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joslaker · 03-18-2019, 06:30 PM

Montreal Militia VS Anchorage Armada

3-2

Montreal and Anchorage are separated by only 5 points in the standings, and their game, which ended with a Militia 3-2 win, mirrored how close these teams are in the standings. The goalies posted near identical stats, hits and blocked shots were even, both power plays failed, and both penalty kills were perfect. In the end, it came down to Montreal Goalie Aleksi O’Koivu-Volkova, who made one more save than his counterpart to steal the win for the militia. Without further ado, let's dive in.

Coming Into the Match

The Militia were losers of 4 straight, before picking up a much needed 2 points in their previous game against the Detroit Falcons. Goalie Aleksi O'Koivu-Volkova shut the door on all 17 of the Falcons shots to earn the shutout. For the Armada, they came into this one winners of 4 outta their last 5, with their only loss coming at the hands of the 3rd place Outlaws, by 1 goal.

First Period

The first period took off at a snails pace, with the first of four penalties in the period coming at just over 2 minutes in against the Armada for charging. However, the Militia could not capitalize, a theme that would prove true for both teams throughout the contest. The Militia lasted just 1 minute on the power play before taking a hooking penalty, followed by another penalty at just over 9 minutes, this time for high sticking. The Militia would eventually capitalize though, as Pavel Pivonka darted to the net, taking the pass from Hans Zucker and Oliver Klozoff to secure a 1-0 lead for the Militia.

Second Period

The second period did not reflect much of the first period, as a paltry 2 penalties were taken, and as such, the pace of play was much faster. At just under 5 minutes into the period, the Armada struck, thanks to the effort of Dean Colt III, who credited Eko Van Otter and Spencer Maclean as having made 2 fantastic passes to set him up for the goal. Lucky for Anchorage, their 2 penalties for tripping and hooking were killed off by a fierce penalty kill, keeping the 2 teams knotted heading into the 3rd.

Third Period

The third period resembled even less of the second, and seemed completely different than the first. The refs put their whistles in their pocket, and let the athletes play, as these 2 teams battled it out for the ever important points as the season continues. All of the action came in a 4 minutes stretch from 10:19 to 14:21. Mason Hudson struck first on a beautiful play from Marco Raanteli and Olin O'Dowd. O'Dowd and Raanteli made 2 crisp passes before Hudson buried the shot top shelf to regain the lead for the Militia. However, 3 minutes later, Kenji Yoshimura showed off his speed, darting down the ice. Olivier Cloutier made a great pass Maxime Bouchard who put the puck right on the tape for Yoshimura, and just like that, the 2 squads were tied once again. However, this time, it lasted for less than a minute. On a great pass by Kristoffer Svensson, Olin O'dowd point of the night, splitting the defence and regaining the lead for the last time. O'Koivu-Volkova was able to shut the door the rest of the way, and the Militia finished ahead, 3-2.

Three Stars

Olin O'Dowd 1G 1A +2

Marco Raanteli 1A +2

Mason Hudson 1G

Looking Ahead

Anchorage will have to shake this one off quickly. They face Lethbridge next, how are only 1 place ahead of them. Valuable points will be on the line. Montreal will go on to face a hungry Vancouver squad, followed by a match with Anaheim where once again valuable points will be at stake.

*Carpy48* · 03-19-2019, 02:36 AM

Comment 2:

Small Minutes, Big Impact

There were two players on the Montreal team that played only a handful of minutes - in fact combined they saw less ice time at even strength than the next player higher up in the line-up, since Montreal effectively played only with 3 lines: We're talking about the two fourth-liners Hans Zucker and Pavel Pivonka who both happened to be on the ice for their team's first goal. After entering the Armada zone and some back and forth passing between defenseman Oliver Klozoff and Hans Zucker, Zucker then passed to Pivonka who immediately fired his first, and only, shot on goal and scored. Small minutes, but both forwards collected points. Honorary mention: Siobhan Ryleigh who only played 1 minute (even-strength) and ended up a +1 in this game. Sometimes even a little ice time helps with big contributions for the team.

*sköldpaddor* · 03-21-2019, 04:56 PM

Comment 1: Special Teams, Special Problems -- On the bright side (for both teams), both squads went 100% on the penalty kill, with Montreal killing off two penalties and Anchorage weathering all four of theirs. On the down side, both of these teams may want to spend a little more time focusing on their power play strategies. A power play goal could have been a huge difference-maker in this game, especially for Anchorage, who managed to tie up the game twice throughout the sixty minutes, and eventually lost by only one after a hard-fought battle. Montreal would probably like to see this improve as the season progresses as well, because a cushion of an extra goal or two can make all the difference in the world even when you're playing with the lead.

Comment 2: The O's Have It -- Olin O'Dowd was undeniably deserving of the recognition he got as first star of the game. Tallying a goal and an assist (his third of each for the season), he also blocked three shots for Montreal in the 17:32 he spent on the ice, and played 1:39 of Montreal's well-defended four minutes on the penalty kill. Also worth a mention, Montreal's other O, Oliver Klozoff (who notched an assist and a blocked shot in his 16:12 on ice, 1:49 of that spent on the penalty kill), and Anchorage's Olivier Cloutier (who recorded an assist, two hits, and faceoff win during his 20:48).

Comment 3: The Ugly -- Regardless of what can be said of either team's power play or penalty kill, the offenses leading to those power plays were messy. Anchorage took a total of four penalties, and probably isn't particularly happy with at least a couple of them (Kalevi Karhunen took a charging minor just two minutes and twelve seconds into the game, and Tucker Baloo (tripping) and Dean Colt III (holding) sat two minutes each in the second period while the game was tied). Montreal's two penalties both came in the first period (James Truong for hooking at 3:44, and Commander Shepard for goalie interference at 12:30). Both teams managed to straighten things out and stay out of the box completely in the third period.

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