The Road So Far

[jacobcarson877 2,541]

London is off to a wonderful start so far, really fulfilling the vision the team came in with. We have conceded the least amount of goals so far, even with a few particularly lackluster backup goalie performances this week. Jesse Teno has been a workhorse and the team defense has been particularly strong.

 

Special Teams has made a major difference so far, averaging a powerplay goal a game so far, at a league leading 23.5% conversion rate. The penalty kill unit has also been in the top quarter of the league, giving us a special teams goal differential of 9 in the first third of the season.

Our goal, quite simply, almost painfully simply, is to score more goals than we concede. Why yes, that is the point of the game you might say. What this means to us is that scoring is not a scale from 0 to infinity. It is a binary of enough and not enough. So long as the number of goals we score is greater than that of our opponents, which we are keeping very low, then we have done enough to win the game.

 

We have positioned our players to be playing the minutes that best apply to them. We know that we have a distinct separation in talents between our players, and each one is positioned to be the best possible for their task. I do not ask my top scorers to play on the penalty kill, because I need their energy to be focused on running a top powerplay, and winning the game at even strength. In the same vein, I need my lower scoring players to be in the position to run a top quarter penalty kill, and focus on reducing goals against.

 

So far, everyone has done their job to near perfection. As the season moves along, I expect players like Sjin and Ivan Retoslav to begin breaking in offensively, both as members of the powerplay and also in sheltered even strength minutes.

 

Our defenders are used primarily to defend, outside of Lloyd Braun. Braun is built as a dedicated powerplay quarterback, and has picked up 11 points with the man advantage already. Nesbitt, Solyom and Jeckler take on the majority of the tough defensive minutes, particularly youngster Jack Jeckler, who plays a significant portion of their time on the penalty kill.

 

Finally, we have been blessed with an absolute masterclass of a performance so far by Jesse Teno. They currently lead starters in Save Percentage, and Goals Against Average, by a significant margin.

 

Unfortunately our schedule has had Teno sitting a lot this week, as we get our mandated backup starts out of the way so Teno can take us all the way to the playoffs. There is a long road ahead but we can be way more comfortable to let loose and grow knowing such an elite goaltender is behind us.

 

London looks well suited for the kind of hockey that the playoffs will require, and while it is still early, we hope that this team can last the pace and try for another championship!