Lions Keys To A Successful Playoffs

As another season comes to a end, the Lethbridge Lions have punched their ticket to the SMJHL playoffs! The Lions finished in 5th place with a record of 26-21-3. As a reward for finishing in the top 6, the Lions received a bye to the 2nd round. This bye is a good opportunity for the squad to prepare for the big second round matchup vs. the Armada. In this article I will be showing you the keys to a successful playoff run for the Lions.

Offence Has To Be Hot- The Lions have a lot of depth offensively and get goals from a number of different players. However, I feel if they want to go deep into the playoffs their more talented forwards need to take their game to the next level. One person in particular that needs to be hot is Monkey D. Luffy. In the regular season he was their most successful forward as he scored 17 goals and picked up 21 assist. With that being said, one player doesn’t make a team but one player can tremendously help his team. Another player that is beneficial to have on his A game is playmaker Roger Baston. Baston had a great regular season scoring only 13 goals but picked up 23 helpers. The young centre has an incredible ability to setup plays that often lead to goals. These are just two examples of players that are extremely gifted offensively that could help make a huge difference in the post season. As previously mentioned, the Lions have a lot of depth up front. I believe if the superstars are hot and the rest of the offence continues to score it will be a deadly combination.

Special Teams Need To Step Up- During the regular season the Lethbridge Lions had some of the worst special teams in the league. The teams power play only connected 14.71% of the time and only scored 25 power play goals. When they were shorthanded they only successfully killed the penalty 78.80% of the time. In my opinion this may be a good time to try some new combinations. These numbers crucially need to improve if they want to go deep into the playoffs.

Need To Play More Disciplined- As we just discussed the Lions do not play well shorthanded. One obvious way to stop this problem is to take less penalties! The Lions have 3 players on their roster who had over 50 penalty minutes during the regular season. One of those players was enforcer Jay Boom’Boom who had a whopping 115 penalty minutes this season. In a recent interview Boom’Boom said this “ When it comes to the playoffs I will not change my style of play but I will be more cautious of taking penalties”. This is one of the most important things they need to improve for a successful playoff run. Ether that or get really good at killing penalties!

The Patrice Nadeau Show- We all have been watching this show all year long and it never gets old! This season the Lions record was 21-15-1 when he was guarding the crease! Patrice Nadeau finished 1st in shutouts with 5, 1st in save percentage at 0.911% and 1st in goals against average at a tiny 2.24! This guy is an absolute legend and has a very successful career ahead of him. However before that he will have to face the hungry offence of Armada, led by sniper Olivier Cloutier. The Lions will need him on the top of his game as they look to go deep into the post season.


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Jøln DuBølk || D || Lethbridge Lions

Drafted 39th Overall in the S45 SMJHL Entry Draft

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