The Lowdown on Ryuu Crimson [1/2]

[SlapshotWrangler 858]

Riga-Ryuu Crimson has had a pretty slow start. He has 13 points with 7 goals and 6 assists, and just like he said, he scored more goals than he has assists. Crimson has been one of the slower rookies, despite the fast start. "Yeah, I haven't been playing as well as I did in Halifax. I would say I would work harder, but I think I should be playing smarter instead of harder." Ryuu responded when he was asked about what he's going to do moving forward.

 

Ryuu Crimson scored 33 goals last season with Halifax and Saskatoon, as well as scoring 2 goals and 8 assists in the playoffs. He had a great start that season. Despite his slow start though, he is doing better than most people expected. In fact, most people didn't expect him to even make the Victory Hockey League. 

 

His physical play though, is a different story. He has had 42 hits this season and 24 penalty minutes. If you think that is impressive though, rewind back to last season where he was a physical monster. He had 155 hits, and he had 66 penalty minutes. During the Season 62 playoffs, in which he played 8 games, he had 28hits. Impressive considering his size.

Ryuu Crimson has been really good in puck handling, not as good as his teammates, but still pretty good. He has made some beautiful moves. Nothing more to say about this really.

 

He also is great on the forecheck, his offensive plays being really good. That is the reason he has had 85 shots on goal. Last year, with the 21st and Wild, he had 192 shots on goal. His high amount of shots is a big reason he was a 30+ goal scorer, and a big reason he was a top 10 goal scorer in the VHLM. He has recently gotten offers from the National Hockey League because of this. He has recently gotten deals from the Calgary Flames, St Louis Blues, Minnesota Wild, Detroit Red Wings, Buffalo Sabres, and the San Jose Sharks, all he denied. When asked about it he said, "Well, the National Hockey League would be a great opportunity but I want to stay in the Victory Hockey League. I have made many friendships and have had so many memories here."

 

His defensive play has improved drastically, where last year he barely blocked shots and his defence wasn't really good. Already this year, he has 4 blocked shots and has had some impressive defensive plays. When asked about this drastic change of playing style, he said, "I really need to thank Dylan Nguyen and the veteran Edwin Preencarnacion. Dylan used to be a center, so he helped me improve in getting into my zone faster and helped me become better at defending. He also helped me get better at skating. Edwin helped as well. Edwin has also helped me in shooting, passing plays, and he also helped me improve my penalty shots."

 

Despite the slow start, the future of this young winger looks very promising, and we are excited to see the growth.