This PT is ONLY for S72 SMJHL Rookies (S73 SHL Draftees, aka anyone who just got drafted to the SHL, not SMJHL)
Sorry about the delay S73ers! We missed a PT for you last season, so we are making it up now!
With one season already flying by, let's take a deep breath and step back for one second here.
Task: You just played out your very first season in the SMJHL to start a new chapter in your career. Overall, how would you say you performed in your rookie season? Did you meet expectations you set for yourself individually? What do you need to improve on for next season? Were there any glorious moments that will forever be enshrined in your memory? (150 words min.)
You will receive 4 TPE for fulfilling all the requirements.
Only S72 SMJHL Rookies (S73 SHL Draftees) are eligible for this PT.
Deadline: Tuesday, October 3rd @ 11:59 PM PST
Finally, as this will be the last SMJHL PT you will do, on behalf of the SMJHL PT Team, I'd like to congratulate you all for completing the first season of hopefully many great ones. We wish you best of luck in your future careers!
My first season in the SMJHL was up and down, both individually and for the team. We, in Regina, started out very strong and honestly looked quite formidable. We racked up the wins and our players were putting up very solid numbers. Once the half way point hit, though, things started going down hill. For some reason, we just lost our mojo. There were lots of times we thought we were getting it back, but it never materialized. We flamed out of the post-season in disappointing fashion.
As for myself, I was upset with my performance when the season ended. I just thought I lost a step at one point and didn't do a job job getting back on track. I racked up some decent numbers, but they almost felt empty in a way. I had 124 hits and 131 shot blocks, but that was because we didn't have the puck a lot when I was on the ice.
However, looking back at my numbers now after some time to reflect, I don't think they were that bad for a rookie defenceman. It's a tough position to just come in right away and be good, but there was some bright spots to take away from it. Scoring 10 goals is a great feat for a rookie blue liner and keeping a positive plus/minus is nothing to scoff at either. I did lay the body a lot as well and helped my goalie out with the shot blocks. Was it a successful season? No, but there was good in there and definitely something to build off for my sophomore season.
The main focus for my player in a developing season was to surpass the 17 points. His father, Viktor Marius put up. Going into the season the Falcons were not expected to do well in the standings because they were in a full rebuilding phase. However, the positive outcomes of the preseason may have left some unrealistic expectations for the team who believe that they could keep up with the powerhouses of the SMJHL.
Prince Marius completed the season scoring close to 40 points in his rookie campaign, far surpassing his father’s rookie season even though the Falcons were statistically the worst team in the league for goals against, Prince Marius ended the season in the top 25 of the league for offensive game rating. Prince Marius, his ability to play the transitional game and put pressure on the opposing team leaves a lot of hope for the future of his career as the rebuilding falcons look to build off their development year and craft, a dynasty of success for the years to come.
By far the highlight of my rookie year was tying for second in PIMs in the entire league. We certainly learned von Stoodrick plays a little bit mean. 20 of these PIMs were for unsportsmanlike conduct. It seems like unfortunately for him, the refs understood some Czech curse words.
That aside, I think overall he performed well during the season, scoring points that are about average compared to the rest of the rookie defenseman. It felt low in the moment as the season was progressing, but in retrospect I'm proud he produced as much as he did, and I'm excited to see how he does in the upcoming seasons. He was heavily played, playing something like 22+ minutes a night, and in the upcoming seasons for the Berzerkers, he's only gonna be played more with the expectation of quarterback in the power play. With that in mind I'd like to improve on his puckhandling and overall play reading abilities. I think these would be huge for making a more lethal power play.
Coming into my rookie season, my main goal was to elevate myself over our inactive players. Unfortunately, we had quite a few at the start of the season. By season end, I had moved up from the 3rd line to the 2nd and also eclipsed some of the inactives as far as TPE goes. Perhaps I set the bar a little too low for myself there. As far as personal milestones, I did not have anything specific. I knew we were a struggling team, and wasn’t sure what playtime I would have. Ideally, I'm responsible with defensive assignments to limit opposing team opportunities while also enabling my teammates to make plays. Had pretty limited offensive stats, but I’m not necessarily disappointed there. I put some TPE into some offensive categories this off season and feel good about where they are at for this new 350 capped season. Happy I got the one goal at least. For this next season, I would like to see some payoff in those offensive stats but I don’t think I value that above being a solid defender. I’d rather have those skills so we can capitalize on chances, and then create those chances out of sound defensive play. I’m capped for the year, so looking at being a little more physical for next year (S74).
Kristian Seppanen had a mediocre first season in the SMJHL - however, it's likely all up from here. The highlights of Seppanen's season included 20 points, with a 5.4:1 Takeaway:Giveaway Ratio, and a solid 178 blocked shots. However, despite what on the surface was a lacklustre season, Kristian Seppanen did some pretty impressive things and glimmers of greatness shined through.
In his rookie season, Kristian Seppanen set the rookie all-time shots blocked record for the Yukon Malamutes, crushing the record previously set by Pablo Pombo by 42 blocked shots. Seppanen also finished top 10 in the league for blocked shots. This is a record Kristian Seppanen expects to hold on to for a reasonably long time. Furthermore, Kristian Seppanen achieved an amazing feat - scoring 0 goals in 66 games played. Seppanen was the only player to do so this season, and Seppanen looks to continue this record into the next season. But Seppanen's greatest moment of immortality was in game 1 of the playoffs, where Kristian Seppanen's first career goal was a game winning goal to open the Malamutes' strong playoff run - this is a goal he will remember for his entire career.
In the offseason, Seppanen's focus has been on improving his defensive game, and focusing on his playmaking opposed to his scoring. The goal this season is to continue his regular season scoreless drought, and hopefully come in first with most shots blocked. Long-term, Seppanen aims to win an award for best defensive defensemen, or best defensemen overall.
I believe Bobby Tkachuky had a pretty good season overall. Bobby meet his expectation to an extent, even though he definitely has bitter taste in his mouth. Bobby always wanted to be a point per game player and failed to reach that by 1 point. So despite having a good season for a rookie Bobby is disappointed he performed not the best at the end of the year and fell under the point per game total and that the fact Bobby didn't perform up to expectation in the playoffs definitely leaves Bobby craving more. Bobby's favorite moments are when Yukon made a run to the semi finals and loved having back to back 3 point nights to send Vancouver home. Bobby's other highlight was at the SHL draft when he got taken 8th overall by the Toronto North Stars. Bobby didn't really think he would be picked so high and expected to ether go 10th to Chicago or 11th to Texas. Bobby's goals for the next season are to actually be a point per game player why helping lead new rookies and to finally end Maine in the playoffs.
As Ubba Lodbrok, from Copenhagen, Denmark, who signed with the Anchorage Armada in the Simulation Major Junior Hockey League has finished up his first season, he has some thoughts on how he did and how he needs to work on something to improve. Of course, it's the rookie season and it's tough out there for a guy like Ubba Lodbrok. He hasn't played on North American ice before, so that was a transition. Luckily he landed in a town and state that, at least weather wise, was very similar to him. While his birth certificate says Copenhagen, it's hard to pin point exactly where Ubba Lodbrok was raised. So, it was decided early on that Copenhagen would be his "hometown". Anyways, I digress, his first season saw him play mostly on the 3rd or 2nd line, and for that he's grateful. He needs to up his physical play a bit, and his speed. Going back and forth on North American ice is tough, and everyone is so fast that he needs to catch up.
Honestly, this season went pretty well for Lily Jin Morrow. Being a late create, I had a lot of ground to cover, and only played a little over half of my games this season. However, I was still able to hit some milestones, as I had a large amount of hits (approx. 4 per game!), a great +- percentage on the ice (26!) and almost as many points as I had games played - pretty good for a brand new player with little experience.
I'm excited to get drafted to the New England Wolfpack, as the locker room is really active and everyone has been friendly so far. I hope my player is able to contribute both in the junior and major leagues, and I will do my best to improve on this year.
The Whalers had a very solid season after adding me, finishing 2nd overall in the regular season. Sadly, we bowed out pretty early in playoffs, but I have no doubts that this team will continue to show up and show out moving into future seasons!
I will do my best to recall my first season so here we go:
My first season was with the Regina Elks, who took a chance on me and drafted me 21st overall(I think). During the preseason, I got what I expected from my player. A lot of hits, I was a physical player, and also got a few Penalty Minutes too. But the regular season did not go the same way.
I started off the first week a point-per-game player, me and the Elks were just on fire. I was not on the same pace for hits as I was in the preseason, but I was happy as my Penalty Mins came way down. After the first week, me and the elks sadly cooled off and could never really pick up the pace from the first week. I was very happy with the results of the Season. Playoffs were disappointing though. I'm ready to start a new season with a bigger role on the Elks now that I'm not a rookie.
09-28-2023, 05:38 PM(This post was last modified: 09-28-2023, 05:38 PM by Jakesdy.)
Well, that season was mad for me. I found a great team and great help it to make good result in season. As player i also get the good result. For example i became the 5st sniper of the playoffs. That was very interesting and a lot of fun being a part of such a awsome team as Yukon Malamutes. I've met a lot of good persons, been in different interesting places. Now i aiming to improve my game skills and continue help team show it's best hockey. Of course it will be a lot of memories: first match, first victory, first point, first goal, atmosphere of best junior hockey in world. I can proudly say that i met my expectations, but it doesn't mean that i won't working to play better. I feel that we can make some noise in the regular season and in the playoffs. I want to believe that the best is yet to come.
Going into this season, Jussi Mutou expected to get lots of minutes on a rebuilding Colorado Raptors team. He expected to be able to use his offensive prowess to pick up lots of points for the team in an effort to give Raptors fans something to look forward to. And boy, did he ever contribute. Leading all rookies in goals and points, laying out tons of hits (while also picking up lots of PIMS), and generally just being a tough opponent to play against. On the flip side, his defensive game left tons to be desired. But Mutou has been putting a ton of effort into his defensive game to hopefully curb that aspect.
It will be tough to improve when expectations are now through the roof. A potential Rookie of The Year nomination heading his way will only add pressure to the young winger. Pressure that he welcomes.
“I love having everyone’s eyes on me, waiting to see what I do next. That way when I hit a clip, everyone knows it.”
09-28-2023, 09:50 PM(This post was last modified: 09-28-2023, 10:03 PM by Will3. Edited 2 times in total.)
Basically, My first season back into the SHL went about as expected. I made Valerija Serapin specifically for the task of being the ultimate goon defender. She more than delivered on that front, finishing second in penalty minutes for rookies. Going into season two her overall defensive play needs must improve. Having sunk so much TPE into her after draft, I believe that I am off to to a good start on that front. But I wouldn't stop untill she becomes as fearsome a predator as the Raptor on her sweater. No player will be save from her wrath. Not even teammates. Hopefully she can even get into a legitimate fight next season. For me it wasn't about one individual moment, it was about getting back into something I enjoyed but abandoned some time ago. I did enjoy the anticipation during both drafts. Waiting to hear my players name is always fun. Thank you, SMJHL PT Team for producing point task that are enjoyable to write about.