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***boom*** · 02-16-2020, 12:08 AM

Whalers 4, Falcons 5 (SO) Falcons

This midseason game between two rivals was projected to be an exciting matchup. Detroit's Kaarlo Kekkonen is in the lead for the scoring title this season, and the Falcons also boast a strong rookie class led by Edward Williams, the rookie scoring leader, Zoltan Topalo, and Paddy Kane-Reilly II, along with second overall pick Magnus Liljestrom. Meanwhile, the Vancouver Whalers have a stout defensive game with players such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic Jr. and Sabo Tage manning their blueline, and one of the best goalies in the SMJHL in White Goodman.

First Period

The first period got off to a fairly slow start, as both offenses and defenses proved to be fairly evenly matched. The teams traded shots, but both Falcons goalie A Jobin and Whalers goalie White Goodman proved to be well up to the task. Seven and a half minutes into the first period, Vancouver defenseman Yxskaft was called on a delayed penalty for holding star forward Kaarlo Kekkonen, but as he got free, Kekkonen's stick came up and hit Yxskaft in the face, drawing blood and sending both players to the penalty box. After an uneventful power play where the Whalers only managed two shots, the puck was dropped in the Vancouver end. Edward Williams won the draw and sent it cleanly back to Jmac NCheese, who one-timed a quick shot past Goodman for the opening goal of the game. While the Falcons faithful in attendance held their breath as the Whalers got two straight power plays off Toki Wartooth's holding calls, the lead would hold through 20 minutes.

Second Period

This was a more action-packed period than the first, with both teams really getting into it. Early in the period, Vancouver's offense finally broke through. On a shift for the scrappy third line of the Whalers, Miro Slapskinnenen knocked down a clearing attempt from Khabib Nurmagomedov and kept the puck in the offensive zone. The rookie winger head-manned the puck for Nicholas Corrigan, but his options were cut off by Nurmagomedov and the puck bounced off the defender's skate and back to The stingray that Killed steve irwin. Irwin seized the opportunity and shot through the traffic in front of the net. A Jobin saved the shot with his left pad, but he was down and gave up a huge rebound that Irwin put away to tie the game early in the second period. The tie game would be short-lived though, as Kaarlo Kekkonen took the puck for a little skate off a faceoff and waited for an opening that he liked. The league-leading sniper found his angle and beat Goodman with a shot high over the blocker from the hash marks. The action-packed game was anything but boring, with Detroit outshooting Vancouver 10-5 in the second period but the score remaining 2-1. In the sixteenth minute of the period, the Whalers finally pulled even when Zlatan Ibrahimovic Jr. beat Jobin with a slapshot from the point to make it a 2-2 game.

Turning Point

While it may not have seemed like it at the time, this shift was the catalyst for a huge momentum swing. In the dying minutes of the second period, the Whalers' third line was up against the Falcons' second line. On a previous shift, Nicholas Corrigan and Zoltan Topalo had gotten in a scrum near the Falcons goal when Topalo poked at a puck that was under the glove of White Goodman. On this play, the puck was dumped into the Detroit end while the Whalers were changing. It's not totally clear what happened, but Corrigan and Topalo collided in the confusion, and the Whalers centre took this opportunity to challenge his opponent to a fight, although Corrigan didn't exactly wait for him to oblige, throwing his gloves aside quickly. Both wingers got some pretty good shots in and the fight was a draw, but Corrigan was nevertheless ejected for instigating this fight. This proved to be significant. On the ensuing power play, Jmac NCheese collected a loose puck in the slot with time winding down and fired off a quick shot that fooled White Goodman, going low and to the blocker side. The puck went in the net with only 0.8 seconds left, deflating a Whalers team that was only moments away from leaving the period with a tied score and giving the Detroit fans new life.

Third Period

The Whalers were apparently sufficiently shocked by the last-second goal and came out of the dressing room for the third period looking better, although they were still outshot 10 to 6 in this period. Five minutes in, Austin Powers won an offensive faceoff for Vancouver and the fourth line went to work. Powers won the draw and kept the puck for himself, then found a quickly open Lucas Leclerc at the left circle for the fifth-round rookie's third goal of the year and the game was tied once more. The Falcons would strike again when Kaarlo Kekkonen scored his second goal of the game off an odd-man rush where he carried the puck into the offensive end and put a nice move on Sven Yxskaft before netting his tenth goal of the year. Vancouver's heart proved to be powerful, though. Late in the game, Falcons rookie Jack Kanoff took a holding penalty. The Whalers' power play went to work, and with just 1:18 left in regulation, the dam finally broke. Mikas Bieksa took a heavy shot from the blueline that Jobin stopped but couldn't handle. The rebound came out to Vancouver's leading scorer Francois Breton, and the veteran whacked home his twelfth goal of the season to tie it up.

Extra Time

The five minutes of bonus hockey weren't overly notable, with the best chance for either side being a Sven Yxskaft wrist shot that hit the post behind Jobin and rattled away. In the shootout, the Whalers led off with their game-tying hero and leading scorer Francois Breton, but his shot went wide of the net. The Falcons countered with Khabib Nurmagomedov, but White Goodman isn't the league leader in save percentage for nothing, as he made a pretty tricky save to keep it even. Marcus Ohlsson was up next, and similar to Breton before him, he tried to fake out Jobin but missed the net. Detroit came back with their leading scorer, Kaarlo Kekkonen, and he finally opened the shootout scoring with a shot that beat Goodman. Stracimir Petrovic came out next for the Whalers and scored to keep them alive, but it was all for naught as Cal Labovitch put away the game on the next attempt with a goal of his own.

Three Stars

First Star: JMac Ncheese, LW, DET - 2 G

Ncheese scored two goals, as did Kekkonen, but his tallies came at very opportune times; one to open the scoring in the first period, and his second goal to beat the buzzer on the power play in the second period.

Second Star: Kaarlo Kekkonen, RW, DET - 2 G

Kekkonen is leading the league scoring race, and he played like it, with two goals on seven shots and another goal in the shootout.

Third Star: Luke McMaster, C, DET - 2 A, 22:12 TOI, 3:17 PK TOI

The Falcons centre set up Kekkonen for both of his goals, and also led his team in penalty-killing time.

ChrisFromRMNB · 02-16-2020, 05:11 AM

"Lowlights" sponsored by Leidos:

Your lowlight of the night for this one goes to Nicholas Corrigan of the Vancouver Whalers. The Vancouver third line left wing somehow managed to rack up a total of 17 total penalty minutes in only 7:31 of total ice time. All of those PIMs came on one play late in the second period when Corrigan jumped Zoltan Topalo from behind, forcing the unwilling Detroit forward into a fight. Corrigan was shown to the showers and the Falcons responded by having Jmac NCheese light the lamp on the ensuing power play with only one second remaining in the frame.

Jerppu · 02-16-2020, 03:12 PM

Save of the game

What even is this is?! a videogame? A Superhero movie? No, it is a spectacular desperation save by Detroit's rookie goalie A Jobin. In the first period Vancouver had a huge pressure in Detroit's end and Jobin had to give his all to keep the game tied. Vancouver's Sabo Tage gets a certain scoring chance from the point while Jobin is grossly out of position. Somehow Jobin was able to move across the ice and made a soccer goalie-like jump in front of the puck making one of the most amazing saves we have seen the whole season so far. Nobody believed it when it happened. Even Sabo Tage had to compliment Jobin after the game. You see this type of stuff only in video games! That's unfair Jobin.. Really unfair.

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mastersheep · 02-18-2020, 09:30 AM

Comment #1

Kekkonen Puts Detroit on Top Again

While both offenses were on fire in this game, Detroit Falcon’s star right wing Karlo Kekkonen was a man on a mission. Kekkonen immediately responded to the Whalers’ game tying goal just two minutes into the 2nd period by scoring himself just 35 seconds later. He scored yet another go ahead goal in the 3rd period just after middle of the period. Unfortunately, the Falcons were unable to stop the Vancouver powerplay and the game ended up going into overtime and then a shootout. Kekkonen yet again scored the go ahead goal in the shootout. To the amusement of many, some Detroit fans began throwing hats onto the ice while most others began chanting “MVP!” Kekkonen certainly could be the league MVP as he is having a career year and is leading the scoring race.

*roastpuff* · 02-18-2020, 03:43 PM

Unsung Hero of the Game:

Stracimir Petrovic gets this award for the amount of work that he put in even though his team came out with the losss. He played a team-high 22:01 for forwards, and contributen a shot block and a hit, as well as going 17/29 on the faceoffs. His team would have probably liked some more offense out of him but that is hard to do when the rest of of the team is also struggling to generate chances. He played a key role in limiting the Falcons' chances on the powerplay, as the deadly Falcons first line of Labovitch, Kekkonen and McMaster was lighting it up today.

Could Use Some Work:

The Falcons as a team have been one of the more penalized teams in the league. The discipline amongst the members of the Falcons could use some work, as their penalty kill unit has fairly pedestrian numbers, and they don't have a goalie who can continually bail them out when they give up high-danger chances when a man down. They need to play a tighter defensive game, take less chances, and try not to give the other team man-advantages that can put them down a goal or two. There is only so much scoring you can do, and when that dries up you have to be ready to keep it tigher and better controlled so that you are not chasing from behind.

Hit of the Game:

The hit of the game goes to Magnus Liljestrom, who laid a bone-crushing hit on Marcus Ohlsson along the boards in the Falcons zone. However, this hit resulted in Ohlsson being able to make the play to draw the puck back to Zlatan Ibrahimovic Jr. who then wired a slapper home on the net. If Liljestrom had been smarter and less inclined to make the physical play, he may have been in a better position to take away the puck instead and prevented the goal in the first place. The fact that the referee's arm went up was immediately negated by the goal by the Whalers, but this is an example of the discipline that is lacking from the Falcons team.

***Ace*** · 02-19-2020, 02:02 PM

Week 5 Edition of Ace’s Crankin’ Hits! We’re here in Mo’Town, where the Detroit Falcons hosted the Vancouver Whalers! This tilt went the distance, as the hometown Falcons brought the Whalers down in the shootout. There was some bruises and busted teeth exchanged too. Take a look at this MONSTER HIT by Cal Labovitch as he sits Tiberius Maximus down on his ass.

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Absolutely beautiful body contact, a race for the puck into the corner. Maximus reaches out for the puck, and right before he gets to the puck the boom is dropped. That’s one you’ll feel in the morning, that’s for sure.

***Rangerjase*** · 02-21-2020, 12:36 PM

Game 108 Comment #1 (111 words)
This was a very even game when it came down to overall statistics. When you look at the shot totals, the Falcons finished with 28 and the Whalers with 24. Each period flip flopped on each side. First period the Whalers had 5 more shots than the Falcons. Second period, the Falcons had 5 more shots, and in the third period the Falcons had 4 more shots. The overtime period was a wash at 2 shots, a piece and each team had 3 chances in the shootout. The big differential was that the Falcons were able to score 2 goals in the shootout and whalers were only able to score one.

Game 108 Comment # 2 (122 Words)
This was an exciting game that went back and forth throughout. Detroit was able to capitalize early, taking advantage of some momentum shortly after the double minor PK ended. The whalers were unable to capitalize on their early power play chances in the first period, but they were able to make it up in the third period with just over a minute left to play. Jack kanoff took a penalty with under 2 minutes left to play and the whalers were able to score a goal to tie the game late in the third. IT was their 4th power play, and even though they went one for four, it wasn’t too late to give them a chance in OT and the shootout.

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