Barrage of Pucks? "Puck That"

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After a serious slew of losses result in 17 goals against over three games, Jesse Teno may finally be seeing a turn-around. Three brutal losses (Game 102 vs Mexico City Kings [4-2], Game 106 vs San Diego Marlins [3-6], and Game 117 vs Mississauga Hounds [7-1]) with a combined total 100 shots again, can only hopefully give Teno the experience they need. Despite their personal stats and impressive rise among first-gen players, the on ice stats and production do not seem to be able to match up. This major gap has left Teno wondering where all of their hard work is going if it isn’t showing where it matters – on the ice.

 

Game 102 against the Mexico City Kings was a close one with a final score of 4-2 and shots on goal 24-22. It’s one of the closer games that Saskatoon has managed in regards to shots on goal. Teno let two in from Halvar Torbjorn during the first period, though managed to hold off Mexico City during the second, with the other two goals coming in the third period. Saskatoon was able to rally a bit in the second and third periods, matching Mexico City in number of shots, but they just could not seem to get enough past Mexico City goalie Jeremy Swayman. An easier game shot wise for Teno and one they could be happier with given how even it seemed to be for most of the game.

 

Game 112 against the Mississauga Hounds, however, is a totally different story. With shots against being 24-45, it was a constant onslaught of pucks that resulted in an ugly 7-1 loss. It also showed in the number of penalties from Mississauga, including goalie interference. Though that didn’t seem to bother Teno. In fact, after that penalty call, they seemed to be on the ball, not letting any other pucks cross their net for the remainder of the game. It might have also fired up Nikolas Kauppi as well, who scored the lone Saskatoon goal 2 minutes and 19 seconds later. Teno seemed a bit shaken after the penalty but brushed it off and held the score where it was.

 

And the turn-around mentioned earlier? Well that came in Game 117 against the Miami Marauders. It was the first time this season that the two teams met; and both being at the bottom of the VHLM standings meant that it was a more even match than any previous game could have been. Despite that, Saskatoon once again was outshot 20-40; one of the highest shots games that Teno has been in. They managed to hold off yet another onslaught and only let in 2 goals. Thankfully, with the hard work of their teammates, Saskatoon managed a 5-2 win. The barrage was light but the aim was spot on. Yes, the Saskatoon Wild have been out-shot in ever single game. But what matters, and what we can all see from this game, is that it’s the quality and not quantity of the shots.

 

If Saskatoon can keep making quality shots and if Jesse Teno can hold things together in the net, it’s possible that the Wild could make a significant turnaround in the second half of the season.

 

538 words for week ending July 17, 2022