With the regular season quickly coming to a close, now is the time to make that last push for the President's Trophy and start gearing up for playoffs or, sadly, the offseason. In order to play your best game to close out the season, you're going to need to reflect on what lessons you and your team have learned so far.
Your Task
Written option: choose two games your team has played this season, one where things went badly and one where things went well, and write at least 250 words on why you think that was the case for each one. Must include a clear indication of which games and at least 3 stats from each game.
Graphics option: choose two games your team played this season, one where things went badly and one where things went well, and create an infographic highlighting the reasons you think that was the case. Must include the team logos and at least 4 stats from each game.
Your Reward
4 TPE for doing the thing.
Only S36 SMJHL Rookies are eligible for this PT. (YOU MUST BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE S37 SHL ENTRY DRAFT TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS PT)
You cannot claim TPE for this PT until a post is made in the global claim thread.
The only thing worse than getting blown out is getting blown out by your rival. A few seasons ago the rivalry between the Montreal Militia and Detroit Falcons was the most contentious in the SMJHL and while it has settled down a bit since, it seems to be making a slight comeback this season. Overall the season series against the Falcons has gone very well for us. We've taken 8 points in 7 games which may not seem like a whole lot but if we earned points at that pace against the entire league we'd be sitting at a respectable 48 points, squarely in a playoff position with eight games to play. In Game 86, though, we just got absolutely dumpstered 7-2. A big reason why we got blown out has been a problem that's dogged us all season – we got out-shot 38-25. Giving up a massive shot differential like that is simply not a good way to win hockey games. It also didn't help that we were unable to draw penalties and only gave our power play 2 opportunities – half as many as the 4 we gave the Falcons. That difference didn't make up the five-goal difference between our teams this game but was certainly one of the factors that added up. But really the biggest reason we lost was that Maurizio Arrivabene recorded scored three goals on five shots, recording more goals than our entire team. It is really, really hard to win when that happens.
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An example of a game where we were able to play on our terms and came out ahead was Game 108 against the Vancouver Whalers when we won 4-2. In that game we were able to consistently draw penalty calls and we saw a parade of Whalers to the penalty box as six different Whalers gave us 8 power play opportunities, on which we scored 3 times and wore down many of their top players. Forcing an opponent to use up precious ice time on the penalty kill where they have an extremely low chance of scoring is absolutely fantastic, especially for a team like us who struggles against teams at even strength. For example, the Whalers' top three defensemen – Shoyu Kikkoman, Isak Ødegård, and Hoid Wit – have scored a combined 85 points but were held to just 1 in this game thanks in part to them playing a combined 16:21 on the penalty kill. Plus we play a pretty rough style of hockey as evidenced by our 25-12 edge in hits delivered so only giving the Whalers 2 power play opportunities was huge. Perhaps most critically, however, we were able to keep the shot differential in check, only trailing 30-26 in this game. Again, this stems from the penalty differential, as we had quite a few more opportunities to take shots than the Whalers. While drawing 8 power plays is an unrealistic strategy that isn't regularly repeatable, we've struggled to score at 5v5 so amassing a special teams advantage is even more important to us than most teams. 28% of our goals this season have come on the power play which is third in the SMJHL this season.
Easily one of our worst losses of the season came on home ice against the Vancouver Whalers. We were thoroughly outplayed the whole game and deserved every bit of that 5-2 loss. The first thing that sunk us was not being able to control the play. Vancouver outshot us 33-14, not giving us an inch of room to work with. You can't win in this league if you aren't even challenging your opposing goalie. Second, and most importantly, we were way too undisciplined. We took 8 penalties to just 1 for the Whalers. On top of that, our penalty kill let us down as well, giving up 4 power play goals. Lastly, going only 44% on the face-off dot doesn't help get you in an offensive rhythm. Losing the majority of them just means you're chasing the game right away. Undisciplined play and coming with no energy set us up for failure this night.
Early on in the season, we played arguably our best game against the Kelowna Knights, in their own building. In this game, we came out with tons of energy and were ready to take control of the game right from puck drop. We dominated the shots on goal, out-shooting them 36-21, including holding them to just 7 shots in the first two periods. Being able to control play let us play our game and dictate how things went the whole game. Since we were on offense most of the game, there weren't many times we had to chase the Knights which helped us stay disciplined. We only took 2 penalties, while Kelowna took 6. While we didn't score any power play goals, being on the penalty kill took away more time for Kelowna to work their way back into the game. We also made the Knights chase the game by winning 56% of the face-offs. Having the puck at the start of over half the face-offs let us run our plays and stay on the offensive for longer. Dominating puck possession and playing disciplined led to the 5-0 win against Kelowna.
(363 words)
Guy Incognito - D - #24
Tampa Bay Barracuda Season 82
20-5-2
Regular Season - [G 2] [A 15] [Pts 17] [+/- +16] [PIM 18] [Hits 39] [SB 46]
Good teams are expected to pull out wins in close games. In the case of the St. Louis Scarecrows we’ve had some cases of winning close games as well as shooting ourselves in the foot and losing them. In game 106 the Scarecrows played the Montreal Militia. In this game Johnny Yuma struggled a bit at the goalie position, allowing 3 of 17 shots to score for the militia. His 82.4% save percentage wasn’t enough to get the win in regulation. Fortunately, the rest of the defense played good enough through overtime to get the team to the shootout. In this game the Militia were only able to take 17 shots. The defensive group for the Scarecrows managed to block 5 shots on their own. When the shootout started the Militia players showed their lack of shooting throughout regulation and missed the majority of their shots without any work from Yuma, and a shot by Joseph Lombardi earned the Scarecrows the win.
In game 171 the Scarecrows played the Vancouver Whalers and the game would fall a bit differently. Johnny Yuma played a much better role from the Goalie box and only allowed 2 of 23 shots in for points, an impressive 91.3 save percentage should have been enough to get the win. Unfortunately for Scarecrow fans the offense would not get going this game and of their 22 shots only 2 would be goals. The Scarecrows still had an impressive 12 blocked shots on the defensive end, but their inability to convert shows to points would push the game to a shootout. In this game, the Scarecrows were the one struggling to shoot and would end up losing 2-1 in the shootout thanks to the impressive 4 stops by Carrick Murray.
In the end the difference between a win and a loss was primarily the result of the ability to shoot during the shootout and make the shots when they mattered the most.
Bad - link
This has got to be the worst game for the Militia, as it pretty much set the mood for the rest of the season. After going up 2-1 in two periods, Montreal lets in 6 unanswered goals for a blowout of a loss. Beaujeaux Biscuit was overwhelmed by the shot differential, and only saved 31 shots out of 38. His coach kept him in the whole game for whatever reason, and he just looked flushed out there especially by the end of the third. Maurizio Arrivabene would get a hat trick, while Vijanupatan Singh got two goals of his own as Montreal's defense just let poor Biscuit out to dry with a remarkable performance by the detroit falcon lineup.
Good - link
With the Militia barely clinging on to any sort of playoff hopes near the final stretch of the season, it's a bit of a moral boost for poor goaltender Beaujeaux Biscuit to get a win over the Kelowna Knights and more specifically Jay Bae. Jay has been taunting Biscuit all season, but sadly for her she got yanked at the start of the third period giving up 4 goals on 18 shots. Finally some bragging rights from the Militia bench, Montreal would continue on to win 4-2 as both teams are clawing their way back up into some sort of playoff hope. Yuri Bakos-Markov ended the night with two goals, and Connor O'Connor got a two point night with one goal himself. Colette Jacobsen even got booted from the game for fighting Mike Izzy.
St. Louis Scarecrows vs Kelowana Knights
One game where we struggled as a team was are first game vs Kelowana Knights where as a team we lost 4 - 0, it was our first game so as a rookie it was just getting a feel for the game, Kelowana Finished the game with 21 shots vs our 14, the team struggled as a whole not getting any shots into the back of the net and coming up empty handed on the power play with 3 chances just in the first period, where kelowana scored once on the power play in the 3rd period. The first period started off well for the Scarecrows getting off 9 shots but not getting any goals past a hot goaltender but letting one by with only 4 shots from kelowana in the period, the second period started worse only getting 2 shots off and yet again letting in another goal, kelowana up 2-0 after 2. The third starts off horrid with the crows getting only 3 shots and yet still no goals but the knights pulling off 14 shots in a period getting 2 goals and one a power play goal. Crows goalie Yuma finished with a .810 save percentage but jay bae finishing perfect for the knights with a 1.000 save percentage.
Kelowana knights vs St. Louis Scarecrows
A game where everything went the Scarecrows way was game 134 vs the kelowana knights where the crows strikes revenge winning 3-0. The Scarecrows finished with 30 shots in the game while the knights only finished with 13 shots in the game. The whole night the team was just playing there game, the first period ended scoreless with the shots 9 to the crows and 2 to the knights. The second period was more eventful with 10
Shots form the crows and only 4 from the knights but on the power play the crows finally hit the net for a power play goal. The 3rd was the best period yet with 11 shots from the crows and 7 from the knights, the crows got a goal making it 2-0 but when they got a chance for the power play they executed scoring yet another power play goal finishing the game 3-0 showing how a team that beat you in a shutout one night might not be the same the next.
Keygan Registered
S45, S48, S49 Challenge Cup Champion
Posts:3,448 Threads: 246 Joined: Aug 2017 Reputation:88
Pronouns: Undisclosed
When things are going right with this team they're unbeatable and they proved that this game, all season Mack Hudson (Jay Bae) had been taunting Beaujeaux Biscuit about his lack of performance, even as going as far as placing bets on who would win the seasons series and this was the deciding factor.
Not only did we for once out shoot our opponent (22 - 19) but we also got everyone involved, including recent post trade deadline player Nolan Snipez who notched two points in the win. There are many times were Beaujeaux Biscuit had won his team games single handily and he proved today why he was worth a first overall selection. This proved to be a huge moral boost for Montreal and also allows them to continue playing spoiler for the two fringe playoff teams, Kelowna and Detroit.
It's not every day that you face the league leading scorer and Montreal can thank god for that. Coming into the game the only goal was to try and shut down Prince Georges Dani Forsberg and Dani proved that to be an impossible task scoring 2 goals in the 5-0 blowout win. Try as they might Montreal simply couldn't catch up to their opponents, being outshot 24-15. Declan Reilly also proved to be a thorn in Montreal's side with two assists on the night. This night could prove to be detrimental to the Montreal's rookies hopes at rookie of the year, any night without a point is a night that you are falling behind.
I haven't had a very good career so far, so this is about as good as it is going to get for me. This game we had a pretty even shot differential in 28 to 29, but we were able to take care of business by scoring 6 goals on the opposition. I even got myself an assist! Which isn't half bad. I even had two shots on goal and was 3 for 4 on the faceoffs, so I am surprised I haven't been getting much of a go at the center position. I may need to talk to my GM about it. The one thing is I put a bunch of my stats in goal scoring, but where has the scoring gone? I don't quite understand what is happening. Maybe I will become a major playmaker and will be one of the top playmaking wingers, then will get drafted and score goals because nobody was expecting me. Maybe? I am unsure about that. I'm young, so I have time to get better with that whatever I choose to do.
We got wrecked in this game, losing 5-1 and getting outshot 32-23. That isn't a good stat line in either case. I didn't get any points (but that is per usual), and was a -3 on the night with not a single shot to my name. This was even later in my career, so you would think that I should be better by now. I need to work out more, I suppose. Maybe going forward I will do better, but right now I really need to improve on my skills. This is the kind of game that is going to cause me to fall in the draft. I don't want that.
With the season coming to a close end, the Knights are in the midst of a playoff battle. Every game and every point matters. This game against the Mammoths shows how much damage the Knights can do when everyone on the team can put their minds together and do it. Everything on all cylinders were clicking. The defense was strong only allowing 18 shots against, and Jay Bae was perfect in stopping every single one of them, that's the good. Kelowna also outshot their opponent with 22 shots and scored 3 times. 2 of those times were on the powerplay going 2/5 at a 40% rate. They also through the body lots especially by Goody jr who had 3 hits. Scoring at high percentages has been difficult for Kelowna all season long and that's why to see everything finally click for a game it was very satisfying for everybody.
This is the kind of shit that Jay Bae has had to deal with all season long. As a rookie goaltender, nobody had any faith that the youngster would be able to steal the starting job from Thompson. But against all odds she did that and has had one of the best seasons from all goaltenders in the SMJHL. But it's these kind of games that are very frustrating. Don't get me wrong, the Knights outshot their opponents 21-20, by a very mere margain, but that's not the problem. The problem is obviously that they do not fucking score. It doesn't matter how little Jay Bae lets in, 1 goal, 2 goals, no goals, this team just does not like to fucking score enough goals to get Jay Bae some wins man. Then it even goes to a shootout, both goalie perfect, and it goes into extra rounds and STILL NOBODY WILL FUCKING SCORE. Finally Jay Bae let's one win and people blame her meanwhile the loaded offense doesn't show up for another game. The powerplay has been failure with 0/3 again in this game. PK has been a bright side killing off he only one. But no goals. One can only carry the team for so long and these mother fuckers need to figure their shit out.
This season was very hectic for my team as I am new and getting into this whole simulation hockey league and hockey, in general, to be honest, but I've seen our team go through many different ups and downs.
One of the game we did very well in was Game 141 Kelowna vs.Vancouver. One aspect of that was a great addition to our success was Miervaldis Fridrihs Ozolins' performance, he made 2 goals and took 4 shots which were really good and put us ahead giving us a nice lead on top of already having the win. Another aspect that really helps was our penalty kill success, which was 100% being 7/7 penalties completed. Our most crucial compnent, in my opinion, was Jay Bae's performance of 23 saves which was all of the shots attempted that game which really helped us shut them out and put us on top.
One of the games we could've done better done is Game 184 Montreal vs. Kelowna. One aspect that we could've worked on is that we only manage to take 19 shots and only achieved one goal out of the 19 shots we took the game. Another aspect that brought our demise was the fact we had 0% power play(0/4) which we had a great opportunity for us to really turn the game around and steal the win from them. A crucial point to our loss was that it was a quiet night from our stars such as Mercer Church, Mike Izzy, Nour Harrak who have a combined stats of 0 goals and 0 assists that game though they each equally had 19-22 minutes of play time each.
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