Lee Valley Lions end losing streak

LONDON, UK – Lee Valley Lions grabbed an important home win over Wightlink Tigers to climb above them in English National League South Division 2.
The Lions have been inconsistent this season and had lost their previous four games before their 7-4 win over the visiting Tigers. Early signs had been ominous for the home side as Canadian Jason Coles fired in to give the visitors the lead after only five minutes.

The Lions hit back almost immediately when hard skating centre man Blair Dubyk converted a Gary Dodds pass to equalise. Virtually from the restart, former Swindon youngster Graham Lewis put the home side in the lead following good work from Dave Richards and birthday boy Calum Mathison, celebrating his 21^st on the ice in style.
The Tigers began to make chances of their own, with Daniel Giden and Graham McFarlane both being denied by Cattell in the Lions goal.   The Lions got the vital two goal cushion they needed as Richard Hodge found himself wide alone in the slot and finished past the stranded Tigers goalie Folley.
The Lions started the second the way they finished the first and with six minutes gone, Dubyk cycled behind the net and passed the puck out front to Dodds who slotted the puck under Folley into the net. The goal seemed to stir the Tigers into action as they began to exert pressure on the Lions with Coles and Kev Tanner beginning to impose themselves more on the game.
Two goals in the space of three minutes duly arrived as the home side began to panic. Giden was the first to score following a great pass out of the corner by Coles who was now showing the stick handling and vision that once made him a top import for the Isle of Wight Raiders in the English Premier League a few years ago. Coles then released Michael Palin who rifled the puck into the top right hand corner of the net to reduce the deficit to one goal at the end of the second.
Lee Valley needed to be quick out of the blocks in the third as the vistors had visibly grown in confidence. Thankfully for the home fans an early goal came courtesy of Dodds as he tipped in a Lee Mercer shot from the point. This knocked the stuffing out of the Tigers and Swiss import Phillipe Mueller took full advantage of confusion in the zone by roofing a beautiful wrist shot into the top corner from the slot. Mueller effectively killed off the game thirty seconds later as he latched on to a poor defensive clearance to score a solo effort and make the score 7-3 to the home side.

Wightlink had responded at the start of the period by edging Tanner up front and he had a number of opportunities to score but couldn’t take advantage. The visitors finally scored with four minutes remaining as former Haringey Greyhound Ricky Rutherford skated hard down the right wing and unleashed a dipping slapshot from just inside the zone into the far bottom corner of the net.
Mueller continued to cause problems for the Tigers and a frustrated Tanner finally snapped with a hefty slash on the Swiss man, who stayed true to his countries roots by remaining calm and passive as Tanner made his way to the bin. A war of words erupted between both benches and in particular between Lee Mercer and Tanner, which led to both tangling in the last minute of the game with punches flying to give the crowd another talking point. Both were kicked out and the final forty seconds were played out without incident.
“We knew they would have bus legs so we knew we had to come out strong in the first period” said veteran forward Gary Dodds. “They beat us convincingly 5-1 on the island and we knew they would come back hard in the second, and true to form they did”
“We stepped up in the third and that is what we are aiming to do in future games. We need to show some consistency and put the bad run of form we have suffered lately behind us”

This is Dodds’ second spell with the Lions having iced for them over 14 years ago. He has since spent most of his career with the Haringey Greyhounds and had a couple of seasons at Invicta Dynamos.
“Yes it is quite weird as I am on both the Lions nostalgia site and the current site” laughed Dodds, who has four goals and six assists in twelve games for the Lions so far this year. “I am enjoying passing on my experience to some of the younger guys on the roster and they are very receptive, and it is showing with the performances on the ice”
Lee Valley now have a tough fixture against Chelmsford Warriors next week, as do Wightlink who travel to Berkshire to take on high flying Slough ENL Jets. Lee Valley hope to have former Haringey utility player Kwabina Oppong- Adai in the squad after he trained with the club last week.
Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com