<div align="center">(#7) Halifax Raiders vs. Montreal Militia </div>

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After a disappointing season opener that saw Halifax fall to Kyle Wahlgren and the defending Four Stars Cup champions, the Raiders brought it back to the Scotiabank Centre for a much awaited Eastern Conference matchup in Game 2. The same Halifax team that struggled to score in the preseason came out with a bang in their home opener, defeating the Montreal Militia 5-3 in a game that was over by the first ten minutes of play.

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Halifax Raiders

Jean-Luc Reflieux - Pietra Volkova - Solaire Azarov

Blake Battle - Matthew Shea

Richard C. Hocolate


Montreal Militia

Filip Granlund - Nolan Angello - Jason Forbrook

Ilmari Maatta - Viatcheslav Orlov

Stephen Harris

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The biggest question after the mediocre-at-best preseason the Halifax Raiders had was whether they were going to be able to generate enough firepower to retain scoring leads. Halifax silenced the skeptics by the tenth minute of the first period.
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Reflieux wins the face-off. Reflieux to Iversen, Iversen skates out towards the neutral zone, pass to Lindstrom. Raiders are coming through the neutral zone, and look at Reflieux fly. Lindstrom to Reflieux, and the shot - hits the boards, Azarov’s got it. Off the boards, the backhand- HE SCORES! And the Militia are stunned, 3 goals through the first 10! Harris looks like he’s about to murder someone, but Azarov is nothing but smiles as Volkova and Reflieux pull him in tight. 3-0 Halifax, and if there was ever a start to a game Montreal wanted to avoid, it was this one. We’ll be back for more on PSN Sports right after this.

Clearly, Jean-Luc Reflieux and the Raiders took offense to their preseason critics. This is the kind of start to a game that boosts morale, and while they were lenient enough to allow for a late third-period drive by Montreal, Hocolate kept things shut at the back end for most of a game. This is the kind of decisive game the Raiders need to play if they want to dig themselves out of their 6th-overall grave from last season.

Halifax hit it big at the draft, drafting highly-touted European prospects Pietra Volkova and Greta Iversen in the first and second rounds, taking another promising young winger in Niklas Flower at 6th overall, and finding a major steal in the former 3rd overall expectation, center Joey Ryan. The Raiders are obviously gearing up in hopes of making a deep playoff run this season. If the veterans can play like they did tonight, and the rookies step up to the plate, they should have no problem seeing themselves winning playoff match-ups.

The Militia, on the other hand, struggled a bit in the draft, limited by the fact that their first pick in the draft was all the way down at #14. While they attempted to make moves in the week before the draft to push back into the first round and grab at least one of those top prospects, picks were valuable with this draft class and they were unable to acquire anything higher. Montreal management managed to make the best they could with their predicament, however, drafting promising defenseman Kristofer Hallfredsson for their strong blue line and adding two young goalies in Stephen Harris and Jeff Kirkstone. Hopefully, their picks are enough to help them get out of the playoff rut they’ve been in since their last cup.

Montreal, coming off a run of disappointing early playoff exits, begins another season with the hopes of making it back to the Four Star Cup. Though the first ten minutes were disastrous at best, the Militia quickly reorganized themselves, allowing no goals through the next forty minutes. Who knows what general manager Copenhagen said to them in that locker room, but they came out in the third with a vengeance. Though damage continued to be dealt - Reflieux drove the final stake into their coffin with his eventual game-winner four minutes into the third - the Militia pushed to score three goals in the span of five minutes in an attempt to bring the game back to even footing. Unfortunately, the effort came far too late, and the Militia would ultimately fall.

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PSN 3 Stars of the Game</div></b>

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1 - Jean-Luc Reflieux - The star center for the Raiders stepped up to the challenge tonight, putting in two assists and cashing in a goal of his own with six shots on the night. Coming out with a 66% faceoff percentage, the first-liner made his presence known and helped put pressure on a very demoralized Montreal defense to come out with tonight’s W.</div>

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2 - Victor Lindstrom - Third-line defender Victor Lindstrom played like a man possessed tonight, contributing in a effective manner to come up with two assists and a goal. The recent Los Angeles signee could see himself moving up the lines if he keeps playing like this.</div>

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3 - Solaire Azarov - This rookie Russian winger was brought up onto Halifax’s first line beside Pietra Volkova and Jean-Luc Reflieux after a promising preseason, and he did not disappoint. Azarov threw his weight around to force two turnovers, but more importantly, the shot pressure he generated led to that crucial third Halifax goal in the first. Expect Azarov to make it onto our 3 Stars list many more times this season.</div>

8 Thoughts:

Of course, after every game, we have eight thoughts, four for each of these teams, to consider about the matchup and the players involved moving forward. Here are eight thoughts on the Halifax Raiders and the Montreal Militia.

<span style='color:gray'>1. When will Volkova start to score? The 5’8” winger made her presence on the ice known tonight in a different manner than the team that drafted her fourth overall was expecting. With two minor penalties, three hits, and only a single shot on goal, the speedy Russian winger looked more like an enforcer than a sniper out there tonight. Look for Volkova to try to improve against a Detroit team that may have celebrated their preseason successes a bit too early.
2. Do the Raiders regret their draft? All of Halifax’s first four draft picks failed to reach the scoreboard tonight, looking hauntingly similar to their worrying preseason. Every rookie needs time to get used to the pace of the SMJHL, but if Halifax’s top prospects don’t start producing soon, the Raiders may realize their push for postseason glory could fall shorter than expected.
3. Reflieux, while not wearing a letter this season, is playing every bit of the role of leader of the pack, carrying not only his line, but the entire Halifax offense. Three of the Raiders’ four even-strength goals came from Reflieux-generated opportunities, with one coming off his stick directly, and he’s already begun to make his mark on this season’s Halifax scoreboards. Expect to see Reflieux play a great role this season, and maybe kick that first offensive line into gear with his playmaking abilities.
4. The more time the Raiders spend in the penalty box, the less time they have on ice to generate offense and momentum. It would seem like common sense, but as evidenced by the Raiders’ penalty minutes tonight, they still haven’t gotten the message. Six different Raiders took penalties tonight, with Shea, Volkova, and Laing taking two each. Halifax is an offensively-gifted team that’s already struggling to break into success. They can’t afford to spend 18 minutes in the box a game. </span>

<span style='color:maroon'>5. Ilmari Maatta is a one-man wrecking crew. The renaissanceman defender scored a goal, an assist, and received two minors in a valiant second- and third-period push to even the score. He serves as an example, even this early in the season, of what the Montreal prospects should be striving for in-game. The Montreal captain will be playing a big role in a Montreal team that’s working hard for their first Four Star Cup since S27 after two brutal, consecutive early round sweeps.
6. Montreal’s leadership crew is solid so far, with the captain and both his alternates pulling the team by its bootstraps and leading the charge. Though their work fell short this time around, their performances today are not to be dismissed. Viatcheslav Orlov came up with two assists that led to crucial goals that, in any other situation, might have been good enough to salvage the game in favor of Montreal once again. Though returning star Nolan Angello didn’t make it onto the scoreboard tonight, he managed to rack up a shot count and create pressure in front of the net that would eventually lead to rebound opportunities. If they can keep this up, not only will they be making big strides, they’ll be leading the way for their rookies to do the same.
7. Montreal needs to start games off smartly - they’ve already exemplified a tendency to let games get away from them too quickly. If they had been smarter with their puck possession and prevented shots on goal early on, they might have had a greater fighting chance in the last minutes of the game. Look towards not only the skaters in suppressing opportunities, but also the goalies - Harris was pulled in favor of Kirkstone far later than he should have been, and the damage was done. The more into their heads Montreal gets as they continue to get scored on, the less likely they are to dig themselves out of their hole.
8. The Militia clearly have the right idea when it comes to trying to recover leads: shoot, shoot, shoot. Montreal consistently outshot the Raiders throughout the game. Was it a goalie battle, then? Perhaps. More specifically, it was just a lack of rebounds that didn’t allow them to score. Despite that, the mentality is spot on, and if they continue to have that kind of puck pressure in the crease, they’ll be cashing a lot of them in very soon.</span>