Game 169

Montreal Militia @ Prince George Firebirds

Game 169 brought the late season surge of the Montreal Militia to Prince George for a battle against the Firebirds. The game began even but as time passed one team took full control of the game. It wasn’t exactly a goalie duel, but there were plenty of entertaining highlights. First let’s look at the starting goalies:


Ben Waters #31
Waters comes into the game working on Goalie of the Year honours but having a hard time staying atop the statistical categories. Personal awards aside, Waters has helped PGF to a good season and expectations for the playoffs are high for this young lad.


Stephen Harris #45
Harris makes up one half of the Militia goalie tandem that has at times looked like potentially the best, and at other times have had to bail each other out. For his part, Harris has earned a few extra starts down the stretch as the Militia try to prepare a decision on who to start in the post season. Not stellar numbers here but a lot of determination.

First Period

Early on in the game the play went from end to end with quite a few good chances for either side. Half way through the period the newest Militia member Matthew Shea drops the gloves with Hylytyr NoRetornable. The fight goes the distance as neither one can get the upper hand, so they both take a seat in the penalty box.

After serving his penalty Matthew Shea opens the scoring with a bomb from the blueline that blows past Waters.

But PGF comes right back with pressure in the Montreal zone, getting a lot of pucks toward Harris. Finally, Karl Hertzberg is rewarded with a goal on a nice move around the defender


Second Period

A lot of back and forth in the second period, early on it seemed like either team could take control of the game. Things started getting a little rough through the middle portion of the period, and after a bit of pressure from the Militia Johnny Watson took a pass from Shea and made no mistake, giving Shea the Gordie-Howe Hat-trick. Montreal followed up with another goal from Obama to take a 2 goal lead into the dressing room


Third Period

Waters looked rattled to start the third period, and less than two minutes in Johnny Watson grabs a puck behind the net and pots his second of the night

That was it for Waters who takes his frustration out on the bench door as he heads for the locker room to cool down. Dafoe steps in but a minute later Watson completes the hat-trick with a beautiful shot off the faceoff

That was the end for PGF as they barely managed any consistent pressure for the rest of the game. Montreal added another goal before Karl Hertzberg picked up his second for Prince George. Harris looked up to the task most of the night and the Militia gave him plenty of goal support to coast to victory.

Final Score

Montreal Militia - 6 @ Prince George Firebirds - 2

3 Stars

1 - Johnny Watson (MTL)
A hat-trick is usually enough to garner first star but Watson also added 2 assists to make it a 5 point game.
2 - Nathan Russett (MTL)
Russett had a very strong game and easily could have been the best player for Montreal if not for an even better night from Watson
3 - Karl Hertzberg (PGF)
This spot would probably go to Shea if the game were in Montreal, but Hertzberg had a great night of his own, potting two goals. Probably the only PGF player worth mentioning in this game.