Pate's Power Rankings
Week 2
Upset week or is it Pate shouldn’t pick the weekly winners?
We are starting to get a clearer picture of where teams sit in the power rankings. The 5:30 timeslot appears to be the game of the week thus far in the season. I just hope the Thundercats don’t follow in either the Wolves or the Sting’s footsteps and allow 12 goals the following week.
Outlaws – AJ Williams said, “hold my beer, I got this!”, Aj showcased that he is one of the best in the league with a 5-goal performance to pull off the upset in this one. And fatigue may have played a factor as it looks like the Outlaws speed was too much for the Sting to handle. The Outlaws scored 4 goals in the final half of the 2nd period and 4 goals in the final 3 minutes of the 3rd to seal the victory. Outlaws are one of three 2-0 teams, but I feel that they have a higher strength of schedule thus far, so they slide up to #1 after week 2.
Jets - No Patrick, no Whitt, no problem. Consistency is the key for the Jets with Beilke, Hurt, and Hellmann again showing up on the score sheet and Brady Griffin also adding a tally in his first game of the season. The Jets offense was like a slow moving train that couldn’t be stopped. They had 2 goals in the first for a 2-goal lead, 2 goals in the second to recapture a 2-goal lead, and 2 goals in the third to solidify the 2-goal win. Robert Miller was excellent in net filling in for the missing Ryan Patrick. You can’t ask for much more when your waiver goalie only allows 4 goals. The only reason I have the Jets at 2 instead of 1 is because of strength of schedule. Both the Jets and Outlaws won by 2 goals against the Raptors, but I give more weight to the Outlaws win over the Sting vs the Jets win over the Venom.
Yetis – Holy special teams Batman! The Yetis scored 2 shorthanded goals and a powerplay goal in the 2nd to give them a 2-goal lead going into the third. Their PK consisted of Hunsaker, Jackson, and Costillo which if I must say is absolutely disgusting that they are allowed to be that strong on a pk, but I might be slightly biased. Hunsaker is putting together a solid performance in the absence of RJ Pluhar, scoring 3 goals and 2 assists in 2 games. Stubblefield was again stellar in net despite the Thundercats having a man in his face for almost every shot. The Yetis are off to a great start, but with 8 waiver claims in 2 weeks it’s difficult to move them higher without being able to see the true makeup of this team.
Sting – I haven’t watched the film yet, but I watched the first half of this game in person and the Sting were in the driver seat with a 6-2 lead when I left. On paper it looks like the Sting got tired, and early in the season that is bound to happen. But good teams find a way to win close games, and unfortunately the Sting could not regroup in this one. This team is too good to move lower than #4 for me, and even this almost feels too low but losses have consequences. Look for an angry swarm to be buzzing around the rink against the Venom in week 3.
Moose – Bring on the Payne as Brandon Payne makes his season debut for the Moose and he does not disappoint with 2 goals and 2 assist. Stradtman has his second strong goal scoring performance and is firmly the leagues’ top goal scorer this season. 5 different players scored goals in week 2 easing my concern a bit about secondary scoring, but I still put this team’s ability to win games squarely on Stradtman’s shoulders and how far he can carry them. I have them behind the Sting despite the record only because I need to see Stradtman and Payne can carry this team against a team that will have the ability to shadow Jordan the entire game. I’m just not entirely sure if I can trust this team to continue its offensive and goaltending success they have shown thus far in the season. Stephen Craig has been stellar with a 7.5 GAA. I feel as though something is going to break but it will be after the Moose take on the Raptors in week 3.
Wolves – The defense limited the Sting in week one but struggled without Deak in week 2. The Moose had no issues moving the puck in the offensive zone and five different players recorded goals against Wall in this one. The offense tried to pick up the slack with Daniels popping off for 4 goals, Yeargain adding 2 of his own, and Lucas with a solid 3 point day. Look for this defense to rebound in week 3 with the expected return of Deak. The Wolves were tough for me to judge preseason, and they continued that trend after week 2. This is still the best goaltending/defensive combo in the league IMO and if they can get Amato, Deak, and Harshany back for week 3 we should see a return to form against the Thundercats. If they lose that game, you can expect to see them slide into the cellar of the GRHL power rankings alongside the Venom.
Note: Teams 7-9 are a bit of a tossup for me, and you could argue the order for all three teams. So, I’m basing this section on wins first and then goal differential.
Barracudas – The Cudas got a strong performance from waivers this week with 7 of their 9 goals being scored by waiver players. O’Koniewski had a solid performance in his first game in net this season allowing just 6 goals in this one. They may be 1-1 but I can’t reward that performance too much.
Thundercats – Another week, another game with special team’s issues, and another 1 goal loss. I’m moving the TCats out of the cellar based on a strong defensive performance from the team, a bounce back to form from their goaltender, and the Thundercats ability to move the puck well against a strong Yetis team. The Thundercats continue to be annoying pests to opposing teams, but until they manage to close out a game they will continue to be ranked near the bottom.
Raptors – The Raptors continue to struggle a bit in the second and try to close the gap late in the third. It’s tough to gauge how good this team really is since both of their losses came from the two teams at the top of my Power Rankings. In both games the Raptors are spreading the wealth, with four different players recording a goal. Kearns has also played well with a 7 GAA when the Jets/Outlaws have an 11.5 GAA when not facing the Raptors. They face a stellar Moose offense in week 3 and if they are able to limit the Moose to only 7 goals, they stand a good chance to pick up the W and move a few spots up the rankings.
Venom – Another mid-late game collapse. The Venom were winning in this one until Ramshaw tied it up with 7:50 to go in the third. The Venom allowed 5 unanswered goals and you must wonder if the Venom are getting outplayed or are just getting fatigued. It was a similar issue in game one when they were leading in the 2nd and allowed 7 unanswered to the Jets. Only four active players have goals this season and half of goals scored come from Ben Kleinschmidt. Captains’ Blackwood and Mearns are both scoreless thus far and that trend may continue as the Venom are going to face an angry Sting in week 3. I don’t know if the panic bells are ringing just yet in the FO, but the concern levels should certainly be rising. They must find a way to get Mearns back to his old self if they want to right the ship.
Fun facts:
1/3 of the 51 waiver claims have come from the Yetis and shockingly the Barracudas.
Ryan Patrick and Josh Pate are the only goalies to record an assist thus far in the season with Patrick leading with 2.
Lincoln Division has a +1-goal differential and 25 waiver claims, while the Show-Me Division has a -1-goal differential and 26 waiver claims.
There is some strange synergy when you look at the goal scores for weeks 1 and 2 on the schedule page, the home and away scores almost cancel each other out perfectly with the Home team +1 goal differential thus far.
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