Tonight’s game features the visiting Colorado Raptors (10-8-4) against the hometown Halifax Raiders (10-7-4). The Raptors come into this game on a 3 game losing streak, while the Raiders have won 2 in a row. Squaring off in net, we have Knox Booth (8-7-3) for the Raptors and Biz Nasty (11-6-3) for the Raiders.

1st Period
We pick up mid-way through the first period where the Raiders displayed their forechecking prowess off a dump in by Conor Tanner. First-Name Last-Name retrieves the puck for the Raptors but is run over by Tanner who had followed his dump. Jaakko Jarvinen retrieves the loose puck for the Raiders and passes it to Atlas Rush in the slot for the one-timer that whizzes by Knox Booth to open the scoring, 1-0 Raiders. 2 minutes later, Stacy Jefferson Jr.’s pass at center ice is intercepted by Emeka Valentine-Okoli who gives it to Calogero Crudelli to gain the Raiders’ zone. Crudelli passes the puck to Ja’Aj Coitus-Wagg who misses the net on his shot, but Valentine-Okoli retrieves it twice and misses the net both times. Thankfully, Crudelli was there to grab the loose puck and put it home behind Biz Nasty to tie the game at 1-1. Later in the first, Lee Samson coughs up the puck in the neutral zone to Oliver Klozoff to spring an odd-man attack for the Raiders. Klozoff gives it to FR Finn-Rhys who then passes to Timmo Kyllonen where he gives a cheeky redirect to Ricky Spanish who slots it by Knox Booth who had no chance on that rush, 2-1 Raiders.

2nd Period
Near the end of the second period, Hariken Urawa dumps the puck into the Raiders zone where Jaakko Jarvinen picks it up. Unfortunately, Jarvinen misplays the puck and his outlet pass is intercepted by Patrick Miller who sauces it to Daniel Kuster who flips it to Jake Peralta who slams it into the Raider’s net to even the score at 2-2. Later in the frame though, Bo Kane loses the puck in the neutral zone to Jarvinen who has been very active on the puck tonight. He sends it to Josef Kubinec to gain the Raptors’ zone. Kubinec almost gives it away to Vorian Atreides but manages to get it back in time to hold the zone. This proves to be an important play as the Raiders are able to cycle the puck and apply pressure. They miss the net a couple of times but Jarvinen picks up the loose puck and shoots it off of Booth’s left pad which produces a juicy rebound for Esa Parmborg who makes no mistake by snapping the rebound back into the Raptor’s net, 3-2 Raiders.

3rd Period
In the third period, the Raiders carried the momentum from their lead to hold and secure the win against the Raptors. The Raptors put up a good fight by keeping the pressure in the Raiders’ zone, but Biz Nasty was able to hold the fort by stopping all 7 shots that he faced in the third. The Raiders all seemed to be on the same page tonight and it showed on both ends of the ice. You can tell by all of the passing leading up to their goals and the teamwork they have along the boards to win the puck battles in the dirty areas.