For my second deep dive, I wanted to analyze the preseason performance and current roster of the Maine Timber and talk about what that might mean for them during the season ahead. Unfortunately, the Timber lost 8 players to SHL call ups this offseason, meaning almost all of their third line, and much of their second are filled by rookie players or IFA players. The team’s first line is pretty solid, with an average TPE of just around 485. This includes forwards Johansson, Seppanen, and Maple, defensemen O’Duck and Gatez, and goalie Foryou. After that however, the lines start to get significantly weaker with average TPE of the second and third lines between 195 and 280 depending on how the final lines shake out. Let's take a look at the Timber’s preseason performances: The Timber started off with a loss, 5-3 to the Kelowna Knights. Their highest scoring game of the preseason, with goals by Johanssen, Seppanen, and Maple. One of the biggest issues the Timber had was their paltry 13 SOG compared to the Knights 47. This is an issue that will continue to haunt the Timber throughout the preseason. The Timber’s second game was another loss, this time 3-2 to the Detroit Falcons. Center Dogwood Maple continued to show his skills with his second goal of the preseason, while defenseman Sean Gatez added one of his own. Again, the Timber were outshot by a large margin, this time 16-47. The Timber hoped to come out of their preseason slump with a win over the Vancouver Whalers in their next game, but instead were ‘whaled’ on for another loss, 5-1. Defenseman Bud Light Lime Bud Light Lime managed his first goal, but again the Timber just couldn’t get a meaningful number of shots on goal, getting outshot in this game 43-15 by the Whalers. The next game was a rematch against the Knights and the Timber again fell short, this time in a 5-0 walloping. Unsurprisingly, the Timber still couldn’t manage to get a good number of SOG, with 13 in this game compared to Kelowna’s 49. The next game, this one against the Berserkers, was a predictable loss, 3-0 to “New Finland.” Again, the Timber were outshot 32-18. The final two preseason games were a 7-2 loss to the Carolina Kraken, and a 3-2 loss again to Newfoundland. There was a glimmer of hope there in the final game, but unfortunately the Timber were unable to pull it out. The preseason ended with an unfortunately 0-7-0 record for the Timber. The Timber only managed a total of 115 shots on goal for the whole preseason. So, what went wrong, and what can Timber do to avoid getting mauled like this in the regular season? Well, not a ton, unfortunately. The biggest issue is the team’s youth, and that can only be overcome by time and dedicated earning by the team’s rookies. Fortunately, most appear to be regular earners, with 6 of the team’s rookies already over 200 TPE. Another bright spot are the teams goalies. Both veteran goalie Foryou and rookie goalie Oath posted SV% right at .900 or above. Unfortunately, with the sheer number of shots against them, goals were and are bound to be scored. As the season progresses and the players get better, they will be able to both take more shots and prevent more shots, hopefully giving their goalies a bit of a break. Unfortunately, this season appears to be a bit of a rebuild for the Timber, but they have a bright future for the next couple seasons ahead.

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Approved +5 TPE @ZootTX