Montreal Militia @ Halifax Raiders

SMJHL rivals Montreal and Halifax put together a compelling game on day 31 of the regular season. Entering the game as the bottom two teams of the SMJHL’s Eastern Division, but both looking for a spark to ignite their rise in the standings. Montreal has put together a very good record over their last ten games, while Halifax’s young roster is still looking for consistency. Both teams have a strong goalie tandem, sporting a pair of highly motivated young goalies each. Let’s take a look at the starting goalies:


Jeff Kirkstone #39
Kirkstone has struggled over the early parts of his rookie season, but the growth in his game has been tremendous. A lot of that is owed to his calm demeanor, and the rocky start never slowed him down in the gym. He still leads his team in all goalie categories, but like many young players on the Militia roster he has struggled with consistency early on.


Richard Hocolate #35
Hocolate is a third year goalie in the SMJHL, and one of the more seasoned veterans in the league. He brings a strong personality to the locker room, which has made him one of the more loved players in Raiders history. His numbers have been great this year and he is on pace to beat his previous best in the SMJHL. If Halifax can turn their season around it will be with Hocolate between the pipes.

First Period

The first period opened with some early pressure from Halifax, but Kirkstone was up to the task. Not to be out done, Hocolate also stood tall on the shots he faced, and neither gave up any rebounds early on. Montreal dominated in the faceoff circle, and 7 minutes into the game they took a crucial draw in the Halifax end. Jeziak won the draw to Laraque Obama who whipped the puck on net before Hocolate could get set

Halifax had some pressure following the goal, but after Montreal weathered the brief storm they went back to work on the Raiders defense. Another lost faceoff in the defensive end for Halifax ends up with Zyvleski tipping a shot from Nerokov past Hocolate

Late in the period a frustrated Victor Lindstrom began firing the puck toward the net, taking a total of four shots towards Kirkstone. Angello blocked the first, the next two missed the net completely, but finally on the fourth try Lindstrom rips a slapshot past Kirkstone to get the Raiders on the board


Second Period

Halifax had a strong second, outshooting Montreal 11-5, but their lack of faceoff proficiency continued to be a problem. Six minutes in and Nerokov restore Montreal’s two goal lead on a rebound goal

After the goal the puck stayed in Montreal’s end for the majority of the next few minutes, and while Kirkstone looked strong on the majority of quality scoring chances, Toivo Kosonen was left wide open six minutes later to cut into Montreal’s lead

Halifax continued to pepper Kirkstone for the rest of the period but had to settle for a 3-2 scoring going into the third.

Third Period

Halifax carried momentum into the third, but again Kirkstone seemed determined to keep the score at 3-2. Seven minutes into the third and a familiar situation arose, a faceoff in the Halifax end. Alex Reed won the draw, but Zyvleski didn’t give up on the play and laid a hit on Reed to turnover the puck to Nolan Angello who made no mistake burying the 4-2 goal

That was the end of Hocolate’s night, and while he had a strong game it seemed the coach saw nothing in his team’s effort to justify risking his starter’s health. Georgette Pel took over between the pipes and looked pretty good on the shots she faced. Late in the third, on the powerplay, Montreal won another faceoff in the Raiders’ zone and put the game to rest on a shot from Marcos Maciel

Final Score

Montreal Militia - 5 @ Halifax Raiders- 2
3 Stars

1 - Zach Zyvleski (MTL)
Zyvleski had his best game of the season, dominating the faceoff circle, and scoring 1G 1A to lead Montreal to the win.

2 - Viktor Nerokov (MTL)
Zyvleski’s linemate for most of the night proved Montreal made no mistake in acquiring him. The young Russian tallied 1G 1A and had a very strong showing at both ends of the ice.

3 - Marcos Maciel (MTL)
Maciel had the late back breaking goal, but before that he threw 5 hits and wore Halifax down over the course of the night.