(Game #56)Prince George Firebirds 3 vs. St. Louis Scarecrows 2 F/OT

Prince George, BC, Canada. – The 56th game in the SMJHL this season was the 4th meeting of the season between the Firebirds of Prince George, and the St. Louis Scarecrows. The Firebirds had the slight edge in the season series heading into the game, going 2-1 against St. Louis so far with a shootout victory and a 1-0 victory two days earlier. The 4th matchup between the two teams would be another exciting affair, with Prince George coming up with a big overtime win in a game that was dominated at times by the Scarecrows. Let’s get into the highlights.

In the first period, the Scarecrows, perhaps fired up a bit from the shutout loss in their last game, struck early in the game, scoring in 45 seconds. Here’s the play by play:

Quote:Obrana with the puck and he’ll dump it into the St. Louis zone. Rivet goes back into the corner to get it. He’ll pass it up the boards to Akeson, and Akeson brings it right into the Firebirds zone. He’s a got a lane and he’ll take the shot and it goes wide. The puck travels back to Landry at the point. Landry takes a quick shot and it’s blocked by Obrana. The puck slides right over to Rivet who keeps it in at the line, and he sends a quick pass down to Akeson. Akeson skates in a goal, fakes a forehand shot and quickly goes to the backhand and HE SCORES! NATE AKESON THE ROOKIE SENSATION SCORES HIS 7th OF THE SEASON TO PUT THE SCARECROWS UP 1-0!

And less than a minute into the game , its Akeson from Rivet and Landry, giving the Scarecrows the quick lead. The Scarecrows would still be buzzing in the period and eventually they’d breakthrough again:

Quote: Danny Foster with the puck over the line into the Prince George zone as both teams are making a change. Foster passes the puck over to Stach who’s going hard to the net. He pulls up and shoots it wide. The puck goes around the boards back to the point where Celej picks it up. Celej takes a quick wrister and he scores! Wow. Nick Celej with the first goal of his young career, a quick wrister that goes five hole, and St. Louis is up 2-0!

Nick Celej gets his first SMJHL goal assisted by Stach and Foster at 6:53 of the period. St. Louis would hold a killer edge in shots this period, but Prince George would find some daylight of their own before the period ended. With Eugene Feist in the box for a double minor on a boarding call, it’ll be the Firebird Captain who gets them on the board.

Quote: Prince George still on the power play, and Obrana will dump the puck into the St. Louis zone as the team changes. Kyle Wahlgren steps behind his net to stop the puck. He leaves it there for Targaryen. Targaryen under pressure, tries to send it up ice and the pass is picked off by Pollak. Pollak sends the puck across to Monkey who finds a man in front and they score! The captain Casper Jakobsson with a power play goal brings the Firebirds within one, and they have some life.

Jakobsson’s 7th of the season comes on the power play and cuts St. Louis’ lead in half. That would bring us to the end of the first period, as the Scarecrows dominated in possession and lead in shots 13-5, but they only had a one goal lead. Ace Dafoe was doing all he could to keep Prince George in the game at the time. The second period saw only eight shots and there was only one goal, but it was a big one for the Firebirds.

Quote: Feist lines up to take the draw against Jakobsson after the icing by Reine. Feist is a little too feisty and the linesman throws him out. Kurczewski takes the draw for him. Jakobsson wins it cleanly back to Hunky Monkey at the point. Monkey slides it quickly over to his partner Pollak. Pollak fakes the shot and sends the puck over to NoRetornable over on the halfwall. NoRetornable skates out and lets go a quick shot and HE SCORES. I don’t think Wahlgren saw it, he may have been screened by his own guy. But it doesn’t matter, the score is all knotted up at 2!

NoRetornable’s second goal of the season assisted by Monkey and Jakobsson draws the game even. That would be it for scoring during regulation. The Firebirds would outshoot St. Louis 5-3 in the second, but the Scarecrows came out flying again in the third. It would be all for naught as Ace Dafoe made save after save to keep this game even at two a piece. St. Louis would outshoot Prince George 8-4 in this period, but couldn’t solve Dafoe. As a result, this game headed to overtime, where an unlikely hero would be crowned:

Quote: Kevin Sousa lines up against Jason Visser in the St. Louis zone. Puck is dropped, gets caught up in their skates, but Sousa moves it over to Michael Young. Young loses the puck but gathers it back. Young with it now, winds up and shoots it wide. Obrana is there to pick up the puck down low. He’ll send the puck to Sousa in the slot. Sousa sends it over to Kottbulle at the point. Prince George is cycling very well and St. Louis can’t seem to keep up right now. Kottbulle slides the puck across to Obrana. Obrana sends it down back to Sousa. The puck jumps over his stick and goes into the corner. Sousa corrals it and skates towards the front of the net. He’ll take a shot and its blocked by Danny Foster. The puck goes back towards the point, kept in by Kottbulle. Kottbulle takes a shot of his own and he’s blocked by Foster as well. Loose puck in front of the net and THEY SCORE. Kevin Sousa finds the puck before anyone else, puts it top shelf over Wahlgren, and that’s the ball game folks! Prince George wins it, in ooooovvveerrrtimeeeee.

Kevin Sousa’s first of the season came at the right time for the Firebirds, who are now 8-5-1 on the season. St. Louis drops to 7-4-3. Prince George is now 3-1 against the Scarecrows this season, with two victories coming in bonus hockey time. Let’s dive into the stats for this game.

Shots
STL: 24
PGF: 15

Hits
STL: 22
PGF: 19

Faceoffs
STL: 24
PGF: 38

Blocked Shots
STL: 8
PGF: 2

Penalty Minutes
STL: 6
PGF: 6

The stats tell the story of a fantastic night by Ace Dafoe, after a shaky start, to pick up his first victory of the season. St. Louis outhit, outshot, and for stretches of time outplayed Prince George, but it was all for naught as the two points go to the Firebirds.

Three Stars
1. Casper Jakobsson (1g, 1a)
2. Barak Obrana (1a)
3. Johnny Pollak (2a)