<center> Colorado Mammoths vs. Prince George Firebirds

Score: 2 - 3
Link to the game</center>

A matchup that has sparked some kind of rivalry went underway in Game 17 of the SMJHL. Firebirds that had not been able to take a single point in the league faced-off against the Colorado Mammoths who was undefeated.
The game was a showing of good defence and good offence from the Firebirds. Ultimately the Firebirds managed to grab their first win in the league as they beat their opponents with three goals against two.

Stats history
Previous to this game, the teams have played against eachother 5 times. This with the combined stats:



As you can see, Mammoths has the advantage going in to this game, with less PIM, more shots and double the goals.
Mammoths has also never lost a game to the Firebirds.

Player spotlight

After the last couple of games, Ben Waters finally got to be between the posts from the start of the game. Let's do a brake-down of his performance.

If you scratch the surface of the game you easily see that Mammoths had 14 shots on goal, and Ben Waters let in 2 of those, which puts him on an 0.857 saving percentage. Lower than Mammoths Rudnikova who came out at 0.870.

Does this show that Ben Waters had no more than an OK start to his career? Let's dig deeper.

The first shot that Waters let in was a deflected shot by Tairo Eichelele. Deflected shots often shows that there is a lack of discipline from his own defenders in front of goal, and they couldn't clear the front of the crease from opponents.

Ruling: Ben Waters is not to blame for the first goal.

The second shot Waters let in was a quick turn-around play started by Rudnikova as she retrieved a free puck and sent it up the ice for William Goddard who did a tick-tack-toe play with Tairo Eichelele to score a break-away goal.
Break-away goals are often successed by poor communication between defenders as they do not cover up their backs. For the goalie it's often a lottery whether he saves it or not, the shooter has the advantage.

Ruling: Ben Waters is not to blame for the second goal.

Overall: Waters did a good job in his first starting game. It's often hard to play a game where you have a moderate working load and its natural to get caught off guard when a shot comes through.

Three Stars:

1. Berard Gutler
With two goals in 10 seconds, it's hard to pick someone else.

2. Joseph Riccardelli
With his goal late in the third period he won the game for the Firebirds.

3. Taro Eichelele
Highly involved as he both scored the first goal and served Goddard with his break-away. This rookie is bound for greatness.