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Gobbles · 02-06-2019, 01:28 AM

Heading into the 4-Star Cup finals as a rookie is no mean feat, but Kalvins Zvejnieks just chalks that up to team success that he's happy to be a positive part of.

Currently sitting at 19 points in 50 regular season games, Zvejnieks has picked up his offensive game in the playoffs, netting 8 points in 12 games through the first two rounds. Originally billed as a potential elite defensive centreman, Zvejnieks is showing that he has plenty of offensive upside as well. Not only that, but he's shown himself to already be adept on the dot against senior competition, anchoring himself in the middle of Detroit's second line all season, and taking the most face-offs out of anyone on the Falcons. He doesn't just eat around 20 minutes a night, either. Zvejnieks scored over 51% on faceoffs in the regular season, and currently has over 53% winrate in playoff draws. Zvejnieks wants to be a difference maker, and I think that he's definitely done so. While not as dominant on the scoreboard, Zvejnieks finds many other ways to contribute, but is only just beginning to add points to the other stats.

If all goes well, Zvejnieks will be one of the premier centers in the SMJHL next year and one of the leaders in a historical draft class.

Tomasnz · 02-06-2019, 09:59 AM

What can I say about my season that doesn't make me come off as an over-inflated egomaniac? Well okay let's start with the raw statistical performance, keep this objective ?. Top of goalie sav%, top of goals against, top of shutouts, forth in games won. Of rookies? No no, of the entire league. Legitimately might be a contender for both rookie of the year and goalie of the year. That's the good, which completely surpassed my expectations coming into the season, I had hoped to be a starter on a good team, I ended up being a pivotal piece on a juggernaught.

The bad, the play offs .Not only did we as a team loss in our first round against an opponent that not only as a team we had dominated but as a goalie I got my first shutout against. But I was a key factor to that loss playing four weak games, experience told .The giddy elation of the close to the regular season completely deflated.

What's next?, train harder, play harder, win more. GO BOATS!

BWIII · 02-06-2019, 11:40 AM

This season had to be one of the most frustrating things that I have ever gone through as an athlete. To be honest I really didn't expect much out of myself this season, but hoped to not make a fool of myself out there on the ice. Then the season started and I came out with a fire inside of me that somehow let me do better than my actual ability and I was racking up points faster than I could imagine and I week in and week out was being named one of the best rookies in the entire SMJHL. Then something weird happened and I basically fell off a cliff. I don't know if I just overdid myself and now my physical ability was just not keeping up over the course of a full season or what, but I started to slip and I just wasn't able to recover. I easily went from one of the better rookies in the league to being one of the worst. It was hard and it still hurts, but there is really only one place to go from here and that is up. Hopefully with an offseason to train an get better I'll be able to climb back up that mountain and be one of the better defensemen in the league.

Ason94 · 02-06-2019, 03:17 PM

I consider Knute Knurtssons first season in the SMJHL a great success. Drafted 74th over all by the Colorado Raptors Knute came in to the league knowing very little about the SHL but he is now hooked. As for production during hus first season he scored 12 goals and had 13 helpers for 25 points! Those 25 points was enough for 2nd most point for colorado rookies. Knute spent most of the season playing on the 4th line, avaraging 12 minutes per night. For the last four games of the season coaches put Knute on the 2nd line during the suspension to Konstantin Voloshin, Knute then got to continue playing 2nd line during the playoffs. He played good versus Lethbridge but when the competition became harder knute could not perform well enough. Colorado lost to Detroit in the semifinals and knute was very disappointed in his performance ending the season on a low. But now he is looking forward to the Shl draft with excitement. Knute is determent to have a better season next year.

Barboustache · 02-06-2019, 04:13 PM

For Gabster, his first season as a Detroit Falcon was way harder than he thought it would be.

When your normal situation is being the top player of your team, be limited to 2 points in a season of 29 games, it hurt his feeling a bit.
But in a way, it just makes things clear as water for him and his future… work, ethic and confidence are going to be his best friends among many other skills and aptitudes he’s going to have for the next season.

As any pro coach/GM would say, any Junior player can score goals, but who among them are able to play defensively?
Who is able to provoque turnovers and have consistency from game to game? Only the passionate, the players that have the true flame inside will be able to make it.

Gabster took notes from his teammates and coaching staff and can’t wait to put up the task for the playoffs and the next season!

MCP_ · 02-06-2019, 10:28 PM

Despite a faltering team, Jøln DuBølk had himself a solid rookie season. DuBølk, while not a scoring threat, was a very solid defensive threat: he tied for second in total blocks (78, along with Sanyi Kocsis), and is looking to improve upon it. With that, while he didn't hit the back of the net regularly, he could chip in from time to time. DuBølk scored 5 goals and obtained 10 assists. Definitely not terrible for a player focusing on being a defensive threat.

As to what DuBølk can improve upon:
- Checking. DuBølk's blocking is very much SHL ready, but he could be a bit more present when trying to level his opponents, as he had only 49 hits this season. Compared to those with the most hits, he only has 2/5 of the hits of the top defensemen.
- Assists. While, once again, 10 assists is okay, it's less impressive when comparing against players like Scholz who put up more assists.

Kylrad · 02-07-2019, 07:04 AM

Despite going through many struggles and hardships, Daniel Smeb would overall call his first season in the SMJHL a success. In a massive draft class and on a Colorado Raptors team with a plethora of players Daniel did better then expected finishing with 23 points and 3rd on the team for rookies. He also finished while not at the top in the top half of rookies for scoring with not much ice time either, although that was a problem for many rookies. Daniels biggest struggle this season were his faceoffs which were an abysmal 37% at one point near the start of the season. However as the season went on he greatly improved at them putting up above 50% win rates consistently in the playoffs and near the end of the season. Daniel needs to improve a little bit of everything of his game now to take it to the next level but one thing in particular would be his strength and checking.

***Wally*** · 02-07-2019, 11:31 AM

Obviously a bit of a lackluster rookie season, Aleksi O'Koivu Volkova played the back up role best he could with Vrana slated as the starter the entire season. There was not really a surprise in the matter as he knew he would be the backstop for the season before assuming the role this coming season. What it has given him is the ability to train and hone in on skills that were otherwise considered very raw. These will obviously be neccessary in preparation of the jump to the SHL in short time. Aspirations are high for the goaltender with championships running through his bloodlines. One very blatant weakness would be AOV's skating capability, or lack thereof. What will put him into that next echelon will be speeding up his ability to maneuver around his crease and recover in a timely manner. If those aren't improved then his stats will plummet.

Djenthallman · 02-07-2019, 12:28 PM

My first season exceeded my expectations, I got a spot in the second pairing and played more than 21 minutes per night, getting a lot of time both on power play and penalty kill.

There were 8 rookies in the lineup (two more joined at the end of the season but they don't count) and to my surprise I outscored them all with 22 points being a defensive defenseman. I expected only 5-6 points. I believe that this happened because of Tauras Karazija, my linemate who was absolutely gorgeous but unfortunately is inactive.

But since I'm a defenseman, let's take a look at playing in my own end. 43 blocked shots, nice for a beginner but I hope I'll block more, +9 is also a respectable number for a rookie dman. Also I only have 18 penalty minutes, being disciplined is a very important aspect of the game.

My rookie season was not stellar compared to many other players, but still pretty solid and I hope I'll improve next year.

LonnyBohonos16 · 02-07-2019, 01:56 PM

Johnny Sins had a fairly decent rookie season, putting up two goals and adding twelve assists for fourteen points. The points did not come easy to him and he found out quick that he would need to put in a lot of work to become an impact player in the league. With that being said, he was not a defensive liability out there despite getting tough matches on the second pairing. Sins' consistent defensive play helped lead to a team leading plus 20 which was also good enough to be tied for first in the entire league.

As his training and development went on throughout the season, Sins began to find his offensive tough towards the second half of the season. His point production did not continue into the playoffs, and despite an early exit to Colorado, the experience gained from those games will be pivotal to his development going forward.

The expectations for sins next season is to take a bigger step offensively, while working primarily on defense in his first year, next will be dedicated to improving his offensive game and skating.

LarksTongue · 02-07-2019, 02:07 PM

I had no expectations for Commander Shepard's season coming in as I wanted to learn the ropes of the SHL. I had hoped to contribute to the team when needed and be in a winning line up. Commander Shepard did not produce as much as I had hoped but he did get a decent amount of ice time. However I might have made Shepard a different type of player than a Two-Way Player but I will stick with it.

Compared to other rookies Shepard did not set himself above the rest. He played a 3rd line role with very little special teams. He did score a game tieing goal this season. Over the course of the season Shepard became a lot faster and tried to become better at checking. As a smaller Two-Way forward I imagine Shepard's career will be a tougher path. A big component of Shepard's game that needs work is his +/-. Shepard finished the season with a - 12 which for a Two-Way forward is pretty bad. I hope to improve checking and puck control to keep turnover/takeaway ratio higher.

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

Nerio · 02-07-2019, 07:16 PM

Overall I'm pretty proud of how both Bobby Sharp and the Kelowna Knights performed this season. During the regular season, Sharp played on the first line with two of the league's superstars and he certainly held his own, leading the team in +/- at the end of the season and averaging .71 points per 20 minutes. Sharp didn't start the season with any special teams time, but around halfway through got an opportunity on the 2nd PP D unit and made the most of it by getting 2 PP points the very first game. He played disciplined hockey, only accruing 12 PIM while still dishing out a decent amount of hits a fair amount of hits at 51. Sharp finished tied for 10th in Rookie scoring, a pretty solid accomplishment given the only person in the top 10 that didn't have 130+ PP minutes was Parker Smeb, who sat in 10th place. Sharp will have to continue his training and pumping out media so he can afford top of the line coaching once he gets drafted. I expect next season that Sharp will be even more of a key contributor for the Knights.

**bk1689** · 02-08-2019, 03:54 PM

This season was a tough one for Brennan Kennedy Jr, not only was it his first seasons in the SMJHL, he joined an expansion team in the Lethbridge Lions that would have some growing pains of their own. Overall, I feel like I had a pretty solid rookie season, it was tough at the beginning, but as the season wore on and I got used to the different style of play over here, my game improved dramatically. The areas that I could improve on would be my skating and puck handling for sure. I feel like I have a very good defensive game, but need to be able to move around with the puck better as that is expected of an offensive defensemen such as myself. Compared to other rookies on my team, I believe I performed very well. I look forward to coming back in my sophmore season and have a strong competition with all my fellow 2nd year players.

JackHrīm · 02-08-2019, 09:31 PM

Mike Hunts season was less then he hoped he started off strong but soon fell to the back he took on the first lower tpe part of the season for him and his backup. Coming to the turning point of the season tibuk soonika was put in and did an excellent job in net i wish i couldve been the star of the show but i think together we put up a formidable season for the outlaws and above all im glad the team was able to make such a stand with so many new players and a truely active locker room. My real regret was not paying to switch tpe around sooner i think the attribute switch really was what started to give me the edge and impressivly pull myself from an 0.86 back up to 0.88 by the end of the regular season playing only as backup.

***goldenglutes*** · 02-08-2019, 10:15 PM

Guy Zheng's rookie season has been a success by most metrics. He was in a three-way tie for third in the rookie scoring race (alongside teammate Scholz and Lethbridge captain Luffy), and was a force to be reckoned with on the first powerplay unit for Kelowna, notching 12 powerplay points. However, what's most disappointing is the defenseman's +/- statistic: though +/- is not a very good metric for performance since it generally just correlates with the strength of the player's team, Guy Zheng's +/- is by far the worst on the Knights at -14. For a point-producing offensive defenseman, this means that Zheng has been a no-show in his own end and is giving up goals almost every game. We'll never know whether most of these goals were a direct result of his misplays, but this statistic suggests that he may have been a large factor in Kelowna's abyssmal goals against statistic (157), which is the third worst in the league, narrowly beating Halifax's 158. This makes me think that Zheng is a feast-or-famine player, and in most games he looks like more of a detriment to the team defensively than he is positive offensively. However, given his point producing prowess, if he works on his play in his own end, he may very well be one of the best defenders in the league next season.

Signatures by Vulfzilla, Jepox, Jess, rum_ham, Ragnar, and myself
[Image: 9vAsr7c.png]

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