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S61 St. Louis Scarecrows Season Review
#1

While S61 did not bring the results many of us were hoping for, it was still a fun ride and something we can build on for the future. 

OFFSEASON:

The time had finally come when Blitz, the GM of our team for the past 7 seasons, stepped down. Rising to fill this role was Sparky, St. Louis' Co-GM for the past two seasons and a bona-fide locker room leader. While this season of new leadership would undoubtedly be a bit of a transition period, it seemed that the trajectory of the team was solidified by similar ideas from both GMs. By promoting Sparky internally, it almost ensured that the core of the team would stay intact and the Scarecrows would not be "blown-up" immediately, as what happens all too often with outside hires. To help run the team, Sparky brought in Jay the Great, the previous GM of IIHF Russia for the past 8 seasons. Jay was an outside hire, but their player was already SHL level, so no new additions there. In terms of team leadership, By-Tor was elevated to team Captain after the departure of Asked Madden. Joining him were fever, mooty, and faded as alternate captains. 

Since last season was an all out push for a cup, many top end Scarecrows left after a last year of eligibility. Notable departures from last season were Greg Davies (RW), Jonny Tsunami (LW), Dane von Gucci (LD), Miguel Hefeweizen ©, Friedreich Hundertwasser (LW), Robert Feltersnatch (LD), Daryl Urquhart (LD), and Victor Fedorov ©. That list includes 6 of the top 9 scorers from the previous season, so management had a lot of work to do to fill the voids. As always, the first stop in filling the offseason departure voids for any team is the draft. St. Louis pretty much had one mid pick per round, so locating the gems was very important. I would argue Sparky and company had a pretty decent draft. It's always a crapshoot, especially a Reddit draft, so nabbing Wendolene Ramsbottom, Vincent Catalano, and Viktor Anderson when they did was good hunting. All three are mid-to-high earners and did very well this season. Also very important: a large majority of previous draft picks from S60, S59, and S58 kept earning. 

Even after a strong draft, there were still holes to be filled. In a surprising trade from a tanking Anaheim, St. Louis grabbed 3 capped players for draft picks. Daniel Merica Jr., Top Cheddar, and Matej Winters all came over for a 2nd, 5th, 6th, and 7th round picks. Adding an IA FA signing of Reidar Gronkjaer, the team was set for the season. With the additions, the Scarecrows ended up being the second highest total TPE team in the league, behind Vancouver. The defense was fantastic with 4 hard capped players, one soft capped player, and a rookie. Goaltending was status quo with hard-capped Iorek Byrnison in net with Catalano as backup. The forward core was good as well, but less capped players overall. Preseason showed a 2-5 record, but it's only preseason. 

REGULAR SEASON:

St. Louis found themselves in the newly constructed Mayfield division. They were previously in the southeast division with Carolina and Detroit, but they now find themselves in a much tougher division with Newfoundland, Quebec City, and Nevada. 

Game one started off strong and symbolically turned the page on the past. St. Louis was abysmal in shootouts the past few seasons. Absolutely horrible. The first game of the S61 regular season? A 4-3 SO win against Anaheim. Not only was it a win, but the best players of the game were the three former Outlaws brought in during the offseason. It seemed like the clouds parted, the pieces were fitting, and it would be a great season. St. Louis started off 4-1, but would then go through a cold stretch of 1-5 through two more days of sims. The fourth sim day was kind, as St. Louis posted a 2-0 record to elevate above .500 with an overall record of 7-6. It would end up being a bit of mediocrity throughout the bulk of the season as the next 11 sims would result in 13-13-1 for an overall of 20-19-1. As the record reflected, the team would sit around the middle of the standings leaderboard. They would end the regular season on a cold streak of 7-16-3. hat started out hot ultimately cooled off way too much. The final record for the team was 27-35-4 and 10th place overall (4th in the conference, 3rd in the division).

Based on the hits, GA, and PIM of the team, I would say team strategy was very hard-nosed and aggressive for forwards (conjecture). Concurrently, it seems to me that the defense was focused on shutdown mechanics and straight line transition. Only one player (Lebron Brady) surpassed half a point per game, indicating that the team trended towards a grind game. The fact that 33 of the team's 66 games were one-goal games supports this theory. Additionally, the last 11 games showed a goal differential of -20, stretching their final goal differential lower than it would be. It seemed the last tactic change of the season simply didn't work against the competition.

Daniel Merica Jr. led the team with 17 goals and was 5th overall in points with 29. It was a very underwhelming season statistically for Merica and a lot of his teammates. (Unfortunately for next season, I think like 6 of the top 7 scorers from this year are leaving.)

PLAYOFFS:

The best part about the SMJHL for some underachieving regular season teams (at least for now) is everyone makes the playoffs. So who cares about the regular season? Getting things right in the playoffs is what matters. St. Louis found themselves matched up against one of the new expansion teams, the Great Falls Grizzlies. In the regular season, these teams split the series 3-3, so everyone knew it would be a close series. And it was. Great Falls took the first game 7-5, but St. Louis stormed back to win the next three games. Holding a 3-1 game advantage, St. Louis needed to just close out the series. Unfortunately, the Grizzlies gave their all and ended up wining the next two and closing out the series with a 5-0 game 7 win. 

It was a disappointing end to a disappointing season, to be frank. There was so much hope at the beginning of each segment of the season, but it ended up falling short. The only thing they can do now is get up, brush it off, and come back next season. 

LOOKING FORWARD:

As I mentioned, there are a few player leaving the team. A for-sure departure is 4-year stalwart LD Ethan Bouchard (fever). Lebron Brady may be gone as well since they are at the end of their four years. The team does have commitment from high end (LW) Daniel Merica Jr. and (RD) Marcel Beck that they are returning for a last hoorah. St. Louis has 3 picks in the top 2 rounds of this upcoming draft, so they need to make them count, especially in this thin draft class. I have high hopes for the team because leadership is strong. 

(1,203 WC)

[Image: DqlVneu.png][Image: FVlMRDN.png][Image: q30YniK.png]

Credit to enigmatic, Merica, and tweedledunn for sigs



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#2

+1

S2, S5, S18, S22 Challenge Cup Champion
Hall Of Famers: (S7) Alex Reay | (S28) Daniel Merica


[Image: mckeiltbb.png]
[Image: Merica5.gif]
Thanks to Ragnar, Wasty and myself for the sigs.
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