This is the start of a new season of SMJHL hockey and both of these teams are still trying to find their grooves. The Scarecrows are coming into this matchup sitting at 2-2-0 overall and 1-0-0 against Maine. Maine are entering this game at 1-3-0 coming off of 3 straight losses. The previous meeting between these two teams ended in a 3-0 shutout win for St. Louis. Will that shutout loss from just a few days ago serve to motivate the Timber and help them turn this season around, or will the Scarecrows continue to be too much for the Timber to handle?

The opening face-off was won by Maine and they immediately try to go on the attack only be thwarted by the Scarecrow defense. The first major stoppage in play came at 1:56 when Alex Reyer tripped Indigo Trevino in the Scarecrows zone. The Maine power play didn't manage to do anything and it was successfully killed off. This PK gave St. Louis some momentum and they went on the offensive. They peppered the Maine net with shots and trapped them in their own zone. It finally all paid off when at 5:15 Sasha Dangelcheck netted his 4th of the season. The Scarecrows immediately responded by taking a boarding penalty just 30 seconds later. This would let the Maine PP go back to work and this time they would find pay dirt. The Maine captain, Al Kayhall would on a rebound feed for his 2nd of the season. The game turned into a heated back and forth until the 9:19 mark when Partario Scarangella interfered with Kriss Darzins after a draw. The St. Louis PP got their first chance of the game and they made it count when Mega Tron got his first of the season to put St. Louis up 2-1. Very late in the period Trevor Johnson would put home his first of the season as well to make it 3-1 St. Louis going into the intermission. Before the period could end Jack Von Arx got called for a slashing penalty and would start the second in the box.

The Maine PK killed off the early advantage and the game kind of leveled out from there. The whole second period was just a back and forth affair showing why both teams are touted as being built from the blue line. There were 3 penalties taken and 3 unsuccessful power plays in the period, two for St. Louis and 1 for Maine. Going into the 3rd it would still be 3-1 St. Louis, but a different Maine team would be coming out for the 3rd.

With a 3-1 deficit coming into the 3rd and this being the 2nd meeting of these 2 teams in this young season already, Maine came out looking to use their frustration to assert some physical dominance. Just 10 seconds into the period Kyle Sutton took an elbowing penalty that lead to a Kriss Darzins goal on the ensuing power play making it 4-1 in favor of the Scarecrows. Maine would strike back just 2 minutes later when Rapid Eagle scored his first of the season at the 3:28 mark. The uptempo agression from Maine wouldn't stop when they closed the gap to 2, but their chances to come back would be all but ended when they proceeded to take 2 more penalties over the course of the period. The first would be just a minute after scoring the goal when Jack Von Arx cross-checked William Lockwood late behind the net after he passed the puck out. The ensuing PP didn't result anything more than 2 more minutes of potential comeback time knocked off the clock and killing any momentum Maine had after the goal. Later in the period, as frustration continued to mount for Maine, Blake Feaux took a nasty boarding call at 11:42 after a turnover by Maine. Maine would again go on to kill off the PP, but with only 7 minutes left on the clock they fail to complete the comeback and fall 4-2 to the Scarecrows.

1 - Ruslan Zaporozhets (STL - LW) G:0 A:3 P:3

2 - Rapid Eagle (MET - LW) G:1 A:0 P:1

3 - Sasha Danglechek (STL - RW) G:1 A:1 P:2