<center>Game 59
Montreal Militia (2) vs (3) Prince George Firebirds
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After a surprising lead after the first period, the Prince George Firebirds managed to take a 2-0 lead early in the second period. From then on out, Montreal dominated the game and managed to tie the game while still in the 2nd period. A scoreless, but hard-fought third period lead to overtime and neither team was able to score. A long shoot-out ended with the Firebirds winning the game.</center>

Three Stars

⋆⋆⋆ Ernesto Castro (PGF)
The defense-man for the Firebirds had an important assist for the first goal that gave Prince George the lead. He was also vital on the defense end, responsible for two hits and a crucial blocked shot.

⋆⋆ Brennan Kennedy (MTL)
Kennedy played on the left wing, both on the 2nd and the 4th line in this game. He played the most minutes of his entire team. Additionally he scored the tying goal for Montreal, his 7th of the season. He was all over the ice, adding 3 shots, 2 hits and a blocked shot as well.

⋆ Teodors Cukurs (PGF)
Teodors Cukurs opened the scoring in this game in the first period. Only his second goal of the season, the center on the second line for the Firebirds was fantastic today and added 3 shots and a hit to his successful game. The only critique on him would be his less than optimal face-off percentage, winning only 13 of 32 face-offs.

Post-Game Interview with Eduard Selich

While not among the three stars, Eduard Selich was an important man in this game. Scoring one goal during the game and adding a shootout goal as well, he was an important part of the Firebirds win, but he also had a costly penalty that lead to a Militia goal. We caught up with Eduard after the game and asked him a few questions.

How did it feel to win this game, especially thanks to your goal and your shoot-out goal which helped keep the game going and then to win it after?

It always is a great feeling to win a game but when you made major contributions yourself that win becomes even more gratifying. I mean thanks to my goal, which was only possible because Kristy and Tapper fed me passes, the score was at 2 to 0 for us but later in the 2nd period we took some dumb penalties which resulted in Montreal tying the game (I had one of these. Shame on me). Scoring the shoot-out goal to keep us in there is also a great experience. I struggled a bit in the shoot-outs earlier this season the bury the puck in the net so I am very happy that I was able to step up when needed.

I know you were getting frustrated with your goal percentage this season, how good did this goal feel for you personally?

To be honest this season so far is shaping up to be better than my Rookie season in which I had 15 goals and 12 assists. So I shouldn't be that frustrated but then again I was above a point-per-game player in the playoffs with 21 points in 17 games and led the league in playoff scoring therefore carrying PGF offensively in the finals. I thought I would be able to do this in this regular season too but yeah apparently things are shaping up differently. It felt good to score my 4th goal of the season but I am still hungry for more. I would love to have 50 points this season because I consider myself as one of the best forwards in the SMJHL right now.

How do you see this teams chances going forward?

think we can achieve the same thing that we achieved last year but this time please with one more postseason win! The playoffs are always a tricky thing and there is still a lot of time until they start but realistically anything can happen. A first round exit or us winning the Cup are both very possible but I would prefer the latter.

Thank you very much Eduard Selich!


Game Summary

The first period saw Montreal dominating from the start. While there was a bit of nervousness early on, both teams seemed to get comfortable soon and first shots on the goal were saved by both goalies. Against the initial dominance of Montreal, the Firebirds landed a counter attack, lead by Ernesto Castro, over to Trick Edwards, who found Teodors Cukurs open in front of the net and he scored!!!!. An unexpected early lead for the Firebirds, through the counter-attack even though they played at home.

The rest of the first period saw neither team score, though both teams had a good number of chances, especially coming on powerplay, twice for the Firebirds and once for the Militia thanks to penalties to Jeziak, Boone and Maatta. The lone goal of the period also happened during a 4vs4 situation after both Shnekinsen and Forbrook were called for hooking.

The second period was the most crucial one of the game. After only a minute, the Firebirds had their first attack of the period. An offensive masterpiece saw passes from Kottbulle to O'Sullivan, who finally put Eduard Selich in position to score and he did!!! 2-0 Firebirds that quickly after the start of the period. It was only the 2nd goal of the season for Selich who had been struggling a little and it was also the first assist of the season for O'Sullivan, the new addition of the Firebirds, who is already playing on the first line.

After that, Montreal started dominating even more, as the Firebird rested a bit after their surprising success. A penalty to NoRetornable only resulted in a few chances for the Militia, but a few minutes later the next powerplay could not be defended anymore. After a penalty to the aforementioned Selich, Montreal used the power-play to score their first goal of the night. Marcos Maciel with a pass to Nathan Russett and he finds Travis Jeziak who scored his 2nd goal of the season!!!

This was not the last power-play of the period though. After the Firebirds had a power-play (penalty to Hallfredsson) that they could not use, Montreal was back on the power-play after Obrana was called for Roughing. Filip Granlund played a smart pass to Wesley Wells, who in turn got the puck to Brennan Kennedy and he will not say no to that and scored his 7th goal of the season already!!!. The game was now all tied up!

Going into the third period, neither team seemed to have the advantage anymore. Montreal might have still had the better chances, but nothing came to fruition. Two more power-plays were not used for them and the Firebirds also did not use theirs. A tied game at the end of three periods meant we go to overtime!

Overtime was careful on both ends, nobody wanted to lose now. Only a very limited number of shots, none really dangerous. We all know what that means, we go to a shootout!

Marcos Maciel was the first to score in the shootout and while it looked like that could be the win for Montreal, Prince George had one last chance with Eduard Selich. While Selich struggled in the shootout so far this year, he was perfect here and kept the game going for the Firebirds. Eventually it was NoRetornable who scored for the Prince George Firebirds and gave them the win!!!

Both goalies were very good today, both saving 25 of 27 shots. Ben Waters gets the win and is now a fantastic 9-4-1 on the season.