Montreal Militia at St. Louis Scarecrows

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Game Link

With the Militia coming to St. Louis for the first regular season game of the year, everyone could feel the tenseness in the air. With the crowd roaring and the organ pumping the adrenaline the Scarecrows were poised to show their inter-division rival they meant business from the drop of the puck.

1st Period

The puck drop simply signaled a heightened physical game by both sides as Casper Ek got driven to the ice by Viatcheslav Orlov just twenty-five seconds in. As barbs were exchanged, just two minutes in we saw St. Louis go on the power play after Brennan Kennedy was called for a minor hooking infraction. Shortly after we pick-up the call:

Quote:As the ref drops the puck Granlund burries his shoulder and drives Feist back, grabs the puck and clears it all the way down the ice.  Wahlgren stops it along the side board while the Granlund goes for a... Wahlgren hits Akeson in stride crossing through the neutral zone! They have numbers! Rivet trailing, Akeson drops the pass in the slot, Rivet picks it up and he shoots and scores!  Just like that, Rivet wrists it high glove side and beats Kirkstone to open up the game only three minutes in on a Scarecrow power play!

Just as quick as the building erupted into early craziness, just three seconds after the goal Wells picked up another hooking penalty on the Militia. We pick up the coverage at the 4:40 mark:

Quote:St. Louis seemingly is controlling the zone at will, with this Militia penalty kill clearly getting tired.  Targaryen cradles the puck behind the net and finds Rivet floating toward the slot, the one timer misses wide, bounces off the end board right to Feist! He shoots and scores! Just a quick little wrister beats Kirkstone who was unaware of where the puck had rebounded to. 2-0 Scarecrows early!

With the crowd roaring the Scarecrows would go on to score another powerplay goal after a deflection from Willy Mack to make it 3-0 after the first period. In control, St. Louis was rolling while Montreal simply was looking to stay out of the penalty box.

2nd Period

The start of the second was nearly the same as the first, but Montreal meant business. At the 2:05 mark we pick up the call:

Quote:Granlund picks up the puck high circle and snaps it towards the net... deflects off of Angello and misses the net, caroms off the board where Granlund picks it up and dumps it in! Wahlgren never saw the puck as he whips his stick against the cross bar. It was as if Granlund grabbed his rebound and shoved it home to make it 3-1.

For much of the period it was much of the back and forth while both teams tried to prevent the other from gaining any more momentum. That is until our TSN Turning Point of the game:

Quote:Westbrook wins the faceoff in his defensive zone and outlets to Angello heading up the far side.  He makes his way around one defender and crosses the blue line and lets one rip. It misses the net and is collected by Militia's Jaylor Toast.  Skates it from behind the net... and watch out! He is crushed by Kurczewski and the puck trickles back behind the net. Kurczewski picks it up, looking up the half board, he's got a lane... winds up, and he scores!

Just like that the Scarecrows took a 4-1 lead and really turned that decibel level up. It seemed as if any momentum the Militia had, left once Kurczewski made that devastating hit and turned it into a goal, which closed out the scoring in the third period.

3rd Period

While the Militia came out with fire and eventually pulling back within two after an amazing redirect by Russet, it just wasn't in the cards as the closing minutes found the Scarecrows scoring once again as Landry backhanded one between the legs of Kirkstone to ice the game at 5-2.





1st Star: Kelly Rivet, 1 Goal/ 2 Assists
2nd Star: Ronnie Westbrook 16/21 on Faceoffs
3rd Star: Willy Mack, 1st SMJHL Goal

W: Kyle Wahlgren, 3-0, 19 Saves
L: Jeff Kirkstone, 0-1, 32 Saves