Letter of Marque
Up, Down, Up Again
Article written by french sport journalist Evok
S35G39

<div align="center">Montreal Militia 3 || Halifax Raiders 4</div>

The Raiders had a rest day after their last game. They enjoyed their day with a team bonding activity where a few of the Raiders visited the IWK Children's Hospital. After bringing joy to the kids during the day, the Raiders had a short training in order to get ready for the match that would oppose them to the Montreal Militia.

A few seconds after the puck dropped during the first period, Jack Hansen was punished by the referees for holding the sticks of one of the Raiders at the faceoff circle. The Raiders went all in on attack and circle the puck a few times in the Militia zone. Cloud McCarthy capitalized on the fact that one of his teammate was screening Thaddeus Prince and blasted a cannon that he never had the chance to see. Early in the game, the Raiders now had the lead, but there was still a lot of time left on the clock. The Raiders controlled most of the play in the period only allowing 5 shots on Jordin FourFour Jr. Right before the end of the period, defenseman Trucker Grogan also managed to beat Prince from the blue line, sending the puck right over the shoulder. During the first 20 minutes, Halifax managed to gain a 2-0 lead on 12 shots.

However, the tides turned quickly in the second period. Everything started when Auston McJesus managed to beat the Raiders’ netminder only 3 minutes into the game. They managed to tie to score a little more than a minute later when John Markie pushed the puck in a small opening that FourFour Jr. didn’t had the time to cover. Halifax tested a few time Prince, but the Militia’s goaltender was stronger in his net than in the first period. A few seconds before the 9 minutes mark of the period, Elias Lindstrom managed to deflect a puck shot by Scotty Steele which prevented the Raiders’ goalie to catch it. After being down 2-0 at the end of the first, Montreal was now 3-2 and were planning to keep the lead. However, the Raiders tried their best during the rest of the period. At the mid period mark, Vinny Marino was sent to the sin bin after being too insistent in the crease of Prince. The Raiders managed to kill the penalty without too much issues, but didn’t manage to beat Prince to even the score.

Once again, momentum is a flittering thing in a hockey game. Chuck Bernstein was able to even the score not even one minute into the last leg of the game. The Raiders were soon back on the penalty kill, unfortunately as Grogan received a penalty for slashing. They killed it and it was not enough to make them lose the momentum. A few minutes after the penalty, Cody Fletcher sent a great pass to Ellie Werenski who managed to carry the puck in Montreal’s zone and beat Prince on the breakaway. The Militia now had to try to regain the lead in the period, but were plagued by indiscipline. First, Ted McDonald was punished for slashing at 11 minutes into the game. Soon after they killed the penalty, Michael Walker received the same penalty, sending his team once again in the penalty kill. They kept the Raiders’ offensive at bay, but before they had time to call the goaltender to the bench to try to even the score in the last minutes, Art Vandalay received a penalty for hooking. Finishing the game on a power play, the Raiders had no issue to get away with the victory at the end of the game.

The unsung hero of the match for the Raiders was Cody Fletcher. The sniper was able to gain two assists in the game and more importantly, one of them was the primary assist on the game winning goal. He also delivered one hit and shot 5 times on the net during his 22 minutes of ice time.