S49 Crows in Review

SMJHL's S49 hasn't gone as hoped so far for this iteration of the Crows, as they have so far struggled to a tie for fifth place with Anaheim. At 11-10-3, St. Louis has limped to a .458 winning percentage, and hopes to turn it around for the second half of the season.

Oof: Special Teams

With a loaded top-line that includes multiple players in the hunt for the scoring title, the Crows must be a little disappointed in their sputtering powerplay. Having converted on only 13 of their 80 man-advantage opportunities, the Crows are sitting at a terrible 16.25%, third-worst in the league and far away from Anaheim's league leading 27%. Their penalty kill is faring better, but not by much. Killing 79.61% (82/103) of their penalty kills, the Crows PK is 4th worst in the league. Turning their special teams around into what they should be should see the Crows start to pick up more and more wins.

Uh-Oh: Schedule

St. Louis so far has put up middle of the pack numbers, against a middle of the pack schedule. With St. Louis having played only 9 of their 24 games against the top half of the league, is St. Louis' inability to compete with the big boys a sign that this is the season they run out of steam.? So far, St. Louis has played 9 games against the 4 best teams in the league, putting up a record of 3-5-1. StL has played 15 games against the teams below them, achieving a record of 8-5-2. Good, but when you take into context that StL has gone 2-3-1 against the league worst Whalers, you discover a team that could be much higher in the standings.

Playoff Projections

St. Louis has been your typical average SMJHL franchise this season. When facing off against above average competition, St. Louis has struggled mightily, only being able to collect 7 out of a possible 18 points. With their schedule only getting harder in the back half of the schedule, with 13/26 games against the teams currently above them, it is very possible that the Crows continue their middle of the pack play. An inability to get points off the big guns makes it awfully hard to trust the Crows in the playoffs, when they'll have to beat these teams on a consistent basis to achieve their postseason goals. StL has time to turn it around, but the question is, can they?

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