(Fair Warning: I am a numbers nerd. If those types of posts bore you, you might want to skip this one.)
Despite the last two games, the month of November has been a huge turnaround for the Adirondack Flames. Not only in the record, but in a number of area's. Huska looks to have gotten this team in the right direction and while a 9 game win, 33 straight penalty kill and 8 home games with at least 1 PPG streak were not sustainable in the long term, it did quell the concerns of fans that the team's slow start in October wasn't a long term problem, but a learning curve.
(All October stats are from the AHL Daily Report for October 31, 2014. November stats are from the AHL Daily Report for November 30, 2014. These are reports created by the AHL for use by media/teams)
October:
- Record of 3-5-1-0 (24th in the AHL, 4th in North Division)
- Average Goals Against - 4.11 (30th in the AHL)
- Average Goals For - 2.89 (14th in the AHL)
(This number pulled up HEAVILY by the two 7 goal games at the end of October. Prior to those games, they were only 1.7)
- Power Play - 25.0% (2nd in AHL)
- Penalty Kill - 71.4% (30th in the AHL)
- PIM - 227 (6th in the AHL)
November:
- Record of 9-3-0-0 (9th in the AHL, 2nd in the North Division)
- Average Goals Against - 2.3 (20th in the AHL)
- Average Goals For - 3.0 (12th in the AHL)
- Power Play - 22.8% (3rd in the AHL)
- Penalty Kill - 83% (13th in the AHL)
- PIM - 400 (12th in the AHL)
The players who are leading the team now, were not the ones leading in October. With players going to the NHL and others stepping up, we are seeing contributions from new players and multiple players to replace guys like Ferland and Granlund who were point leaders on the team in October. It has been a team effort for this turnaround and our 2nd year players as well as some rookies seeing the opportunity to contribute and doing so.
October Leaders:
- Goals - Ferland (4)
- Assists - Ferland (5)
- Points - Ferland (9)
- PPG - Granlund/Hathaway (2)
- PPA - Culkin (3)
- Shots on Goal - Reinhart (30)
- SH% - Stevenson (20%)
November Leaders:
- Goals - Hanowski (9)
- Assists - Arnold/Culkin/Cundari (7)
- Points - Hanowski/Arnold (12)
- PPG - Hanowski/Arnold/Hathaway (3)
- PPA - Cundari (6)
- Shots on Goal - Hanowski (49)
- SH% - Poirier (20%)
Most Improved Player - Ben Hanowski. (Bill Arnold fans, please put down your pitchforks and torches and read below). While I will fully admit I am a big Hanowski fan, personal bias was not a factor in my decision. When I look at the player Hanowski was last year as well as his potential, this is an improvement. How he played in October was perhaps expected. How he played in November got him some attention from even casual prospect fans. In 17 games, he is 4 goals and 15 assists off his total from last year playing 55 games. November saw an increase in his goal production by 7, his shots by 37, was a plus 2 player and became a driving force of the Flames offence creating a myriad of chances playing on a line with Wolf and Vause. When the Flames lost the bulk of the players, this was the line to be the team spark plug and Hano was one of the most noticeable to step up to fill the offensive void.
Co-Most Improved Player - Bill Arnold. If it was any other player on the team but Hanowski for consideration, he would have had this locked up. There would be no argument to go against him. Increased his goal production by 5 goals, assists by 3, increased his shooting percentage from 0% to 13.9% and became a plus 4 player for November in addition to putting 25 shots on goal. With the absence of Knight, Arnold also became the go-to guy for important face-offs and while there isn't stats kept for this, he does with quite a few of them on any given night. To my untrained eye, I would say he's at least 50% most nights. He's also stepped up huge in the team turnaround and offensive explosion in the month of November.
Honourable Mention for Most Improved Player - David Wolf. He has improved greatly over the last month. His production maybe isn't where Hanowski and Arnold's is right now, but he's doing the little things right and playing a strong physical game making room for his linemates to get set up and chances. He's bounced back from the concussion and being the player he was advertised as. Hopefully his injury at the end of this month isn't another concussion as he was on a roll and a setback would be terrible for both him personally and the team.
(Before anyone says anything, Poirier never played a game in October. He didn't have anything to base his numbers on to call it an improvement. I can and will mention the kid is damn good. Let's not take anything away from him.)
Our Goalies have seen a turnaround as well. Ortio struggled to start the season, but in November he returned to what PMM liked to refer to as "Turkubot 2.0" mode of last season and improved his game dropping his GAA by 1.00 and increasing his save percentage .021%. Thiessen has been an excellent backup as well, holding down more than respectable backup goalie numbers and allowing the Flames to give Ortio a break.
October:
Ortio - 3-3-1 with a 4.16 GAA and .879 SV%
Thiessen - 0-2-0 with a 2.98 GAA and .912 SV%
November :
Ortio - 9-4-1 with a 3.17 GAA and .900 SV%
(Stats for November were 6-1-0 with a 2.22 GAA and .924 SV%)
Thiessen - 3-4-0 with a 2.63 GAA and .919 SV%)
(Stats for November were 3-2-0 with a 2.48 GAA and .923 SV%)
While the team still has a few places they can make some improvements such as improving their road powerplay record (14.9% and 19th in the AHL), the penalty kill (yes, they did come off a great streak but it's still only middle of the pack), improving the play in the 2nd period as they are both outscored and outshot in that period most often and especially finding a way to beat those pesky Comets, there is definitely a better feeling about the direction this team is going compared to where they were on November 1st.
