Login

Papajon · 09-24-2024, 02:05 PM

The Simulation Major Junior Hockey League (SMJHL) recently finished the 78th season in it's long history of developing Simulation Hockey League athletes to their highest level. One of these athletes is a small town ice farmer from Northern Wisconsin; Hotdog Lunch. Here's a few quick facts about the player and a deeper dive into his most recent and first season playing for Ottawa in the SMJHL. A bit later we will take a look at some of the peers that were also drafted with Lunch in the last SMJHL draft.

Name: Hotdog Lunch

Weight: 190lbs

Height: 5'11"

Place of Birth: Superior, Wisconsin

Position: Right Wing

Stats: 66GP 16G 18A 34PTS -18 100 Hits

Summary: A player drafted ninth overall in the SMJHL season 79 entry draft, a speedy forward focusing on offensive abilities. While he spent most of his time playing reduced minuets on the third line during his first full season, he plans to refine his defensive game a bit more to round out his purpose for whichever team decides to pick him up. This next season in Ottawa will hopefully be a blossoming one for him, hoping to add some special teams play to his resume. Any team looking to grab this player for their SHL franchise should expect him to develop into a goal scoring machine with their sites set for snagging the top goal scorers award at least once in his career. Also know that Hotdog Lunch is known to bring various tubed meats with him to whatever team he plays for, ensuring that everyone has the protein needed to perform at their highest possible level while maintaining that microwaved hotdogs are the greatest sin a man can commit.

Here's a quick look into some of the other players that were also drafted in the first round of the same SMJHL entry draft. This list only includes forwards that are currently in their rookie season in the league no matter what team selected them.

Ima Noobie - RW 5ft 11in 200lbs - Newfoundland Berserkers
Stats: 66GP 9G 32A 41PTS 0 103 Hits 0:48 average SH TOI
Noobie played for a team that finished out the season on the lower half of the standings, while the overall team accomplishment may be tiny, its important to note that this player was able to maintain a neutral plus/minus while putting up quite a few points in the process.

Grindle Waters-Johnson - LW 6ft 0in 210lbs - Great Fall Grizzlies
Stats: 66GP 25G 24A 48PTS -11 115 Hits 2:33 average PP TOI
Grindle is the highest performing forwards on the list, grabbing t he most points out of anyone selected in the first round. Great Falls will have a prolific scoring forward if they continue this current career trajectory.

Slava Kasyanenko - C 6ft 2in 195lbs - Nevada Battleborn
Stats: 66GP 9G 27A 36PTS 5 64 Hits 0:59 average SH TOI
Nevada had a strong team last season, which was reflected on Slava's numbers. The only rookie on the list that came away from the regular season with a positive plus/minus. This implies that Kasyanenko is a bit more defensivly sound than some of the other forwards on the list. This probably explains some of Nevada's success over the year.

Dejana Kaptina - C 5ft 10in 185lbs - Quebec City Citadelles
Stats: 66GP 18G 29A 47PTS -18 86 Hits 0:57 average PP TOI, 2:15 average SH TOI
Another player that also is on a team near the bottom of the standings, Dejana put up an impressive 47 point campaign in their first real go at professional hockey. As this team gets better, so will the numbers that Kaptina puts up.

Chaos Giraffe - LW 6ft 8in 230lbs - Thunder Bay Walleye
Stats: 66GP 14G 28A 42PTS -24 150 Hits 0:52 average PP TOI 0:37, average SH TOI
Out of all the players on this list, no team performed as bad as Thunder Bay in regard to season standings. Thankfully Chaos put up 42 points while still finding a way to throw the body 150 times. This makes this forward an impressive prospect considering how the team did during the season.

Comparing the players on this list with Hotdog Lunch's stats, you will notice that a lot of the newer players to the league have a negative plus/minus rating depending on how good the team was when they were drafted. This is especially true for defensive specialist whom are in their very first season in the league and have not had the defensive training that some of the veterans may have. Also the players that seemingly filled in a short handed role also had a lower plus/minus rating than those who explicitly only played power play time. This is normal for players who will be on the ice for when the other team scores, thankfully Hotdog's tie for second highest plus/minus with -18 should leave any team to not include him on their short-handed special teams lines.

Hotdog also has the second highest goal count of the list with almost no special teams time on the power play lines. This means that all of goals that he scored were during regular 5v5 play, the next closest person was Waters-Johnson of Great Falls with 21 even strength goals. Leaving Hotdog open to only increase his point totals in the next few season, even more so if he is somehow able to get onto the power play lines.

Checking out the physical side of things within the list, you'll notice that Hotdog loves to get a bit more chippy than some of his peers. When he's unable to get points on the scoresheet, he will try whatever possible to help his team maintain a winning standard. With his mere 100 hits from a goal scoring hopeful, you should expect Hotdog to fight until the bitter end of each losing game.

Below you can find some games during the regular season when Hotdog Lunch performed at a higher than normal standard to win one of the stars of the game. Please note that a lot of these games were played with very few shifts (less than 10) while still making an impact while on the ice.

2044/10/17 - OTT vs STL - 5 to 4 win
1st star of the game - 0G 2A 1 Hit
Having only 16:18 seconds of time on the ice made this feat a bit more impressive. Dolling out 2 assists with only two shots on net, left the team barely squeaking by in this early season win. Hotdog only played 6 shifts in the whole game, making his impact on ice that much more impressive.

2045/1/31 - OTT vs YUM - 5 to 6 loss
2nd star of the game - 1G 2A 0 Hits
In this game, Hotdog played a higher than normal 17:37 time on the ice, but played one less shift than the game prior. He really made the most out of his limited minuets out on the ice by scoring one goal and helping put in another two. Unfortunately the team would fall in this matchup to their cross-league rivals in Yukon.

2045/2/27 - STL vs OTT - 7 to 3 win
1st start of the game - 1G 2A 2 Hits
Finally in the last game on the list, we would find Hotdog playing around his average time on ice. Here he would play 17:13 and see the line produce more than expected, considering that he was only on the ice for 3 shifts. This means that he potentially only played one shift per period or only played in one total period, my guess is the former. These stats go to show how valuable Lunch could be if he were placed in a more consistent offensive role for the team.

Hotdog seems to be on the slow incline towards the top of the league if he maintains this pace, hopefully making any team that selects him happy for many seasons to come.

[1461 words]