<div align="justify">Knight Light: Playoff Preview

The SMJHL playoffs begin today, with the Kelowna Knights poised to take on the Prince George Firebirds in the Western Conference Semi-Finals. The Knights go into the series as slight favourites, but the general consensus is that it will be a tight affair, and one which the Firebirds have every chance of coming out of with an upset victory.

When the Knights hosted the Firebirds for the first time in S25—way back on day 61 of the regular season—they were in the process of righting the ship after a patchy beginning to the season. They dominated the Firebirds in the opening period that day, but the leaky defence that has troubled them all season allowed the visitors to score three times and ensure that the sides were tied at three when the buzzer went. The remaining periods were tighter but the Knights edged it 5–4 by the finish, with the league’s most formidable power play succeeding on three of six attempts. Face-offs were very slightly in favour of the visitors, and shots were overwhelmingly in favour of the hosts, but all-in-all it proved an even affair.

The return game a couple of days later saw the Knights dominate the opening period again, outshooting their hosts by 18 to 9. Defencemen Ivar Ogorodnikov and Stacker Pentecost gave them the lead at the buzzer, but the Firebirds came out reenergised in the second and pulled level through Fleming and current Knight Mirko Antonio Scuderi. The Knights’ power play scored just twice on seven attempts on this occasion, but it delivered again in the final minute of the second period as Ivan Koroviev spun the score in favour of the visitors once again. An even third period produced four goals, but for the second time in succession the Firebirds were beaten by a score of 5 to 4.

The two sides didn’t meet again until the final week of the season, when both sides finished their respective campaigns with a four-game series against one another. The story from the opening encounters had been the giving up of too many penalties by the Firebirds, and against the Knights that was always something that was going to be punished. The encounter in Prince George on day 89, however, proved to be the exception. The Firebirds gave up 9 penalties, but their penalty killing unit stood firm on all but 1 attempt. Again they were outshot, and again the sides proved almost inseparable. With the ties scored at 4 after OT, it was only by virtue of a shootout that PGF came out on top. Ironically the decisive miss for the Knights came by way of Mirko Antonio Scuderi, who had only recently been traded from Prince George to Kelowna.

The trade itself is a point of intense interest leading up to the playoff series. Two first round picks and a third were given out by the Knights in exchange for the acquisition of forward Mirko Antonio Scuderi and defenceman Matt Veenstra, who had—almost out of necessity—been traded away at the beginning of the season in order for the Knights to move up in the draft and select goaltender Christoffer Björnsson. The Knights also gave up a first round pick in the S28 draft to acquire Naeem Chamas from the Detroit Falcons, but it is the PGF trade that may make or break Kelowna’s post season. If they win the Four Star Cup, GM Sorenson will be hailed as a genius; if they fall at the first hurdle, the series will go down as one of the most remarkable occurrences to occur in SMJHL history.

The day after their shootout loss, Kelowna hosted Prince George once again, and yet again the first period was littered with goals. Thrice the visitors hit the front, and thrice the Knights hit back to level the scores. A sole goal in the second period from Kristján Vilhjalmsson gave the hosts the edge, and though the Firebirds levelled the scores at the beginning of the third, Pentecost and Scuderi ensured that it was Kelowna who took the points with a 6–4 victory. Again the stats were close, and again the Knights’ power play was instrumental in separating the two sides. Only the shot count showed any kind of disparity, but the Knights have not been able to blow the Firebirds away at any point this season.

The fifth encounter between the two teams was the most remarkable of the lot. PGF gave up just 4 power plays, and on all four their penalty killing unit stood firm. An even encounter left the score at 2–1 in favour of Prince George at the end of the second period, and in the third they dominated their free-scoring rivals, hitting three goals to leave the final score at 5–1. What went wrong for the Knights is difficult to say; they dominated in the face-off circle, but profligacy in front of net meant that they never capitalised on their possession advantage, and the Firebirds prevailed.

The final game of the season saw the two sides face off at the Prince George Sports Colosseum. PGF hit the front early on, but within forty seconds the Knights had tied it up. A Luke Fleming goal on the power play put the hosts back in front, but with four seconds remaining in the period the most handsome man in the SMJHL had the Knights level once again. Crucially, the Firebirds again managed to shut down the Knights’ power play, and again restricted them to just four opportunities with a man advantage. The visitors dominated the final period but at the final buzzer the score was tied at 3, and this time it was the Knights who edged the shootout.

The overview of these six encounters is that Kelowna have dominated in terms of shots, and have just edged the battle in the face-off circle. The final four games of the season suggest that the transfer of Scuderi and Veenstra has not made an overwhelming difference to the match-up, and we look to be set for a fiercely competitive series. It will be key for the Firebirds to keep the penalty count down, and not provide the league’s number one power play unit with too many opportunities to put distance between the two teams. For the Knights, their offence must deliver; it has carried them all season long, and the one time it failed them against PGF this season they wound up on the wrong side of a blowout.

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Is it called Knight Light cause the Kelowna players are ascared of the dark?

Originally posted by BeanSobie@Sep 23 2015, 04:25 PM
Is it called Knight Light cause the Kelowna players are ascared of the dark?

I'm going to go with "because I was too busy cooking to come up with a decent name"

Originally posted by Alucard@Sep 23 2015, 10:40 AM

I'm going to go with "because I was too busy cooking to come up with a decent name"

Cooking meth?

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Originally posted by Eggy's Multi@Sep 23 2015, 06:58 PM


Cooking meth?

I only watched Breaking Bad pretty recently, and goddamn did it leave me with a hankering to cook some meth! Alas, no. On this occasion I was cooking beef cannelloni with a béchamel sauce, and it was DELICIOUS.

me and the res of will give u guys hell

Haven't seen breaking bad, myself. Never really interested me.

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Originally posted by Eggy's Multi@Sep 23 2015, 07:16 PM
Haven't seen breaking bad, myself. Never really interested me.

It's enjoyable, but it is not as good as many people say it is. I've heard people label it as one of the greatest television shows ever made, and it is not that. The writing in the first couple of seasons is way too lax to earn such high praise; there's a kid in the show that's just a walking filler, and every time he had a line I wanted to punch the writers in the face.

Me every day


Person: So what do you do?
Me: I'm a chemist.
Person: OMG I HATED CHEMISTRY
Me: Yeah, it's a tricky subject.
Person: Do you know Breaking Bad? You should totally see it, it's awesome.
Me: Yeah, pretty cool show.
Person: So can you make meth since you're a chemist?
Me: Technically, yes, but I'd need to research the raw materials I can acquire versus the active ingredients in what people call "meth". It's not as simple as finding a giant warehouse with a functioning pilot plant. If I can't get the exact materials, I'd have to look through literature for predicate material, then assess stability, and move forward from there.
*mic drop*

Originally posted by GCool@Sep 23 2015, 07:38 PM
Me every day


Person: So what do you do?
Me: I'm a chemist.
Person: OMG I HATED CHEMISTRY
Me: Yeah, it's a tricky subject.
Person: Do you know Breaking Bad? You should totally see it, it's awesome.
Me: Yeah, pretty cool show.
Person: So can you make meth since you're a chemist?
Me: Technically, yes, but I'd need to research the raw materials I can acquire versus the active ingredients in what people call "meth". It's not as simple as finding a giant warehouse with a functioning pilot plant. If I can't get the exact materials, I'd have to look through literature for predicate material, then assess stability, and move forward from there.
*mic drop*

But you could make it... :-? I'll go get an RV.