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DeletedAtUserRequest · 07-12-2017, 10:44 PM

Walking into Kelownas discord locker room is a real treat for those who havent been their. Membership includes the current roster, a big group of the more recent alumni and the oldies all represented in the conversations.. all proud of there mark made on this franchise and all treated as 1 big team. I forget at times that some of our members are not on the current roster!

There are a few things you notice when you become Knight. First is that there are a lot of angry players out there wishing your team ill! especially those who played in the juniors during the 30's where Kelowna dominated... These people roam around the site yelling at us like traumatized war vets!

Another thing you notice here is that winning isn't a goal, it's a right of passage. Were expected to do well and not much thought goes into it otherwise...

I came in last season on what could be considered the tail end of a historic roster. Stars like Alex Light, Vasiliy Horvat, Samee Iqbul, Cara Honenberg and Corey Knouse had just moved on, enjoying the success of back to back 4 star cup championships in 31 and 32 and almost making it a 3rd in 33 as they lost in-game 7 of the finals. But we still had some star power remaining with John Langabeer, Leafer Rielly and Sabastian Thompson. Highly skilled highly active veterans who were ready to lead the way. We struggled with depth issues throughout the season but ended up 23-17-10, making the playoffs and taking the Falcons to a game 6 in the opening round. a team who ended up winning the SMJHL championship. For the most part I thought we had a good season inspite some glaring weakness.

Season 35 saw the departure of Leafer Rielly. An important piece of a top-heavy team which a Mike Izzy was looked at to fill the void. there was also promise from the Reddit draft which produced Sami Owens and Clint Eastwood who were already apart of our locker room and rookies Nour Harrack and Mercer Church who came in to the LR active and engaged.

Things began promising! preseason and into the early part of the regular season had Kelowna near the top of the standings while on a personal note Izzy was dominating the ice! I was getting the bulk of Leafers shots and has turned into a good side kick to Langabeer as the teams goto guys. Times were good! and the team was happy!

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The Losing Streak:

I think the worry began around our 5th straight loss. The new weekly updates took effect and our offense stayed behind. Much of our scoring was based around Langabeer and Izzy and when we started to slow down our box scores got ugly. Coaches began moving players around to try to find some cohesion within our lineup, But that only made things worse! our offense went from bad to abysmal as we got shut out 3 times over the next 5 games!

Trying to find ways to change our luck i through things into the kelowna bon fire, I kidnapped Marty the mammoth and through his ass into the fire too!.. but nothing worked.. we were awful! and before we knew it Kelowna was staring at a horrific win less streak. After 10 straight losses we finaly won a game,, The team took a collective sigh of relief that the streak was over.... and than we lost 6 more!

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The following day Colorado beat us like a step child as we endured our 14th loss out of 15 games which was capped off by the raising off the white flag... as news hit our locker room that team captain John Langabeer was traded to St. Louis for a draft pick.

Trading your team captain sent a profound message to everyone.. (Message being that we f**king sucked) and Beer had the unfortunate task of turning off the lights on us on his way out.

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The reality hit our locker room pretty hard. Many in that LR had never been apart of a Kelowna team that gave up in the middle of a season so there really wasnt any words to offer. It got a bit quiet in there for a day or 2.. During that time i noticed that with so many people from different eras conversing you can easily forget that our top 3 lines had 2 maxed out forwards, 3 low TPE inactives and 4 rookies.. I was one 1 of the two maxed players on a line with a 230 inactive and a prized rookie who began with a 181 build. I guess the warning signs were there.

With Langabeer gone, losses in 15 of 16 and and just 19 games left.. the rats came out of the woodwork! comments began to surface on the site.. the jokes about our season appeared and podcasts about a long rebuild coming were posted!

Picking up the pieces:

it was now Izzys turn to take the wheel and i had no plans of sitting on my tail.. and luckily lots of my team mates weren't ready to pack it in either.. so over the next few days we started working through this.. I spoke with the team about making these assholes pay for our losing streak.. and the quickest way for that to happen is for our rookies to get stronger! Eastwood, Harrak, Owens and Church parked themselves in PGS that week.. while coaches EJ and Jenny began working on the reinvention of our lineup and a new strategical plan forward.

It was also around that time when Nour Harrics team uniforms were completed which gave us a unifying item to rally around... Nour and Fedor were also given the 'A' as each had stepped up to become vocal guys within the clubhouse.

That Monday showcased a new Kelowna team with 3 new lines, a change in strategics and a big TPE boost from the hard work put in post trade. The results were two 1 goal victories! The following day we won 3 of 4 points and the day after that we split our 2 games but finally beat Colorado who had swept the series to that point. We werent pretty out there but we were picking our spots and moving past all the losing.

New players emerged in this offense. Mercer Church moved up to the 2nd line and instantly became an offensive threat! Eastwood, Fedor and Sami Owens began to chip in points from our defensive unit and Nour Harricks potential finally began to resonate in the box scores. Pre trade Izzy was putting up MVP type numbers, but i saw a significant dip in production under these changes. The days of getting 8 shots a game in this offense was over and i had to adjust my thinking on what was a good game for Izzy in this system.

Im not sure if everyone was convinced we would make the playoffs after being written off. but some felt it coming.

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'Will 2 Win' began surfacing in our locker room as we began a series of small winning streaks.. this got the LR's attention as the intensity in the clubhouse began to rise!

New sidekicks:

Nour Harracks first half was frustrating, he put a ton of TPE into his offense early on leaving himself exposed to certain dangers on the ice. He spent the better part of the the 1st half working hard too correct his build. Our winning streak coincided with those adjustments beggining to work and with a week remaining on our schedule.. the monday updates left us a new dangerous weapon on the ice! Church and Andrewjeck were playing at a high level, but Harricks emergance helped take the shackles off of Izzy...

It may have come late but Kelowna now had a line which could dominate and an offense that could score... and from there we took off! 9 of our next 12 games were wins as we shot back up the standings passing the Detroit Falcons on game number 193 and clinching a playoff spot on the final day of the season!

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Ill let the league historians argue this, but I believe that the Kelowna Knights just completed the greatest comeback in SMJHL history. We came back from the dead because we had no interest in losing. Its been an honor to play on this team and for this franchise...as we move into post season to win the 4 Star Cup.

Will > Skill
Will 2 Win

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1429 words

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dnL · 07-12-2017, 10:47 PM

Such a brutal losing streak could only be undone by such a great hockey team! Knights

sash · 07-12-2017, 10:49 PM

#willoverskill

Jenny · 07-12-2017, 11:01 PM

Slappydoodle · 07-12-2017, 11:16 PM

Once a Knight, always a Knight. Cheers

GKG!

Clint Eastwood · 07-12-2017, 11:26 PM

WILL TO WIN

nour · 07-12-2017, 11:32 PM

This team doesn't quit, and we're far from finished after that second half. We're bringing this heat into the playoffs too, see you there Montreal!

**First GM in SMJHL history to win 3 Four Star Cups back-to-back-to-back**

Muerto · 07-13-2017, 03:55 AM

GKG!

XLeafer · 07-13-2017, 07:39 AM

WILL TO WIN! #GKG

Pope [Leo] · 07-13-2017, 10:53 AM

God willing this celebration isn't premature Ninja

DeletedAtUserRequest · 07-13-2017, 11:25 AM

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Next stop, Montreal!

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XLeafer · 07-13-2017, 12:44 PM

Quote:Originally posted by Candrews@Jul 13 2017, 09:53 AM
God willing this celebration isn't premature

First of you have 9 points so you shouldn't be talking. Second the knights were 13 points out of the spot and still made it, believe St Louis don't have the ability to achieve that. It's always a celebration to make the playoffs.

Alucard · 07-13-2017, 12:58 PM

Pope [Leo] · 07-13-2017, 03:37 PM

Quote:Originally posted by XLeafer@Jul 13 2017, 12:44 PM

First of you have 9 points so you shouldn't be talking. Second the knights were 13 points out of the spot and still made it, believe St Louis don't have the ability to achieve that. It's always a celebration to make the playoffs.

First off*, I was hoping KEL would keep winning. Also, my nine points seems to have beat your rookie season's 2 points. But hey, at least your weak ass was carried to two Four-Star Cups. We didn't need to "have the ability to achieve that" because we're not a shit team that had to fight for playoff contention.

Have fun getting shit on by the North Stars, by the way. It's a shame you won't be carried to a Challenge Cup as well. 'Fuck outta here with your brokeback mountain baby dick.

Zombiewolf · 07-13-2017, 04:02 PM

Quote:Originally posted by Candrews@Jul 13 2017, 02:37 PM

First off*, I was hoping KEL would keep winning. Also, my nine points seems to have beat your rookie season's 2 points. But hey, at least your weak ass was carried to two Four-Star Cups. We didn't need to "have the ability to achieve that" because we're not a shit team that had to fight for playoff contention.

Have fun getting shit on by the North Stars, by the way. It's a shame you won't be carried to a Challenge Cup as well. 'Fuck outta here with your brokeback mountain baby dick.

Thank you Brandon, Fish, GeckoeyGecko, Karey, Kit, takethehorizon, and Ragnar for the sigs!
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