<div align="center"> Vancouver Whalers: 1 at Colorado Mammoths: 3

Starting lineups:
Vancouver
Conklin Owen - Jon Ross - Ace Redding
Theodore Graham - Connor MacDonald
Maximilian Wehner

Colorado
Master Maguku - Steven Stamkos Jr. - Frontdoor McGraw
Ben Dover - Maverick O'Dooley
Ekaterina Rudnikova

Game link</div>

The halfway mark of the season is almost upon us as Vancouver and Colorado meet for the fifth time this season. It’s been a pretty unbalanced series - Vancouver currently holds all four games, with Colorado struggling to even coming close to beating their system. Can the Mammoths shake the weight of the Whalers off their back, or will this duel in the West be a possible season sweep? Let’s tune in to find out.

First Period
Colorado got the game started quickly, as Ben Dover went off for roughing in the first ten seconds. Their penalty kill was strong though, with the Whalers only managing to get two shots on goal throughout the man advantage. The kill gave Colorado plenty of momentum, however.

Quote:And Dover’s out of the box now, back on the ice for Colorado. Eichelele dumps the puck into the Vancouver zone, and Wehner skates around to retrieve it, finding Farris up the right side. His pass - goes straight to O’Dooley, who’s got fresh legs in Dover - and he SCORES! Mammoths break the ice first to get on the board fresh after the kill.

O’Dooley intercepts the pass before finding Dover for the goal

The Mammoths wouldn’t hold onto the lead for long, however, with Vancouver finding the back of the net only a minute later.

Quote:MacDonald sends the puck into the Colorado zone before going off for a change. Rudnikova picks it up, sending it around to Leetch, who loses the puck to Kubrak in the neutral zone! Passes to Kaiser, back to Kubrak, back to Kaiser, who finds Llewellyn right on the doorstep and he SCORES! Just like that, the Whalers are right back in the game.

A tic-tac-toe passing sequence leads to a perfect shot for Llewellyn

If anything, however, this seemed to energize the Mammoths even more, as they scored their second goal of the period off the faceoff.

Quote:Stamkos and Bobby line up to take the faceoff, and Stamkos wins it cleanly back to Dover. He moves it back to Dover, who splits the defense and finds his way into the Whalers zone! He sends it back across to Stamkos, who doesn’t have a shot, and he sends it right back, and Dover - SCORES! Second goal of the game for Ben Dover, and the Mammoths are back on top.

The Mammoths take the puck all the way from center ice to the Vancouver zone for a goal.

Penalties continued to plague both sides as the first period continued, with Dover and McGraw going off for the Mammoths, and Graham and Tusk both taking penalties for the Whalers. However, just when it seemed the Whalers were going to make it out of the first period only down by one goal, the Mammoths struck again.

Quote:Renninger dumps the puck into the Whalers zone before leaving the ice for a chance, and Yakikov is fresh off the bench and going hard after the puck. Holiday has it, but Yakikov steals it away easily, spinning out of reach in the neutral zone. Hagan is already past him, up in the Whalers zone, and he SCORES! Colton Hagan’s first SMJHL goal goes sailing over Wehner’s shoulder to give the Mammoths a two goal lead.

Hagan scores his first juniors goal in spectacular fashion

The first period ended with the Mammoths holding onto the lead, but with two periods left to play, it was still anyone’s game.
Shots: 8-11

Second Period
The second period saw the Whalers settle down and really push harder agains tthe Mammoths, and the teams looked incredibly evenly matched throughout the period. The best chance for the Mammoths came almost 8 minutes in, but Wehner stood strong.

Quote:Goddard rips a shot low, and Wehner sends it away with the pad. Renninger is there to pick up the rebound though, and he’s got a wide open net to the left - and he misses the shot! The puck bounces wide and is cleared by the Whalers as they head back up ice.

The Whalers had plenty of chances as well, including this sequence 9 minutes in.

Quote:Graham is looking to shoot, but hits Rudnikova square in the chest. The puck is bouncing around the crease, and Owen gets a stick on it, lifts it high, going for that upper corner, but Rudnikova is there with the glove! The Whalers are still looking for two goals to even the score, and that can’t help but make them even more frustrated.

Both teams would end the period without another goal, as time wound down for the Whalers to make their move.
Shots: 15-18

Third Period
With only 20 minutes left to score two goals, the Whalers needed a boost of energy, and they had a solid chance as Yvel went off for hooking 5 minutes into the third. Yet they failed to register a shot on the power play, and instead the Mammoths had a solid shorthanded attempt.

Quote:Stamkos wins it off the face-off, and Dover is behind him to pick it up. He finds Browski already in the offensive zone, who sends it back to Stamkos. He rips a shot from the blue line, and it looks like Browski tips it - but Wehner is there, folding onto the puck to settle it down. The Mammoths definitely don’t look like they’re the ones man-down right now, that’s for sure.

Despite needing a desperate push, the Whalers only took three shots in the third period. Wehner stood tall against all 12 from the Mammoths, but his spectacular play wasn’t enough, and the Whalers lost their first game against the Mammoths.
Shots: 18-30

<div align="center">Stats Faceoff:


9-4-1 || 6-8-0</div>