Welcome back to Sports Net live, where we have just watch a thrilling game, the 52nd game of the SMJHL season, between the St. Louis Scarecrows and the Kelowna Knights, where the Scarecrows edged the Knights, 4-3, in a shootout. For those that are just tuning in now, lets give you some highlights…

Synopsis/Highlights

The class of the SMJHL, two powerhouse teams like this can have epic battles to watch and this contest was definitely that. Kelowna comes into the contest leading their division, while the Scarecrows come in the same position, leading their own division. The two teams have played each other 5 times in a short span, with the Scarecrows winning 3 of those contests to the Knights two. Will the Knight be able to even the season series or will the Scarecrows be able to double up on the Knights?

One interesting thing to watch for tonight, is that both teams have put their back-up goalies in for this contest. It will be both net minders first start of the season, Kasper Haapanen for the Scarecrows and Max Smith-Frey for the Knights.

Let’s get to the action…

1st Period:

Though the period involves a lot of back and forth action, the main issue was the Scarecrows got into penalty trouble early and often:

“Back on the power play, the Knights Dominique, who already has a goal on the power play tonight, wins the faceoff in the Scarecrows end, back to the point to Justice, who moves the puck straddling the blue line, down to Leier who goes behind the net…the Scarecrow defenders both go for him, leaving Dominique wide open! Leier passes it out front, Dominique shoots…… GOAL !!! His second of the night, both on the power play and the Knights retake the lead, 2-1”

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Luckily for the Scarecrows they were able to tie it up, 2-2 before the end of the period, but if they hadn’t taken some needless penalties they could have been up by 2 and in the driver seat going into the second period.

2nd Period:

It was evident the Knights smelled blood in the water because they came out with a frenzy dominating the shocked Scarecrows. The clinic the Knights put on was amazing and if it wasn’t for Haapanen standing on his head, this would be a very different game. The only costly flaw for the Knights in this period was a tripping penalty by star player Mikko Linna. We pick it up with the Scarecrows on the power play.

“The Scarecrows come out of their zone, setting up the play, but Bill Pickle is being harassed by Talo, so he takes it back into his zone as Talo and the Knights go for a change. Pickle see’s a streaking Feist and passes it to center ice, Feist comes steaming into the Knights zone…. Strange trying to catch up on the other side!! Feist drives to the corner giving Strange more time before passing it in front…. Strange tips it! GOAL !!! With only their 4th shot of the period the Scarecrows take the lead 3-2!”

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The Scarecrows owe Haapanen a beer after being out shot 13-4 in the period and with a lead heading into the third. Hopefully the Scarecrows can regain some composure and finish this game out.

3rd Period:

I’m not sure where the Scarecrows are right now, but it definitely isn’t in this game, as the Knights continued to pour it on, even more then the second period and the Scarecrows have no bounce back. It is like the Knights are playing a pee-wee team out here, it’s almost embarrassing.

Once again, the Knight are on the power play, their 7th of the night…

“In the Scarecrows zone, Haapanen already has faced 40 shots this game, but here we go again, another PK for the Scarecrows. Leier with the puck in the right corner, moving up and down the side, as the Scarecrows form the box. Leier moves down to the corner, and passes far side to Landvik, but Strange jumps up quickly and checks Landvik…but whats this, Strange falls to the ground, it looks like he’s lost a blade on one of his skates….Landvik moves it out of the corner to Shirobokov, who shoots top corner! GOAL !!! The Knights have tied it up, 3-3, with just minutes left in the game."

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That’s right folks, we are heading to OT and potentially a shootout, however at the end of regulation, the shots on net are: Kelowna: 44, St. Louis: 20.

OT/Shootout:

Overtime resolves nothing as there wasn’t a lot of opportunity, with Kelowna having a 2-1 shot advantage, so now we head to the shootout!


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SCARECROWS WIN! SCARECROWS WIN! FEIST AND CHARLYB’Y BOTH SCORE IN THE SHOOTOUT!!!

Individual Player Stat Breakdown

This was a hard fought game, that honestly the Scarecrows shouldn’t have won, but lets compare the top lines to see if this dominating play was as evident, or if it was the Knights secondary lines that dominated.

Scarecrows:

Eugene Feist (Center) – 1 assist, +/- 0, 2 PIM, 2 Shots, 2 Hits and 18/28 (64.28%) in the dot
Harry Hans (RW) – +/- 0, 1 hit
Sebastian Strange (LW) – 1 goal, +/- 0, 4 PIM, 6 Shots, 1 Hit, 1 Shot Block
Totals: 1 goals, 1 assists, +/-0, 6 PIM, 8 shots, 3 hits and 1 Shot Block in addition to being 64% in the face offs

Knights:

Mikael Talo (Center) - +/- 0, 9 Shots, 1 Hit, 1 Shot Block and 11/33 in the face off dot (33%)
Mikko Linna (RW) – +/-0, 2 PIM, 6 Shots, 1 Hit
Anatoly Yanovich (LW) - +/- 0, 5 Shots and 3 Hits
Totals: +/-0, 20 Shots, 2 PIM, 5 Hits and 1 Shot Block in addition to being 33% in the faceoff circle

It is evident by the breakdown that the Knights top line had a heck of a game (20 shots), but just couldn’t get it past a hot net minder in Haapanen, you add the 6 minutes of penalties to the Scarecrows top line (3 of the 8 penalties they took), that means less opportunity to push back.

In the end it just comes down to an undisciplined Scarecrows team that relied too much on their goalie tonight for a victory, but luckily for them he stood tall.

To me this is the key to the game.

Most Valuable Player

You might think I would pick a Knight player for their dominance, or perhaps the shootout winner as tonight’s MVP, but you would be wrong, because tonights MVP is none other then St. Louis Scarecrows goalie Kasper Haapanen.

In his first every SMJHL game he faced 46 shots, 43 saves in that process for a sparkling .935 save percentage and for whatever reason wasn’t named a star in tonight’s game.

We all know Casey Holmes is the starter for the Scarecrows, but if this game is any indication of what the Scarecrows have for the future, it definitely looks good.

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