Hello and welcome to Season 52 of the SMJHL! We're just passing the half-way point of the year, and boy do we have a humdinger for you tonight! Two league-topping behemoths will go at it as we bring you the Carolina Kraken, and the Detroit Falcons. The Kraken have largely been leading the league all year with a veteran squad sporting solid goal differentials and all around excellent play. The young Falcons are definitely a surprise to be battling it out for the top spot, with a rookie-heavy squad and a high event style that lends itself to huge swings in games. So far the bounces have gone their way, but can it continue tonight against the stifling Kraken? 

1ST PERIOD

As advertised for a top team in the league, the Kraken came out like they were fired from a cannon. They immediately looked dangerous and would not let up. Detroit starter Jobin kept the net clear until the eleven minute mark when a scramble sequence had the Falcon's reeling. An Alexei Rykov shot blocked by Guy O'Shea bounced to a wide open Zbigniew Pokrywka who slammed it into the open cage, putting the Kraken up 1-0. From there until the intermission Detroit weathered the storm. Despite a late period power-play The Falcon's couldn't swing the momentum, and we go to the break with Carolina up by 1.

2ND PERIOD

You have to give credit to the Falcon's coach, because something had clearly changed when they came out of the locker room. Within minutes the Falcons had excellent pressure in the offensive zone. Nurmagomedov earned a turnover with solid physical play before feeding Sutherland who just missed the net. Topalo quickly picked it up off the boards, fired it on, and Sulfurgold tipped the deflection past the goalie. If you're looking for a turning point, I'd say that this is the moment the game really kicked off. Just 20 seconds later the Falcons find themselves in scoring position yet again. In a moment of dramatic irony, a Guy O'Shea shot is blocked, but a lucky bounce gave him a clean look on a second chance. 2-1 Detroit. But the barrage of offence was not over yet! Less than a minute later, the Kraken's right-wing Velveteen Dream caught a nice pass from MacTavish allowing him to split the Detroit defence, take a shot, corral his own rebound, and knock home the next attempt. With three goals in just over a minute, we're tied at 2. Things would cool down for a few minutes with solid defence and timely shot blocks, but the second period had more to give. With just under nine minutes to go Detroit's first line has the Kraken hemmed in. A strong shot from Detroit's point leader Kaarlo Kekkonen missed the net but created room for Jack Kanoff to come streaking in from the point. He picked up the bounce and started digging in front the net! He managed to push it just over the line, and the 3-2 Detroit lead would stand for the rest of the period. 

3RD PERIOD

Both teams wanted it bad as the third began, but unfortunately for Detroit, Carolina can't stand losing. Just over a minute in, Detroit right wing Cassidy Lhotsky gets called for interference on a late hit to MacTavish and the Kraken are quick to capitalize. Just ten seconds into the power-play, Fitted grabs a big rebound off the blocker of Jobin, and slides it home on the backhand to tie the game up at 3. Just over 30 seconds later things would turn bad for Carolina in their defensive zone, as Kekkonen would separate their defence from the puck and refuse to get it back. The Falcons would maintain over a minute of offensive zone pressure culminating in a top corner wrist shot from Cal Labovitch. 4-3 Detroit. With this goal, for the second time tonight, we'd be treated to a sequence of three goals in under two minutes. Just over a minute later Tom Fiddler would tie the game at 4's when a rebound found him wide open at an awkward angle on the goal line. But Detroit would respond again within 30 seconds as Kaarlo Kekkonen would come streaking in off the rush and go bar-down to restore the Falcon's lead. After that huge flurry of goals, we're back where we started with Detroit leading by one: 5-4. Realizing the importance of the next goal, each team tried to lock down their defence and wait for the perfect opportunity to strike. Sadly for the Kraken, Kekkonen would not be denied tonight. As if they were acting out a coach's O-Zone dreams: a perfect face-off win by McMaster went to O'Shea at the point, who quickly found Kekkonen backing into the slot. Hroch made a valiant effort on the initial shot, but Kekkonen's own rebound was there for the taking. 6-4 Detroit, and that would be the nail in the coffin. 

Final Score:

 6 - 4   

Three Stars:

 - DET - Kaarlo Kekkonen (2G, 3A)
  - DET - Luke McMaster (2A, 3H)
   - DET - Cal Labovitch (1G, 1A)