HopFan16 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 12, 2023 2:04 pm
Roughly halfway through the season. Time for a little report card.
Offense: B-
Improved from last year, but still a ways to go. Collison and Melendez have been impact additions. Angelus looks very comfortable — some have even said Stanwickian — as the primary distributor. Degnon remains one of the country's best pure shooters. Some nice contributions from Bauer and Krampf. But Grimes and Peshko have gone cold after solid starts. Injuries have led to week-to-week inconsistency and the group overall still looks like they're a player or two away from being a top unit. Have struggled against aggressive, athletic defenses (Loyola and UNC). Still, the ball is hotter than last year, they're a couple players deeper than they have been and they're shooting it better — 32% as a team, compared with 27% last year.
Defense: B+
Passing the eye test. Scott Smith is doing All-American work limiting opposing teams' top attackmen. Mazzone has been a crucial add on D, on faceoff wings, and in transition. Ruddy filled in admirably for Szuluk while the latter was out and Carson Brown has been quite the find. Pat Deans makes plays when healthy. SSDM defense has been up and down — Martin being the top guy but Jaronski, Raposo, and Ince have all had their moments. I would love to see them develop a 5th guy to rotate in there as sticking to 4 and running that same group out every game makes me nervous. Slides and recoveries, on-ball D have been solid and they're not hanging the goalie out to dry nearly as often as they used to. Shorties only get roasted once or twice a game rather than four or five. Big, physical group that plays with a chip on its shoulder.
Goaltending: A
After years in the wilderness looking for a goalie, the Jays finally have their guy. Not much else to say really. Over 50% in 5/7 games against top competition, with some huge performances sprinkled in. Marcille has also quietly been good clearing the ball — always looks to get it out quick and you can count the number of bad clearing passes on one hand. He has 3 points! Versfeld was excellent in spot duty against Utah.
Faceoffs: B
Right around 50% on the season against another gauntlet, and that was without Narewski for much of the year. Callahan and Dunn have taken turns being the guy, with Dunn's performance against Zach Cole of St. Joe's being the standout game. Now with Narewski back they've got 3 legit guys who can all win a matchup on a given day. The Wing God Jack Hawley has come up with some very clutch GBs. Want to see a bit more from the poles (Mazzone, Smith, etc.) who get bumped up to play on the wing. Still room for improvement in that area.
FanLax: C+
Some good performances from 51, Ruffled, nyjay, primitive, hmmm, 44, HOB, flalax, and others. Getting solid play out of that group. DocB has his moments but is still looking for that consistency. 06 and OCanada will surprise you with occasional gems but are more often than not a detriment to overall team performance. Sag A is riding the bench. steelhop has given up. Not the worst this group has ever been but a lot to work on. Lots of time left to get it together but something tells me they won't.