Ash Sparks 15 wins from Malmo history

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When the season began, Ash Sparks had 183 wins and 25 shutouts as a Nighthawk. The record number of shutouts for the franchise had been 26 by Michael Johnson, a mark which it seemed that Sparks would inevitably surpass. As for the wins record, Sparks was 39 shy of Artem Tretiak's record 222. Sparks capturing this record did not seem as certain. The shutout record, while definitely not a guarantee, does now belong to Sparks. He has two shutouts thus far, with some time left to add to the total.

 

For the Nighthawks, the plan coming into the season was not necessarily to have Sparks make 64 starts. Karl Herzlich is one of the best backup goalies in the league, and he is definitely deserving of getting some starts. Through the team's 38 games, Sparks has made 34 starts and Herzlich has made four. With 34 games to go, Sparks could have up to 30 more starts, but that would mean Herzlich does start the minimum eight. Sparks needs 15 more wins to match Tretiak, a feat which everyone on the team wants to see him do. He has been one of the faces of this team since joining.

 

The obvious solution is for the Sparks to win his next 16 starts. He will then hold sole possession of the franchise wins record, and this would allow the team to give Herzlich some additional starts, which he deserves. In fact, it would actually be wise for Sparks and Herzlich to both win every game that they start for the remainder of the season. This would give the Nighthawks a 60-8-4 record, which would be the best in franchise history. This would be the best single-season record since Riga went 60-7-5 in S57. It would actually make a lot of sense to win all of their playoff games as well, because no team has ever had an undefeated playoff run. It seems pretty simple, so I don't know why we just don't do that.

[Banackock 8,044]

Good luck.