EIHL recap from Saturday night

Nottingham Panthers 4-2 Coventry Blaze (Aladdin Cup)

Nottingham Panthers secured the Aladdin Cup with a win over Coventry in the Blaze’s first pre-season game.

Despite going behind early to a goal from Coventry’s new Finn Janne Laakkonen, the Panthers were level just over halfway through the opening period through Adam Deutsch’s shot form the point. Brett Bulmer’s breakaway goal put them ahead just shy of the midway point of the game, before Ollie Betteridge made it 3-1 three minutes later with a nice move. Sam Herr finished off the home team’s scoring at 36:53, but Coventry did pull themselves back into the game 19 seconds before the end of the middle period through Justin Hamonic’s screen shot.

No goals in the final period saw the Panthers claim the Aladdin Cup title. The sides meet again tomorrow in Coventry in more pre-season action.

Goals: 
Panthers: 12:10 Deutsch (Perlini, Rheault) 29:26 Bulmer (Quist) 32:26 PP Betteridge (Quist), 36:53 Herr
Blaze: 07:58 Laakkonen 39:41 Hamonic (Bloodoff)
SoG: 21-20
PiM: 0-6
Face-offs: 48%-52%

Belfast Giants 6-3 Herning Blue Fox

Belfast Giants’ second win over Herning of Denmark in as many dates completed their pre-season matches ahead of their Champions Hockey League debut next week.

Goals from Ben Lake and Jesse Forsberg had Belfast ahead at the first break, scoring at 10:36 and 13:44 respectively to give the Giants a healthhy lead. Liam Reddox then completed a natural hat-trick with goals at 30:16, 35:53 and 38:20 to put the Giants in control – Poulsen pulling originally putting the visitors 2-1 up, and then scoring another at 32:07. Cameron Brace’s goal with 1:34 left in the middle period brought the score back to 5-3. The lone goal of the final period saw Patryk Wronka seal the 6-3 win with 62 seconds to go.

Goals: 
Giants: 10:36 Lake 13:44 PP2 Forsberg 30:16 Reddox (Mullen) 35:53 Reddox 38:20 Reddox (Mullen)
Herning: 25:19 Poulsen 32:07 PP Poulsen 38:26 SH Brace
SoG: 49-29
PiM: 16-10
Face-offs: 53%-46%

Dundee Stars 4-2 Odense Bulldogs

Four third period goals were enough to help Dundee see off Odense in their first of two pre-season games against the Danish side this weekend.

While Vojta Komárek put the visitors ahead after 27 minutes, it took until 42:47 for the Stars to get level. After Kevin Dufour had tied things up, Brett Stoivin struck 46:01 to put the Stats into a lead they held for just 113 seconds until Asger Petersen levelled the game.

Stovin struck again though at 54:31 to put Omar Pacha’s side back ahead, with Colton Kroeker adding an empty net goal to seal the win 46 seconds from the final buzzer.

Goals:
Stars: 42:47 Dufour (Beauregard, O’Connor) 46:01 Stovin (Kroeker) 54:31 (Stovin, Marquardt) 59:34 Kroeker (Cownie)
Bulldogs: 27:07 PP Komárek (Kamph) 48:54 Asger (Vedel, Eskesen)
SoG: 21-24
PiM: 16-10
Face-offs: 45%-55%

Fife Flyers 4-3 OT Herlev Eagles

Fife left it late to secure a 4-3 overtime win over Denmark’s Herlev Eagles.

Despite going ahead in the opening period, the were pegged back in period two, and then found themselves a goal behind early into the third period. Chase Schaber however levelled the game at 47:39, but Herlev were back in front through Johan Skinners with 9:40 left in the game.

There was however to be a dramatic finish – after calling a timeout and with the goalie pulled, Mike Cazzola tied the game with just 13 seconds to go. In overtime the turnaround was complete – Kyle Just hit the winner 2:15 into the extra session to give Fife the win.

Goals:
Flyers: Schaber x2, Cazzola, Just
Eagles: Ringström, Skinnard, Gath
PiM: 10-8

Glasgow Clan 3-2 EHC Freiburg

Zack Fitzgerald’s first game in charge of Glasgow Clan saw his side beat their former Head Coach Pete Russell in a tight game at intu Braehead.

Cam Spiro put the visitors ahead after 7:12 with one of their first shots of the game, after the Clan had starter the better. It took until 32:19 for the hosts to level through Mathieu Roy, who picked up a loose puck to convert. Just over four minutes later Scott Pitt then put the Clan ahead as he finished off a powerplay goal, while the home side then moved two ahead at 48″37 with Jordan Heywood’s solo effort. Freiburg made it a nervy end however, Nick Pageau scoring with just under ten minutes to go to set up a tense finish – however despite pulling goalie Ben Meisner, they found no way through and the Clan took the 3-2 win.

Goals:
Clan: 32:19 PP Roy (Ehrhardt) 36:35 PP Pitt (Beca, Rau) 48:37 Heywood
Freiburg: 07:12 Spiro (Pither, Pageau) 50:38 Pageau (Pither)
SoG: 28-23
PiM: 4-10
Face-offs: 53%-47%

Sheffield Steelers 5-4 MAC Újbuda

Aaron Fox’s Sheffield Steelers continued to be free-scoring this pre-season, as they hit five past a battling Hungarian-based MAC Újbuda in their first game of the new season at the Fly DSA Arena.

Things started well for the hosts – Tanner Eberle hitting two goals in just over ten minutes to put the Steelers ahead, and then Michael Davies making it three to complete the opening period. Brance Orbán opened the visitors’ account just over four minutes into the middle session, but just under two minutes later Anthony DeLuca had the Steelers back three ahead, and the lead went to 5-1 through Nikolai Lemtyugov at 28:31.

It looked like the hosts were heading for a comfortable win, but MAC had other ideas: Richárd Kedves halving the deficit with just over ten minutes to play in the game. Scott MacAuley then made it 5-3 at 50:24, and when István Sofron went through on a breakaway to score it was suddenly a one-goal game with 9:15 still to go.

The Steelers however held out, and recorded the win by the odd goal in nine.

Goals:
Steelers: 08:46 PP Eberle (O’Connor, Dowd) 10:37 Eberle (Liwing, Connolly) 18:41 Davies PP (Lemtyugov) 25:57 DeLuca (Liwing, O’Connor) 28:31 PP Lemtyugov (Davies, Bettauer)
MAC: 24:05 SH Brance Orbán (Bodó, McNally) 49:13 Kedves (Terbócs, McNally) 50:24 MacAuley (Bodó, Garát) 50:45 Sofron
SoG: 35-24
PiM: 10-30
Face-offs: 50%-50%