Kelowna Knights vs Prince George Firebirds Score: Kelowna 2 - Prince George 1
Game Link This was a hard fought game filled with action the whole way through. This game had it all, from an early goal, a couple powerplay goals, a comeback, and some well played defense. The last place Firebirds were on the losing end of this comeback, as the Knights took advantage of the power play. The final score was 2-1 in favour of the Kelowna Knights.
1st Period
The first period of this game featured one goal at 6:26 into the period. It was scored off of a shot by Kristy O’Sullivan. The goal started due to a terrible pass by Cloud Strife in the Knight’s defensive end. Noctis Caelum grabbed Strife’s muffin of a pass just in front of the blue line. He walked it in a left a drop pass for Eduard Selich. Selich shot the puck on net, but Strife, looking to make up for the terrible pass, came in for the block. The puck rebounded of the shin pads of Strife and right into the slot for O’Sullivan. O’Sullivan picked up the puck. Strife looked to be about to make another block, but O’Sullivan just long enough to get around the sprawling Strife. O’Sullivan roofed the puck, right over the blocker of Aittokallio to put the Firebirds up 1-0.
Kristy O’Sullivan’s goal at 6:26 into the first period
2nd Period
The second period featured two power play goals. The first came 7:12 into the period for the Knights. The play started off of a weak clear by the penalty killer Sven Wolf. Eibhear Sorenson picked up the puck in the neutral zone and instantly moved it up the ice to Vasily Horvat. Horvat moved to the half boards in the Firebirds end to set up the power play. He tossed it back to Lykke Bergfalk at the point. Alex Light and Horvat rotated and Bergfalk sent it back to Light, who had some speed. He peeled off the half boards and walked to the middle. He faked the shot and set it down to Tomas Csonka beside the net. Csonka spun towards the far side of the net before shovelling the puck past sieve Ben Waters to tie the game up at 1-1.
Tomas Csonka’s goal at 7:12 into the second period
Only 2 minutes later Yaneder Dilder took a bone headed slashing penalty to give the Knights another powerplay. At about a minute into the powerplay, Waters made a big save and covered up the puck. Unfortunately for the Firebirds, that big save didn’t last long. Geronimo Otto won the faceoff cleanly back to Bergfalk at the top of the circle. Bergfalk wasted no time and snapped a quick wrister towards the top corner of the net. The puck sailed right past Waters outstretched glove.
3rd Period
The third period was quiet, and featured only a large amount of defensive play ny both teams. The game would finish at 2-1 in favour of the Kelowna Knights.
Three Stars 3: Tomas Csonka: 1G, 1S, 1H
Csonka tallied the Knights first goal of the game. This was a good enough effort to get into the game as well as Csonka in the 3 stars.
2: Lykke Bergfalk: 1G, 1A, 1SB
Bergfalk had an outstanding game. She was a huge part of both of the Knights goals. Without her the Knights might not have been able to produce enough offense to bring home the two points in this game.
1: Jason Aittokallio: 96.3Sv%, 1GA
Aittokallio had a huge game, boasting an impressive 96.3% save percentage. He definitely outdueled the Firebirds goalie in this game allowing the Knights to take the victory with only two goals.
Player Page --- Update Page Picture credit to Allen, Jenny, enigmatic, Wasty, ckroyal92, 701, and EJ
300+ Career Goals, 750+ Career Points
5th All-Time Goals Scored for WKP,8th All-Time Goals Scored for SEA/TBB
3rd All-Time in Playoff Points
17th All-Time in Goals 6 Consecutive 50+ Point Seasons, 7 Total
Quote:"idc if ur naked if ur holding that cup" -Jenny
Game 1: VAN 5-2
Game 2: PGF 3-2
Game 3: VAN 4-3
Game 4: VAN 5-0
Game 5: 3-1 PGF
Game 6: 3-0 VAN
Season Series: 4-2 for VAN
Starting Line-ups
Prince George
Center - Left wing - Right Wing
Frederick Boone|| Eduard Selich || Hylytur NoRetornable
Defense
Barak Obrana || Tapper Kottbulle
Goalie
Ben Waters
Vancouver
Center - Left wing - Right Wing
Jon Ross|| Conklin Owen || Ieuan Llewellyn
Defense
Adam Kaiser || Victor Lindstrom
Goalie
Maximillian Wehner
HERE. WE. GO
The 7th meeting of these two team this year. Vancouver leads the season series 4-2 and has out scored the Firebirds by a combined total of 20 to 11. The firebirds have struggled mightily to find a real sense of offense this year with them leaning so heavily on their sophmores/ veterans to really produce it. Cukurs has been a pleasent surprise for the team but with many players most likely being lost to graduation next year they are in need to find their scoring groove soon or they are in trouble especially vs their inter conference Rivals.
Period 1
As even as a period as you could imagine from both teams. The Whalers and Firebirds both notch a goal each, kept the shots close and both played a pretty tame game in the hits column. Seeming as if both teams were tip toeing a bit in this one to start with neither team really coming out of the gate firing on all cylinders it was apparent after the first we might have to wait a bit to see the real game start to develop.
Vancouver Whalers , Levi Kubrak 4 (Ludwig Koch Schroder, Corey Bearss) at 13:48(PP)
After the Firebirds found themselves on a break on the PK the Whalers made them pay with a SWEET passing play to be finished off by Kubrak from some quick passes to put the Whalers up early on the powerplay 1-0.
Prince George Firebirds , Tapper Kottbulle 6 (Toms Shnekinsen, Barak Obrana) at 16:51
Kottbulle let a shot go from the point and with a nice screen in front the puck found it's way through the Whalers defense and Wehner to tie this one up at 1's.
The hit parade
- Victims of the Firebirds in the first: Ross | Tusk | Owen | Repo
-Victims of the Whalers in the first: Castro | Caelum
Shots - VAN: 8 || PGF: 6
Period 2
The 2nd Saw the Physical play start to ramp up some for both teams. The shots again remained even but the Firebirds made the most of their chances putting 1 in to put them up 2-1. Obrana after taking 2 sizeable hits from the Whalers made a point to rub it in after the goal to let them know exactly how they felt about it after.
Prince George Firebirds , Barak Obrana 5 (Eduard Selich, Ben Waters) at 0:28 (PP)
Obrana comes down the side of the boards and finds a bit of space up high on Wehner and is able to tuck one in early in the 2nd to put the Firebirds up, all while tossing in some extra celebration to the mix.
The hit parade
- Victims of the Firebirds in the second: Tusk | Kubrak | Ross x 2 | Latta
-Victims of the Whalers in the Second: Caelum | Shnekinsen | Pollak | Obrana x 2| Boone
Shots - VAN: 7 || PGF: 8
Period 3
The point where no matter the increase physical play and board play by the Whalers the game had clearly gotten away from them. The shot totals were very low this period showing that the teams spent more time worrying about jousting with one another than trying to generate any sort of real offense. Which seemed to work out in the Firebirds favour as the Whalers forgot about the score board and the game time dwindled away far to fast.
Prince George Firebirds , Eduard Selich 7 (Frederick Boone, Barak Obrana) at 2:50 (PP)
Selich broke loose during one of the few chances in the game and found himself with a bit of room and made no mistake putting a saucey back hand just under the bar to give the firebirds a 3-1 leading and send this one away to the W column.
The hit parade
- Victims of the Firebirds in the Third: Bearss | Llewellyn | Koch Schroder | Repo
-Victims of the Whalers in the Third: Pollak | Cukurs | Boone x2 | Wolf | Selich
Shots - VAN: 4 || PGF: 3
3 Stars ***
1 - Ben Waters (PGF)
SV%: .947% | GAA: 1.00
Leading his Firebirds much like he has most of the year to the victories they have been able to secure so far, Waters performance in net held the Whalers off the board after the first goal and helped Prince George bring home 2 points.
2 - Barak Obrana (PGF)
G: 1 | A:2 | PTS: 3 | MP: 22:06 | Hits: 3
Contiunuting to lead the team as the crafty veteran Obrana put in another high minute performance and helped to lead the offense being apart of all 3 goals on the night.
3 - Eduard Selich (PGF)
G: 1 | A:1 | PTS: 2 | MP: 20:38 | Shots: 3
Finally waking up a little maybe this is the begining of Selich trying to bottle the playoffs from last year and maybe start to lead the team a little to put some more wins on the board. His effort bring him as the 3rd star of the game. Game Summary
Team stats
Power Play
Vancouver Whalers - 0 on 3 Attempt(s) - 0.00%
Prince George Firebirds - 2 on 4 Attempt(s) - 50.00%
Penalty Kill
Vancouver Whalers - 2 on 4 Attempt(s) - 50.00% - Score 0 goal in Penalty Kill
Prince George Firebirds - 3 on 3 Attempt(s) - 100.00% - Score 0 goal in Penalty Kill
Team Stat
Welcome back everyone, do we ever have a game for you tonight!
The first period was literally all, and I mean all, Halifax. It took them 13 minutes to beat Waters, but while doing so, they only allowed 1 shot against, and they finished off the period that way, generating 7 shots themselves. The goal was scored by Reflieux off a deflection in front by Banning off Battle's shot, Reflieux found himself alone with an open cage and the puck gifted onto his stick. Waters stood no chance.
They added to their goal just about 2 minutes later when Leclerc picked off a pass in the offensive zone, he sent it to Kosonen who pulled a fantastic move on Waters and buried home his 6th.
The 2nd period started off with much of the same, Halifax was pouring on the chances, shooting 7 times in the first 5 minutes alone. right before the 4 minute mark, Reflieux scored his 2nd of the game, off a fantastic pass from Volkova.
Here we have the turning point of the game... Colin Banning letting the 3-0 score getting him a little too excited, he hammers Wolf into the boards and proceeds by taunting, trash talking and even giving a few more shots while he was down. PGF went onto the power play, and Wolf got his revenge, receiving the pass from Cukurs, and from the side of the net, sending a sweet saucer pass to Obrana who made no mistake.
In the 8th minute now, Prince George feeding off their goal, generating chances left right and center, and their second goal was exactly that, Selich on the right passing to Boone on the left who had an open shot, goalie slides over, but Boone centers for Caelum who finished the play off, and pulled PGF within 1. The shots were 11-11 in that period, each team owning half the period.
Now in the 3rd period, PGF took the game away. The shots were just 8-7 in their favor, but the goals...Largely on the birdies side. 5 minutes into the period, Caelum who pulled the team within 1, scores the tier, again from Boone and again from Selich! Selich shot purposely wide, and Boone got the puck with a tough angle, he through it into the paint and Caelum stick was at the perfect spot!
This game was exciting til the very end, both teams generating good chances, Waters was excellent, and he got the help he needed when Dilder brought the puck in the offensive zone on the final minute of play, he found Caelum behind the goal, who centred to Shneikinsen, who scores what turned out to be the winner!
Halifax would pull their goalie, and with 10 seconds left, Boone blocks a shot, feeds Obrana who goes in 2 v 1 with the games hat trick hero, Caelum, and of course unselfishly passes. 5-3 your final!
The 3 stars for tonight were:
1 - Noctis Caelum (PGF)
Undoubtedly, this man had 3 goals and a helper. He also had 2 hits and a shot block as if his offensive production wasn't enough.
2 - Frederick Boone (PGF)
Maybe got beat out by his linemate on the stats side, but he was arguably the best player on the ice with his 3 helpers and his vital shot block in the final moments.
3 - Jean-Luc Reflieux (HAL)
Started the game off great with 2 goals in just over a period, also had 4 shots, but wasn't enough to get the win.
The Montreal Militia 4 - 3 The St Louis Scarecrows
Final in SO
Welcome everyone to our 2nd game coverage tonight, as we break down the Crows vs the Militia. The Crows got on the board first with a powerplay goal from Jason Visser, he slapped one home off a great feed from Kelly Rivet from the hash marks, Dastardly picking up the 2nd assist. It wasn't 4 minutes later that the Crows doubled their lead, Landry carrying the puck in deep, going around the boards to Rivet who set up Visser for another slapper to the back of the net. The star of the period though, was Wahlgren who made 16 saves to keep his team up 2-0. The crows put up 10 shots of their own.
In the 2nd, the Crows added to their lead with a great team play, Rivet in the mix again, finds Joe K who one touch, drop passed it to Ronnie Westbrook who had a laser into the top corner. That goal took just 8 seconds in the 2nd to deliver. After that, the next goal was by Montreal, when Nerokov tipped in the one time shot from Hallfredsson, who shot a good low shot off of McDonald's pass. Montreal out shot St Louis 12-8 in that period, but again Wahlgren was outstanding.
In the 3rd, Montreal found the secret, and that was the powerplay! Their first came on the man advantage at the 4:07 mark, Frobrook and Knox made a good give and go to draw the defenders to them, passing to Kennedy who wired one home. THen with nearly 8 minutes gone in the 3rd, their 2nd powerplay goal came again off of Kennedy's stick, who fired a tip shot by Vas, that was tough to handle for Wahlgren and he left the puck slide behind him, Nerokov was their to finish it off.
The game went to over time and Montreal outshot 5-2, but could not find the answer, so we went to SO!
The goalies were all perfect, except on one shot, it was Marcos Maciel who pulled an unstoppable move on Wahlgren, and won the game for the Militia.
The 3 stars tonight were:
1 - Viktor Nerokov (MTL)
With 2 goals, one being the tier, it was an easy choice to choose this man, who shot 5 times on goal, and had a hit with a SB.
2 - Jason Visser (STL)
Visser started this game off beautifully for STL, but they couldn't finish the game off, 2 goals and 4 shots has him good for the 2nd star.
3 - Brennan Kennedy (MTL)
Kennedy was influential in the comeback, scoring a goal and an assist, while also shooting 2 times, having 3 hits and a shot block.
Wahlgren and Rivet are honourable mentions in this case, Wahlgren stoping 41 shots on 44 attempts, one has to wonder if he won this game, would he not have been the top star? Rivet also assisted on all 3 STL goals, so with a win he would have definitely been in contention as well.
Kelowna Knights vs St Louis Scarecrows Score: Kelowna 1 - Scarecrows 0
Game Link This was a game featuring a very hot goalie for the Kelowna Knights. The Knights scored early in this game, then completely went to sleep. Aittokallio had possibly the game of his career in this game, stopping an onslaught of shots from the Scarecrows. This was a heartbreaking loss for the Scarecrows, who would have won easily if they were facing anyone else.
1st Period
The first period of this game featured one goal at 3:55 into the period. Otto won the faceoff directly back to Richie Pecker in the Scarecrows. Otto wheel out of the faceoff dot and towards the net. Pecker gave a hard pass to Otto, who took a shot. The shot bounced off the post and to the other side of the net. Otto was already ahead of the play and easily retrieved the puck. This time he would make no mistake and put right into the back of the net past a sprawling Kyle Wahlgren.
Geronimo Otto’s goal at 3:55 into the first period
2nd Period
The second period featured an abundance of great defensive plays. It was full of shot blocking and hits, but it would produce no goals for either team. One hit that really stood out was Dos Diablos’ hit on Wilson. It was a high hit that left Wilson looking dazed and without the puck. There was no penalty on the play and the discipline committee has ruled it as being just a great hit.
Dos Diablos hit on Trevor Wilson
3rd Period
The third period was quiet, and featured only a large amount of defensive play by both teams. One of these great plays was a heroic shot block by Michael Burrows in the final minutes of the game to help keep the Knights up 1-0.
Michael Burrows shot block
Three Stars 3: Kyle Wahlgren: 94.1 Sv%, 1GA
Wahlgren had a big game, allowing only one goal. He gave his team a chance in this game, unfortunately for him they could not find a way to score.
2: Geronimo Otto: 1G, 3S, 1H
Otto had an outstanding game, producing the only goal in the game. The game winner is enough to earn Otto second star of the game.
1: Jason Aittokallio: 100Sv%, 0GA
Aittokallio had a huge game, boasting an impressive 100% save percentage. He definitely won this game for the Knights, who were outshot 31 to 17. Without his great performance the Scarecrows could have easily taken this game.
Player Page --- Update Page Picture credit to Allen, Jenny, enigmatic, Wasty, ckroyal92, 701, and EJ
300+ Career Goals, 750+ Career Points
5th All-Time Goals Scored for WKP,8th All-Time Goals Scored for SEA/TBB
3rd All-Time in Playoff Points
17th All-Time in Goals 6 Consecutive 50+ Point Seasons, 7 Total
Quote:"idc if ur naked if ur holding that cup" -Jenny
Tonight we see two rival teams facing off for the 8th time already this season. The Falcsons have had the edge so far this year but Montreal refused to let their record decide this game. It only to 49 seconds for the Militia to get on the scoreboard thanks to their third line. Marcos Marciel intercepted a pass in the neutral zone before dropping off for Byron Knowx who quickly floated the puck in Detroits zone for Travis Jeziak. Jeziak fakes a shot then saucer passes it to a cutting Marcial who T's it up....
Marciel scoring his 9th goal of the season
Finds the back of the net! Detroit started to tighten up on defense as both sides failed the really create any opportunities until the 6th minute mark. Off a face off win from Granlund in the Falcons Zone. Nathan Russel gets the puck before trying his luck with a shot that gets blocked by Brock Bailey. Bailey seems to be in a little pain from the shot and the puck trickled over to Wesley Wells.
Wells right places at the right time goes for a wrist shot top corner! Sivy Mcsieve reacts too late as the puck goes right above his glove and into the back of the net. Falcons now find themselves down by 2. The period would end with that score and carry on into the second. Both teams were unable to score in the second. The Falcons outshot the Militia by 2 and had 4 great scoring chances but failed to capitalize. Mathew Rossi and Merica had the biggest chances but could not convert. The Falcons frustrations was clearly being shown out on the ice.
1 of the Falcons 15 hits
In the third we do end up seeing some scoring and of course it's the Militia who opens it up with a beautiful passing play from Jeziak and Nerokov that ends up on the stick of Melnyk who went pie hole on Mcsieve. It's true that the Falcons have the offensive prowess but this game is the perfect example of why they need help in net. The Falcons did manage to take one back from the Militia 26 seconds left with a goal from Rossi who didn't even celebrate because he knew it didn't mean anything in the end as his team shit at winning the game was pretty much over.he was right as both teams ended the period with a goal each. Detroit ice again outshot the Militia 10-7 but couldn't execute. The Falcons remained physical as always handing out 15 hits to the Militia's 4 but they would have hoped that they could have found more success at retaining the puck and minimizing their mistakes in their own zone.
3 Stars
1 - Stephen Harris (MTL)
Harris made several key saves to keep the lead his team provided. It was thanks to him that the Militia were able to remain confident throughout the entire game.
2 - Travis Jeziak (MTL)
Jeziak finished the game with 2 assists and made some good reads that lead to scoring opportunities for his side.
3 - Andrej Melnyk (MTL)
Was a work horse out there tonight. Provided tons of pressure on the forcheck which resulted in many Detroit turnovers.
Here's what Mathew Rossi had to say about his teams recent okay and inability to manage to score on the power play. The Falcons had 4 power play chances compared to the Militia's 1.
"It's a tough loss. We have nobody to blame but ourselves for this one. Yes the opposition played well but we also made several mistakes and failed to execute when given the chance. We can't get 4 power play opportunities and fail to even score on 1 of them. I believe we didn't eve get a shot on net on one of them. We need to pick it up and I hope this game wakes us all up." - Rossi.
<div align="center">Starting Lineups
LW- Brennan Kennedy C- Filip Granlund RW- Jason Forbrook
D- Ilmari Maatta D- Kristofer Hallfredsson
LW- Henrik Vikstrom C- Wiljian Zjang RW- Zach Evans
D- Alexis Metzler D- Jari Sinikka</div>
<div align="center</div>
The first game of the season had these 2 rivals meeting up. Not only did they have a hate for each other from the previous season, but with the S31 offseason signings of "The Deplorables" and a few other happenings, the hate grew stronger between these 2 teams. Both came out swinging looking to set the pace for the year, however it was the Falcons who came out on top by a 1 goal margin.
The 2nd period didn't take long to get going either, with Jari Sinikka breaking the tie early into the period.
Quote:Vikstrom brings the puck into Montreals end, passes to Sinikka, Sinikka to Metzler back to Sinikka. Sinikka with the one timer, it beats Harris glove side. 3-2 Falcons
<div align="center][SIZE=7]3rd Period</div>
The 3rd didn't see much action, other then a few penalties and the Militia trying desperately to tie it back up. However it wasn't meant to be, as Detroit held them off for the 3-2 win.
<div align="center]3 Stars of the Game</div>
3rd Star - Alexis Metzler - 1G,1A,2P,6S,2H,3SB - Metzler helped out on both ends of the ice tonight. Playing strong offensively as well as not being caught out of position once, he was a big reason Detroit walked away with the win.
2nd Star - Henrik Vikstrom - 0G,2A,2P,1S,1H,0SB - Vikstrom managed to stick it to his old team in this game. Assisting on 2 goals, including the game winner, Vikstrom showed Montreal maybe it wasn't a wise decision to move him to Detroit.
1st Star - Zach Evans - 1G,1A,2P,5S,4H,0SB - Evans was the heart and soul of the team tonight. The sophomore player didn't take a shift off through out the night and earned his team the win.
DENVER -- In the mad rush to score near the end of the period, it appears the Mammoth made a fatal error. You should never take offensive zone penalties. You should never take one in the final moments of a game. Denis Lever did both, and it helped allow the Kelowna Knights to take home a 2-1 victory.
While the goals are always the primary factor in a game, what leads to them or what halts them are the truly fatal blows. Denis Lever, with just over two minutes remaining in a one-goal game, showed his mental acuity. Following a dump-and-chase attempt, he crashed the net too hard and took a goaltender interference that all but finished the game.
The goals, however, are the real story. At least, it's the one everybody knows.
Geronimo Otto seemed to be a man possessed early in the game, though oddly finishing with only the third star. He had two assists, one tertiary and one primary. On the game winner, he fed the puck through a comfortable small box of defenders and found Eibhear Sorensen breaking in.
Sorensen, the second star of the game, fired low-glove on Carter Fleury, who was unable to stretch and found himself permanently behind.
Goaltending-wise, Charlotta Caspari succeeded with stopping 12-of-13 shots and with the failure of Fleury's team to support his steady 18-of-20 stops.
Rickie Pecker opened scoring on the powerplay for the Knights, but failed to gain much recognition for his third of the season.
Martin Svensson of the Mammoth managed to tie the game in the midsection of the first period, potting his 13th of the season. Svensson was named the first star, most of which is a benefit of having been the home team and the announcer wanting the crowd to cheer.
The game was very much even, with the face-offs, the blocked shots, the hits all being within 5 of one another. It truly came to the moment when the momentum seemed to be swinging, and the Mammoth had a chance. It came to the moment when a mistake was made, a tired player lost his train of thought and the mental abilities of these young players came into question.
Points Hit:
Tell a journalistic story (which does not blend well with the other parts)
Highlighted 3 Stars
Talked about goalie battle a bit
Looked at specific moment, singled out the turning point (Lever penalty)
An old man's dream ended. A young man's vision of the future opened wide. Young men have visions, old men have dreams. But the place for old men to dream is beside the fire.
Thanks to Jackson, Copenhagen, and Harry Hans!
GOING DOWN IN STYLE. TOAST4LYFE
JayWhy Registered
S15, S16, S28, S34, S38 Challenge Cup Champion and Lance Bass
VANCOUVER -- It took an overtime period, almost the entirety of it, but we had a victor. Rather than a skill competition, the teams seemed to agree on the Vancouver Whalers coming ahead 4-3 over the Detroit Falcons.
Jace Smith, the first star of the game, was a pleasure to watch for the Falcons throughout. He opened the scoring in the game quickly only 94 seconds in after a forced turnover by Prince Daniel James.
Smith scored another time later in the game, just a little further into the third period than he had in the first on another turnover b Adam Greenholm. Consistently, Smith was able to score off two-on-one breaks and a steady tap in.
However, he was not without error. On a shift following the first goal of the game by the Vancouver Whalers own Dusty Cox, Smith was called for slashing and gave up the momentum for longer. Vancouver was unable to capitalize on the opportunity, but it helped give them the ability to score later in the period.
The other of the three stars, Conklin Owen and Adam Kaiser were superb as well. Owen scored his 16th of the season with only 14 seconds remaining in the first period after a steady possession for the Whalers.
On the other hand, Kaiser was the great finisher. While overtime these days appears like a blur of speed and skill, Kaiser and Owen hooked up to finish the game in a spectacular fashion. After an earlier shift, they appeared to be prepared and managed a two-on-none rush. Kaiser finished off a backhand chance by the blocker of Jeremy Anderson.
In terms of the goaltender battle, Maximilian Wehner stopped 31-of-34 shots and looked fantastic. Jeremy Anderson made only his ninth start of the season and was average at times with stopping 19-of-23 shots.
Following Smith was the highlight of the game, as he made consistent big plays even when his head got away from him and he made what could've been a crucial error. The Whalers did manage to take the victory, however, in the anxiety of overtime.
Points Hit:
Journalistic Style
3 Stars
Compared goaltenders
Looked at key point (Jace Smith penalty)
An old man's dream ended. A young man's vision of the future opened wide. Young men have visions, old men have dreams. But the place for old men to dream is beside the fire.
Thanks to Jackson, Copenhagen, and Harry Hans!
GOING DOWN IN STYLE. TOAST4LYFE
JayWhy Registered
S15, S16, S28, S34, S38 Challenge Cup Champion and Lance Bass
HALIFAX -- In a fitting finale, the Kelowna Knights clinched the President's Trophy as well as having a few players clinch their respective awards.
Going into the game, the Knights had 65 points and the Raiders had 64, the finish of this game would determine the top seed for the playoffs. Early on, Kelowna struggled to complete chances despite outshooting Halifax 11-7. While Halifax used the excitement of their home crowd to draw an early lead.
Niklas Flower and Alex Reed scored back-to-back near the end of the first just over a minute apart from one another. Jason Aittokallio seemed shaken, while the Knights were at best misreading plays.
All it took was an intermission discussion, and the Knights came back roaring in the second. After failing to capitalize on two first period powerplay chances, the Knights were determined to finish their chances. Isaac Kaiser took a penalty, and just four seconds afterward -- with the face-off win -- Alex Light continued his goal scoring domination in the season with his 25th goal.
Cara Hohenberg and Cory Knouse would later aid Light only about four minutes later to tie the game. Light would finish the season with 26 goals. He'll take home the goal scoring title.
Within minutes, Alexsander Komarov took a bad roughing penalty, and again to the powerplay went the Knights. While the Raiders cleared the puck out quick, Aittokallio rushed out to get the dump in and quickly flipped it up to Trevor Wilson.
Wilson entered the offensive zone and paused for a moment, quickly finding Hohenberg racing in on the opposite side. With the defense stunned, Wilson saucered a pass through and Hohenberg finished with a harsh one-timer to take the 3-2 lead.
Marc Leclerc and Vasily Horvat would fight to a draw to conclude the period. The excitement seemed contagious, though, and Kelowna continued dominating early in the third. Cory Knouse finished their 4-unanswered goal streak just 33 seconds into the third. Alex Light fired a shot on goal, the rebound went to Knouse who finished strong.
Georgette Pel looked good early, and stopped 28-of-32 shots, while Jason Aittokallio looked shaky and steadied late stopping 18-of-20 shots for his 29th win on the season.
Kelowna will now enter the postseason as the top seed and have earned the President's Trophy, while Alex Light is goal scoring leader and Cara Hohenberg finishes the season as the point leader despite playing defense. Halifax will be the top seed of the Eastern Conference and will only be the away team if meeting Kelowna or Vancouver in the Finals.
Points Hit:
Journalistic Style
Compared Stats
Told story of goals
Focused on outlier story (president's trophy decided by victor)
An old man's dream ended. A young man's vision of the future opened wide. Young men have visions, old men have dreams. But the place for old men to dream is beside the fire.
<div align="center">GAME 15 KELOWNA KNIGHTS - 5 VS. ST. LOUIS SCARECROWS - 1</div>
Welcome to St. Louis! Home of the Saints and a guy named Louis, I guess. Let's take a look at the thrashing that Kelowna put our dear Scarecrows through. St. Louis looks to get some traction after a rough season 31 start while Kelowna looks to show off their impression core of scorers.
STORY OF THE GAME Let's take a look at what happened tonight
1st Period
Kelowna opened the scoring in the first stanza when Vasily Horvat notched his first of the year off an amazing dish from Samee Iqbal and the offensive juggernaut, Cara Hohenberg. this was all off of a Dos Diablo minor where the devil himself hooked himself 2 minutes in the box.
Shots ended 8-2 in favour of Kelowna.
2nd Period
The Knights really took it to St. Louis in the second period - enough to even warrant a goalie switch. Haapanen came in relief after the second Cory Knouse goal at 14:03. Wahlgren has had a stressful year after an exemplary rookie campaign in S30, and it was reflected in the second period.
It was St. Louis who opened the scoring however. Akeson fired his third of the year from Westbrook to bring the score to 1-1. It was a shortlived tie, however, as Burrows exacted revenge, scoring his second of the season on Wahlgren. Knouse scored back-to-back goals in the second period, his first and second of the year, respectively, to chase Wahlgren from the net.
Shots ended 11-5 in favour of Kelowna.
3rd Period
Haapen had an easier night than Wahlgren it seems. The defense buckled down and helped funnel some easily-absorbed shot attempts and only one HAAPANENED to get by. T-Wils notched his third of the year from a tape-to-tape pass from Hohenberg, who continues to be an offensive power source for the Kelowna Knights.
Shots ended 13-4 in favour of Kelowna.
STATS COMPARISON We're gonna take a look at some of the stats here and find out what went right and what went wrong... with numbers!
SHOTS! 32 to 11
Kelowna had a shot differential of +21 tonight. Which seems insane. But, when you take a look at some of the offensive powers they have at their disposal, it's not so crazy. Alex Light, Michael Burrows, Cory Knouse, Cara Hohenberg, Geronimo Otto all combined for a collected 18 shots on goal. That's more than St. Louis had all game. It is no wonder why Wahlgren had such a tough time. St. Louis will need to generate some offense if they're going to stand a chance this season.
BLOCKS! 11 to 3
One stat that St. Louis had over Kelowna was the amount of blocked shots. This shouldn't come as much of a surprise, though, as Kelowna shot everything that touched their stick, except their hands... which they obviously needed to be able to shoot stuff. River, Reine, Landry, Targaryean, and Wevevr had each two blocks a piece. As stated earlier, most of this core is moving on after this season and St. Louis will need to shore up defensively if they want to contend next season.
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There, I covered a description of the game, some highlights, and some stat comparisons.
<div align="center">GAME 29 ST. LOUIS SCARECROWS - 1 VS. VANCOUVER WHALERS - 2</div>
We come to Vancouver to bring you some regular season action between S29 Four Star Cup Finalists, the St. Louis Scarecrows and the Vancouver Whalers. This was the first time the two teams met up in S31. St. Louis once again had trouble generating offense as you will see from the shot totals. Vancouver looked tremendous offensively, enabling them to get the win and 2 points to show for it.
STORY OF THE GAME Let's take a look at what happened tonight... 1st Period
The first period was largely irrelevant, stat-wise, at least. As was the story throughout the night, the Scarerows struggled to get anything going, rather Wahlgren proved himself to be quite useful as he stopped 9-of-9 Vancouver shots and one Whaler penalty.
Shots for the period were 9-3 in favour of Vancouver.
2nd Period
Vancouver struck fast and early at the beginning of the second period. Frankie Latta scored his second of the season to give the Whalers a 1-0 lead in the game. Latta had wrapped around the net after being slid the puck from Lidstrom and Wahlgren was had pressed to slide to the other side of the net to stop the shot. Near the end of the period, Kelly Rivet dropped a pound of moustache hair onto the ice and the referees conferenced and decided to give him 2 minutes.
Shots for the period were 10-3 in favour of Vancouver.
3rd Period
The Scarecrows struck back (with a vengeance) to bring the score to a 1-1 tie when King Hanley slapped his first of the year past Wehner. But that was the last of the Scarecrows as, after a roughing penalty to Targaryean, Ross sniped his first of the year through traffic into the back of the St. Louis net.
Shots for the period were 9-5 in favour of Vancouver.
End Game
A win for Vancouver brings Max Wehner's record to 4-3-0 while Wahlgren's falls to 4-4-0. The Whaler PK+PP rocks a 125% to win the special teams battle. Vancouver breaks their 3 game losing streak and will go on to win 5 more in a row.
STATS COMPARISON Let's look at numbers and arbitrarily decide what they mean...
SHOTS
28 vs 11
Once again, St. Louis is heavily outshot by their opponent. Coaches and managers will have to put the fear of god into these kids if they want to improve on this facet of their game. Vancouver had 5 separate players with 3 shots on goal while St. Louis only had one player with over 3 shots - Joe K., who had 4 shots tonight.
HITS
27 vs 16
A rough game for St. Louis - pardon the pun. When they weren't getting shot at, they were getting rough housed. Vancouver played a very physical game which caused plenty of puck possession changes and they basically steamrolled over St. Louis. Praises be to the Whaler players who played the body and only gave 2 powerplays to the struggling Scarecrows. Ieuan lead the Whalers with 7 hits tonight.
THREE STARS
3rd Star: Ieuan Llewellyn - Ieuan kept a very physical pace to the game which kept the Scarecrows out of it. His hits changed possession of the puck enough times for him to make this list. The power forward stepped it up for his team so they could come out on top. He may not have scored any points tonight, but he 2 shots and 7 hits (and one face off win) in 17 minutes of ice time.
2nd Star: Victor Lindstrom - Lidstrom had a multi-point night (the only one on his team who did) with assists on each of the Whalers' goals tonight. He also contributed physically, adding in a hit and a shot block, all in a game-high 23 minutes on the ice.
1st Star: Jon Ross - Ross is a leader of this team, ever since he was drafted. He's been effective on and off the ice - keeping morale and team spirit up. Tonight, he contributed in an offensive (not to people) way. He had 1 goal (the game winner) with 3 shots on goal in 20 minutes of ice time.
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Covered stats, story of the game, and some highlights.. and some!
A 1st period penalty carried over to the 2nd, starting The Falcons out with a powerplay to open the 2nd period.
Quote: Evans holds the puck in The Raiders zone drawing the defender into the corner, he passes the puck back to the blueline. Metzler holds, he passes to Sinikka who’s on the other side of the blueline, Sinikka drives towards the net and puts it past Hocolate!
Just minutes later the Falcons double the score making it 2-0.
Quote:Versace carries the puck across the blueline and drops it back for Nova. Nova shoots but it goes wide. Kylrad gains poessiion and lifts it high, it’s a goal!
The Raiders found a response though! Reed Laing helped by Alex Reed cut the tie in half.
Quote:Reed with the puck to the side of the net. He passes it front of goalie and finds Laing! Laing wide open, she scores!
The Raiders managed to tie the game in the 3rd period when Toivo Kosonen, helped by Reed Laing and Marc Leclerc, scores.
Quote:Leclerc carries the puck and passes it off to Laing. Laing from behind the net with the puck connects with Toivo who lays the puck in the net! Tied game!
A minute later, the Raiders found the game winning goal when Cleo Green scores.
Quote:Kosonen gains possesion of the puck and passes it to Leclerc who shoots but the puck is stopped and Cleo Green gains the rebound! Green fires away and beats Anderson! Raiders up by 1!!!
<div align="center"> Three Stars
</div>
1st Star: Toivo Kosonen The Alternate Captain of The Raiders made his presence known on the ice tonight. Kosonen had 2 assists, and 2 blocked shots, laying his body on the line for the game. The selflessness of Kosonen is what inspires player on the bench, that kind of character and energy translates to added energy for all of his teammates. Toivo Kosonen played 19:03, including 50 seconds on the powerplay and 3:29 on the penalty kill. His endurance led to him being on the ice and playing some roles in all 3 of the Raiders’ goals tonight.
2nd Star: Marc Leclerc Leclerc, too, was on ice for all 3 of the Raiders’ goals. Leclerc earned 2 points with his 2 assists on the tying and game winning goals. Half of Halifax’s dominant top pairing with Toivo Kosonen, Leclerc was able to shut down The Falcons despite going down 2 goals early on. Usually a trouble maker, Leclerc only spent 2 minutes in the sinbin tonight.
3rd Star: Reed Laing She inspired the team and got The Raiders right back into the game after going down by 2. In addition, Laing assisted on the tying goal, and was dominant in all aspects of the game. Laing had 3 shots, a hit, and a blocked shot. This big game would steal the top star any other night. Laing proved she was the best forward on the ice for either team tonight.
Raiders Press Interviews
Skipp Santos: We're here with Reed Laing, what a game you had, can you walk us through the part where you felt the need to find a spark for your team?
Reed Laing: Yeah, we were down by 2 in the second, never a good thing. Me and Reeder could feel something coming, and so we played a bit of tag and I found the net. I knew after we got that goal that the tides changed, and we were in a position to win.
Camera's focus shifts to Hocolate
Reporter:Dick, you give up 2, and the building is start to worry. Can you tell us how you calmed down and remained calm and collected for the rest of the game?
Hocolate: I didn't even worry after the two goals. I'd love a shutout but all I'm focused on is getting wins really. I knew I could keep my head, and I knew the team would come back. I'm with this squad all the time, I know them and believe in them.
Camera's focus shifts to Skipp Santos with Marc Leclerc
Skipp Santos:Marc, can I get your comments on the game tonight?
Marc Leclerc: Hell of a game, no? Couldn't ask for a better 2nd half, it was all Raiders. Yeah we let them get up by 2 early on, but it wasn't a big deal. I played one of my better games tonight, and I didn't even have to sit in the penalty box all that much. The reason for that is that we set the pace of the game in the 2nd, and let Detroit know we weren't messing around this game. You see, these East conference games have big ramifications for the playoffs, we needed this win to get good seeding.
twils
vs Prince George Firebirds 
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Vancouver Whalers , Levi Kubrak 4 (Ludwig Koch Schroder, Corey Bearss) at 13:48(PP) ![[Image: Boeser.gif]](http://assets1.sportsnet.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Boeser.gif)
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3 - 5 
4 - 3 
The St Louis Scarecrows![[Image: giphy.gif]](https://media.giphy.com/media/zHfIPhNkWpxqo/giphy.gif)
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Rob Wright 
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![[Image: PassGoal2Bruins_original.gif?1371524300]](http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images_root/article/media_slots/photos/000/922/272/PassGoal2Bruins_original.gif?1371524300)
![[Image: GoalPailleSecondView_original.gif?1371524360]](http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images_root/article/media_slots/photos/000/922/275/GoalPailleSecondView_original.gif?1371524360)
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