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+---- Thread: (GRADED) Deep Dive 2 - A Tree Falls in the Woods (/showthread.php?tid=114610)
(GRADED) Deep Dive 2 - A Tree Falls in the Woods - wumaduce - 03-22-2021
With the playoffs underway, and me running out of time to complete my second deep dive, it's time we look at the Maine Timber.
It's hard to pick a starting point for this analysis since the league switched to the 66 game season. I don't feel it's fair to them to try to extrapolate 16 games of data to pad the stats for this deep dive.
We'll briefly touch on the teams results in season 56, the last season of the 50 game schedule. Maine finished this season 3rd in the East, with 52 points. That put them 9 points behind the second place Newfoundland Berserker. The teams would eventually meet in the playoffs, with Maine losing to Newfoundland.
This brings us to the current iteration of the league, a 66 game season. During season 57, the Maine Timber went on to get 79 points. This was good enough to finish second in the east, behind Quebec City Citadelles and their staggering 107 points. Jesse Seppanen lead the Timber in goals, and managed to come in 7th overall, with 26 goals. Alexander Oscarsson racked up 37 assists, good for 7th in the league standings, and Walton Stromberg also broke the top 10 with 35. Both of the goalies were in the top 3 for save percentage. Things were looking up for the Timber heading into the playoffs.
Going into the playoffs, the 5th seeded Timber were to take on the 12th seeded Berserkers. With the season the Timber had, there were high hopes going into the series. The Berserkers came out and walloped the Timber in game one, picking up a road win with a final score of 6 to 3. Going into the second game, Maine was determined to make their mark. So was Newfoundland. Final score, 3-2 Newfoundland. Maine took game 3 on the road, winning 4-3 over Newfoundland. Finally catching a break in the series, they dropped games 4 and 5, 3-0 and 3-1 respectively. For the second time in two seasons, the Timber were heading home early.
That brings us to this season, season 58. Having improved so much, people were expecting another good season from the Timber. Sometimes it's not a good thing to have high expectations. Maine crawled through the finish line, amassing a stunning 37 points. The only team to not break the 40 point mark, they managed to secure the 12th seed in the playoffs... Because everyone makes the playoffs. Maybe they were saving everything they had for when it really mattered this season.
After limping into the playoffs, the Timber were to meet up with the 3rd ranked Newfoundland Berserkers. Unfortunately for Maine, they had no players who broke the top 10 in the league in any scoring. They still had hopes, but there was something in the air from the start. Game 1, Berserkers walked out to an early lead in the series by winning 2-1. By the time game 2 rolled around, you could see frustration building in Maine. The Berserkers would go on to beat the Timber 3-0. Almost as if it was destined to be, Maine went on to blank the Berserkers 3-0 in game 3, and brought the series back to a familiar 2-1 series. Unfortunately, it was too familiar. Newfoundland would go to best them in games 4 and 5, as is tradition, 4-2 and 3-2.
And with the end to another disappointing playoff series, Maine goes on to try to figure out what went wrong and where to improve. Luckily for them, their core group is young and this draft looks like it should be good for them.
Approved! +5 TPE @wumaduce