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<div align="center">ON TONIGHT'S BROADCAST:
Game 18 of Season 30 of the SMJHL....

Detroit Falcons VS Halifax Raiders
3 VS 1</div>

Barton: Y'know, before the start of the season --
Cooter: Ah, jeeze, here we go again --
Barton: -- shut-up, let me get this out; so before the start of the season, you and I made a bet about which upwardly predicted team would flop out, and I gotta say, man, it's looking like I'm gonna win that $500 pool.
Cooter: This is the point in time where I remind you that we are not even one week into season 30.
Barton: I know, I know, but for all the top talent Halifax has in their defensive lines, their offensive pushes and their special teams are abysmal, and this game, the third match-up between these two teams, really highlights how many holes Halifax is failing to plug in their leaky, slowly-sinking ship.
Cooter I don't know, man, I'm thinking that's a bit prematurely harsh.
Barton: [laughs] You think?
Cooter: Yeah, man. I think, I think Halifax is in need of some big line adjustments, but the talent, for all its relative inexperience, is definitely there. Over the last three games, you've had guys like Alex Reed, currently a third liner, and Reed Laing, a fourth liner than moonlights on the third, coming together and producing massively well thanks to some great chemistry with their big-numbers defensive guys and gals. You've got guys like Joey Ryan, second line center, putting up points too. The left wing spot seems to be the one in need of most repair, and oddly, the spot filled with the most hopeful draft picks.
Barton: Draft busts, you mean.
Cooter: I think it's a little early to call 'em busts, is what I mean.
Barton: Well, whatever, let's roll the audio tape. For those of you tuning in to our web broadcast, we have video highlights for you to watch as well, the web address URL is http://www.cooterandbarton.com/episode18; the phone number for you to call in at, since we'll be taking calls later on in the show, is 800-XXX-XXXX, or you can tweet us -- is that the correct parlance?
Cooter: I'm pretty sure tweeting is the verb, yeah.
Barton: You can tweet us on Twitter at @CootsandBooms.
Cooter: Can I roll the tape?
Barton: You can roll the tape, buddy.

Quote:Well this is a rough start for Halifax, Detroit has been making it their puck these first few faceoffs here on the Raider's home ice -- but oh! Here's Reflieux with a nasty backhand robbing Zjang of the puck in the Halifax offensive zone, can he do something with it? Oh, and shot by Toucher, but off the skate of Erik Muller, and another quicksilver wrister by Reflieux himself but just wide of the net! Azarov to collect behind the Falcon's net as Anderson stays in his crease, and another attempt at a shot, Azarov trying to dump the puck in on the short post, but the post isn't cooperating with him tonight; Berzins attempts to intercept the post rebound, but it's spirited away and passed to Alex Reed who winds up for a cannon of a shot, but it goes wide! Anderson is sliding back and forth along the post trying to keep Halifax scoreless as the shots just keep on raining down like a summer thunderstorm, and it looks like Reed Laing has managed to scrum it off the mess of Detroit defenders trying to grind it at the boards, but -- wow, Edvins Berzins not having any of that as he ploughs into Laing for a thorough open ice hit that has Laing on his back like a beached whale. Laing is -- Lang is getting up OK, but we have a whistle here now, Matthew Shea with gloves off knocking the helmet of Berzins, who isn't having any of it, choosing to let the linesmen put a stop to Shea's nonsense early. Shea, obviously upset with Berzin's lack of enthusiasm -- attempting to flick Berzins in the nose? I don't know Carl, this is some playground nonsense, if you ask me --

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Quote:-- and yeah, Shea getting two for roughing, unfortunately not another two for acting like a five-year-old child, leading the Falcons into a powerplay now; with Halifax's poor opening track record with penalty killing, Hocolate had better be ready for the forthcoming assault, even if it's only for two minutes.

Barton: I mean, really? Really?
Cooter: I am the literal opposite of surprised this is your first highlight of the game.
Barton: Yeah, but, what the hell is he even doing? Do you see how hard Berzin is eyerolling at this idiocy? I can feel his eyeroll without even looking at the tape, that's how much shade Berzin is throwing at Shea on the ice in that moment.
Cooter: It was dumb, Shea successfully drew a penalty with the hit, yay Falcons. Can we move on?
Barton: Yeah, I guess we can move on.

Quote:It's off to the sin-bin with Flower for a double-minor -- the refs showing their extreme displeasure at what was essentially a friendly clubbing in return for what must've been some effective chirping on the part of Detroit's Konstantinov, if the grin he's wearing right now is any indication...

... nothing but a ticking time bomb, the way Detroit's powerplay is running the show out there right now. The score's already 1-0 in the Motor City's favor, but they're playing like they're hungry for more, which is more than I can say of Halifax's penalty kill right now. Although, maybe I spoke to soon? That's Zjang now, mysteriously shooting the puck down into Halifax's zone, teammates no where in sight, so we'll be meeting them for a face-off now back in Detroit's defensive zone. And now, an annoyed, over-eager Zjang, being tossed out of the circle by the referees. Hippo and Reflieux for the face-off, and Hippo wins it easily, tying up Reflieux's body and stick&nbsp; long enough to kick the puck to James, James taking it up the ice into neutral territory. It's a two-on-three now, in Halifax's favor, despite the power play, James coming down the right, looking for Hippo -- finding him, and Hippo fumbles the pass of his skate, but not badly enough, because -- goal! That's a power play goal for Hippo, behind the backs of the entire Raider's defensive line, Hocolate badly misjudging James' intent to shoot from the right slot. What a beaut of a goal!

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Cooter: So I want to try something.
Barton: What do you want to try?
Cooter: You want to use this to talk about how bad the Raider's penalty kill is, right?
Barton: Well -- yes, that is chiefly among the things I chose this clip to illustrate.
Cooter: So how about I talk about the Raider's PK, and you talk about the Falcon's powerplay?
Barton: Oh, fine. By all means. You still want me to go first?
Cooter: Yep.
Barton: Detroit's power play is abysmal.
Cooter: Oh, wow, Barty, I'm surprised you can actually admit that out loud!
Barton: It is! I can be unbaised! They're producing next to nothing, which is particularly unfortunate because they're averaging highest in the division, if not the league, so far for drawing penalties. St. Louis is not far behind, but compared to St. Louis, Detroit is producing nothing -- a scant overall 16% for 5 successful attempts on 30 produced powerplays thus far, including the game against Halifax tonight. St. Louis? St. Louis has a whopping 30% for 7 successful attempts on 23.
Cooter: Yeah, OK, but --
Barton: But nothing. Tonight's match-up featured the weakest powerplay conversion team in the division against the worst penalty killing team in the division, and so while talking about what Detroit might do to even up its powerplay conversion is certainly a lively academic pursuit, Halifax still couldn't stop them. Each match-up so far, Detroit has pushed in one goal on a powerplay, regardless of their conversion stats.
Cooter: OK, OK --
Barton: Ipso facto, the Raiders still suck ass.
Cooter: OK, buddy, this is my part of the coverage now.
Barton: Fine, you talk about the Raiders sucking ass, then.
Cooter: Let's, for the sake of exploring the faults of Halifax's PK special teams, look again at the conference leader St. Louis. Halifax's PK problems are deceptive, and I think boil down to being the result of hiding in plain sight -- Halifax's PK defense is unexpectedly statistically problematic. When you take the two-man teams of Shea and Lindstrom as one unit, Battle and Banning as the second unit, and compare them to their counterparts on the Crows, a few things become readily apparent. In Halifax's game against Detroit, Shea and Lindstrom were favored as the go to PK d-men 65% of the time. That same duo is weaker in on-ice endurance, puck handling, and drastically weaker in checking than the best the Crows can put out. Their back-up in the form of Battle and Banning? Not that much better, fairing a full seven to eight points worse per skill set than the best possible defensive PK the Crows have to offer, matching only in their ability to handle the puck. Offensively on the PK, Halifax is surprisingly better matched. But despite being lauded as a defensive powerhouse, Halifax's penalty kill vulnerabilities stem almost entirely from behind the blue line.
Barton: I gotta say, I'm surprised.
Cooter: It's not an irreparable problem, but it's definitely one that's in desperate need of workshopping by Halifax GM David Bowman and their coaching staff, and soon.
Barton: Next clip?
Cooter: Next clip.

Quote:Well, there's just about six minutes here left in the 3rd, and boy are these boys and girls playing ping-pong tonight!  And we're back down in Halifax's offensive zone, and Flower and with his winger from another mother Kaiser, trying to make magic happen in their zone last minute to tie up the game here, and oh, hip-check from Brodangleschlong has Flower off-kilter, but the pass is picked-back up by Kaiser who takes a shot and-- deflected with a rebound off a flailing swipe of Anderson's glove! What a mess down there in Detroit's crease!

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Quote:But Hippo now pushing down the ice, unable to shake Halifax's defenders, but able to take a lucky shot anyway -- it flies well wide of the net! Trouble for the Raiders, now, Detroit stacked and fully set-up, Zjang first to the puck along the boards, with a desperate backhander that bounces off Berzin's skate -- which Berkis, which Berkis puts away! Goal Detroit! Goal Detroit! The game is now three-to-one with five minutes left in the third period! Death knell for Halifax, if this game were a turkey, it'd be time to take her out of the oven.

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Barton: For such a scrummy game, with so much play on the boards, I feel like over-all, the experience of the game was relatively bloodless. I picked the final decent battle on the part of Halifax for the last game highlight, which despite a desperate push, still wound up producing an offensive turn-over which resulted in the final Detroit goal.
Cooter: It's true -- the 3rd period had both Detroit and Halifax running at half-steam. While Halifax pulled it together enough to battle a bit in the second, the strong push on the part of Detroit during the first really payed off, despite low over-all energy, since it was that first push that got the Falcons the two points, and the first push that sucked the marrow from the bones of the game.
Barton: I mean, these two teams are gonna be meeting a lot in the future.
Cooter: That they are.
Barton: Do you have high hopes for these two teams generating the kind of rivalry that creates good hockey?
Cooter: I do, actually, because like I said before --
Barton: The potential is there?
Cooter: Exactly, and also? While Halifax played some pretty tired hockey this match-up, they're known to be a pretty vivacious team. Give them a week or two to recoup, and I guarantee come weeks two and three, we'll be seeing much better hockey coming out of the SMJHL in Nova Scotia.
Barton: If you say so, buddy. Now to the phones!




[Included: Highlight reel, story of the game, descriptions of the goals, team stats breakdown and analysis]