It’s Jan. 15, 2019. Here’s a recap for what happened this week in Monarchs Country.
Wednesday, Jan. 8 – Adirondack 3, Manchester 2 (road)
Friday, Jan. 11 – Manchester 3, Reading 1 (home)
Sunday, Jan. 13 – Worcester 4, Manchester 2 (road)
Newfoundland has regained its catbird seat atop the ECHL’s North Division, but everything else in the division remains unsettled. Case in point: the Growlers lead second-place Adirondack by six points, while the difference between Adirondack and seventh-place Worcester is only eight points.
Manchester’s squarely in the middle of that pack at 38 points, three behind Maine for the final playoff spot in the division coming out of the weekend.
“I think if you told me on the morning of Dec. 31 when we were nine points out of the playoffs that we were three points out today, I would have taken it,” said Monarchs Head Coach Doug Christiansen. “We’ve done a good job putting together wins, beating good teams.”
Christiansen admits Worcester deserved their win on Sunday, but a sense of optimism rests in the locker room now that given the fluid nature of the division, their fate is still in their hands as they can gain key points over the next four games against Reading and Maine.
“Reading is big and strong and good on the walls. We’ve seen how explosive they can be,” said Christiansen. “And of course Maine is the team we’re trying to chase.”
Another thing to watch is the amount of shots Manchester takes. They currently only trail Tulsa in total shots and average shots per game, but in the 11 games they’ve been outshot, they’re 9-2-0-0.
In most of those games, they’ve managed to hold an early lead, with some exceptions like last week’s game against Reading.
“They dominated in the first period, but we weathered the storm and did a good job the rest of the time,” said Christiansen. “In those moments when we can counterpunch and flip the script, we do well.”
Three Stars of the Week
Top Star: Dylan Rymsha (2 goals, 0 assists, 10 shots, +2)
Second Star: Travis Walsh (1 goal, 2 assists, 6 shots, +2)
Third Star: Daniil Miromanov (1 goal, 1 assist, 7 shots, +1)
