With the final buzzer sounding to mark Newfoundland’s 5-2 victory over Great Falls today, the S63 preseason came to a thrilling end, and all eyes are on the start of the regular season on Monday. With such little time to reflect on preseason accomplishments before all attention turns to the regular season, I thought I’d take a moment to highlight the teams of the Wollker division, featuring the league’s top two teams through the seven-game preseason week, and not a single team under .500 throughout the preseason. Could this be the toughest division in the SMJHL this season?

Team 1: The Newfoundland Berserkers

Hot off a championship season in S62, Newfoundland is the heavy favorite to win this year’s cup, and for a good reason. Adding rookie defenseman Luca Hunziker and goaltender Nina Tucker in this year’s draft, along with hot UDFA AJ Williams, the Zerks added depth at every position. Perhaps more significant, though, is the strength of their overall roster. Newfoundland boasts the highest TPE total of any roster to start this season, with only five players (three rookies) below the 350 mark.

Over the seven game stretch, Newfoundland averaged 3.85 goals scored (2nd in the SMJHL), and a league leading 1.19 goals against. Defenseman Rand al’Thor led the team in scoring with five goals, the most of any defenseman in the league, and center Alexander Mackenzie stepped in to lead the powerplay, notching a point on all five of the Zerks’ goals with the man advantage. No player on this talented roster was more impressive in the preseason than goaltender Jonas Johansson, though, who came out determined to prove awards committee members wrong after missing out on the league MVP and top goaltender awards. Starting four of the seven games, he let in only a pair of goals, securing a league-leading* three shutouts, .5 GAA and .976 save percentage. While these superhuman numbers are likely unsustainable, if the Zerks can perform at anywhere close to this level in the regular season after an undefeated preseason run, the cup is theirs for the taking.


Team 2: The Quebec City Citadelles

Quebec is in an interesting position this season. After trading away several high-TPE players in their final year in the SMJHL, the Citadelles were supposed to be rebuilding. Then the S63 preseason happened, and onlookers may be wondering if this wasn’t the year to make a playoff push. Despite dropping their first game of Day Two to Maine, the Citadelles finished the preseason with the league’s second-best record and the largest goal differential. With only three players fully capped (and one not playing in the preseason), their roster doesn’t look like a contender on paper, but evidently nobody told them that before they took the ice on Monday.

With the league’s best offense in the preseason, Quebec City averaged 4.67 goals per game, and let in 1.26 goals per game, coming in second only to the aforementioned Zerks. The veteran first line of Jeff Hopkins, Alex Kidd and Aksel Fiske led the offense with 11, 10 and 9 points, respectively. Winger Brady Bertrand stepped up as a point-per-game player, along with newcomers Bilbo Baggins on defense and rookie Rylie Versi on the wing. Versi led all rookies in scoring, and is a top candidate for ROTY if he can keep this performance going. Fellow rookie Ben Der made an impact early on defense with five assists and a +6 rating, stepping in immediately as a quality depth defenseman. Rookie goaltender Justin Time made an impact between the pipes to rival Johansson’s, with a league-leading six wins. Time came in second in GAA and GSAA per game, averaging only 1.41 goals against. It’s safe to say that while only a rookie, Time may be getting more starts than initially expected this season. The best part? Quebec’s rookies didn’t receive their first update until after the preseason, so they should be able to step into larger roles with confidence. Despite the strong preseason, Quebec fans should temper their expectations going into the regular season. I expect some regression toward the mean as lines settle and TPE is applied across the league, but the Citadelles should have their eyes set on a playoff berth.

*All goalie rankings were assessed with a minimum of two games played, to reduce outliers like CAR EBUG’s perfect performance on two shots over 7 minutes of ice time

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sig credit: Ragnar, Sulovilen, Enigmatic, Bayley
  

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