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Lesieur Reflects on Playoff Performance


KC15

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A playoff experience in my very first season in the VHLM! After the trade from Mexico City to Las Vegas a playoff birth was a foregone conclusion though my old team, the Kings, also made a brief appearance.

 

Lesieur’s hopes were riding high since we came in to the playoffs with the second best record in the league and were led by the incredible tandem of Tates and Graves who scored 149 and 143 points respectively for the Aces during the regular season.

 

But the first two games should have been seen as a sign of things to come. Las Vegas only edged San Diego by one goal (7-6) in the first game and were shut down 2-1 in the second game. This was going to be a series!

 

Turns out only the final game of the series was decided by more than one goal and the Aces barely made it by the Marlins 4 games to 2.

 

Next up – the Yukon Rush. If we thought the Marlins played us tough, that was nothing next to the Yukon series. Give credit where it’s due – the Yukon Rush shut down the pride of our team, our offense, allowing only 7 goals in 5 games which included one shutout win for Yukon. Yukon only scored 11 goals of their own, but that was ample to take the series 4 games to 1.

 

Each game was close, but all but one of them ended with Yukon on top and so off they go to play the number one seed Houston Bulls for all the marbles.

 

How did Guy Lesieur perform personally in this series? When the stars of the team are getting extra attention from opposing D-men, it’s up to the 2nd and 3rd lines to pick up the slack. Lesieur is on the second line with Center George Washington and Left Winger David Wallace.

 

Well, I’m not calling out my linemates, because Lesieur’s performance was the most disappointing of all, but whereas our top line was able to score 20 goals and 23 assists throughout our playoff run, the second line only managed 9 goals and 15 assists.

 

No one expects the 2nd line to keep up with Tates, Graves, and Foilen, but to score less than half as many goals is just not going to get it done. A closer look reveals a glaring weakness in Lesieur’s game – at least during the playoffs. Being the sniper of his line, he does tend to get the bulk of the opportunities. This was true during the playoff run as well. Lesieur had 46 shots to Wallace’s 33 and Washington’s 27, however Lesieur’s efficiency was the lowest. Guy was only able to hit the back of the net with 6.5% of his shots. 6.5%!

 

Actually, a look back at he regular season shows that this was more a case of choking in the playoffs rather than an overall flaw in his game. Through the regular season, Lesieur was able to connect on 13.7% of his shots – almost exactly double that of his playoff performance. Had he been able to double his efficiency in the playoffs, there would have been at least 3 more goals and with all the one-goal games the Aces played, who knows where they’d be right now.

 

But there is only so much time for looking back. Time to move forward, redouble training and practice efforts and get ready to make a new charge for the Cup in S69!

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