S 5 2:     M A N   I N   T H E   M I R R O R

The Los Angeles Panthers season has officially come to an end and for the 52nd time in league history, the league is flopping from the regular season to the playoffs. It's playoff hockey time, baby! Exciting shit. It's always a good time when the regular season ends, despite how much I love it, because playoffs are what it's all about. There's a different vibe in the air! Can you feel it? Hall naw that ain't high humidity or winter, cool air.. that's the vibe you're feeling right now, man. Things get cold. Things get tough. These are the big moments that all these players fight their entire careers for. Blood. Sweet. Arthritis in the wrist or finger joints from endless typing or graphic making. The tired eyes from tirelessly scouting the forums, the indexes - desiring.. even craving your magical, SHL fix. Just playing. It's no longer that for me but maybe that's what it keeping it fun now. Anyway, Panthers season is done, the league is all shaped up for the playoffs and the real fun is about to begin. My player just completed his 5th season in the Simulation Hockey League and also his 5th season with the Panthers. How did I think the season was is something I'm interested to touch upon. Comparing the team and my personal performance, levelling both and seeing where I am at and where I want to be is going to be fun. Then, of course, it's playoff time. How do I think the team is gonna do? What exactly is this playoff run going to impact? Hiro Fujikawa - it's time to reflect. It is time for you to see the man in the mirror.

S 5 2:      T E A M         R E F L E C T


Team Success:
Los Angeles Panthers
(25-21-21 - 4th west)
172 GF  / 164 GA
PP: 26.06  PK: 76.09

Honesty is a key part to any relationship. I think it holds it's place in most situations and is warranted almost all the time. In this case, I think it doesn't hurt to be honest. Heading into the season, while I may not have been at my most active, I still had expectations. When I briefly digested the roster we were heading into the season with, I was feeling pretty confident that Los Angeles would be high flying, near the top, scoring big goals and Hiro Fujikawa would be one of the guys leading them. For me, the team has the boxes checked everywhere and the lower you went down the list, the more and more you would fine attractive talent, stars and depth all throughout the team. Even their lower pieces weren't bad pieces and played a good part in the teams success even still. However, maybe things just didn't click the way they were supposed to. Maybe things did for the players, but maybe something went on somewhere else? We scored the 5th amount of goals out of every team but when we came to points we were 10th in the entire SHL. When you tally up the goals and find out we only let in 8 less than we scored at 164, good enough for 4th in the entire SHL, that's when shit gets real. Apparently they got piled up on and couldn't keep the damn thing out of their net. What we the troubles for the Los Angeles Panthers this season?

It starts in net with this one. If you're going to be allowing the chances that clearly Los Angeles does, you're going to need a guy you can trust in net. Knox Booth, are you ready to be that guy? Tate and I are familiar with one another and we're good teammates on the SHL. No issues. But there is one issue and right now, that's his inconsistent play. He's the go to man for ratings on the team, but sported a 15-15-2 record, 889 SV% and a 3.29 GAA. You and I both know those numbers are ass and can you blame the defensive game? Yes. Absolutely. They're a part to the problem but at the end of the day, I think we're leaning a little bit towards Booth needing to figure out what the hell he wants to do. You be good or you be bad? If he decides to be good, look the hell out. We already know what it looks like to be bad and if you need a reminder, go to the above stats or index. His regular season statistics for this season aren't pretty.

Secondly, the PK, man. What is that absolute dog shit? We're the GM's not watching this shit? How do you let the PK get to 76%? Shit, man. Once I hit 80% I'd be tripping ass and trying to figure stuff out every few sims until something bounced and made that number trampoline itself. While looking at the overall league PK stats it does seem like they're less high and more so around the 70-80 range, LAP still finds themselves in 4th last and having let in the 2nd most PK goals on the year at 44. Special teams is massive to team success. Those PP goals for your team are them extra little cherries that they throw on top to try and help that shake taste better. Those PP goals against are gonna be nice little stabby stabs that could prove to be lethal if you don't correct the issue. Somehow, Los Angeles was able to run and make it seemingly to safety in the post-season, despite having a blade stuck in their side and them needing fairly quick emergency services or they gonna dip real quick in the post-season.

Overall, we made the playoffs. I'm not blaming the L's on Tate or anything like that, but weak goaltending and statistics like that on a starter on good things. While I've seen many moments where a great goalie is just on a shit team, that's not the case here. Los Angeles, I like their roster. I also like their goalie. I think things just weren't clicking and the right fairy dust wasn't found. Coach put seasoning salt in containers saying it was harvested fairy dust to try and get the guys going. Honestly, they're crazy. Fucking nut jobs. But i t seemingly worked. They started playing better. God McZherl even told us he was starting to grow wings. Something we wish the PK would have done. Boy was that shit hey? You're not gonna do piss shit in the playoffs if you continue and plan to be the 4th worst PK in the league. Figure that shit out right now or the Panthers are dead in 4-5 games - easy. If that happens, the doors open to a long wait and long waits on seasons where you are up for contract renewal is also a long think.

S 5 2:      F U J I K A W A         R E F L E C T I O N


Player Success:
Hiro Fujikawa
GP: 50
G: 11
A: 26
PTS: 37
+/-: -4
Hits: 83
PIMS: 32
PP PTS: 11
GWG: 1

I think my expectations here were somewhat the same and the results were somewhat similar. I came into this season thinking this way really going to be my year. I'm now something like a 1,200 TPE player, which is good considering I'm a lazy members now who doesn't do every PT. What can I say? I'm doing love but also still enjoying the league 45+ seasons later. My next player I'm gonna try and do everything to be top dog, but Fujikawa is likely my best since Jakobsen. Looking on the index, he's 82 Overall and always looked to be a guy who was really going to help the Los Angeles Panthers on the wing. So, 11 goals on the season. Let's start there. I always wanted Fujikawa to be a goal scorer. Magnus Jakobsen was one. Every player I make is one. I think that goes along with everyone. You want to contribute wherever, however, but you also want to score them damn goals. I want 20, man. I don't want 11. But, at the end of the day, it's not terrible - it helps the team and I will take it. Just know that it's a little lower than I'd like. 26 Assists is somewhat on par with my expectations. I'm looking for 18-25G, 20-25A and anything above or around those totals is quality stuff. So I wasn't far off from where I wanted to be and 37 points in our 50 games really isn't all that bad. I'm a great player for the organization that contributes fairly nicely. Looking at the team there was many issues there really. So what areas are something I could work on to maybe tweak my game a little more?

Skating? Defence? Maybe even a little bit strength? These are the things that seem to me aren't elite or whatever. For Defense, I'm a -4 on the season. If we could swap that around, that would be great. Who knows what that reason was for without looking in the game play by plays to see what happened. Was it PK? Was it shitty goals? Did he contribute to them? Was he a negative factor on the ice? Who knows. What we do know is that 90 is pretty good, but I think a little higher and you'll start seeing a new level of progression that we haven't hit in a while. That's like because those stats which I've been working on have kinda hit their wall for right now and to further help them you need to grow yourself slightly around them. Once you do this, watch for a potential boost in a good chunk of plays. Skating, important. Defence = Defence and Offence. Strength boosts many things. It's something I'm going to work on heading into next season and I really think we're going to see some nice results. Next season, I'm walking in with the same expectations. I want to be that great player. I will be that great player.

T H E     E N D
1,685 words, 3 pics, lots of fun.