Bratislava Struggling [Reviewed]

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Watchmen Struggling To Find Groove

 

The Bratislava Watchmen started the Season 47 VHLM regular season with a decent start, going 7-3-2 in their first twelve games and even sat in first place in the European Conference on a couple occasions during that time span. Since then, the Watchmen have struggled mightily, losing all but one of their last eight games, going 1-6-1 in that time and scoring just six times and have been shut out four times in those eight losses. They now sit third in the European Conference with a 8-9-3 record, just eight points ahead of the last place Moscow Red Wolves and five points back of the Oslo Storm, while the first-place Bern Royals sit eight points ahead of the Bratislava Watchmen.

 

Goal scoring has been one of the most glaring issues for this struggling Bratislava club, scoring just 42 goals on the season, ranking them sixth in the league at 2.10 goals per game and keeping the puck out of their own net hasn't been much better thus far, allowing 49 goals against for an average of 2.45 per game and ranking them fifth in the VHLM. The powerplay unit has been dismal, ranked last in the entire league, scoring just four times on 64 opportunities, an atrocious 6.25% success rate. The penalty-kill unit for the Watchmen has been much more effective, killing of all but nine powerplay opportunities against on 65 tries, a 86.15% success rate and ranked third in the league.Puck possession has been another issue for Bratislava, ranked seventh in both shots for and shots against, taking under 21 shots per game, while allowing over 30 shots against per game. They have been the most physical team in the league, delivering nearly 22 hits per game but have been terrible in the face-off dot, winning less than 47% of the draws, better than only the Moscow Red Wolves.

 

Vincent Adultman leads the team in both goals and points (tied) with 13 goals and 22 points, while Bogdan Podarok leads in assists with 11 and is the man tied with Adultman with 22 points. On the plus/minus side of things, Vincent Adultman leads another category with a +9 rating and Randy Savage leads the Watchmen with 60 hits on the season. Bogdan Podarok has blocked 38 shots directed towards the Bratislava goal, leading the team in that department as well as game-winning goals with a trio of them. Although as a team, the Watchmen have terrible face-off numbers, both Vincent Adultman and Alexander Davidson have been spectacular, winning over 65% and 62% of their face-offs respectively.

 

In goal, despite the team's record, Artom Zhumbayev has put up some respectable numbers, suiting up for all 1218 minutes of play on the season, the young goaltender has seen more rubber than anybody else in the VHLM this season, stopping 560 of 607 shots. That gives him a 0.923% save percentage and a 2.32 goals against average on the year. He has taken four minutes in penalties and assisted on three of Bratislava's goals while posting a single shutout. Goaltending has been one of the few strengths of the Watchmen as Zhumbayev is near the top of the leaderboard in both shots faced and save percentage. We will have to wait and see how this season unfolds for Bratislava, whether they continue to struggle or can break out of the funk they have found themselves in.

[evrydayimbyfuglien 600]

Pretty nice little write up. The only complaint I have is it's basically just a written out stat sheet, which I'm guilty of doing as well. Also, 0.923% save percentage should either be 92.3% or 0.923 save percentage. But keep up the good work!