I think our biggest success this season for Anchorage will have to come down to how well we vibe and gel as a team. I think we're looking really good so far in that department. I think Luka Lilja is better than what their stats say and I'm confident his number will improve as the season goes on, especially paired up with Patrick Rail and Jay Dub. A rookie on the first line? Hell yeah! But that just goes to show how young we are as a team. Matthew Pano leads the team in points so far this season, after scoring 51 in his rookie season last year. I think they will put up similar numbers this season, hopefully career numbers. Then there is also our young defense, real beauts like Send Noodles with 159 blocks in his rookie season...AND Kameron Urchin-Mullen, also a rookie this season, and also looks like he's gonna enjoy hitting people.

So, yeah... Long story short, we might put up a stinker on the season, but everyone is optimistic about the future, myself included!

The Thunder Bay Walleye had a rough go in the 7 game preseason. In the first four games, all the rookies were still at training camp and the returning players hadn't figured out their lines yet, so they got ran out of the rink pretty quickly. When the rookies showed up for the final 3 games, they lead the charge and the team went 2-1. The third line of Zara Wolf, Cap Crunch, and Dana Katherine Scully connected for 4 G, 10 A for 14 points in 3 games. The 9 players who were in all 7 games scored a total of 36 points, so this line could be effective in the regular season.

At the time of writing this, the regular season is already underway and the Walleye have stumbled out to a 1-14 start. The real standouts have been Leon Dusty and Artyom Kuznetsov. Leon Dusty was also the leader in the pre-season, but was still close to the pack. So far, they are almost doubling the scoring of anyone else on the team besides Kuznetsov. Kuznetsov is a bit of a surprise since they were tied at the bottom of the rookie pile in the pre-season, but that was still a point per game pace. They were given the opportunity to play on the 2nd line, and they are cashing in hard, especially their chemistry with Silver Tarandus who is the 2nd line trigger.

Projecting out to the rest of the season, I would say that the pressure is off so they can just keep building chemistry for the playoffs. The team is not scoring a lot of goals, but still within the ballpark of the nearby teams. They are getting torn apart on defense, although the biggest chunk of that is an 18-3 loss to Kelowna. So it will be crucial for that rookie 3rd line to shore up some defense as they grow into their role.

sig credit to myself, graphic design is my passion

Dana Katherine Celly - S82 and on

Team History:

Slip McScruff - S44 to S81

Team History: