Kingston Frontenacs halfway thoughts
Well the Kingston Frontenac’s have now played more than half the season as they have played 38 games and have a record of 22 wins 12 losses and 2 losses in OT and 2 losses in shootout where they pick up 4 extra points. As of right now the Fronts (48 pts) sit 3rd in the Eastern Conference as they sit behind Oshawa (55 pts) and Sudbury (48 pts). Beginning of the season fans in Kingston knew it would be a good year for the Fronts but I don't think they thought it would be this good of one, as this is by far their best season in the past 5 years.
In my opinion the team's success revolves around forwards Sam Bennett, Spencer Watson and Defensemen Roland McKeown whom are all NHL 2014 draft eligible this upcoming draft in Philadelphia. They all had big years last year in the OHL as they were all rookies last season as they pretty much won games by themselves last season, this year they have the potential to do the same thing in big games but I find that their success and drive to be better has made the team better as a whole. Other guys who have stepped up majorly are Defensemen Michael Moffat newly acquired Evan McEneny and Forwards Samuel Schutt and newly added Robert Polesello from the NCAA.
Earlier in the season and still now I find the Fronts struggling on the power play, but I think that trouble may be coming to an end because as of late the power play has been lights out as the Fronts have been more than 50% on power play attempts. The best power play combination we have is Ikonen, Bennett, Watson - McKeown, McEneny... I find having these guys out on the ice with the other team being down a man can always generate chances and potentially put the puck in the back of the net. But I won't leave our second line power play out of this because it follows as Polesello, Greenaway, Schutt - Moffatt, Vainonen.. which is also a very determined squad to create chances. I think our power play heading into the back stretch of the season is finally starting to click and it is a very good time to start as they need as many goals as they can as of late.
Which brings me to the goaltending of the Fronts, it has been very shaky lately to say the very least as Mahalak and Peressini almost leave the team to have little to no confidence lately as they have been letting in a average of 4 or more goals a game. This is a problem heading into the back stretch of the season because entering the playoffs the team will need to be able to trust and sometimes rely on goaltender Mahalak to be there and make saves when needed. As of late in my opinion he hasn't been doing that at all, as he has been giving up weak goals and mass amounts of goals some nights which cannot occur in playoffs. Lastly I would like to say that we have 9 players over the 20 point mark already with many players that will exceed 35, which is a very good sign to see as 3 of them are defensemen and the rest forwards.
Last thoughts. In my opinion I think heading into the end of the season the Fronts are where they want to be offensively as they score many goals a game, but with that being said need to be more cautious in their own end so they don't let so many in against them. With all this being said I predicted Kingston to finish 3rd in the East which is where they currently sit and should stay if the season goes there way which is a good spot to be in.
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