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Muerto · 07-14-2019, 04:39 AM

PRIDE REPORT pride

S48 Post-Regular Season, Pre-Playoffs

"Roaring Into The Playoffs"

The 48th Regular Season of the Simulation Hockey League has come to a close, and, lo and behold, the San Francisco Pride have made it into the Playoffs for the 2nd season in a row!
This is a team that struggled through a decade of darkness to emerge as a legitimate top-6 team in a very competitive league. A strong second half helped the team surge from sitting in last place at the half-way mark to end up in 3rd place in the West.

The final showings this season is the result of a patient rebuild which began in earnest in the Season 43 Draft. 5 of the team's top 6 forwards - Jeff Brogen, Vince Reaper, Richard Metcalf Jr, Steven Moyer, and Goku Muerto - were drafted that year, and steady development has seen them emerge as bonafide SHL talent. Vets such as Joseph Lomardi and Dakota Reid play big roles as scorer and enforcer respectively. Two rookies played for the team this season as well, with Nathan Explosion showing he is a physical force to contend with, and Filip Zadina showing some creative offensive talent.
On the back end, 4 of the top 6 defensemen are still growing - Charlie Schieck and Ray Bork have quietly developed into strong players, not always getting the recognition they deserve. Veterans Isak Odegard and Jack Tanner continue to play as strong anchors for the team, playing big minutes including special teams. S45 co-draftees Leopold Lockhart and ROOKIE Dominic Montgomery make up the 3rd pairing,hese two young players showed they can compete at a high level despite their youth.

Goalie Chris Partridge is one of the elite netminders in the league, backstopping the team to a league-best penalty kill and third-fewest goals against. His backup, Patrice Nadeau put up some admirable stats in winning 5 of his 7 starts on the season.

A big improvement for the team has been the increased offense - the team scored 161 goals for, an increase of +19 over last season. They gave up only 145 goals, giving them a positive goal differential for the first time in 10 seasons. Brogen led the team with 26 goals and 47 points - the highest points total a Pride Player has gotten since Season 43. Lombardi also broke the 20-goal barrier, while Muerto surpassed the 40-point plateau for the first time in his career. From the blue line, Bork led the way with his own first 40-point season, while Odegard, Schieck, and Tanner all scored 35+ points as well.

The next big test for the team is their West Semi-Final match against the Winnipeg Jets. The Jets are also a team having a vastly improved season, finishing 2nd in the West after missing the playoffs the last 2 seasons. While they are led by the indominatble veteran Jason Visser, who put up a stellar 60-point season, they also have a wave of youth hitting their stride - S43 product Lil Manius put up his second 50+ point season in his young career, along with teammates Ola Wagstrom, Ignatius Blunt, and rookie Nick Brain all having decent cmapaigns. The Jets also have this season's McBride Trophy odds-on favorite in Cedric Moreau, who played lights-out all season long. Their Blue Line is not as deep as the Pride's but they still have good chemistry in all 3 pairings and play a much more physical game.
The teams split their season series at 2 wins apiece, so it's hard to say that one team has an advantage over the other - I predict that this series will likely go to 7 games.

The Pride have never won a series since the franchise relocated to San Francisco in Season 37 so it would be another huge step forward for the team if they are able to pull it off.

The future also looks bright for the Pride as they have 16 of their roster players actively training, and most of them still years away from regression, so while there is indeed reason to celebrate the moderate success they've already shown, the way forward promises to be even better!

Thanks for reading and perhaps we shall meet again when the playoffs are over!