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Arayvenn · 10-13-2023, 03:25 AM

As the halfway mark of the season rapidly approaches, I wanted to take some time to do a media piece and take a look at how I'm tracking for some personal expectations I set for myself this season.

The Good
My offense has shown up. I'm getting open in dangerous places, taking a good number of shots, and shooting at a nice rate as well. I've already matched my goal total from my rookie season. I think I'm tracking to be a lethal PP1 option in my last two junior seasons and that's right in line with my expectations. I'm boasting the highest OGR on the crows right now and I think I'm one of our most important offensive contributors. Still, I'd like to see myself shoot the puck a little more.

I feel like a dangerous scoring threat when I watch the sims and overall I think my player build is producing in the way that matters most, which is scoring goals.

The Bad
There is quite a lot more bad than good, I think. For starters, I'm pretty well a defensive disaster. I was hopeful some of my TPE investments in the off season would make me a more reliable two way player, but the improvement is barely noticeable enough to be chalked up to anything more than random variance. I think I'm going to have to embrace a one dimensional offensive game for the rest of my capped junior years, but this is something I'll need to address before I make my debut in the SHL.

To add to the bad, in part due to my disastrous defense, the crows are running on fumes and chasing the playoffs halfway through the season. I expected us to take a step back this year, but we've definitely come in below expectations and I think as a sophomore some of that responsibility falls onto me.

I won't go into my experience playing for Finland at the WJC in detail, but let's just say it wasn't my best showing.

Looking Forward
I'm feeling good. By this time in my last player's career I was losing interest but I'm still really engaged in Axel's career. I think St. Louis is going to come out of this transition period stronger than ever and I'll have a good couple cracks at another 4 star cup before making my debut in the big leagues.

Word count: 400