<div align="center">PART 1
PART 2

WELCOME TO PART 3 OF MY SERIES DETAILING THE PRINCE GEORGE FIREBIRDS SEASON GAME BY GAME, GOAL BY GOAL AND BLOW BY BLOW!</div>

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Game 18: Prince George Firebirds @ Montreal Militia

After a rough defensive performance versus the Colorado Mammoths, the Firebirds were looking to get back to winning ways as they visited one of the strongest teams in the Eastern Conference, the Montreal Militia. The home team would get off to the start that both they and their fans wanted just over twelve minutes into a back-and-forth first period thanks to Michael Walker. He took the pass from Ojala who got the puck from Jeziak off of a faceoff and finished in close to give the Militia a lead. It really was a beautifully set up play by the Militia. Prince George answered back with less than two minutes remaining in the period thanks to Smirnov Light Jr’s 7th goal of the season. He was working with Chris York and Nick Dupuis, who’s been surprisingly offensively effective despite being a rookie defensive defenseman. The second period started off with a bang as Michael Walker and Isaac Cormier-Hale dropped the gloves just five seconds into the period and had a brutal brawl that eventually left both parties bloodied but proud. Isaac Cormier-Hale was, unfortunately for the Firebirds, given a game misconduct because he was deemed to have instigated the fights. Other than the fight, the period itself was a bit of a dud from a viewer’s perspective as both teams combined for ten shots on net with Montreal only getting 3 through the mass of bodies that Prince George was parking in front of their net. Prince George broke the deadlock fourteen minutes into the third period thanks to a short-handed goal scored by the aforementioned Nick Dupuis thanks to a brilliant feed from Karl Hertzberg. Montreal fought back though and tied it up with just a minute and a half left in the game as Michael Walker scored his second goal of the evening and his sixth of the season. Ted McDonald and Travis Jeziak were the assisters on his goal. The overtime period came and went with both teams registering less than a total of five shots on goal. Lots of possession but not many quality scoring chances. The shootout saw Michael Walker score for Montreal which was answered by Jean Girard of the Prince George Firebirds. Hertzberg then scored following a Noretornable miss and Ojala shot it right at Harris to give the Firebirds the shootout victory. Both goalies played very well as they both posted a save percentage about .900. Firebirds 3, Militia 2 (SO)


Game 19: St. Louis Scarecrows @ Prince George Firebirds

Prince George has owned the St. Louis Scarecrows this far this year and the home fans who’ve travelled from all over BC to be at this game are hoping that they see more of the same from their Firebirds. The first period was a bit of a shock to the system for Prince George players and fans alike. While there were a few ostentatious penalties called on both teams signaling that the refs weren’t going to take any shit from anyone, St. Louis absolutely bossed the Firebirds team from start to finish of the first period. St. Louis outshot Prince George 19-3 (seriously) in what was probably Stephen Harris’ best period of the season so far. He absolutely kept his team in the game and the first period ended with 0’s for both teams on the score sheet. St. Louis got sloppy in the second period taking sillier, unnecessary penalties which Prince George did well to capitalize on. Rookie Defensemen Nick Dupuis scored his 5th goal of the season during a rare power play opportunity for him. Smirnov Light did most of the work getting the puck into a dangerous area but Dupuis put the finishing touches on what would be the opening goal of the game at just past the four minute mark in the second period. Prince George would score again on the man-advantage thanks to Teodors Cukurs fifth goal of the season after a beautiful D to D to D to D passing play between Tapper Kottbulle and Isaac Cormier-Hale left Cukurs wide open in the slot to shoot the puck once it hit his stick. The third period got off to a great start for the Firebirds as they made it three to zero thanks to Kristy O’Sullivan via Teemu Sirius and Tedors Cukurs. Finally Harris would be beaten as rookie Alex Andreoff would pot his third of the season thanks two to other St. Louis rookies setting him up in Hermanis Villy and Niklas Zetterberg. Despite being heavily out-shot, Prince George’s depth would show through in this one as they would win the game fairly easily when everything was said and done. Another beauty from Harris who posted 33 saves with a .971 save percentage. Firebirds 3, Scarecrows 1


Game 20: Prince George Firebirds @ Halifax Raiders

Game twenty of the season would feature two teams who are certainly hitting mid-season form as the Prince George Firebirds would visit the Raiders in Halifax. Prince George would get off to another slow start and register only four shots on net for the entire period. Harris was unable to carry the team totally as Halifax got on the board first thanks to Jack Grey’s first goal of the season coming via Nick Leier and John Zoidberg. Looking to spark his team into action, Isaac Cormier-Hale got into a brawl with Brock Bailey which left both players bloodied and looking for more. No misconducts here as both players wanted this fight. Prince George would score first in the second period thanks to Xander Green, Karl Hertzberg and Caelen Fearghal. After a beautiful play by Fearghal and Hertzberg, Green had almost a wide open net to shoot at and didn’t make any mistakes. Halifax answered back with a powerplay tally after Noah Stevenson went off for goalie interference for crashing the net. Vinny Marino would grab his fourth of the season on the man-advantage. High-end prospect Zander Rhys would then net his fourth of the season to give Halifax a two goal cushion. After taking a pass from Csonka, Sepp Reiter would dance around the Firebirds defense and eventually find Zander with a beautiful pass as and he made the Firebirds pay with a one-timer from the point that nobody saw until it was in the back of the net. Just over 20 seconds later, Halifax would make it 4-1 thanks to leading goal-scorer Niklas Flower’s eighth SMJHL goal this season. Greta Iversen and Solair Azarov played it beautifully and Flower, much like Green, had almost the entire net to shoot at and put it home. Sepp Reiter would then tie Flower for the team lead with eight goals as Halifax scored their fifth just five minutes into the third period. On the man-advantage, Niklas Flower and Greta Iversen would both cap off a successful game for the Raiders with multi-point nights. The story of the game was the huge shot advantage that the Raiders had. The game finished with Halifax getting 33 shots on net to Prince George’s 19 and Max Smith-Frey was very sharp throughout and only let in a goal in which the defense in front of him totally let him down. Raiders 5, Firebirds 1


Game 21: Vancouver Whalers @ Prince George Firebirds

As we’re approaching the mid-way point of the season, the Firebirds were looking to get back to winning ways after getting blown out in Halifax. They started off on the wrong foot though by surrendering the first goal to OG Bobby, his third of the season. Maricis Kalvis and Ghost Bear set him up on that one to quiet the home crowd down just over seven minutes into the first period. Prince George would bounce back a little under 10 minutes later thanks to their dynamite third line. Karl Hertzberg would pot his sixth of the season via Dani Forsberg and Caelen Fearghal. No rest for the wicked as the third line would go out to finish the period and that proved to be the right move as Dani Forsberg scored his second goal of his young SMJHL career. Hertzberg and Xander Green would link up with some back and forth passing. Eventually the puck made it to Forsberg who made a nice move to cut to the middle of the net and shoot away from where he was moving, fooling the Johan Walstad, the Vancouver Whalers goalie. Vancouver would tie the game up with just under six minutes left to play in the second period thanks to Berard Gutlers second goal of the season. Stud defensemen Adam Kaiser and some other dude by the name of Bob Layton would go D to D which opened up the lane for Gutler to slip in and shoot. Just under 10 seconds late Prince George would regain the lead thanks to a beautiful shot from Kristy O’Sullivan. Teodors Cukurs and Isaac Cormier-Hale would have the helpers on O’Sullivan’s fourth of the year. The third line would strike again for the Firebirds as Hertzberg would score his second of the game, seventh of the season after a beautiful feed from Dani Forsberg. Vancouver would claw one back in what was turning into a bit of a barnburner early in the third period. Berard Gutler, who had only scored one goal through 20 games, scored his second of the game via rookie Four Four and Nicklas Bjornsen. Feeling the heat from their home fans, Prince George gathered themselves determined to not blow a lead and scored less than a minute later. Teodors Cukurs would score on a stretch pass from Dupuis which put Cukurs in behind the Vancouver defense who had went off for a change at a really bad time. Hertzberg would score his hat-trick goal with just under four minutes to play after a similar play, this time the stretch pass coming from Tapper Kottbulle. After a brief delay to pick up all of the hats on the ice, Vancouver got reorganized and scored with literally one second left in the game thanks to a harmless looking dump-in from Adam Kaiser that found it’s way past Stephen Harris. He’ll definitely want that one back but luckily for him, the result isn’t in doubt. This was a rough one for goalies but a great game for any fan of hockey as the teams combined for ten goals. Firebirds 6, Whalers 4


Game 22: Prince George Firebirds @ Montreal Militia

Having only seen each other once so far this season, which proved to be an extremely close affair decided in a shootout, both the Prince George Firebirds and Montreal Militia were looking to “feel out” each other a bit still as it was entirely possible that both teams might end up in the Four Star Cup finals based on the way the standings looked at this point in the season. Travis Jeziak would open the scoring for the Militia thanks to a feed from rookie Vesa Perhonen and Alex Mbb. Prince George would answer right back with a huge short-handed goal from the red-hot Karl Hertzberg. Coming off of a hat-trick, Hertzberg was feeling it and took a simple dump out from Caelan Fearghal all the way down the ice and slotted it home for his ninth goal of the season. Prince George would then take the lead early in the second period thanks to Chris York’s team leading eleventh goal of the season as the second line was looking to get going after being in a bit of a rut. Smirnov Light Jr. and Jean Girard earned the helpers on that one. Montreal would tie it up just over three minutes later thanks to Justin Hiemstra’s second of the season from Dodds and first-round pick Ryan Strathairn. Montreal would then take the lead via another player getting his second goal of the season, Ted Mcdonald. Fun fact, both of McDonald’s goals this year have come against the Prince George Firebirds. That goal was assisted by equally unlikely assisters in Pal Paelsey and Justin Hiemstra. Isaac Cormier-Hale, sensing his team needed a boost, threw down against Michael Walker (another fun fact, they fought the last time these two teams played, too) and both players landed a few punches and patted each other on the back after a solid bout. Fresh from sitting in the box to finish the period + intermission, Michael Walker would score his twelfth goal of the season off a stretch pass from Ryan Strathairn caught the defense napping. Just over eleven minutes into the third period Montreal would put the result to bed thanks to a Tim Elliot goal, his seventh of the season. Michael Walker had a hand in this one as well as Olli Ojala. The Militia would pile on the pain just before the game ended thanks to a Travis Jeziak goal. His goal, which was his fourth of the season, as assisted by previous goal-scorer Tim Elliot to give him a multi-point night and Ryan Strathairn to give him a three assist outing. Thaddeus Prince bossed this game start to finish despite the Firebirds outshooting the Militia heavily in the first two periods. It was all Militia in the third though as they outshot Prince George by a margin of 19-2. Militia 6, Firebirds 2


Game 23: Detroit Falcons @ Prince George Firebirds

Almost halfway through the regular season and this would mark the first time that these two teams would meet due to a weird quirk in the scheduling which put a ton of divisional games to start the year. Looking to bounce back from a pounding at the hands of Montreal, Prince George would welcome Detroit to BC. The first period was largely one sided as Prince George heavily outshot the Falcons and Declan Reilly finally got his first goal of the season on the powerplay. Set up by two of the best playmakers in the league in Teodors Cukurs and Caelen Fearghal, Declan Reilly unleashed a huge shot which beat Diehl high glove side to open up the scoring. Prince George would then double their lead just over eight minutes into the second period thanks to their ever-potent third line. Nick Celej would also see his name on the score-sheet for the first time as the goal scorer this year thanks to a nice play that was set up by a quick clear out of the zone which ended up on Forsberg’s stick, who carried it past the blue line and laid a drop pass off for Hertzberg who carried it in deep and flung it to the middle of the ice where Celej was waiting. Despite playing third line minutes, the third line for the Firebirds has consistently been producing at an elite level since the start of the season. Prince George would go up three goals to zero thanks to Smirnov Light Jr. off of a nice stretch pass from Tapper Kottbulle who is becoming quite adapt at them. With just over two minutes played in the third period, the game was still up for grabs for the Falcons even though they were down by three. They scored a beauty of a powerplay goal thanks to a Nick Dupuis roughing call. Jace Smith, scoring his seventh of the season, was assisted by two high profile rookies in Noro Wozy and Jakub Trocheck. That would be it for Detroit though and Prince George would take the first game of their season series. Stephen Harris bounced back from a tough loss to Montreal with a great game, posting a .933 save percentage. Firebirds 3, Falcons 1


Game 24: Prince George Firebirds @ Colorado Mammoths

With the season series between these two teams tied up, a lot of bragging rights and standing points were on the line as both teams looked to make a push towards the playoffs. At this point in the season, every game starts to matter more and more, especially against divisional opponents. Prince George would quiet the home fans in the first thanks to a Teodors Cukurs goal, his seventh of the season, just under four minutes into the game. Tapper Kottbulle and Declan Reilly would get the helpers. Resident goon Isaac Cormier-Hale would then score his second of the season as the first period was all Firebirds thanks in part to a 10-2 shots on goal advantage. Teodors Cukurs and Teemu Sirius helped set this one up with some nifty passing between the two. Colorado would turn the tides in the second and score just over two minutes into the period thanks to Asvard Lyszccarcyk’s third goal of the season via O’Dooley and O’Ryan. Asvard has most of his points on the season versus the Firebirds and seems to elevate his game whenever he plays Prince George. Dante Gallo, a Buffalo draftee, would score his fourth of the season on the power play after a Kristy O’Sullivan hooking call. William Goddard would be credited with the lone assist on the play. Five minutes later Colorado would take the lead thanks to a Teddy Kesler goal coming from a few high-end prospects in Zinaida Titova and Dante Gallo. Colorado would double up the Firebirds four goals to two thanks to a Colton Hagan goal just over seven minutes into the third period. Thankfully for the Firebirds, they would draw a goal back just over a minute late thanks to the hard-hitting Kristy O’Sullivan. The second line was switched up this game and it’s paying dividends as Smirnov Light and Jean Girard had some instant chemistry with Kristy. Prince George would then tie the game at four goals a piece late in the third period thanks to Teodors Cukurs second goal of the evening and his eighth goal of the season. Teemu Sirius would complete his multi-point night as he would draw the lone assist on Cukurs goal. Eventually overtime would come about and neither team could get anything going as a total of one shot found its way to a goalie in overtime. Zinaida Titova would win it for the Mammoths in the shootout, scoring the lone goal on the last shot of the game before it would go into a sudden death shootout. The goalies from both teams had a bit of a stinker but back-up Dean Melanson saved all eight shots that came his way after Stephen Harris was relieved of his duties for the evening following his fourth goal given up. Mammoths 5, Firebirds 4 (SO)

Keep a look out for part 4 coming soon (tomorrow)!