<div align="center">Game 134: Montreal Militia (19-11-2) @ St. Louis Scarecrows (13-17-3) Game Link
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ST. LOUIS, MO - After the 1st period, more than a few members of both the Montreal Militia and St. Louis Scarecrows could call the rink their blood relative. A feud lasting for decades of seasons, the Militia and Scarecrows clashed under the arch, determined to take control of their respective seasons. One team had a winning record in the last 5, while the other was looking to turn things around. Home fans were ready for the Scarecrows to make the ship right headed to the playoffs.
The 1st period started with the road warrior Militia notching a goal off the hot stick of Wesley Wells, but that would soon be forgotten just 2 minutes later. A bench clearing brawl resulted in Granlund crushing Elk, 2 other inconclusive fights, and a set of penalties to go around. The 2 teams would play some 4 on 4 hockey, and at the end of the 2 minute dance, it was Brennan Kennedy with the tap-in rebound goal off Forbrook's initial shot. St. Louis would come back in the period with a deflection from Derrick Glover past the Militia backstop to make the game 2 - 1 headed to the 2nd.
Again, the hot hand of Wells notched his 2nd of the night not a minute into the 2nd off a deflection from Kennedy's shot, and now the fans were mad. Throwing beer bottles at Wahlgren and elsewhere, the Scarecrows knew they needed to figure out their offense and defense in order to win this game. It would take an outstanding 2 goal effort in the 3rd to tie things up, with Joe Kurczewski bringing them within 1 on an amazing individual effort and Dos Diablo with the GTG. Overtime would lead to nothing, and so it was on to the shootout!
Fans were in a roar as Johnny Watson was fooled by Wahlgren's stoic movement between the pipes and were immediately silenced by the flashy glove save of one Stephen Harris on the other side, not allowing Joe K another goal on his watch. The stadium went back to their stupendous screams as Marcos Maciel was stonewalled on the fivehole and Jason Visser deked past Harris for the backhand top shelf. Granlund, the Militia that actually could beat up another boxer in the ring, was booed so incessantly he lost focus during his drag-puck deke and tapped the puck directly into Wahlgren's open trapper on the ice for the St. Louis win.
Looks like the game started off with a bang after an early MTL goal an all brawl occurred with penalties everywhere.
Devadander Abercrombie (STL) for Fighting (Major) at 4:13
Ilmari Maatta (MTL) for Fighting (Major) at 4:13,
Casper Ek (STL) for Fighting (Major) at 4:13
Filip Granlund (MTL) for Fighting (Major) at 4:13,
Randy Bobandy (STL) for Fighting (Major) at 4:13,
Nathan Russett (MTL) for Fighting (Major) at 4:13,
Alexander Odegaard (STL) for Slashing (Minor) at 4:13
Geoff Reine (STL) for Roughing (Minor) at 4:13
Ryan Vas (MTL) for High sticking (Minor) at 4:13,
Wesley Wells (MTL) for High sticking (Minor) at 4:13,
A total of 10 different players were penalized with 5 aside for each team the penalty box mustve been comfy. Clearly Harambe and Tim Tebow Post Baseball had their hands full with this game as it lost control early on.
This was also a very close and even game as shown not only by the score having to go all the way to a shootout to decide the winner but also in the stats with both teams having 5 shotsblocked a piece, the shots being 27-24, the hits 16-14, the faceoffs 42-41 and the the PIMS 31-27. This game easily couldve gone either way and was a blast to watch.
Joe Kurczewski received the first star and was great this game, as he continues to carry a struggling scarecrow team leading them in points and being 1 of only 2 + players at +15 with the next highest being +3. Kurczweski dominated this game with a goal and 2 assists being apart of each of the scarecrows goals, and allowing them to squeak past Montreal in the shootout, Joe will have to not only continue this play but others will have to step up if the scarecrows want to go far in the playoffs.
Solid game from Ronnie Westbrook- he was +2 and had an assist. Played good defense, and took 16 of 27 in the faceoff circle from his adversaries. Ya gotta like a guy who will give you special teams minutes and 20+ total minutes a night, wins faceoffs, and plays a two-way game. Crows fans have to be hoping he'll step up in the playoffs.
Wesley Wells is probably wondering how his two goals weren't enough to get the W. Wells was +2, had 4 shots, and was in on the donnybrook in the second period. Wells scored 2:18 into the first period to give Montreal an early lead, and then scored on the very first shift of the second period to push the tally to 3-1. He's got to feel like the rest of the squad let him down in the third.
Ilmari Maatta certainly gooned it up tonight. He did nothing on the offensive end of things, but had five hits in the game, and was part of the big fight in the second. He finished up with 9 total penalty minutes from three separate infractions including the fighting major. Kind of an interesting outcome for somebody playing top pairing for one of the better teams in the league.
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JKortesi81 SHL GM
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Hell of a game for you after a shaky start there for the team. What changed for you in the third period?
"Well, as much as I'd like to say the huge fight in the third period sparked us to victory, it really didn't. They went up 3-1 after the second period, and we were sitting in the locker room during the intermission in silence for a few minutes. We had just gotten torched in terms of shots and puck possession. It felt like so many of our losses during this season. Then I looked down and noticed the 'C' on my jersey. I'm still not used to it, but I knew that it was going to have to be up to me to lead us to victory. I thought about losing to Montreal in Game 7 last season, and I just got mad. I stood up, and i just said "Fuck Them". And walked out of the room. Not the world's greatest pump up speech, but with this group of clowns, it was just what they needed. We came out playing hard, and before you knew it we tied the game up. It felt good to be a big reason we won today."
You had an excellent chance to win the game in overtime, did you think it went in?
"I can't believe Harris saved that. Kelly (Rivet) made such an amazing pass that gave me a lot of open net. I one timed it and Harris jumped across the crease to rob me of the GWG. Great save. He made an even better save not too long after that when i fired another shot at the net and Vissdog had a sick deflection that Harris somehow got his pad on and even when it bounced off him and started going fivehole, he still managed to control his body and make a save. Just sick."
Last question for you. Do you have an unsung hero from this game?
"Actually yeah! I think DarryL Landry deserves some more credit. He made two great passes on the goals in the third period that got us tied up, He doesn't ever get the credit that Rivet, Foster, or even the rookie Weber gets, but he's such a good player."
Kennedy had an outstanding game for the Militia producing points on 67% of their goals. His positioning was perfect throughout the game, which allowed him to bang in a rebound off of Jason Forbrooks' shot midway through the first. But he didn't stop there and went on to set up Wesley Wells a period later with a beautiful pass. Kennedy was a large part of the Militia's offense and easily earned himself third star of the game.
Second Star
Wesley Wells
Stats: 2 goals, +2, 4 shots
Wells had a phenomenal game, just like Kennedy. Wells gets the edge, however, as he pumped in two of the Militia's goals. Without Wells' effort tonight the Militia would not have been able to take the win. Wells' goals both come on gorgeous plays. The first, a great one man effort after receiving the puck in his own end. The second, a finish on a great pass by Kennedy.
First Star
Joe Kurczewski
Stats: 1 goal, 2 assists, 4 shots, 2 hits
Despite being on the losing side, Kurczewski had an unbelievable game. Not only did he set up a play to give Derrick Glover an absolute gift of a goal, but he was the man behind the scarecrows late game comeback. The Scarecrows were down 3-1 going into the third, but that didn't stop Kurczewski. Kurczewski scored one early in the period then set up Dos Diablos' goal a few minutes later. Without Kurczewski, the Scarecrows would not have been able to squeak out even a point from this game. Kurczewski is well deserving of first star from this performance.
Picture credit to Allen, Jenny, enigmatic, Wasty, ckroyal92, 701, and EJ
300+ Career Goals, 750+ Career Points
5th All-Time Goals Scored for WKP,8th All-Time Goals Scored for SEA/TBB
3rd All-Time in Playoff Points
17th All-Time in Goals 6 Consecutive 50+ Point Seasons, 7 Total
Quote:"idc if ur naked if ur holding that cup" -Jenny
The unsung hero of this game has to be Jason Visser.
While Visser did not generate a point in the heavily offensive and high scoring game, he was still a big two-way help for the St. Louis Scarecrows. Visser looked incredible on the draw, winning some 8 key face offs in the defensive zone, including an overtime face off that after the Montreal Militia looked like they might have the steam to end the game.
Visser also had a game-saving deflection in overtime to keep the 'Crows in the in it to bring the game to a shootout, where, you guessed it, Visser came out on top and scored the only shootout goal.
Joe Kurczewski put the Scarecrows on his back in this one with the three point night. Yet it took Jason Visser to win it in the shoot out. Kurczewski ended up doing this often since he finished the season as the Scarecrows scoring leader by a ten point margin.
A very interesting matchup certainly not the best performance of both goalies but there are some interesting takeaways from this. The Save percentage is definitely not stellar but also not too bad that it would cost their team the game. Harris had the better" Good Save" percentage but still roughly every 4th save he had to make was a rebound. his bad rebound% is okay-ish. Sadly for him one of these bad rebounds resulted in a goal so there is a huge minus for him. His SO performance was okay but he was certainly outclassd by Wahlgren. Wahlgren's save percentage was alright and still better than Harris' but once you look more in depth his stat were worse. He also conceded a goal after a bad rebound so both goalie had this bad thing happen to them in this game. In the end Wahlgren came through clutch and saved every SO attempt by Montreal to get his team their win.
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