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akamai · 03-13-2016, 02:08 AM

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Ready For Grading, 1313 Words

<div align="center">Prospect Showcase Update
Stingrays Stung Outlaws, Lions Roared Past Blazers</div>

The normally sleepy town of Kelowna, BC is bustling with hockey activity, playing host to the SMJHL's Prospect Showcase at the beginning of the league's 20th season. Within the two-week tournament, ending in Monday's Draft Night, players have one final shot to show off their talents and impress potential future GMs with their skill and quick creation of chemistry with brand-new teammates. By Day 12, one might think that most GMs have their picks locked and loaded and upsets would be few, but today ended with two very different types of turn-around games. Earlier in the day the Lions, who've bounced between second and third place in the standings with the Outlaws, snuck past the first-ranked Blazers with a low-scoring defensive stand. Later that night, the seemingly permanently fourth-ranked Stingrays overturned the third-ranked Outlaws with a fast and furious flurry of goals from both sides.

<div align="center">Lions vs Blazers
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Having dropped a tough OT loss to their first meeting with the Blazers the night before, the Lions came in ready to up their physicality and offensive presence, and came away with a shut-out.

The first star of the night, and well-deservedly, was Sivy McSieve, the first and only goalie to force a shut-out in the entirety of the tournament thus far. Standing at a whopping 6'3" and 220lbs, McSieve has been a literally and figuratively solid presence for the Lions throughout the entirety of the tournament, with the current top save percentage of goalies in the draft of 0.936. His performance pushed him past his second-place opposing goalie Casey Holmes, who has a save percentage of 0.927. However, despite the loss Holmes has a higher number of wins under his belt, having handily beaten the Stingrays in five of six contests (the only loss being an OT shoot-out).

But with McSieve's consistent and strong play, who was the true difference-maker between the two nights? That's a tricky question, with a two-part answer.

The first answer is, most obviously, costly and ridiculous penalties. The winningest Blazers team, perhaps having started to sip a bit of their own Kool-Aid, got frustrated when they weren't producing the sorts of numbers they wanted and began to take dumb and costly penalties--the first Lions goal happened between their second and third penalties of the first period, winding and exhausting Blazers' top-line players who, as rookies, still aren't accustomed to handling quality top-line minutes. The second and game-winning goal was a power play goal itself, scored by defenseman Ilmari MÃ¤Ã¤ttÃ¤ and assisted by teammate Barak Obrana when one fewer man freed the young MÃ¤Ã¤ttÃ¤ from his defensive duties to be able to skate forward and capitalize on the play.

That said, a penalty doesn't affect the game if there aren't players to capitalize on it--a chicken vs. egg proposition. We would argue that a hidden gem can be found in Ilmari MÃ¤Ã¤ttÃ¤ himself, a strong two-way defenseman who burst onto multiple teams' radar a few short days ago and has only climbed in the rankings since. One of the young rookie Finns looking to make their mark in North American play, MÃ¤Ã¤ttÃ¤ is an extremely flexible player and would be a great weapon for any team's roster. Mostly preferring to leave the outright scoring to the forwards, MÃ¤Ã¤ttÃ¤ comes in posting great numbers in his endurance in addition to his defensive play. However, even simply over the course of the showcase, the young man's passing, skating, and checking have improved.

But don't let his stats fool you--coming in a few days late to the tournament with five points in five games, MÃ¤Ã¤ttÃ¤ is posting phenomenal numbers for a brand-new D-man and is generating quite the buzz around the league. In this game in particular, MÃ¤Ã¤ttÃ¤ scored his second goal of the tournament and the game-winner, with an assist by teammate Barak Obrana. Between the rare but quality offensive strikes, the strips and takeaways, and the disciplined goading of less patient opponents into three Blazers penalties in the first period alone, MÃ¤Ã¤ttÃ¤ had a quiet but considerable impact on the outcome of tonight's matchup, despite his needless hooking penalty late in the third--a rookie mistake he'll surely be more careful not to make in future.

Call us crazy, but with a phenomenal and solid training partners like Bennett Jones (who recently went first overall in the SHL draft to the New England Wolfpack, in case you've been living under a rock) and well-earned positive analysis from showcase coaches, scouts, and media reports, we think latecomer MÃ¤Ã¤ttÃ¤ should be a high second-round pick, perhaps even having the potential to squeak into a first-round pick.

<div align="center">Stingrays vs Outlaws
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On the flip side of the coin, the Stingrays and Outlaws had a high-point offensive battle for their second matchup. The Outlaws' Triforce Link had a particularly rough night against the Stingrays, dropping from third to fourth of the goalie rankings within a single game.

Much like the Lions, the Stingrays came in as a 'down' team looking to generate some momentum. While the Outlaws won 51 of 47 faceoffs and capitalized early with a PP goal, they also took their lumps in offensive penalties, with a total of ten penalty minutes (five minors) within a single game. The Outlaws players also tend towards weakness on the defensive side of the showcase, and it showed in this game--letting their opponent Stingrays score a short-handed goal on one of of their three PKs.

That being said, it was clear to everyone watching that Felix Herzog put himself first in everyone's minds as the most dominant offensive weapon of the draft. Herzog had a hand in all but one of the six Stingrays goals--an assist and a goal in the first period, two goals in the second period, and an assist on the game-winning empty netter in the third. He did take a hooking penalty late in the third, but the Outlaws' enforcer-type player Gorlab took a matching one a scant three seconds later, negating his rookie error.

Regardless, Herzog had phenomenal gameplay and lots of minutes on a team with otherwise average performace--his majestic on-ice presence has begun to soar within this pre-draft showdown, and even with his current level of talent it's clear that he still has considerable upside potential and room to grow. Herzog also asserted his dominance over up-and-coming Outlaws counterpart Mikael Talo, who with three points had his best personal night in the draft but continued to hold a timidity when checked that made him an easy target. If there was ever a question that Herzog would be drafted as a high pick first-rounder, he eliminated those naysayers tonight--hungry GMs looking for a new player to put in their arsenal should be sure to snatch him up.

<div align="center">Additional Takeaways
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-Despite their relatively quiet nights, some stand-out players over the longer course of the draft include Maximum Sarone, Nicholas Winter, Allesandro Fondente, and Hans Moleman. Obrana, Dabkowski and Jeeples have also been up-and-down but generally positive contributors.

-The class of S28 is fairly large and more or less decently balanced, but some newcomers are shaking up the rankings within the lower draft tiers. One example outside those we've mentioned here is Leif De Bruin, who as a relatively unknown quantity as a player is beginning to show signs of positive contribution in the future.

-Like in other, less cool leagues (ahem), the role of an enforcer is becoming severely limited as penalties are becoming more strongly enforced as refs are on the lookout for anything that could be constituted as foul play. While this may be good for the sport in the long run, the league protecting its players from more devastating hits, in the short-term this may be tough for teams who might otherwise draft fight-heavy players who can swing the tide of games when morale is otherwise low. (Sorry, Gorlab.)