Tonight, we saw a match-up featuring two teams still trying to find their footing in the standings. The Scarecrows came in with a record of 6-5-0 in 5th place, while the Raptors found themselves down in 8th with a record of 4-5-2. They had yet to play each other this year, but had split the season series last year with 3 wins each. With that being said, let's jump into the action to see who came out on top.

1st Period
This game got off to a quick start as the Scarecrows were able to silence the home crowd just 18 seconds into the game. With both top units out on the ice to begin the game, the Crows Lyle Odelein III corralled a puck behind the Raptor net after a missed shot by center Mika Kandinsky, and wasted no time in burying the biscuit in the back of the net for his team-leading fifth goal of the season. It didn't take long before the Raptors erased the deficit. Just two and half minutes into the game, Crow's defender Mattie Brunton was sent to the box for interference. Ja'Aj Coutis-Wagg would go on to win the ensuing face-off in the Scarecrow zone and feed the puck cleanly to Eric Vanderberg at the point, who rifled one top shelf for his second goal on the campaign. The Raptors would not be satisfied with only one goal in the period, and found themselves taking the lead with only three minutes remaining before the first intermission. Following a neutral zone turnover by the Scarecrows, the Raptors proceeded to advance up the ice with a beautiful display of tic-tac-toe passing before Coutis-Wagg netted his third of the year to go with his helper from earlier in the period.

2nd Period
The second period got off to a slow start, but the play was controlled primarily by St. Louis as they rattled off 7 shots to begin the period in comparison to a single shot by Colorado. This attack paid off for the Scarecrows as they drew even at 2-2 halfway through the second frame with another blast from a blueliner, this time by veteran Basil Magnicotta, with his fifth tally of the season. The Scarecrows controlled the play until the last few minutes of the period when Colorado flipped a switch and began to pour it on. A flurry of shot attempts by the Raptors resulted in a face-off in the offensive zone with three and a half left in the period. The draw was won yet again by Ja'Aj Coitus-Wagg to teammate Mikelis Ozolins, and he immediately fed the puck back across the ice to who? You guessed it. Coutis-Wagg. Coutis-Wagg gave the Raptors the lead back with his second goal of the game but that wasn't enough for the hungry Raptors. They captured possession once again in the neutral zone and a series of back and forth passes between Tokolosh and Knurtsson led to another goal for the Raptors, as Tokolosh scored his fifth of the season. Tokolosh would later commit a hooking penalty with a minute left in the period, but the Raptors were able to hold the Crows off and took their 4-2 lead into the second intermission.

3rd period
With the Scarecrows down by two to begin the final period, they knew they had to get things going quickly with the little time that was remaining on the power play that carried over from the previous period. And get things going quickly they did. Leave it to the captain himself, Nicolaj Muller, to pull his team back to within one as he blistered a one timer off the stick of line-mate Mika Kandinsky for his fifth of the season as well. The Scarecrows would go on to out-shoot the Raptors 14-3 in the period and have 3 more opportunities on the power play, but failed to capitalize on their chances in the end. The Raptors held on for the 4-3 win despite being out-shot 38-23, backed by a strong performance by Ja'Aj Coitus-Wagg who racked up 2 goals and an assist in the victory.

Final Score
Scarecrows 3 - 4 Raptors 


Tonight's 3 Stars
1. Ja'Aj Coitus-Wagg (2G, 1A) 
2. Basil Magnicotta (1G, 1A) 
3. Lyle Odelein III (1G) 


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