A Powerful Surge

[Spaz 296]

 

After slow start to the season, were the Titans doomed after losing key vets?

 

Splitting their first eight games is not the start the Titans were looking for. One of those games included a crucial loss to London United where Helsinki would heavily out shoot London 47-17 and somehow fall 3-2. After that game Helsinki would bounce back with a record of 7-3 through the next ten games. They looked to have finally found something including a big 7-5 win against Seattle where they were out shot 55-29 including a first period total of 25 shots to 10. Helsinki would win the next two before ending a six game win streak against Chicago. The Chicago game honestly concerned me not only losing but being shut out. Helsinki isn't a team you should write off every game but they seemed to be dropping games that they had to win, games that they were arguably heavily favored to win. This loss would end up stunning Helsinki as they would drop the next two and have a record of 4-6 in that ten game stretch. Fans wondered if they ran out of gas as they looked flat footed in most of the games especially on the powerplay, the chemistry just wasn't there. After losing 5-3 against Davos you almost wondered if Jubo had to completely switch the lines, or if Helsinki didn't have that veteran leadership to give them the confidence moving forward. After the big loss to Davos and what looked like a lot of red flags for Helsinki they would bounce back against Toronto winning 2-1. That win caused a big spark and sent the Titans on a 9 game win streak to place them in a three way tie for first in the league with the likes of two North American teams - New York and Seattle.

 

I would also like to note Helsinki doesn't have a player that sits top ten in goals, assists or points. Valtteri Vaakanainen has scored the teams only hattrick, and their leading point men Ben Hafkey and Erik Draven sit at 39 each. How are they doing it? Well they have six players sitting at a point per game and seven over 30 points, with Erik Summers and Jared Spaz sitting at exact ppg, Tony Bolonee 2 points off, and Jim Bob only 6 points from hitting 30. I would also like to note that even the players below that at least have 10 points thus far. They also have the dual goalie threat in Samuel Ross (18-8-1 .907 save percentage) and Zamboni Driver (6-2-0 .912 save percentage). This team honestly looks like one of the more team chemistry based teams I've seen yet this season, it'll be interesting to see how they can do moving forward into the second half.

 

That's where we sit at the moment. Helsinki will face Calgary tomorrow in a tough matchup to keep the streak going. The Wranglers are 7 points behind them but have a three game winning streak themselves, coming off of big wins against Vancouver and Warsaw. This will be the first of the four meetings between the two clubs before their next meeting in 27 games and then after that to meet twice in their last 7 games of the season.

 

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