So, S58 is approximately a third of the way done. I thought this would be a good juncture to see how the new (improved?) look St Louis Scarecrows are stacking up.

St Louis have played 21 games, as of writing this article, and have an 8-13-0 record.  Doesn’t sound great, but a 0.381 win percentage is good enough to be 4th in the SMJHL Eastern Conference, ahead of Carolina and Maine, who are the surprise strugglers of the opening period of the season. It is also a better record than the team currently occupying the basement of the Weatern Conference, the Anaheim Outlaws. 

The Scarecrows are very much middle of the road in terms of goals scored. They are slightly above the average of 61.5 GF, at 66. They are a bit closer to the top end of the GA column, with 80. Only Carolina in the East (81) and Anaheim in the West (90) have had more goals scored against them. St Louis’ GA has been inflated by a couple of humbling performances where they have had a fairly sizeable number of goals put past them, including 2 games against Newfoundland where the Berserkers scored 7 and games against Kelowna and Anaheim, who scored the same number! Even some of their wins have seen them concede more goals than you’d like to see, if you’re a Scarecrows fan! Their 6-5 win in Vancouver would be a good watch as a neutral fan, but had a few more heart stopping moments than you’d like, if you’re cheering for either side! These big losses would maybe make you assume that St Louis are really struggling for results this season. You would be incorrect! One of the over-arching themes of this season has been an, at times maddening, inconsistency in results. They have a pair of shutouts,  against Vancouver in a 5-0 win and 4-0 against Newfoundland. They also have a 6-2 win over defending Four Star Cup champions Anchorage and a 7-4 win over Anaheim under their belts. When this team is on it, they are on it. But, too often, they will follow up a good win with a tepid performance, ruining any sense of momentum they had. For example, following that 6-2 victory in Alaska, they then went to Vancouver, who they shut out last time they met, and lost 2-3, followed by back to back losses to Kelowna. If they could keep their form up and put together a run of games where they are winning, as they have shown they’re capable of, the Scarecrows could charge up the conference standings.

Rather than breaking the team down to individual players, we will look at the areas of the team, with some reference to the individual players in each group:

Goaltenders
St Louis lost their regular number 1 goaltender in the off season, as Antonescu was called up to his SHL team, the San Francisco Pride, where he has slotted straight into the starting lineup! Confidence in the goaltending situation was high, going into this season. The new de-facto number 1, Kit Kirkstone, had looked outstanding in his limited number of appearances last season, backing up the departed Antonescu. They singed IFA Jack Lewis to back up Kirkstone, but it was expected that the new number 1 would carry the bulk of the load. Lewis made a surprise appearance, starting in goal against Newfoundland in the second game of the season and saved 33 of 33 shots against him, for a shutout! The Scarecrows picked up an active DFA goaltender, Iorek Byrnison, which has seen Lewis bumped down to emergency back up goalie. Kirkstone has not lived up to the high standards he set last season, unfortunately. During the regular season last season, Kirkstone made 15 appearances and had a GAA of just 2.63 and a save % of 0.918. This season, with him splitting time with Byrnison, he has played the same number of games at this point, 15. His stats, however, do not make for such nice reading! He currently has a save % of 0.887 and a GAA of 3.66, more than an extra goal per game. Byrnison has made 7 appearances, his numbers aren’t good, to put it bluntly, but that is to be expected from a brand new, out of the box rookie goaltender. He currently has a save % of 0.857 and a GAA of 4.63. You can see an improvement in how he plays every time he’s in goal, so it’s just a case of improving week on week, and he will be the starter in the future, for sure.

Defence
The big story, with regards to St Louis’ defence this season, is the trading away of last seasons SMJHL Draft 1st Overall pick, Jean-Locke Zidane. He was a revelation on the blueline last season for the Scarecrows. Not only was he consistently defensively solid, he also put up an astounding 29 points (5G, 24A) in the regular season, and another 5 points (3G, 2A) in the playoffs. He also led the team in Hits, with 178 in the regular season. The trade took the majority of the locker room by surprise. The Frenchman hadn’t indicated to any of his teammates that he was looking elsewhere, indeed he played the whole preseason with them and even their opening couple of games. The official line is that he wanted a change of scenery. Many believe, however, that it is more to do with the player wanting to be part of a team who can challenge for the cup, and who better than the defending champions?  With Anchorage, Zidane is still performing at an elite level in terms of defensive work, with a current average DGR of 87! His offensive production, however, has suffered somewhat. Through 20 games, he has scored 7 points, 1G and 6A. Still decent numbers, but not on the level of last season.

Coming to the defensive players actually in St Louis now! In the trade for Zidane, the Scarecrows got themselves a 6ft 4in Austrian blueliner, in the shape of Michael Withecheck. He came to St Louis, along with a first round pick in next seasons draft, in exchange for Zidane. Withecheck has an impressive pedigree, although this is likely his last season in the SMJHL, hence the 1st round pick that accompanied him. He has championship winning experience, and has been a steadying influence on the inexperienced defensive unit. With Zidane gone, the only surviving blueliner from last seasons roster is Daryl Urquhart. He is currently on the second defensive line, with rookie Dane Von Gucci. The pair have formed a good partnership, and are the current numbers 1 and 2 on the team in average ToI. Urquhart also leads the team, and indeed the league, in short handed ToI. This second line is also the most productive offensively. Urquhart currently has 11 points (5G, 6A) and Von Gucci has 5 (5A) for 16 points combined. The top line of Withecheck (2G, 5A, 7P) and another rookie, Ethan Bouchard (2G, 3A, 5P) have 12 points combined and the third (all rookie) pairing of Lucas Andrasak (3G, 2A, 5P) and Kaito Bouchard (no relation) (1G, 3A, 4P) have combined for 9 points. A decent amount of offensive production from all 3 lines, I’m sure you will agree. The third pairing is also very impressive in terms of their +/-c with Andrasak at +11 and K.Bouchard at +7. Urquhart and Von Gucci are at either side of zero, with +2 and -3 respectively. The top line not faring quite so well, with E.Bouchard on -3 and Withecheck on -6, but being on the top line, you’d be expected to be scored on more by the opposition too offensive lines! This a young defensive unit, that, with the exception of Withecheck, can grow together over the next couple of seasons, to become a real defensive powerhouse! There are no members of the captaincy group in the defence this season, after having captain Colin Lambert marshalling the defence last season. The rookies are in good hands with Withecheck and Urquhart, though.

Forwards
The forward corps for St Louis has come into the season a lot less depleted than their defensive unit. The biggest coup for them in the off-season wasn’t a signing as such, but persuading the New Orleans Specters to send down Xavier Doom for one more season! Taking over the captaincy from Lambert, since the latter was called up to Tampa Bay, Doom has led from the front in every conceivable way! He leads the team in Points, with 21 (6G, 15A) and is second in the entire league for Assists. He is centering the top line, with Ayers and Dobrovsky on the wings. They also are no slouches when it comes to scoring with 17 points a piece, 7G and 10A for Ayers, 5G and 12A for Dobrovsky. Doom and Dobrovsky also play on both the PP and PK units,with 4 and 6 PP Points respectively.
The second offensive line is another impressive trio, with Victor Fedorov centering Pavel Kharlamov and Friedensreich Hundertwasser. This is likely to be Kharlamov’s last season before moving up to the SHL, along with the entire first line! So they will have a rebuild, in the style of this year’s defence! Back inthe present however, Kharlamov is running Doom close in the race to be the teams top point scorer. The Russian winger currently has 20 points (12G, 8A), which makes him not only the top goal scorer on the team by a margin (Ayers is next with 7), but tied for most in the league with 2 other players. Looking at the other 2 players on this line, and looking at their stats for kart year, you’d expect this like to be almost comparable to the top line in production, yes? Unfortunately no. Both Fedorov and Hundertwasser, who is in his second season as Alternate Captain, are struggling somewhat with their offensive output. Fedorov, who centres this line, currently has 8 Points (4G, 4A), not terrible numbers, in fact pretty much on pace to replicate his overall scoring from last season, where he had 23 Points (6G, 17A), but ideally you’d want to see a step up in production. Hundertwasser is currently on pace to beat his rookie season Points total of 17, as he is currently on 7 points, through approximately a third of the season. The issue here is that all 7 of his points are assists. The Austrian winger is yet to light the lantern this season, despite having 43 shots on goal! Hundertwasser is too talented to carry on like this, and it’s only a matter of time before he hits the net. Who knows, once he’s broken the seal he might start banging them in!
Line 3 features 2 sophomore wingers, being centred by a rookie. New Alternate Captain Hunter Sharpe is on the left, with the Taskmaster himself, Greg Davies on the right, with Scooby Doo between them. They have been putting up some good number offensively, while playing third line minutes, with Sharpe leading the way on 13 Points (3G, 10A), Davies on 8 Points (4G, 4A) and Doo on an impressive 10 Point (5G, 5A), an excellent output for a rookie centre on the third line! Sharpe’s work as a playmaker has caught the eye, but something flying a bit more under the radar is the improvement in his defensive play, with an average DGR of 66! This is an impressive young line and shows that it’s not just the top 6 that teams have to plan for!
And last, but definitely not least, the all-rookie fourth line! Again, this is a line with a greater than expected offensive output! The line is centred by Brent Ashe, who currently has 3G and 4A for 7 Points. He is joined by his left winger, Joshua Horsemenzada, who has 1G and 5A for 6 points. The real standout on this line, however, has been the right winger, Lebron Brady. The big Jamaican was the ‘Crows 4th round pick in the SMJHL draft, and he is playing way above his stock. Currently sitting on 13 Points (4G, 9A), he is on pace for a 30+ point rookie season from the fourth line! That would be an outstanding result for both him and his team, but it relies on both Brady and St Louis keeping this run going. He’s a player that keeps teams on their toes, and takes advantage of opponents sleeping on the fourth line, assuming they are weak. 

Brady has also been a real leader in the locker room, along with Von Gucci, E.Bouchard, Ashe and Byrnison. The rookies are fitting in well with the existing players in the locker room. The morale among the team is solid, even when they’re losing. The players work with each other to find the best way forward, support each other when players have bad games, big them up when they have good games. There is a real strong spirit in the St Louis locker room. Hopefully it can propel them forward, into a run of good form that they can sustain. All the pieces are there for a successful season, including the addition of a new co-GM. Sparky gives new perspectives and adds some much-needed experience in a locker room that is currently brimming with rookies and sophomores. The future is extremely bright for St Louis. Once the rookies have some more experience, and TPE and that’s added to the guys who are already capped, this team will be a scary proposition in season to come!