SWINDON, UK – First off we take a look at last week’s situation in the EPL Top Tens Charts, that’s Week 9.
Points Scoring
Having missed the weekend from being with the GB side in Japan, Flames’ David Longstaff is no longer the top EPL points scorer as the Wildcats’ Jonas H öög took over by a point, although Longstaff still leads by game average and, of course, remains the top Brit.
The Bees improved their showing in the top ten with Lukas Smital and Shaun Thompson joining Martin Masa at the expense of the Flames who drop to two entries, with Curtis Huppe, Jozef Kohut having moved out.
As far as the Brit chart goes, the Phantoms’ Tom Carlon moves up two places and is joined by James Ferrara.
Goal Scoring
No change at the top of the goal scoring charts with Huppe still leading the EPL and Wildcats’ Aaron Nell leading the Brits. Carlon has also entered the EPL chart as the second Phantoms’ representative along with Ondrej Lauko, while the British chart has eight different teams represented and just the Jets and Tigers missing.
Assist Scoring
Despite a weekend in Japan, the Phoenix’s Tony Hand remains top of all four assist scoring charts which has seven different teams represented in the EPL, and eight in the British chart and on this occasion has the Tigers and Lightning missing.
D-Men
No change in the top highest scoring D-men with the Bees’ Marcel Petran leading the EPL, and the Steeldogs’ Ben Morgan the top Brit.
Netminding
The Bison’s Stevie Lyle still heads the netminding chart although the Lightning’s Alex Mettam has closed the gap as has the Jets’ Greg Rockman in third position.
Penalties
Steeldogs’ Derek Campbell is still the league’s biggest penalty-taker although the Phoenix’s Robert Schnabel made a dramatic leap into forth place in the chart following an expensive Saturday, and the much-travelled Tomas Fojtik entered for the Wildcats displacing team mate Nicky Watt. In the British players’ chart the Jets’ Adam Greener still leads and is pulling away at the head from the usual suspects.
Into the week which started in a controversial mood with the still-to-put-to-bed late equalising goal scored by Jozef Sladok for the Phantoms in their game against the Wildcats on Sunday. The Wildcats had earlier surrendered a 3-goal lead only to go on and lose to the Phantoms in overtime. But the goal in question was eventually timed at 59.59 or, if you accept the view of numerous fans and even Wildcats’ players, after regular time had expired. Wildcats forward Nick Watt, for example, said, ‘In my opinion they scored after time ran out, but before the buzzer.’
I guess you would have had to have one eye on the clock, one eye on the puck, one eye on the goal line and one eye on the red light to be sure because the buzzer, I am pretty sure, is not automatically activated by the clock but can, of course, be sounded in anticipation. But that is what the ref had to unravel in what must have been a nightmare decision like trying to choose between Fosters and Carlin, the top two best selling lagers. But decide he did and eventually ruled a goal in the last second.
However, Sladok made no public assessment of the event other than to say he had never seen a final-second goal before; hardly surprising because they are rare indeed, but not unique. I can actually remember seeing one by pure chance in 2009 when from 4-2 down against the Boston Bruins the St Louis Blues fought back with David Backes hitting the puck in mid-air into an empty net on a power-play for the equaliser. Time on the clock: 00.00.08, or eight-tenths of a second in old money, and the Blues went on to win the shoot-out.
Now if you think that was a squeeze, Craig Berube, now an assistant coach with the Philadelphia Flyers with the rare distinction of a game suspension for a racist comment he aimed at another player in 1997, has the even rarer claim to fame of having once scored against Phoenix with 0.01 of a second left in overtime. A tenth of a second? Well, that’s tighter than a bum in a bucket.
Less controversial than a late goal was the signing of Kris Melachrino by the Bison, older brother by a couple years than team mate Andrew. Melachrino, the elder, has not played in the EPL before, and in fact not much at all recently but he is a big lad at 196cm (6’5”) and happy at the front or back.
Two other players yet to play in the EPL this season although on rosters are the Wildcats’ netminder Tom Murdy and the Phoenix forward Liam Chong. While Murdy is scheduled to coach at a forthcoming Okanagan camp, and likely to be a pain for Dean Skinns when he finally returns,
Chong says he is ‘optimistic’ he will be back in the saddle on schedule over the Christmas holiday.
A lot sooner, though, were Saturday’s games.
Wildcats 3 – Phantoms 4 after PSO
Sadly for the Wildcats they again followed their almost reliable formula and started well with goals from Aaron Nell and Nicky Watt only to have them taken off of them by Jeff Glowa on the half-way mark as the Phantoms followed theirs and started slowly. Tomas Fojtik regained the lead early in the third period by scoring his first goal for his new club, but even that tempts one to say it looked like the Phantoms were waiting for the final minute to react. Instead, they waited just two minutes, outshot the Wildcats 2-1 in the period, and of course wrapped it up after sixty minutes on penalties for what is the Wildcats’ eighth loss from eight such occasions; a difficult feat to accomplish with two of the top scorers in the league.
Lightning 1 – Phoenix 4
The Phoenix came out strongly in the first period and were 2-goals up within a couple of minutes, though Leigh Jamieson clawed one back for the Lightning six minutes later to secure the period. Steve Fone was solid in the Phoenix net despite a wobbly moment after a save, but was back when the Phoenix did it again in P2 thanks to James Archer. So two goals adrift and the Lightning couldn’t do a lot about it even on a powerplay and especially with a long 5-on-3 in what turned out to be a barren third period until Michal Psurny finally stamped on their hands with an empty net goal with seconds to spare.
Bees 1 – Bison 3
The Bees were caught napping and went a goal down in the first minute, but fair play to them they held the Bison in check for two periods and had their chances even getting back on even terms with a James Galazzi goal early in the final leg. But any thoughts of claiming the points were short lived because up popped Jaroslav Cesky, who seems to be settling in nicely with his new club, and nabbed a pair in five minutes which put paid to that.
Jets 3 – Flames 5
The Flames got off to a roaring start in Slough and had a 2-goal lead half-way through the first period. But the Jets reined them back in so that the final period stated all even again. As the clocked ticked down it was looking like the points were going to be split. But then, bing-bong and David Longstaff came out of the sun with two late goals and before you knew it the game was over with a win that moved the Flames up the table to third place.
Steeldogs 2 – Tigers 1
A close enough game expected with the Steeldogs finding their feet after a poor run and the Tigers on the back of a 4-1 win against the Phoenix. But things started sedately, almost gentlemanly in fact, with a surprising absence of penalties which made you wonder what those sneaky Steeldogs were up to. Tim Burrows broke the deadlock for the Tigers early in the second period, and still the home side remained calm, nay, majestic as they equalised just after half way. Although the tempo threatened to warm up in the final stint, it came to nought and the Steeldogs snatched the lead thanks to Derek Campbell and left you wondering if this is a new, improved, green, liquid, fairy game-plan.
And so we come on to Sunday’s games
Bison 5 – Steeldogs 3
Now, remind me, what was I saying about a new-look, cuddly, bunnykins approach to the game by the Steeldogs? Well, not tonight in a game that at times resembled a kamikaze attack on the home side and which started within minutes with Andre Payette and Jaroslav Cesky having words. The Bison responded with a power-play goal when Campbell was binned seconds later and just before he picked up his ten minutes for misconduct. And so it went on as a short-benched Bison chugged along to a victory built on three power-play goals. The Steeldogs, though, with three even-handed goals of their own just might have stopped them had it not been for the catalogue of penalties amounting to an hour in the box.
Phantoms 4 – Bees 5
In a change of plan from recent games the Phantoms hit the ground running. Jozef Sladok took a quick zip round the ice and was ejected for boarding, but for the rest twelve minutes later found them 4-up after a 6-minute burst. The Bees responded by the end of the period by grabbing handfuls of penalties which included James Galazzi also taking a walk. The second was a different story and a more composed Bracknell got four of their own, also in six minutes, during which the Phantoms said goodbye to Tom Carlon for misconduct. All this and still only a fraction past half way. But that was how it stayed in a game drenched in penalties and which the Phantoms failed to make use of seven times until Matt Foord scored the Bees’ fifth in a row with plenty of time to spare.
Tigers 1 – Lightning 3
While you can always expect the Tigers to battle hard, with just two goals scored from the weekend they are looking tired. True, they are thin on the ground and an import short, and to their credit they only conceded five goals which raises a question over the Lightning performance particularly as their first was a power-play goal. The Lightning should have scored more, especially when you consider the number of times Declan Ryan was called on to stand on his head in the Tigers’ goal, but they were always in control and will be happy enough with that.
Flames 6 – Jets 3
A rerun of the Saturday game with the Flames a bit too strong in depth for the Jets with results that put them securely back on track in their title chase. Although the Jets started the scoring after a minute, the Flames bounced back immediately with an unassisted Rick Plant goal and didn’t really look back. By half way their 3-goal lead was looking unassailable, Branislav Kvetan added a fifth short-handed, and Ben Campbell another unassisted. There was even time for the suspiciously quiet Andrew Sharp to twice claim lots of penalty minutes which will do his credit rating the world of good. And to be fair to the Jets, they did get plenty of shots on goal.
Phoenix 5 – Wildcats 4 after overtime
The Phoenix has never found the Wildcats an easy side to deal with, as their two previous results attest. But look at the facts: the visitors are short benched including an import missing, have had to drag coach Ryan Aldridge off the bench, have the habit of forfeiting a lead, and are up against a top team with few problems. So who is your money going on? When you add three Phoenix goals in the first eleven minutes, I say again, where is your money placed? But, after a forth goal early in P2 the Wildcats didn’t lose heart, but suddenly came alive and did the almost impossible and recovered a 4-goal deficit mainly thanks to a Michal Kapicka hat-trick which forced the overtime. Even starting that period on a power-play they still made it a ninth consecutive extra-time loss which means they haven’t won after sixty minutes since my granny was a boy. But what the heck, it was a wonderful point to pocket. So another weekend complete and the Bison and Phoenix still neck-and-neck at the top of the table, but the Flames moved up a place into third and the Bees back to fifth.
And to think we get to do it all again in a week. Can’t wait!
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