Login

DilIsPickle · 03-18-2019, 07:47 PM

The juniors season is almost over and the Halifax raiders are in 7th place in the league. They have 43 points which isn't as much as the best teams, like Kelowna who has 56 points but all the teams make the playoffs so they don't have to worry about not making the playoffs. The season isn't as good as we wanted but our players are growing and have gotten more points than people thought. Troy Reynolds has the most points on the team with 29 which is pretty good. We have a great defense with Perry Morgan and Dominic Montgomery being awesome leaders there. Perry Morgan and Jimmy Slothface are probably my favorite teammates because they're leaders in the locker room and were drafted really high which made the whole team very proud and happy for them, especially since there were lots and lots of players in that draft. Andre Doskocil has been really good as well even though his name isn't recognized as much as the first two. He was also a high pick and he's starting to show why people liked him so much. My player Dylan Karlsson has been super underrated on the blueline though, I think nobody appreciates him enough. He is like the fourth best defender on the team but he has 20 points, which would make him the best defense guy on a lot of teams. Seven goals in the season proves that Dylan can score and he's turning into a player like Erik Karlsson, who he was named after. He is second on the team in blocked shots two and has a positive plus minus so he's really a good force for the team on the ice and has good defense too, not just scoring.

I think that Karlsson can really translate to the pros and maybe he will get called up Winnipeg next year. I've been training a lot more and am getting way better. I've gotten a lot of good advice on what stats to work on so he has really great skating, scoring, puck handling and defense. I'm going to work on endurance some too so that he can handle lots of minutes when he's goes pro. Karlsson can surprise people just like he did in juniors and being drafted super late isn't going to stop him. Winnipeg has a lot of great young players and Karlsson can be the next one to be a star for them. I think he's the absolute definition of a steal because he was very cheap for not just his juniors team but his pro team but now he's becoming good late and has gotten past 300 TPE now. He'll probably hit the 350 cap by the end of the year which will mean that he's gone past the limit for juniors. That will definitely be a sign that he is ready or close to being ready for the big show.

But for now he is playing for Halifax who has a great young defense. The defense is probably the best and strongest part of the team with all of the defense being really great players in every way from scoring to defense. This year they drafted Ender Zavala who has been making lots of progress and has 11 points as a rookie. We also have Nikolai Evans who was the top pick in last year's draft and it looks like he's only played a few games with us but he is having a great season with 24 points, I guess we traded for him recently or something? Actually because of Evans that means Dylan Karlsson is only the 5th best defender on the team which is actually sad, that's not top four like I used to be. I just saw that we had Nikolai Evans on the team now, that's new since the last time I checked the index. I didn't realize I was playing on the third pairing, but I hope I'm still important to the team. I want to make a difference and I've been working a lot with training so I don't want to just be taking up a roster space. I'm still on the power play I think so that helps with being an offensive defenseman and still chipping in. I think my shot is the best part of my game so I really want the opportunity to show how I can score and help win with that.

Anyhow we are definitely not the favorites as a team that's not high in the standings but with our defense we can have some upsets. The Raiders need to win this year because the players are growing up and most have near the cap. The playoffs might be here before the end of the month, they're probably soon. I'm not sure why every team makes the playoffs though because then what is the point of the regular season? I don't know but 8 team playoffs would probably be good and make the team more competitive. As far as I know it isn't every team makes the playoffs in the majors so SMJHL should be like the SHL there. Nobody likes missing the playoffs but someone has to lose really in the end so it makes sense to have a cutoff for making the postseason.

To end this article, after the Halifax season is over there will be some international hockey and I think I'm playing in the WJC and maybe the IIHF for Team Sweden. Winning a gold medal would be cool. I think it's fun to play with different guys from your regular season teams and get to know more people, and also you can get to play more with your country than your team sometimes, like in my case. Obviously USA and Canada are good teams but maybe Sweden can compete and surprise people the same as I hope Halifax will in the playoffs. I didn't really follow that stuff last year even though I was in it so this will basically be like my first time with the international hockey tournament. I'm pretty excited because I think the offseason and the next season are going to be a lot of fun for my players. The future looks really good for Dylan Karlsson in a lot of ways.