Wroclaw Times - What has been Affecting Eagles Play? [1/2]

[Greg_Di 1,028]

WHAT IS AFFECTING EAGLES?

Hello weekly readers! Today we will focus on what could be affecting Greg Eagles play of late. I hope you enjoy this weeks article!

 

 

Rough start by Eagles

 

 

San Diego goaltender Greg Eagles is known for being a man of few words and many saves. He only needed three words to convey what was getting in the way of his ability to stop the puck in San Diego’s last game which they lost 5-4

 

“It’s all Mental.”

 

Eagles was talking about his rough performance against the Saskatoon wild, a game that saw him let in four goals in a span of 8 minutes (2 goals in the last 5 minutes of the 1^st period and 2 goals in the first 3 minutes of the second). The 18 year-old has seen a very uncharacteristic stat line in his career a 2.98 goals-against average and a .894 save percentage. From his earlier playing days he is used to being in the 1.25 – 1.50 G.AA range and a .925 save percentage range or higher.

 

No one is doubting that Greg will rise back to his usual standards. We’ve seen him struggle and rise above it before in his junior career and really, it’s still early into the season in a brand new country on a smaller ice surface. But for now speculation is spreading far and wide as to what has been wrong with his play,  so in a way it is refreshing to hear that Eagles admits to dealing with a few mental hurdles.

 

“I don’t know it would’ve been very rare for a player to admit something like that instead of just i’ve got to work through it or the defense didn’t play well, and the usual cliches you hear from players every day. He understands his brain is getting in the way and when that happens, it’s really difficult to play the position of goalie.” Marlins Coach said after hearing Eagles comments.

 

It was just a few weeks ago that Eagles stood on his head in a 22-save upset win against the Philadelphia Reapers, a win that saw the league take notice that the San Diego Marlins are here to play and to show that Eagles has what it takes to play in the VHLM.

 

Eagles celebrating an upset win!

 

That’s why it’s all the more jarring when he’s not at his best. He’s undoubtedly the main backstop of the team, which is so far exceeding expectations on what has been a surprising season so far. The Marlins sit 8th in the division, and would likely have a few more wins beside their name right now had they gotten a few more clutch saves from the man in net.

 

“Being a goalie yeah you play hockey which is a team sport but you’re actually alone most of the game. You rarely have contact with your teammates. You make a good save, maybe they tap you on the pads, but that’s about it for the communication until the end of the period. It’s a very lonely and high-pressure position” said Eagles “It’s a tough job because you’re either the star or the reason why you lost. You’re never flying under the radar. You can’t be just OK every night, you always have to push yourself to play 110%.”

We here at the Wroclaw Times hope that Eagles can get past these hurdles and play to his full potential. We will see how he rises to the occasion in the next few games.

Edited May 14, 2019 by Greg_Di

[Renomitsu 934]

Review - Sometimes it's hard to justify the sim's outcomes on our players - and I always like a creative approach to under-performing, which clearly is a bit easier to justify after GMs see your TPE number. That aside, there are a couple of small errors (forgotten period at the end of second paragraph, capitalization of the word 'mental' in the following line), none of which significantly impact flow but change how the article appears superficially/aesthetically. I think you still ended up getting your message across effectively nonetheless!