What Went Wrong? Diagnosing the Have-Nots of the SMJHL Playoffs, with Eddie Morozov

The SMJHL playoffs are winding to their pivotal closing frames, and we’re reveling in the bliss of our team’s victories, or languishing in our defeat. So what happened? In this series, I hope to enlighten the average fan to why their team couldn’t get all the way there, and what they might look to fix in the future.

The Carolina Kraken limped into the playoffs this season, boating a meager 20-40-6 record, and only 0.348 points percentage over the 66-game season. Led by their star Aleksi Kettu, who posted his best season in his three years in the SMJ, the Kraken enjoyed encouraging rookie campaigns from Left Winger Rush Justice, Kyle Murray, and Axel Kirby. The lack of consistent defensive standing, and goaltending unable to cover the difference doomed the team, however, as BASE PACK and Adam Prpich were unable to carry their team, and rookie Otter Von Bismarck could only do so much.

Their opponent, the imposing Vancouver Whalers, were the clear favorite. Led by Alexandr Iskandrov and Benjamin Surkhi-Ze'ev, the Whalers enjoyed a somewhat easy ride to the playoffs, even comfortable enough to bring in untested prospects like Center Deemed Inappropriate and Heath Nicol for the playoffs. The net was tended by a brilliant B Jobin, who betrayed his downturn is statistical dominance to post a win in 41 of his 59 games played.

The first game was a rough go for both teams from the start, as defense was the intense focus while teams felt each other out physically. Carolina succeeded in keeping the Vancouver offense in check for the first period, stifling the dynamic duo of Iskandrov and Surkhi-Ze'ev, at the expense of their offensive success. Most notably, BASE PACK played a phenomenal 1st frame, stopping all 14 shots. This momentum contributed to the Kraken’s fast start, which led to their first goal of the series just 43 seconds into the 2nd period, as Kyle Murray capitalized on the Vancouver 3rd line chasing the puck around, scoring off a pretty passing display. That lead lasted just 45 seconds, as Edge Rocks put a shot on PACK that squirted awkwardly to Torsten Eriksen, which Benson Fiorentini stole and fired on net, which finally beat PACK. At that point, the Vancouver machine found its legs, and never let Carolina back in the game. Edge Rocks scored in almost the same way Fiorentini did, with a shot from Meta Knight squeaking free. The 3rd period fully saw the Whalers dominate, and Fiorentini put the finishing pieces on his masterclass of a game with a shot from just beyond the circles getting by PACK.

The second game began much like the second period of Game One, as the Whalers rushed down the Kraken, and a flurry of shots let Surkhi-Ze'ev collect his first tally of the playoffs. From there, the Whalers continued to play their stifling, suffocating game for the rest of the period and the game at large. Nichael Fitted stuffed in a pretty goal in close to make it 2-0, and then Deemed Inappropriate used his size to deflect a shot through to make it 3-0. Pyotr Gallen struck in the 2nd, and the 3rd period was Iskandrov’s period. He dominated, scoring a goal and lodging an assist on Gaston LeGume’s final goal of the game. Through it all, Jobin was perfect, stopping all 19 shots.

Yet again, the fast start proved deadly for the Kraken, as Game 3 saw Gallen and Iskandrov combine a minute and four seconds into the game. Carolina would strike back early in the second, as Justice and Eriksen put together a shorthanded chance Jobin couldn’t handle. Penalties would not serve the Kraken for long though, as in the 3rd, a parade of careless stick-play by Dipplet and Murray led to the second power-play unit to cash in for Vancouver, with Miroslav Ketil deflecting a point shot from Antonio Flusso to seal the stranglehold on the series.

The first period of the fourth and deciding game was all action. The teams traded penalties and goals at the end of the frame, with Raiya Rabinov providing a clutch goal in the final minute to give the Kraken a tie, which would hold for three more periods and 14 minutes and 32 seconds. At that point in overtime, Julian Eaglesong lost the handle on the puck, and Gaston LeGume, sent the puck to the unheralded rookie Inappropriate, who passed back to Fitted at the blueline, who sent the give-and-go that found LeGume who wired a laser beam shot past PACK, winning the game and the series for the Whalers.

So, what went wrong?

It’s unfair to not say that the Kraken were outmatched for this playoff matchup. The Whalers had the 4th best goals for and the 6th best goals against in the regular season, as opposed to Carolina’s 13th place finish in both respectively. The main issue throughout the series was mental. The Whalers committed to the first two games through physical dominance. Deploying players like Fiorentini, Rocks, and Fitted, Vancouver physically imposed their will on the Kraken, who were forced to make worse scoring chances, which reflected in their amount of giveaways in the first and second games. This mental domination allowed them to wear down their opponents quicker, and their offense was allowed work entirely unmolested for much of the first and second games.

The third and fourth games were different, in that both teams decided to adjust. The Kraken committed to matching the physical tone with violence, with Kettu and Murray doling out punishment. The Whalers changed course, however, pressing their offensive output and deploying secondary scorers to flood Carolina with shots. What this amounted to was a penalty-filled pair of games, especially in Game 3, where the Kraken were boxed for 5 infractions, which proved to be fatal, as the Whalers capitalized when it mattered on a powerplay egged on by a tripping infraction on Dork Dipplet.

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