State of the Loons

Well, we are now half way through the regular season and the Loons are still hanging tough at the top of the Corfield Conference. Capeside was the first team to hit 20 wins and yesterday became the first to 30. The Loons are currently leading the CCHL in points with 61. Capeside watched as Seattle went on a remarkable 10 game win streak to jump into first place while the Loons went on their first slide of the season by dropping 3 straight after a questionable decision to give Niemi his first action against Georgetown. Many across the league, and to be honest, many inside of the Capeside organization, were questioning if our luck had run out. However, since dropping three straight Coach Janney has righted the ship and led the Loons to a 7-1 record. Capeside and Seattle are now in a dogfight at the top of the Corfield Conference as both teams are winning night after night. And as great as Seattle and Capeside are playing, so are Wisborg, Portland and Dayton - all within 10 points of the division lead. There appears to be a lot of parity in the CCHL this year and it makes every roster move and line up decision even more important.

Over the last 10 games GM Czepiel made a blockbuster trade with Hamilton. 100 point superstar Claude Giroux was sent to Hamilton in return for three young, talented players in Kevin Hayes, Ryan Murray and Jake Virtanen. "We take complete responsibility for Claude not working out in Capeside. We were unable to find the correct role and or linemates that would allow Claude to succeed" commented Czepiel. Where the organization failed with Claude, they are succeeding with David Krejci. David has carried this team on his back for much of the year. He leads the team and is 8th in the CCHL with 53 points in 43 games. Also over the past 10 games Czepiel was able to reclaim their 2019 1st rounder along with Shane Bowers who has the potential to replace Krejci as the second line center if he continues to develop at the NCAA level.

World Juniors has begun and Capeside is proud to have 5 players participating. Jay O'Brien, Oliver Wahlstrom and Quinn Hughes were selected by team USA, Shane Bowers by team Canada and Jakub Lauko by the Czech Republic. Quinn Hughes has been exceeding the high expectations that we had for him this year and expect to see him in a Loons jersey next year, however Wahlstrom and O'Brien have struggled to take off like we thought they would in their college careers.

It is starting to set in that Capeside will be in the playoffs this year. "We set that as our goal for this year even if we didn't really expect it to happen" Czepiel admitted. The trade deadline is quickly approaching and GM Czepiel may still have some work ahead of him. The Loons expect to lose Neal, Sedin, Barberio, Ryan, Russell and both of the Loons' goalies in Rask and Halak to free agency. The only upside is that Capeside and Czepiel should have a lot of money to throw around in free agency. Hopefully Czepiel can get lucky like he did this past year with Krejci, Niskanen and Halak.