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The Pride's Playoff Hopes
#1

(I meant to post this before the sim, so I haven't actually looked at the sim today)

With S47 winding to an end, the San Francisco Pride are barely hanging onto the last wild card position for the SHL playoffs. With 10 games remaining on the season, the Pride are 1 point ahead of the Minnesota Chiefs (11 games remaining), and 6 ahead of the Panthers and Jets (10 GR each). The Pride’s schedule is quite interesting, and presents them an opportunity to control their own destiny if they can manage to get their game back on track. We’ll take a look at the Pride’s opponents for the remaining 10 games, and how the Pride stack up against them in each matchup to determine what their chances are of breaking their playoff drought this season. First up let’s take a look at the Pride:

[Image: sfpride-banner.png]

Pride Record: 18-19-3 (5th in West)
GF: 115
GA: 122
PP: 27/105 (25.71%)
PK: 86/112 (76.79%)

Pride Top Scorers:

Jack Tanner - 9 G 22 A
Jeff Brogen - 15 G 15 A
Vince Reaper - 10 G 18 A
Isak Odegard - 8 G 19 A
Goku Muerto - 5 G 22 A

The Pride tend to score by committee, and are better suited to preventing goals than they are to scoring them, but they aren’t without some exceptional firepower. Their defensive unit of Jack Tanner, Charlie Schieck, Isak Odegard, Fedor Shirobokov, Ray Bork, and Leopold Lockhart are among the best in the league, but up front their forwards are still developing. Jeff Brogen and Vince Reaper in particular have taken big steps forward this season, but the group as a whole is still reeling from the departures of Luke Thomason and Jonothan Lundberg. With a young group that is improving every day though, the Pride are becoming a better team with each game they play.


[Image: Winnipeg.png]

Day 66 & Day 83 vs Winnipeg Jets

Jets Record: 15-22-3 (8th in West)
GF: 115
GA: 136
PP: 22/123 (17.89%)
PK: 105/138 (76.09%)

Jets Top Scorers:

Jason Visser - 19 G 30 A
Lil Manius - 20 G 18 A
Gary Grease - 8 G 27 A
Corey Bearss - 11 G 14 A
Ola Wagstrom - 8 G 17 A

Season Series: 1-1-0
GF: 5
GA: 7
PP: 1/5 (20%)
PK: 3/3 (100%)

The Pride will have to start and finish this stretch of games against the Winnipeg Jets, and that could end up being a good thing. With 3 players outscoring Jack Tanner, the Jets have a significant advantage when it comes to scoring ability, but overall the Jets have struggled to find results in the standings. Jason Visser is still at the top of his game, and arguably the GOAT S31 player, so the Pride will have to be extra careful to watch him out there. These are two games that the Pride will absolutely need to win if they are hoping to make the playoffs, because these are 4 points they can’t afford to miss out on entirely. They haven’t exactly dunked on the Jets in the regular season, so they shouldn’t expect to have an easy set of games, but if they are focused they should be able to get the job done.


[Image: SHL-Dragons-Banner.png]

Day 69 & Day 75 vs Calgary Dragons

Dragons Record: 21-14-5 (3rd in West)
GF: 123
GA: 117
PP: 16/115 (13.91%)
PK: 115/148 (77.7%)

Dragons Top Scorers:

Otis B Driftwood - 5 G 36 A
Mike Izzy - 13 G 26 A
Shooter McGavin - 19 G 16 A
Hunter Jones - 12 G 21 A
Maxime Bouchard - 14 G 15 A

Season Series: 1-1-0
GF: 6
GA: 6
PP: 2/7 (28.57%)
PK: 7/7 (100%)

If the Pride do make the playoffs, there’s a good chance they will be playing against the Calgary Dragons. The Dragons are also the last, and only, team the Pride played in the playoffs, back in S38 when the Pride won the President’s Trophy. This season the teams have been fairly evenly matched in the 2 games they’ve played, although the Pride have had an advantage with the special teams play. The Dragons have the Pride outmatched in many areas on paper, but the Pride feel they’re about to turn a corner here, and pulling out some points from the team directly ahead of them would be a huge boost to their chances. Mike Izzy has spent many seasons tormenting the Pride, so he’ll be public enemy #1 out there I’m sure, but the Dragons have all kinds of new weapons that the Pride will need to be wary of.


[Image: syndicate-banner.png]

Day 70 vs Chicago Syndicate

Syndicate Record: 20-16-3 (4th in East)
GF: 119
GA: 119
PP: 23/137 (16.79%)
PK: 71/88 (80.68%)

Syndicate Top Scorers:

Luke Atmey - 18 G 25 A
Romualds Loks - 18 G 12 A
Mikkel Haugen - 11 G 19 A
Fredrich Koenig - 3 G 27 A
Gvidas Kazlauskas - 12 G 15 A

Season Series: 1-0-0
GF: 3
GA: 0
PP: 0/2 (0%)
PK: 0/2 (100%)

A repeat of their first match, a 3-0 Pride shutout, would be welcome I’m sure, but the Syndicate are no bunch of slouches by any means. If San Francisco hopes to sweep this season series, they’ll need to shut down the extremely potent Luke Atmey, who is leading Chicago with 43 points. Chris Partridge has a lot of pressure on him to match his effort against Chicago, but he says he doesn’t feel any of it, just another game on the schedule that he needs to give his team a chance to win. Both teams are relatively evenly matched here, so we expect another close game when they meet again.


[Image: Toronto.png]

Day 71 & Day 73 vs Toronto North Stars

North Stars Record: 23-16-2 (2nd in East)
GF: 140
GA: 144
PP: 20/108 (18.52%)
PK: 92/110 (83.64%)

North Stars Top Scorers:

Mikhail Lokitonov - 20 G 35 A
Lyndis Vakarian - 18 G 33 A
Chris York - 19 G 21 A
Anders Christiansen - 8 G 25 A
Halfdan Thorstein - 13 G 19 A

Season Series: 0-0-0
GF: 0
GA: 0
PP: 0/0 (0%)
PK: 0/0 (0%)

So far no games between these two teams, so who knows what will happen, but the North Stars are one of the most offensively potent teams in the SHL, and the Pride will be in tough to contain them. These two games will likely be a big test of this team’s capabilities, and whether or not they can bring home a couple of points could be the turning point of this season for the Pride. Coaching staff has been drilling the defense about how to play against Mikhail Lokitonov and Lyndis Vakarian, and what they can do to limit their chances. They know that Toronto will get chances out there, so the focus in practice has been on limiting mistakes, and forcing shots from low percentage areas.


[Image: Minnesota.png]

Day 77 & Day 79 vs Minnesota Chiefs

Chiefs Record: 16-17-6
GF: 115
GA: 131
PP: 27/120 (22.5%)
PK: 85/106 (80.19%)

Chiefs Top Scorers:

Terrance Nova - 19 G 18 A
Bobby Watson - 14 G 19 A
Eric Pelletier - 5 G 21 A
Sanyi Kocsis  - 9 G 16 A
Jonathan Lundberg - 9 G 14 A

Season Series: 1-1-0
GF: 6
GA: 7
PP: 1/7 (14.29%)
PK: 3/5 (60%)

It’s likely that we’ll know the Pride’s fate when we know the outcome of these two games here, since the Minnesota Chiefs are the team hot on their tail for the last wild card spot. While the Chiefs aren’t packing the same fire power they had last season on their top line, Terrance Nova and Bobby Watson are still two of the best in the league right now, and the Pride will be wise not to underestimate them for a second. The season series has been surprisingly close, and so fans can only hope for two more exciting games to play up the drama of this playoff race. Old friend Jonathan Lundberg will be in the spotlight as well I’m sure, as some of his former teammates will surely enjoy laying a hit if the chance presents itself. Will the Pride be able to fend off the surging Chiefs, or will it be one more season on the outside looking in for the Pride?


[Image: Buffalo.png]

Day 78 @ Buffalo Stampede

Stampede Record: 22-18-1 (3rd in East)
GF: 131
GA: 119
PP: 25/118 (21.19%)
PK: 105/123 (85.37%)

Stampede Top Scorers:

Oliver Konig - 16 G 24 A
Viktor Marius - 18 G 20 A
Dermot Lavelle - 17 G 17 A
Alexis Metzler - 10 G 22 A
Kevin Hamilton - 9 G 21 A

Season Series: 0-1-0
GF: 2
GA: 4
PP: 1/2 (50%)
PK: 4/6 (66.67%)

Finally we have the Stampede. The defending Challenge Cup Champions and currently sitting 3rd in the East with 45 points, 6 more than San Francisco’s 39 points. In their first and only meeting of the season, the Stampede won a decisive 4-2 victory, and the Pride will be hard pressed to avenge that loss. Buffalo got off to a slow start this season, but has been one of the best teams as of late, so they will be a tough matchup for the struggling Pride. Viktor Marius will be looking to continue his red hot streak when these teams meet up, along with all-star defenseman Alexis Metzler, just to name a couple. The Stampede have an incredibly talented roster, and this will be the toughest game of the remaining schedule for the Pride.

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TY NOKA AND VALOR FOR THESE WORKS OF ART
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Stars Battleborn Czechia
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#2

You guys got this.

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#3

Good luck!

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[Image: cgv4vCv.png]|[Image: 95lCCDx.png]|[Image: KgwtJeY.png]
Knights|Dragons|Austria
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#4

Start sucking and let us make the playoffs and there's a shiny nickel in it for you Wink

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#5

Ahh just saw this. Fun write up, especially when the outcome is a good one!

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sigs by sulovilen, slothfacekilla, Flareon
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Current: Wolfpack raiders Uk | Alumni: Inferno pride Knights Germany
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