BRISTOL, UK – The Bristol Pitbulls ENL2 has had a busy start to the year. Since the close of 2010 and a midweek fixture against Cardiff, the Pitbulls have been in action every weekend in January. The team has struggled to get goals on the board with both Cardiff and Peterborough posting shut-outs against the Pitbulls side. Pitbulls opened 2011 with a visit to Peterborough, in what turned out to be one of the longest coach journeys for the team. With 15 minutes before the warm-up, the only Pitbulls players at the rink were Janne Virtanen and Marcroix Eccleston Smith. With that the match got under way with Pitbulls trying to mount early offence to the Peterborough end, but to no avail. Peterborough Islanders were hungry for two points from the Pitbulls after their loss at Frorgmore street earlier in the season. During the first period break the Pitbulls received a much needed ‘wake up’ call from both player/coach Ian Clark and Adi Smith. The wake up seemed to have worked as the Pitbulls returned to the ice with more energy and saw Paul ‘Sackic’ Davies get into a scrap in an effort to spark up his team mates. Despite the energetic efforts, it was the Islanders side putting up the goals. The final score of the game was 6-0 to the Islanders, leaving the Pitbulls scoreless for 120 minutes. The previous week the Cardiff Satans had shut out the Pitbulls by 8-0. Chelmsford Warriors v Pitbulls ENL 2
Back in training, coach Clark demanded a higher fight and energy level from his team and saw whether his advise had paid off in Chelmsford, where the Pitbulls met the Warriors in a re-arranged match. Warriors were hungry for revenge as the Pitbulls took two valuable points from the Chelmsford side at Frogmore street. The match got off to a good start with both teams going for the opening goal. The Warriors found the net first on a power play, but quickly saw their lead disappear as the Pitbulls equalised on a three man rush, with Jon Griffiths finding the back of the net. The audience at Riverside got more than they bargained for, when with just under six minutes left on the first, Pitbulls’ Luke Curtis was struck in the face with the puck. Curtis left the ice bloodied and was rushed to the hospital for treatment, prompting an early period break for the ice to be cleared from the blood. After the ice had been cleared and the first period was played to the end, with the Warriors taking control of the game and not looking back. Though the Pitbulls tried to answer with goals from Paul Davies, Jamie Rich and Adi Smith, the Warriors ran away with the game to finish it with 9-4 score-line. After the game many of the Warriors players and coaching staff came into the Pitbulls’ changing room asking for Curtis’ condition, so the event clearly shook many of the Warriors as well. Pitbulls ENL 2 vs Basingstoke Buffalo
Sunday saw the Pitbulls take on one of the top teams in the league in Basingstoke Buffalo. The Buffalo have been flying high this season having only lost one game. Ian Clark, still not happy with his teams’ performance from the night before demanded more from the players and the Pitbulls took to the ice wanting to give the crowd at Frogmore street a good game. Things got off to a high flying start with both teams mounting offence at both end of the ice and testing the goalies. In the Pitbulls’ end, Craig Sutherland was tested early and often as the Pitbulls found themselves in penalty trouble. The first period saw the Pitbulls kill on a 5-on-3 penalty kill, with the Buffalo drawing ahead with a power play goal. In a high paced match, the Pitbulls looked to equalise, but it was the Buffalo who got a lucky goal to take the lead. However just before the end of the first period, Marcroix Eccleston Smith broke into the zone and fired a shot past the Buffalo keeper to make the score 3-1. The Pitbulls suffered another injury scare as Adi Smith went down in the first period with a lower body injury. Smith played till the end of the game despite the injury. T he second period was closely fought as the Buffalo managed to find the back of the net only once. The Pitbulls did draw one back by Adi Smith on power play, but quickly saw the goal waived off as the referee called goaltender interference on the play. Pitbulls were furiously looking for goals but saw all their efforts turned away by either the Buffalo defence or bounce off the Buffalo goalie. The end result after the third period was 6-1 to the Buffalo. The Pitbulls ENL2 will be looking for a win against Isle of Wight Tigers this weekend and at the same time snap its five game losing streak, which is the longest for the team this season. Contact Janne.Virtanen@prohockeynews.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.