Yukon Rush S78 Review

[hockeyis66 143]

The Yukon Rush finished the S78 with 57 wins, 11 losses and 4 OTL’s which was good for 118 points and the most in the league.  The Rush had 56 regulation wins which was also the most while scoring the most goals in the league with 375 and gave up 216 which was 5^th best.  The 159 goal difference during the season was also the best in the league.  The power play converted on a crazy 33% of their chances which was well above league average.  The penalty killing was just under 80% on the season which was just above average.  The Rush did not lose in regulation, overtime or the shootout to the following teams on the season – Las Vegas, Miami, Mississauga, Ottawa, Philly and Saskatoon.

 

Goaltending – Papa Emeritus played in 69 games, winning 55 of them.  He had a .892 save percentage and a goals against of 2.91 to go along with 5 shutouts on the season.  His shutouts tied for most in the league, his GAA was 4^th and save percentage 5^th while winning the most games in the league.  No doubt he will be in the conversation for best goalie of the year.

 

Defense – Nathan Powers was a stud on the blue line this season as he led all defensemen in the league with 108 points and 87 assists.  His assists were 3^rd overall in the league.  He was also a +37 on the season and played nearly 30 minutes per game.  Tynan Sylvester was 4^th among defensemen with 97 points with 36 goals and 61 assists.  Jokinen had 73 points while Beach had  34, Adams 4 and Eightnine had 2 in a limited number of games.

 

Forwards – Tyler Reinhart led the team in goals with 64 and points with 133 while being second on the team in assists with 69 in a season that should put him in the MVP conversation.  He also had 22 power play goals and 50 power play points.  Gaspar Zakrevsky and Jaromir Lemieux each tied for second on the team with 108 points each as Zakrevsky had 51 goals on the season and Lemieux had 41.  Jerome Reinhart and Otto Numminen each average more than a point a game with 86 and 72 points respectively.

 

 v The Rush will face the Kinds of Mexico City in the first round.  Most will think this will be a push over but the Kings did beat the Rush 3 times in regulation this season including the next to the last game of the season and one time in a shootout as well.  The Rush are going to have to get contributions from all their lines and shut down the big players on the Kings while getting solid goaltending and timely goals from the power play unit to move onto the second round.

 

Overall, the Rush were able to draft some solid players to come right in and mix well with the players that were returning to form a solid couple of lines both offensively and defensively.  As the season went, the Rush also picked up some players from the waiver wire to fill out the roster and allow the team to roll multiple lines at the opponent while not sacrificing anything defensively and had more depth at that position than they did in the past.  Being first in the regular season is nice, but the season will not be complete without a championship.

[Greg_Di 1,028]

Review:

 

Great article on Yukon's season as well as a great summary on the teams position and upcoming playoff series. The Riga logo as the bullet point is a great touch and the spacing and flow of the article go really well. The only real thing I would add is maybe a picture at the top to grab the readers attention. I can't think of anything else to improve this. Well done! 

 

9/10