Welcome back to Sports Net live, where we have just watch a thrilling game, the 22nd game of the young SMJHL season, between the St. Louis Scarecrows and the Colorado Mammoths, where the Scarecrows beat the Mammoths, 4-2. For those that are just tuning in now, lets give you some highlights…

Synopsis/Highlights

The game tells a tale of two drastically different teams, the St.Louis Scarecrows who coming into the game are 4-1-0 leading the East division, while the Colorado Mammoths are 1-1-3 and are 4th in the West division. The Scarecrows boast one of the most explosive veteran offenses in the league, while the Mammoths are loaded with rookies and though surely will be contenders in future seasons, this season might be more of a struggle, in what is becoming a more veteran based SMJHL.

1st Period:

The Scarecrows came out flying, like we have seen in most of their games so far this season. We pick it up with the Mammoths with a rare entry into the Scarecrows end:

“Stamkos Jr. carries the puck across the Scarecrows blue line into the corner, he spins and passes the puck back to the point, Dover looks to O’Dooley and then passes it back to Stamkos Jr……. WHAT A HIT! Feist just plowed Stamkos Jr. into the boards and starts skating it out of the Scarecrows end…. Stamkos Jr. looks be ok, but he definitely looks to be cut, as he is just now getting to his feet. Feist, the lead pass to Hans, 2 on 1, with Strange on the other side. Hans drives to the net, looks like he is going short side…NO, through the legs pass to Strange…what a sick pass! GOAL!!!! WHAT A PASS BY HARRY HANS!!”

<div align="center"></div>

These Scarecrows are just magic to watch; we have seen this team bud into an dynamic offensive machine, as they added two more goals in the period and went up 3-0.

2nd Period:

As with most Scarecrows games, we often see them jump out to good leads and then take a step off the gas and this was evident, even though they outshot the Mammoths in the period 11-5, their chances were more perimeter shots and not the high quality scoring chances we saw in the 1st period.

“The Scarecrows have the Mammoths pinned in their own end, DarryL Landry over the Kelly Rivet, who winds up for the blast and lets it go! Ouch!! Ben Dover with the sacrifice and blocking that howitzer, on one knee Dover shuffles the pass to O'Dooley and out of the Mammoths zone he goes, over to Stamkos Jr., all bandaged up from the nasty hit by Feist in the 1st period. To be honest I’m surprised no one came to the kids aid on that and dropped the gloves with Feist. Anyway now into the Scarecrows zone. Rivet stick checks Stamkos Jr. and the puck squirts free, but O’Dooley gets it slides it back to Stamkos Jr. the snapshot! GOAL!!! That beat Holmes high to the glove side!”

<div align="center"></div>

The Mammoths added another and made this a contest, with a period to go and the Scarecrows now up only by 1.

3rd Period:

Frans Erichsen, playing on the 2nd line has been a big bright spot for the Scarecrows as a rookie he has produced numbers just as good as the likes of Sebastian Strange and Harry Hans, whom everyone thought would be the team’s big guns.

“The Mammoths shoot the puck into the Scarecrows zone and go for a line change. Gustav-Hans Mohrs picks it up behind his net, waiting for the Scarecrows to also change on the fly. He passes it to Greenholm, who exists the Scarecrows zone, then passes it cross ice to Diablo he enters the Mammoths zone, both Charlyb'y and Erichsen are streaking to the net…the saucer pass…. GOAL!! Tipped in by Erichsen, his 4th of the season. Scarecrow are up 4-2!!”

<div align="center"></div>

That was all the Scarecrows needed to clinch the victory, 4-2 outshooting the Mammoths 32-15 in the process. However, near the end of the game Jacob Andrews definitely did not seem happy and took it out on Sebastian Strange in front of the net.

<div align="center"></div>

Individual Player Stat Breakdown

Many key factors contributed to the Scarecrows coming out the victors, but let’s break down and compare the top line for both teams and how they stacked up, head to head.

Scarecrows:

Eugene Feist (Center) – 1 assist, +1, 1 shot and 1 Hit, 12/21 (57.14%) in the faceoff dot
Harry Hans (RW) – 1 goal, 1 assist, +2, 2 shots and 1 hit
Sebastian Strange (LW) – 1 goal, +1, 11 shots (Wow!, 1 hit

Totals: 2 goals, 2 assists, +4, 14 shots and 3 hits in addition to being 57% in the face offs

Mammoths:

Evgeny Yakikov (Center) - -1, 3 hits and 13/28 (46.42%) in the faceoff dot
Joey DiNino (RW) – 1 goal, -1, 2 PIM, 2 shots
Master Maguku (LW) - -1, 1 shot

Totals: 1 goal, -3, 2 PIM, 3 shots and 3 hits and 46% in face offs

It is evident by the breakdown how the two lines compared, but what stands out to me are two things. One is the jaw dropping 11 shots Sebastian Strange had on net and to be honest some confusion how he didn’t score more then 1 goal. Second is how does the #1 center for the Mammoths not register a single shot on net, when playing over 22 minutes of the game?

To me this is the key to the game.

Most Valuable Player

Now you might think with Sebastian Strange’s 11 shots that would make him our MVP of tonight’s game, especially with his free wheeling play all night, as that is always exciting to watch, but you would be wrong.

The most valuable player for me was Frans Erichsen. The reason is simply this guy is a 2nd line player, a rookie and comes out hard and plays every night. Tonight he had 1 goal and 1 assist, 6 shots on net with one hit and one shot block, he literally did it all.

The only downside of his game is that he was on the ice for both Mammoth goals, so he was on +/- 0, but he is still working on his defensive zone coverages and I can give him slack on that due to this being only his 6th game in the SMJHL.

This guy could be a big reason why the Scarecrows might go deep in this years playoffs…you can quote me on that.

~1100 words