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soulja · 10-28-2019, 10:39 AM

vs.

4-1

Game 120 marks the rematch between Anchorage Armada and Kelowna Knights. It was a bitter start for Anchorage as their first game against the knights resulted in a shootout loss. Everyone knows how disappointing it is to loose in shootout. Thus, the Anchorage are looking to turn things this time around and become victorious. Anchorage are one of the top tier teams in the league right now whereas Kelowna is near the bottom. This is going to be an interesting game.

Game Recap

Period 1

The game begins and only two minutes in, Ebeneezer Virtanen of the Knights gets called for hooking. This lands Anchorage Armada a powerplay opportunity. Mitchell van der Heijden, another high profile rookie of the S51 SMJHL draft, is able to capitalize on the rebounds left by his teammate, Lando Norris, and is able to give Armada a one goal lead. I don't know what's wrong with Kelowna, but they seem to have a problem with hooking. It could be they are so used to fishing that they are hooking everything they see. Prince Devitt also gets called for hooking and Anchorage go on their second powerplay. Stavros Halkias wins the face-off in the Kelowna zone and is able to dish a quick pass to Augustus Wang who is able to give Anchorage a two goal lead. The Armada are 2 for 2 in powerplays and their game looks strong. Shortly after, the man with the longest name in the league, Kalevolaripaavo Kaspertommevisnapuu, is able to make it a 1 goal deficit for the Knights. However, this was very short lives as only 20 seconds later, Jay Reeves, who was going through a Tantrum, rushes the puck and scores one to give Armada, the two goal lead once again. The period ends with nothing much happening afterwards. Armada have completely dominated the period by outshooting the Knights 12-5. They are also winning 3-1.

Period 2

Almost 9 minutes in the second period, Joe Kerr receives a nice pass from the rookie defenseman, Berry Blue. Kerr blasts one at the opposition but he misses the wide open net. My grandma can shoot better than that, but the Kelowna knights defense is so bad that Kerr is able to to recover the loose puck and lay another one at the opposition. This time however, it rifles it in between the five hole and boom, it goes in. The Anchorage are leading 4-1 and the game is a sad sad one for the Knights. And just like that the only other thing that happens in this period is more penalty by the Knights. More hooking penalty at that. Seems like they are hungry or something because that is all they are good for. I think after this game, the team as a whole might need to go fishing to relax themselves. The period ends with Anchorage Armada once again outshooting their opposition.

Period 3

Not much action happened in this period besides Kelowna getting called for their infamous penalty, hooking. Other than that it was simply, Anchorage Armada completely dominating the game. Anchorage win very easily in their rematch against the Knights and are able to laugh this one off. They show the Knights why they deserve to be at the top.

Key Factor

The main reason why the Anchorage won was their discipline. They went into the game with a cool head and focused on what needed to be done, which is to out play their opponents and win the game. They had 0 penalty minutes whereas the Knights have racked up 14 penalty minutes and let in 2 powerplay goals at that.

3 stars

3 Stars
1 - Stavros Halkias (ANC)-2 pts, points leader in the team
2 - Augustus Wang (ANC)-1 pt and most shots in the team
3 - Mitchell van der Heijden (ANC)-scored the first goal to give team momentum

*Zoone16* · 10-28-2019, 06:42 PM

Comment 1
Solid Defense, Clean Play
The Anchorage Armada defense is the talk of the season. Not only do they deliver hard hits, but they are by far and wide the best team at suppressing shots. Tonight, they kept the Kelowna Knights, a team with prolific scorers to a mere 18 shots. It is nights like these that make Ian Venables’ job very easy. The fact that no one on the Armada went to the penalty box also helped them dictate the pace of the game, having much fresher legs throughout the game. With such a solid wall in front of a solid goaltender, it is no surprise that Anchorage is among the favourites for the Four-Star Cup this season.
(114 words)

Comment 2
Three Stars of the Game
1st Star – Stavros Halkias - Armada

- Halkias led his team with 2 assists tonight but more so, won 15 of 27 faceoffs. He also played a massive 26 minutes tonight, including almost 6 minutes on the powerplay. He cut passes and stopped plays from developing for the Knights, effectively shutting the game down from the onset.
2nd Star – Augustus Wang - Armada

- Wang had 1 goal on the powerplay which would prove to be the game winning goal. Playing from the blueline on the top pairing, Wang had 4 shots, all on the powerplay, and a blocked shot. His physicality tonight was of SHL caliber and should be commended for his leadership on the ice.
3rd Star – Mitchell van der Heijden - Armada

- Van der Heijden had a goal and was +1 for the night. The Dutch rookie center would also go 50% on the faceoff circle in a prolific night for the Armada.
(150 words)

Comment 3
Penalties Kill
The Kelowna Knights had a terrible day in the office tonight, losing 4-1 to the Armada. However, the primary cause of their defeat was none other than themselves. Taking a massive 7 penalties to none for the Armada, tired the Knights out early and unable to get back into it. One would think that after being down 2-0 to two power play goals would calm things down. The main culprits were Andrey Barbashev II and Simon LeBlanc, the two combining for 5 of the 7 minor penalties handed to the Knights tonight. The coaches will have much to say about the team’s overall performance on ice, but hooking, tripping, holding have no place in the game. The two young prospects will have their work cut out to fix their bad tendencies.
(131 words)

FreakinAnime · 10-29-2019, 01:05 PM

All the Stars

Anchorage got all three of the game's three stars and that was reflective of the one-sided game we had. They didn't exactly had a blow out but were clearly the better team. With a sizeable margin of victory, they deserve the credit for their players who played so well. They had the advantage in shots and that was because their players were driving the play and hounding Kelowna when they had the puck. Stavros Halkias got first star thanks to his multi point performance; he really was brilliant and created a ton of chances for his team. The other two deserved their nominations as well, as their timing was perfect to get some points on the board.

Mook · 11-01-2019, 02:48 PM

Defensive 3 Stars
1- Jack Bauer: +1, 5 hits, 1 block and 16 minutes of ice time wasn't enough to secure the win for Kelowna, but Bauer definitely did his part in the battle
2- Darnell Johnson: Darnell Johnson wasn't as much as a force as Bauer tonight, but still showing a +1 with an assist along with 2 blocks and a hit earned him the second defensive star
3- Alex Ranch: The 3rd star was a tougher choice in this contest with many players putting up good defensive numbers, but Ranch secured this spot with an assist and a +1 with 2 blocks

dankoa · 11-04-2019, 06:54 PM

Goalie Comparison

There was definitely a big contrast between the two goaltenders involved in this match; one had a damn good night while the other suffered something of an evening to forget.

Ian Venables was in net for the Armada and all things considered, had a good time of it, saving 17 of the 18 shots he faced and allowing only one goal meant that his team were in a secure position, and able to place more importance on going forward, putting trust in him to do his thing and help them win.

Things didn’t go as smoothly for Alexander Thorstrom at the other end. The Knights’ goalie allowed 4 goals on the 29 shots he faced, and although he faced significantly more pressure in terms of shot volumes, he didn’t do enough to help his team out when needed. They ended up in a bad position, and it was only really going to end one way when those kind of numbers were put up in net.

It goes without saying, Venables came away here looking the smarter one, and will be looking forward to getting on the ice again to build on this performance.

TSN Turning Point

In my opinion, the turning point of this game came surprisingly early on; less than 5 minutes into the first period when the Kelowna Knights have to the first powerplay of the game. The reason I believe this was so pivotal for the outcome of the game was it allowed Anchorage to get heir powerplay unit out early and set a relentless tone for the night when it came to special teams. It allowed them to have a man advantage early in the game when legs were fresh, and it meant that they were able to psychologically get an early victory over the Knights and prove to them that they couldn’t risk making aggressive plays that might result in a penalty that they could capitalise on. Ebenezer Virtanen’s hooking penalty in the third minute gave way to a goal, as did Prince Devitt’s later in the period. It’s fair to say that powerplay goals were what set Anchorage up with the strong likelihood to win in he first period and that’s he reason why I’ve gone with this early penalty as the game’s turning point.

Lessons to learn

I think the biggest takeaway from this game for the losing team has to be that their discipline is not where it needs to be currently. Kelowna simply gave up too many powerplay opportunities, and then when they’re left defending a man down, they simply didn’t have the game to stop Anchorage from putting serious pressure on them, and on two occasions, putting the puck in the back of the net. I think going forward, they need to work a lot on awareness, making sure the players aren’t making bad decisions when they don’t have the puck, pressuring the opposition without giving up penalties and working on their defensive playbook so even if they are at a disadvantage in terms of numbers on the ice, they are confident enough to be able to defend and hold their own for two minutes.

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