[WC: 871, Ready for Grading]

A quick log to earn media money and dollars while detailing the Captain of the Carolina Kraken's thoughts on the games so far. As this is preseason we will just see how it goes, and potentially give it some tweaks afterwards. I will probably not get to all of our games in this first installment, but we will get there eventually. In fact, four games is probably good. Leaves eight others, so we will see what happens.


Carolina Kraken, Game 1, versus Anchorage Armada. This was a brutal way to open the season, a disappointing 1-6 loss. While understandable considering the respect the Anchorage Armada deserve after the last season. Our only goal was the first of the season and the game, by Tom Fiddler who was assisted by Ricky Bobby and Stirling MacTavish at 5:21. This was a surprising one as it was a short handed goal, so kudos to you Fiddler for that one. Anchorage tied it up six minutes later on another PP, and would refuse to relinquish the lead. Putting up three more in the second period and two extra in the third, this was a brutal way to start the season. Taking many penalties didn't help much, definitely denied us the chance to go on the offensive and take the game back by storm. While it looks bad on the box, this is no time to panic. It's only preseason and this team has the potential to continue to grow and improve constantly.

Carolina Kraken, Game 2, versus St. Louis Scarecrows. Still a loss, back to back L for the Kraken, but much closer than the last one. This was a turn of events from the last game, with Carolina getting five opportunities on the power play but converting exactly zero of them. While our own penalty kill off half of the ones we took at one out of two attempts, the team stats were close overall. Same amount of face off wins which is huge for the guys, and we had double the blocked shots and half the penalty minutes. Still a loss, but improvement is already showing. Preseason is a great time for our newer guys to get out there and show what they can do, and I am certainly excited to see how they can contribute to the team.

Carolina Kraken, Game 3, versus the Vancouver Whalers. Carolina was out for blood on this one, coming off a two game loss streak and facing the team that bounced us in the Four Star Cup Playoffs last season, we came in hard and fired back every chance we got. Gave up the first goal early, but got two in quick succession of each other at 10:18 and 13:35. Wilhelm Schumacher got his assisted by Erik Johansson and Velveteen Dream got another on the board thanks to help from Jimmy Wagner and Stirling MacTavish, the latter with his second assist of the preseason. Got two more in the second, Ricky Bobby setting people up for days as he assisted Jimmy Wagner's first of the preseason as well as Alexei Rykov's for Bobby's third assist. Last goal went to the Whalers on their power play, and nothing much happened in the third. Penalty kill has been steadily improving, but we are still taking too many penalties as a whole. However, I'll take it, this team has bigger fish to fry and aspects to improve as the season continues and discipline will be increasing eventually. I have faith in this team.

Carolina Kraken, Game 4, versus the Colorado Raptors. God this was a mess, eight power plays in the game, and yet only one goal in the end. I got the Kraken on the board thanks to the wonderful teammate of Kenny Creller early in the third on the power play. Penalty kill and our special teams definitely keep improving and I am certainly proud of them so far. We killed off all five of the attempts and massive shout out to Mike Hroch for the shutout on all 24 shots faced. This team can definitely still work on our discipline, but like said previously our focus is on bigger and better things right now. With our new guys getting out there more and more the older vets can show them how to hit and hit right. We already have experts like Kenny Creller crushing people and getting away with it, Carolina has always had the skills to play physically to overpower our opponents. Why should this season be any different? 

At the end of this installment this puts the record of the Carolina Kraken at 2-2, with displays of both dominance and disappointment. Improvement is certainly on the board as we grow and bring the new guys up and everyone improves across the board. I'm impressed with some of our showings already, and I know some of these guys are destined to accomplish great things in their career. The SMJHL is a volatile and constantly changing league, absolutely anything can happen here. I can not wait to see where these guys go. Go Kraken.