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+---- Thread: (GRADED) DEEP DIVE #2 ROOKIE PHENOM JON ST. ARK (/showthread.php?tid=111462)
(GRADED) DEEP DIVE #2 ROOKIE PHENOM JON ST. ARK - TheBigSandeenie - 11-03-2020
For my second deep dive I wanted to take a look at a very specific aspect of the Vancouver Whalers fantastic season, their goaltending. To be more specific, I wanted to take a loot at rookie sensation Jon St. Ark.
This young goaltenders' days of flying under the radar are long in the rear view at this point. Obviously the journey that took the player to where he is at today began long ago, encompassing many years, and thousands of hours of hard work.
The moment that everything began coming to fruition was when young Jon St. Ark heard his name called at number 6 OA in the S56 SMJHL entry draft by the Vancouver Whalers. Going in the 1st round in an honor for any young prospect but this case is even more impressive.
For a Vancouver team right in the middle of their window to have the confidence in a young goaltender to take them with the 6 OA selection AND start him 24 games (nearly half the season) in his rookie year tells you all you need to know about this kid. The
Vancouver scouting staff had clearly done their homework and by now we all know that they struck gold. The fact that St. Ark was actually the only prospect that the Whalers selected that entire draft and still dominated the league like they did is extremely impressive.
St. Ark the Austrian goalie isn't the biggest goalie at only 6'2" and 190 lbs. What St. Ark lacks in size he more than makes up for with his impressive positioning skill, lightning quick reflexes, and advanced technical ability that defies his age. Now lets get to the
stats of his spectacular season. He played 24 games as a rookie posting a 19-4 record with a 1.62 GAA and a .930SV%. The goalie closest to St. Ark in SV% was at .917% while closest in GAA posted a 2.25. St. Ark led the league in both categories and by a large margin.
Now there is no doubt that the strength of the Whalers as a whole helped St. Ark a ton, you still have to be one heck of a goalie to stop pucks at that rate over the course of half a season. Plus St. Ark preformed much better statistically compared to the other goalies
suited up for the Whalers on the year. It will certainly be interested to see how he can perform with a heavier workload but its very hard to imagine he will be able to replicate these numbers. But before that happens we will get to see how he performs in his first ever
SMJHL playoffs. With Vancouver being the clear favorite to win the cup St. Ark has a very legitimate chance to hoist the cup as the starting goalie in his rookie season. Don't look now but he may have just put up a shut out in his first ever playoff start. Who knows if he
will win the cup but one thing is clear, the league has certainly taken notice of Jon St. Ark.
Approved, +5 TPE @TheBigSandeenie