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FinnRhys · 06-07-2020, 11:35 AM

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It is that time of the season again. Hopes and dreams for a great season are still young and bright-eyed for many teams and individual players and the coffers of many user accounts are full to brimming from the draft double media days. For a select few, however, these are the dark days, the days in which our bank accounts are meager and insufficient enough to purchase equipment for the season and thus we are forced to come out of our lazy shells and write grandiose articles with a plethora of excess verbiage in order to up that word count while also upping our bank account. This is one such piece of media.

The season has started with a bang for the Edmonton Blizzard, one of the more consistently high performing teams in the league the last few seasons with three Challenge Cup appearances since Season 49 and one Challenge Cup win (sidenote: Fuck Hamilton for beating us twice... but also good on Hamilton for making whatever it is they are doing work for them). During the fledgling part of this young season the Edmonton Blizzard have been red hot, leading the Western Conference with an overall record of 13-6-1 through the first 20 games of the season, good for third overall in the league with 27 points. This season's edition of the Blizzard, at least to this point, lead the league in Goals For with 85 but are near the bottom of the league for Goals Against, having already given up 60 goals in only 20 games, an atrocious 3.0 goals a game. Clearly, what was once a strength for the team, it's overall defense had been one of the team's strengths the last few seasons, is taking a hit this year as some of the key defensive personnel, namely FR Finn-Rhys and Tor Tuck are having relatively lackluster campaigns so far. FR Finn-Rhys, in particular, has had a moribund season to this point, tallying only four points on one goal and three assists while earning significant minutes on the team's top two pairings. Similarly, Tor Tuck is having an uncharacteristically poor year performance wise, however that is to be expected as the aging star continues to put a lot of miles on his legs. While only a shell of his former self, Tuck will undoubtedly continue to contribute, especially with his maturity and experience providing a solid base of leadership for the team's defensemen. Indeed, hopefully the once up-and-coming FR Finn-Rhys is getting under the wing of the aging star in the hopes of improving his play and becoming the star the team expected him to be after drafting him with the fourth overall pick several seasons ago. To this point, however, FR Finn-Rhys has proven to be a disappointment and may go down as one of the worst draft picks in the team's history.

Thankfully, all is not lost for poor FR Finn-Rhys, as both Brady McIntyre and Karlstrasse Scholz have more than picked up the slack and, in doing so, provided the young defender with a little bit of time and breathing room to regroup and improve his performance. Coupled with the magnificent performance of Emiko Spektor during Spektor's first season as a full time starter and it is clear that FR Finn-Rhys will have plenty of chances to improve his play. Spektor, who is arguably one of the best young goalies in the league, has been absolutely crushing it this season, earning a 13-5-1 record and accruing 3 shutouts, tied for best in the league. The aforementioned duo of Karlstrasse Scholz and Brady McIntyre are having seasons to remember as well. They dynamic duo has combined for 39 points and are fourth and fifth, respectively, on the team in points. Karlstrasse Scholz has fully broken out and become recognized as one of the best defensemen in the league, bar none. With several seasons of consistently high performance, he has finally come into his own and out from the shadows of team stalwarts like Tor Tuck and Brady McIntyre. Scholz has scored 5 goals and tallied 15 assists thus far while leading the team with a +11 plus/minus rating. What makes Scholz's performance all the more impressive is that he has been fantastic on both sides of the ice. His defensive numbers are exceptional, leading the team with 52 hits and blocking 30 shots. His on ice compatriot, Brady McIntyre, another aging star with plenty of gas left in his tank, has been just as exceptional on the offensive and defensive sides of the ice, albeit slightly less so than Scholz. McIntyre has scored 7 goals and tallied 12 assists while boasting a +8 plus/minus rating. Add in the 21 hits and 31 blocked shots he has accumulated thus far and you have the makings of an incredibly solid season. This dynamic duo of all around talent is not only carrying the defensive load for the team but is buying the team valuable time as it continues to develop the young FR Finn-Rhys and some of its other young talent.

While this season is far from set in stone, it certainly looks like Edmonton is well on its way to another exceptional season, although clearly not all of its players are. With plenty of time to rebound, however, it would not be surprising to see Edmonton start to clamp down more defensively while continuing to open the flood gates on the offensive side of the ice. With plenty of talent to go around, it would only seem to be a matter of time before the defense caught up with the offense and started locking down the opposition's forwards to greater effect. Indeed, Edmonton has all of the ingredients it needs right now, it just has to come together and mix them properly to make a badass cake of excellence. Whether that will happen or not is to be seen but, as already discussed, there certainly is the potential on this team to return to the Challenge Cup Finals once again, and this time hopefully bring the trophy home.

FINN RHYS

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karlssens · 06-07-2020, 01:01 PM

Don’t worry, you’ll get em in the second half Blizzard

Awesome read my dude!

SlashACM · 06-07-2020, 08:59 PM

Edm sux

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