Highlight 1: Draft Day When Karl decided to make a go in the SHL and declare himself eligible for the SMJHL draft, there were a lot of questions surrounding him. He had never left Europe before, and this would take him over to North America. There would be new customs and cultures to learn, and he was not coming over as a high profile prospect so he wasn't even sure if he was going to be drafted. Regardless, acting as his own agent he was able to get some footage and statistics compiled and sent it over with applications to the different teams, hoping that he would spark an interest in one of them to take a shot on him in one of the later rounds. He had some back and forth with a few different teams and hopes were high heading into the draft. When he got the call from Ed Balls, his new GM, he was over the moon - 6th round and 53rd overall, Much higher than he was hoping for. He started looking for flights to Halifax and knew he was in for one wild ride.

Highlight 2: First SMJHL Goal Karl's first goal was a culmination of weeks of hard work focus on improving his shooting which had been identified as a weakness by his coaches. The narrative at the start of the year was that Karl was quick on the puck, but quick to lose it, when he had it on his stick he seemed a bit unsure whether to pass or shoot, and that lead to offensive turnovers. His first goal was really a turning point for confidence and you could see a momentum swing. It did end up being his only goal of the season, but it kick-started his defensive awareness and was able to assist on a few more goals for the remainder of the year.
If you watch the goal back you can see Karl pull the trigger with absolute certainty, finishing off a beautiful tic-tac-toe directly from Ricky Spanish and Stacy Jefferson Jr. Karl sets up into position at the right face-off dot, takes the feed from Spanish and rips it past Knox Booth to bring the Raiders within 1.

Highlisht 3: Karl looses teeth An unfortunate foot malfunction led to a very concussed Krashwagen losing his teeth and going on a bit of an adventure of destruction. You can read about it at length here, but it was quite the evening for the raiders following a huge home victory and rallying the city of Halifax behind their run. Nothing like this has ever happened and the residents are hoping nothing like it ever happens again.