SWINDON, UK – The EPL Top Tens Charts, and last week in the points chart Adam Calder replaced Janis Ozolins after a rule of many weeks, but on average only a game in difference separates them, while in the Brit charts the top of both has changed with David Longstaff taking over from Greg Wood on total and Aaron Nell on average.
Ozolins, however, still rules on goals scored as does Wood for the Brits while Joe Greener has given up his assist top spot to Longstaff who also of course must therefore head the Brit chart.
Phantoms’ Chris Allen after weeks as the top D-man has been replaced by Phoenix’s Ladislav Harabin, while Steeldogs’ Ben Morgan has shifted Paul Dixon from the top Brit spot.
The Netminders Chart shows little change with Alex Mettam as reliable as ever at the top.
Penalties, and Andre Payette still rules the EPL charts at both total and average, but Adam Greener has swapped with Chris Wiggins, but only in the running total Brit chart so Wiggins still has more than five minutes per game on average. Into the week and more chaos in Peterborough as Rick Skene became the latest player to jump ship and while the club gave no particular reason for the departure, you can’t help wonder what is happening if for no other reason that no other club has or is losing players at a similar rate.
Since the start of the season very few players have actually requested release from their clubs. Dean Holland went from the Tigers to go and play in the EIHL, Thomas Jeffery left the Steeldogs and joined Sutton in the ENL, and Sam Waller went from the Bees and joined the Jets. That means six teams have not been faced with the issue, while the Phantoms have lost James Spurr, Shaun Yardley, Steve Wall and now Skene to the Bees, so more than the other three teams who have lost players put together.
However, Skene gave his reasons for moving as purely a business decision. He says his personal training business didn’t take off in Peterborough and with an established client-base in Guildford he felt a return to that neck of the woods would stand more chance of being developed. He added, ‘I am sure some people will want to give me some stick, but that is just the way it is and I can take it. My time there has been great and I have really enjoyed working for Chris Allen who is a great coach, and I have enjoyed being in that dressing room.’ So while his timing might not make Rolex envious let’s not forget, the guy is nearly thirty so you can’t blame him for wanting to take care of his future.
As it happened, Skene signed for the Bees within hours, thereby answering Coach Gareth Cox’s prayers for a player to replace Sam Waller who went to the Jets in October. The Phantoms also announced recent signing Warren Tait, who had been playing as a forward, will revert to his previous role on the blue line, where he was quite comfortable. Not quite so comfortable is Latvian forward Maris Ziedins, who having sustained a shoulder injury last weekend has been told to rest it for a week.
As a pleasant change compared to recent weeks, there were a couple of good pieces of news coming out of Peterborough. While this is probably not a lure to recover the services of Canadian Dwayne Newman, who went to the ENL Chieftains in May, the club announced it was to retire his No22 shirt in honour of services rendered. Newman first appeared in British hockey in 1996 for the Basingstoke Bison who were in the old Super League at the time with a first appearance in Peterborough in 2000 for the Pirates, and 2-years later in the EPL with Lightning. His tenure with the Phantoms started in 2006 until becoming captain of Chelmsford earlier this year.
Secondly, new signing Ondrej Lauko said, he was, ‘very happy to be in Peterborough. It is a great club with great fans, and I like the town too, which is good.’ Well, there’s a relief!
And talking of not being happy, the Phoenix announced the ankle injury which has sidelined Tony Hand for some weeks has been confirmed as a broken. While the Phoenix signed British forward James Spurr, who it may be remembered quit the Phantoms in November, Hand said the ankle did not seem to be getting any better and the swelling had hampered X-rays, while an MRI scan confirmed the worst. ‘This is the worst injury I have had in 25 years,’ Hand complained, as he now looks forward to a couple of months more rest.
Interestingly, this may give him time to contemplate his future because in the week the GB coach Paul Thompson resigned his post, and it is hard to see a more suited replacement than Hand himself. However, it raises something of a dilemma for him because he is still a prodigious scorer with relatively long-term commitments to the Phoenix, and while the GB job may be a natural progression for his talents, if the offer came his way it must make him wonder if now is the right time?
But there’s more. The Elite League, as has been mentioned in recent weeks, is under pressure for change with at least two clubs having declared financial problems. A management meeting last week, although revealing little other than assurances it is not yet time to man the lifeboats, did produce some snippets of information. For instance, Chairman Eamon Convery resigned his post and Thompson said the reason he left the GB post was to concentrate on saving his ailing Coventry Blaze. Curiously Steelers’ boss Tony Smith said he favoured ‘regionalisation’ as the way for his league to move forward. While no names were mentioned it is known the Phoenix would be welcomed back with open arms, but call me an old speculator with nothing more in my pan than a few grains of rumour and in my barrow a tattered old map of Scotland, but it appears the run from Glasgow, that is to say the Braehead Clan, is a nice long motorway all the way to Manchester and back, while the locations of Dundee, Edinburgh and Fife are more isolated and with smaller gates than the rest of the EIHL.
Whatever happens in the Elite League, and should they dump the Scottish teams then travelling won’t suddenly become easier southwards, but you have to wonder how many clubs are needed to form a viable league. So it could be the reorganisation eventually frees up a club or two which would then find the EPL a more attractive option as did the Bison and Phoenix, or who knows if the whole caboodle goes down the pan?
Saturday, and just the four games with the Steeldogs and Bison both grounded.
Tigers 3 – Phantoms 5
Both sides entered this encounter short benched with the Phantoms icing just two lines, which probably in truth made them feel at home, and the Tigers still missing their GB contingent. However, it was the home side that went ahead after four minutes thanks to Marek Hornak and added a second ten minutes later through Tomas Janak. The middle period saw the Phantoms draw level seconds from the start, and lose it two minutes later, then draw level early in the third until two quick goals by Lauko for his hat-trick sealed the win with plenty of time to spare despite a final bombardment from the Tigers.
Flames 8 – Bees 0
In a fairly tight first period which saw the Flames take a 1-goal lead and Andrew Sharp take a trip to the box for misconduct, it had the makings of a tough game. But in a second period with twelve minutes of carnage, including a short two-step demonstration by Sharp and James Galazzi, the Flames had it all but sewn up rubbing more salt into the wound with three more in the final stint for a record fifth shut-out for Mark Lee.
Jets 9 – Phoenix 0
But if it was a big shut-out you wanted then it was better to turn to Slough where the visiting Phoenix kept things tight for a period with just an Adam Calder goal in it for the home side. Then, in a middle stint that was enough to scare a monkey, the Jets blasted in six unanswered goals with two more added in the final period for not just the biggest shut-out of the season, but the biggest defeat in the EPL by goal difference so far which gave Greg Rockman his second shut-out, although oddly the shots on goal were the same.
Lightning 3 – Wildcats 2
In another tight game highlighted in the first period by a curious uncharacteristic lapse by Matt Towalski which started with 2 minutes for holding and finished moments later with a pair of misconduct medals, it was Leigh Jamieson who claimed a brace of power-play goals in the second to break the deadlock which looked like it might be the start of the end for the Wildcats. But Michal Pinc bagged his own pair of power-play goals in the third, which all goes to show how close it was, and just as it was looking to all be heading to overtime Adam Carr snapped up the winner unassisted giving the Lightning a best home run now of six games.
So on to Sunday.
Tigers 2 – Wildcats 8
The Wildcats positively leapt from the blocks with their first goal from Nicky Watt after two minutes and sixteen minutes later found they found themselves with a five-goal lead as they ripped into the home side. The Tigers really didn’t have an answer as the Wildcats kept up the pressure, and to add to their misery Greg Blais left the ice with a cut head and concussion after the final onslaught.
Phantoms 4 – Jets 3
Perhaps Saturday was merely a warm-up for the Phantoms who seemed to catch the Jets napping with a 2-goal lead by the first break. Ryan Watt pulled one back early in the second only to see the 2-goal lead restored thirty seconds later. The Phantoms finally seem to have found their feet in a solid performance they carried into the final period to keep control and although the Jets made a hopeful fight back, it was too little too late giving the Phantoms a four-point weekend. So when Jets’ coach Doug Sheppard said in the week his side, ‘definitely want to go into the break on a winning run rather than spending Christmas thinking about what we could have achieved,’ as it turned out the Jets headed for the holiday more like someone had stamped on the presents.
Phoenix 4 – Lightning 2
After an early skirmish between Slava Koulikov and Lewis Christie a sluggish looking Lightning fell victim to two goals from a Phoenix side desperate to avenge the previous night’s humiliation, especially on home ice. The visitors were back in it in the second with Jamieson continuing where he left off the night before, adding a second in the third. But the fight back was not enough for a much-revived home side with tails up and Martin Cingel nabbing his hat-trick with minutes to spare.
Bees 3 – Flames 4 after penalties
After last night’s leg of this double-header it must have come as a shock for the Flames when Peter Jasik put the Bees into the lead after a minute. And that is how it stayed for the first period with more of the same in the second. But the third was more to the Flames liking as they recovered to get back on equal terms with a few minutes to go, and while the overtime produced nothing, the Flames took both points in a penalty shoot-out that clocked up a league record breaking seven occasions the Bees have gone into such territory. So a weekend which saw a couple of surprisingly huge results followed by pendulum reactions a day later. The outcome meant the Flames edged away at the top while both the Wildcats and Bees leap-frogged the Bison, who have games in hand, and the number of games played drew slightly closer.
Next weekend for some reason there is no hockey and games have been pushed back by two days. Can’t wait.
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Contact Bill.Collins@prohockeynews.com
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