Stansson in the Playoffs!

[ahockeyguy 110]

               The Miami Marauders are five games into their playoff series against Minnesota. Wolf Stansson, the offensive defenseman, has scored 30 goals throughout his rookie campaign in the VHLM. He added 53 assists to average more than a point per game. So it’s only natural to assume that he’s blowing away opposing defenses while providing some crushing hits along the boards to retrieve the puck for his team. Right?

 

               Not so fast. First, the playoffs are a completely different animal when compared to the regular season. The competition is not only more talented when compared to average, but the individuals on these teams are more motivated than in the regular season. Next, Stansson’s role on Miami may change. Not formally. But it may change in virtue of what the team needs in their matchup with Minnesota.

 

               The Marauders currently hold a 3-2 series advantage and can close it all out tonight. Nothing is a guarantee. Stansson has needed to play conservatively; he needed not to be careless, but not too careful either; in short, he could not be afraid to lose. All of that has contributed to his current performance. From an offensive standpoint, it’s not even a huge drop-off from the regular season. With zero goals and six assists, he is contributing at exactly a point-per-game pace. How does the lack of goals affect him? “It’s not great,” he admits with a small smile. “I love lighting the lamp. But we do what we need to for the team. Kosmo, D-Lamb, and Vericel are playing lights-out right now, and I am happy to get the puck to them when we need to.”

 

               This means Stansson will often be collecting the puck around the end boards and sending it forward to start a breakout; or he may hit someone and the puck sails to a teammate to start an odd-man rush. Stansson is there to do whatever it takes to win. “I don’t want to lead the league in playoff scoring but fall short of a championship. I’d rather have zero points and a title than that!”

 

               Wolf is an interesting study in personality. He’s fairly quiet but enjoys joking around. He doesn’t mind blasting a shot from the point on special-teams play, but he’ll also gladly defer. That mentality has been borne out this playoff series, where he has registered just 10 shots on goal. Normally he would have at least 15 by this point. We asked him whether he thought he was playing too timidly; should he be taking more shots? “We’re up 3-2, aren’t we?” Good point.

 

               Only time will tell whether Stansson’s and Miami’s adjustments were good enough to win. That much seems clear. Some things to look for in Game 6 include: Stansson’s ice time (whether he is playing on special teams), his hits (a larger number indicates Miami has the puck less often), shots blocked (a higher number both indicates value for Wolf and also that Miami may be getting outshot), and assists (his continued gameplan seems to rest on his feeding the puck to teammates). Will Miami finish off Minnesota? Or will we see a Game 7? We know which one Stansson prefers.