awesome write up btw @Renomitsu !

1) The most surprising stat of the game to me was how many freakin penalties there were this game.  Man, the refs were not letting anything go out there that night.  A whopping total of FIFTEEN powerplay opportunities given out (9 for Newfoundland and 6 for St. Louis).  Unfortunately I cant go back and see if that is a season record for a game but I'm sure this game had to have broken the record.  Surprisingly enough there was not one fight out of these penalties, so it wasn't a very chippy game, just an undisciplined one.  Another additional surprise is that the shot count was actually even at the end of the game even though Newfoundland has more power plays.

2) The unsung hero this game to me was Ryuuji Minamino.  The Berserkers rely on Ryuuji in many roles on this squad as he is on the 2nd line on even strength, top power play line, and a depth role on the penalty kill.  For only his 2nd year in the juniors these are big shoes to fill for the speedy forward.  He performed perfectly this game in defense and on top of that added 2 blocked shots and 3 big hits that definitely kept the Berserkers penalty kill active and effective.  This was a great showing on what’s to come for Ryuuji in the future.

3) The turning point of the game was definitely Berserkers’ Forward Niccolo Livius’s powerplay goal with one minute left in the 2nd period.  As everyone knows power play goals are definitely costly and momentum changers.  But power play goals with less than a minute left in periods are demoralizing.  Niccolo’s goal definitely came at a perfect time to carry the team hype into the locker room and come out energized for the 3rd period, which is definitely what happened.  Frustration kicked in for St. Louis in the 3rd period because they took 4 more penalties that period which definitely slowed down any potential comeback for the Scarecrows.