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Evok · 07-24-2017, 10:44 PM

Letter of Marque
Not Finding Their Marks
Article written by french sport journalist Evok
S35G33

<div align="center">Halifax Raiders 2 || Kelowna Knights 4</div>

After a hard game in Detroit, the Raiders left town the same night to take the direction of Kelowna. They had a day of rest in Kelowna, then they had to get ready to face the Knights. The objective of the night was simple for everyone. They needed to now allow any power play goal and work on discipline.

There was a lot of action for the referees during the first period. Everything started a couple of minutes into the period when Bobski Vlad Jokel was caught for hooking and sent for two minutes in the penalty box. During the power play, the Raiders didnâ€™t managed to get a shot on Sebastian Thompson as the penalty kill unit of the Knights managed to get into a good position. A few minutes later, the crowd got on their feet as Trucker Grogan provoked Alexandre Lebeau to a duel. None of them really managed to gain an advantage on the other and the referees decided to break the fight before it got too ugly. As Lebeau made his way to the penalty box, Grogan was sent to the locker room with the instruction to not come back into the game and another player would take his place in the sin bin. The Knight were now on the power play versus the Raiders for a good 4 minutes. However, a couple of minutes later, ZZ Blaze It was punished for hooking and given a two minutes. Both teams were now in 4v4, but it wasn't long until someone found an opening. Seven seconds after the face off, Clint Eastwood managed to beat Larry Enticer from the blue line. Right after Blaze Itâ€™s penalty was over, Hans SÃ¸rensen managed to give a power play to the Knights when he was caught for boarding a player. It wasn't long however that Mike Izzy joined him to even the players on the ice. With one minute remaining into the period Mercer Church found a weak point in Enticerâ€™s positioning and managed to cash in a second goal for the Knights in the period.

A few seconds after the second period started, the play moved fast into the Raidersâ€™ zone. Kelowna had the momentum fast into the period, but Eastwood tried to fly behind Enticer and unfortunately hooked him on the way. The referees didnâ€™t like seeing him so close to the other team goaltender and punished him with a goaltender interference penalty. This allowed the Raiders to gain a bit of momentum in the game, but didnâ€™t manage to score on the power play. They had another opportunity a few minutes later when Erik Koskinen got a little too rough with one of Halifaxâ€™s player and was given a 2 minutes. Once again, the penalty kill units of the Knights managed to hold the game 2-0 for them. Toward the end of the period, Tim Pawlak managed to change the score when he pushed a loose puck right under Enticerâ€™s pads, gaining a 3 goals lead going into the last period.

During the last 20 minutes, the play was clearly in favor of the Raiders. They had two quick opportunity on the power play when Jake Sanders received a penalty for hooking, and as soon as he was out of the box, one for interference. However, during that time, Halifax wasnâ€™t able to crack Thompson. However, Chuck Bernstein managed to beat him right under the blockers when the two team were back at equal strengths. Kelowna was however quick to gain back the goal difference when Church scored his second of the game versus Enticer. The Raiders were given another Power Play opportunity when Eddie Andrezjeck was sent to the sin bin for hooking. Once again, Thompson was solid during the two following minutes. The play kept going back and forth a few times and Bernstein managed to give a bit of hope to the Raiders. He scored another goal on Thompson with around 3 minutes to go into the period. The Knights only had a two goals advantage. Sami Owens was punished soon after for goaltender interference, sending the Raiders on the power play for the rest of the period. However, that was unfortunately not enough for Halifax to come back in the game as they didnâ€™t manage to score on Kelowna netminder.

The unsung hero of the match for the Raiders was Cody Fletcher. Fletcher was surprisingly physical during the game, landing 3 hits. He also had three shots on goal and an assist during his 22 minutes of icetime. During the match, he played for 8 minutes on the power play.