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Jerppu · 04-05-2020, 11:12 AM

1600 Words, Ready For Grading

Season 53 of SMJHL is well underway and now is a good time to take a early look on the teams and their performance so far in this thrilling season. There are some surprises both in good and bad. Veterans who have had a slow start and some rookies that have stunned the whole league by their excellent performance. By the looks of it the Eastern Conference is much more clear cut with the top three pulling away in points from the rest and the West seems to battle to the death on about which team makes the top of the standings. Anyways, here are my opinions about the teams, their form and a quick look on what is left to improve.

Anaheim Outlaws Outlaws

5-6-1 (11 pts), 4th in West

Anaheim had a slow start to their season when starting goalie Strom Chamberlain played couple first games with a broken glove hand. It was the case for only few games but it hurted Anaheim's standing in already very tight Western Conference. After that Separa Borro took over and results have been decent. Wingers Bale and Ziggy Tambo have been scoring for the team but for the long run the depth needs to catch up a little bit if Anaheim wants to generate more chances to win. Form of this team has been up and down game by game which means they have to find the consistency and pull some back to back wins to climb the standings. Things in West are wide open still and there is a lot of hockey to be played. With Chamberlain recovering from an arm injury and rookie Emilia Bergman continuing to impress, Anaheim will have all the keys they need to make this a excellent regular season for them.

Anchorage Armada Armada

7-4-1 (15 pts), 1st in West

It must feel good to be on the top of the Western standings. Especially after many doubted Anchorage's chances this season. After losing three straight at the start Armada is now boasting in four game winning streak. Armada seems to be quite streaky team but right now things are looking good for them. With Mitchell van der Heijden leading the offence and rookie Alexei Petrikov doing it all in defence things are all set for a stellar season. How Armada surprised so many of us? The answer stands between the pipes, goalie Sergei Potvinov has been amazing so far. Veteran goalie who has been flying under the radar this preseason is now on of the hottest goalies out there. Some still doubt if Armada can keep this up, but I have a feeling that there is no such questions asked in Anchorage's camp.

Carolina Kraken Kraken

3-7-1 (7 pts), 5th in East

Carolina has had it tough early in this season. In very top heavy Eastern Conference wins doesn't come easy, but they have already shown a glimpse of excellency beating a cup contender St. Louis. It was only one game but the potential is there. The Kraken squad just have to find their groove and start piling up wins if they want challenge the top dogs. I have no doubt that the team captain Jimmy Wagner and stellar goalie Frans Eller can rally up the troops and change the course of this team while young rookies like Vitek Vitecek and Dwight Knight continues to improve. With young core and long season nothing is over for Carolina, watch out.

Colorado Raptors Raptors

7-4-1 (15 pts), 2nd in West

This might come for little bit a surprise for some but Colorado stands on second place in the West. In conference where competition is close right now, one win or loss might shuffle the standings but anyway things are looking good in Colorado. For the early success a lot can be said about rookie Noah Johns ll who has taken the league by storm leading the league in goals scored (three way tie). Also the usual suspect in net, Samat Beibitzhanov has been doing his part helping the team to collect some important wins while defenceman Bradley Barkov has been leading the team's blue line. Raptors are in a good place right now, with veterans doing their job and rookies performing as well as they have been Colorado might be the dark horse to bet on coming playoffs.

Detroit Falcons Falcons

11-0-1 (23 pts), 1st in East

Skreeee! Skreeee! That noise can be heard if you listen close enough up to the skies. That is how high up there Detroit Falcons fly right now. I mean, what else is there to say. The team is rolling on all cylinders and everything is going as planned. Detroit is dominating every aspect of the game right now. D-man Jack Kanoff is leading defencemen in points, while Edward Williams is leading the whole league by four points to runner up. Even their rookie backup goalie has a three way tie in season shutout standings, with four games played Thor Odinsson has two shuouts already! And we thought that their weakness this season might be the goaltending. Detroit can't lift their foot on the gas though, not yet. Teams in East like St. Louis and Newfoundland are not giving up. And the competition grows closer as the season goes on.

Kelowna Knights Knights

6-7-1 (13 pts), 3rd in West

Good, but not good enough. Considered Cup contender Kelowna didn't have the start many expected. Being third in East doesn't is not the end of the world, but the losing record Kelowna has caught many surprised. Kelowna has a strong core and they have the winning culture, but something seems off with squad right now. They have been used to bask in glory before but in the tight Western Conference things doesn't come so easy this time around. Veteran guys like Adam Scianna and Morgan Forestier has been wonderful for the team while center Jaska Seppälä is having a breakout season. The next step is close for the Kelowna, when their starter goalie Cillian Kavanagh finds his form, and I'm sure he will, Kelowna might jump on top of the standings with an ease. He needs help though. The team's defence has been a little bit of mystery lately but sometimes things need time to get fixed and when it happens, Kelowna will be the powerhouse we all expect them to be.

Maine Timber Timber

3-7-1 (7 pts), 4th in East

Maine Timber, formerly known as Halifax Raiders, have been getting the same treatment as Carolina. This one is little bit unexpected though. After a win at season opener, Timber dived to a seven game losing streak. After that abysmal start Timber picked things up and has returned game winning form again. With goalies Olli Saarinen Jr. and Leo Bloomfield standings on their head every night Timber desperately needs their defence pick things up and their offence to produce more scoring. Veterans Al Kayhall and Indigo Trevino has been leading the team on ice, and are waiting patiently for the support from the younger guys on the team. Maine has a excellent rookie core, so when they start to get more used to new environment good things will follow. And it is already happening.

Newfoundland Berserkers

6-3-2 (14 pts), 2nd in East

Who saw this happening? Maybe in Newfoundland people are saying "we told you so", but me for example couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Bersekers stellar play so far this season. With second place and same point amount with St. Louis, Newfoundland have been introduced themselves to the cup contention. We all knew that Newfoundland is good, but with rookie goalie Cale Amundsen they have been excellent. Forward Ryuuji Minamino and defenceman Jukka Timonen has been also magnificent on ice which helps, but overall Newfoundland has been playing great hockey. Competition is tough, and the Berserker squad has to keep pushing if they want to keep teams like St. Louis behind them. Only thing Newfoundland fans hope now for is that Amundsen can keep this pace up and shows everybody that his amazing play hasn't been a fluke.

St. Louis Scarecrows

6-4-2 (14 pts), 3rd in East

Start of the season could have been more bumbier for Scarecrows if superstar Elizabeth Doyle haven't got the start she did with two straight shutouts. What a way to start the season! St. Louis is one of the favourites to go all the way this season and they have been delivering lately. With help of Ruslan Zaporozhets and Danny Marston the team have been good, but third place in the East doesn't comfort them much as they are looking up towads Detroit. They are climbing the standings towards the top but couple more mediocre games and Detroit might fly away with the Laurifer trophy. Nothing is lost though, and St. Louis will be a scary opponent to anybody who faces them and will be improving their game till the end of the season.

Vancouver Whalers Whalers

5-6-0 (10 pts), 5th in West

Last place in West might sound horrible, but that doesn't tell you the whole story. Vancouver are only one game shy on having a fifty-fifty record. That is a decent achievement and great news for rookie goalie Cal Covid who has been another great S54 goalie coming to the league. Yet again, West is a coin toss for now and if Vancouver can pull couple straight wins they should be flying through the standings. Another impressive rookie on Vancouver's roster has been defenceman Slimey Snail who has been shocking people in the offensive end this season. Vancouver can surprise folks if they grind it out and find a consistent scoring support to William Hartmann.

***luke*** · 04-05-2020, 11:30 AM

Nice Article! I liked it. Go whalers

*leviadan* · 04-05-2020, 11:41 AM

Hey Miley, how many points did we get out of 24?

Falcons

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***bluesfan55*** · 04-05-2020, 12:10 PM

this is good
also i think most of us in anchorage are fairly confident that we can keep this up, we've been lucky that most of our rookies are active and the goalie tandem has been above expectations so far

ty to @High Stick King @EvilAllBran and @Ragnar for the sigs

*CementHands* · 04-05-2020, 12:59 PM

Nice writeup!

***boom*** · 04-05-2020, 03:10 PM

Nice article! I think the analysis is pretty accurate for Vancouver - we’re heavily relying on a single rookie goalie and will likely start to slow down as the season goes on - but the rookies have been great so far so the Whalers should be able to improve on that front we the season goes on.

LordBirdman · 04-06-2020, 02:14 PM

The only thing this analysis misses is that Colorado has the sexiest goaltender duo in the league by both TPE and handsomeness/60 metrics.

Raptors

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