S87 Player Spotlight - Sadie St-Louis

[sadie 940]

At the end of every VHL season, we at the DBC highlight the 10 best players in the league as well as two rookies with promise. Today, we will review the season of Sadie St-Louis, a promising Canadian rookie out of Trois-Rivières. She, along with The Frenchman, Daniel Weaver, and Skor McFleury, make up a strong and young skater core on the Riga Reign that should shine for years to come. Drafted 4th overall in the S86 draft, great things are expected of St-Louis after having had an incredible VHLE year and posting strong numbers before that in the VHLM for the Marlins and Lynx.

 

Sadie St-Louis' S87 Stats:

 

GP: 72

G: 26 (1st)

A: 33 (2nd)

P: 59 (1st)

+/-: -4

Shots: 294

PIM: 46

Hits: 116

SB: 32

GWG: 4

PPG: 3

 

Playoffs:

 

GP: 7

G: 1

A: 3

P: 4

+/-: 2

Shots: 21

PIM: 7

Hits: 14

SB: 2

 

Leading the rookies in points and goals, she may have a chance at winning the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy at the VHL Awards! Already, she is setting herself up for decent numbers in the years to come. Offseason areas to work on would definitely include her wrist shot, as making the most of the shots she gets would net her significantly higher goal totals. Many of the top scorers in the league boast double-digit shooting percentage, and it is definitely not luck. Too many shots were whistled just wide of the net this year. Shot blocking constitutes another area for improvement; St-Louis should work on getting her body in front of more pucks. There have been many instances this year of her failing to block the shot and only screening the goaltender. It may have contributed to that negative plus-minus as well.

 

It was an interesting first season for St-Louis, as going into it, not much was expected of Riga. She started out the year on the second line, and although she herself took a while to get going production-wise, Riga did not. They started out 9-3, pushing into 2nd in the European Conference. Almost halfway through the year, Riga stumbled and began losing much more than before. St-Louis was moved to the first line and given more minutes. Immediately, her production exploded from what it had been previously, netting herself 9 points in the first 7 games after the change and having 12 in 12. Towards the end of the season, the European Conference playoff race began to heat up. It was unusually close, only a couple of points separated the 7th and 2nd place teams at any given time for weeks. Sadie's production slowed down at the wrong time, right as it started to matter most. Riga fell out of a playoff spot only to find themselves back in it after the next game repeatedly. They managed to squeak their way into a wildcard spot at the end, a good result given the expectations going into the season.

 

Warsaw was the Reign's wildcard round opponent, boasting one of the best offenses in the conference. Riga, with big help from the defense and goaltending, dispatched the Predators easily in a three-game sweep. Sadie St-Louis posted 2 points in these three games, and played some of her best defensive hockey of the season, closing on pucks and finishing checks more consistently than she had been. But waiting for her in the next round was HC Davos Dynamo, a team who had shut her down with ease almost every time they met in the regular season. Statistics for St-Louis in this series were considerably worse, but she still managed to earn 2 points in the 4 games it lasted. Davos, in four highly contested games they won each of by only one goal, managed to sweep Riga out of the playoffs. Dejected, they returned to Latvia and resolved to come back stronger in S88.

 

 

Finishing off this player spotlight, DBC's Keita Mālina interviewing Sadie St-Louis (translated from Latvian):

 

Keita Mālina: I know this isn't the ending you were hoping for, but what do you think you got out of this playoff experience?

 

Sadie St-Louis: I think it really solidifies the desire to get back there and it definitely helped the team chemistry. I'm sure I'll use that experience to hopefully win a cup in the years to come. I was glad that Lachlan [Summers] at least made it to the next round with Davos.

 

KM: Looking back at all of [season] 87, what was your favorite moment? What are you most proud of so far? 

SSL: It must be said that scoring the first VHL goal was the most important thing in terms of hockey. I will remember seeing the back of the net shaking forever and being with my teammates, it was pure happiness. But I'm also now engaged to Addie [St-Louis' girlfriend] — that beats everything else. I am most proud of learning Latvian this year, to tell the truth. It was such a difficult language, but digging into it gets me there.

 

KM: What's the first thing you plan to do with your free time this offseason?

 

SSL: Addie and I really want to go to Iceland, so that's the plan for a couple of weeks. Other than that, it will be family time and a lot of training.

 

KM: What do you think of your chances of winning the Stolzschweiger Trophy this year? You are undoubtedly one of the leaders and you may be preparing for such an opportunity.

 

SSL: I, of course, have thought I could get an award. I think [Matt] Murdock probably gets it just because of the workload and the results they've faced, but I really hope I can win. A few years ago in 2014 when a banana attack allegedly occurred, I would never have imagined that I would ever be a VHL player, let alone win silverware in my first year.

 

KM: Do you have any end-of-season notes, like comments for the team, the fans, or anyone watching?

 

SSL: Yes. I want to say thank you to the fans for being with Riga last year and supporting us with strength this year all the way to the playoffs. We'll win you a cup next year! Also to my teammates: you already know this, but thanks again for being part of the best team I've ever played on - let's make it even better next [Season] 88.

 

 

That wraps up our player highlight of #26 Sadie St-Louis of the Riga Reign. The following week, we'll be releasing a spotlight on a lesser-known rookie goaltender with quietly amazing stats this year. Next up, Lachlan Summers, the future of HC Davos Dynamo.

 

Spoiler

1068 words 

claiming weeks 19/3 and 26/3

 

Edited March 19, 2023 by sadie

[sadie 940]

claim for week 26/3