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***CampinKiller*** · 08-23-2016, 05:54 PM

Final Score: 2-6</center>

Colorado came into this game high off a recent victory, and instead of continuing that momentum, they instead allowed this game to turn into a blowout. Colorado did good during the first period to answer Kelowna's goals, but they were allowing too many high-percentage scoring chances in front of Ekaterina Rudnikova, which put them behind 3-2 after 20 minutes of hockey. Despite a late goal in the period to come within 1 goal, Colorado came out flat in the 2nd, allowing a breakaway goal that ended up being the last shot Rudnikova would face that night. The night wouldn't get any better for Colorado, as Kelowna would put two more goals on the board before the night was over, while Jason Aittokallio stuffed Colorado's offense for the rest of the night.

<center>Good

Colorado Mammoths

vs. Halifax Raiders raiders

Final Score: 5-1</center>

A few short days after being trounced by Kelowna, Colorado turned it around against Halifax. They came out with a ferocity in their game, posting 4 straight goals in just 14:30, chasing starter Georgette Pel from the net. Despite some attempts from Halifax players to try and throw Colorado off their game with scrums that began breaking out, Colorado stayed disciplined, and after an uneventful 2nd period, came out and added their final tally of the game just 2 minutes in, putting them up 5-0. Kelowna would break the shutout a few minutes later, but Colorado remained in control and played a much better game than a few night before. Overall, it shows that Colorado is still a young team, but once their players develop, they will be a force to be reckoned with.

JustAnotherUser · 08-23-2016, 07:56 PM

Highs and Lows: A Season Snapshot for the Scarecrows

Today we take a look at two diametrically opposed games in the Scarecrows' season; a grinding loss to the Militia and a victory over the Mammoths.

Bad Game - Game 128: Montreal Militia vs St. Louis Scarecrows / Final Score: 3-0

This game featured some compounding mistakes for the Scarecrows which ultimately proved to be unsurmountable. Constant pressure and scoring chances for the Militia were the final nails in the coffin.

Let's take a look at some key stats to determine what decided this game.

PowerPlay Chances
Montreal Militia - 1 on 7 Attempt(s) - 14.29%
St. Louis Scarecrows - 0 on 2 Attempt(s) - 0.00%

After amassing 14 minutes in penalties, the Scarecrows provided the Militia with 7 powerplay opportunities. Although the Militia only managed to convert on 1, this left the Scarecrows short-handed for nearly a quarter of the game. This allowed the Militia to hem their opponents into the defensive zone for a significant period of time. This disparity in zone time also forced a very offensively capable Scarecrow team to lean heavily on their defensive specialists.

Shots on Goal
Montreal Militia - 30
St. Louis Scarecrows - 13

As a result of dominate possession numbers, the Militia were able to pepper 'Crows keeper Kyle Wahlgren with 30 shots. This was nearly 3 times more shots than Militia goalie Jeff Kirkstone faced (13). The shot difference reveals a Scarecrows team that were consistently on their heels. Managing only 1 shot in the final frame, St. Louis gave up far too many chances in their end of the ice to pull out a victory.

Blocked Shots
Montreal Militia - 1

St. Louis Scarecrows - 13

A seemingly good number on first glance, the high number of blocked shots by the Scarecrows points to an even larger possession gap between the two teams. Factoring in the shots that never reached the competing keepers, the disparity is even more apparent: the Militia threw a staggering 43 shots on net while the 'Crows eeked only 14. What shots did arrive, Kirkstone turned away to earn a shutout for the Militia.

Good Game - Game 43: Colorado Mammoths vs St. Louis Scarecrows / Final Score: 0-6

Game 43 against Colorado showed the result of timely scoring. Although not numerous, St. Louis converted on key chances to dominate the Mammoths. Let's take a deeper look into the stats to determine how it happened.

Power Play
Colorado Mammoths - 0 on 7 Attempt(s) - 0.00%
St. Louis Scarecrows - 3 on 4 Attempt(s) - 75.00%

Running at a ridiculous 75% conversion rate, St. Louis took full advantage of their powerplay chances. Colorado's inability to convert at all with the man up was a serious failing. With nearly double the powerplays, Colorado squandered several opportunities throughout the game to equalize. With a critical powerplay at the end ofthe first period, Colorado had an opportunity to stop the run, cutting into the St. Louis lead. Instead, the Scarecrows were able to neutralize the powerplay and the Mammoth walked into the locker room on a negative note.

Penalty Kill
Colorado Mammoths - 1 on 4 Attempt(s) - 25.00%
St. Louis Scarecrows - 7 on 7 Attempt(s) - 100.00%

Continuing the special teams dominance, St. Louis swiftly shut the door on all 7 Colorado powerplays. Relying on their defensive specialists and their stellar goalkeeping, the Scarecrows denied Colorado any momentum by playing a tight, shutdown penalty kill. By contrast, Colorado's PK were unable to contain the Scarecrows or stop the bleeding.

Goaltending
Curtis Allison (COL), 12 saves from 14 shots - (0.857)
Ekaterina Rudnikova (COL), 7 saves from 11 shots - (0.636)
Kyle Wahlgren (STL), 24 saves from 24 shots - (1.000)

Goaltending played a significant part in the final score. The Mammoths, getting an average save percentage of 0.747 between their keepers, could not match up to the stellar performance by Scarecrow's goalie Kyle Wahlgren. Stopping all 24 shots, Wahlgren was integral in protecting the lead at several points. In contrast, the Mammoth's normally solid 'tenders simply ran into some bad luck. Without solid backstopping, Colorado was unable to generate any positive momentum.

Gooney · 08-23-2016, 08:34 PM

<div align="center">Bad Game</div>
<div align="center">Game 84</div>
<div align="center"> Scarecrows

2 - 5

</div>

There has been some ups and downs for the Scarecrows this season. One of the lowest points of the season for us was a 5 - 2 loss to the Vancouver Whalers. Nothing was clicking for the Crows in this game. So what went wrong in this game? The Scarecrows were not able to generate many shots in this game. They were only able to achieve 20 shots total and with only a lousy 2 shots in the 3rd period. We showed very little heart to comeback in this game.

One of the biggest strength of the Scarecrows is there penalty kill and they did not live up to that strength in this game. The Whalers were able to convert on two of their three attempts against the Scarecrows. The pk was definitely a let down in this game. We also had a poor game to our standards on faceoffs. Losing 42/76 draws. Pretty terrible night for us.

<div align="center">Good Game</div>
<div align="center">Game 25</div>
<div align="center"> Falcons

: 2 - 7

</div>

This was a huge win for us early on in the season. There has been a bit of a rivalry between the Scarecrows and Falcons, so coming out and winning 7 - 2 felt great. The Scarecrows had a balanced attacked throughout the game. Fourteen players on the Crows were able to make it on the score sheet. We were able to put up 33 shots to their 23. Kyle Wahlgren also had a great outing stopping 21 of 23 shots. This was basically a perfect game for the Crows and statement win against their biggest rival.

*Flowseidon* · 08-23-2016, 09:01 PM

The Good

Game 146 was some of the best hockey we played. We took it to the defending champions from the start of the game. It took just 4:15 to get on the board to start the lead that would eventually become insurmountable. Period 2 is where we really began to blow the doors off the game we scored 4 goals to their 1, leading us into the 3rd period with a 5-1 lead. We were absolutely firing the puck at Wahlgren all night (44 shots) and managed to do a great job suppressing shots, only allowing 18 to make it to Pel. We managed to hold them off until the end for the 5-2 victory. I was pleased with my own play, having netted both a goal and an assist towards our win.

The Bad

There was just something up that night against the Mammoths, we came out so flat. 4 first period goals scored against us. 4! After 3, we started getting ourselves in a little penalty trouble, and the just served to make us even more tired and passive in our play. We took 5 penalties. We just can't be giving that many power play opportunities up. At the very least, we managed to break the shutout in the third period, but that's little consolation in a 5-1 loss. We were outshot (27-22), out skated, and just plain out played, and nobody on the team liked it. We couldn't find the answer to Stamkos Jr. on his 3 point night. We didn't get a single star that night. Frankly, we didn't deserve it. But damn, does it hurt to see your home media not even award one to your team.

damien · 08-23-2016, 09:58 PM

The Prince George Firebirds have had a roller coaster of a season. The team started 1-4-0 before earning 35 out of a possible 44 points in their next 22 games. Since then, the team has gone a rough 7-13-1, mustering up just 15 points in the standings over that 21 game period. Despite this performance, however, there are a few positives that can be taken, including the team's most recent game, the 192nd game of the season. Prince George was able to beat the Vancouver Whalers 5-2 in that game.

Hylytyr NoRetornable's performance was notable in the game. The SMJHL rookie was able to notch a goal, an assist and two hits en route to a second star performance (stat 1). Goalie Ben Waters was solid in net, allowing only two goals while facing 29 shots (stat 2). The team was able to muster their five goals in only 21 shots, chasing Vancouver goalie Triforce Link from the game (stat 3). The key to the Firebirds' success in the game, however, was their key play, as they only allowed one power play attempt, which the Whalers failed to score on (stat 4).

Of course, for a team that's won only three of their last nine games (and a team that regards that an improvement over their less recent play), those results are few and far between. A game more characteristic of the current Prince George Firebirds is Game 169, in which the 'Birds lost 6-2 to the Montreal Militia.

Aside from Karl Hertzberg's two goals scored on five shots (stat 1), there were few positives for PGF to take from this one. They allowed six goals on only 27 shots, with goalie Ben Waters being removed after allowing four goals on just eleven shots faced (stat 2). Johnny Watson managed a hat trick among five points for the Militia, with all three of his goals coming on the power play (stat 3). Prince George allowed a poor six power play attempts and stopped only three from being converted (stat 4). This team may not be a world beater now, but with the presence of promising youngsters like Ben Waters, Eduard Selich, Joseph Riccardelli and Hylytyr NoRetornable, not to mention two first round draft picks in the upcoming SMJHL draft, Prince George can be one of the better teams next year.

twils · 08-23-2016, 10:55 PM

The Knights have had a very successful season with few tough games. But, even a team that easily clinched the Presidents' Trophy had it's ups and down in the season. In this article we'll discuss one of Kelowna's weaker games and one of their best games.

The Bad Game

Kelowna's worst game of the season came against St. Louis on the 66th day of the SMJHL season. Kelowna lost 6-1, which was their biggest deficit of the season. All of the Knights, except maybe Sirmais, had a tough game that night, only three of the them managed to have a +1 rating in this game, which is actually more than expected in a 6-1 loss. The Knights leading scorer, Bent, and the two top point scoring rookies, Kaparek and Wilson, where all held to 0 points in this game. By shutting them down St. Louis could easily walk all over the Knights. Although a terrible game, Sirmais still produced an impressive stat line. He ended with 1 goal, +1, and an impressive 20/29 on the faceoff.

The Good Game

The Knights had many good games this season, however one of their best was a 4-0 win over their rival, the Whalers. This was a big 25 shot shut out for rookie goal tender Jason Aitokallio. In addition to a great goal tender performance, the Knights had goals coming from all over the line up. The Knights had goals from Kasparek, Hohenburg, Yanovich, and Justice. These goal scorers are not the usual suspects for the Knights, but this game really showed the depth that the Knights have. It proved that anyone on that roster can score. In addition to showing depth scoring, Sirmais, one of the best players in the league, had a great game by producing 2 assists.

Player Page --- Update Page
[Image: twils.gif]

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

***JKortesi81*** · 08-23-2016, 11:39 PM

Doing the thing! 306 words.

Lesson Learned, Joe Kurczewski

The game where everything went swimmingly.

This one is easily Game #25: St. Louis Scarecrows 7, Detroit Falcons 2. This game is also my favorite game of the season. After a preseason where Detroit was terrific and got way too mouthy about it, it felt great for us to smack them back down to Earth. We out shot them 33-23. We outhit them 20-16. And we won more faceoffs, 44-33. It was a dominating effort in the win. As a team, we really played harder than we ever had up to that point. Detroit was acting like it already won the Four Star Cup, and we got to show them why the cup still lives in the Scottrade Center, and that its not leaving easily. It really set the tone for a pretty good beginning of the season for St. Louis, especially when a lot of early forecasts had us as the worst team in the league. It also helped that I talked a lot of shit to Detroit, and then backed it up, getting the first star in this game after opening the scoring 18 seconds in.

The game where everything went horribly wrong.

This game for me is Game #128: Montreal Militia 3, St. Louis Scarecrows 0. Getting shutout is always terrible. Getting shut out and getting dominated defensively is even worse. We were out shot in this game 30-13 including getting only ONE shot in the third period. If that wasnâ€™t bad enough, we gave them 7 power plays because of our 14 minutes in penalties. We were so undisciplined this game. This game couldâ€™ve been even worse on the scoreboard if not for the fact that we blocked 13 shots, to Montrealâ€™s 1. We were simply outclassed this game. We didnâ€™t want it enough, and it showed.

bozzz · 08-23-2016, 11:46 PM

It’s easy to think you’re alone when you’re in the crease. It’s easy to think your most reliable teammates are the two posts and the crossbar, that being impenetrable is your only job -- that once you fail at that, you’ve failed at everything.

[There’s a shot of Georgette from the goalie cam, head between her legs, breathing audible -- the scoreboard is visible over her shoulder, and it shows 00:00 on the clock, Detroit as the away team, and the lights dimmed as the end of “O Canada” plays over the stadium loudspeakers.

She’s speaking, it’s in French, but it’s not properly audible. The repetitive nature of it makes it sound like a prayer. When the anthem ends, and the crowd cheers, she pushes out of her crease, drops to her knees along the crease and pushes out a few VH post-to-post crosses. She snaps up after a few seconds, and taps left, right, turns around and headbuts the crossbar gently.

“M’aider ce soir,” she says, loudly enough for the mic next to the goalie cam to pick up.]

Shutting out can make you seem super human. It can make you feel better than you are, it can seem like a transgression -- to be fast enough to deny the blood and sweat and grit put into a break-away, to be sure enough to shut down a hard won puck with a smart poke check, to beat a forward five other men on the ice couldn’t stop.

[Georgette again, now, in the thick of traffic down in her crease, slides left on a deke before suddenly lunging to her blocker side -- knocking the incoming shot from Nucky Toohoots wide with the handle of her paddle with sickening precision.

Now it’s Berzins charging up the ice, trying to roof the puck but denied with a snap of Georgie’s glove.

A bullet of a slap-shot sent over by Rising Hippo from the face-off dot seems like it’s gonna challenge her blocker side but once again, reaction faster than human -- Georgette slaps the puck down with her blocker and covers it as Zjang bowls into her trying to follow up in the slot for any chance at a bad rebound which doesn’t come.

Glove snap again, Hippo denied again; Moleman pushing hard long strides past the sweeping sticks of the Halifax defense as Georgette charges out and knocks both the puck and Moleman’s legs out from under him; James trying to put one around the post, stopped with a desperate kick of Georgie’s skate; another one from James, which almost gets past Georgie, but she reaches back with her gloves and denies what would’ve been a sweet, low glove-side shot; Two more shots rain in, both times Detroit offense slides into Georgie trying to dig up the puck from underneath the trap of her body, Halifax responding with rising amounts of shoving and known irritation with the clumsy stoppage of play on the part of the referees.

Georgette scuttles deeper and deeper in into the crease -- the scoreboard momentarily visible at 0-0, time 16:55 -- as Alex Metzler levels a hard, but legal hit on Alex Reed in neutral ice, stealing the puck and crossing the blue line, Halifax defense nowhere in sight. And Metzler comes down the left lane, Georgette drops into butterfly a little early, provoking an early slap shot from Metzler high blocker side -- she pushes right back up into a half-standing position and grabs the puck with her glove as she rolls forwards and to her left; the sound of the puck louder than the screams that erupted behind Georgie from the rink-side seats at the save.

The buzzer sounds, the clock reads 20:00 and Georgette slams her paddle on the ground and shouts, “Ouais, fucking right --” turns and slaps a bare hand against both posts and punches the crossbar. “Motherfucking right.”]

Shutting out stops more than just pucks, it stops you from remembering to share the burden and the successes. It stops you from remembering team.

[As the Halifax Raider’s goal horn goes off, Georgie aimlessly, restlessly, slides back and forth along her crease, barely registering the goal. The scoreboard reads DET 0 - 1 HAL, the time 09:52 in the 2nd period.

All around her people are shouting, celebrating -- Georgie slides back and forth between the posts on her skates, staring at the ice.]

You can never forget team.

[A shot from Konstantinov flies wide around the right post, and Georgette huddles up against it -- watching the scrum on the boards behind the net unfold, Iversen fighting Vikstrom for control of the puck. Vikstrom wins. Vikstrom tosses the puck back out to Konstantinov, and Georgie moves around anticipating the shot --

-- not the pass back to Vikstrom, not the shot he flips up over her left leg pad that sides into to shut the post gap down a little too slowly. His belligerently victorious screaming overwhelms the goalie cam mic. Georgette is on her stomach on the ice, head down, frozen in position. She doesn’t move for a full 30 seconds.

The scoreboard now reads DET 1 - 1 HAL]

The second you forget team, you lose control of yourself. Of your net. Of why you’re playing and of what you’re meant to be protecting in the first place.

[There’s traffic in the net now, the scoreboard reads DET 1 - 2 HAL, and we’re at 18:48 -- practically the end of the 3rd period. There are shots flying all over the place, but the first decent one in the last few seconds flies in low right for the fivehole, and would be a goal if not for the sliding figure of Toivo Kosonen that slides right into the puck in the nick of time.

You can see Georgette’s posture visibly relax for a second, probably in relief, before Vikstrom tries again -- smacking it off his own teammate Evans this time -- and Georgette goes in, after hesitating for a millisecond, to try and poke the puck out. Evans isn’t done, however, and Evans kicks the puck away, before dangling the puck back in and putting in the softest of shots right where Georgette isn’t.

There’s screaming and hugging and elation in the crease as Detroit piles on top of each other, the equalizing goal in the net now, and Georgie’s left sitting on her knees.]

You get confident when you should be alert, you relax when you should be vigilant, you screw up. Plain and simple, when you make it about just you and the net, you screw up. Especially when those screw-ups lead to you needing to defend your win by yourself on the ice in an overtime shoot-out. Pretending you’re alone on the ice when there are five other men helping and hindering you is stupid enough, but relying on them to save you when it’s just you and the man shooting on you is even worse.

[The ice is near silent, as Georgette sits, waits, and around her figure in the goal cam, you can see Hans Moleman winding up to go after the first shot in the shootout.

He dekes, he dangles, he starts fast but slides in and starts to finesse, and he beats Georgette. He beats Georgette completely and puts the first shot of the shootout into the net for Detroit.]

Because that’s when confidence in your ability to hold down the game needs to be at its strongest, and if it’s already been broken in regular time because your head and heart were in the wrong place, you have no chance at defending your net in a shootout.

[In the distance, Volkova missing the final Halifax shot can be seen. Georgette doesn’t say anything, doesn’t move, does even seem to breathe.

She stays half crouched hands on her knees. It takes a teammate coming over, it seems to be Hocolate of all people -- snapback on, face grim -- touching her shoulder to get her to come off the ice.]

Thank goodness rookie years are for learning. Thank goodness for patient teammates, good coaching, and forgiveness and time to make your teammates team, not just the people you see every day at practice. Because learning how to endure more shots -- learning how to distribute responsibility evenly, and not just relying on metal bars to help you contain the other team -- learning how to not live for the shutout, it helps in letting you learn how to play for your team.

[It’s the start of the second period, but this time the scoreboard reads STL 1 - 1 HAL, and across the ice, you can see that the uniforms are a burned orange, not the harsh red and silver of before. Georgette is shaking out her arms, and teammate Toivo Kosonen skates over to her. There's a brief but audible exchange.

"You stop them, I get one more," Toivo says, bumping helmets with Georgette.

"You making a deal with me?"

"No, not a deal -- a promise." Georgette stops moving.

"Alright then, Toivs. You go get one more for me, and they'll have a harder time scoring than they would shitting through a needle-hole." She punches him in the shoulder, and he punches her.

She shakes her head lightly as he skates up the ice, and then hunkers down again, readjusting her focus.]

Because people change. Players can change. Players can learn.

[The scoreboard reads 07:51 in the second period, when Halifax’s goal horn blares. The goal belongs to Ryan, with Kosonen and Azarov on the assist. Instead of the impassive figure she’d painted previously, Georgette is screaming like a madwoman and skating out of her crease down to engage in the celly her forward line is engaging in.]

Even goalies. Even the most stubborn, self-reliant, and bull-headed net minders can change, and change for the better.

[It’s a shoot-out now, again -- the scoreboard reads STL 3 - 3 HAL; a group of Halifax players is swooping past Georgette though, this time, each one of them knocking their sticks into her pads.

When she hunkers down this time, she doesn’t even look back at the goal posts for a second.]

And while perfection is still always the ideal, no matter how much we tell ourselves it doesn’t matter in the long run, winning no matter how perfectly, as long as it’s together with team starts to drown that out -- slowly, maybe, but surely.

[Georgette gets beaten on the second shot off a frankly tricky puck juggling maneuver by Eugene Fiest. It’s the kind of showy goal nobody likes being beaten by, something for showboating camps and bullshitting for PR. It’s insulting. Georgette punches the post, but -- shakes it off.

Stands back up. Gets ready for the next one.

Georgette doesn’t let the next one in, or the one after that. When Volkova scores, she pumps her fists and jumps, whooping loudly. When she stops the third, the mood is tense. Reed Laing skates down on the other side, and -- off a sick deke -- gently taps one in past a thoroughly beaten Wahlgren.

Georgette throws her stick in the air, yelling happily. The team piles off the bench, half of them going to hug her, the other half going after Laing. Both groups converge in the middle of the ice, hugging and yelling.]

Because team is hockey, team wins hockey, and no goalie, even in the shootout, is an island.

Code:
Game #49 vs Game #133 -- shootouts, shots against, and GA compared.

Koke · 08-23-2016, 11:54 PM

The Prince George Firebirds have had a lot of ups and downs this season. Toms Shnekinsen is here to report on a terrible game, and a great game!

Let's get the worst over with, shall we?

Day 56: Game #132

vs

Final score: 6-0 Falcons.

Detroit came out flying, and Prince George failed to keep up. Prince George's offensive scorers did not produce. Their defenders did not defend. Their goalies did not make any key saves. Detroit dominated in almost every category of the game, leading to an easy victory for the team.

Key stats:
Prince George were pummeled with shots on net. Prince George managed a tiny 18 shots on net, while Detroit managed 42.

Ben Waters had a terrible .741 sv% this game, compared to Sivy McSteve who got the shutout.

Prince George failed to stay disciplined, and got a grand total of 17 penalty minutes.

And to finish off on a high note....

Day 20, game #51 Firebirds

vs

Final score: 1-0 Firebirds

The score may not be large, but it's all about quality rather than quantity. Prince George managed 1 goal on a strong Kyle Wahlgren. Prince George had physically and mentally dominated the game. St. Louis couldn't tie the game up due to various small details they were lacking. It still turned out as a fun game to watch, as a fan of the game.

Key stats:
Ben Waters may had only faced 20 shots, but he stopped all of them, getting a shutout.

Prince George's handy centerman dominated the faceoff circle, winning 35 faceoffs. St. Louis was only able to win 24.

St. Louis just loved skating to the penalty box, taking 15 penalty minutes this game.

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