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FinnRhys · 09-25-2019, 11:32 AM

words = 2,468, 2x draft media

Let us be honest, if anyone has looked at my bank account they know I need money. And with the coming of double media days, what better time could there be for me to earn double the money for half of the work. So, with that said, I am going to take you an adventure, the adventure that was the Halifax Raiders Season 49. We will go through the ups and downs, the improvement from S48, the heartbreak in the S49 playoffs, and what the Raiders lose to the SHL and hope to gain in the upcoming SMJHL draft. Buckle in folks, it is going to be a bumpy ride.

Season 49 in Review:
Season 49 was an exciting one for the Halifax Raiders. Often a meme-worthy bridesmaid and not the bride, this season’s Raiders came into the season with a lot of momentum after a fantastic run in the S48 playoffs. With experience and depth at almost every position, the Raiders hoped to ride their Viking ships to Valhalla and bring home a Four Star Cup. Alas, it was not to be.

If the first half of S49 was any indication, the Raiders were in for another tough season. In the first 25 games of the season Halifax was only able to scrape together 11 wins and suffered through several multi-game losing streaks, the worst of which was early in the season and left the Raiders with a 2-5 record after the first seven games of the season. By all indications, the Raiders chances were minimal to earn a bye in the playoffs. But then something happened to the Raiders.

I do not know if something was added to the water in Halifax or if the Raiders just began to believe in themselves. Maybe it was the players-only meeting led by veterans and team Captains Atlas Rush (@Rublic) , Esa Parmborg (@Steelhead77) and Josef Kubinec (@"marc bradford"), or maybe it was the added fluoride in the Halifax water that improved the dental health of the Raiders players (always a tough thing to do for hockey players), or maybe the catalyst needed was intrigue the likes of which only a telenovela could provide. It would not surprise me if the catalyst for the mid-season turn around could very well have been the loss of veteran Oliver Klozoff to the SHL’s Hamilton Steelhawks 32 games into the season.

Indeed, the loss of Klozoff did have an effect on the team, as the veteran defender and the Raiders General Manager @Flareon became embroiled in controversy. During what has since been dubbed “The Klozoff Kontroversy”, it was determined that at no fault to either Klozoff nor the Raiders, Klozoff was sent down to Halifax without ever having gone through waivers. This issue, which was apparently pervasive enough that other players were previously identified as having been sent down without clearing waivers, put both the SHL and SMJHL Home Offices in a tough bind, as any punishment would adversely affect the SMJHL team with which no fault could lie. Ultimately, the determination was made to force Klozoff to clear waivers, which ultimately led to him being picked up by the Hamilton Steelhawks. Whether the decision to punish the Raiders was right or wrong, the loss of Klozoff was an accepted reality by the Raiders that were left behind and may have actually provided the catalyst needed for their play to improve as younger players like Adam Barron (@charlieconway) and Krashwagen (@CementHands) gained more experience and minutes to fill the void.

Whatever the reason was, the Raiders of the second half were not the Raiders of the first, as Halifax opened the second half of the season on a tear with a 5-game win streak. That win streak was followed up several games later with a 4-game win streak and with 10 games left in the season, the Raiders were in a fight to hold on to third in the standings.

It was at this point that Raiders GM "flareon" made two significant moves to help strengthen the team and add veteran depth as the team postured for a playoff run. With only a few game remaining, and with teams offering up veteran players for picks, both Jon Forty-One and Noah Tedla were traded for, with Halifax giving up picks in exchange. The trade for Jon Forty-One (@C9Van) was one of the more surprising trades made as the veteran Center had been the Captain of the Vancouver Whalers prior to the trade. Whatever the reason for the trade, Halifax jumped at the opportunity to gain the services of the talented, if enigmatic, player. Jon added critical depth and gave the team some toughness that had been lacking on the checking line. Gaining Noah Tedla (@tedlamotors) was another coup for the Raiders management, as he filled a much needed gap in the defensive pairings and provide veteran leadership where it was needed most, at the blue line. While both players’ tenures with the Raiders will ultimately be short, they provided a spark to the Raider Nation and greatly helped the Raiders secure third position in the standings and end the season with 26 wins, 15 of which came in the second half.

S49 Regular Season vs S48 Regular Season:
The jump from Season 48 to Season 49 was a significant one. There is more to the story on how Halifax made the jump from 8th to 3rd in the league, though. A simple look at the numbers tells some of the story. I am clearly not a math expert nor a data analyst like @aaronwilson. My statistics are the most basic of the basic, but they still give some insight into why and how Halifax made such a significant leap from one season to another.

The first statistics to look at are the Goals For, Goals Against and the Goal Differential. Obviously, the greater the positive differential, the more likely that the team will win over the long run. In Season 48, the Raiders only scored 142 Goals For while giving up 158 Goals Against which resulted in (basic math of 142 – 158 = -16) a minus 16 goal differential. Simply put, the Raiders defense was ineffective at keeping the puck out of the net (I am a Raiders defenseman so I can say this and unfortunately I don’t think I will get many arguments since the numbers support it). Season 49, however, saw the Raiders offense AND defense improve. The offense put in 8 more goals over the course of the season and, more importantly (at least to me), gave up 18 less goals over the course of the season. That lead to (again, simple math… 150 – 140 = +10) a plus 10 differential which ultimately resulted in a 6 win increase (from 20 wins in S48 to 26 wins in S49). So, a six win increase led to a jump from 8th to 3rd?

Well, not exactly, but it certainly did not hurt. What really made a difference, was how those wins were made, or, put another way, how losses did NOT occur. In Season 48, the Raiders actually played worse at home than away and only had five games go into overtime or move into a shoot out. Of those five games, Halifax only won three of them. Season 49, however, was a different story, as Halifax took seventeen (yes, you read the correctly) games to overtime or to a shoot out. Of those seventeen games, Halifax won eight of them. In effect, Halifax’s improvement in wins was NOT necessarily due to winning more games (although that did happen) but due to taking more games to overtime or a shootout. Doing so ensured that points were secured that otherwise would not have been (for example, if the game had been lost outright the Raiders would not have earned any points but because it went to overtime or a shoot out they secured at least a single point, even if it ultimately ended in a loss).

Another significant reason for the improved win-loss record was the change of style in play. I honestly do not know how to characterize the style of play from Season 48 other than poor (at least during the regular season). The play at home and away was poor to say the least. Gritty, tough play (indicated by hits or lack thereof) was minimal and the best statistic that the Raiders had compared to the rest of the league was in Penalty Minutes a game, an important stat but in the grand scheme of things hardly the one you would be like, “yeah, we must be awesome if we keep our penalty minutes low.” In fairness, Halifax was second in the league in not being penalized but even so, still only had an 81% penalty kill. Additionally, with a defense that gives up 3.16 goals against per game, yeah, that’s not a great sign of success.

Season 49, though, showed clear indications of improvement and especially in regards to gritty play. Halifax jumped to second in the league with 17.54 hits per game and jumped 99 hits from Season 48 to Season 49 (778 to 877). This increase in gritty play let to a decrease in shots against to the tune of just over one shot a game which lead to a 2.80 goals against average. This decrease led to the league with the fewest goals against average, which gives a lot of credit to the defensive philosophy that the Raiders adopted as one of the catalysts for improvement (and no, I am not just saying this because I am a defenseman on the Raiders, I really mean it. The Defense played well, as did our goalie and our Forwards worked their asses off on the defensive end. If you do not believe me just look at the stats below… and keep in mind that I am clearly not @aaronwilson.

Season 48: 142 GF // 158 GA // -16 // Total Win-Loss: 20-27-3
Home Win-Loss: 9-15-1 / 82GF / 93GA
Away Win-Loss: 11-12-2 / 60GF / 65GA
Total Points: G 142 // A 241 // P 383
Total Shots For: 1202 // Total Shots Against: 1333 // Total Hits 778 // PP 20.11% // PK 81.46%
Averages per Game: GF: 2.84 // GA: 3.16 // SF 24.04 // SA 26.66 // PIM GP: 7.36 (2nd in league) // Hits GP: 15.56 // FO: 48.30%

Season 49: 150 GF // 140 GA // +10 // Total Win-Loss: 26-15-9
Home Win-Loss: 16-6-3 / 88GF / 71GA
Away Win-Loss: 10-9-6 / 62GF / 69GA
Total Points: G 150 // A 249 // P 409
Total Shots For: 1243 // Total Shots Against: 1278 // Total Hits 877 // PP 19.70% // PK 81.46%
Averages per Game: GF: 3.00 // GA: 2.80 (1st in league) // SF 24.86 // SA 25.56 // PIM GP: 7.92 // Hits GP: 17.54 (2nd in league) // FO: 49.63%

S49 Playoffs:
While the Regular Season saw a reversal of fortunes with the Raiders finishing in third in the standings, the playoffs were unfortunately a continuation of the Raiders recent playoffs runs. While the S48 Raiders made it to the semifinals from an 8th seed, this playoffs the 3rd seeded Raiders lost in seven games to eventual champion and 6th seed Carolina Kraken (nee Montreal Militia) in the second round. In what could have been the last chance Halifax has at a playoff run to the Four Star Cup (due in part to traded draft picks and players and the tyranny that is seeing so many quality veterans leave early for SHL play), the Raiders season ended as it started, with two straight losses. The Raiders may look back for seasons to come about what could have been instead of what was. Alas, while the season did not end how they had hoped, the S49 Raiders have a lot to be proud of.

What the Raiders Lose for Season 50:
Now to the not so fun part, having to rebuild while the plane is in flight. Is it possible to even do? Honestly, no one knows, but one thing is for sure, the GMs at Halifax have shown the ability to pull it off. First, the Raiders are going to have to replace four of their top five leading scorers. The Raiders Genral Managers (@Flareon and @Citizen of Adraa) are also in the tough position of losing two highly rated acquisitions to SHL call-ups and another veteran to a trade. In all, the Raiders lose Esa Parmborg @Steelhead77 to a call up, Josef Kubinec @"marc bradford" to a call up, Cody @Winter is Coming to a trade with Lethbridge, Ricky Spanish @Whikadoodle to a call up, Jon Forty-One to a call up, Noah Tedla to a call up and Conor Tanner @Keygan to a trade to Lethbridge. That group of seven veterans accounted for 88 of Halifax’s 150 goals and 112 of 249 assists and were consistently top minutes producers. In short, Halifax loses its highest rated defenseman, all of its 20 goal scorers, it top two assist getters and what can only colloquially be called a shit ton of veteran leadership. Thankfully, the players the Raiders were able to keep this offseason could form the cornerstone of this rebuilding franchise. Atlas Rush @Rublic, the team Captain returns, as does arguably the best goalie in the league last year, Biz Nasty @GrilledTwinkiez and two solid veteran defenseman, FR Finn-Rhys and Haley Knight @satf. The Raiders also returns several solid rookies from last year, including the first overall draft pick from the S50 SHL Draft, Adam Barron @charlieconway. Karl Krashwagen @CementHands (the best GM in the WJC in my unbiased opinion) and Suzuki Namokato @Thejaff round out the trio of impact young players who will look to keep the Raiders in the hunt for a deep playoff run in S50 while bringing in new rookies under their wings.

What the Raiders hope to gain in the upcoming SMJHL draft: With the loss of so many talented skilled players, especially forwards, the Raiders will have to find creative ways to add offensive depth while also potentially finding the heir apparent to goalie Biz Nasty who will probably only have one more season left. This will absolutely be a rebuilding season for the Raiders, and it may continue into next season depending on the quality and quantity of rookies the Raiders successfully bring in during the S50 SMJHL draft, but as the old saying goes it is always darkest right before the light and the future for the Raiders is going to be bright indeed.

RAID ON!!!

FINN RHYS

[Image: hockey__27674.1518661372.1000.1200.jpg?c=2]

CementHands · 09-25-2019, 01:19 PM

It's beautiful

Rublic · 09-25-2019, 02:25 PM

The Raid Continues raiders

Flareon · 09-25-2019, 03:48 PM

Holy shit what an article

Leoben · 09-25-2019, 09:32 PM

It was real fun. Best of luck this season.

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