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Fordyford · 02-17-2019, 09:59 AM

The Prospect showcase is about halfway through, and the race to be the top defensive prospect is heating up. There are a total of 15 defensemen playing, all looking to be picked up early in the draft on Tuesday. Let's look at some of their stats.

Blazers:

The Blazers D-Core seems to have suffered from the lowest in the league 17.5% Power Play success. The Three they have on the blue line are Joshua Maugher, Miika Salo and Mattie Brunton. Something must be working because they're best in the league in goals against.

Joshua Maugher:
This prospect has got off to a promising start, with 2-8-10 points in 12 games, however, as he's leading the Blazers in PIM, he might need to watch his discipline. He's putting up an impressive league-leading 24.85 AMG, with 9 minutes more played than the next in the league after 12 games (298 minutes vs Steen's 289). He's also playing a very physical game, with 27 hits. He's joint lead on the Blazers in PPP, with 1-3-4 on the Power play, but could have more if the Blazers could raise that percentage.

Miika Salo:
Miika is also 2-8-10 through 12 games, but with only 2 PIM, he's saving his team some work on the PK. He's also leading all defensemen in shots with 32, and has a brilliant 28 shots blocked, showing he can play in both directions. It does look like he's suffering the most from the poor PP, with only one point to show from 32 PPM. He'll be looking to gain on the highest scoring defensemen, who are up at 15 points currently.

Mattie Brunton:
Rounding out this well balanced D-Core with 3-6-9 through 12. He's lagging behind his team mates in most stats, but that could partly be due to his lack of ice time, especially on PK. He seems to be more well-rounded, with Joshua being very physical and Miika with only 1 hit, Mattie has a few more. He might be suffering from a slightly worse linemate.

That rounds out the Blazers. It can't be too bad as they won all but one of their opening 10 against the Wranglers

Wranglers:
Speaking of the Wranglers, lets move on to the Blazers' Determined conference rivals. They lost 9 out of 10 to start with, so they are looking like they'll come bottom of the league so far, but don't count them out. They have 4 men on the blue line who are: Charlie Serpe, Gustav Steen, Caladan Brood and Paul Bacharach.
They're currently joint with the stingrays at 4.83 Goals per game.

Charlie Serpe:
With 1-12-13, Charlie Serpe is one of 5 defenseman at going at at least a point a game so far. He seems disciplined, with only 2 PIM. He's league leading in shots blocked with 31, and also has a good number of hits. His time on both special team units so far has served him well, picking up 4 PPP. He's looking like a solid two-way defenseman so far.

Gustav Steen:
1-8-9 through 12 is a solid record for Steen, but 14 PIM means he might need to be slightly more careful. He needs to improve his showing on the power play, because no points in 24 minutes isn't looking good for him. 26 SB is a solid record as well, but these high numbers may be a product of giving up 38 shots a game on average.

Caladan Brood:
Another player scoring decently, with 2-6-8. 23 PIM, leading the league, is a cause for concern though. His 29 hits may show why. Clearly Caladan is looking to be drafted by a team in need of someone to stick up for their star players, and isn't afraid to spend some time in the box for it.

Paul Bacharach:

Paul seems to be struggling up front, with just 1 assist so far. Part of the reason for this may be his absence from the power play. He's another physical player, with 20 HIT and 14 PIM, and like the rest of his team, has a solid number of shots blocked, with 22.

So a struggling defense so far for the Wranglers, but some promising numbers mean they may be able to pull it back.

Stingrays:
Moving on to the Tenacious Conference now, and this one seems much more balanced. The Stingrays won 5 of their 10 against the Vipers, so it looked to be a balanced conference. Their 4 Dmen are Taylor Lights, Thomas Bathory, Joe Ackroyd and Khan Smeb.

Taylor Lights:
Taylor is one of 3 defensemen on 15 points (1 on 14 and 1 on 13 rounds out the top 5), along with his linemate Bathory, with 4-11-15. He also is playing solidly defensively, with 31 SB, leading defensemen along with Serpe. He's shooting at 20%, which is solid, but is it sustainable. He might be slightly disappointed with his power play, only 4 points from 40 minutes, but it's not bad either. He also has had the longest scoring streak of 9 so far this season.

Thomas Bathory:
Bathory and his linemate Taylor Lights are the highest scoring defensive line, with 30 points (Bathory is 2-13-15), one point ahead of the Vipers' top pairing. He's managed to find a brilliant 7 points on the power play, including both his goals. His other stats are all decent, with 19 SB, 15 HIT and 12 PIM. This is a scary line to play against.

Joe Ackroyd:
While somewhat in the shadow of the top pairing, Ackroyd has put up a solid 4-6-10, and that's through only 8 GP. He hasn't seen much success on the PP, and his defensive stats seem quite low even accounting for the fewer games. However, he's scoring well, and looks very promising. It is worth noting that Ackroyd is the only defenseman with a hat-trick, an impressive feat, in a 4-2 win over the Wranglers on day 19. (He picked up an S1 for that game, one of just 2 Defensemen to do so)

Khan Smeb:
Only 3 points for Khan Smeb so far (1-2-3), but his defensive stats are good. 22 SB and 18 hits are solid. He's not a stand out scorer, but could definitely be a solid man to have on the blue line.

That rounds out a decent defensive corps from the Stingrays, with one of the two scariest pairings in the league in terms of scoring.

Vipers:
Onto the last team, and the Rays' division rivals, its the vipers. They're on something of a hot streak with a W5 streak. They also lead the league in PP%, causing some good scoring for the squad, including 2 of the 3 players with 4 Power play goals (both defensemen). Their corps consists of Corey Kennedy, Tony Ford, Wibbly McButternutz and the late addition Jax Duggan (just 4 GP)

Corey Kennedy:
Corey has had a great start to his career, putting up 5-10-15 (equal leader for goals and total points for a defenseman), excellent attacking numbers. Four of those goals came on the power play, where he is 4-0-4. He has decent defensive stats, with 17 SB. As the Vipers lead the league on PIM, he's spent plenty of time on the PK, with 28 minutes.

Tony Ford:
It was a bit of a slow start for Ford but he's accelerated to 5-9-14 (also leading goals for defensemen, joint with his linemate). He also has 4 goals on the power play, with 4-1-5 PPP. Again, that's leading the whole league on PPG equal with Kennedy and Wilson, a forward for the Wranglers. He also is 3rd in the league on minutes played with 284, and PK minutes (38, leads defensemen). With 24 SB and 16 HIT, his defensive stats are solid. Along with Ackroyd, he is the other defenseman to earn a first star in a game, putting up the only 5 point game by a defenseman so far, with 2-3-5 in a 9-5 win over the Rays on day 14.

Wibbly McButternutz:
Wibbly definitely seems to be the best named defenseman, and while he isn't shining offensively, with just 0-5-5, he's one PIM off the league lead with 22, and with 27 hits and 22 shots blocked, he has shown strength defensively, looking to be a solid enforcer-type player.

Jax Duggan:
Jax is quite a late pick up with just 4 GP, but he's made his first point (an assist), and has some shots blocked on the board. It'll be interesting to compare him after a few more games.

So that's all the teams. There are some solid attacking defensemen, as well as some enforcer type d-men. A promising class, and it'll be interesting to see who gets picked up first on draft day.

X2 SMJHL Media Week

ArGarBarGar · 02-17-2019, 10:16 AM

Good stuff!

Alonzo Garbanzo Final Tallies (Among Defensemen):
2nd in Goals (208), All-Time Assists Leader (765)*, All-Time Points Leader (973), 3rd in Hits (2587), All-Time Blocked Shots Leader (1882)*
*All-Time Leader Among All Skaters
Player Profile | Update Thread
[Image: IeEV7Iv.png]

xDParK · 02-17-2019, 10:49 AM

Go khan Smeb @stud

Wibbly McButternutz · 02-17-2019, 11:56 AM

This is gonna be fun.
Good read @Fordyford

***SDCore*** · 02-17-2019, 12:56 PM

Another D partner with the good write up! Too bad we will most likely be rivals soon. Thanks for the kind words.. VIPERS4LYFE

Fordyford · 02-17-2019, 01:28 PM

02-17-2019, 12:56 PMSDCore Wrote: Another D partner with the good write up! Too bad we will most likely be rivals soon. Thanks for the kind words.. VIPERS4LYFE

@SDCore The friendships formed in a top D pairing will never end. VIPERS RULE.

stud · 02-17-2019, 08:36 PM

Khan Smeb defensive player. AHAHAHAHA
Derek Pouliot would like to have a laugh at that.

Serpe x 13 · 02-17-2019, 08:56 PM

thanks for the mention and good article!

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