Ned Lukacevic was announced recently as joining the Coventry Blaze and the revolution that Chuck Weber is creating in the Midlands. In just 94 games, Ned would make his mark on Fife Ice Arena with his electrifying skill and scoring 43 goals in the process. With a disappointing season for the Flyers a change was naturally on the cards, and Lukacevic was the first of (probably) many to move on to pastures new. A total of 110 points in his 18 months will be a hard task for Todd Dutiaume and Danny Stewart to replace, but does a point a game really tell the whole picture?
In his 94 games, Ned would go pointless in a total of 29 matches - so if a player goes scoreless in a third of his games is he as good as his stats would suggest? Or is he merely the victim of a system? What we'll do here is present the numbers from his time with the Flyers, it will be up to you to decide which category this falls in to. Of the 29 games without a point Fife would hold a 5-19-1-4 record. This immediately suggests that the Flyers are successful when Lukacevic is playing well and scoring. Of the five matches that the Flyers won all were against Gardiner Conference opposition (2 against Edinburgh, 1 apiece over the other three). Remarkably there are is only one team in the EIHL that Lukacevic has never gone scoreless, Nottingham! His 7 points in 6 games in last season gave the Flyers an incredible 3-3-0-0 record against the EIHL big boys. This is the first time that Fife have come anywhere near to having a successful record over Corey Nielsen's team.
Those of you that have listened to the first episode of the Murdoch and Frame Podcast will be aware that Ned's real success came against our Gardiner counterparts: 15 points in as many games against the Braehead Clan, 18 points in 16 games over Dundee, Hull yielded 20 points in 14 matches and finally Edinburgh were the leakiest with 30 points in 17 meetings (including a remarkable 24 assists). In total, this makes up a total of 83 points in 62 games - 1.33 points per game which means a rate of 0.84 when playing against the Erhardt teams. To put that in to perspective, a rate of 1.33 points per game over an entire season would put Ned ahead of Mike Forney (1.26) in league scoring, leaving only Matthieu Roy (1.49) as the player who would have scored at a greater rate.
Even purely limiting the analysis to the Erhardt teams as a bulk shields the full picture. In addition to 8 points in 7 games over Nottingham (2013-15), Ned also put up 11 points against Belfast in the league and cup. So really, only Coventry (1 goal in 4 games), Sheffield (2 goals in 6 games) and Cardiff (5 points in 7 games) have managed to successfully close down Lukacevic.
Key to Lukacevic's totals during his time with the Flyers is points in consecutive games. On nine occasions Lukacevic has scored in 3 or more consecutive games. In fact the much lauded 'run' from the 2013-14 season where the Flyers won 13 of their final 17 games to reach the playoffs coincided with a 17 match point streak where Ned put up 10 goals and 19 assists for 29 points from 1/2/14-22/3/14. Equally, periods where Ned failed to put up points also coincided with poor form for the team as whole. Zero goals (3 assists) between 16/11/14 and 14/12/14 contributed, no doubt, to a torrid 7 match losing streak - which was the worst run the Flyers would endure when they lost 13 in a row from 31/01/2012
to 11/03/2012 in their inaugural EIHL season.
So, with 110 points in 94 games Ned Lukacevic has created a lot of memories, how he will manage in the Erhardt Conference remains to be seen, but at least he doesn't have to play against Coventry anymore!
To read Mark Parter's take on the last season click here.
To listen to the first episode of the Murdoch and Frame Podcast click here.
If you are interested in contributing to Murdoch's Hockey Blog, you can contact us at murdochhockeyblog@gmail.com
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