Prince George Firebirds 5 at Kelowna Knights 3
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Brief synopsis of the game
While Max Smith-Frey took the reins today instead of Jason Aittokallio, the Kelowna Knights still put up absolutely everything they could possibly muster today, but eventualy fell short to an incredible performance from Ben Waters and Toms Shnekisen against the absolute onslaught of Kelowna.
Long summary of the game
1st period
Right out of the gate, Kelowna dominated the game, but Prince George backstop Ben Waters made them look silly with save after save. Now let’s drop straight into the action at 14:35 of the first period with commentator Freddy Stevens.

Quote:Justs Sirmais wins the faceoff in the defensive zone. He lays it off to Horvat. Horvat skates into the neutral zone, passes it to Burrows who skates it into the Firebirds zone. 3 on 2 here, as Burrows makes the pass to Sirmais. Sirmais… fails his pass, quite dissapointing for the Kelowna- OH HORVAT INTERCEPTS IT! He passes it back to Sirmais, Sirmais moves into the zone – OH HE LOSES THE PUCK! BURROWS PICKS IT UP, SHOOTS, DEFLECTED BY HORVAT WIDE! PICKED UP BY KASPAREK… [b]IT’S IN, KELOWNA SCORES! WHAT HUSTLE FROM KELOWNA AS THEY NEVER GAVE UP ON THE PLAY AND FINALLY GET ONE PAST WATERS! [/b]

The rest of the period is quite uneventful, but the period ends as Kelowna has a 1-0 lead and has outshot Prince George 11 to 5.
2nd period
We’ve already got some action midway through the first minute of the 2nd period, so let’s drop in at 0:27 with Freddy once again.

Quote:Bent wins the faceoff in the offensive zone. Passes to Wilson, over to Kasparek, Kasparek passes ba- INTERCEPTED BY POLLAK! He outlets it to Wolf in the neutral. Wolf skates past the blue line, he passes to jako- INTERCEPTED BY STARO- AND IT’S BACK IN FIREBIRDS POSSESSION! Monkey lays it off to Jakobsson, NoRetornable.. Shoots.. [b]IT GOES IN OFF JAKOBSSON! WE’RE TIED 1-1![/b]

For a while in the 2nd period, The shots are being traded as momentum continues to build back on the Firebirds’ side. But a period of dominance in the 7th minute leads to Kelowna regaining the advantage, and us dropping you back with Freddy at 7:43 of the 2nd period.

Quote:Faceoff won by Sirmais in the offensive zone, lands on Dominique’s stick. He passes it back to Sirmai-OH WHAT A STOP BY WAT- [b]DOMINIQUE SINKS THE REBOUND! A QUICK 1-2 PUNCH BY SIRMAIS AND DOMINIQUE, AND KELOWNA LEADS ONCE MORE![/b]

Kelowna, now with momentum, starts to dominate the game, shooting shot after shot at Waters, who keeps his team in it with save after save. At this point in the game, it definitely seems like Kelowna has this in the bag. Let’s drop you into the game at 15:47 of the 2nd period.

Quote:Monkey dumps it into the Kelowna zone. Prince George’s 3rd lines coms onto the ice, along with their 2nd pair of Kottbulle and Norstrom. Smith-Frey retrieves the puck and gets it over to Starosta, who passes it to Kasparek in the neutral zone. OH WHA-KOTTBULLE STEALS THE PUCK! Passes straight to Riccardelli in the Knights zone, passes to Shnekinsen. Kottbulle, Shenkinsen, Riccardelli. [b]Shoots! SCORES! WHAT A PLAY BY PRINCE GEORGE TO STEAL THE PUCK AWAY AND SINK IT TO TIE THE GAME! [/b]

The next 3 minutes has only 1 shot to show for it, but maybe the next shot is going to be an important one. Let’s drop you in at 19:42 of the 3rd period to find out…

Quote:Prince George sends out the 4th line to close out the period, and the 3rd pair for now. Kelowna keeps their 3rd line on, there’s only 18 seconds left. Young squares up vs Sirmais in the slot. Young wins the faceoff. [b]GUTLER ONE-TIMES IT FOR A GOAL! KELOWNA WASN’T EXPECTING IT, AND PAID THE PRICE!
PRINCE GEORGE LEADS![/b]

3rd period
Kelowna comes out absolutely dominating, but only 3 of their many many shots in the first 5 minutes actually hit Waters, as all the others are either blocked, hit the post or miss the net. Time to drop in at 5:18 of the 3rd period in Kelowna’s zone to see if Prince George can extend the lead.

Quote:3rd line on the ice for both teams, but kelowna is putting on their 1st pair in their own zone. Watkins wins the faceoff, gets it to Norstrom. Justice hits him, the puck is loose but picked up by Savage. Savage gets it back to Norstrom, who gets it across to Shnekinsen.. [b]SCORES! PRINCE GEORGE IS UP 4 TO 2![/b]

Jason Aittokallio is brought in as Smith-Frey has given up 4 goals on 17 shots. The momentum is split between Kelowna, who is fighting to stay in the game, and Prince George, who wants to end it. Let’s drop into the game as Kelowna has the chance to bring it within 1 in Prince George’s zone.

Quote:Dominique wins the faceoff and sends it Hohenberg. Late hit from Savage on Dominique, and Hohenberg gets it to Otto, back to Dominique. Justice now has the puck, he sends it to Hohenberg, who makes a wonderful pass to Yanovich.. [b]SCORES! ANATOLY YANOVICH BRINGS IT BACK WITHIN 1![/b]

Now with momentum, Kelowna starts putting pressure on Waters, but he keeps his team in the lead as we head toward the final stretch of the final period of an amazing, dynamic and crazy match. In the Knights zone, Prince George has a chance to put this game away.

Quote: Dominique goes early, he’s ejected from the faceoff, Yanovich takes his place. Hmm.. now Watkins goes early, we’ll see 2 wingers go at it on the faceoff as Riccardelli steps up to the plate. Riccardelli wins the faceoff, sends it to Kottbulle, who’s pass is stormed by Yanovich. Pass to Otto, who loses it to Obrana in the Firebirds zone! Outlet pass to Shnekinsen, who goes to Riccardelli. Riccardelli skates into the neutral zone, into the knights zo- OH HE’S SMASHED BY SHIROBOKOV! Obrana retrieves it, 1-2 between Kottbulle and Obrana, sends it to Shnekinsen.. [b]SCORES! HIS SECOND OF THE PERIOD! ABSOLUTELY DOMINATING GAME FOR HIM![/b]

Now with momentum, Prince George continues to put the pressure on, despite their probably unsurmountable lead, and it ends the way it last was, at a 5 3 score.
TSN TURNING POINT
Gutler’s goal to end the 2nd period absolutely demoralized the Knights, as what looked like a manageable situation turned into a panicky one as soon as that puck went into the net. Kelowna let their guard down, and were punished for it by conceding to a 4th liner. The goal put pressure on Kelowna to tie it up, and with each shot being saved again and again by Waters, the 39 shots put up by Kelowna were a testament to the wasted effort that the Knights put in to winning this game.
3 stars of the game:
3 – Toms Shnekinsen (PGF)
He has to be one of the 3 stars. With 3 points on the night, and 2 very important goals, an argument could be made that Shnekinsen deserves the 1st, as he had by far the most influential game of his short SMJHL career. Unfortunately, he only seemed to show up when his name was called, and didn’t really stand out defensively.
2 – Tapper Kottbulle (PGF)
Was a big part of that important 3rd line chemistry, despite being on a defensive pair. He made an important steal and managed to force some plays on the Prince George end that were key in ensuring the victory today.
3 – Joseph Riccardelli (PGF)
Despite only having 1 point, the eye test could easily tell you how much this kid was all over the ice. He may not have directly participated in many goals, but he was huge in setting up the rush that would result in them. He had a lot of hustle today, and proved to everyone who doubted him that he isn’t as bad as he was in preseason.