Kelowna Knights @ Halifax Raiders

Game#58 brought us a showdown between (son of SHL legend Jakub Aittokallio) Jason Aittokallio and free agent rookie Georgette Pel. Both goalies brought their A game to the ice, and the contest almost went the distance. Let’s take a look at our starting goalies for the game:


Jason Aittokallio #31
Aittokallio entered the league with an already large shadow cast on him by his father, but on top of that the pressure of being the 1st overall selection in the S30 draft. So far pretty good for the rookie, who sits amongst the top goalies in the league and helping his team win more than they lose. Safe to say the hype was mostly right, and the pick was a good bet.


Georgette Pel #2
Pel was a late comer to the league this season, signing as a free agent in Halifax. Sporting excellent numbers as a backup to Richard Hocolate, proving herself amongst the best backups in the league. Not to be overlooked though, Pel is hungry, and I wouldn’t be shocked to see her grab that starting job before the playoffs come.

First Period

Kelowna dominated the first period, limiting Halifax to only 3 shots while also firing 9 of their own toward Pel. Aittokallio looked good when tested, and didn’t appear to fall asleep at the wheel. As time wound down in the first Kelowna won a faceoff in their own zone, the wingers took off and Ty Justice threw a laser beam pass to break Wilson and Hohenberg on a 2-on-1



Second Period

Halifax had a little life to start the 2nd and got the best of the chances through the first 5 minutes, but Aittokallio was up to the task. After 7 minutes Niklas Flower wins a draw in the Halifax zone and Kelowna proceeds to fire everything at the net. A shot by Wilson is deflected past the net by Light, Justice scoops up the puck behind the net, feeds out to Wilson who lets another huge shot go. Light takes it on the knee and the puck skips up and over Pel



Kelowna rides the momentum to a strong second half of the period. The shots were close at 7-5 for Kelowna, but the only goal goes to Kelowna who march a 2-0 lead into the dressing room.

Third Period

There was a lot of talk going into the game about how most analysts expected to see a shutout from Aittokallio by this point in the season. Tonight Jason looked great, and Kelowna was dominating Halifax at both ends of the ice. Halifax was determined in the 3rd though and directed 8 shots on Aittokallio, but continued to be outshot by Kelowna who registered 9 in the 3rd. with 38 seconds left Aittokallio made a routine save and opted to freeze the puck despite having no pressure on him and two defenders with him. Reed Laing won the faceoff back to the point where a wide open Blake Battle fired a shot toward the net that hits the crossbar. The puck bounces off the glass and then off the top of the net right to Reed Laing who spoils Aittokallio’s shutout bid with 34 seconds to go in the game



Final Score

Kelowna Knights - 2 @ Halifax Raiders- 1

3 Stars

1 - Ty Justice (KEL)
2 - Trevor Wilson (KEL)
3 - Cara Hohenberg (KEL)