Eagles focuses on defensive side of his game

[Greg_Di 1,028]

 

With his offensive production dying down over the last 6-7 games, Tom Eagles, is starting to work on his defensive aspects of his game. With his weight and size, he needs to start playing more physical and start to use his body more.

Over the last few days, we have noticed that Tom was working on his checking and his strength in order to better utilize the body. He feels comfortable with his offensive game but to become a great two-way defenseman he does have to focus a little more on those aspects.

 

“ I think I have my offensive game where I want it for my first season” Said Tom “ There is always room for improvement and that will come over time but I have to focus on using my body more. I am taller then most defenders and I haven’t been using this body to its full potential. I have been working on a lot of strength training recently and also working on improving my hits so that I don’t take as many penalties”

 

With his recent work in those two departments, his checking and shot blocking have gone up. While checking is staying about 1 check per game, Tom’s shot block have skyrocketed to 51 shots blocked. Over the last few game he has been laying down and sacrificing his body to help his team.

 

“ Any little bit that we can do as defenders to help our goalies is great in my opinion “ Tom Said “ Yeah it might hurt or sting when you get the puck in a bad spot but that’s why we as defenders get paid the big bucks. If one little bruise helps our team in preventing a goal and we go on to win the game then that’s a big win in my book”

 

With Calgary playing pretty well over the last little while it will be interesting to see if Tom continues on working on his defensive game or if he will pivot back to working on his offensive game.

 

At the start of the season, his offensive numbers were way up there, scoring at a point per game pace. Things have slowed down since teams have been watching how he plays and watching more video. Many believe this would have frustrated Tom but when we asked him that was not the case.

 

“ It was great going at that pace but like I have been saying for most my career in the VHLM and now here….I don’t really care about my stats. My focus is to help my team win. “ Said Tom “ The most important thing is that the team does well and that we can compete at the end of the day for the cup. My points will come, I still have a long career ahead of me so I am not at all worried”

 

We look forward to seeing how Tom plays and how his recent training will effect his defensive side of the game. We also look forward to seeing Tom start putting up the points again.

Edited February 4, 2021 by Greg_Di

[dshervill 45]

Overall a solid article! I think that talking about what your player wants to improve upon also keeps you accountable for how the player should play and how to spend TPE. One thing I would do is to italicize the quotations from your player to have them stand out instead of blending in with the rest of the article. But overall it's good content! 

Grade: 7.5/10