Scheel's Big Game

[MD9 139]

Scheel's Big Game

VHL.com // J.S. Augusta

 

After entering the league with unexpected hype, Jake Scheel went on a tear, scoring over a point per game in his early run. However, as pressure mounted, he entered into something of a dry spell, breaking what had been a lengthy point streak. With the bright lights beaming down on him, and the draft looming ever nearer, some wondered if the young American center simply couldn't take the pressure. With the Wild's 3-0 win against the Oslo Storm, Scheel seems to have silenced those critics. Although breaking out of his scoring slump with a couple points in earlier games, he tallied three points last night, with a plus three, playing nearly thirty minutes on the game. By the end, he was named the second star of the game, behind only Chet Manley who recorded a shut-out.

 

Performances like this will be big for Scheel as draft-day looms closer. Alongside fellow mid-season signee, Daring Do, Scheel has emerged as an offensive threat for the Wild that they desperately needed earlier in the season. At the same time that breaking the scoring slump in such a resounding way will garner positive attention, he will need to put in some serious work to make sure these kinds of slumps don't occur often: as consistent as he's been, a two-way player like him needs to take that a step further. He'll never get by on flash alone. He needs to be contributing night in and night out to give his team the best chance to win whenever he's on the ice.