SWINDON, UK – First on the agenda is a look at the week 14 EPL top tens charts which has produced almost no changes at the tops.
Points’ scoring is still headed by the Flames’ David Longstaff who is the only player this season to average over 2 points per game, a rare feat anyway but unique at present.
The Flames’ Curtis Huppe still heads the Goal Scoring Chart with the Wildcats’ Aaron Nell still the top Brit, and it is Longstaff who is also the leading assist scorer. There is also no change in any of the second placed players either.
It is also still the absent Bee’s Marcel Petran who heads the D-men chart but the Flames’ Ben Morgan has moved up into third place and in doing so regains his former top spot in the Brit chart with the Flames’ David Savage falling back to second.
The league’s leading penalty-takers has also not changed with the Phantoms Jozef Sladok at number one and the Jets’ Adam Greener still the most prolific British player although sitting at four in the league behind Derek Campbell and Andre Payette.
So, on to week 15 and having bared his soul last week Steeldogs’ Canadian forward Derek Campbell was released. This is a curious affair because Campbell having publically accepted he has not been at his best and assured the fans the reasons for his lapse were behind him, he was lambasted by owner Shaun Smith with the demand he ‘step up or ship out’. It then appeared from the Steeldogs’ last game Campbell had, in fact, done what was asked of him with three points and barely a penalty in recent weeks. But not so, because days later he was on his way. Now I say curious because at a point a game there is only Greg Wood with a better average, and Campbell’s latest performance was a clear indication his problems were, as he claimed, behind him. But, whatever criteria was set by which he failed to meet the grade, one game, and a good one at that, seems scant opportunity to prove himself. Being the case, his statement of contrition seems a strange episode to have been allowed to happen in the Steeldogs’ recovery.
And then things got even curiouser. The following day Campbell was sign by the Phoenix where he played in the 2006/07 season when the side was in the Elite League, and did very well, thank you very much, with well over a point a game average and of course armfuls of penalties. But his appointment is baffling on several counts. The official reason has been given as cover for a ‘critical’ injury situation. In the Phoenix’s last game before the signing those missing were Steve Fone, who has since returned, and Liam Chong who is yet to play so cannot truly be considered a loss and is expected back in a week. That just leaves Robert Schnabel, a D-man. And what of the recently released Scott McKenzie who did play in that last game and who has a similar scoring record to Campbell, but without the penalty baggage? Which raises another question. Two seasons ago the Phoenix experimented with Andrew Sharp, at the time another big penalty-taker, and gave up on the idea after a season on the grounds the club couldn’t justify the luxury of a player as some sort of policeman spending so much time in the box. In the 28 games Sharp played he amassed an average of two points per game, while Campbell currently has double that total for what is effectively the same period. While it is true Coach Hand kept Sharp on a fairly tight leash, so suggestive of a similar policy with Campbell, to be fair to Campbell he went into penalty treble figures a month ago and has since hardly added to it. That certainly shows a degree of control on his part and that he isn’t the loose cannon many believe and his penalty-taking has an element of consideration and planning. So what is actually going on? Well, bearing in mind he is so-say providing injury cover so contracted for just a few weeks and on the verge of game bans for accumulated penalty points, perhaps he is going to start throwing his weight around again knowing short term it won’t make much difference. Or is there more to this than meets the ear?
Another curiosity occurred in Basingstoke where the Bison said goodbye to James Hutchinson who, apparently, has completed his period of injury cover for Kurt Reynolds missing for about three weeks. Oddly there was no mention of a temporary contract at the time, a fact which seems not to have escaped many fans, and Hutchinson himself said on his appointment, ‘I am really looking forward to coming back to Basingstoke and helping them win some trophies,’ which at least suggests he was planning on something longer term. Either way, as I said when he left the Phantoms, Hutchinson is a talented D-man that really shouldn’t be lost to the EPL.
And he isn’t because before he had time to get his slippers on and settle in front of the fire for Christmas the Jets snapped him up giving him the appearance of being in training for a government position as a minister without port folio.
Someone not so lucky in finding a position, unless you include a very uncomfortable one that is, is the Tigers’ US forward Patrick Greene who has been confirmed as sustaining a broken ankle which usually means a 4 to 6 week lay-off. What might give him heart was a statement from Lightning’s GM Vito Rausa who said of the club’s long-term injured Adam Calder, ‘He is still very much part of this team. He comes to games whenever he can, and the players still see him very much part of the MK Lightning.’ On the other hand, it might not be any comfort because it may be remembered that back in early September Juraj Senko was dropped by the Jets after it was claimed he received an injury several weeks previously while still with the Tigers and which would prevent him starting the season. In the event he went to the EIHL Edinburgh Capitals instead where he has remained until returning to the Tigers recently.
And talking of finding a position, the will-he-or-won’t he saga of James Morgan at the Phantoms continues with both player and club reported to be ‘keen’ to come to some sort of understanding for a permanent arrangement for the future. Morgan has now played a couple of times for the Phantoms, and bearing in mind this has been going on since before the season began, it is beginning to take on the air of an afternoon soap.
However, we had a mid-week game that was far more exciting than soaps as the troubled Steeldogs travelled to Manchester where the newly installed Derek Campbell took to the ice along with new signing Bari McKenzie.
Phoenix 5 – Steeldogs 3
The Phoenix got off to a dream start with three goals in the first period, but the visitors got one on the board through Craig Elliott seconds before the break. The second period started with a second goal from the Steeldogs which was enough to make it even more interesting, and then Payette and Campbell took a few minutes out to catch up on old times and adjourned to the penalty box to do so. The third then saw Pavel Gomeniuk put the Steeldogs firmly back in contention, but James Flavell in goal took another peppering with over fifty shots faced compared to less than thirty on Steve Fone. Two goals in the last five minutes, one by Michal Psurny with the Phoenix short-handed, put the Phoenix out of reach and still with a question mark over the Steeldogs’ defence.
So it was on to Saturday and three games.
Steeldogs 2 – Phantoms 3
The Steeldogs’ misery continued with a forth home loss on the bounce and, more importantly, their opponents creeping away from them at the bottom of the table and out of the play-off drop zone. With everyone back from GB duty, the Steeldogs seemed set on some old-style roughy-toughty hockey which started with a brief interchange between Payette and the league’s biggest penalty taker, Jozef Sladok, within minutes. Before the first period had closed scoreless, Greg Wood was boxed for a check from behind. The second period belonged to the visitors with three goals and just one reply with Joe Graham getting punted into touch with a game misconduct. The Phantoms held on firm in the third, and although the Steeldogs scored again through Lubomir Korhon they lost Lloyd Gibson for ten minutes and couldn’t intimidate their hosts into submission.
Jets 3 – Phoenix 4
In what for half an hour was looking like a path to a solid and comfortable victory, the Jets took control with three unanswered goals including a pair from Darius Pliskauskas. Just before the second break Tom Duggan put the Phoenix on the map, and they came out for the third in a much more determined mood and before the Jets knew it, they were drawing. Steve Fone in the Phoenix net wasn’t without work, though, but it was a shot from the blue line by Tony Hand that seemed to take Greg Rockman by surprise that ended it.
Bison 1 – Flames 0
The scoreline says it all – not much in it – accept a lone goal from Greg Owen in the closing seconds of the first period. The Flames did, however, outshoot their opponents but neither side could capitalise on a total of eleven power-plays, which just goes to show how little was given away by either side. But the win took the Bison to a tenth home-winning game run and gave netminder Stevie Lyle his third shut-out of the season to lead that particular chart, while robbing the Flames of extending their own ten-game run.
Sunday, and four games.
Tigers 1 – Bison 5
This was always going to be a difficult one for the Tigers, by far the lowest scoring side in the league, against the table toppers who concede the fewest goals in the league. And difficult it was, especially missing Declan Ryan in goal, and a disastrous opening few minutes that bled goals like someone had opened an artery. By the end of the period a second power-play goal was conceded but from the second period the Tigers settled down somewhat including a goal of their own. But it would be unfair to be too harsh on the side for failing to capitalise on what chances they had with injury and now health problems ravishing the side. But, with a penalty rate around a third of what league leading Steeldogs and Lightning have reached, you can’t help thinking a bit more weight thrown around might help.
Phantoms 2 – Phoenix 3 after penalties
Bit of a Christmas cracker this one with a Phantoms’ still with their tails up from Saturday’s win and plenty of up-and-down stuff for everyone starting with a goal from James Ferrara after a minute. The Phoenix took the lead before the second break, but did not overwhelm a home side that outshot them anyway, and it looked like they would hang on for the points. But the Phantoms said those magic words that has produced last minute wonders in the past and, hey presto! they were into a penalty shoot-out and a well-deserved point which might have been more had the ref agreed with the goal judge and Ondrej Lauko over his penalty shot.
Bees 3 – Jets 6 after penalties
A scrappy start, well, a scrappy game in fact with eighty-odd penalty minutes, saw the Bees 2-up within minutes. But by half way the Jets had taken the lead with two power-play goals and one short-handed, and then lost it to a power-play goal to the home side. In the second half the Jets pulled away but a penalty shot for a covered puck in the crease and Shaun Thompson brought the Bees back within hope. The Bees’ prayers were then answered after Adam Greener was forced to sit out the remainder of the game on a penalty, and with five seconds to spare the Bees clinched a point. But there was some good stuff too with over fifty shots on Greg Rockman and nearly 100 shots all told. For the Jets Mindy Kieras and Slava Koulikov both managed four points, and Darius Pliskauskas too plus the only goal in the shoot-out that mattered.
Flames 5 – Steeldogs 2
The Steeldogs really didn’t have an answer to the Flames’ war machine as it trundled on with five goals from five different scorers, and it really was all over by half time. Another five goals conceded and their tally is now the highest in the league and their losing run now up to nine games. James Flavell was replaced in the Steeldogs’ net in the third period and two consolation goals eventually followed from Andy Hirst and Shaun Wild, but unlike last night this game was remarkably low in the penalty count, and although the Steeldogs outshot their opponents, it is clear there is still some way to go as they slip further out of the play-off zone. After Sunday’s games the Bison remain on top of the league table with a five-point buffer. The Flames and Phoenix share points in second place and then have their own buffer separating them from the middle order. Lower down the Phantoms must now be eyeing the Wildcats hungrily, although they have their own buffer of games in hand.
The coming week is going to be busy just as soon as we get this holiday malarky out of the way with games from Wednesday to Sunday.
Can’t wait!
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Contact Bill.Collins@prohockeynews.com
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