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***Acsolap*** · 12-24-2018, 10:02 PM

DOUBLE MEDIA WEEK

Here I will be going through each of the teams in the junior league including the two new expansion teams and having a look at what their team make up is and what I think their chances of success are this season. As everyone who has spent any time on the SHL knows, Simon T is a fickle god and oftentimes TPE has nothing to do with how anyone performs. All statements in this article are my opinion and should be taken as speculation. Colours used to mark players are as follows: Red is aging out at seasons end, Orange is waivers eligible at seasons end and green indicates rookie.

Anaheim Outlaws:

Last season: N/A

The first of the new expansion teams is Anaheim. @Dangles13 took over the team at short notice and had to quickly plan for not only an expansion draft but also the largest junior draft in history. Of their draft selections it looks at as ten are active and updating and these players will provide the foundations of the new organisation. As well as this they have made a few low TPE IFA signings as well as picking up their four players in the expansion draft. Hiro Fujikawa being the pick of the bunch.

Centers: (42) Uvis Zommers - 176, (43) Vital Kravstov - 208, (44) Keegan Angello - 300, (44) Mister McCarty - 204

Right Wing: (43) Tye Maximo - 195, (45) Hiro Fujikawa - 282, (46) Thornton Opperman - 182, (46) Sean Watson - 155, (46) Jaune Attend - 155, (46) Jerry Mander - 190, (46) Collin Gibbles - 182

Left Wing: N/A

Defense: (43) Milo Mimoka - 191, (44) Aaron Rome - 259, (46) Osbert Whacker - 184, (46) Anthony Banthony - 183, (46) Matthias Seger - 168, (46) Jonny Jokihoki - 155

Goalies: (46) Tibuk Soonika - 163, (46) Mike Hunt - 180

Summary: Overall Anaheim drafted players across the line up. They didn't manage to snag any left sided wingers but will just spread their right wingers around to cover those holes. They have some promising up and coming front men in Opperman, Mander and Gibbles who they will be hoping will develop into genuine scoring threats. As well as this they added considerable depth to their blue line at the draft and they will need it considering the lack of strength on their top pair. Whacker and Banthony have started strong and will look to become the establish top pairing early on in the season. Along with the other expansion team the Outlaws were one of only two teams to select two goalies and it looks like they have two actives. Mike Hunt is the better of the two at present and I would guess he will start the season in net but look for Soonika to try and stake a claim for first choice.

Some concerns for the Outlaws would have to be the centres. They only have low to mid range prospects and none that are likely to improve any more than where they already are. Other teams may be able to dominate the dot and considering the relative inexperience of their defense and goaltenders you would expect that Anaheim are going to have to outscore their opponents to see much success. As well as this it is hard to see where they are going to get their goals from, Fujikawa is a top notch prospect but he cannot do it all by himself.

My guess is that the early season will be tough for Anaheim but if they can maintain activity among their rookies then they may produce some surprising results towards the latter part of the season.

Final place: 9th.

Anchorage Armada:

Last season: 6th (Eliminated first round)

The Armada come off of last season having surged into the playoffs late in the season with four wins in their last six games. In the post season they came up against a very strong Vancouver team and after unexpectedly going 3-1 up in the series including a 10-1 win they dropped three straight games to bundled out of the playoffs. They probably performed above expectations and will be looking to build upon a strong S45 draft class to establish a position at the head of the table.

Centers: (44) Xena - 350, (44) Dean Colt III - 350, (45) Kenji Yoshimura - 270, (46) Andris Dzeris - 180

Right Wing: (43) Eero Niemi - 350, (43) Oliver Kovacs - 350, (45) Maxime Bouchard - 308, (46) Ashburn McAllister - 193, (46) Olivier Cloutier - 184

Left Wing: (43) Bust - 350, (45) Mika Mayfield - 334, (46) Brock Emmerton - 175

Defense: (43) Thomas Speardane - 276, (45) Leopold Lockhart - 295, (45) Jacob Geza - 228, (46) Ricardo Cotalay - 184, (46) Kalevi Karhunen - 184, (46) Bill Umberger - 168, (46) Johnny Sins - 165

Goalies: (45) Hank Scorpio - 200, (46) Peter Larson - 181

Summary: The Armada boast one of the best forward cores in the league. With five capped players and likely two more before the season gets underway they continue on with their style of scoring a lot of goals. In the draft they selected players in every position. For forwards it was mainly with an eye for the next season or two when some of their more established stars move on allowing their rookies to adjust in the more sheltered bottom six roles. Keep an eye out for Cloutier who was one of the most highly touted prospects in the draft although Emmerton, Dzeris and McAllister have all shown promising starts to their careers. Worryingly for Anchorage they have no capped defensemen yet and have drafted a total of four new rookies meaning they will have to take up more prominent roles than initially wanted. The four new comers will have to improve quickly if Anchorage is hoping to plug the holes that left them shipping goals too regularly last season. A major problem for the Armada last season was that they couldn't rely on their goaltender to bail them out of close games or when they didn't play well. They will be hoping that Larson can step up and become that all important rock in between the pipes that any championship team needs.

While they are loaded in the top six and perhaps even their top nine forwards the defense and goaltender positions are still a concern for Anchorage coming into the new season. If they come up against as difficult an opening schedule as last season they could find themselves behind the eight ball. However if their rookies progess well then expect the Armada to go into the playoffs in a strong position.

Final place: 3rd

Colorado Raptors

Last season: 5th (Eliminated four star final)

Last seasons revered meme team. After a really poor first two thirds of the season the management decided to go for a full tear down. After selling off many of their best players to the team went on an unlikely run to steam into the playoffs. After eliminating Montreal and then Vancouver the dream came apart as they were swept by a dominant St Louis team in the four star cup final. They used their additional picks well and retained their best up and coming rookies which leaves them in a good position come the start of the new season.

Centers: (45) Konstantin Voloshin - 320, (45) Zivan Zidek - 247, (46) Michael Scarn - 217, (46) Daniel Smeb - 187, (46) Knute Knurtsson - 202, (46) Loki Odinsson - 160

Right Wing: (44) Lillie Jacobs - 350, (45) Alexander Selich - 350, (46) Parker Smeb - 207, (46) Nick Brain - 185

Left Wing: (45) Jakub Novak - 283, (46) Lunga Gumba - 205, (46) Nick Novak - 201, (46) Steve Craig-Smeb - 195

Defense: (43) Veikka Toivanen - 322, (44) Jean-Pierre Gay - 321, (45) Cassius Darrow - 295, (46) Eric Vanderberg - 183, (46) Chico Smeb - 185, (46) Anastasia O'Koivu - 155

Goalies: (45) Aleksandr Alesandrov - 208, (46) Yuri Ushakov - 189

Summary: Colorado drafted all the centres. As Tony stated they had a preset draft policy and stuck to it which has paid dividends in that they seem to have picked up a total of twelve active new players. After unexpectedly making the cup final last season Colorado will be looking to launch themselves from a base of solid prospects drafted in the previous two seasons. They are in a similar position to Anchorage in that they will look to rely initially on their forwards core to carry them while they wait for their rookies to develop. Michael Scarn is rocketing ahead in TPE and looks to be a great pick up outside of the first round. The Raptors also managed to secure four of the five Smeb brothers due to the other teams being happy to pass them by as well as picking up another experienced player in Pingy Pingu. They will be looking to last seasons top prospect Alexander Selich to lead the way and will need to score plenty of goals to make up for their goalies. AA once again failing to push on with a player and Yuri Ushakov will need time to develop.

After a rocky season last season I would expect Colorado to make use of their young team to make a more legitimate push for the title this year. They may struggle early on depending on the schedule but as their rookies develop expect them to become a formidable opponent.

Final place: 4th

Detroit Falcons:

Last season: 1st (Eliminated 2nd round)

The Falcons seemed almost unstoppable during the regular season. Easily sweeping aside most teams that stood in their way they then traded for reinforcements at the deadline and appeared to be deadset for the four star finals. However they came up against a resurgent Colorado and after seven hectic games were left picking up the pieces of what should have been a winning season. They have lost a number of high end prospects to call ups this season and it will be interesting to see if they can maintain their charge or whether this is the beginning of a rebuild for the franchise.

Centers: (43) Marc Parlicka - 308, (43) Hippo Passamus - 350, (43) Eero Makinen - 350, (46) Kalvins Zvejnieks - 213, (46) Gabster TheMagnificent - 155, (46) Johnny Gomez - 155

Right Wing: (43) David Fantobens - 350, (44) Franz Cooper - 350

Left Wing: (43) Tobias Viklund - 289, (44) Waffles Man - 209, (45) Donnie Dicks - 255, (46) Kit Smeb - 202, (46) Kyle Wellwood - 184, (46) Mikael Mlynarczyk - 163

Defense: (43) Wolfhard Richter - 288, (43) Pierre Laroche-Durocher - 350, (44) Stolp Skottson - 228, (45) Nat Emerson - 279, (45) Jimmy Cahill - 225, (45) Bedrich Sykora - 190, (46) Emil Olsson - 175, (46) Jackson Samuel - 155

Goalies: (43) Cedric Robinson - 350, (46) Jakub Hasek - 155

Summary: Looking at Detroits line up you would have to think they are coming to the end of their run. They have a decent number of capped players but for the most part they are coming to the end of their eligible seasons in the J. While they picked up some good players such as Kalvins Zvejnieks, Kit Smeb, Olsson and Hasek this will probably be their last shot at the cup for a few seasons. Their talismanic leader Hippo Passamus will be looked to too lead the line and he has good support from Makinen, Fantobens and Cooper. It is starting to become apparent that having a really stacked defense corps is hard to come by although Detroit probably edge the teams already reviewed. One major advantage that Detroit has over most of the other teams is that they still have their capped goalie Cedric Robinson. This should allow them to build a solid start which may negate any late surges from teams with more active rookies. As a backup to Robinson they have drafted Hasek and continued Detroits tradition of icing top quality goalies.

I think that Detroit will start off strong but may start to see the other teams start to haul them in towards the end of the season. They will need to be hoping that the active rookies they picked up in the draft stay really active in order to tide the team over for the next season or two.

Final place: 2nd

Halifax Raiders

Last season: 7th

A disappointing end to the season saw the Raiders miss out on the last playoff place by a whisker. Long term manager TDZ left the team and the task of a rebuild was taken up by their new manager King. He sold off a number of assets and moved some picks around before the draft in an effort to stock up a depleted pick pool and as a result ended up drafting fourteen new players this season. It is likely to be a learning curve this year for the new prospects but should yield good gains looking further into the future.

Centers: (43) Mr Faceoffs - 350, (44) Kristers Dzelme - 264, (46) Matt Kholin - 195, (46) Kristoffer Matsson - 201, (46) Yung Javi - 155

Right Wing: (46) Jimmy Slothface - 186, (46) Frank Mouette - 184, (46) PJ Paradise - 161, (46) Trey Reynolds - 180

Left Wing: (44) Michael Choybuk - 350, (44) Rainbow Dash - 350, (46) Oleg Scoreov - 180, (46) Clifton Outlaw - 183

Defense: (45) Dominic Montgomery - 344, (45) Vegeta Muerto - 291, (45) Desmond Carey - 199, (46) Perry Morgan - 196, (46) Andrej Doskocil - 184, (46) Dylan Karlsson - 173, (46) Touncie Bitties - 165

Goalies: (43) Nathan Cosco - 229, (46) Mike McKorsy - 196

Summary: At present Halifax have one of the weakest lineups on paper of the established teams although they are probably stronger than the expansion franchises. They have some limited top drawer prospects in Choybuk and Rainbow Dash along with the evergreen Mr Faceoffs and up and comer Dominic Montgomery but they are lacking in experience. Their entire left side is in its freshman year and while that may cause them troubles, early in the season especially, it does bode well for ice time for those rookies and possibly a shot at the coveted rookie of the year award. Elsewhere Halifax has like most of the previous teams looked to heavily reinforce its defensive core and they have picked up a number of impressive talents with Perry Morgan leading the way. With Cosco stagnating they will look to utilise him early while newcomer McKorsy gets a feel for the league. King brought in only first gens and it will be interesting to see how that plays out for the raiders franchise.

In my opinion Halifax could have afforded to have brought in at least one experienced head although they do have Eggy there to provide a veritable wealth of knowledge. I do however feel that this will be a season like Anchorage had last year where the primary focus will be on rebuilding before making a stronger push in the seasons to come.

Final place: 8th

Kelowna Knights

Last season: 8th

After their historic threepeat of three seasons ago Kelowna have been feeling the burn of trading away future picks for present success. They lost their management team during the season and Zoone has had to go about getting the franchise pointed in the right direction. He moved on some assets for picks in an effort to recoup some of the lost draft spots under the old regime and then used those picks to refil a roster that was largely inactive or had moved on to the SHL. Much like Halifax this is year one of the rebuild proper and it will be intriguing to see how the team develops.

Centers: (42) Justin Siddals - 234, (44) Shouta Aizawa - 350, (45) Nickolas Klaus - 336, (46) Bobby Sharp - 184, (46) Barry Batsbak - 183, (46) John Epiphone - 159

Right Wing: (45) Nolan Sawchuk - 330, (46) Zach Laliberte - 171, (46) Liam Hutchinson - 180, (46) Jack Icicle - 187, (46) Tobias Elliot - 155

Left Wing: (46) Dick Clapper - 175

Defense: (44) Scott Niedermayer Jr - 215, (45) Sanyi Kocsis - 313, (46) Karlstraße Scholz - 209, (46) Guy Zheng - 205, (46) David Vent - 182, (46) Big Fudge - 155

Goalies: (45) Vivian LeBlanc - 221, (46) Low Temp - 175

Summary: Kelowna focused the majority of their drafting efforts on the wings and the blueline. They have only one senior winger so its not surprise that they were looking to stock up there. Shouta Aizawa will be relied upon heavily I imagine and will be needing help from Klaus and Sawchuk if Kelowna have much hope of climbing further up the table than they did last season. While they made some good selections on the forward line they saved their best for for the first two picks of the draft. Scholz is an excellent prospect with plenty of league history and Zheng was earmarked as hot property by a number of other junior GMs and has a bright future ahead of him if he keeps it up. One concern for Kelowna is that they have gambled on taking a goalie much lower than the rest of their competitors and considering LeBlancs slow rate of progress this could possibly backfire on the Knights. Goalies have been few and far between in recent seasons so the there is huge importance in finding a good one.

Kelowna drafted pretty well and will definitely become more formidable as the season goes on. They still lack the firepower of some of the other teams though and I think consolidating their position can be considered a win this season with an eye for making really good progress next season.

Final place: 7th.

Montreal Militia

Last season: 4th (Eliminated 1st round)

The last few seasons the Militia have been a curious case. Often the nearly men, never quite making it to the top and occasionally selling players even though they were still in playoff spots. They are now in a position to have a real crack at winning the cup and after winning the lottery they were presented with their choice of a superb draft class to pick from. They ended up going with a good balance of first gen players and recreates that will nicely complement their already strong core.

Centers: (43) Pavel Pivonka - 350, (44) Derek Bohne - 350, (46) Steve Yzerman Jr - 160, (46) Kristoffer Svensson - 184

Right Wing: (45) Griffith Cadawalader - 297, (45) Siobhan Ryleigh - 175, (46) Hans Zucker - 202, (46) James Truong - 176

Left Wing: (43) Mason Hudson - 350, (44) Willy Mack - 350, (45) Andreas Kvalheim - 350, (46) Commander Shepard - 176

Defense: (43) Marco Raanteli - 350, (44) Willie Fisterbottom - 350, (44) Chuck Crutchfield - 350, (46) Olin O'Dowd - 204, (46) Nickolai Evans - 200, (46) Hank O'Callahan - 159, (46) Bradley Hall - 159, (46) Ryan Frank - 155

Goalies: (43) Petr Vrana - 350, (46) Alexsi O'Koivu-Volkova - 199

Summary: Montreal have built a great team and whats even better about it is how few players they will be forced to lose at the end of the season call ups not withstanding. They have capped players in most parts of the line up and a good spread of draft years to ensure that the team can roll in new rookies as older members move out. Last year they were lethal on the dot and I expect them to capitalise on that again this season. They are set apart from the other teams by the fact that they have an exceptional defense and with the aquisition of Crutchfield during the offseason half of their defensemen will already be at maximum tpe come the beginning of the season. On top of this they also have managed to keep Petr Vrana down one more season while also drafting his long term successor by getting probably the best goalie available.

I think Montreal have a significant lead over the other title chasers due to not only having a high average team but also because they managed to snag more recreates than the majority of the other franchises. I would expect them to have a season similar to Detroits last year and it will be interesting to see if they can go a couple better this year and take home the four star.

Final place: 1st.

4364 words.

Yea I realise I missed Lethbridge. I'll submit part two tomorrow.

Credit to Ml002, King, Wasty, Carpy, Bruins10, Rum_Ham, Turd Ferguson, Ragnar and Enigmatic for the sigs.
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***luke*** · 12-24-2018, 10:04 PM

Rip Vancouver I guess

daBenchwarmer · 12-24-2018, 10:06 PM

I mean once the Triplets' updates hit and we're all capped, I really do think Kelowna's playoff bound.

#ZhengBois

JackHrīm · 12-24-2018, 10:17 PM

Love the article @Acsolap but my tpe is 202 not 180

***Acsolap*** · 12-24-2018, 10:19 PM

12-24-2018, 10:17 PMAtlasHunter Wrote: Love the article @Acsolap but my tpe is 202 not 180

I just took whatever was on your player page at the time I was writing the article mate. Most of my players have more TPE than I reported here.

Credit to Ml002, King, Wasty, Carpy, Bruins10, Rum_Ham, Turd Ferguson, Ragnar and Enigmatic for the sigs.
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JackHrīm · 12-24-2018, 10:20 PM

I know but they was just luke messing up the page note number

***Acsolap*** · 12-24-2018, 10:32 PM

12-24-2018, 10:06 PMdaBenchwarmer Wrote: I mean once the Triplets' updates hit and we're all capped, I really do think Kelowna's playoff bound.

#ZhengBois

Everyone makes the playoffs now. Changed along with the two new teams.

Credit to Ml002, King, Wasty, Carpy, Bruins10, Rum_Ham, Turd Ferguson, Ragnar and Enigmatic for the sigs.
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***luke*** · 12-24-2018, 10:35 PM

12-24-2018, 10:20 PMAtlasHunter Wrote: I know but they was just luke messing up the page note number

Damn, that Luke guy must suck lol. My bad. I’ll update it tonight or something like that.

Edit: I updated the TPE when I did redid it. Assclap must have done goofed

Mack · 12-24-2018, 10:43 PM

Great article!! This was an awesome look at these teams and I appreciate the info.

gillon · 12-24-2018, 10:44 PM

great stuff, let's fookin go boys Militia

daBenchwarmer · 12-24-2018, 11:26 PM

12-24-2018, 10:32 PMAcsolap Wrote:
12-24-2018, 10:06 PMdaBenchwarmer Wrote: I mean once the Triplets' updates hit and we're all capped, I really do think Kelowna's playoff bound.

#ZhengBois

Everyone makes the playoffs now. Changed along with the two new teams.

god damn it, they should've doubled down and made 4 teams miss instead.

JackHrīm · 12-25-2018, 12:18 AM

12-24-2018, 10:35 PMluketd Wrote:
12-24-2018, 10:20 PMAtlasHunter Wrote: I know but they was just luke messing up the page note number

Damn, that Luke guy must suck lol. My bad. I’ll update it tonight or something like that.

Edit: I updated the TPE when I did redid it. Assclap must have done goofed

OH GOD HE SAW IT naw naw actually tho I love you for letting me redo it luke you're the best but yea assclap messed up xD

***luke*** · 12-25-2018, 12:31 AM

12-25-2018, 12:18 AMAtlasHunter Wrote:
12-24-2018, 10:35 PMluketd Wrote: Damn, that Luke guy must suck lol. My bad. I’ll update it tonight or something like that.

Edit: I updated the TPE when I did redid it. Assclap must have done goofed

OH GOD HE SAW IT naw naw actually tho I love you for letting me redo it luke you're the best but yea assclap messed up xD

I see everything :eyes: all good man, happy Christmas/holidays

Dangles13 · 12-25-2018, 02:02 AM

Y'all sleeping on the Outlaws. Top 3 team imo

Thelastheraclid · 12-25-2018, 02:43 AM

Defense wins championships. It's going to be hard to score on the Falcons. SKREEEE

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