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***Ohtaay*** · 02-23-2024, 05:43 PM

The season is essentially two thirds of the way done, and it is crunch time for many of the teams in the SMJHL. With junior hockey there is usually a handful of teams that can compete for the four star cup with the tpe cap being in places, it allows teams to stay in a similar range without getting to far ahead. You can see that currently with 4 teams in the race for first with only 9 points separating first from fourth. Then if you look at fifth to eighth it is only 7 points separating them - so it is a very tight race currently in the SMJHL.

That is when we come to the Regina Elk who currently sit in 7th, but they are placed in the death division with Colorado (second), Detroit (fourth), and Great falls(fifth). So despite being in seventh place it is not good enough currently to make the playoffs and they will have to pass great falls if they want to make the playoffs this season. The Elk so far this season have struggled on the offensive side of the puck. They are 7th in shots for in the league, but 10th in goals for. Outside of Red Panda and Inge Baardsen no one else on the team is producing consistently. They surely expected more from Stavros the rookie who only has 5 goals and is shooting a lowly 5.7%. The only other players on the team with a lower shooting percentage are defencemen, which is expected.

On the defensive side of the puck the Elk have been a little more consistent. They are sixth in shots against, and fifth in goals against. This is a big credit to the teams defence core who is arguably one of the best cores in the league. However, is their top notch defence part of the problem, are they playing to much of a defensive game? Is it restricting their offense? Well we don't think so.

That brings us to our next point which is the teams special teams. This is the area that the team really struggles in. The powerplay is ninth in the league, and strictly isnt good enough for a playoff team that is trying to win a four star cup this season. But even worse the PK is 13th in the league. For a team that has such good defence you would expect they would have one of the better PKs in the league but that is not how it is shaping up for the Elk this season. The other concerning fact for the Elk is that they have the third best PDO. That being said it is just slightly above the 100 average which means it should not affect them much in a negative way move forward.

The Elk have been underperforming to this point of the season and in the last third of the season the team will need to step up their game if they want to make the playoffs. It will be a tight and close race, which will require the Elk to play their best hockey.

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***CloudRobot*** · 02-23-2024, 07:05 PM

Nice Job and Great Read

Troy_McClure03 · 02-23-2024, 11:18 PM

Go Elk Go !

*CptSquall* · 02-29-2024, 11:00 AM

@Ohtaay Its a shame the Elk are on the bottom of this Thunderdome of a Division.

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