Letter of Marque
Back To Earth
Article written by french sport journalist Evok
S35G29

<div align="center">Colorado Mammoths 6 || Halifax Raiders 2</div>

After their win in Vancouver, the Raiders didn’t had any time to lose. They headed home in order to get ready to host the Colorado Mammoths. The Mammoths were always a hard team for the Raiders to face, not able to notch a victory against them since the beginning of the season. They warmed up on the ice with the hope that this day was the day they would get the win.

Things stumbled fast for the Raiders in the first period. They were undisciplined as soon as the whistle blew and were punished for it during the game. The first player from Halifax the referees sent to the box was Trucker Grogan when he tripped one of the Mammoths barely two minutes into the game. The penalty kill unit however stood their ground and didn’t allow Colorado to score. Later in the game, Cody Fletcher was a bit too insistent while trying to slow down one of the Mammoths forwards and was punished for holding. He was able to get out of the box 2 minutes later unpunished, but the momentum clearly turned in favor of the visiting team. They were quick to show it as Colton Hagan managed to shot the puck too quickly for Larry Enticer’s glove to catch it. The Raiders didn’t manage to wake up after seeing the Mammoths take an early lead and Vinny Marino was punished a couple of minutes later for holding. This allowed the power play unit and Mark Ruggeri to take a 2-0 lead about a minute after the penalty.

The first team to score during the second leg of the match was the Raiders. Cloud McCarthy managed to beat Aleksandr Aleksandrov’s from the blue line after one of the forward on the ice screened him. However, they weren’t able to stay out of the sin bin. Dwayne Wyder took made his way to the penalty box after a hooking call a minute after the goal, but he managed to bring with him Jake Brosnan for boarding. During the 4v4 play, no team really managed to get an advantage over the other. Around 6 minutes into the game, the Mammoths were attacking the Raiders net like a swarm and a few players felt onto the ice right in front of Enticer. Asvard Lyszczarczyk managed to push the puck behind the netminder, which was called a goal by the officials, but the Raiders tried to plead goaltender interference. The goal went into video review, and the referees decided to stay with the call on the ice. The Mammoths were now 3-1 over Halifax. The Raiders didn’t lose too much time to be back to one goal lead, however, when Chuck Bernstein outplayed Aleksandrov. Following that goal, it took a few minutes to have another whistle. It was Casey Creller who was sent to the box after diving on the ice. However, the power play unit of Halifax didn’t manage to capitalize on the opportunity. It was not the case of the Mammoths after a high stick call on Wyder, Wolf Von Hammersmark seized this golden opportunity to punish the home team by beating Enticer a few seconds before the end of the penalty. Thirteen seconds later, Ruggeri chased Enticer from the crease and gained a 3 goal lead on the Raiders as Jordin FourFour Jr. entered the ice.

The last period of the game didn't see too much actions. The Raiders were only able to record 4 shots on the Mammoths net. On the other side, Colorado recorded 7 shots on goals before Bernstein took a penalty after 18 minutes into the last leg. It took only a minute for Vratislav Zbyněk to bang the last nail in the coffin when he outplayed FourFour Jr. during the power play. The Raiders quickly came back to earth after their perfect road trip.

The unsung hero of the match for the Raiders was Ted Glass. He spent almost 20 minutes on the ice during the game. He had one assist and was able to deliver one hard hit. He managed to be in position to block one shot and managed to test the enemy goaltender once.