Matt,

What teams have surprised you with the way they are playing this year?

Strath Haven comes to mind, but I think that the Central Division teams as a whole are still on a down cycle, so I'm not really sure how to gauge their record.

Marple is another, but then they got a rude awakening from WCE this past Friday.

There are others, but those are the ones that seem to pop out initially.

They are the two big ones. North Penn Comes to mind also. Boyertown has had success althought thier schedule has not been too tough.

On the other end, teams that I thought would be alot better this year:
Kennett
Great Valley
Neshaminy
Interboro
Wm Tennent

I agree with you on some of these teams, granted I haven't seen all of them play.

Boyertown seems to be starting to hit the wall after a hot start. I think teams have found out about their suspect goaltending.

Kennett lost McGarry and the two brothers (I forget their names), but Tinkoff looks very mortal these days.

On the list of disappointing, I wouldn't really put Henderson on there, but they certainly are not the invincible machine everyone thought they'd be. Mattern is not playing anywhere near the same level he was at the end of last season, and the Henderson D-corp I think is not as good as last years group either. That being said, they kind of floundered around in mid-season last year before they turned it on.

And Rustin is a little bit of a disappointment too. When I watch Knodel play, outside his booming shot, the guy plays a pretty finesse game for a guy 6'5" 200+ lbs. and outside of Ignatuk and Gaffney, the rest of the team doesn't seem to generate alot of offense. Remember, this is a team that lost NO seniors.

Rustin hasn't had any "alarming" losses.

They lost twice to Henderson, both close games and once to AA Downingtown East. I think they are right about where they should be this season.

Springfield is playing good but with there great defensive core goaltending could be doing better.

North Penn is a surprise as they are underachieving, with the depth of roster, only playing 5 kids on Power Play will catch up when games are more meaningful. Seen that before. Remember Methacton 'upsetting' Pennridge last year ?

Boyertown more than held their own against Methacton, who are looking strong, as expected. As with any of these teams, discipline and willingness to take some punishement without retaliation willbe a factor.

CR South quietly looking good.

Tennant may throw a wrinkle in things, but short roster.

What are the weaknesses for Conestoga and Strath Haven this year? How far will they go?

One weakness they both have is that their schedules are a bit weak. The Central league, in my opinion, is still in a down cycle so the competition they face is not terribly difficult. I've thought Strath Haven may have some depth issues past their first line. From what I've seen of Conestoga, I'll want to see them play tighter team D. They seem to like to do a lot of run and gun.

Games that will determine reall how good they are at years end:

Strath Haven v. HH
SH v. Conestoga

Conestoga v. their next 4 opponents

quote:

From what I've seen of Conestoga, I'll want to see them play tighter team D.

1.7 against per game is pretty tight team D.

and averaging 15.2 shots a game, good D in my book

sorry, 16.4 shots against, I counted the upper darby game when it was a forfeit. Still damn good

Statistics can lie boys. Go watch the games. Yes a good defense MAY be a good offense, but like I said in my earlier post, let's see what happens with their next four opponents. If the results are the same as their first 13 games, I will admit you are correct.

I have found more often than not that statistics don't lie and they are infinitely more valuable than opinion. However, you may be proven correct over the next few games. We'll see.

Statistics aren't always right.
Over the years I have seen many things wrong with stats.

I had a mom who counted everytime someone shot the puck it counted as a shot. That's not the way it works but she was doing scoresheets, shots that hit 3 feet over the net don't count.

I have seen people add assists for people, people not even on the ice. I witnessed this with my sons Jr team this year.

I have seen players race to refs and steal points from teammates, some refs listen and some go by what they see. Some actually dont see it so they go by players and it will come down to who they ask.

I have seen refs totally get it wrong.

I have done scoresheets and had parents and coaches ask me to add people as assists. I would refuse, and I tell them I put down what the ref tells me right or wrong.

I have had goalies or goalies dads ask me to increase the shots that my total was wrong, this always happened in games where the goalie gave up 5+ goals..lol

It's also hard to tell because sometimes kids have same number of goals or assists, but one kid might log twice the ice time and play an entire powerplay while other kids share the ice equally.

Just an example in the Bonner/Lasalle game we had 4+ versions on what the shot totals were for each team.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: trimback,

goals divided by games is pretty tough to screw up. but i take your point about shots on goal...many times miscounted...quality of shots is more important.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: turdferguson,