Game 35:
<center>THE BATTLE, NOT THE WAR</center>

Whalers (3) vs Raiders (2) (SO)

While the Raiders were able to control most of the game, Vancouver, on the sticks of Pablo Biznette (for the tying goal) and Bernie Sanders (for the winning), were able to come away two points.

The first period saw goals from Felix Herzog and Diego Ramirez. Herzog opened the scoring with his fourth goal of the season on a Raider powerplay, assisted by Reinis Aumeisters and Leif De Bruin. The Whalers responded five minutes later with a goal from Diego Ramirez, assisted by Zach Zyvleski and Theodore Graham.

The second period was on the same level of excitement. Halifax once again opened the stanza with a goal. It came off the stick of Mike Ross, with helpers from Hunter Johnson and Montel Vontavious Porter. But the real hero of the period, and perhaps the game, was from Pablo Biznette, who scored his first of the season and first goal on the powerplay with a little assist-help from Charlie Conway. This really shaped the rest of the way the game was going to go.

Although the shots from Halifax climbed to near 40 by the end of the game, Vancouver got its confidence. The Whaler defense may have let the shots through, but they funneled them all into easily visible lanes for rookie goaltender, Stiv Dingels.

The third period saw almost no action in terms of boxscore – no penalties or goals. It really was reflective of how the game was – I mean that in terms of battles. It was a hard-fought game, to be sure.

<center>HIGHLIGHT REEL


Felix Herzog snaps one home on the powerplay



Pablo Biznette ties the game with minutes left in the second period



Stiv Dingels come up huge on a shootout save, denying fellow rookie, Reflieux for the Whaler win</center>


<center>STATS BREAKDOWN</center>
Halifax shot count climbed to heights it’d almost never seen before. They outshot Vancouver’s game total by the time they’d reached the end of the second period. This is indicative of an offense that cannot produce goals from shots or perhaps a weak Whaler defense. Either way, the game’s shots were 38-24 in favour of Halifax.

Leading the way for Halifax in the shot department was Aumeisters with 6 (and an assist) over his 18 minutes of play time. Charlie Conway tipped in 7 shots of his own (and an assist) to lead the Whalers in most shots by a player.

One thing that the Raiders kept consistent was their possession time. They spent most of the game in the Whaler defensive zone and kept pressure up on the young Whalers goalie. Yet the Vancouver defense were able to keep the goals to two over the course of the game. Kudos to them!

<div align="center">UNSUNG HERO</div>
Stiv Dingels: A rookie-star of a goaltender who won his second start against a very tough Raiders team. For one, he came into Halifax arena that was louder than imaginable. He gave up the first goal, but the last. This is a perfect example of keeping a level head over the course of a tough game. Dingels faced more shots than opposing goalie, Raider starting goalie, Richard C. Hocolate, and outlasted him during the post-overtime shootout. Stiv Dingels came away with a shiny 0.947 save percentage and 1.85 goals against average.