Wahlgren Continues Mastery Between Posts

<div align="center">St. Louis Scarecrows vs. <span style='color:green'>Vancouver Whalers
2-0</span></div>
Game 59

SYNOPSIS
Let's recap the past, the present, and the future

ST. LOUIS -
We're going to be taking a look at another meet up of these West and East conference rivals the St. Louis Scarecrows against the Vancouver Whalers.

Off the bat, things have changed since these teams had met up in the Four Star Cup Finals. Players have been called up from each team, rookies have been drafted, and people have aged (time passing tends to do that to people). This game is important for the Scarecrows as they've gone 0-3-0 in their last three games and it's their last road game before a two-game homestand. Vancouver, on the other hand, are coming off of a loss to Colorado after 4 straight wins.

Tonight was a hard-fought battle between the two goalies - the 'Crow, Wahlgren, against fellow rookie goalie Max Wehner. The two goalies were perfect until pussy-slayer, Darryl Landry, slapped one in from the blue line midway (exactly midway) through the second period. Kelly Rivet chipped in an empty net goal with seconds to spare when Vancouver pulled Wehner to try the man-advantage.

After tonight's contest, St. Louis moves to 8-4-3 and Vancouver moves to 9-5-1.

HIGHLIGHTS
A look at some of the finer moments from tonight's game


Wahlgren flashes his hot glove to deny Theodore Graham's shot

Vancouver seemed to have St. Louis running through a loop. The St. Louis defense was a mess and Vancouver looked to capitalize. After 3+ minutes in the Scarecrow zone (from a Bill Cirocco penalty), Wahlgren puts a definitive end to the shenanigans with an insane glove save.


Llewellyn and Visser settle a gentlemenly disput

It seemed to be a battle of the double-letters. Ieuan Llewellyn and Jason Visser dropped mits a minute-and-a-half into the third period. I guess the Vancouver goal-drought frustration was getting to Llewellyn and he decided to spark something by fighting Jason Visser. Unfortunately, it didn't decide much as the men fought to a draw, but you've gotta give points for trying!


Theodore Graham lays a questionable hit on Scott Escobar

It was a theme of the night for Teddy "Bear" Graham. He laid the smackdown on 6 separate Scarecrow players (he spread the love, so to speak). He may have put the fear in the Scarecrow players, but, unfortunately, it was not enough for a win.

STAT COMPARISON
A look at some of the numbers in tonight's match up

26-for-26: The number of saves goalie Kyle Wahlgren snatched up. He only let 6 of those 26 shots bounce out of his grasp. The fact that Wahlgren didn't allow rebounds for 20 of his 26 shots means that Vancouver didn't have a chance to power in any of those loose pucks.

43-of-74 or 58%: That's the number/percentage of the Whalers' faceoff wins. Turns out that possession isn't 9/10ths of the game (for this one at least). Vancouver may have dominated the circles but it wasn't enough for the win. Jon Ross won 64% of his draws, along with OG Bobby winning 67% of his.

4x20 vs. 2x20: Vancouver spread their minutes-played among their players well, with four separate players playing 20+ minutes. St. Louis on the other hand only played two players for over 20 minutes. This has been a problem for St. Louis all season. Theodore Graham logged a team-high 23:29 for this team while Kelly Rivet logged 24:09 for his.

Three Stars
A look at the three most impactful players of the night

- Theodore Graham. Graham was a defenseman possessed - 3 shots, 6 hits, 1 shot blocked, 23+ minutes played, and a -1 rating. A force to be reckoned with, Graham was the reason why the score wasn't higher than 2-0 and one of the biggest positives offensively

- Kelly Rivet. Another defenseman, but an important cog in tonight's match. He had a goal, an assist, 3 shots, and 2 shots blocked. He also played a team-high 24+ minutes. Rivet gave a secondary assist on the first goal -- the game winner. He also put the dagger in the heart of Vancouver by putting in the empty-net goal.

- The first star has to be Kyle Wahlgren. Tonight was his third shut out of the season - a nigh unheard of accomplishment for a rookie goalie. As stated before, Wahlgren was 26-for-26 over 60 minutes played. He increased his record to 8-4-3 and continues to be a source of inspiration for his teammates. Look out for this goalie, I'm tellin' you.