Darth Kaprizov Junior Review

[Darth Kaprizov 98]

  First and foremost, entering the VHLM was an honor in itself.  I was more than happy to have been able to showcase my talents to make the cut and give myself a chance to really work and craft my game into something special.  For me, getting picked up by the Mexico City Kings was a true blessing.  I was able to play with some very talented, soon to be highly drafted pros.  Tui Sova was a great mentor for me as I learned a lot from that salty bastard.  I was happy to see him drafted 7^th in the VHL draft this year.  As my first half season progressed, I felt I was contributing and much of that came from my GM, Advantage, what a great guy.  He really helped me with the mental side of the game which gave me the opportunity to play more minutes per game as the season wore on.  Unfortunately, we didn’t make the playoffs as I know that experience is only gained by having experienced it yourself.

 

  Into this past offseason, I knew I had to work on my skills.  I focused on my skating for overall speed, quick starts and ability to edge to create space.  My dangling needed to improve as well as my puck handling skills were good in the junior leagues but not up to par with the good defensemen in the VHLM.  Needed some work on my face off skills to control the dot a bit better as well. 

 

  With the start of my first full season, I was excited to see if my hard off-season work would pay off. So far so good.  Personally, I’ve amassed the same amount of points in half the amount of games compared to last season and my face off percentage is considerably better.  This isn’t a knock to anyone on this year’s team, but I quickly learned, I’m know the salty bastard and need to be a leader to the new young guys on the squad. To my surprise, with the strong start to the season and my experiences from last year, the team voted me to be captain.  This is a great honor and hope to wear the C on my jersey and be able to rise to the same level of play as other Mexico City captain greats of the past.  Right now, our squad is lacking depth and experience.  Hopefully some of my leadership by example will rub off on the new guys so they receive a similar experience as I did from Sova.  As a team and individually, Mexico City has a lot of work to do.  Time to put the ore in the water and start rowing boys!