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PGS S53 Game 3: St. Louis Scarecrows vs Maine Timber
#1

Scarecrows St. Louis Scarecrow vs. Maine Timber Timber
Final Score: 4-2
Timber Toppled by Scarecrows
Preview
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?
First Period
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.
Second Period
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.
Third Period
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.
Three Stars
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

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Thank you @Ragnar  for the Sig!
Previously: Patrick Shepherd (S52 - S64)
#2

Well no surprise here other than the valiant effort set forth by the veteran net minder for Timber stopping  37 shots for the loss.  Scarecrows offense was too intense as they were swarming around the goal all night long.  Top offensive players  Ruslan Zaporozhets were going into this game red hot  and manages to continue his hot streak by picking up 3 assists for 11 points on the season 2nd best to only none other Dany Marston who has 12 on the year.  St.Louis went into this game with confidence,  and they showed it by playing their back up goalie  Richard Majors.  In only his 2nd start of his career he could not ask for a better deal.  The Crows displayed a strong defensive effort in front of him giving up only 22 shots and Majors was there to stop 20.

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    [Image: d9J5DHT.png]        norway      [Image: d9J5DHT.png]
#3
(This post was last modified: 04-11-2020, 03:22 PM by hockeyiscool.)

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Major wins for St. Louis: Faceoffs
This was quite the surprise. The Maine Timber have a defensive team that prides themselves on winning the battle on the dot. The Scarecrow center's bodied the Maine Timber's, with exception to grapefruit lizard who took 10 face-offs, every other center for the scarecrows had above 65 win percentage on the dot. Alex Reyer lead faceoff percentage with a 75%. He won twelve and lost four face-offs. Danny Marston led the game in total face-offs won winning 15 of his 23 faceoffs. Trey Nets came to play tonight winning 6 of 7 at the dot. Big disappointments tonight for the timber were Patrick Shepherd. The Scarecrow noises were clearly getting to him. Shepherd kept getting kicked out of the circle leaving Patario Scarangella to be taken advantage of.


Maine's Roman Army has a chink in the armor.
So far this season the Maine Timber have a mantra and that mantra has been to turtle in front of Leo Bloomfield and Olli Saarinen Jr. and sacrifice your body to block the puck. This game was no different. The Timber blocked 24 shots in addition to giving up 41 shots. This strategy is risky. It depends on having hot goaltenders, well conditioned men and disciplined play. Tonight Maine lacked discipline and found themselves gasping for air being suffocated by the Scarecrow's powerplay that found themselves netting 2 goals on 6 opportunities tonight.
#4

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Taking Control of the Faceoff Circle
A lot of plays start off at the faceoff circle, and there were certainly many opportunities in this game. Between the St.Louis Scarecrows and the Maine Timber, over 70 faceoffs were taken and the Scarecrows got the better of the Timber winning 57.7% of them. Most interestingly, the Scarecrows first goal came off a huge faceoff win by a defenseman! Early in the first period, St.Louis defenseman Erben Kasius was instructed to take a faceoff against right winger Indigo Trevino. Although Kasius is not too familiar with faceoffs, he was able to win the draw in the offensive zone which allowed his team to apply pressure. After a couple of shots on net, the faceoff win eventually led to a tipped in goal by Sasha Danglechek to give a good start for the Scarecrows. As shown, a huge faceoff win can lead to great opportunities and the Scarecrows certainly battled hard in the circle.

Looking For Their First Win
Entering the game we had two goaltenders looking for their first win of the season. The Timber’s goaltender Olli Saarinen Jr. had a 0-2-0 record with a goals against average of 3.00. The Scarecrows opted to go with their rookie goaltender Richard Majors who had a 0-1-0 record with a goals against average of 5.00. Throughout the game, it was clear that one goalie’s night was a lot harder than the others. Olli Saarinen Jr. had to face 41 shots compared to Majors’ 22 shots. However, this is not to say that Majors did not make some incredible saves such as the one in the second period. After a faceoff win by the Scarecrows won the faceoff following a penalty taken by the Timber, Kayhall took a quick shot on net which had Majors stacking the pads to make the save. The final shot totals reflected the result of the game where the Scarecrows won 4-2. This had rookie goaltender Richard Majors leaving with his first ever SMJHL while Saarinen Jr. continued to look for his first of the season. Regardless, certainly not a bad showing for the two goaltenders as they both had an above .900 save percentage.

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Thanks to @DELIRIVM, @Moreorless89 and @ValorX77 for the sigs!
#5

Adding up penalties


We are here again to talk about the penalties and what it means when you end up in the penalty box! It feels like repeating myself, but it feels like doing the simple things on the ice always matter and they add up. The Scarecrows were the better team in terms of only having 8 penalty minutes compared to the 12 of Maine. In addition the Scarecrows were able to score two power play goals to the one of Maine. So better usage of power plays and better penalty killing units and this adds up easily with only a 2 goal margin of victory. Maine will definitely be looking to improve on not getting into the penalty box and also being able to have a better power play unit.


Heating up


This was two teams going in opposite directions. The Maine Timber were 1-4 and had no wind in their sails coming into the game, while the Scarecrows were 3-1-1 and a better looking team overall. The Scarecrows were able to use that to their advantage, while the Timber let it get to them with them picking up 3 different penalties in the final period while chasing the game. Sometimes trying too hard just gets you in trouble. This also leaves the Timber in a worse state and can probably have the Scarecrows as a team looking to make moves going forward in the season. 


Passing Ruslan


I feel it is always important to have a look at the true heroes of each game, as there is always one player that makes a real difference. In this encounter it was Ruslan Zaporzheta of the Scarecrows, picking up the one star performance. Usually people highlight the goal scorers and they are important players, but Ruslan got his name on everyones lips in another way by playing a part in 3 of the 4 goals by St. Louis. This meant that the first period belonged to Ruslan and he made sure to do it at even strength and on the power play to leave no doubt who the best passer in this game was. Do not try to pass Ruslan, he will do the passing on you.

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#6
(This post was last modified: 04-11-2020, 03:20 PM by JURT.)

The Faceoff Circle

The Scarecrows have had the upperhand on their opponent in the faceoff circle for most of the season, and this game was no exception to that rule. They won 41 of 71 faceoffs, a 57.7% success rate.

Faceoff Hero
Alex Reyer & Trey Nets Scarecrows 
This was too close a call to make, so we nominate the two of them. Reyer was in more duels than his teammate and managed to win 12 out of those 16, an impressive 75%. However, one cannot let Nets' incredible feat of 85.7% in seven appearances, losing only one faceoff in that game.

Faceoff Zero
Grapefruit Lizard Scarecrows 
There is one Scarecrow who struggled at the dot during that night and it's Grapefruit Lizard. The fourth-line center was in 10 faceoffs and won only two, a thin 20% success rate.

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#7
(This post was last modified: 04-13-2020, 01:25 AM by Rotti.)

Rotti's Roundup

Scarecrows strike again
St. Louis established the norm for this matchup earlier on in the young season winning 3-0 on the back of a defensively dominant performance. This season has the Scarecrows looking to make a playoff push after the regular season 50, and with two wins this early off of a division rival they're putting themselves in prime position to do just that. The saying goes that no team makes the playoffs in the first 10 games, but a team can easily lose their playoff spot that early. St. Louis hopes to keep moving along at a steady pace, and ensure that they have cup dreams coming on strong.

TIMMMMMBERRRRRRRRR
If there was every a time for the Portland boys to grab a win, tonight was that time. Reeling off of a 3 game losing streak following the first win in Timber history, a win against a division rival would've been a big morale boost for the squad. This loss gives the Timber 4 straight losses now, and with most of the season to go, they better start winning or those Cross Arena fans are going to get angry. All is not lost, though, as young Timber star Rapid Eagle appears to be making a name for himself scoring goals and setting them up alike. 

The Scarecrows Dynamic Duo
Normally I like to highlight a single player when it comes to my ones to watch, but the Scarecrows turned in two big performances from two big players tonight. Ruslan Zaporozhets and Sasha Danglechuck combined for 5 points tonight, spurring St. Louis' offense to a big win. While Zaporozhets was the only one of the pair to hit the back of the net, Danglechuck set up 3 seperate goals tonight, moving the puck around a blistering pace with pinpoint precision. Both of these skaters join my ones to watch, and I'll be looking for them come awards season after the 50 game marathon.

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#8

Center Iceman
Biggest positions in hockey are goaltending, first pair defense and your top centerman.  Looking at how these two teams face off against one another up the middle will tell the story of the game.  The Crows have a net advantage when we break it down, They have two third year players in Marston and Nets, a second year player in Reyer and spotting in the 4th spot we have a lone rookie Lizard.  On the other hand, when we look at Maine's centerman, we have Villeneuve who is on his 4th year in the SMJHL but was a healthy scratch for this one, two second year players in Roach and Soupcan and rounded out the form we two rookies in Danke and Shepherd.  Clearly the difference here was veteran presence and experience in the faceoff dots as seen by the numbers of the game as STL wins 41 faceoffs compared to Maine with only 30.

Specialty Teams
Game of hockey is a rough one, so when you dish it or retaliate you need to learn how to capitalize on it!  40 hits total thrown in this game, so for sure a few powerplays were handed out.  In a close game like this one that can prove all the difference in winning or losing.  With a total of twenty minutes handed out in penalties to the two teams, STL 8 minutes and Maine 12 minutes, although Maine's penalty kill did fairly well sustaining the Crows attack, but ultimately its what cost them the game.  Giving up 2 powerplay goals in a close game will never serve you well.  Final specialty numbers on the powerplay: STL 2-6 and Maine 1-4.  Case closed!

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    [Image: d9J5DHT.png]        norway      [Image: d9J5DHT.png]
#9

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