Losing streaks are a significant part of sports, whether you are a player or a fan. When you are heavily invested in your team, following a losing team can take a toll on your mental health. People can go a whole lifetime not knowing the feeling of being part of a winner, while others just accept their fate and roll with the punches.
Top of the Rock has had a rocky first season in the Frozen Factory and found themselves stuck in a five-game losing streak. When the puck dropped on a new campaign, the boys stormed out to a 3-1 record. Since then, they have lost only, again and again, allowing winless teams to catch up to them in the standings. One of their most formidable competitors this season, Icing, was on the docket for week 10, and the Rock set out to show they are still contenders for a division title.
On a Monday night, the Rock and their opponent started the matchup tied at zero points apiece. The first points of this matchup occurred on Tuesday as the Rock jumped out to an early 59.00-44.50 point lead on Tuesday. Their lead doubled on Wednesday and grew even further on Thursday.
The boys doubled their point total heading into Friday, which provided them a chance to close in on 200 points for the week. They reached 214, which opened up a 67 point deficit between the two teams. Despite being outscored on the final day, the Rock cruised to an easy 241.00-175.50 win, halting the losing streak at five.
Even with a win under their belt, the Rock did not see any changes in the team statistics department. As players continued to cycle in and out of protocol, on top of several teams losing games to cancellations, it was a quiet week across the league.
When the losing streak started in week five, the Rock had a pretty bad plus/minus rating; however, as the losses continued to pile up, their overall team rating grew and is not plus-30 after 10 weeks. That is still 46 points behind the league leader, but that’s not bad considering it was over a month ago in the negatives.
The Rock is still chasing the game with goals, power-play points, and shorthanded points, but as a unit, the boys are still a force to reckon with when it comes to shots, hits, and blocks. The goalies may not be the best in the league in any category, but they are far from the worse. The three-headed monster continues to earn points and is a primary reason the team has seen its success so far to this point.
The Rock scored the second-most points in week 10, coming just five points shy of being the best. No one scored more than 246.00 points (Dirty Sanchez), and only Icing failed to reach 200. Everyone else played tightly contested matchups outside of the Rock and Icing, with the Manager-less Team picking up their fourth win by just 2.50 points over Steve’s Great Team.
For the first time this season, a new team is at the bottom of the standings: Stoned Assassins, who dropped to 3-7 and into last place. The manager-less team who struggled in the beginning now find themselves tied for third with the Rock and Icing.
Los Angeles Kings forward Adrian Kempe became this past week’s best player with a team-high 24 points. Kempe’s win came thanks to a goal, 14 shots, eight hits, one blocked shot, and a pus-three rating. His Kings were written off when the NHL season started; however, a recent turnaround has the black and silver-headed in the right direction. Kempe has been a pleasant surprise on the scoresheet, and his best player award proves he can play with the best of them.
Robin Lehner (Las Vegas) earned his team-best fifth goalie award, earning 45.50 points in week ten. Lehner collected three wins, giving up seven goals and making 75 saves. His victory gave him a slight edge over partner Jacob Markstrom (Calgary), with four awards.
Several times, it has been mentioned that COVID protocols and game cancellations have really put a damper on the 2021-22 NHL season. Player availability has made managing a fantasy team more stressful, so roster moves have to be calculated for various reasons.
In week ten, team management pulled the trigger on two deals just to fill in the gaps that the IR spots have taken up. First, Rasmus Dahlin (Buffalo) joined the team of Alexander Edler (Los Angeles), who found himself on the long-term IR. Edler was replaced so his spot in the lineup could be filled by someone else dealing with a short-term injury or protocol issue.
Then as the week progressed and more games got canceled, Anton Forsberg (Ottawa) was brought aboard since both Lehner and Markstrom found themselves with much to do. Forsberg becomes the team’s fourth netminder and should fill in as the league sorts out its rescheduling issues.
Weekly Move Total: 4/4
Season Move Total: 15/50
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Keeping the Stats 