China Dragon Then and Now

Last year the China Dragon were relegated to a single point after taking High1 to overtime and losing. They made significant changes to the team by bringing in non-domestic players. Last year they had four Japanese players on their team but no foreign imports. Many teams beat up on China as they averaged 6.97 goals against per game while only managing an offensive output of 1.47 goals per game.

China Dragon have decided to add four foreign imports and increase the amount of Japanese players on the team to six giving them 10 non-domestic players on a team of 26 players.

The team is five games into the season. While they're still finding their feet, their numbers do seem to look slightly better than last year. Last year they started the season with a three games series against Anyang Halla and then played another three games series against the Cranes. This year they started with a three game series against the Nikko Icebucks and then moved to play against the Freeblades. They've failed to get even a tie yet, but some of their losses have been encouraging.

Last season after five games, China found themselves out-scored 38-11 and out-shot 223-97. This season they have been out-scored 28-9 while being out-shot 200-161. This includes one game where they were blown-out on shots, and a game where they actually out-shot their opponents. They've improved slightly on their goal ratio improving to 5.6 goals against a game but dropping slightly to only scoring 1.8 goals per game vs the same period last year.

In the team discipline department last year China dragon took 38 2 minute minors in the first five games averaging 7.6 penalties per game. This year they've taken 43 penalties in the first five games. However, on average their opponents were also taking more penalties per game so far this year as well.
Some key things are worse, some key things are better. Dragon are showing promise though. This year they revealed a new logo and a new look with the addition of several players. Shot-production is up significantly from last year and a team cannot score if it doesn't shoot. They also can't score if they spend half the game in the penalty box. Dragon have to improve from 8.6 penalties per game while maintaining their shots per game. An increase of defensive strength should allow them to reduce the goals against per game even further and along with team discipline their goals per game will rise as they grow in confidence and make higher quality shots.

After last year's crushing season China Dragon should find themselves back in the win column if they can stay focused.

 

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