The SMJHL playoffs are still moving along, Montreal Militia are taking on the Detroit Falcons and the Kelowna Knights face off against the Lethbridge Lions in the semi-finals, the two winners will be squaring off to see which team comes out on top and raises the Four Star Cup.

The St. Louis Scarecrows fell to the Kelowna Knights in the second round of the playoffs after beating the Anaheim Outlaws in seven games in the wildcard round. The number eight seed going into the playoffs showed some resilience in the first round, going down 3 games to 2 to Anaheim and then fighting back to win the series. They hoped the same would happen against the #2 seed Knights, but they were not able to replicate the same magic as the first round and lost to the Knights in 6 games.

Going into season 49, the St. Louis Scarecrows had a whole lot of new faces in the locker room, having drafted 10 new skaters at the draft the team that took the ice in game 1 on the season had a much different look than season 48’s squad. Rookies like Yamamoto Mitsuharu, James Ronlain, Aron Hernadivic, Sasha Dangelchek, Flash Gordon and Shiqa Vitalievich immediately gelled with the Crow veterans, they came to the team hungry and ready to start getting to work. The veterans on the team were fresh off their 2nd Laufier trophy in the past two seasons but knew that there was work to be done to try and stay on the top of the standings for a third year in a row.

The Crows had lost winger Nicolas Flemming and star goalie Billy Sorkin to the SHL this past offseason, two big spots to fill in the St. Louis line up. Barrett Blackwood was the obvious choice to step into the open spot on the first line and rookie netminders Shiqa and re-signed Marques Brownlee were tasked with sharing the load in the Crows crease.

The season had it’s ups and downs, the Crows hovered around the .500 mark for the most of the season, ending with a final regular season record of 24-22-4, good for 8th spot. The Crows were once again led by team captain Nicolaj Muller, who anchored the top line of Mika Kandinsky and Barrett Blackwood. Muller led the entire league in points for the second year in a row, a feat that should not be looked at lightly. Blackwood had a career year playing alongside Muller and Kandinsky and Mika once again showed the league why he is considered one of the top centermen in the SMJHL.

On the blue line, the veteran Basil Magnicotta, playing in his fifth and final season had the best season of his career leading all defenders with a whopping 45 points. 2nd year and 2nd overall pick in last seasons SHL draft, Noah Brusky was paired with 3rd year Lyle Odelein III, the two made a very solid top pairing in the SMJHL, both defenders using their bodies, Noah laying out opponents (100 hits) and Odelein getting in the shooting lanes (65 blocked shots).

The Crows were cleaning out their lockers for the end of the season and we were able to steal a few minutes from Lyle Odelein III, alternate captain for St. Louis, here’s what he had to say.

Q: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us Lyle, we know that locker clear out day aren’t always the best days.

A: I guess that depends on when you’re cleaning them out. We’d be much happier if we were cleaning them out after winning the Four Star Cup!

Q: Fair enough! Can you tell us about your playoff run?

A: For sure, we played in the wildcard round for the first time since I have been here, we were matched up against Anaheim, the team that knocked us out of the playoffs two seasons ago. Some solid hockey was played on both sides, they had us up against the ropes after game 5, but we dug deep and pulled out two wins to win it in seven. It was a good win for us, a little bit of redemption from when they knocked us out.

Q: Next up was the number 2 seed, the Kelowna Knights. Walk us through this one.

A: We knew that Kelowna was a hell of a team, they were battling for top spot all season long, so we knew that we’d have to be on top of our game. And we were in game one. We stole one from them at home, something that we thought was a must, let them know that we were serious. We traded wins for the next couple of games, but they took control in game 5, just like the Outlaws did the series before. But this time we couldn’t pull the come back off. They played some great hockey, I wish them luck against Lethbridge.

Q: So, that was your playoff run, can you talk to us at all about the Crows regular season?

A: Of course, it was definitely a fun season. We got a whole lot of new players this past draft, a lot of new faces to start off the season. Some really great players, all of them are solid guys, we really got some steals in that draft. The season was a bit rough for us though. We struggled to get some consistent winning streaks. We showed some flashes of top tier hockey, but we weren’t able to get that consistency that we had the last two seasons.

Q: How do you feel the season went for you personally?

A: I thought I had an alright season. I got to play alongside Noah, which was so great. He is a great all around person and player. He is going to be a star, top notch guy. Playing with Noah, I had to alter my game a bit, Noah is a very physical player, so I didn’t have to focus so much on that part of the game. He was top ten in the league for hits and also took a lot of those penalty minutes that I had in S48, sorry about that Noah! One thing that followed me all season was my terrible shooting percentage. I thought I was taking solid shots, taking them when the opportunity was there, but for what ever reason, I just wasn’t able to get the puck to the back of the net. I feel that I could have helped us win a few more games in the regular season and especially in the playoffs. I dropped the ball there, and hope I didn’t let the team down too much…

This is where we break from the interview, while Lyle was talking about his season, his cell phone started ringing. He glanced at the phone, telling us he was going to let it go to message, but when he saw who was calling he excused himself and told us he had to take this and asked if we could finish this off later on.

We have since found out that that call was from the head office for the New Orleans Specters and that Lyle will be joining the team that drafted him 8th overall next season. We have also confirmed that Lyle does want to sit down with us again in the very near future to continue this interview and say his farewells to the city of St. Louis and the team that drafted him into the SMJHL.
Stay tuned!


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