EPL Roundup – Week 11

SWINDON, UK –  Whew! That was a relief managing to sneak through the weekend with heads below the parapet and neither Phoenix’s so-say enforcer, Andrew Sharpe, or Phantoms’ Tom Jeffery, who had threatened butchery on the Steeldogs, killing anyone, perhaps we can all get back to business.
Sharp said of his quiet debut, ‘Whatever the coach expects of me is what I am going to do. I’ll be determined, play tough, play aggressive.’ In fact, he said it several times and not a great deal more or less than you would expect, or at least like, any player to promise, although a mention of skill would be nice. He did, however, reiterate the point he was ready, willing and able to drop the gloves and was starting to sound as though Coach Hand’s leash was a tad too tight for his liking.
Hand for his part has kept pretty quiet, keeping his comments to his frustration about the Phoenix ‘lack of concentration’ and looking ‘nervous’ in front of the net in recent games.  
One coach probably hoping such hesitation prevails is Ryan Aldridge at the Wildcats who go to Manchester for their next game. ‘It is an arena we find ourselves comfortable in,’ he said, ‘If we can shut down their top line we have a chance.’ With Swindon’s new import Egidijus Bauba looking like a good investment and if top scoring Jozef Liska is recovered from injury, Aldridge may have a point. Either way Aldridge confirmed the injured netminder Chris Douglas would start light training in the coming week following his injury received in a car crash.  
A more nervous Coach Cruickshank at the Phantoms revealed he found it an ordeal to watch his team’s shoot-out against the Steeldogs. ‘I find it really hard to watch shoot-outs,’ he said, peeping out from behind the sofa, ‘I am powerless to do anything…but netminder Stephen Wall did a great job.’ Does anyone like watching shoot-outs? I know I always carry my pocket teddy bear with the dog collar and big crucifix round its neck to games just so I know I have the best talisman. But, just to add to Cruickshank’s woes, Lithuanian forward Darius Lelenas appears to have dislocated his shoulder and could be out for a month once they can assess the damage when the swelling reduces. But, Cruickshank was quite upbeat about it saying, ‘It could be the medicine we need at the moment as it means other players have the chance to step up and fill the gap. So try this: Your D-man James Morgan collided with a linesman and broke his finger. Cruickshank’s reply: put a boxing glove on him and he will be fine for next week.
Having recovered from a much more serious injury back in the summer, Andre Payette finally signed on for the Steeldogs. Coach Darlow said, ‘I am ecstatic to get the chance to work with a player of Andre’s capabilities, and I know the whole team is pumped up at his signing.’ Payette, in Darlow’s view, will achieve two things. Firstly his name is going to appear on the score-sheets regularly, and his presence on the ice will allow the younger players to ‘flourish offensively.’
Payette, who agrees his role is more mentorish than ruffian said, ‘I only had two fights all last year and don’t see myself doing much of that with the Steeldogs, but the opposition will know they won’t be able to take liberties.’
Continuing this positive vein Coach Watkins in Telford, following their defeat of the Bees said, ‘We’ve found a way to win. Our young guys are getting better, our defence is getting more solid and our forwards are defensively better. Adding Calvert to the team gave us a lift.’
It’s great to see these lower teams developing because after all isn’t that what the EPL is all about? So how did Watkins feel about the coming Guildford game? ‘We took a point off Manchester, who are up there with Guildford,’ he said, ‘so we’ll never say never.’ Also never saying never was forward Scott McKenzie who added, ‘Guildford are the best team in the league. But in our rink it will be a different game. We can go into the weekend with no fear.’
The Jets, of course, know how to lose to the Flames having been stomped on at the Hanger last week. But as Jets’ Coach Russell rightly pointed out, ‘We’re not playing bad, so we’re still positive. You are never going to win every game, and I don’t think we have peaked yet. No complaints.’
Steve Moria, though, coach at the Bison and not a million league places away from the Jets, despite a hard-fought four-point weekend against the Wildcats sounded more like they’d lost. ‘I think it important scoring be spread around the team as we should not be relying on two or three guys every night…but we have to get back to playing as a team.’
So, going into Saturday’s games and an apprehensive Bison made sure they are still in the running with their sixth straight win, this time over visiting Peterborough who actually opened the scoring through Maris Ziedins after a couple of minutes. But by the break the Bison were level and then dominated the second period and pulled away, and despite a second from Ziedins early in the third the Phantoms really didn’t pose too much of a threat.
The Lightning, meanwhile, with netminder Barry Hollyhead having returned to the bench, hosted the Bees in what turned out to be a creditable performance by the Bracknell side. In a hard fought game, in both senses of the word, the Bees only really lost it with nine minutes to go when they equalised at two-all. The Lightning struck back twenty seconds later and Nicky Watt had words with Alex Mettam about some philosophical point or other and Coach Cox called a timeout to steady things. And almost pulled it off.
It’s not very often you see sixty shots on goal but that’s what was inflicted on the Steeldogs in their 4-1 defeat in Slough. With the Jets on the score-sheet in less than two minutes, although the Steeldogs were back on equal terms just minutes later, and for half an hour it was looking fairly even. Then the Jets dug in and although their final goal was on an empty net, the Sheffield 25 shots on goal just about summed things up as the Jets made it ten wins from eleven games.
Saturday’s Wildcats’ game against the Phoenix in Manchester was like the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and even though top scoring Jozef Liska was back, probably best forgotten. The Phoenix hacked them apart bit by bit with Curtis Huppe scoring his second hat-trick of the season with all three goals coming inside five minutes in the second period which helped to establish their best victory while at the same time inflicting the Wildcats’ season’s worst defeat.
But, goodness me, what were the Tigers up to giving the Flames such a fright not just in scoring first but with a minute to go and everything equal? And had the Flames first goal not been a deflection, well, who knows what might have happened? But you can’t really knock the Flames for a fairly sound performance so long as it’s not at the expense of the even slickier Tigers who are looking much more like a team, particularly at the back, and really deserved a point.
Sunday and the carnage continued.
The Wildcats, even with all four imports now icing and at home, were again massacred, this time by the Lightning. The Wildcats were always struggling to keep up and the game-winning goal came early in the second period just after the loss of Grant McPhearson through injury, but by then the Lightning had it in the bag anyway and returned to Milton Keynes with a four-point weekend.
The new, improved Bees, although dropping an early goal, appeared to be building on last night’s performance and managed to contain the Jets for most of the game, even equalising just after the half-hour. Going into the second break even the almost inevitable roughing penalties had not ruffled the Bees, er, feathers, and shots were virtually equal. As things heated up and Adam Greener walked with a match penalty, it wasn’t until six minutes from time when Jan Krajicek stuck in a long one short-handed with Scott Spearing following suit seconds later, that the Jets sewed it up.
The Steeldogs, minus Andre Payette who was grounded by missing paperwork, hosted the Phoenix. Sheffield’s Coach Matt Darlow must have slipped something into Huppe’s water because he only scored the once tonight but it didn’t stop the Phoenix from being three up as the second period got underway and controlling the game until netminder Steve Fone claimed his second shut-out.
Basingstoke continued their rampage in the double header weekend against the Phantoms with their first goal after thirteen seconds, although the Peterborough side gave as good as they got as it was two apiece after only ten minutes. A minute into the second and Tony Redmond put the Bison in the lead with a short-handed goal but the Phantoms matched them right up to the final two minutes when Kurt Reynolds snatched the winner from close in giving the Bison another four-point double-headed weekend.   
And now for something completely different. The second leg of the Tigers-Flames weekend, which must be the game of the weekend, continued in Guildford where the Flames are normally so strong. But the Tigers were having none of it and matched shots almost equally fighting a tighter game than the previous night, and at half way were actually leading. Mid-way through the final period the Tigers were again in the lead but three minutes from time had not Paul Dixon equalised on a power-play the Tigers would have ended it there. As it was, they left their calling card last night and delivered this evening with the Flames a bit lucky to snatch the point as Tom Watkins became the Telford hero in overtime.
While there was no serious movement in the Top Ten Charts last week there have been some discernable movement in the league table. The clear winners over the week-end in that respect are the Phoenix who now match the Flames on points at the top, while lower down the Tigers have joined the Wildcats and look likely to pull ahead next weekend. Can’t wait!
For more EPL stats, facts, news including it all in a mailing list you could do worse than try my website – www.iceman-epl.com
Contact the author Bill.Coollins@Prohockeynews.com