Semi-Final Game #1

Semi Final Game 1

March 21, 2014
Riels 5 vs  Hawks 4  
 
FIRST PERIOD
Riels came out skating in the first period.  After a ten-day layoff between games, the Riels dominated the play on both sides of the ice, winning battles on the boards and giving the Hawks nothing in the neutral zone to set up any type of offence.  Riels opened the scoring at 13:57 when Brian Dies made a beautiful move beating Hawks net minder, Stuart Fleury with assists coming from Brett Charette and Stanislav Izvekov.  Riels kept on the charge when Brett Charette circled in the Hawks zone and blasted the puck past Fleury top shelf to make it 2-0 Riels at the 18:00 minute mark with assists going to Stanislav Izvekov and Brian Dies.  Then 43 seconds later, Glen Young skated down the left side just inside the blue line and snapped a shot towards the Hawk net and handcuffed Fleury to make it 3-0 Riels, with help from Michael Gorrie and Brian Michiels.  Riels out shot the Hawks 17-10.
 
SECOND PERIOD
The second period was a funny turn of events.  The period started off slow.  Just past the five-minute mark, there was a stoppage of play for about 20 minutes due to the glass pane being shattered off by a physical hit on the sideboards.   After that delay, play resumed.  Riels captain, Michael Gorrie broke open on the break away and sniped blast top cheddar at 8:10 to boost the lead to 4-0 Riels.  The Riels took a penalty less than a minute later and it would cost the Riels dearly.  Jesse Toth scored on the power play at 9:39 with assists going to Mike Lorange and Scott Brauer.  Riels disgruntle net minder Kyle Vandemosselaer skated up to the ref indicating that the puck was kicked in.  The referee did not change his call, which made it 4-1 Riels.  Hawks got some energy from that goal and fed off of it.  Jesse Toth scored his second of the night at 11:56 unassisted to cut the Riels lead to 4-2.  Hawks were on fire, pressing in the Riels zone in the last 5 minutes when Jesse Toth blasted a puck through traffic at 17:58 to make it 4-3 with assists going to Mike Lorange and Tyler Morwick.  That’s how the period ended 4-3 Riels.  Hawks out shot the Riels 16-9 in the second.
 
THIRD PERIOD
Well, we had ourselves a barnburner.  What a turn of events!  Hawks did not fold their tents yet as Riley Court scored at 6:25 to tie the game at 4-4 with assists going to Garrett Desmond.  The third period was exciting with end-to-end action.  Both goaltenders held their fort.  The third period would end at 4-4 tie.  The Hawks out shot the Riels 15-10.
 
OVERTIME #1
The Riels were getting chances early, but Fleury came up big.  David Lafleche had a chance to win the game for the Hawks when a penalty shot was called against the Riels for knocking the net off intentionally.  Lafleche came in on the penalty shot, but shot it wide of the net.
 
OVERTIME #2
With just six minutes into the second overtime, Brock Bram broke his stick and retrieved another one.  In the neutral zone play, Artur Raevskiy stole the puck and seen an open Brock Bram cutting across the middle of the ice before the Hawks blue line, fed a beautiful saucer pass to Bram who shot the puck past Hawks net minder Stuart Fleury blocker side to get the Riels the victory.  What a MMJHL playoff game.  The Riels and Hawks face off Sunday night, March 23rd, 7:30 pm at Eric Coy Arena.  Game #3 of the series will be Tuesday night, March 25th back at Southdale CC 7:30pm puck drop.  Come all and see the Riels “reload” on the Hawks.
 
THREE STARS
   1st Star   -  Brock Bram
   2nd Star   -  Artur Raevskiy
   3rd Star  -  Stanislav Izvekov