At the conclusion of the S35 Prospects Tournament, Karl Hefeweizen looks distraught. Most defensemen would be thrilled with 9 points in 10 games, but Karl points at the "second way" in the phrase "two way defenseman."
"Half of my points came on the powerplay," Karl pointed out. "I'm happy to help the team convert on special teams, but when you're running up the score those points count for a lot less to the team." Karl was split between PP and PK duty for the first half of the tournament. Consistent puck moving skills resulted in Karl getting more powerplay time as the tournament progressed.
"It feels good to set up big plays, of course," Karl said with a slight frown. "But I need to get back to my game. Missing the net doesn't help anyone, and my play in my own zone needs some polish." Karl finished the tournament with 13 blocked shots and a +2 rating.
"It doesn't feel good getting yanked off the PK," Karl added. "I pride myself on being a responsible defenseman, and if Coach doesn't like what I'm putting out on the ice that's on me." When reviewing some highlights, Karl pointed out key errors in judgment and execution. "I need to up my skating and conditioning if I'm going to keep up out there, getting back into game shape means investing in fitness in addition to the flashy technical skills."
When asked about his middling hit totals (8 hits in 10 games), Karl shrugged. "I'm not going to be Scott Stevens out there, that's not my game. I'm there to separate the puck carrier from the puck -- if a hit is the best way to do that then fine. But more often than not, I can use my stick to do that without taking myself out of the play as well."
Having completed round robin play in the SMJHL Prospect Showcase, we're starting to get a better idea of how this class of young players measure up against one another. Of particular interest has been the play of Lions defender Seth Paige. New to playing hockey full time, it was expected that Piage would experience some growing pains and start a bit behind the rest of his class. After 10 games, he seems to have shaken off that notion.
Despite being marketed primarily as a shutdown defender, Paige has been a star for the Lions' potent offense. Scoring at a point-per-game pace through the tournament thus far, Paige's 2 goals and 8 assists lead the team in scoring. His offensive abilities have been most noticeable on the forecheck, where he uses his intimidating size and good passing instincts to stop breakouts and keep opponents hemmed in. With six of his points coming from special teams, scouts may be seeing a future power-play quarterback in Paige. Seth has even managed to reign in his wild slapshot, registering a decent 10 shots on net.
This unexpected offensive breakout has overshadowed Paige's outstanding play in his own end. Averaging nearly 20 minutes per game, Seth has spent more time on the ice than any other Lions defender. His 30 minutes of penalty killing time is also tied for the team lead. Finally, Paige has been more than willing to sacrifice his body for the good of the team, blocking 20 shots so far.
If Paige can continue this performance in the upcoming playoffs, watch for his name to jump up the draft board.
Through 10 games, the Lions went 6-4 and qualified for 2nd seed in the playoffs are are now set to go up against the Outlaws.
Mathias Victorsson has been one of the pleasant surprises on this young star studded team as he has racked up 5 goals and 3 assists to total 8 points. Two out of the five goals have been game winning goals as he has been living up to his last name; helping carry his team to victory. Mathias has also been a factor in special teams, but not from where you would expect results from a goal scorer (the power play) but instead on the penalty kill as he centers the penalty kill. Not a natural center, Mathias has been asked to play outside of his comfort zone but hasn't complained.
When asked about his performance, Mathias responded, "It feels good to win and be one of the best teams but I believe both I and this team can do a lot better. Our eyes are on the championship and that's the real goal. We haven't accomplished anything until we win that."
We're definitely hoping to see how this plays out for Mathias Victorsson and the Lions as the SMJHL Prospect Showcase draws to a close and the SMJHL Draft approaches.
First of all I would like to say that I am really pleased with how the Blazers performed. The team initially struggled in the beginning sitting at 3rd place whereas the Outlaws were boasting the first place. This is when Blazers thought enough was enough and took some vodka shots before their games. This lit the spark in them and it created a snowball effect which allowed them to finish first in the standing. I believe that my player, Yuri Boyka Jr. has had a great showcase in the prospect tournament. Yuri Boyka Jr. had a tremendous tournament as he finished it with 12 points which is good enough to place him second on his team and also second in the whole league. The only player to have performed better than him is his fellow teammate and line-mate Kapralov, who led the tournament with 14. Both of these players have amazing chemistry together as they also led the team with the highest +/-. + 13. which is enough to place them both at the top of the league. This means that when these two are on together, you better expect something marvelous to happen. Yuri Boyka's strength relies on his ability to skate past others and use his prowess in puck handling to mentally incapacitate the opposition and use his finesse to either land the puck in the net or dish out a pass that will result in a goal for the team. This is essentially what has allowed the 17 year old to have made such a great impact in the tournament. Although the kid has got many strengths, he has a weakness as well. In his current form, his defense is rather weak along with his strength. The coaches have put Jr in a strict regimen to improve on these core skills so that he can be a more established player and eventually be ready to take the league by surprise in the SHL. So far I am surprised on how Boyka Jr performed as everyone started with the same TPE and as a result I thought the competition will be fierce in that everyone will be around the same level. However, the index has proved that the build of a person can greatly affect their performance regardless of the TPE. Thus, I am happy about my build so far and will continue to see Boyka's improvement in the league.
Please accept this media as my submission. I already wrote it, and have told the grader NOT to pay me out for the media as I will be taking the TPE from this PT instead.
<div align="center">Matthew Rossi is playing for the Lions under Allen who used to be the coach of Sterling Knight back in the days but they are both playing for the same coaches because of the relationship between the agency. He's a special player who is already planning on doing extraordinary things in his career, but he is on the second line this prospect showcase and he's doing great. His team individually is doing outstanding right now, many players have 9 points, 8 points right now even with a player having 10 points but Rossi sits around 8 points with 3 goals in 10 games. It's nothing really special but it's better than nothing. He's doing pretty good right now, doing everything the coach wants him to do always being the better player for his team. Having goals, key assists, he's even winning faceoffs on an consistent level which is important for a center in the SHL. The team that is going to draft Rossi is not going to be disappointed, with his talent you'll never be disappointed, he has high expectations for himself and his teammates but he always puts the team first. You don't need to be disappointed if you're already but you just have to have patience.</div>
The Blazers have now been eliminated after a disappointing showing. Back-to-back three to one losses to the Stingrays in the best of three series. Kapralov had just one goal in both games.
We caught up with Kapralov and asked him how he thought he did during the tournament.
"I had zero goals half way through the tournament. I was tied for the team lead in shots, but nothing to show for it. I was getting pretty frustrated. The coach had a talk to me before the Blazers - Outlaws game, and just said to me "You have a ton of shots, eventually one of these will go in, keep shooting". Sure enough, two minutes into the game, my first shot goes in! I was ecstatic. We played the Outlaws once again. After two periods I scored four goals. I finally broke through. Since talking with coach, Scoring was like drinking water. I finished with seven goals and seven assists, and led the tournament with points. Once the playoffs rolled around, our team was getting super cocky as we finished first place. I scored early in game one, but after that the Stingrays goalie was a brick wall. We lost three to one. Game two, we score early once again, we took our foot of the gas pedal and we lost once again three to one. It was embarrassing. We were already celebrating our tournament win!"
Stingrays Winger and SMJHL prospect Nour Harrak has put up a respectable showcase thus far as a rookie trying to stand out in what is one of the bigger draft classes in league history. With over 50 rookies participating this year, Harrak has stood out as a high end prospect at times, whereas at others he has looked like more of a solid role player. He finished the Showcase's regular season of 10 games with 5 goals, tied for 6th among all rookies, and worked up a shooting percentage of 19.23%. His other strengths lie in his shot totals, where he finished 11th among all players, minutes played at 208, 7th among all skaters, and mustering up a goal scoring streak of 3 games while his team slumped hard in the tournament's start. Through 2 playoff games he has one assist, but his 6 shots are poised to allow him to break through soon, and he's improved to a +/- of +2. Aside from these strengths, his biggest weakness is his consistency, as many player getting less ice time than him didn't experience some of the droughts he had in his scoring, as well as his defence as he was a -1 throughout the regular season. Another issue he faced, which is more of a minor detail, is his inability to steal games. With a shooting stat of 78, Harrak is going to need a lot more multi-goal games to stand out against his peers as a major offensive threat. After their 2 game sweep of the Blazers, he had the following to say: "I'm happy I was able to contribute to my team's success but I know I can do better. My record isn't one I'm completely disappointed with, but I know I'm capable of a lot more, and with the ice time I'm getting I know my team expects more of me. Thankfully, we've got one more series of at least two games against the Lions or the Outlaws, so I'm gonna kick it into high gear and really bring the heat going forward. I'm not done yet."
353 words
**First GM in SMJHL history to win 3 Four Star Cups back-to-back-to-back**
Mook Registered
S22, S32, S34, S40, S42,S52 Challenge Cup Champion
Casey Creller, related to SHL player Tommy Creller, has no idea what he is doing on the ice. A player who wants to score goals, lay the body and block shots is unable to do any of it. His proficiency? Taking penalties. With 1 point through the round robin, a lone assist, he seems to have let others do the scoring for him. While this is a very small part of his career, it has given his some insight into what he needs to improve.
Top Priority: Scoring. How can you score goals if you don't know how to score? Many garage doors will be sacrificed, but it will be for the better. Having more assists than goals will not be tolerated for Mr. Creller
Not as important: Crunching bodies. How do you instill dominance over your opponent if you don't manhandle them into the boards? Working on his checking will make him an offensive force to be reckoned with, as well as an intimidating defender to attempt to skate past.
Bottom of the list: Putting blades to ice. Sure he might be a little slow on skates. Which might be why he takes penalties. Who needs speed when your top priority is blasting rockets from the point. Stand there, and swing this stick. Easy. He definitely needs to speed up a little for the backcheck though, and checks hurt a lot more if you have some momentum behind you
"I didn't get the chance to play in this season's SMJHL Prospect Tournament as I sent off my paperwork a little too late. It is disappointing to miss out on the fun but I have enjoyed watching the teams play and my fellow draftees show what they can do on the ice. The Blazers looked like a very eye catching team with players like Mikhail Kapralov and Yuri Boyka Jr. being the stars of the show and scoring a lot of points, so it was surprising to see them fall so quickly in the playoffs, but sometimes things go like that. I'm excited to watch the games left in the series between the Outlaws and the Stingrays, there are some really talented players on both teams and a lot of names that will be very high up in this weeks draft. Because I missed the chance to play in the prospect tournament, I've been devoting my time to trying to be in good shape for the SMJHL draft. I've not spoken much to GMs or scouts at this point so everything looks like a bit of a mystery but it is exciting, and I can't wait to see what happens and where I end up playing next season."
208 words.
(I know this doesn't really meet the criteria of the point task but I didn't know what to do because I didn't actually get to play in the prospect tournament).
Many SMJHL scouts were left scratching their heads at Chase Byron's play during the S35 Prospects Tournament which concluded this weekend. "We really wanted to see how he did against elite competition, " said Johnny McScribbles of SMJHL scouting. "He is touted for being an offensive dynamo but this entire tournament his offense was absent. He was just completely invisible. Three points is not enough production from someone who is touted as an offensive dynamo." Byron finished the tournament with 3 assists and 12 shots in 10 games.
When asked about his lackluster offensive showing, Byron responded, "I believe the Blazers were the highest scoring team leading into the playoffs and since the team had no problems scoring I felt that I could focus more on my defense and let the scouts see how much I have improved in that aspect. I can go back to clapping bombs and doing stuff to moms in the regular season."
It was this defensive showing that might have saved Byron's draft stock from falling any further. "He's not known for his defense but he was surprisingly very well-rounded from what I saw. He was top 3 in the entire tournament in block shots all while not playing top minutes," said one scout. "My only complaint is that we didn't get to see him in odd man situations like on the PK. How he handles those high pressure situations would have been very telling."
Did Byron gamble his way out of being an early round pick? We will find out soon enough.
This has been an excellent showcase performance from playmaking center, Joakim Lindqvist. He has been able to find passing lanes and "tickle the twine" himself every once in a while. He went through the showcase with 10GP 3G 9A 12P, leading the Outlaws. Scoring wasn't his only strong suit. Lindqvist also was strong in the face off circle with 63.4% on 183 faceoffs, placing himself at the top of all teams.
Lindqvist has only cooled down slightly since the playoffs began. He is a point-per-game player, with four game point streak, with 4A in each of his four games played, tied for 3rd most points in the tournament. With the Outlaws up one game to none against the Stingrays, it's looking like Lindqvist might be bringing home his first ever sim league silverware.
Lindqvist stacked up well against his fellow prospects throughout this tournament. It was clear that he was the standout center during the regular season games, and during the playoffs, he has still been producing. Overall, Lindqvist will end at least a PPG player.
Lindqvist needs improve on his strength and defensive stat. With an improvement on strength, he will be able to improve on his already impressive face off percentage stat and overall with holding onto the puck. With an improvement to his defensive stat, he will be able to be in position to make plays, and support his team on both sides of the puck.
Personally, I was very surprised with how my first created player performed. I didn't really know how sim leagues worked and thought I would have a slow start to get into things. But throughout this showcase, it has been a ton of fun watching my player perform. Hopefully it carries over into the SMJHL season!
MWHazard Wrote:i'll playwith anyone
playing with my teammates is part of the intangibles I bring to the table
i play with them a lot.
they didn't like it at first
but after a while, it just felt normal
Justice,Sep 18 2016, 02:09 PM Wrote:4-0 and 0-4 aren't that different tbh
McJesus - Today at 10:38 PM Wrote:FIRE EGGY
HIRE ARTY
Hey i did not participate in the PT, but some mentors told me it was find to make my article on someone else !
(268 words)
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Cody Fletcher was looking ahead of the rookie tournament, unfortunately, things turned quite nasty for him before the start date. Right before the team assignation date, Cody injured himself during his training, leaving him unable to participate in the tournament. He tried to talk to multiple doctor and physicians, but none of them would clear him to play.
Disappointed to not be able to show the GMs what he was made of, Cody was left on the bleachers. Instead of playing, he was able to observe his good friends playing. He met a few prospects before the tournament which quickly became friends.
He mostly focused on watching his friend Nour Harrak plays. The young Right Wing was able to perform well during the tournament, scoring 3 goals and helping on 5 others for a total of 8 points during the preliminary round. He was a bit adventurous on the ice, leading to a -1 plus/minus. He shot 26 times on the goalies.
On the playoff, Nour slowed down a bit, only registering one assist in four games. It’s not like he didn’t try to score. He shot 14 times on the enemy team goals, the most of his team, but was denied each time. He was however really more dependable on the ice, achieving a plus 2 plus/minus.
All during the tournament, Nour did not take any penalty minutes.
Cody hopes to be able to showcase himself to the other GM in another way than the prospect tournament. He reached all of them in order to making him known and he’s looking forward to play for their team.
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