Rough Patch

[youloser1337 1,068]

1 - 6 - 1. That’s the current record for the Riga Reign. Another disappointing start to the season. For Justin Lose, it’s another frustrating start to the season. Once again he was living life on the first line. The first few games looked promising for him scoring some points and getting the first goal for the Riga Reign this season. Deja vu strikes again and Lose was demoted to the 2nd line. To put it into perspective, Justin Lose has 1 goal and 2 assists for 3 points and a +/- -1 in 8 games. 

The other two first linemates, Cabe McJake and Ray Sheilds, are also in a scoring slump. Cabe McJake has only 3 goals and 1 assist and a +/- -5 and Ray Sheilds has 3 goals and 1 assist and a +/- of -6. It’s obvious that Justin Lose isn’t the only one that is in a slump right now. Lose has expressed his anger in a recent interview. He brings up that he is the scapegoat the past 2 seasons when being demoted. The replacement for Lose? 

Addison McLaren, 2 goals. Justin seems to have lost motivation in the league after being demoted again. After a long offseason, it’s not paying off for Lose. Let’s step back from Justin Lose and look at the overall picture.

 

Let’s try to analyze what is going wrong with the Riga Reign. Currently they are last in the Euro Conference and second to last, ahead of the DC Dragons, in the overall standings. There is a 2 way tie for the leader in goals with Ray Sheilds and Cabe McJake with 3 goals and a 3 way tie for the leader in points with General Zod, James Rose and Artair McCloud with 5 points. No one on the Riga team is at a point a game pace through 8 games. One of the main issues right now is scoring. You would think with top talent like Ray Sheilds and Cabe McJake that they would find the net easily. The other slot should just be a plug in and score too. Unfortunately that isn’t the case and they are lacking that star player. No particular person stands out against the rest of the team.

Another problem is the +/-, aka keeping the puck out of the net. This could go in two ways, defensive play and goalies. The top 5 worst +/- on the team are from the defense. The two top defensemen Zod and Rose are the 3rd and 5th worst +/- on the team. Is this just poor defensive play or just a string of back luck with the backup goalie in net, Matthew A Sovick Jr. Riga likes to start the season out with the backup goalie to prevent any rule breaking by the end of the season. This same issue happened last season, but when Calvin Harvey went into the net things turned around for the Riga squad. Will it be Deja Vu again for this season when Harvey mans the net?

 

Obviously this is just an overreaction since it’s so early on into the season. Once Harvey gets into the net things will go back to normal for the Riga squad. For Justin Lose, it will be a huge test to see where he ends up at the end of the season in the lines. He will try to get back to the first line.

[Smarch 2,992]

Review: Riga in last place is so weird as a long time VHLer. I’m sorry to hear you have had a let’s say trying first week to S77. It’s hard when line changes are done with a struggling team, sometimes makes you think about your place on the team in the minute.

 

Overall good read, good analysis of the situation in Riga. Unfortunately doesn’t seem much better since Friday.

 

Maybe some colour or a picture or two to spruce up the reading experience would help with the long black text.

 

8/10

[Renomitsu 932]

Review

I agree with Smarch. Riga was a perennial playoff contender up until a few seasons ago, but I'm confident hedge will right the ship as he has before. First generation players as a whole will generally have a tougher time, but keep at it and you'll see results correspondingly. Young players will always have frustrating production early, but the payoff later in your career is always a great boon.

 

Content-wise, I think this is an important article that gets played out more in team locker rooms than on the forum, and I like the fact that it's a bit more formally presented here. We always want to cheer our teammates on, but it can be frustrating to have a small role on a team that is performing badly - you always want what's best for the team! I think this concern is well-communicated here.

 

A few comments on grammar; keep your tenses consistent when referring to past events ("He brings up that he is has been/was the scapegoat the past 2 seasons..."), and be careful with your punctuation ("Is this just poor defensive play or just a string of bad luck with the backup goalie, Matthew Sovick Jr., in net, Matthew A Sovick Jr.?").

[Rhynex Entertainment 462]

Good article. Informative for players who are not up-to-date with all the teams in the VHL. Could have better sentence structuring, use of tags, and other structuring methods for a easier read, as opposed to having a massive paragraph. 8/10