Seattle Brew

 (AP) – With the 2021-22 CCHL Season well underway let’s take a look at how the 2020-21 Champion Seattle Reign have performed year to date and if there are any indicators of how their season may unfold.

Repeating as Champion is never easy in any sport or league and as we find ourselves in the 20^th season of the CCHL it should be noted that only twice has a team repeated Bismarck in the 3^rd and 4^th CCHL season and in seasons 12 and 13 by Copenhagen.

Seattle returns a large portion of their roster form last year’s Championship team but there were a few changes and perhaps the biggest is behind the bench as former coach Scott Stevens declined an extension and Dean Evason was brought on board.

While we only have a small sample size to assess how Evason is doing as coach, early results are both promising and worrisome and the true test will be where the Reign find themselves come the end of the year and if they make the playoffs how far they are able to advance.

Will it be considered a failed season and coaching performance if Seattle does not win it all, in the strictest sense yes, there will be 21 teams who fail each CCHL season with just one being successful.

However we tend to grade things on the curve so a playoff appearance and winning a round  or two might be looked upon favorably but until then let’s go through some early season winners and losers for the Reign.

Winners

Dean Evason – I know we said it’s too early to truly judge how good a coach he will be for Seattle but things are trending upwards. The Reign are currently riding a league best 6 game win streak and find themselves with an 8-5-1 record good for 4^th place in the Corfield Division. While they are still behind the 10-1-3 1^st place Fort Erie Falcons their record is better than the 4-8-2 start from last year and the 6 game winning streak is 1 game more than their best winning streak from last season.

Defence – The big acquisition in the free agency for Seattle was the signing of Damon Severson. The veteran blueliner was added to take some of the pressure of Matias Ekholm and strengthen the top 4 as he could absorb minutes and play in all situations. The team has surrendered 13 fewer goals than they did last season 51 compared to 64, through the 1^st 14 games so if that trend continues a decrease of around 75 goals against would be something to get excited about.

Jakob Chychrun -  Chychrun was a highly touted draft prospect who slid down the CCHL draft board back in 2016 so expectations were tempered when Seattle chose him. Just a handful of years later he appears to be exceeding those expectations. His breakout 21g-48a-69pt season from 2020-21 was a great boost to Seattle’s back end. This season he is just ahead of last season’s pace with 5g-10a-15pt in 14 games played while playing fewer minutes per game. Seattle knows they can rely on him to produce offensively and at just 23 years of age they hope his development will continue and he will be an anchor on the Reign’s blueline for the next decade plus.

Mattias Ekholm – Why? Because it’s Mattias Ekholm doing Mattias Ekholm things.

Losers

Forwards – Seattle didn’t add any big name forwards but picked up some depth for the 4^th line. 14 games in and the offensive production is nearly identical to last season 53g in 2021 compared to 51g in 2020. While that might seem fine 27 of those 53 goals have occurred during their current 6 game winning streak. They are one of only 3 CCHL teams whose top two point producers are defenceman, and the only one of those teams with a record above .500. Whether the current run of goal production can be sustained remains to be seen, but if the offence from the defence dries up or either of the top two lines slows down will there be any contribution from the bottom six to help out? The current situation indicates that it is doubtful.

Goaltending – Yes Seattle has yielded fewer goals through 14 games than last season but #1 goalie Semyon Varlamov has not been good enough to warrant confidence for Reign fans to think they could make an extended playoff run. Despite a 6-3-1 record his .890 SV% and 3.67 GAA is worse than future starter Thatcher Demko’s .902 SV% and 3.04 GAA. Varlamov has started 12 of the Reign 1^st 14 games this season and has been pulled twice in those starts compared to being pulled in 3 of his 10 starts in the Reign’s first 14 games last year however he also posted 2 shutouts in those 10 starts in 20-21 and this season has yet to post any. Seattle fans may soon be seeing more of Demko between the pipes unless Varlamov’s play improves.

Physical Play – Seattle ranked near the bottom of the league in hits with just 222 after 14 games. Now granted the team is not built to play physically trying to lean on their skating, speed and skill to move the puck quickly. However battling for loose pucks along the boards and fore-checking and defending does require a team to use physicality and win those battles. Even though Seattle was not overly physical in winning it all last year but it may benefit them to be a bit more physical especially against some of the bigger bodied teams who play that style.