 |
| Tri-City Herald |
Sarthou, who is from Black Diamond, Washington, was considered a potential World Juniors' goalie for Team USA and was invited to the Lake Placid camp over the summer with this in mind. Instead of building on this opportunity and putting up great numbers, he has faltered. Sarthou is 8-12-1 overall with a 3.72 GAA and 0.878 save percentage. Hardly the numbers one would expect from someone expected to be one of the best at their position-in their age group-in the country.
Portland jumped out to an early lead Friday night, behind another power play goal from defenseman Jack Dougherty. The Nashville Predators' prospect made a beautiful toe-drag move around a sprawling Nolan Yaremko-who had no stick-and wired it past Sarthou. The power play had been drawn by 16-year-old Ryan Hughes who kept moving his feet in drawing a tripping call on Boston Bruins' signed prospect Brandon Carlo. Portland then added to their lead in the first period, when, after a couple solid puck-cycling shifts, Colton Veloso took the puck off of the side boards and beat Sarthou on a rather weak looking wrist shot.
The Americans would get a goal back in the period, when Dominic Turgeon, just barely missed intercepting an outlet pass, which allowed Tri-City to break the other way. Vladislav Lukin made a nice pass to Brian Williams in the slot, who beat Adin Hill for his fourth goal of the year. The Winterhawks, though, would get the two-goal lead right back when Cody Glass made a nifty outlet pass to Alex Overhardt, who then used his size to set up a wrist shot from the top of the faceoff dot. Overhardt picked a corner on Sarthou, ending his night and giving the Hawks a two-goal first period lead. Sarthou left after giving up three goals on only 10 shots. Nicholas Sanders cam in to relieve the 18-year-old netminder.
In the second period, the Winterhawks would extend their lead to three goals. Dominic Turgeon made a power move to the front of the net from the right corner and was able to slip the puck under Sanders's left pad for his 11th marker on the season and a 4-1 Portland lead. The Americans were not done yet though as they closed the gap back to two on a screened blue line shot from Beau McCue that foiled Hill. Jack Dougherty, who has done a great job this year at clearing out traffic in front this year, did not do enough to clear out Jordan Topping on the play. Dougherty has found a way to toe the line of legality in moving opponent's out of Hill's sight-line. This is particularly impressive for someone who is new to the league and it's officials.
The Winterhawks would close out the scoring in the third period with a pretty goal from Paul Bittner. While on the man advantage, Bittner drove the left wing and picked a corner over Sanders's left shoulder. The goal was reminiscent of some beauties that Oliver Bjorkstrand scored last season for the Hawks and has you drooling for more from the 19-year-old NHL drafted winger. The goal for Bittner was his first in seven games, which was all the way back on October 30th.
Portland received a solid outing from Adin Hill, who stopped 26 of 28 shots he faced. Meanwhile, in relief, Sanders stopped 34 of 36.
The Hawks' power play was two-for-five, while their penalty kill was a perfect two-for-two.
Stats:
Player
|
Goals
|
Assists
|
Points
|
Shots
|
Faceoffs
|
F.O. %
|
Hits
|
Blocked Shots
|
PIMs
|
Iverson
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
7
|
1/1
|
100%
|
5
|
0
|
2
|
Turgeon
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
13/21
|
61.9%
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
|
Schoenborn
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
-
|
-
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
|
Bukarts
| 0 |
1 |
1 | 2 | - | - | 0 |
1 |
0 |
| Abols | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3/11 | 27.3% | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Bittner | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
0/1 | 0% | 7 |
1 | 0 |
Overhardt
| 1 | 1 | 2 |
3 | 4/8 | 50% | 1 |
1 | 0 |
| Glass |
0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2/4 | 50% | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Weinger | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 6 | 0 | 2 |
McKenzie
| 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | - | 5 | 2 | 0 |
| Hughes | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8/13 | 61.5% | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Veloso | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | - | - | 4 | 1 | 0 |
Heinrich
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
-
|
-
|
2
|
0
|
4
|
Dougherty
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
-
|
-
|
7
|
3
|
0
|
Jones
| 0 | 1 |
1 | 5 | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Texeira | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 8 | 1 | 0 |
| MacEachern | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| De Jong | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | - | - | 6 | 2 | 0 |
Notes:
-Alex Overhardt's goal extended his career-high goal scoring streak to four games. The Colorado native has played fantastic, as of late, putting a poor offensive start to his year behind him. After he had a solid preseason, there was much expected of the 18-year-old forward and he was just not getting his name on the score sheet in the first month of the season. He was doing a lot of other things right in his game, but was not capitalizing on the chances he was getting. That has changed over the last four games. The goal he scored in this one, demonstrated how much confidence he has gained recently. He drove right at the Americans' defense and pushed them back on their heals in order to give himself the room necessary to get his shot on net. Overhardt has played a mixture of center and left-wing recently, depending on the situation. I would look for him to continue playing this role.
-The guy he has been alternating with has also found a new gear in his game. One of Cody Glass's best assets is his ice-vision and he has utilized this to send out a series of beautiful outlet passes recently. After this game, Glass now has a four-game assist streak going. After Alex Schoenborn was injured in the first period, Glass was rewarded, with ice time on the second power play unit. He played well in that role.
-Schoenborn's injury was a strange one. He took a run at Jordan Topping in the Tri-City zone and caught the forward unaware, sending him flying. After the hit though, Schoenborn immediately favored his left shoulder. After the game, he was seen with his arm in a sling. Hopefully, he can find his way back into the lineup soon as he is an integral part of this team.
-Schoenborn's spot on the right wing of the Dominic Turgeon centered line, was split between Colton Veloso and Evan Weinger. Weinger is likely to fill in here long-term as his style is much more similar to Schoenborn's.
-Keegan Iverson was jumped from behind by Maxwell James in an odd series of events. First, Iverson checked James cleanly in the corner to Adin Hill's right. Then, as he was coming away from the hit, Iverson briefly got himself tangled up with Nolan Yaremko's equipment. James saw this and threw his gloves off, grabbing Iverson from behind and throwing him, dangerously to the ice. He then got Iverson in the back of the head with a punch, before Caleb Jones was able to remove him. James and Iverson have not been strangers over the first four games of the season series, so this was something that was always just beneath the surface. During the single Americans' win in the seasons series so far, James getting under Iverson's skin played a meaningful role. Due to the similar styles that the two play, James likely though Iverson was trying to pick on Yaremko, but that did not appear to actually be happening. Regardless, the dangerous play ended up getting James a one-game suspension.
-Parker Wotherspoon was a surprising scratch for Tri-City before the game. His absence made Brandon Carlo have to carry a large share of the ice time, in much the same way Wotherspoon did while Carlo was out with an injury.
-The guy he has been alternating with has also found a new gear in his game. One of Cody Glass's best assets is his ice-vision and he has utilized this to send out a series of beautiful outlet passes recently. After this game, Glass now has a four-game assist streak going. After Alex Schoenborn was injured in the first period, Glass was rewarded, with ice time on the second power play unit. He played well in that role.
-Schoenborn's injury was a strange one. He took a run at Jordan Topping in the Tri-City zone and caught the forward unaware, sending him flying. After the hit though, Schoenborn immediately favored his left shoulder. After the game, he was seen with his arm in a sling. Hopefully, he can find his way back into the lineup soon as he is an integral part of this team.
-Schoenborn's spot on the right wing of the Dominic Turgeon centered line, was split between Colton Veloso and Evan Weinger. Weinger is likely to fill in here long-term as his style is much more similar to Schoenborn's.
-Keegan Iverson was jumped from behind by Maxwell James in an odd series of events. First, Iverson checked James cleanly in the corner to Adin Hill's right. Then, as he was coming away from the hit, Iverson briefly got himself tangled up with Nolan Yaremko's equipment. James saw this and threw his gloves off, grabbing Iverson from behind and throwing him, dangerously to the ice. He then got Iverson in the back of the head with a punch, before Caleb Jones was able to remove him. James and Iverson have not been strangers over the first four games of the season series, so this was something that was always just beneath the surface. During the single Americans' win in the seasons series so far, James getting under Iverson's skin played a meaningful role. Due to the similar styles that the two play, James likely though Iverson was trying to pick on Yaremko, but that did not appear to actually be happening. Regardless, the dangerous play ended up getting James a one-game suspension.
-Parker Wotherspoon was a surprising scratch for Tri-City before the game. His absence made Brandon Carlo have to carry a large share of the ice time, in much the same way Wotherspoon did while Carlo was out with an injury.
 |
| CBS Local |
Seattle 5 vs. Portland 2:
-Two U.S. Division foes entered Saturday night's tilt with winning streaks going, but only Seattle was able to carry theirs through the night. After dispatching Portland by a 5-2 score, the Thunderbirds ran their win streak all the way to six games. Despite the score, the game was a spirited and tight affair.
Seattle, who actually had the worst of the travel, after playing in Kamloops the previous night, was ready from the jump during the first period. They jumped out to a 1-0 lead when, after Portland controlled play on an extended cycle, Rihards Bukarts made an ill-advised pass towards the high slot of the attacking zone. The pass ended up right on Mathew Barzal's stick and the 2015 NHL draft first-round pick was off to the races. He played give and go with Keegan Kolesar and beat Adin HIll with a nifty backhand shot to start the scoring. The goal had to be a painful one, for Portland, who withstood an early first period Seattle attack to out-possess Seattle for an extended period of time just prior to this goal.
Portland would tie the score in the first when a Caleb Jones shot caught part of Logan Flodell's catching glove and part of the post, before Paul Bittner tipped it home. Bittner showed great awareness and hand-eye coordination on the goal. Even though, Portland escaped the period with a 1-1 tie, a lot of strange things happened for them. Hill ended up falling to the ice on three separate occasions. On one, Barzal's right skate caught his left one, sending him tumbling. On one of the others. Gustav Olhaver did not do enough to avoid the big goalie behind Portland's net and Hill was send face first to the ice drawing an interference call.
Despite these odd events, Hill showed composure to start the second period, making several key saves, while Portland was down two men for 1:44. Even though, they were able to fend off this two-man advantage, Portland was ultimately felled by their lack of discipline. After Brett Clayton tripped Jarret Tyszka, Seattle would make Portland pay. Jerret Smith took the puck off a smooth cross-ice pass from Scott Eansor and fired it towards the net. Donavon Neuls tipped it at the backdoor, as Jack Dougherty tried to contend with Jamal Watson in front of the net. Even more gut-wrenching for the Hawks was the fact that Portland nearly scored the go-ahead goal moments earlier when Rihards Bukarts banged one off of Logan Flodell and then the post.
Scott Eansor, who had recently returned from injury, showed why he's one of the best defensive-forwards in the game, moments after Neuls's marker. He anticipated a lazy, backhand outlet pass at the Portland blue line by Evan Weinger and streamed in one a two-on-one rush. He then found Watson on the right wing and the overage forward made Hill commit to a forehand shot, before slipping a backhand past the goalie for a 3-1 lead. Weinger had to have learned his lesson the hard way, that when you face an aggressive and quick team like Seattle, you cannot make any blind passes, especially in your own zone.
Portland narrowed the gap to one, early in the third period as Jack Dougherty fired a shot hard off of the end boards. The puck came bouncing to the slot where only Paul Bittner was waiting. He collected the puck and beat Flodell for his second of the game. The goal was Bittner's third in the last two games. He showed magnificent anticipation on the goal, timing his rush into the zone, with when the puck would be coming off of the boards. His goal also appeared to steal some of the momentum back for Portland.
This was undone moments later, though as Seattle scored a controversial goal for the 4-2 lead. In a scrum around the Portland net, the puck bounced out to Nick Holowko, who beat a down and out Hill. Why Hill was down and out is what made the goal controversial. If you watch the replay, you will see that Jamal Watson hit Hill in the face mask part of his helmet, dislodging it from his head, while the puck was still loose around him. Hill's helmet would eventually fall off, but not before Holowko's shot had found the net. In today's NHL, with many goals now being called back to interference with the goalie, there is little doubt that this egregious interference would not result in an overturned goal. However, the WHL is unable to utilize the video replays as well as the NHL, because the camera quality and quantity pales in comparison to the professional game. With the camera angles they had to work with, I do not fault the officiating crew with this call.
Seattle closed out the scoring on the night when Matthew Wedman tipped a shot form the point past Hill, for his third of the season.
In the loss, Adin Hill stopped 31 of 36 shots he faced. Meanwhile, Flodell was good for 24 saves on 26 shots.
Portland's power play was 1/6 on the night while their penalty kill was 3/4. Their PP on the year is now 16/90 (20%, ninth in the WHL), while their PK is now 78/96 (81.2%, 10th in the WHL).
Stats:
Player
|
Goals
|
Assists
|
Points
|
Shots
|
Faceoffs
|
F.O. %
|
Hits
|
Blocked Shots
|
PIMs
|
Iverson
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
0/1 | 0% |
3
|
0
|
0
|
Turgeon
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
13/24
|
54.2%
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
Weinger
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
Bukarts
| 0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
- | - | 1 |
0 |
0 |
| Abols | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9/15 | 60% | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Bittner | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
0/1 | 0% | 2 |
0 | 0 |
Overhardt
| 0 | 0 | 0 |
4 | 4/6 | 66.7% | 0 |
0 | 2 |
| Glass |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2/5 | 40% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| McKenzie | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | - | - | 7 | 2 | 0 |
Clayton
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Hughes | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3/7 | 42.9% | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Veloso | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 3 | 0 | 0 |
Heinrich
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
3 |
0
|
0
|
Dougherty
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
5
|
0
|
2
|
Jones
| 0 | 1 |
1 | 3 | - | - | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| Texeira | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | - | - | 6 | 1 | 0 |
| MacEachern | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| De Jong | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 3 | 0 | 0 |
Notes:
-Portland was without Alex Schoenborn. His spot was taken by Evan Weinger, who struggled defensively. Besides the poor pass that led to Seattle's third goal, he seemed to really struggle with Seattle's speed.
-The basic tenants of the way Seattle scores goal appears to be much the same as last season. They utilize their electrifying speed to set up on odd man rushes and are quite adept at tipping point shot past unaware goalies.
-A day after Keegan Iverson's eight-game point streak ended, Alex Overhardt's four-game goal streak and Cody Glass's four game assist streaks both ended. Overhardt took the first of the two penalties that left Portland down two men, when he got caught flat-footed and tripped Owen Seidel.
-Rodrigo Abols briefly left the game after taking a high-stick to the mouth from Scott Eansor. He returned and did not appear to miss his regular rotation.
-Seattle has now won the first two games vs. Portland this season. They set up a thriller on Wednesday night with Kelowna. The two teams appear to be the class of the Western Conference so far and are both playing at the top of their games right now.
-The line with Turgeon, Iverson and now Weinger, did not look nearly the same as they did with Schoenborn in that spot. he has quietly been one of Portland's most consistent forwards this year and they badly need him back in the lineup.
-Two guys who are starting to show a little chemistry together are Ryan Hughes and Skyler McKenzie. They both are small and quick and seem to like playing an up-tempo, quick-passing style. I would like to see the two of them get to play together a little more.
-Keoni Texeira has lost his spot on the point of the second power play unit. Blake Heinirch is now playing there opposite Caleb Jones. Texeira has looked great at times this year, but this was not one of his finer games. He appeared to really struggle with Seattle's speedy forwards and was caught out of position on several occasions. He has the potential to be a great two-way d-man but needs to be more consistent in both areas.
-That second power play unit now features two 16-year-olds up front. The more Ryan Hughes and Cody Glass get to experience playing together on the man advantage the better they will be in this role over the next couple of seasons.
-Portland next plays Wednesday night vs. the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors.
WHL Scores, News and Links:
Friday Scores:-Brandon fired 53 shots on net and only won when 16-year-old forward Stelio Mattheos found the net in the second for the eventual game winner.
-Kootenay d-man Cale Fleury played the hero for the Kootenay Ice, scoring the overtime winner in a 2-1 win over Moose Jaw. It was only Fleury's second goal of his WHL career and helped the Ice stop a four-game losing streak that plummeted them to near the bottom of the WHL standings.
-Chase Witala scored his seventh of the year in the third period and it was the eventual game winner for Prince George as they took down Lethbridge 4-2. Kody McDonald logged an impressive 20 penalty minutes in the win for P.G.
-Ivan Nikolishin scored a natural hat-trick for Red Deer and they prevailed over Saskatoon 6-3.
-Cole Sanford scored a power play goal with only 53 seconds left and Medicine Hat eked out a 2-1 win over visiting Everett. Silvertips' rookie Riley Sutter scored his first career WHL goal in front of his family in the first period.
-Seattle soared out to a 3-1 second period lead, before allowing Kamloops to crawl back and tie it in the third. Then Keegan Kolesar scored the OT winner on a nifty backhand shot in front of the net. Seattle had to be thinking about all of the leads they had blown recently, when the Blazers stormed back.
-Payton Lee did not have the first start as an Edmonton Oil King, he had been hoping for. Kelowna chased him from the net in the second period, after scoring eight goals on just 12 shots. The Rockets ended up beating the Oil Kings 6-1.
-Swift Current's five-game U.S. Division swing ended with a dull thud, as they fell to Spokane 4-1. The Chiefs got four goals from four different players in the win. The Broncos lost all five games vs. the U.S. Division and next traveled to Kootenay.
-The Vancouver Giants could write a book about how to lose tough games this year. They jumped out to a 3-0 lead on Victoria, but gave up four straight goals to go down 4-3. Then they got a clutch third period goal from Chase Lang, before giving up a gut-punch of a game winner with 6:29 left from Ryan Gagnon.
Saturday Scores:
-Reid Gardiner is running away with the title of Prince Albert Raider's MVP this year. He was in on all three regulation goals for P.A. and scored the OT winner in a 4-3 victory over Regina.
-The Ice made it two straight wins by beating Swift Current 2-1, behind a clutch goal from 19-year-old forward Matt Alfaro. The Broncos losing streak is now at six games. They did get leading scorer Jon Martin back in the lineup though. On the flip side, the Ice lost Luke Philp to a leg injury that had him in a boot by the end of the night. They are already without Jaedon Descheneau for the season.
-Cory Millete had a four point night for Lethbridge as they beat Saskatoon 5-2. The big night comes just a couple games after he had two goals for the Hurricanes.
-Calgary won their fourth straight and handed Everett their second straight loss, 4-3 in a shootout. Radel Fazleev had the only goal of the circus in the win.
-Prince George got two more goals from Case Witala and they took down Medicine Hat 5-2.
-Edmonton was up 3-1 entering the game's final frame in Kamloops and looked to be in control. Instead, the Blazers scored four straight, en route to a 5-3 victory. Collin Shirley had three points in the victory.
-Spokane won their third straight behind overage forward Adam Helewka's two goals. The beat Moose Jaw 5-2. The Warriors were again without Brayden Point, who is with the team on the trip.
-Vancouver lost again, this time 5-2 to the red hot Kelowna Rockets. The Giants have now won only two of their last 17 contests.
-In what was likely the craziest game of the week, Tri-City scored three times and Victoria five times, in the games opening period. The Americans found a way to come back and tie the game, before Vladislav Lukin netted the OT winner. Tri-City has given up eight total goals over their last two, first periods.
Sunday Scores:
-The Hitmen are rolling as they beat Saskatoon 5-2, for their fifth straight victory. Jake Bean and Radel Fazleev each had three points in Calgary's win.
Links:
-Another solid Pucklandia podcast is out. This one is with the Moose Jaw Warriors' beat writer Lucas Punkari. Lucas mentioned on the podcast that forward Noah Gregor was injured last season against Portland. As he mentioned while on the pipeline show this summer he was in fact injured, when receiving a check from Portland's Keegan Iverson. If there is some noticeable animosity towards Iverson from the Warriors, this could be why Wednesday.
-On the Pipeline show on Saturday, they played a clip of Scott Mydan fighting with Stu Barnes (likely from 1991). The fight was one-sided in Mydan's favor, which should not come as much of a surprise to Winterhawks' fans who remember the crazy strength that little (5'8") Mydan had. The interview with the former T.C. Americans' star forward is a can't miss.
-The latest NHL Central Scouting list is out and Brendan De Jong, Evan Weinger, Keoni Texeira and Rodrigo Abols are all listed as "C" skaters. This, essentially, means that they believe these four should all be late-round draft picks in next June's draft.
Winterhawks in the NHL:
Friday: -Ryan Johansen had two points for Columbus (one goal and one assist) in a 4-0 win over Seth Jones and Nashville. It has been reported that Paul Gaustad is out with a lower body injury for the Predators, though he has not been in the lineup since November 21st anyways.
Saturday:
-Colorado was blown out by Washington, but got yet another goal from Cody McLeod. McLeod already has four goals on the year so far.
-Vancouver got a huge 6-3 win over Chicago and two former Winterhawks factored in the scoring. Marian Hossa had an assist on a Jonathan Toews goal and Jannik Hansen had a goal and an assist in the game. The Hockey writers put up a great piece on Hossa, calling him a "Hockey God."
Sunday:
-Ryan Johansen had his fourth goal of the year (hey, same as McLeod), but Columbus fell to San Jose 5-3. Despite the goal, he had a season-low in ice time and seems to still be in coach John Tortorella's dog house. Also, of note for CBJ, is the fact that Brandon Dubinsky will be missing some time to have surgery on his elbow, after a cut he suffered on October, 22nd became infected.
Monday:
-Cody McLeod notched his fifth goal of the season, helping Colorado to a 4-1 win over Winnipeg. McLeod's ice time has increased during his hot streak and is now up to over 15 minutes a game.
Winterhawks in the AHL:
Friday:-Nic Petan had his first AHL assist but the Manitoba Moose fell to Bakersfield 2-1. Interestingly enough, the assist was on a goal scored by longtime Spokane Chiefs' defenseman Brenden Kichton.
Saturday:
-Derrick Pouliot had two assists for Wilkes Barre/Scranton and they beat Albany 5-3. He now has 12 points in 14 games so far this year.
-Brendan Leipsic had two assists for Toronto and the Marlies took down Rochester 5-1. He was named first star of the game and apparently was rather unlucky not to score, with how well he played (led team with five shots on goal).
-Taylor Aronson notched his seventh assist of the year for Milwaukee in a 3-1 win over San Diego. He is currently fourth on the team in scoring and tops among Admirals' d-men.
Sunday:
-Chase De Leo had an assist and Manitoba got Bakersfield back 3-1. Of course, De Leo's assist was on a goal from another former WHL player J.C. Lipon (Kamloops).
-Brendan Leipsic had the eventual game winner with under four minutes left in the game for Toronto in a 6-4 win over Binghamton.
Winterhawks in the ECHL:
Friday:-Cam Reid and Kevin Young each had an assist for Reading in a 5-4 loss to Elmira.
-Taylor Peters had a three point night (one goal and two assists) for Idaho in a 5-4 loss to Colorado. Peters now had 10 points this year.
Saturday:
-Reid had an assist and Kevin Young had a goal and an assist as Reading loss to Elmira again by a 5-4 score. Reid now has a four-game point streak going, while Young has a three-game streak.
Monday:
-Thomas Frazee had an assist in Atlanta's 4-3 victory over Greenville.
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