit in 8th spot, posting a modest 7-8-0 record through the first 15 games of the season. With 42 goals for, and 48 goals against, it is clear that the crows will need to tighten up defensively in order to make a push to the playoffs. When looking at the stats, the Crows seem to be middle of the road in most categories, but have an impressive penalty kill percentage at 87.5% putting them in second. Also falling short is the teams goals per game, sitting at a measly 2.8, below league average. The crows allow right around league average in shots at 26.6 per game, and take 26.7 shots per game, slightly higher than league average. It appears as though bad luck and shaky team defense has them in their current position, but with a full team effort, there is no doubt that the Crows can find themselves back in a playoff position before it is too late.

*Vandy* · 01-07-2019, 07:43 PM

Currently I am playing for the Colorado Raptors who after a early season surge are starting to settle down a bit, currently standing in 6th at 8-5-2. Were great away from home, currently 6-2 but coming back home to Colorado we are doing a second from the bottom 2-3-2. The last ten has been the worst all season, currently 4-5-1. But the season is still early so there is plenty of time for catching up.

The negatives outweigh the positives over the first bit of the season, the team is doing poorly on Powerplays at 6.82% and sits in the bottom half of Penalty Kill at 77.42%. Our shots against ranks us second behind Anchorage and our luck on the dot has been terrible, currently ranking dead last in Faceoff percentage. The biggest upside so far is our Defense where we currently lead the league in hitting and rank fifth in Penalty Minutes.

The best takeaway of all this, if there is any is that the Raps currently have 11 true rookies on the team. 11 players trying to find their feet and play in a new system. Despite the bad position in the standings, you can still find Raptors players on some key league leader tables. Imagine how many more you will find once the rookies get a year under their belt.

Kalakar · 01-07-2019, 08:44 PM

Fifteen games later, Halifax earned their much needed first win versus Detroit. However, if they do want to climb the standings and make the playoffs, they will need to make a few changes. Halifax has the worst Goals Against of any SMJHL team with 58 goals allowed to opponents. Hopefully as the weeks go by, their newly drafted prospect goalie will get into his stride and let in fewer goals per game.

Halifax needs to be more disciplined if they want to be able to take home more wins this season. Second in the league in penalty minutes at 149, the Raiders allow the opposing teams easy power plays to be able to gain lead when playing versus them. Indeed, as they sit dead last in PK% at 66.67%, they need to be more in control.

Fortunately, one of the only good signs so far this season is Halifax's PP units. In third place at 27.87%, the PP units have shown great plays and have found the back of the nets multiple times. Not often enough to win more than one game in fifteen though...

**JamesT** · 01-07-2019, 08:57 PM

I am playing for the Montreal Militia for my first ever rookie season here in the SMJHL. We are currently 11-3-1 after 15 games and i hope we continue our great stretch of play throughout the season! Our home record is 5-1-1 and our road record is 6-2-0. We are also 9-1 in our last 10 games while riding a 4-game winning streak as of January 7, 2019.

Personally, i have 3 goals and 1 assist through 15 games while on the 4th line for my team. Over time i hope to gain more ice time and move up in the lineup, but as of now i am content with team success and putting the team ahead of my own personal goals. Through my first 15 games i have a lot of work to accomplish if i want to further my development and enhance my hockey career. The Montreal Militia will be always be a tough team to play against and our opponents need to bring their best efforts to contend with us.

Trautner · 01-07-2019, 11:44 PM

NSFL Welfare PT

lueiGi · 01-07-2019, 11:53 PM

I play for the Anchorage Armada. At one point, we were in the #1 position for the league, but had a few bad games and dropped a few positions. Currently tied with 20 points (first place has 23 and last place has 5), we're quite close to obtaining a #1 position again. Overall, our team have been successful in our games. We have some good centers who are proving some of the top faceoff win percentages in the league. Dean Colt (58.97%) and Andris Dzerins (56.95%) are both in the top 3 for highest faceoff win percentage. We also seem to be keeping our PIMS to a minimum by avoiding unnecessary penalties. Currently, we have the least amount of penalties in the league with 108, yet we are second overall in the number of hits. Interestingly enough, Anchorage Armada have the least goals scored against us. Our defense core are on fire and some of our forwards have some superb checking skills, and, to top it all off, we have a solid goalie lineup.

We do need to work on our special teams, especially if we want to go far in the playoffs. Our powerplays and penalty kill have been average at best.

You can't discredit the boat! We have the highest win-to-loss ratio for home games. Our opponents must be nervous playing on a boat. Motion sickness? Who knows.

For Brock, he's started to become more physical and hit more as of late, but he's still lacking on producing points. His defensive game has been decent, but he also needs to work on his offensive role as a two-way-forward.

*Katth* · 01-08-2019, 03:10 AM

Since I joined the Kelowna Knights we have performed pretty good overall. After 15 games played and we are 6th in the league with an 8-6-0 record. We have 48 goals for and 42 goals against, which is pretty decent at this stage of the season. We started the season 3-2-0 against the Anchorage Armada who are now second in the league, so we had a great start of the season. Though we are quite inconsistent on the road. Management has decided that the team is no longer allowed to play Fortnite on the road. As a result of that our performance has been more consistent. Our powerplay is the best in the league at 29.31%, though our penalty kill is lacking quite a bit with 77.42%. Looking at the start of the season again we also were outshot quite a bit, but now we are 7th in the league in shots for / against with 95.68%.

Besides our performance on the ice the team chemistry is quite good. Our locker room is buzzing all the time and people help each other and there is a good portion of banter going around. Even when we have a day off from practice there is usually still a handful of players to go on the ice and train together.

Go Knights!
Knights

S50 Challenge Cup Finals Game 7
[Image: gNFVjT6.png]

Flames1848 · 01-08-2019, 08:00 AM

LGRW613 · 01-08-2019, 10:39 AM

I play for the St. Louis Scarecrows, and we've had an okay season.

The Good

So far, our penalty killing has been fantastic. We're 87.50%, which is good for second best in the SMJHL. We are also fourth in the league in Shots For/G, suggesting that the lack of goal scoring can be blamed on some bad puck luck. The team is also third in Hits/G, so we're playing a very aggressive style right now. This team has looked absolutely phenomenal at times this season, and we are doing very well considering we lost 3 high offense guys to call ups. Our team also has 8 rookies on it, including 2 goalies, which makes things a little tougher. Morale is also high even through some big blowouts, so the players are all confident that the team will rebound to finish the season strong. We are trending upwards, and there is still tons of time for St. Louis to find the chemistry they had last season. I believe that we're still in the top 3 cup favourites.

The Bad

Goaltending has been below average. The starting goalie is tied for 8th in SV% (0.880) and 7th in GAA (3.21). The back-ups are both rookies, so leaning on them is not an option. Plus our starter is more than deserving of the position after his heroics last season, but as of right now, i would definitely say our goaltending has been our weakest point. I mentioned our SF/G is good, but our SA/G is not, as we're allowing slightly less shots per game than we're taking (26.73 vs. 26.60). Coming off of a championship season, we're currently 7-8-0, though there is lots of games left. Our goal scoring has also been lacking through the start of the season, and we've had a few games where the team has struggled to hit the back of the net. We currently have 0 players in the top 10 in Goals, Assists, Shots, and Shooting%.

Durden · 01-08-2019, 01:22 PM

Our team is taking a hit right now. As players, we're as gelled up as we can be. As a team on the ice, we need some work. We currently sit 6th out of 10 for goals for, 7th out of 10th for goals against, and 6th for our power play. Our penalty kill is saving us some days, being ranked 2nd with a 87.69% penalty kill percentage.

We're allowing too many goals, and we can't find a way to put our own in the back of the net. We've lost some key players, and our rookies just aren't putting up quality numbers.

I know that I am struggling, so this isn't a call out. In 17 games played, I've scored 3 goals, gotten 2 assists, 5 points and I'm sitting at -1. This is unacceptable. I understand it's my first year in the league, but I need to do better. I need to show everyone why I was taken high, and help get the Scarecrows back to where they need to be; at the top of the league.

gillon · 01-08-2019, 01:42 PM

With season under way the Montreal Militia is in contention for the league lead, but the competition is fierce. Having basically 75% of leagues teams within a four point reach means anything can happen, but the play has been solid so far. A big reason for the success so far seems to be the stellar defensive effort the team has put forth so far, having the fewest goals against so far at 39 - something only matched by the Colorado Raptors. Notable mentions go to goaltender Petr Vrana and the stellar first defensive pairing of Willie Fisterbottom and Chuck Crutchfield.

On the offensive side Montreal are no slouches either - good performances have been easy to pick out from the games so far. What is however notable is just how well the second line is performing with all three players being the current top point getters.

If we were to look forward on what Montreal might need to work on to really take a grip on the league lead would be a bit more of a contribution down the lines, mine especially. I feel like me and the boys on the third line have a lot more to give, so look forward to that as the season progresses.

LarksTongue · 01-08-2019, 02:56 PM

(Team Stats as of Jan 8th)

The Montreal Militia have had a great start to the season. Battling for first place since the start Montreal has 23 points good for 3rd place in the SMJHL and 1 point behind 1st. The Militias success can be attributed to their great defense which has posted a 2.29 GAA, tied for first in the league with the Colorado Raptors. Complimenting the good 5 on 5 defense is the league best PK of 89.71%. The Militia are also 2nd in shot suppression.

Notwithstanding the great early success, the Militia have struggled to generate offense coming 9th in shots generated per game. In addition the Militia are struggling on the power play as well, posting a 14.75% good for 7th place. Another area of improvement comes with discipline. The Militia have taken the most penalties in the league, good thing they have a solid penalty kill.

The Militia need to find a way to generate more offense throughout the game to be a truly dominate team. A good place to start is the power play which could provide a few key goals in the playoffs.

Thanks to @FlappyGiraffe and @ToeDragon84 for the making these sick sigs!

Quote: First Goal (3rd Game): Commander Shepard 1 (Nick Brain 1, Noah Gallagher 2) at 8:48

karlssens · 01-08-2019, 03:00 PM

Through 17 games our overall team performance can be roughly summarized in one word: average. The biggest takeaways thus far have to be the play of top forward line: Nickolas Klaus, Nolan Sawchuk and Bobby Sharp. The three players have combined for 42 points already. The two biggest contributors are certainly Klaus and Sawchuk who sit first and forth in overall league stats. Sharp is only in his first season and still has plenty of room to grow, but exposure to these two studs will certainly help his growth. Outside of the top line the rest of the team is producing nicely as well as the Kelowna Knights sit third overall in goals for with 52. Despite this influx of goals their goal differential sits at a meager +3 (sixth overall) which suggests that the Knights need to tighten up their defense if they hope to win some of the more close games. This was a known weakness going in to the season as Sanyi Kocsis was the only returning blueliner from S44. While the excelled growth of rookie defenders like Karlstraße Scholz and Guy Zheng has helped, they'll need to be patient as the blueline core develops. Another area that could use some attention is their lack of success in the faceoff circle. With a team winning percentage of just 47.47% they currently sit 9th overall in the league. Once again they have several young centers that are progressing nicely, so patience is likely the best practice once again. Knights

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