Preview vs Storm

League Record So Far; 14 – 4 – 1, 29pts, 1st Place

Tale of the Tape

Devils will look to hit back in the league and earn their 15th win of the season, as they face off against Storm, who had just lost to Panthers in OT the night before.

A dogged, never say die approach would leave the visitors in a good mood, as they aim to turn their own season around, whilst the hosts will look to keep their grip at the top in tact.

Storm are just one win in their L5GP, whilst Devils have gone back to back defeats for the first time this season, but still managed 7 points from 10 in theirs.

Devils have also had the upper hand in their meetings overall vs Storm, who picked up an overly hard fought OTW in the cup at the Vindico, Devils first loss of the season.

Special Teams & Discipline

The big focuses will be which power play unit will come out on top. Both are propping up the table respectively, but Storms is by far the worst with 17.24%. This is an area of focus for Devils fans, as they know the potential and danger their players pose.

At the other end of the special teams, Devils still rule the roost with 87.27%, whilst Storm are also rock bottom at 66.67%. This be a key feature when play (inevitably) strays away from EVS.

That OTL in the cup was the only time Storm scored on the PP, it was their main asset that night, at a time when Devils’ PK was misfiring and toward the bottom of the table.

To date, across the 4GP already between them, there have been 11PPG’s scored, with Devils leading at 8:3 in this variable.

Across those penalties, the accrued PIMS between them is 133, with Devils taking the slight majority at 71:62 – one of those clearly the botched decision to eject Brandt after a perfectly normal hit through the chest.

This may read quite PIM heavy, however it is pretty timid for these teams, especially how the visitors have gone about business this season. Devils are still 4th respectively in PIM\Game with 9.58 (just shy of 10) whilst Storm have been on best behaviour since the coaching change at moved to 9th overall with 12.29.

Will calm heads prevail on the night?

Between the Pipes

Goalies are always a hot topic and these two in particular aer no strangers to battling it out to provide foundations for their teams to win games.

Both Bowns and Weninger were top 3 overall last season (30+ GP) and earned it. This campaign however has seen them hit a cross road and take different routes.

Bowns has continued his dialled in performances, yet is still, agonisingly searching for his first EIHL shutout of the season. To make things worse, in his last game, a beautifully cheeky Michigan goal was scored on him.

Weninger however, has been struggling. He has played the most hockey against all other goalies, so his stats are understandably off the mark. His defence has been abysmal and on the PK, they have suffered. This has given him a 4.46 GAA and 87.89 SV%. Not the stats of a starter to most fans.

Bowns is 2nd overall at 2.13 GAA, though he has played more hockey than current (and late) leader Greenfield (2.03). In terms of SV%, Bowns leads the way with 93.56. The team overall have the best GAA record so far in the league.

Ones to Watch

Players looking to put their records in the bin are a plenty tonight.

Inarguably the visitors’ Alexis D’Aoust (Dow’st) is 19 points from 17GP and his fellow forward, Grant Hebert (He-bear) has gone 22 points from 17GP. Remarkable, considering their teams’ dire performance so far this season, however, if you have these players in your fantasy league teams, you must be grinning like a Cheshire Cat, week in and week out.

For the home team, there have been some redemption tours of late, but that is a pattern within itself. Perlini who was absent recently bounced back as the distributor of apples for his team mates in a much needed win in the cup midweek.

Yet, there are constants week in and week out. Josh MacDonald will be a huge threat on the night with 22 points from 19GP. In the league he has a been a heater of late, with a 7 game point streak, scoring 5 goals and adding 5 helpers along the way.

In the periphery are the dynamic duo of Sanford (21) and O’Brien (21) as constant threats for either goal scoring or making plays. Nullify them, they may not contribute but there are other scoring options across the lines.

As mentioned with Perlini, the Goat, Joey Martin (16) is nearly a point per game pace, but has scored a goal in each of the last 4 league games. Kohen Olischefski (12) has also gone 5 points in the L5GP and is ready to blow up the scoreboard.

The above table shows the level of production per assist per player in terms or primary and secondary to date in the league. It is a good indicator for the next table, the top 10 players in terms of points over the last 10GP in all EIHL comps.

Injury Update

As per the teams own pre-gamer, they have announced Duggan and Brandt are back from their knocks in the past week. So this will refill the coveted 4th line.

In return, as can be the way of life, Ryan Barrow (19GP, 7points) has been sidelined from an injury vs Blaze, awaiting scan results. He joins josh Batch (lower body) and Mac Carruth (lower body) on the sidelines.

Projected Lines vs Storm

O’Brien – Olischefski – Sanford

MacDonald – Martin – Shinkaruk

Perlini – Busch – Duke

Brandt – Davies – Duggan

Fournier – Mosey

Donaghey – MacWilliam

Gourley – Richardson

Bowns

Burman