Quad Cities v Cole Harbour

The battle of the cellar dwellers kicked off at the Quad Cities Qualcomm Quonset Hut. Cole Harbour came in on a bit of a high after collecting their first win of the season and looked to continue with their momentum. The game got off to a tentative start with neither side wanting to give the other something to latch onto when at the six minute mark as Ivan Provorov left to go for a line change. His wrister from the point found its way through the traffic and beat a surprised Logan Thompson to give the home side the 1-0 lead. About ten minutes later the Butcher's Sam Bennett attempted to break into the zone but Will Borgen crunched him into the boards where Bennett was a little slow to get up. A couple of minute later Teuvo Terravainen's stick broke letting Jacob "Thundering Herd" Bryson break in on net but surprise starter Alexander Georgiev was able to turn his chance aside and send the home side into the first intermission up by that 1-0 score.  The second saw the Q-Men come out and force a territorial advantage which they were able to capitalize on at the four minute mark when Claude Giroux's snap shot beat Thompson to double the Quad Cities lead. Less than two minutes later Pavel Dorofeyev opened his Quarrymen account, stretching the lead to 3-0. At 6:48 Cole Harbour's Justin Schultz pulled one back for the visitors. Then, with Shane Pinto off for interference, Olli Maatta was stoned by Georgiev on a glorious chance but the QCQ keeper was adjudged to have once again thrown his stick and Maatta was awarded a penalty shot which he converted off a beautiful forehand-backhand move. this drew the Butchers to within one and silenced the home crowd. The Q-Men were tentative in their play after that and wtih eleven seconds left in the second frame Claude Giroux reignited the fans fervour with a backhander that snuck by Logan Thompson and sent the Quarreymen into the dressing room up 4-2 and feeling better about themselves. the third period saw both sides come out similar to the first with neither side wanting to make a mistake but not really pushing for the advantage. Then late in the third over a 72 second span Elias Lindholm scored twice and Dylan Cozens added one to to break the Butchers resolve and the home side skated to their first win with a 7-2 victory.

Cole Harbour 2 (6 chances +1 PS (G) on 31 shots) vs Quad Cities 7 (9 chances on 50 shots)

1. Giroux (QCQ) - 2G

2. Georgive (QCQ) - W, 2 GA on 7 chances (1 successful PS)

3. Jokiharju (QCQ) - 2A, +4, 1 chance on 6 shots

The rematch in Cole Harbour will undoubtedly go down as one of the most exciting games in recent history. The Quarrymen came in on an emotional high after winning their first game of the season. An early DoG penalty from Joel Erikson-Ek had Elias Lindholm break the Q-Men's o-fer streak and the floodgates opened for the visitors as they had their way with the home team. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins doubled the Quad Cities lead at the ten minute mark with Ryan Donato off serving Logan Thompson's second minor of the period - slashing as his temper got the better of him after being abandoned by his team mates. Then at 12:48 of the first Thompson went to smother a weak shot from Teuvo Terravainen and he didn't get up. Probably a case of exhaustion as his body of work for the time reads 12:48 played, 4 PM, 2 Goals Against on 17 shots (9 chances). James Reimer came in to replace Thompson and this delay broke the Quarrymen's momentum. Both sides played back and forth when Ty Dellandrea beat Joonas Korpisalo with a snap shot at 16:48 to halve the lead and send the home side in only down by one after one and still on the power play after a late roughing penalty by Michael Rasmussen. The second started off with Ivan Barbashev finishing off a pretty tic-tac-toe passing play to tie the game at two before most of the fans were back in their seats to start the period. Two minutes later Kevin Fiala put the visitors back ahead Just after the seven minute mark, on an amazing individual effort Tage Thompson drew the home side level again and then off the ensuing face off he tipped the pass from Barbashev past Korpisalo to give Cole Harbour their first lead of the game. Dylan Cozens drew the visitors level at teh fourteen minute mark and the two sides went into the second intermission tied at fours. Just over a minute into the third Jaden Schwartz wired one past Korpisalo to put the Butchers up by one but as the announcer was letting everyone know about the scoring play, Dylan Cozens was leveling the score again. Two minutes later Claude Giroux picked up a loose puck on the turnover, skated through the Butchers and put the Q-Men up by one. Five minutes later on another power play, K'Andre Miller dusted off the rafters and blew one past Reimer to put Quad Cities up by two. At 11:12 Giroux got his second power play marker of the period and it looked like it was done and dusted with the Quarrymen up by three. Tage Thompson completed his hat trick at 16:00 to give the home side some hope. Less than two minutes later Erikson-Ek (EEK) pulled the Butchers to within one and it was all hands on deck. With Reimer pulled for the extra skater Victor Hedmann had a glorious chance to tie it up but Korpisalo was able to beat the shot aside and the Butcher's pleas for a penalty shot fell on deaf ears as Quad Cities held on for the 8-7 win.

Quad Cities 8 (18 chances on 52 shots) vs Cole Harbour 7 (10 chances on 44 shots)

1. T. Thompson (CHB) - 3 G

2. Giroux (QCQ) - 2G, 1A, GWG, 3 chances on 4 shots

3. Nugent-Hopkins (QCQ) - 1G, 3A, 2 chances on 8 shots