Championship Week


Task #1 - 3 TPE

The Anchorage Armada are the team in greater need of help. They have the inactive sub-200 TPE Leon Doucett playing for them at one center position. Sisyphus would certainly be an upgrade. However, I don’t believe that Sisyphus would make much of an impact on the outcome. Newfoundland is a powerhouse team with the core of their roster loaded with S61 through S63 players. The point of that is this: Not only are the Berserkers the clear favorites to win a Championship this season, they are the favorites in all seasons to come, until cracks in their roster begin to appear. The Armada, on the other hand, have over half their roster filled with inactive players. The Armada also have a roster that will need to turn over soon with so many S59 and S60 players on the roster.

The Berserkers have a great locker room and are a destination of choice. They are dominant. The addition of one very good rookie center, would not change that fact for the Armada.


Task #4 - 2 TPE

The Faces of the Franchises: Emeril Lagasse vs Spack Jarrow

First of all, I love a good player name. Both of these players have that going for them. I give the slight edge to Jarrow, however. That edge comes from the few times that I have come across his signature. It just makes me smile.

Getting to their performance on the ice, more is asked of Sparrow, since he is playing on a weaker team. Jarrow averaged 19:05 of ice time versus 17:48 for Lagasse. They finished with very similar in point production, with Lagasse ending the regular season with a two point edge over Jarrow. Jarrow also coughed up the puck a bit too often for my liking. Jarrow had three more hits than Lagasse. These players are so similar that I refuse to pick a favorite. I’m even willing to bet that Lagasse buys a yacht with his first SHL contract and that Jarrow knows his way around the galley. This one ends in a tie.


Task #7 - 3 TPE

In an alternate universe, the St Louis Scarecrows played the Detroit Falcons in an NCAA tournament style play-in game for the right to enter the SMJHL playoffs as the 12th seed. Based on the match up during the regular season, the Scarecrows would have dominated the Falcons. The Falcons won the first game of the regular season, but the Scarecrows improved after some tactical changes by the coaching staff. In addition, the Scarecrows had more improving players through the course of the season than the Falcons. That led to the Scarecrows coming from behind early in the season to overtake the Falcons in the standings, while dominating the regular season series. I believe that a best of five play-in would have ended with the Scarecrows winning 3-0.

I want to point out however, that the story may be different in S63. Detroit is not losing many good players this coming offseason, while St Louis is losing 4 or 5 of their best players this offseason. The Scarecrows war room has its work cut out this offseason to avoid a fall. They need more than their strong S63 rookie class to do so.


Task #8 - 3 TPE Analysis of your rookie season

I went into my rookie season in the SMJHL with the understanding that I would need to work my way up from the very bottom. In my first season, my greatest focus was on improving my TA/GA ratio. I was able to achieve that goal, seeing the ratio improve from about 0.10 to 0.67. Given the poor performance through the first half of the season, I may have turned the ratio to 1.0 or better over a stretch of games leading to the end of the season.  Point production was secondary to me, but did also begin to lift toward the end of the season. The acceleration was barely detectable, as I finished with only 12 points on the season.

I expected to be more of a playmaker than a scorer and had become about a 4 stars out of 5 passer in the SMJHL by the end of the regular season. Yet I finished with 7 goals and 5 assists. I’m explaining this as the result of a combination of two causes. The first cause would be just random bounces and luck. The second would be that I am considered already to have high bravery. I did want to play a simple style of dishing to better shooters and then driving to the net for rebounds. Maybe that plan is working to some degree.


Task #10 -3 TPE Looking ahead to S63

The Scarecrows begin the offseason knowing that they have already lost some core players. I’m amazed that Marcel Beck is still listed with the team. The Scarecrows have a solid foundation with 5 quality defensemen on the roster, including my S63 classmate, Rolf Kohonen, who should hit the sophomore cap early in the season. Vincent Catalano is also part of the foundation as a quality goaltender. The losses in the offseason have been to the Scarecrows already weak forward corps. Inactive forward Sam Stone is the leader among Scarecrows forwards in TPE, assuming that the S59 class needs to move on. S62 rookie, Sisyphus Embros is left as the top TPE player after Stone, and Embros should catch stone by the SHL draft. This shows just how empty the forward cabinet is for the Scarecrows.

The Scarecrows will need to add a couple of quality players in the SHL draft as task number one. There is further room for improvement if some of the 7 sub-200 TPE players on the roster can be upgraded through free agency. If the Scarecrows fail at both tasks, the Detroit Falcons will overtake them and the Scarecrows will miss the playoffs next season. To the extent that they succeed, the Scarecrows could either manage to tread water in S63, or begin a slow climb up the league standings.


Task #12 - 3 TPE  Draft Scouting Report

In my opinion, the SHL draft comes too early, since the players drafted in S63 should not make the SHL until S66 or even S67.  However, the SHL and SMJHL drafts broadcasts might just be the highlight of every season. The production values have definitely improved in the 5-6 years that I was absent. It’s with that in mind that I’m excited for both drafts. I care less about where I am personally drafted, than to just pop some popcorn, sit back and enjoy the shows. With this introduction to my mindset about the drafts, I’ll get to my scouting report.

In evaluating an SHL prospect, one thing matters far above all else:

Perseverance and Staying Power: In this very important attribute I need to give myself 2 out of 5 stars since I have retired twice in the past before establishing myself as a player who belonged in the SHL. I see hope to break through this time, with younger players being a bit more viable now that we spend greater time in the SMJHL before making the jump to the SHL. Still, I need to grade myself on facts rather than conjecture.

LR Presence: I’m a constant in the locker room. I’m not the leader, but I’m supportive and would be part of the core group in almost any organization.

Career Progression: I see myself growing into additional roles if I make it over the hump of the first three seasons in the SHL. I own FHM and could play test. Ultimately, I could see myself as a Co-GM somewhere in the SHL or SMJHL.

Evaluating the Player on the Ice: I’m building toward being a solid two-way player. This is a work very much in progress, but I believe that I’m on the right track. I believe that player development is about 60 percent on the individual player, and about 40% on the relationship between the individual player and teammates, linemates and the coaches and GM. The 60% comes from my own strong opinions. However, I do listen to advice. I want the team and my line particularly to succeed. A large part of the fun for me is creating a team or a line with complementary skills.

Interesting Fact: Sisyphus Embrose led all SMJHL players in S63 with Short Handed Ice Time with 3:19 minutes per game.

->Milestones +3 TPE<-


Total of 20 TPE with a maximum gain of 16 TPE