Seattle Off to Hot Start...

[Dtayl 104]

Seattle Off to Hot Start with HJK 

 

Seoul - Seattle is back to being one of the hottest teams in the VHL. After a disappointing playoff exit last season the Bears have started this season strong with a 6-1 record. With the front office working their magic to reload after losing some top talent to retirement, Seattle has started better than anyone could have imagined. What's even more surprising is the performance of their relatively young defensive group. Rookie Lucifer Olivier Leveque has started his big league career off with a bang, grabbing 7 points in 7 games. Meanwhile second year player Han Jae-kuk has matched his entire point production of last season (5 points) in just 7 games to start the year. On top of that HJK is currently top of the league in +/- with a +8. The jump from rookie to second year has been astonishing, and one of the reasons Seattle’s defense is one of the best in the league. How long Seattle can keep up their form remains to be seen, however, early season returns indicate that the Bears should be quite the formidable opponent for any team that crosses their path. To get a feel for what’s driving the Bears we sat down with our Korean wonder-kid HJK: 

“You know losing in the first round really left a bad taste in our mouths. Everyone in the organization felt like we were better than that, and honestly it has really pushed us forward. It was embarrassing, and we don’t want something like that to happen again so everyone on the team put in the work to improve this offseason. The front office made their moves, and we the players worked our tails off training. I can only speak for myself but I think this offseason is the most improvement I've made as a hockey player. I got to put into practice everything I had observed from the bench the last season and things really just started to click. I’m more of a defense first kinda guy so I worked really hard on my positioning, tracking the puck, and stopping break away situations. I’ll let the other defenders like Luci, who are much better going forward, handle the offensive stuff. My job is to cover them, and make our goalie work as little as possible. So far I think that's worked out this season, everyone seems to be meshing well and the team is rolling. The scary thing is that no one on this team thinks we’ve reached our best yet. We’ve got plenty of room to grow and I have no doubt that the best is yet to come.” 

Even though we’re only 7 games into the season right now it certainly seems Seattle is going to be a serious contender. The attitude from the team is apparently good, they seem confident. If what HJK says is true and Seattle continues to improve on their impressive form, this could be one scary team come playoff time. Only time will tell though. Until then we’ll keep you covered on all the latest news. As always, stay happy and healthy! GO BEARS!!
 

[Suzuki14 24]

Review: Lots of VHL teams seem to be on a hot streak lately, it'll be who keeps up during the season that will be successful. Love the Seoul thing at the start, and some nice short paragraphs. 

8/10

[Gooningitup 1,290]

Could use some pictures, but overall a very good article about seattle and the players who drive its success. 

 

8/10

[Hoopydog 195]

Very easy to read and enjoyed reading the interview with the player. The introduction gives the reader a nice bit of background so you aren't left wondering about what's going on. One thing to consider would be breaking up the interview section, maybe have 3/4 questions rather than just the 1 to make it feel a bit more like a sit-down interview. Overall, good job!

 

8/10