Yukon Rush S67 Coverage Vol. 1

[Seabass 593]

Yukon Rush S67 Coverage Vol. 1

 

After 5 straight losses against some of the top VHLM teams in the standings earlier in the week the Rush had hit a low point morale wise.
They opened up the season well with a 6-1 record in their first 7 games. However, they had a tough schedule ahead after that with the
next few games being against top teams in the VHLM. The team was primed to solidify themselves as a top team and to proove they 
were a playoff contender this year. Their winning record however quickly dissolved into a losing record after that and the Rush
ended up losing their next 6 games with 2 pairs of losses comming at the hands of the Reapers and the Lynx.

 

Rookie Defenseman Seabass Perrin describes the low his team experienced after their loss in Minnesota:

 

"We're just very frustrated with our play as nothing was going well for us. We're barely generating any shots on goal
let alone scoring opportunities. Every team we faced seem to outshoot us and outplay us. Just pisses you off knowing every member
of your team is putting in full effort yet still were comming up drastically short. We need a change, something, anything just
to shake things up because nothing is working out."

 

After their loss in Minnesota, Yukon split their home and home series with a 5-0 rout of Mexico in their win. That win would end their 
6 game skid and it started to turn things around for the team. 
 
Yukon Rush winger, Erik Draven has had a real tough time up to that point. The Rush drafted him in hopes he would solidify
the right side of the ice on the first line but he has struggled out of the gate this season only managing to get 
a measily 5 points playing on the top line with Eller and Plunkett in his first 14 games. One thing Draven has done well however
is bang bodies and he leads all Rush forwards in hits (41). After the last game against Mexico, changes ended up going down and the GM 
decided on mixing up the lines. Since those changes things have improved and he has 3 goals in his last 4 games.

 

"Yeah, since I wasn’t productive on the first line in those 14 games I asked (GM Josh) to be demoted to 2nd line to try to help the 
team find an even balance. We had our 1st line too stacked and needed to spread at least one high skill level player on every line.
So, with Josh putting me on the 2nd line and switching me from RW to Center it really helped. My shot totals have went from like 2 per 
game to 4-6 a game. I’m really happy to finally be contributing and finding chemistry with Sami and Willie. I love playing with this 
team and I hope with me being vocal and showing leadership on the ice will pay off someday in the future. I am not afraid of taking on a 
leadership role and will fully embrace it."

-Erik Draven 

 

Well the changes seem to have worked out for the whole team as they've now won 3 out of their last 4 games. We got a hold of top line
center Frans Eller. We got to ask him, "How do you and your team prepare to keep the current momentum going and not fall back to old ways"

 

"We need to just go back to basics, put pucks in deep, push bodies on pucks, force turnovers, and let our creativity take over." 

-Frans Eller

 

One bright spot on the season though has been Brendan Plunkett who in 18 games is close to doubling his VHLM Career high of 15pts set 
 last season with the Minnesota Storm in 73 games. He's at 24 points right now playing at above a point per game, is tenth on the VHLM
top scorers list and is leading the team in points. He's done whats expected of him and more, and if the Rush want to continue winning,
they'll need him to keep doing much of the same. 

 

Lance Flowers who has always been seen as guaranteed to go top 3 overall in the next VHL draft, has been solid so far but needs to be even better 
if the Rush plan to contend this season. He has a respectful 18pts in 18 games and is relied on heavily by the rush as he leads all players in 
ice time. He leads all Rush players in hits (43) and blocked shots (24) so he's obsviously no slouch in the defensive zone either. However solid he 
may have been he still needs to take his game to yet another level still if this team has any chance to really contend. He has to have a league MVP 
season for that to happen at this rate.

 

The next 4 games feature a pair of games against the Minnesota Storm so Rush fans are hopeful that the team can exact some revenge after
their last and only meeting of the season ended in a 3-2 loss. In the last game we got to see a more defensive game between the two teams 
as the whole game featured only 34 shots between both teams. The game featured a dominant performance by Storm defenseman Danny DeYeeto who had
a 2 point performance including a goal and a assist on the game winner by Berock Sundqvist. DeYeeto has been playing very well so far this 
season and is tied with the Rush's Plunkett for tenth on the VHLM scoring list. However to show the difference here between the two team a little,
Plunkett is first on the Rush's scoring list, DeYeeto however is fourth for the Storm. This goes to show the Storm have been absolutely amazing. 

 

The Storm obviously have the edge comming into those games as they are currently on a 4 game winning streak after a dominant 3-0 win against the Hounds and 
are currently on top of the VHLM standings by a 3 point margin. We'll see how it all goes down starting toomorow for the first game against the Storm.

 

WORD COUNT: 1030

[Seabass 593]

I'll be using this for my VHL BDAY Doubles week. I still have another week to claim for this PT

[Seabass 593]

I'll be claiming my 2nd half of this PT on the week of June 22-28th