Welcome back to Sports Net live, where we have just watched an entertaining contest, the 57th game of the SMJHL season, between the St. Louis Scarecrows and the Detroit Falcons, where the Scarecrows overcame the Falcons, 5-3, even though they were outshot again, 32-21. For those that are just tuning in now, lets give you some highlights…

Synopsis/Highlights

This is the battle for the East Division, Detroit has been making a surge lately up the standings and this should be an extremely interesting contest, or at least a barometer of where Detroit is, when it comes to the powerhouse St. Louis Scarecrows, who currently sit at the top of the Eastern Division.

This is also Kasper Haapanen’s 2nd game in net, and if it is anything like his 43 save performance against Kelowna just a couple nights ago, then Detroit could be in for a rough night.

Let’s get to the action…

1st Period:

Both teams are defensive to start the game, with a lot of the plays being broken up in the neutral zone with not as many quality shots on either goalie, however that being said Detroit starter Sivy McSieve has looked shaky, allowing already 2 goals on 7 shots, alteast one he should have had, so we take you too about 3 minutes left in the period and the Scarecrows up 2-1:

“The Scarecrows are pinned in their own zone, but Feist, along the boards wrestles the puck free from Sarone, who has the lone Detroit goal tonight and passes it to Strange. Strange takes it through the neutral zone, and gets leveled by Sarone! That’s gonna leave a mark tomorrow. Luckily the puck squirts to Foster who skates it into the Falcons zone, fakes a shot and passes to Hans, who shoots…. GOAL !! Harry Hans with his second tonight and the Scarecrows are up 3-1 on only 8 shots.”

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Jari Ohvo the Detroit back-up just had a conversation with the coach…. I don’t think McSieve has much more wiggle room, even though you can’t blame him for the last one. We’ll keep you posted as things change, perhaps a new goalie will start the 2nd period.

2nd Period:

McSieve is still in net to start the second period and the Falcons definitely play more physical and dictate the play, much like Kelowna did to the Scarecrows a couple night again, however, once again, Haapanen is playing another strong game for the Scarecrows. Let’s take you to the one mistake Detroit made, which was taking a penalty (Edvins Berzins), so the Scarecrows are on the power play.

“The Scarecrows have their #1 unit on the ice, Feist wins the drawn back to Landry, over to Rivet, back to Landry, he looks like he going to wind up…no, pass to Strange. Strange cycles the puck to Feist behind the net, over to Hans, he Shoot! SAVE by McSieve, but a juicy rebound goes to Strange! Strange winds up, the Falcon defenders go down to block the shot!! WAIT! Strange slap passes it to Hans, off is skate, he controls it and shoots!! GOAL !!!! HARRY HANS with the HAT TRICK!! The Scarecrows are now up 4-1”

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That’s the end of McSieve’s night as Ohvo is coming in, McSieve had 11 saves on 15 shots and it seems like the coach wants to light a spark under his team and hopes this will do it, as time is running out.

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3rd Period:

Detroit did not disappoint, as they continued to dominate the Scarecrows in play, however, unlike the second period they actually were getting to Haapanen, having already scored one, narrowing the lead to 4-2, we catch the play with them in the Scarecrows end.

“The second line is applying some pressure to the Scarecrows in the own end and have them running around. Sarone in the corner, Rogers is all over him, puck is pinned under the skates and Pickle comes over and digs it free, out to Belfour who gets to center ice and dumps it in the Detroit Zone. Daniel James picks it up behind the net, as the Scarecrows go for a change. James outlays a pass, but it bounces off a Scarecrows player right to Hippo…all alone…. he shoots!! GOAL !!! Hippo gets Detroit that much closer, 4-3 with 8 minutes to go!"

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Unfortunately it wouldn’t be enough, as Harry Hans scored his 4th of the night with under a minute to go, to put the Scarecrows up for good, 5-3. Ohvo stopped 5 of the 6 shots he faced after relieving McSieve in the 2nd period.

Individual Player Stat Breakdown

That got a little close in the end, as once again the Scarecrows were outshot, but relieved on good goaltending to pull them through. Let’s compare the goalies to see how much of a difference good goaltending can make.

Scarecrows:

Kasper Haapanen’s - 29 saves from 32 shots - (0.906 Sv %)

Falcons:

Sivy McSieve - 11 saves from 15 shots – (0.733 Sv %)
Jari Ohvo - 5 saves from 6 shots – (0.833 Sv %)

It is clear by looking at the numbers that even though Detroit outshot the Scarecrows 32-21, they didn’t get much support on the back end tonight, specifically from their goalie tandem. Now Haapanen, wasn’t as spectacular as he was against Kelowna, but he kept his team in the game and with the Scarecrows high powered offense, being ok, was good enough.

To me this is the key to the game.

Most Valuable Player

This is likely one of the easiest MVP choices we have made so far on Sport Net Live, and without a doubt to anyone it is none other then 4 goal scorer Harry Hans.

With only 5 shots on net, 4 of then found the twine, which is simply amazing, this guy is having a heck of a season and is showing Seattle fans why they should be excited their team drafted this stud. Hans also had one hit in just over 21 minutes’ time on ice.

The only drawback from Harry’s performance was that he was a +/- 0 on the night, which means he was on the ice for all 3 Falcons goals, which isn’t ideal, but we all know even the veterans have stuff to work on, otherwise they would be in the SHL.

Congratulations to the Scarecrows on the win and Harry Hans on his 4 goals!

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