With the first IRL week of the SMJHL season has now gone underway, and I started looking into what I could possibly use for my first deep dive of the season. The biggest thing that caught my eye was point differential across the league. And low and behold, Quebec City caught my eye with their point differential of exactly 0, but with a 61% win rate at 11-7.

Now does point differential really matter in the scheme of things for the success of a team? Possibly. But it's not the end all be all angle or anything like that. It does help paint a picture however. Quebec had an amazing start to the season going 7-0, including a win over the current standings leader Newfoundland (and 2-0 against them overall so far this season). The highest differential in that stretch against a single opponent was 2. Now I am not too familiar with the sim engine or the sport in general, but it is definitely interesting to note that of their losses, 5 of the 7 were by over 3 goals or more! Since then though, they have a couple of wins with also 3 or more goals differential.

Now this isn't a deep dive to attack the Citadelles, on the contrary, this is more to show how impressive their wins have been while keeping things exciting. I imagine the fans watching and embracing the "Cardiac" Citadelles attitude. Looking at the TPE numbers, it does look like QCC is fairly top heavy as a team. While it is great to have top overall talent, it stands to reason that you may need to build that depth once the playoffs roll around. Obviously in (good) sim leagues, it helps that there are no injuries, and so the hope is that you are able to help the newer players earn TPE to the best of their ability and grow the team in that way.

Although the season just started, it is always nice to be able to come away with a solid IRL week of wins. They do have a tough slate in the next few sim days playing against Ottawa, Kelonwa, and Anchorage. It could be a case of just a lucky start, but that wouldn't be any fun to view it that way. At the end of the day, it's still a 50/50 coin toss, even if one team is favored to win than the other.

One other stat I noticed was that Ela Solberg is having a great start to the season as goalie for the Citadelles with an 11-4 (highest wins in the league) record, a 91% save percentage, GSAA of 8.55 (which leads the league) as well as 468 saves overall (also league leading). Their game rating has really improved and is off to a strong start with a game average of 81 compared to their career average of 74. However, when Ela is not in the game, the team's defense rather struggles as QCCBOT4 has a 0-3 record with a game rating of 69 and a 88% save percentage. Obviously a big difference, and definitely something the GMs want to keep an eye on.

So are the QCC the team of destiny? It's hard to say at this point. They definitely have what people will state as "sim luck", but there's no skill to be proven in a simulation league. So I would be riding the wave as long as possible, because this team is good period.

+5 tpe, approved

“The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. ... There are neither beginnings nor endings to the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning.”





Rurik Markov| C | SMJHL Prospect | Future Madison Valkyries
Birthplace: Visby, Sweden
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SMJHL Season Stats
S83: GP: 0 | G: 0 | A: 0 | P: 0 | 0 | PIM: 0 | Hits: 0 | |
SMJHL Playoff Stats
S83: GP: 0 | G: 0 | A: 0 | P: 0 | 0 | PIM: 0 | Hits: 0 | |
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SHL Season Stats