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In tonight’s matchup, Halifax takes it on the road to Kelowna, the fourth meeting of the season for these cross-conference rivals. @ . Before tonight’s game, Kelowna held wins for all 3 prior contests, Halifax eager to come in and see if they can pick up a revenge win and try to regain some momentum. Before we go into our recap of the game, let’s take a look at the history between these two teams.

<div align="center"> A LOOK BACK
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Season 27 ended with the Halifax Raiders five game points ahead of the Kelowna Knights. Both teams were ranked second overall in their division in the regular season, Halifax behind the Montreal Impact in the East and Kelowna behind the Colorado Mammoths in the West. The two teams were well-matched against each other--with six games over the course of the regular season, Halifax had three regulation wins, Kelowna two regulation wins and one overtime win. However, with the relatively weaker Western conference schedule, Halifax was knocked out in round one playing against Detroit, while Kelowna squeaked past Vancouver but lost to Colorado, who would go on to win the Cup.

Season 28 was another year of Kelowna and Halifax matching up surprisingly well against each other. While the Eastern conference continued to be stronger overall, Kelowna and Halifax had both lost significant weapons and were due for a rebuild. One argument by Western fans against changing the playoff formattting was in part this odd role reversal--in 7 meetings, Kelowna won 4 games in regulation, Halifax only 2 in regulation and one in OT. Both teams were then wiped out in the first round of the playoffs, Kelowna going down to Colorado and Halifax falling to the rebranded Montreal, the latter of whom would eventually go on to win the Four-Star cup.

However, it takes a juniors team less time to rebuild, and so Kelowna armed with their draft picks and Halifax having signed some key replacements in FA, would once again do battle…

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

<div align="center">1. Knights rookie Nick Leier puts Knights on the board first

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Nicholas Leier has had a quietly impactful rookie season for the Knights. One of Kelowna’s later draft picks, he combines with veteran Knight Dieter Dominique for a breakaway score on Halifax goalie Richard C. Hocolate. Though it was a beautiful goal, it was perhaps too little, too late as Kelowna failed to convert on four power play opportunities in the first period alone.

<div align="center">2. Herzog and De Bruin roar back

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Coming into the second period, the score was still 1-0 in Kelowna's favor, but Kelowna's momentum was quickly slipping as the Kelowna offense could not get a puck past 'Dick Chocolate'. While Kelowna goalie Mikke Laukkanen has been tremendous this season, he can't do it alone, and the second-year dynamic duo of Felix Herzog and Leif De Bruin slip one past him midway through the second period to tie the game, with a little set-up help from rookie Victor Lindstrom.

<div align="center">3. William Marner’s game-winner

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The final goal of a great defensive struggle came from William Marner’s goal sixteen minutes in. Marner relies on teammates Corey Eaves and Ace McCardle and, to the collective groans of the Kelowna crowd, forces the Knights to go on the offensive for the last four minutes of the game.

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

<div align="center">INTERVIEW INSIGHTS
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Tonight we’re in the booth with a special guest, resident hockey expert Eggy!

Halifax had four penalties in the first period alone, and Kelowna couldn't manage to convert on any of them, their only goal scored between penalties number one and two. Is Halifax's defense the hero or Kelowna's offense to blame?

"Well, you know, they can't be taking those penalties to begin with. Halifax has got to stay out of the box and stop giving up these opportunities. They got lucky here, it could have been much worse than it was."

Veteran Halifax goalie Dick Chocolate came up with 34 saves tonight, only allowing one goal in the first period. What makes him so good?

"Steroids."

Surely Mr. Eggy means legal performance enhancing nutrients. *cough*

From your background in hockey, if you had to give one piece of expert advice to hockey players just beginning their junior careers, what would you tell them?"

"Just keep getting pucks to the basket and maybe you'll be lucky enough to score a touchdown."

…

With one last segment before we wrap, we bring you the…

<div align="center">Cascade Scrub of the Game – Mikael Talo, </div>

Today's scrub of the game is a rare find. While everyone has an off game here or there, tonight Kelowna sophomore Mikael Talo was more harm than benefit to the team that so relies on him. Though he intercepted ten more pucks than he turned over, the young player lost his composure late in the third period and took a hooking penalty that prevented him from helping out his team and put a lot of pressure on a relatively young defensive core. He also just looked a little flat out on the ice, his skating and shot speed well under his average and easily stopped by Mr. Hocolate--and with the amount of time he spends on the ice, Talo cannot afford to lose his shine before the playoffs.

With those factors combined, Talo is the Cascade Scrub of the Game! If Mikael wants to come out of scrub-land, he’ll need to re-focus on his skating so he doesn’t spend quite so much time relying on his stick to catch opponents' offensive weapons, and use Cascade to get those dishes squeaky clean, every time.


That will do it for tonight, and for the season! Thanks to all of our viewers for tuning in!

<div align="center"> FINAL SCORE
- 2
- 1
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