evrydayimbyfuglien 600 Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 (edited) All Star Week Felipe Rodriguez is not putting up All-Star worthy numbers in his rookie VHL season. Given first unit power play and second pairing minutes, he has only managed to get 22 points, 15 assists and seven goals. Not bad for a rookie defenseman but he had hoped for more. “I really expected to have more points by now. We’re pretty close to half way through the season and I only have 22 points. I think I had more points my rookie year in the VHLM. I don’t know what I was expecting the talent level to be up here but I really thought I would be more successful on offense than I have been.” The All-Star game is less than a week away and with Flip having the fewest points for a rookie still in the VHL, it looks like he may be watching from home. “I actually just bought a brand new TV. In my apartment, I just had an old tube TV. With my new VHL level contract I splurged and bought myself a new LED or whatever TV. I don’t know technology too much but the store clerk told me it was the best of the bunch. I just got everything all set up so I’m ready to watch the VHL All-Star events in full HD.” He may have plans to watch from home but he was actually on the ballot for captaincy of the North American All Star Team, much to his surprise. “It was pretty cool to see my name on the ballot even more so to see that I actually received two votes to be the assistant captain. I don’t think it’ll happen this season but if I keep up the hard work, there’s no reason I can’t get there eventually. It’s a moment a lot of people only dream about so to even see my name and get votes is really great. It lets me know I must be doing something right.” Despite struggling on the offensive side of things, he has had a pretty good defensive year, +/- rating aside. Through 44 games, Flip has managed 101 hits and 121 blocked shots. All 72 games last year in Saskatoon he had 116 hits and 162 blocked shots. If he keeps up at his current pace, he should get just about 165 hits and 206 blocked shots. Those blocked shots numbers are still just about 40 off of top 25 and he would be less than half way to breaking the top 25 in hits but as a rookie, these are numbers he can definitely improve upon. When asked about record books, this is what he had to say: “I definitely have a long way to go to get into the record books. I feel like coming into the league my defense was definitely sub-par. Since my rookie year back in Ottawa, I have taken the time to improve my defense and physical game. I think it has shown on the stat sheet. Now that I have a solid defensive base, I’d like to improve upon that and eventually get that top spot in blocked shots for a season. I’m not sure how much was personal skill and how much was game plan, though.” Edited April 5, 2016 by evrydayimbyfuglien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DollarAndADream 3,356 Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Feedback: It is blasphemous that this hasn't been reviewed. Shame. Great write-up. It would have been awesome if you were in the All-Star Game. evrydayimbyfuglien 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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