LONDON,U.K- After just one weekend of playoffs the climax of the English Premier league 2008-09 is nearly upon us. All that remains is the show case event of the Coventry playoff finals held at home ice of Coventry Blaze, the Skydome. With just four teams remaining Prohockeynews.com takes a look at the semi-final matchups scheduled for this saturday (April 11) and who will book a place in the final the following day.
Phantoms captain Lewis Buckman will look to make it a hatrick of trophies come Coventry (Photo by Paul Young)
As predicted an easily quarter final win for the Phantoms overcoming the Wildcats 10-4. With a standout performance by Joe Miller including a five goal haul the Phantoms dominance prevailed once again over the Wiltshire side. Slough Jets on the other hand had a tougher series. Seen as the toughest of the playoffs the Jets versus Bees series didn’t disappoint. Taking a 3-2 lead from the first game the Jets had a slight advantage as they traveled the short distance to Bracknell. Jets came out full thrusters and soon took the game out of reach of the Bees with a four goal lead with no reply from the battling Bees. A hard fought game with flying body checks and ferocious hits from both sides gave the fans the game they had wanted. But the Bees weren’t going out without a fight, eventually battling back with three unanswered goals to set up a frantic last five minutes. But it was to little to late as the Jets held on for the win with a 7-5 victory
over the two games. The first semi-final game of the Coventry weekend has all the makings of a classic. If the Jets can with stand the forward play of the Phantoms and look to catch the Phantoms on the break they might just scrape a victory. Jets haven’t fared well against the Phantoms this season winning just once in a penalty shoot out at the beginning of the season. Phantoms will once again be the favorites to make the final but as Slough Jets proved last season anything is possible come playoff time.
Milton Keynes Lightning (2) vs (3) Guildford Flames Milton Keynes Lightning go into the final four matchup as one of the in form clubs. Head-coach Nick Poole has once again pulled his players together and responded with a great performance over the Sheffield Scimitars. Despite a close fought 3-3 tie in Sheffield the Lightning came away victorious after the second game which the Lightning won 5-3. A surprise two goal night from third line grinder Michael Wales helped the MK progress to the final four. The EPL surprise team of the playoff Romford Raiders were not so lucky going down to Guildford Flames. Despite going three goals up in less than ten minutes of play the Raiders lost the first game 6-4. An emphatic performance from the Flames turned a three goal hole into a 4-3 lead by the end of the first period and it was none stop from their. A late goal from Danny Cox was enough to keep the Raiders in it for the return leg but Raiders hopes were soon dashed early in game two. The Flames firing on all cylinders put the series to rest early ending the Raiders hopes of making the final four with a 5-1 victory, and despite man mountain Jan Krajicek impressive statistic of being on the playoff winning side for the last three seasons it was not to be for the Essex outfit with the final score over two games 11-5. Much like the Bees versus Jets series the second semi-final matchup is a tough one to call. The benefits for the Lightning are the big ice surface of Coventry Skydome. Lightning like to play a fast flowing break out hockey and with Gary Clarke and Nick Poole leading the line look for plenty of scoring chances. However the danger man of the series has to be Lukas Smital. The Flames forward skills and finesse will pay dividends on the ice and with a supporting cast of Taras Foremsky and Michael Palik the Flames have many options. One weak link in the lineup could be Flames power forward Vaclav Zavoral, despite his superb play the Flames gritty forward will need to keep out of the penalty box to have any influence on the game or the Lightning powerplay will reap the benefits. Contact the author at
Kevin.oconnor@prohockeynews.com Related
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