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Game: #23 HALIFAX RAIDERS vs DETROIT FALCONS

Hello and welcome to my POST GAME SHOW where we are going to look back and talk about the game that we just saw. This time we had a game between - HALIFAX RAIDERS and DETROIT FALCONS!

If you do not want to read more detailed review of the game then you can just scroll down and see the game summary section! For those who want to read more detailed review - continue reading!

Both teams met for the first time this season and from both teams fans are expecting a lot this season. Halifax Raiders as last years champions probably have bigger pressure and maybe that is the reason why so far they have not been able to collect many victories, while Detroit Falcons on the other hand have been doing much better and are leading in their conference. Nevertheless this game was important for both teams so let's get into the analysis.

1st Period
First period definitely was the most exciting one in the game. Right from the start Detroit Falcons showed a strong and fast hockey. It was obvious that Falcons are here to take this game and give no chance to the Raiders. Just 1.23min into the first period Falcons left winger Jace Smith scored the first goal for Falcons.

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Seemed like the phase of the game is set and Raiders will have another broken game. Falcons where more offensive and made Raiders to play more defensive hockey. But as it often happens in hockey, when you are pushing hard, you often leave your defense open and that is what happened with Falcons. Just one minute after the Falcons scored, Raiders managed to catch Falcons players off-guard and an intercepted pass by Alexsander Komarov, delivered to Solaire Azarov in neutral zone and then further to Kip O'Callahan in Detroit Falcons zone ended up with a shot from Kip O'Callahan and a goal, tieing the score 1:1, 2.15min in the game.

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Game continued the same way as it was the first minutes of the game - Detroit playing attacking hockey, while Raiders looking for another mistake to use. Brandon Gauthier wins face-off versus Sami Free and passed the puck to Toivo Kosonen who sees Solaire Azarov wide open and see the opportunity - shot by Solaire Azarov but Falcons 1st line defenseman Metzler is on point and blocks the shot, the puck is retrieved by Toivo Kosonen, shot but again Metzler like a brick wall blocks the shot, but Falcons just can not get the free puck and the third shot from Raiders Colin Banning and deflected by Kip O'Callahan who was blocking the vision of McSieve, makes its way into the Falcons net.

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Detroit had a good chance to get back to a tied game when Halifax Alex Reed was sent to the box for Tripping. Luckily for Halifax their penalty kill squad was strong and no goal were scored. Soon after some ping pong attacks from each team an icing is called. The puck is dropped in Falcons zone and Raiders were in possession of it. Several tries to score but either blocked or missed. Its about the time when Falcons take the free puck and move out of their zone but another try from Raiders and its a goal. Reed Laing takes Raiders to a two goal lead.

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After the fourth goal in the first period the game continued with two more penalties for Halifax but sadly Detroit was not able to use any of these opportunities and the first period ended 3:1 in favour of Halifax.

2nd Period

Going into the 2nd period Detroit had to change their game tactics as it obviously was not working and they were loosing 3:1. The dominance in shots in the first period did not give the result that Falcons were hoping to get and seemed that Raiders goalie Hocolate was not about to break and allow Detroit to score.

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But the same was on the other side of the rink! Detroits defense and its goalie McSieve was not having it anymore. The game was already bad for him because of the first period and he was not about to make it worse than that.

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Close to the end of the second period Detroits Brock Bailey got 2min for tripping which gave a short hope to Raiders to score again but the defense of Detroits special team was too hard to beat and the second period of a ping pong hockey ended without any points.

3rd Period

There is always hope till there is time on the clock. The third period started pretty much as the second one went and it almost felt like it could be another ping pong period as both teams were playing well in defense and if the defense failed, the man in the net was on the point until the master play of Zach Evans who made his way with the puck into the Raiders zone and with a quick pass to Alex Metzler the score turned 3:2.

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Last 30 second in the game and that's it, looks like there is nothing to be done and Halifax will take this win or are they? What is happening? Such a mistake! An intercepted pass in neutral zone by Luke Atmey and quick pass to Prince Daniel James....5 seconds till the buzzer, he shoots and its a score! After the first period Raiders was not able to do anything while Falcons adopted to the game and with all the luck they could gather, managed to get a tie 3 seconds before the end of the game.

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No one expected this game to go to OT and now the cards are shuffled back into the deck and no one knows who will get the winning hand. This game is back up for grabs and by how Detroit managed to adapt and get their game back almost feels like they should take it. The first minute of the overtime is pretty intense as both team keep getting and loosing the puck even before being able to create any scoring moments. That being said Detroit is the first one who manages to shoot but is saved by Halocate. Now its Raiders turn and shot to the McSieves net misses it and the puck rebounds right onto Toivo Kosones stick, he shots and its the end! Raiders score and take this hard earned victory home!

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3 Stars

1 - Kip O'Callahan (HAL)
No suprises here! Scoring the first two goals for Halifax Raiders in the short 9min he was on the ice as the 4th line wing is an amasing achievement and definiteley gave the team strength to win this game even when Detroit found their pace in the end.

2 - Prince Daniel James (DET)
Worthy second star of the game! Prince fought hard throughout all the game and his statistics shows that. He scored, he earned an assist to a goal and managed to block several enemy shots that kept Detroits net safe for a long time.

3 - Toivo Kosonen (HAL)
Obvious third star of the game for not only scoring the winning goal for Raiders but also for involving himself in the game for 100%. Did well as part of the penalty killing squad and did not allow Detroit to score any extra goals.

The game started crazy, took a break from the craziness in the middle of it and then went back to crazy and ended with style. Great plays, great moments. Several things I can point out for both teams is the good PK as both teams killed their penalties 100%. The teamplay of Raiders was great to watch and also the adaptability of Falcons was also fantastic.

Game summary

1st period
1. Detroit Falcons , Jace Smith 1 (Prince Daniel James, Tremaine Versace) at 1:23
2. Halifax Raiders , Kip O'Callahan 1 (Solaire Azarov, Alexsander Komarov) at 2:15
3. Halifax Raiders , Kip O'Callahan 2 (Colin Banning, Brandon Gauthier) at 6:16
4. Halifax Raiders , Reed Laing 2 (Leif De Bruin) at 11:11

2nd period
No Goal

3rd period
5. Detroit Falcons , Alexis Metzler 2 (Zach Evans, Jari Sinikka) at 10:24
6. Detroit Falcons , Prince Daniel James 2 (Luke Atmey) at 19:57

Overtime #1
7. Halifax Raiders , Toivo Kosonen 2 (Reed Laing, Marc Leclerc) at 2:17

Goalie Stats
Richard C. Hocolate (HAL), 26 saves from 29 shots - (0.897), W, 1-3-1, 62:18 minutes
Sivy McSieve (DET), 24 saves from 28 shots - (0.857), OTL, 3-1-2, 61:42 minutes

Penalty Kill
Halifax Raiders - 4 on 4 Attempt(s) - 100.00%
Detroit Falcons - 2 on 2 Attempt(s) - 100.00%

Team Stat
Halifax Raiders - Hits : 13 - Faceoff Wins : 41 - Blocked Shots : 9 - Penalty Minutes : 8
Detroit Falcons - Hits : 9 - Faceoff Wins : 32 - Blocked Shots : 12 - Penalty Minutes : 4