Picking Up Where He Left Off

[bigAL 2,176]

The D.C. Dragons had a hell of a season last year. The playoff race came down to the final day, with the Dragons eking into a wild card position. The play-in series went to a dramatic fifth game before the Dragons set the Wolves on fire with their dragon breath. The feisty team ran into the eventual champs, and bowed out of the quarter-finals in six games.

 

Playoffs are a funny place to look for an analysis on the upcoming season. On one hand, the playoffs include less games than a regular season, and the sample size can be even smaller for teams that don’t go deep into the tournament. On the other hand, they are the most recent games played for most teams (including our Dragons). Sometimes the best indicator of future behaviour is the most recent past behaviour.

 

All five forwards currently on the Dragons roster played in last season’s Founders Cup tournament. Mikko Aaltenon retirement aside, the forward corps that pushed da Bearz to six games is largely coming back for S74. The biggest change for our hero is that Groovy Dood is no longer stuck behind Aaltenon on the depth chart. Season 74 will see a promotion for the main man, moving from the third line to the second line. Joining him will be regular linemate and fellow young-person Xavier LaFlammant, and expectations are high for the highly-touted duo.

 

As always, the spotlight is on Groovy Dood. He’s first on the team roster list, for no other reason than he’s the only left winger left on the team. Even though The Dood isn’t technically a rookie anymore, he’s still the youngest member of the Dragon’s forward squad by draft year and TPA. The prized jewel of the organization, drafted first overall last season, is hoping for a big breakout year.   This might be the season for Groovy Dood to take a big step because he’s Picking Up Where He Left Off!

 

Groovy Dood had a “just okay” playoff in S73 according to the boxcar stats. Holding down the third line, stuck behind Aaltonen, the Dood never really took off. He was tied for fifth in team scoring, where superstar Aaltonen and linemate Boris the Forest each also had five points through the eleven playoff games the Dragons played. Groovy’s pass-first mentality led to a disparity in how he got his points: his four assists padded his stats and made his tournament look better than the one goal he scored.

 

But if there’s one thing Groovy Dood has taught the league, it’s that he has a flair for the dramatic. Remember, this is the dude who scored on his first shot on his first shift in his first game in his first season in the VHL. And while he didn’t score on the first shot of the playoffs, Groovy Dood did score the last shot of the play-in series. His overtime winner in Game 5 sent the Vancouver Wolves back to the cave they crawled out of. Groovy didn’t score another goal in the playoffs, but as a third-liner, maybe he didn’t need to.

 

Season 74 began after a lengthy offseason for Groovy Dood. Bumped up the depth chart because of Mikko Aaltonen’s retirement, the expectations were high for Dood’s sophomore season. His dramatic series-winner goal encouraged management and fans that there may be another gear ready this year, but everyone knows the sophomore slump is indiscriminate in its cruelty.

 

As with last season, Groovy Dood is a man of games, if not seasons, and S74s games thus far haven’t disappointed. Already, he’s put up eight points in seven games, outpacing his playoff scoring from a few months ago. Again, it’s how he gets the points that shows who Groovy Dood really is.

 

Always the showman, Dood knew a big season opener was important for the so-far underwhelming Dragons. As always, the Dood abided.

 

In their first game against the mighty Helstinki Titties, Groovy Dood was all over the ice, the highlight real, and the scoresheet. It wasn’t a goal that made Dood’s debut famous, like it was last season or last playoffs, but instead his unreal passing. Groovy Dood was the catalyst for all three Dragons goals, picking up the primary assists on two Ricky Johnson goals and another by longtime linemate Xavier LaFlammant.

 

Right away, from the first game of the season, Groovy Dood was reminding the league that he can activate beast mode whenever he wants. Even if we discount the season opener as a lucky fluke, which the haters love to do, Dood’s stepped up and emerged as a point-per-game player on D.C.’s second line. Without the wild three assist night, Dood’s season line looks like two goals, three assists for five points in six games – just under one PPG. With the excellent debut, he’s just over a point per game, with eight tallies in seven games.

 

Already, the Dood is outscoring his playoff performance from last year. That’s not where his contributions end, though. Groovy Dood got big this off-season. He worked out with the legendary weight lifter Yegor Strongman in Siberia from the time the Dragons got eliminated to the start of S74 training camp. It’s been rumoured that the Russian coach used some, uhh, “unorthodox” methods to get Groovy Dood playing a more physical game. Teammates have complained of Groovy Dood spitting more than usual on the ice, and that the spit is frothier and foamier than an overflowing washing machine. Pundits from more violent sports like football, curling, and rugby are seeing telltale signs of “rabies use” coming from the Dood. Along with the frothing at the mouth, the Dood is throwing his body around like a madman on the ice. His 12 hits in 11 playoff games – the most intense, physical, nasty games of the year – have been exceeded already in the first seven games of S74. Look for Groovy Dood to set career highs in hits, fights, opponents hospitalized, and biting majors.

 

All in all, Groovy Dood is reaping the success of last year’s playoffs, taking advantage of his spot on the Dragons’ second line, and preparing for another successful season in the career of a first overall draft pick.

 

 

1042 words

Edited September 19, 2020 by bigAL
f'ing formatting

[bigAL 2,176]

It's so nice, I'll claim it twice

[Blazzer 759]

Great article but the formatting bigAl. Groovy Dood will be great playing for the Dragons and his strength training should really come into effect this season! 8/10

[bigAL 2,176]

12 hours ago, Blazzer said:

Great article but the formatting bigAl.

As I said in the edit, f’n formatting. I still haven’t found a good way to go from Word to the forum and it drives me up the wall every time. With the old dark mode I had to paste without formatting to see it, then do spacing and whatever else manually. Roooough. All help is appreciated. 

[Blazzer 759]

9 hours ago, bigAL said:

As I said in the edit, f’n formatting. I still haven’t found a good way to go from Word to the forum and it drives me up the wall every time. With the old dark mode I had to paste without formatting to see it, then do spacing and whatever else manually. Roooough. All help is appreciated. 

I do this on laptop so I copy and paste (Ctrl C + ctrl v) the words into the forum. Seems to work fine for me. But the spacing stuff still needs to be done. 

Edited September 20, 2020 by Blazzer

[jRuutu 2,302]

Review:

 

Good stuff, I enjoyed the little flashes of history with Dood scoring on the first shift of his VHL career. Sounds like Dood is one of the better powerforwards in the making, however the blatant disrespect towards Helsinki Titans when you failed to correctly write the teams name is going to show in the final score. Picture or some color with headlines could spark the article up a little bit, overall I liked it, 8.5 out of 10.

[Mr_Hatter 1,603]

groovy, dude!