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***hhh81*** · 01-22-2019, 11:03 PM

After five-point outburst, Darrow cements Agante candidacy

By: Henry Hemmert

On Monday, during the Colorado Raptors’ 5-3 victory over the Lethbridge Lions, Cassius Darrow reminded everyone he’s a dominant force in this league by contributing to all five goals. In 24 minutes of ice time, Darrow scored once and added four assists, with two of his points on the power play.

“It felt good,” Darrow said of the win. “Lethbridge gave us chances and made some mistakes, and we were able to take advantage. I’m proud of how we played.”

This game may have single handedly put Darrow back in the discussion for the Quila Agante Trophy, awarded to the league’s top defenseman. This season, much of the league’s attention centered on the top pairings of Kelowna and Vancouver, as veterans Barret McCarthy @Inf1d3l and Tauras Karazija @ontanis, second year pro Sanyi Kocsis @daBenchwarmer and rookie Karlstrasse Scholz @karlssens have dominated most of the relevant statistical categories. Many viewed Darrow as a second tier candidate, alongside fellow second-year players like Leopold Lockhart @ej27 and Dominic Montgomery @bilbo .

Darrow’s performance Monday caps a 21 game stretch where he and J.P. Gay @"JumpierPancakes" have stepped up their play on both ends of the ice. Since their separation after a 3-0 win over the Montreal Militia on Day 41, Darrow and Gay have both taken off with new partners. Together, they scored 4 goals and 28 points in 25 games, with a combined +15 rating. Since Darrow began playing with rookie Anastasia O’Koivu @Pris and Gay with rookie Eric Vanderberg @Vandy 21 games ago, however, both of them have been at another level. Darrow has scored 4 goals and 16 assists, a points per game jump from 0.68 to .952, while Gay’s 11 points is an increase from 0.36 to 0.52. During the last 21 games, Gay and Darrow have contributed a goal or assist on 31 of the Raptors’ 59 goals (52.54%), an amazing statistic to consider.

“When you have two great defensemen like JPG and Darrow, the first thought is to play them together,” Colorado general manager, Sebastian Frost, shared. “Unfortunately, for one reason or another, that pairing didn’t quite work out as well as we’d like, and we decided to give a shot to some of our younger players. We spent very high draft picks on both O’Koivu and Vanderberg, and we decided that they’re going to be playing top minutes soon and that they should get used to that level of competition. By pairing them with our veteran leaders, we were able to ease them into a bit and it’s worked wonderfully. Having that kind of flexibility is fantastic when you have players like Darrow and Gay that play well up and down the lineup.”

Gay and Darrow have also played at a high level defensively, being a combined +14 over the last 21 games and seeing slight jumps in their blocks per game (47 total in 25 games together, 45 in 21 games separated), while also being able to cover more total minutes for the team. In fact, Darrow’s time on ice increased by over two minutes a game since the defensive shuffle, and he’s looked more at ease carrying the puck in all situations.

"Cass is an exceptional leader, great hands and a dual threat offensively and defensively,” rookie defenseman and Darrow’s partner of late on the powerplay, Eric Vanderberg said of the Raptors’ captain. “To not compare him to a Karlsson type player would be underselling what he brings to the table for us every night."

“CD and I played most of last year and this year together, and we really felt each other,” Gay told the media after the Lethbridge game. “His skating is unbelievable. Coach thought it was time to try switching things, and it’s been great playing with Vandy.”

Regarding his new partner, Darrow had nothing but good things to say.

“Stas is a wonderful player. She’s so strong in her own end, it allows me to push the play more, because I know she’ll handle herself, Darrow remarked. “Actually, strong is an understatement--she’s one of the most physically strong members of the team. During a workout about a month ago, J.P. was running his mouth about outbenching anyone else. She sauntered over and popped out ten reps at like 93 kilograms, then challenged him to bench 120% of his body weight to match her. He huffed and puffed through a few reps, then quietly admitted defeat.”

While Darrow is turning some heads, he still has a ways to go to secure votes for the Agante. Minnesota Chief’s prospect Kelowna Knights captain Sanyi Kocsis, an Agante finalist a year ago and the reigning SMJHL Rookie of the Year, has been an absolute force. He leads all defenseman in scoring, minutes played, and shots blocked, and shares the league lead for assists with fellow Knight Nickolas Klaus. After dealing with some mental health concerns earlier in the season, it seems Kocsis has rounded into dominant form. He is the presumed front runner for the award (for good reason). His defensive partner, the rookie Karlstrasse Scholz, as well as third year defenders McCarthy and Karazija of the Vancouver Whalers, likely are also in discussions as finalists for the award.

The Raptors will need to play better in their final four games, and Darrow will need to continue to carry the team offensively. While Darrow’s improved to almost a point per game scoring pace, Colorado has gone 9-10-2 in their last 21, miring themselves in the bottom half of the league. Included in that are two four-game losing streaks, as well as their current 4-1-0 record in the last five. Much of the team’s struggles have involved the power play, where they are far and away the league’s worst with the man advantage. Over their last 21 games, the team only has eight powerplay goals. Darrow scored three of those and assisted on two others, to lead the team with 8 power play points this season.

“The power play has been challenging all year” Darrow said with a sigh. “We’ve worked at it and worked at it all year, but we just don’t seem to be getting the bounces. We have some great goal scorers like Xander [Selich] @Tomen, Volo [Konstantin Voloshin] @InciteHysteria, and Moose [Jakub Novak] @Esso2264, as well as skilled rookies like Scarn @Trautner and Brainy @StadiumGambler.”

“The good news is we’ve been scoring pretty well at even strength. All we can do is finish the regular season at our peak so we enter the playoffs feeling good. Maybe we can repeat last year’s run to the finals?”