Knights Summer Season Premiers 2017/18 - Summary

The Knights had a great 17/18 summer season, finally going down 0-5 against the Blades in the third game of their semi final playoff series on March 1.  We had previously finished the regular season on top of the ladder with an impressive record of 13/3/2 (including 2 shootout wins).  We had the lowest number of shots on goal against (319, next was 355), second lowest number of goals against (36, best was 32), third highest +/- (22, best was 41), fourth highest penalty minutes (90, highest was 134) and assists (61, highest was 110), and fifth for shots on goal (412, highest was 525) and goals (58, highest was 90).  We won second most number of games in regular time and lost the least.  There were ten teams in the league, the most ever for summer. 

Our roster had a goalie and sixteen skaters from about half way through the season (had been fifteen skaters previously).  Six of us played every game.  The lowest number of skaters we played with was 12 for one game, apart from that we were never less than fourteen skaters.  Our highest goal scorer (Jay) was third in the league with 20 goals in 16 games.  He also led us by coming in thirteenth for assists (8) and fifth on overall individual points (28).  He was third for overall points per game.  Dathan, with 22 PIMS, was fifth worst/best in the league on that measure.  In the mid-season draft we were the only team from whom no one was picked (albeit only two Knights put up their hand).  Every team in the league had a roster at least as full as ours, though few had such a dependable turnout every week.

We had three rookies at the start of the season (Laura, Hayley and Dan) with another (Brad) joining just before Christmas.  All other players were returnees except for Jay, our star Canadian who had obviously played in the past.  This was my fifth season, four played their second season, three their third, it was Tommy's fifth, and the core remained Fox, Jones and Bacon (I was regarded as a veteran by the coach). 

My personal season was pretty successful, albeit I didn't score or earn any points.  I ended up playing all 18 regular season and 3 playoff games.  I took 8 penalty minutes (an 'illegal hit', 2 trips and a holding opponent's stick penalty), all in the regular season.  I was evens on my +/- for the regular season, -2 in the playoffs. No major injuries, worst were a bruised ankle (not twisted) and sprained finger, besides the usual complement of upper body bruising and soreness from week to week.  The ankle compromised my skating for the next game but that was about it as far as injuries went.

Our defensive corps benefited greatly from the full roster.  Most games we played with a full complement of six players, there were about three games with five and only one with four.  Defensive pairs were stable through the first fifteen or so games during which time Jonesy was my partner.  After a pre-playoff reshuffle I found myself with Ash, with whom I played out the post-season.  We generally had our coach managing the D gate/bench during games (while one or more of his assistants managed the forwards).  As a collective we did quite well defensively, reflected in our team having the lowest number of shots against in the league.