Despite mediocre regular season, Kerr is hopeful about the playoffs

[VattghernCZ 672]

Another season of exciting hockey is behind us, as the players and fans are getting ready for the postseason action. For 6^th season in row (in the VHL, 9^th season overall including VHLE and VHLM), Wann Kerr is one of these players, along with his London United teammates. After some hardships troughout the season, the United were able to claim a wild card spot, arguably underperforming and failing to meet many fans' expectations.

„I'm not happy with my performance this season,“ said Kerr in the regular season's last press availability. „We had troubles moving the puck from our zone to start offense pretty much all season long. This, and some undisciplined play f**ked us this season. And we were not able to really find our rhythm on penalty kill. You can't expect to always win when you pretty much start games one goal down. And I was certainly guilty myself of some hotheaded stupid plays that ended up costing us. I need to be better in the postseason.“

The self-targeted criticism from Kerr is certainly on point, as statsheet-wise S92 was his worst season since his sophomore year in S88. On the positive side, Kerr met gis standard with 10 powerplay goals, it's the third year in row of 10+ goals on man advantage, and almost recorded 200 hits, showcasing his gritty style of play.

(Wann Kerr and Molly the Cat)

On the negative side...well, everything else. After scoring 38 goals in S89, 41 in S90 and 44 in S91, Kerr only managed to succesfully finish 37 times on 418 shots, with underwhelming 8.85% success rate, second lowest in his career. Even his assists total was the lowest since S88, showcasing the offensive struggles of the team. With shooting percentage around his career average, he's still a 40-goal scorer, but the most concerning trend is the drop in Kerr's defensive game. For a player who prides himself in his defensive game, only recording 18 blocked shots is just not enough, especially after 3 seasons of 32+ recorded blocks. His rookie season has been the only season when he showed less tenacity in defending. Talking about tenacity, another area of the game where he could have used more of it is his clutch performance, as his goals were the game's deciding shot only 3 times.

„Yea, I know I need to battle in front of the net more. I think I perform better with the pressure of the playoff games, I'm excited. I feel 100% ready. Having to go through the wild card round is tough, that's 3-5 high intensity games more than everyone else. But at least there is no time to collect rust, the momentum will be on our side, after – not if – we win it. We still have the core of S90 Cup winners in Molly, Triller and Jesse. Yea, we got this“, said Kerr about his playoff expectations.

Now that the wild card is behind us and the United advanced past Prague Phantoms and are set to clash with Malmö Nighthawks sporting Kerr's former teammate Henry Eagles, we know Kerr's line has picked up their game, and Kerr himself managed to get his name on the scoresheet 5 times for 3 goals and 2 assists in 5 games and they certainly look ready to take on the next opponent.