Tui Sova's Scouting Report

[v.2 1,406]

Tui Sova’s Scouting Report

 

 

     The VHLM season is well underway and we’ve obtained a strong enough sample size through the games played so far to provide an early assessment of the Mexico City Kings defenceman Tui Sova.  Since signing with Mexico City in the offseason, Sova has been tossed into a starting pair role on a very depleted team, which lost many of its prominent players after their championship year in S76.  While the teams overall performance so far has been straight dog water, Sova being thrusted into a top role has been provided the chance to really prove himself before the S78 VHL draft.

     After an evidently slow start to the season mainly due to the lack of a strong net presence, Mexico City traded it’s two top veteran players to solidify the direction of the team into a rebuild.  This gave Tui Sova and his good pal and training partner Anze Miklavz the reigns to run wild and free, playing top minutes and having the chance to pad stats. Thus far, Sova has been a shot blocking machine on the back end, and after some adjustment and chemistry development, he has begun to rack up points.

     Through 24 games, Sova has performed quite well offensively despite the aforementioned slow start tallying 6 goals, and 10 assists, for a total of 16 points.  On the defensive end he has notched an outstanding 49 blocked shots and 27 hits.  This propels Sova to top 5 spots on two stat leaderboards, where he is tied for third in powerplay goals with 6, and tied for second in the blocked shots category with his enormous 49.  It is safe to say that Sova has been a shot blocking machine, preventing the team from more blowout embarrassments than they already have.  Below we will highlight Tui Sova’s pros and cons as a n S78 draftee as determined 24 games in.

 

          

 

Pros:

 

• Shot blocking machine, the numbers don’t lie here.  This is enormous for a 19 year old to have the courage to put his body in front of the puck for his team, and shows early signs of leadership proving he is willing to do whatever it takes to defend the zone.

 

• Powerplay quarterback.  Sova is a rock on the point so far, and doesn’t hesitate to take slappers in hopes of a deflection or some top cheese.  He’s been solid at holding the line and the Kings power play has been a bright spot for the team amongst everything else.

 

• Discipline — 29 penalty minutes total really isn’t much and Sova has proven he can remain   level headed in testy situations, normally taking the high road rather than a stupid retaliation or a cheap shot.

 

Cons:

 

• Sova isn’t much of a hitter so far, which could explain the low PIMs.  At 19 years of age he still has a lot of strength and conditioning to go through, and needs to put on some size before he can be considered a true physical presence on the ice.  We project the checking will come once he matures, but right now it’s not a bright spot.

 

• Scoring — Sova loves shooting the puck from the point, but rarely takes wrist shots in tight.  This is something his coaches have begun to work on with him, as his rocket of a shot has the potential to be even more lethal closer to the net.