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FinnRhys · 07-03-2019, 08:46 AM

HALIFAX RAIDERS 3 - 1 COLORADO RAPTORS Raptors

It was a night of fireworks as the Colorado Raptors visited Scotiabank Centre last night. While the explosions of bright red, blue, green and white were greatly enjoyed by all the fans during Halifax’s Fireworks Night, it was the scoring explosion on the ice that was the most enjoyed, as Halifax dominated the ice and the scoreboard throughout most of the game, edging the Raptors by a score of 3-1.

The first period was dominated by our Raiders as they overwhelmed the Dinosaurs of Denver in every facet. On the first shot of the match, less than two minutes into the game, center Taisei-Tiikeri Wawazat (@Wawazat) notched his fifth goal of the season to take an early 1-0 from which the Raiders would never look back. Wawazat’s impressive goal set the tone for the rest of the game as he took advantage of an uncharacteristic defensive lapse by toe dragging the puck past a sprawling Jules Watt (@nykonax), faked to the right and backhanded a shot over goalie Knox Booth’s (@Tate) right leg pad.

Taisei-Tiikeri Wawazat

Less than 3 minutes later, Halifax was back at it again when goalie Biz Nasty started an odd-man rush with a long clearing pass that caught the Raptors defense napping. Center Esa Parmborg (@Steelhead77) took the clearing pass, drew a defender and fed to a wide-open Atlas Rush (@Rublic) who did a nifty move by tucking the puck between his legs and uncorking a little zinger over the Raptors goalie’s shoulder. At the end of the first, it looked like the Raptors already believed they were done for.

Atlas Rush

Knox Booth

Raptors First Intermission

But then something happened in the locker room during the first intermission. The Raptors coaches and captains rallied their troops and came back out on the ice a different team. In the second period, both teams settled down on defense, and although there were several back and forth exchanges, both defenses and goalies held firm. The second period ended with a furious flurry of action as the Raptors offense unloaded five shots in the final two minutes of the period. As if in a foreshadowing of the third period, while the Raptors offense seemed to start coming to life, unfortunately for them it would be to no avail as Biz Nasty (@GrilledTwinkiez) stopped all five shots to keep the Raptors off the scoreboard through the first two periods.

Biz Nasty

It was the third period that really rekindled the hope of a Raptors comeback. Luckily for our Raiders, it was not to be. On a power play nine minutes into the final period defenseman Eric Vanderberg (@Vandy) finally got the Raptors onto the score sheet with a blast from the left wing to make it a 2-1 game.

Eric Vanderberg

Seven minutes later, however, any chance of a miraculous comeback was doused when Raiders rookie Cody (@Winter is Coming) took a cross-ice pass from Timmo Kyllonen (@lemonade) and blasted the puck into the back of the net to make it 3-1.

Cody

With the win, Halifax looks to build some momentum as they enter a tough stretch against some of the top teams in the league as they vie for a higher seed in the playoffs. For Colorado, they will be looking to stop the bleeding as this loss puts them on a 3-loss skid that they hope to break free of. From the beautiful Scotiabank Centre off the shores of Bedford Basin, this is Quentin Roschambecler signing off for this edition of the Raiders Review.

FINN RHYS

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Tate · 07-03-2019, 04:38 PM

Comment 1 – MVP – Biz Nasty

In a game of inches, it comes down to your star players to make a difference and this was the case during this match between Colorado and Halifax. The first star was rightfully handed out to the Raiders netminder Biz Nasty, because were it not for his clutch saves at key moments during the second period this game could have easily turned in the favor of the Raptors. When the time came for Biz Nasty to bail out his team he was there and his play was the key aspect that allowed the Raiders to claim the win. Nasty made a total of 26 saves on 27 shots but the Raptors were lucky to get one past him at all.

Comment 2 – Unsung Hero – The Colorado Raptors Special Teams
If there was anything the Raptors could be embarrassed about it was their poor showing on special teams. The Raptors played an undisciplined and sloppy game and it truly showed with the amount of penalties they took. In total they were handed out 5 minors and spent 1/6 of the game in the box, even worse the Raiders took 3 minors in the first period and the Raptors were unable to capitalize. The only good the Raptors special teams accomplished this game was helping to hand the win to the Raiders, and if the Raptors are going to compete for a top spot in the SMJHL they’ll need to see major improvements in this area of their game.

Comment 3 – Turning Point of the Game – 3rd Period
Even though the Raptors scored on the powerplay in the 3rd period this was not enough to spark a sustainable comeback from Colorado. While the powerplay goal did give the Raptors a momentarily boost the true turning point was when Cody of the Raiders took the breath out of Colorado by scoring only minutes after Colorado had gotten on the score sheet. It was this soul crushing goal by Cody that sucked the life out of the Raptors and sent them straight to extinction. Cody has been a welcomed addition to the Raiders this season and the rookie forward showed a flash of his potential with his well-timed sniped shot, truly turning the game back in Halifax’s favor.

BrewskyBoy · 07-03-2019, 05:03 PM

Comment 1: 3 Stars Analysis
Tonight's first start was an easy selection, as goaltender Biz Nasty simply stood on his head for Halifax. Nasty saved 26 of the 27 shots that he faced in tonight's contest, good for a save percentage of .963. He also added an assist on the game winning goal. Tonight's second start of the game went to Atlas Rush of Halifax. Rush scored the second goal of the game for the Raiders, which ended up being the game winner. Our third start tonight went to the Raider's Taisei-Tiikeri Wawazat, who got his team on the board first just a minute into the game. His early tally helped to propel his team to victory.

Comment 2: Both Power Play Units Strike
We saw both teams' power play units score in tonight's contest. Halifax went on the man advantage 5 times while Colorado had one less, with 4 attempts. Colorado was the first team to break through on the power play tonight. Jaakko Jarvinen of Halifax took a tripping minor at the 8:43 mark to put the Raptors up a man. Ja'Aj Couitus-Wagg won the ensuing face-off, where a shot was blocked and then another shot missed the net before Eric Vanderberg was able to score. Derek Bohne of Colorado took a boarding minor at the 15:31 mark to give Halifax a power play, and they too won the ensuing face-off leading to Cody's goal.

Comment 3: A nod to Colorado's face-off wins
Two of the Raptors centers are deserving of some recognition for their performance in the face-off dot tonight. Ja'Aj Coutis-Wagg took 33 face-offs tonight, and won 20 of them. The biggest of those face-off wins was on the aforementioned power play, where he gained possession for his team and picked up an assist off of it for the team's only goal of the night. Jake Peralta also had a strong performance in the face-off circle for the Raptors tonight. He took the third most face-offs for the team at 11, and he managed to win all but one of them. Any time you can pick up an above 90% win rate in the face-off dot on 10+ attempts is certainly a great night.

ontanis · 07-04-2019, 02:46 AM

Comment 1 (Shots on goal per period):

As we can see, both teams had plenty of chances to score, but luck was on Halifax Raiders' side.

Comment 2 (Team statistics):

The result may show that Halifax was, by far, the better team tonight. But the statistics tell us a different story: Colorado had a slight edge in almost all of statistic categories, but Halifax were more composed in front of the net and the execution tonight was better on Raiders' part.

Comment 3 (Special teams statistics. PP and PK success rate):

NONAME · 07-04-2019, 02:29 PM

Comment #1

Top Star

Biz Nasty: Nasty has earned the top star of the game for his brilliant performance in net for the Halifax Raiders. The Raiders fell victim to 27 shots on goal with offensive pressure coming from 4 powerplay opportunities from the Colorado Raptors. These were not easy saves to make either has 4 of them came from the Raptors elite offensive producer Julio Tokolosh. Even with all the pressure on Nasty's back he managed to turn aside 26 shots with only allowed 1 goal on the Raptors powerplay chances. He finished the game with a .926% save percentage and improved his record to above .500.

Comment #2

Battle of the Rookie Forwards

Cody and Bo Kane are two highly touted offensive prospects in the SMJHL who are slated to be drafted in the season 49 SHL draft. There was a lot of anticipation to see who would get the better of each other in this match-up and we got our answer. Bo Kane struggled all night with only managing to put 1 shot on net and was a -1. He played 15:48 with a whopping 2:39 on the powerplay but still couldn't convert. Cody, on the other hand, managed to pot a goal in his 21:00 and 2 shots.

Comment #3

An Early Start

The ability to start a game strong can be the difference maker in a lot of games. If you're able to come out of the gate and score goals you enable the other team to have to take risks in order to catch up. The Halifax Raiders did just that but converting 2 very early goals just 1:41 and 4:02 into the game. With those goals scored the Raptors were forced to get out of their comfort zone and to take risks. While they did manage to get a goal on the powerplay they were still behind and had to continue to take risks which eventually backfired as they took a Derek Bohne got a little too aggressive trying to keep his teams motivation up by taking a boarding penalty late into the 3rd where the Raiders would eventually capitalize to close out the game.

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