3: Secret Plans (485 words)
After a late start and a tough season, Mintyukov has been looking at every way that he can elevate his game. Training hard and ensuring that he has what it takes to dominate the league in every aspect has been his first priority. Training his speed and physicality ensuring no breakaways are free. He has attached ankle weights to his skates and did laps. He would also film tiktoks in between these to send to his boy Leo Carlsson. After many laps with the ankle weights, Minty decided to drop them, the weights hit the ground hard with a loud bang, and visitors looked over to see what caused the noise. They saw Mintyukov speeding across the ice, back and forth, forth and back, speeding and gliding like skating was second nature to him. Once he had the speed down, he knew he had to get his stamina up, skating as fast as he could as long as he could and never slowing. Timing himself he would try to go as fast as he could for 4 minutes, once this became easy he added a minute. He would continue this to 8 minutes. Fully confident in his training regiment, he decided to focus his mind he needed to be able to predict his opponents. What better way to practice that then to enter a chess tournament. He started at a nearby park asking people to play with him and they did. At first he did not have such a great time, losing again and again. Then one game he saw it, the path to win. He started to move the pawns as a way to just block his opponents, and exhausting their resources, he knew he could apply this to the ice. His awareness was greatly increasing and did not seem to be slowing down. After the breakthrough he got back on the ice, playing some pick up games, these games he focused on exhausting his opponents, not giving them an inch, and he succeeded. Every transition into his zone, he hounded for the puck, placing his stick where he thinks they will go, shifting his body to allow the hit to be available to him no matter where they went. He wanted to be a brick wall that encased his opponents. Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide, Just Minty. When he was back home he would watch old game footage courtesy of Ottawa's finest, he watched game footage until he was exhausted, trying to see his own mistakes, seeing where he could do better and seeing when he did do better. He just knew there was something he could do to elevate his game mentally. Watching, learning, and remembering. He slowly learns his opponents more and more, learns how they play their favorite spots. Minty called up the Highlanders, and told them to meet him at a rink, they have some training to do. 

12: On the Radar (193 words)
With a late season start and no training camp, Pavel Mintyukov came into the season a little suddenly. He stumbled a bit but once he got it figured out, he looked great. Excelling in defensive categories and playmaking, Mintyukov would put up 20 assists, 42 takeaways, 86 blocks, and 90 hits. Mintyukov is a reliable defensemen who can help transitional starts the other way for his team. Having some of the most time on ice on his team, he is able to be out on the ice for a long time and contribute to many plays while also shutting some down. Some nights it can seem inconsistent on what Mintyukov will be more proficient at, and some nights he can really have an off night. The ceiling is high for this player but his floor needs to raise, if training camp goes well for them this year we hope to see more consistent games from him and a much sounder defense. If he can find that sweet spot in defense and offense, he could be a dynamic two way defensemen who can quarterback powerplays, while also shutting down plays on the Penalty Kill. 

Total: 678 words

18. S79 Milestones https://simulationhockey.com/showthread....pid3595135