Into the Fog |
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Into the Fog ed. 3
An Ejov for All Seasons
October 3, 2006
It would be ill-advised to state that Ilia Ejov has been good this season. Getting pulled nearly as often as you start does little to indicate a good performance. However, I said all offseason that Ejov was a player, and that he could be relied on to be a legitimate QMJHL starter. Now, in a time when very few people are standing by the confidence they may have had in the St. John’s goaltending situation in August, I’m going to take a bit of a stand.
Does anyone remember when the 2005-06 Fog Devils lost veteran keeper Brandon Verge? It was all over then. An unproven Russian who had played the previous campaign in tier-II Hawkesbury was to be thrust into the starting role. Except it wasn’t all over. That Russian goalie righted the St. John’s ship and turned the team from a floundering expansion franchise into a respectable combatant, and then all the way into a home-ice wrecking ball. That Russian goalie happens to be the exact same Russian goalie who is manning the Fog Devils’ crease right now, which leads me to believe things can change in a hurry.
Ejov is not a technical wizard between the pipes, which makes it slightly more difficult to pinpoint what his current problems are. Anyone who is involved with the team to any degree will tell you that his greatest strength comes in his ability to react – he simply sees the puck and stops it. Except up to this point in the young season, Ejov has only been completing half of that equation in most cases. He’s been seeing it, but the stopping hasn’t happened the way it did when he was so solid last year.
Fortunately, seven games doesn’t constitute a QMJHL season, which means that there is time to rectify the current situation. A lot of time.
Ejov has the tutelage of two intelligent goaltending coaches in Peter White and Louis Guay which he can rely on, and he is willing to learn. When things don’t go well for Ejov, he is usually at his most attentive, and considering how things have been going I would expect his ears to be wide open all week leading up to a date with Drummondville this weekend.
I’m chalking this slow start up to a theory I’ve recently implemented, basing the young Russian’s performance on a seasonal curve. He’s currently starting slow, much like he did last year. Lest we forget late September and early October of last year, when Ejov faltered in his limited time, which led to the worry when Verge went down. However, right around October and into November, this superhuman Ilia Ejov appeared, culminating with being named the CHL Goaltender of the Week in early December. He then settled into a generally sound game upon Verge’s return, and they basically went start-for-start in the second half, where there was not another concern had about Fog Devil goaltending. The phenomenon could be considered an Ejov for all seasons, as at no point did we see the same kid consistently, but once he got going he was unbelievable at best, reliable at worst.
This time around, everyone had high hopes because he was so good as a starter last year. It hasn’t happened how people were hoping, but there’s still a remarkable amount of time to turn it around. So while many people in St. John’s will dread the first snowfall and the start of winter, St. John’s Fog Devils fans who buy into my theory will await it with open arms. Because the first snowfall basically means a changing of seasons, and a changing of seasons means the fantastic Ilia Ejov will hit Mile One ice. Then the real fun can begin.
Matthew Ryder is in his second year writing for fogdevils.com, and also writes for spectorshockey.net. He has contributed AHL and QMJHL commentary to CBC Radio One in St. John’s, and can be seen on Fog Devils Hockey on Rogers Television this season as well.
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