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Snoopdogg · 04-27-2020, 10:34 PM

Hello once again A.J Rocks coming at you with the final edition of the regular season displaying the hottest rookies to hit the ice. As usual some familiar names make the cut but a new comer has hit the stage in terms of most points this week. Will be interesting to see come playoff time whether the usual suspects will have the same impact as they did during the regular season. Well that will be for another edition as we now dive right into it for this weeks greatest!

Most Points This Week

C- Matthew Forrester- Brought his "A" game this week, in 16gp he nearly managed going a point per game but fell short with a 15 point showing! 5g and 10 assists while whipping the net with 33 shots. Some extra time on the specialty teams as he also notches 7 points on the power play.

LD- Alexei Petrikov- No stranger to this list and a candidate for the ROTY award, played in 14 games and got 2 goals and 8 assists to show for it. Seems to be poloishing off his defensive game a bit with a +5 and 11 blocked shots this week.

LD- Bork Lazer- No slouch here as he also picks up 10 points to go with a +5 rating this week. Bork doubles down and a bit his teammate in the shot blocking department with 24 blocks and also contributed in the hit department with 30 hits this week alone!

RW- Kyle Sutton- Making a push in the points column here with back to back weeks making the charts. He also racked up 10 points this week bringing his season totals to an impressive 26 points.

LD- PBJ Souppan- A first time comer to the hot charts and he does in some style. Not so much in the point production although he did get half of his season total with 8 points. The young man displayed his mean streak or grit if you prefer this week, 27 hits, 26 blocked shots and 19 penalty minutes just for kicks! He also directed 20 shots on goal.

Honorable mentions: Kraken

Vitek Vitecek (8pts) Dwight Knight (7pts) Outlaws

Emila Bergman (7pts) Knights

Justin Keahi (7pts) Berserkers

Gavin Wallace (7pts)

Lets hit the leader boards chart for the season totals shall we?

Top10 Points
[Image: HCRgna1.png]

Top 10 Goal Scorer
[Image: 5tbWFgV.png]

Top 10 Assists
[Image: Kvy5C4z.png]

Top 10 +/-
[Image: Z0Fk7m9.png]

Top 10 PIM
[Image: QsiNUZG.png]

Top 10 PPP
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Top 10 SHP
[Image: lL1OfFp.png]

Top 10 SOG
[Image: Nzx76LI.png]

Top 10 Hits
[Image: EYwlf6G.png]

Top 10 Givers
[Image: rFv7cPb.png]

Top 10 Takers
[Image: jEQJ6J9.png]

Top 10 Shot Blockers
[Image: YIKAUIw.png]

This was a great season to follow with some outstanding talent putting themselves on display night n night out. I hope you have enjoyed this edition of the hot charts as I pass I over to my colleague with another great one on one featured interview done earlier this week. Enjoy!

This week, we sat down with Vitek Vitecek, a rookie winger for the Carolina Kracken. Vitecek has 12 goals and 14 assists so far this season, and has been showing off his sniping skills with a 21% shooting percentage. He is third in team scoring, and has played a huge role for the Kraken in his maiden season.

Q: Congrats on such a hot start so far in the league! As a third round pick, I am not sure anyone would have expected this of you - yet you are proving everyone wrong! Did you expect it?

A: A lot of projections had me going in the second round, 12OA. I won't lie... I was pretty disappointed when I dropped in the draft, but now I'm happy for it as I got to land in Carolina. I did expect a good performance from myself. Especially with Carolina. Most of their top guys got called up. I knew I would get the opportunity to shine. I'm really thankful to my GMs Trella and Fuzz for giving me the opportunity on top power play line. I am leading the league in power play goals so I think I paid back to them. I was selling myself on the draft as a top power play performer and I think I am living up to it. Also huge props to Velveteen and Wags, who were amazing to play with on that power play line.

Q: You absolutely have lived up to that billing! Not often a rookie gets top power play time... with all that opportunity, how much do you have your eye on rookie of the year?

A: Besides from making the playoffs that's all I can think of. I think it's a huge landmark and I think it would boost my draft rankings for the SHL. I want to win it. I'm fighting for it. Definitely. I think I also deserve it because playing on the bottom team I made so much, also playing with two other rookies on my line. Also scored 2 game winners. That one against Detroit with 13 seconds left in the game. And then another one against some other team with minute left. And if we make the playoffs? That was the difference. I think I proved that at least I should be in talks for it.

Q: I remember that one against Detroit too well... not my fondest memory, but I imagine it was a big moment for a rookie such as yourself!
As a really young team in Carolina, it’s difficult to know how you guys will perform. How has your team performance measured up to your expectations?

A: The GMs and captain told us that start of the season is going to be rough. They weren't wrong. I wasn't really optimistic about the first half of the season too. We all knew that once we would start to get better as players we were gonna rise in the standings. Right now we are racing for that playoff spot. I think that so far we are doing as I expected. I also expect us to make the playoffs, though. So we will see how that prediction will go.

Q: Well it seems like it is a dogfight between Carolina and Maine in the race for the last playoff spot in the East.

Looking a little further ahead to the SHL draft: where do you see yourself going? Any teams you really want to end up with?

A: So far only one scout approached me and it was really nice to talk with him, that seems like a good destination. Like I told him, I want to end up on team that has spot for a LW sniper. Apart from that I would be cool with LA or Tampa because there are some familiar faces from Carolina already. There's just one team I would really hate to go to, but I don't really want to specify it. Realistically I think I could be an early second round pick. But you never know, especially after I dropped in SMJHL draft. Oh and New Orleans, they have sick logo and jerseys, can't forget them.

Q: Fair enough! You mention that you want to be a LW sniper... is there an SHL or SMJHL player you look up to and are modelling your game after?

A: No. I make my own way. My own destiny. I don't pretend to be anyone. I am one of a kind. I have my own style. I bring something new to the table. You get the idea.

Q: I like it! One last question: what are your goals for your player? Want to break records? Win things? What drives you when you get to the rink every day?

A: First I want to win the cup in SMJHL, what we have in Carolina deserves the cup and everyone is willing to put in the work. Obviously I'd love to break the record for most goals scored, but let's be real, chances of that are not pretty high. That doesn't mean I won't work hard for it. Of course I will try! And I would love to grab the rookie of the year trophy because I always seen something in it. I think it's quite rare to win it, quite the achievement. You have only one shot at it. No one knows you, no one expects anything from you because it is your first year and you suddenly become the best player of your class. And with this great class with a lot of great names like Sondergard, who still didn't live up to the expectations but wait a few years, Matt Sawful, who I feel like is one of the most deserving for the trophy too, Laforest has been playing really good so far, Fantobens, who has the benefit of being on a stacked team but would still do great on any other, Bloomey... he is the most underrated rookie I think, he deserves much more credit or even my teammate Dwight Knight who plays amazing. It's a really good class and to earn trophy among these names would be so amazing.

I like to give myself short-term goals. I make a list of things I want to do for the season and concentrate on those, that's what drives me when I get to the rink. Filling those goals, they are small steps to a potentially successful career. So far it works for me. I wanted ten goals, that's a check, I wanted to make playoffs, we'll see about that and I want that rookie of the year, we'll also see about that. I really hope that I won't lose out on it with reasoning, that I wasn't on a good enough team, I feel like that could be quite unfair, but I'd have to move on unfortunately. So far I think it's still realistic to fulfill all my goals for this season.

Q: Awesome - thanks so much for being a great interviewee! Good luck with the rest of the season, and playoffs if you make it!

A: Thank you too, it's been awesome!

(1970 words split pay 50/50 with @"reid_sutherland")

MegaSkuci · 05-03-2020, 01:22 PM

Thanks for interviewing me, it was fun!

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