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3 VS 4
SO -- FINAL






Two of the hot up-and-coming stars of their respective teams are in the profile spotlight tonight after stellar in-game performances and a good showing for their teams during tonight's decisive shoot-out -- for the Halifax Raiders, 2nd Line Right Winger Reed Laing, and for the Colorado Mammoths, Offensive Defenseman and 1st Line D-Man Matthew Leech!

PLAYER PROFILES</div>

REED LAING is a dynamic two-way forward hailing from London, ON -- right in the heart of Hockey Nation: Canada! Don’t let this 22-year-old lady’s good looks fool you, there’s nothing soft or dainty about her. Found calling her entire locker room “a bunch of losers” on the most recent league-wide player profiling effort -- the same one wherein she self-identified herself as most akin to a hyena -- this hard-partying rabblerouser was picked-up by the Texas Renegades in the season 31 entry draft before being sent back down to Halifax for both their preseason and regular seasons. For all her apparent disdain, her teammates have sourced her as one of the biggest bench presences during games, and she takes that same aggressive energy with her out onto the ice. She’s definitely a Major Junior to keep an eye on!

MATTHEW LEECH is 19-year-old offensive defenseman from New York, NY, and as such, is no stranger to bright lights and mounting pressure to perform -- both of which the young defenseman has received in spades in his second season with the Colorado Mammoths after being picked up in the last SHL entry draft by the Los Angeles Panthers. His surplus of hockey IQ and propensity to clap home bombs from the point during offensive pushes has drawn a lot of positive attention to his style of play. Newly anointed captain of the Mammoths, his self-sacrificing dedication and down-home hard-working attitudes have made him respeceted in his locker room -- he’s a lot more quiet than most with his kind of accolades, and nothing but humble when asked about his recent successes, such as the one with Finnland on the IIHF stage. He’s definitely a Major Junior to keep an eye on!


<div align="center">GAME RECAP</div>

What should’ve been a sweeping success by Halifax was stopped at the back door by Colorado, as what began as an aggressive start and a 2-0 lead for the Raiders was obliterated by a scrappy second-period comeback for the Mammoths. The third period was scrummed out scoreless -- a big period for neutral ice contest and a huge showing from both teams’ exhausted defensive lines -- and then after a brief stint in overtime, the game was pushed to shoot-out; the Raiders’ Laing came-up with the ice-breaker, but Mammoths’ Serj Kovalchuk had an immediate response he snuck past up high on Hocolate’s blocker side -- two more rounds before a dazzling spin-o-rama from the Mammoths’ captain Matthew Leech beat Hocolate again for the win.

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You might be asking yourself, well -- if the Raiders did really start out so strong, what happened? Let’s take a look at our SMJHL Second Chance Turning Point of the game.

Halifax took advantage of McGraw’s hot temper and put away their first goal on a powerplay the roughing penalty levied at him afforded. Their follow-up came less than a full minute later, as veteran Reflieux scooped his first goal and second point of the night off an assist from current captain Pietra Volkova and former captain Colin Banning. The Halifax defense was laying down big, clean hits and frustrating Colorado into one more minor during the first that the Raiders couldn’t produce on. Big smiles all around and a jovial attitude followed the Raiders into the away locker room at first intermission despite recent negative media attentions over FO conflicts with some of the players’ lifestyle choices.

Coming back out onto the ice, first line center Alex Reed of the Halifax Raiders -- and one of the centerpieces of the aforementioned controversy -- looked incredibly shaky in his first first few seconds on the ice; enough so that he was pulled in favor of 2nd liner Joey Ryan for a brief reprieve after a sloppy hit against O’Dooley was followed-up by a fumble of the puck resulting in a brief but decent scoring chance for the Mammoths. Reed put back in almost immediately as Ryan makes a similar mistake himself, and we’ll go to the tapes for the rest of this tale:

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Quote:”Well there’s very obviously some shoving back and forth on the slot-side of dot between McGraw and Volkova, who seem to be in a heated discussion that Reed’s now broken off from the face-off to engage in! Oh -- refs now, intervening, no calls, but Reed’s clearly getting a stern talking to and McGraw, chuckling as he switches places with Eichelele on the far side now -- Reed and Svensson returning to the mark to battle for the puck. And -- puck is Halifax’s, as Reed wins on the draw, snaps it up the ice to Volkova with a saucer over Eichelele’s stick and gets railroaded by McGraw for his troubles! Reed is on the ice, no whistle! Questionable use of elbow against the side of Reed’s helmet if I do say so myself, but play continues on -- cross-ice pass by Volkova cut in half by Svensson… possession reclaimed by Komarov for Halifax who tries to clear it but is stopped in his tracks by O’Dooley who snaps it right back to wide-open Svensson who shoots right of the pass and -- [b]HE SCORES! MAMMOTHS SCORE AT JUST 41 SECONDS INTO THE SECOND PERIOD![/b]

GENERATIONAL SCRUB AWARD</div>

Tonight’s Generational Scrub Award -- given to the biggest contributing factor in the losing team’s lack of success -- goes to Halifax’s first line PK team (special guest Alex Reed, since their penalty kill’s second forward Azarov is the one who took the penalty for roughing in the first place!; failing on a residual roll of bad energy started-off by the Mammoth’s early period goal, these guys just couldn’t keep their shit together. The Halifax PK was at an abysmal 66% tonight, despite only needing to show up 3 times total, and these knuckle-heads did the Mammoths the favor of allowing the game-tying goal past their sticks. Individually, none of them had spectacular games (save Banning, but even the team-anointed Captain Dad can’t carry an entire penalty kill on his shoulders, and perhaps Reed -- who’s rage after the start of the second period only intensified him into a hitting machine, thankfully not costing the Raiders’ any PIMs in the process), but the minute the Raiders needed them to come in clutch to roll back the tide of the game in their favor, they just weren’t able to cut the mustard.

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LINK TO GAME