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**JaytheGreat** · 04-22-2023, 08:27 PM

The St. Louis Scarecrows have finished bottom of the SMJHL for 2 seasons in a row now, with lack of active players sinking them last season and lack of veterans really hurting them this season. While finishing at the bottom again St. Louis a respectable 9 points more then last season along with getting 3 more wins. The biggest difference the past 2 seasons is the addition of 3 active rookies along with a semi active one, the 2 rookie forwards Marshall Madden @Gumbaman and Dominik Winter @39alaska39 play on the top line together, while the rookie defenseman Jay Bryzi is on the top pairing, and the rookie goalie Kyle Baretto @WubbaLubbaDubDub184 splits time with 2nd year goalie Kay Lee. The rookies have come in and have made an immediate impact scoring a combined 89 points and each rookie averaging at least 20 minutes a night.

This years team has scored 12 more goals and have given up 33 less goals, St. Louis management should be thrilled that such a young team has already cut down on goals by 11% from the year before while starting 3 rookies. The only stat that is lower this season compared to last is the power play by a whopping 3.2% which is quite a bit when it comes to the power play. Defensively the team has had a massive turnaround and maybe the most noticeable is on the Penalty Kill going from a league worst 72.8% to number 8 in S70 at 77.9%. That combined with averaging 3 shots against less, 2 hits more a game, St. Louis has showed a remarkable improvement defensively which was to do with not only new players but likely points in a shit in tactics as well. It's not just the defense that has improved as well but St. Louis is averaging 4 more shots a game compared to last season but is still deep in the bottom of the league when it comes to shots per game.

So far we've looked at the comparisons between the S69 and S70 teams but now I want to focus on this year's team and the future. There is one glaring weakness to the Scarecrows and that is offense, they are dreadful in every statistical offensive category. They have the worst Power Play by 2.1% (a difference of 9 goals) they are dead last in goals scored by 30 and at the bottom of the league in shots per games by 3. Those numbers show St. Louis isn't even close to being average on offense let alone good, another problem is it's not an easy fix. The biggest problem is there no goal scorer, all the forwards are either 2-way forwards or playmaking forwards which means there's no one to help carry the scoring. While the scoring should get better as the forwards earn more TPE, getting a dedicated goal scorer is a must for St. Louis in the upcoming draft. Another thing St. Louis will have to change is their tactics, while going very defensive is probably the right move for such a young team they've probably gone too defensive for their own good and will need to find a nice medium. But it's not all doom and gloom the defense has taken a giant step forward and should continue to grow having David Doug @TheSparkyDee coming back should be a massive boost, Doug led the league in Blocked Shots and had 22 points. The Crows are also brining back top goal scorer Lesse Zeigler @jaypc8237 which should help boost the offense and defense. So while St. Louis has spent the past couple of seasons in the basement, there is a lot of optimism and while the weaknesses are clear they can be worked on and improved. While next year might not be anything special, 2 seasons from now when this draft's core players have developed there should be a lot of excitement in St. Louis.

Rest In Peace Dangel

1st SHL Goal - S52 Game 1 vs Tampa 3. New England Wolfpack , Jakub Bruchevski 1 (Eko Van Otter 1, Delver Fudgeson 2) at 8:10

Scarecrows

*CptSquall* · 04-23-2023, 12:43 PM

Approved, +5 TPE to @JaytheGreat

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