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Huck24 · 03-13-2020, 07:51 AM

I did this rookie recap for the first time three seasons ago, the season when my player Lyle Odelein III made his rookie debut for the New Orleans Specters. I wanted to look at how all the rookies that season did as new players in the SHL. I did it again last season because I enjoyed doing it the first time, and I find it interesting seeing how the new crop of rookies do each season. I also think it’s good for the upcoming SHL draftees who have their first gen players getting their name called out on draft day for the first time, to get an idea on what they should be expecting when they make the jump into the big leagues. So, I went and did it again this season, our last using SimonT. Here is what I found:

- We had a total of 23 rookies lace up their skates and play the full season, the 52nd season of the SHL. There were 15 forwards, 5 defenders and 3 goalies wearing their SHL teams jersey for the first time.
- 12 out of the 16 SHL teams had first year players on their rosters, Buffalo Stampede, Calgary Dragons, Chicago Syndicate and the San Francisco Pride are the only teams that did not dress a rookie this season.
- The Toronto North Stars had the most rookies join their team last season, with 5 new North Stars joining the eastern conference team

Now for the stats, I’m going to list the average for all of the rookies, the rookie leader in that stat, and the lowest of the stat for the rookies:
- Goals – Average number of goals scored - 7.65
o The rookie leader in goals scored was Toronto’s Bobby Lane, he found the back of the net 20 times this season
o There was only one rookie that did not score their first goal, but this player did not really play any minutes at all
- Assists – average number of assists tallied – 12.2
o Toronto’s Bobby Lane and his North Star teammate, Cal Clucker tied for the most assists, with 26
o The same player who did not record a goal also did not record an assist
- Total points – average number of overall points – 19.85
o Shouldn’t be a surprise for this one, Bobby Lane from Toronto led all of the rookies with 46 points
o There were two players with point totals in the 30’s, 8 skaters in the 20’s, 6 hit the double digit mark, 2 ended the season with 6 points and that same player mentioned in goals and assists, obviously ended the season pointless
- Plus / minus – the average +/- for the rookies was - -0.3
o Winnipeg Jets defender Adam Barron had the best plus/minus, after 50 games played he sat at +14
o The worst + / - stat was -10
- PIMs – the average number of penalty minutes for a rookie was – 17.25 mins or 8.63 minor penalties
o The Edmonton Blizzards Jean-Paul Boivin sat in the sin bin for 53 minutes in his rookie campaign
o 3 players didn’t get one single call against them. 1 of which is the same player that did not see really any ice time at all. The other two were both on the Manhattan Rage, Phineas Gold and Luca Veccelli
- Hits – the average number a hits for a rookie was – 42.05
o Edmonton’s Boivin took the top spot again with 91 hits, just edging out Manhattan’s defender Derek Bohne Jr who had 90
o Two skaters only laid their body on the line once, one of them is our player who I’ve mentioned several times now, this single hit is the only stat this player recorded this season
- Shots – the average number of shots for a rookie was – 79.5
o Toronto’s Bobby Lane led the way here as well, firing 208 shots at opposing netminders
o 5 other players had over 100 shots on net
o 1 player did not record a shot on net, yup, that same player
- Shooting percentage – the average shooting percentage for the rookies was – 9.56%
o West Kendall Platoon’s defender Jack Wilson recorded a whooping 28.57%, with 6 goals on 21 shots. Jack should fire a few more towards the net with that percentage!
o 5 other players had percentages over 10%
- Shots blocked – the average number of shots that the rookies got in front of was – 20.15
o Another Toronto North Star player topped this stat as well, Cal Clucker got in the way of 78 shots blocked
o 10 other players blocked double digits and 2 players failed to get in front of any shots
- Minutes played – the average total ice time for a rookie was – 801.25 mins
o Cal Clucker took this category as well, playing 1180 minutes for the Toronto North Stars
o 3 other skaters had over 1000 minutes
o The lowest minutes played is our reoccurring character, playing only 5 minutes of hockey for the 50 games they were listed on the roster
- For the rookie goalies, having only three young netminders this season, I’ll just show each of their stats:
o Elle Rush – Rush only started 6 games for the Hamilton Steelhawks, winning 4 and losing 2. Rush’s save percentage was 0.874, goals against was 3.67. Rush played a total of 175 minutes, faced 175 shots and let in 22 goals
o Nolan McMahon – Nolan started in 18 games with the Los Angles Panthers. McMahon won 10 of those starts, lost 6 in regulation and 2 more in extra time / shootout. He posted a 0.906 save percentage, had a 3.92 goals against average and played 1089 minutes. McMahon let 53 pucks in on 566 shot attempts.
o Markus Tegernako – This rookie played 44 games for the Minnesota Chiefs, he was on the winning side of 18 of those games, lost 21 in regulation and 5 in overtime or the shootout. Tegernako had a save percentage of 0.91 and a goals against of 2.86. He played 2683 minutes for the Chiefs and allowed 128 goals on 1424.

So those are the numbers, here is a quick list of just the leaders in each category:

- Goals – Bobby Lane – 20 goals
- Assists – Bobby Lane & Cal Clucker – 26 assists
- Points – Bobby Lane – 46 points
- Plus / Minus – Jack Wilson - +14
- PIMs – Jean-Paul Boivin – 53 minutes
- Hits – Jean Boivin – 91 hits
- Shots – Bobby Lane – 208 shots
- Shooting Percentage – Jack Wilson – 28.57%
- Shots Blocked – Cal Clucker – 78 blocked shots
- Minutes Played – Cal Clucker – 1180 minutes

As I mentioned at the start of this media piece, this is the third year I’ve been doing this ‘recap’. So, for all of you soon to be SHL rookies, here are the numbers to beat in each stat for when you make to jump. Now keep in mind, this is only for the past three seasons, but the first season I did this was the one when Toronto rookie Mika Kandinsky smashed the rookie scoring record, so some of these are the real all time numbers to beat:

- Goals – Mika Kandinsky (S50) – 26 goals
- Assists – Mika Kandinsky (S50) – 36 assists
- Points – Mika Kandinsky (S50) – 62 points
- Plus / Minus – Lyle Odelein III (S50) - +18
- PIMs – Simon LeBlanc (S51) – 67 minutes
- Hits – Anthony Archer (S51) – 145 hits
- Shots – Bobby Lane (S52) – 208 shots
- Shooting Percentage – Simon LeBlanc (S51) & Jack Wilson (S52) – 28.57%
- Shots Blocked – Cal Clucker (S52) – 78 blocked shots
- Minutes Played – Cal Clucker (S52) – 1180 minutes
- Goalie wins – Patrick Niederreiter (S51) & Markus Tegernako (S52) - 18
- Goalie save percentage – Emiko Specter (S51) & Markus Tegernako (S52) – 0.91%
- Goalie goals against average – Markus Tegernako – 2.86 GAA
- Goalie minutes played – Markus Tegernako – 2683 minutes

There you have it, these are the top stats for all of the rookies who joined their SHL team these past three season. Your journey to the SHL is going to get started this weekend when your name gets called out by the team that selects you. Enjoy this, it’s a great experience. You will most likely still be a few seasons away from joining your new teams, that will give you a chance to hone your skills in the juniors, to gain that crucial TPE. When your new GMs do send you that message, that you are getting called up to the SHL, be ready to make that move. It’s a different game coming from the SMJHL into the SHL, you’ll be playing against the best players around. Your first chance to make your mark is in your rookie season, if you have a great season then you may find your players name at the top of one of these rookie leader stats.

Good luck with the draft everyone, draftees and GMs, hope everyone ends up where they want and gets who they want!

Double draft media bonus - Word count - 1493 and some research