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In tonight’s matchup, Colorado takes it on the road to Prince George’s home opener, the second game of the regular for both teams. @ . After coming off a 4-0 shutout in their home opener, the stage was set for Colorado to get their revenge against their Western conference rivals—but the Prince George Firebirds dug in their skates, ready to defend their position as Western conference champions.

<div align="center"> A LOOK BACK
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Season 27 ended with the Colorado Mammoths as the Four-Star Cup Champions. The Prince George Firebirds were their first round opponent who forced a 7th game, Colorado going on to win the series against Kelowna and the finals against Montreal in only 6 games. Prince George fans surely remember the heartache of getting knocked out first, and Colorado the narrow escape to the Western Conference final.

Season 28 was a chance for the Firebirds to turn the tides. After an ignominious regular season, the Firebirds barely squeaked into the playoffs, Colorado gliding into second just behind the Vancouver Whalers, who had an equal number of wins but also held the tiebreaker. This meant that the two teams would not face each other until the Western Conference final. With Prince George sending top performer Bennett Jones away to the Montreal Militia, the Mammoths weren’t worried—but in a stunning upset, Prince George not only trounced Vancouver in a 5-game series, but pulled out the win over the Mammoths in the mirror image of last year’s series matchup, Prince George taking home the win in game 7 to move onto the Cup Finals.

Unfortunately for the Firebirds, there was no stopping the Militia onslaught, but there’s no doubt that both teams remember the agonizing losses on each side of the two years prior.

However, as we’ll see tonight, Prince George was ready to prove that they simply have the Mammoths’ number…

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

<div align="center">1. Hunky Monkey’s celly after PP goal gets Firebirds on the board

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Smug he is, and smug he should be. The first goal of the game came on Prince George’s first power play of the first period—within the first five minutes of gameplay, no less. Mammoths Maverick O’Dooley drew a hooking penalty, and Hunky Monkey was able to slide a quick wrister in. But the real highlight here is Monkey’s postgame celebration, which went viral on social media within minutes. Stay cool, Monkey. Stay cool.

<div align="center">2. Karl Hertzberg really ‘Hertz’ Jacob Andrews

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The consistently heads-up play of Karl Hertzberg has been a huge asset over the seasons he’s spent with the Firebirds. After a whopping six penalties that cost them two power play goals, Colorado’s rookie Steven Stamkos Jr. had netted a catch-up goal shortly before the end of the first. Going into the locker room down one must’ve seemed like a very salvageable situation until the Hertzberg goal—stop the penalties, clean up the game, and catch up. But despite Colorado finding their discipline, their players were worn down, resulting in Hertzberg’s beauty of a goal here mid-second period.

<div align="center">3. Casper Jakobssen nets the game-winner

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After a battle back and forth, the Mammoths had the Firebirds fans holding their breath with a mid-period goal in the third, bringing the score within one. But sophomore center Casper Jakobssen had some other ideas, and was the one to close the door on the game with a little set-up help from teammates John Beckner and Matjev Oslov.

Now, let’s turn our attention to the rinkside booth for our…

<div align="center">INTERVIEW INSIGHTS
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Tonight we’re down here with Firebirds GM Private Snowball.

What would you say was the key factor in tonight's win?

Perseverance. Resilience. The Mammoths came to play with a fire on all cylinders mentality, to increase the amount of shots the team would take on McFadden, a top prospect starter. Thankfully, our power play was successful on two early penalties and with that, we never looked back, applying the pressure from the first goals of the season for Monkey and Yakimov before adding on a backbreaking 3-1 lead a few minutes into the second when Hertz buried a beautiful lead from Jakobsson, there was some life when DiNino pulled the score within one before a few minutes later Jakobsson buried one himself.

All in all, we had seven Firebirds on the scoresheet. Not only perseverance and resilience but effort too.

What is something you would like to see your team improve upon?

Our shots on goal and keeping leads, several times last season and this season, we were kept to single digit shots per game. That's not acceptable and something needed to be done, so I phoned up T.D Walrus and inquired about a pair of defensemen he had on the block, he was very reasonable and that helped shore up our defense but we still needed some firepower, so I looked into acquiring Aumeisters from Halifax. The last few games have been a great indicator of what this team can do when it has the offensive talent to back up a stellar defensive and goaltending cast.

How do you like the Firebirds' playoff chances this season?

I think we'll make it in.

Last season, we managed to get past the Whalers and Colorado, this season will be no different however it is more likely we end up facing the Whalers and the Knights, with Colorado having a poorer season than usual. I believe we have a good shot at making the finals, the Finals themselves would likely pit us against Montreal or Halifax, neither preferable match-ups, but no one said winning the Four Star Cup would be easy.
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With one last segment before we wrap, we bring you the…

<div align="center">Cascade Scrub of the Game – Maverick O’Dooley, </div>

O’No, O’Dooley! The Mammoths forward made it difficult for his team today. His undisciplined hooking penalty in the first period was one of two Mammoths PP goals, and a second hooking penalty later in the same period wore his team’s legs down. While he created some turnovers, his poor passing numbers made him create almost as many, with a whopping 17 of his passes intercepted by Firebirds players.

When combined with his -1 plus/minus, he is the Cascade Scrub of the Game! If O’Dooley wants to clean the slate, he’ll need to work more on his passing instead of his hooking, and use Cascade to get those dishes squeaky clean, every time.

That will do it for tonight! Thanks to all of our viewers for tuning in, and we’ll see you next week!

<div align="center"> FINAL SCORE
- 2
- 4
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