EPL Roundup – A normal EPL week, then?

SWINDON, UK – EPL Week 5 began with some more reliable figures which shows Lightning’s Grant McPherson has risen to the top of the Penalty Takers Top Ten Chart helped no doubt by his dismissal for continued attempts to intimidate Phoenix’s Swedish forward Marcus Kristoffersson who said after the game, ‘One guy came flying at me before every shift. Obviously it was his job to try and get me out of the game.’ Instead, it was McPherson who took the walk. Not much change in the chart below McPherson although Slough’s Adam Greener has joined at last but Wildcats Jason Stone is clearly not trying because he has dropped a couple of places. The only import is at number five where Michal Pinc resides. In the British penalty chart minus Pinc, of course, Joe Baird sneaks in at the bottom from the Wildcats.
 
In the Top Ten Point Scorers’ Chart Jaroslav Cesky still rules the roost with 19 and with teammate Michal Pinc below in joint second with Phoenix’s Curtis Huppe and Tony Hand. The Flames and Jets fill the remaining few places on twelve points ahead of a group on eleven too big to include. Britwise, Phoenix’s Tony Hand is head and shoulders above the remainder with the Flames and Bison both firmly placed and Tom Squires of the Steeldogs and Scott McKenzie of the Tigers also present.
 
The Top Ten Goal Scorers’ Chart is headed by the Phoenix’s Curtis Huppe with no less than six other teams represented but, sadly, no Brit. However, in the British chart Bison’s Ollie Bronnimann leads with a group of others, mainly from Guildford, on his tail, but nice to see Squires and Phantoms’ Joe Miller also present.
 
The Assists Top Ten Chart is a familiar collection of names headed by, guess who, Tony Hand followed by Cesky, Pinc, Huppe, Lukas Smital with Ben Morgan, the next Brit, and Nicky Chinn and the rest. The only significant change in the British players Top Ten Assists chart is the addition of Paul Dixon of the Flames,   Bison’s Kurt Reynolds, and Slough’s Joe Greener.
 
The top D-men in the league are also from the Phoenix with Pavel Gomeniuk at the top followed by Morgan with Bison and Flames players interspersed and Lightning’s Lukas Zatopek at seven and Bees’ Viktor Pelikovsky at the foot. The British chart is predominantly a Flames domain although it is good to see Lloyd Gibson of the Steeldogs at eight and Tigers’ Tom Watkins at nine.
 
In the team penalty chart the allocation of minutes is widely spread with the Bees on nearly half an hour in penalties per game while the Phantoms make do with a mere ten.
 
For me, one of the most significant quotes to come out of the week was from Bees coach Gareth Cox who in comparing the team’s lacklustre Saturday performance against the Lightning with a rejuvenated performance the day after against the Steeldogs, put it down to splitting the ‘dangerous bothers’ line of Pinc and Cesky, giving more depth and strength to the offence. Ex-ENL forward Craig Tribe, who also seemed to click into place playing alongside Pinc and Nicky Watt, was equally buoyant in his comments. Cox went on to say he would not be returning the ‘brothers’ to their former line in the near future. But what I feel clinched it, rather than any line changes, was Cox’s additional observation that changing the home kit socks to yellow added impetus – or added something.  
 
The Jets’ recent inconsistency was again noted by Coach Russell who said the defeat against the Flames was the result of losing focus and getting punished for it, a feature indicating the higher standard in the EPL this year while the following night’s victory over the Steeldogs showed the ‘bouncebackability’ the team had displayed the previous season.  
 
Also acknowledging a shaky start was Flames coach Paul Dixon who said that from last weekend against the Phantoms there would be no more coming from behind as they intended to be more offensive right from the start. Oh dear, and the Flames were such nice lads too and there was nothing wrong in feeling a wee bit sorry for an opponent now and again. But it sounds like Mr Dixon has been speaking to my old grand-pappy who often advised: ‘You look down on your friends only when you are helping them up, but you look down on your opponents only when you have a smile on your face and a boot on their hand.’
 
However, the theory will be put into practise this weekend against the Tigers where Coach Watkins said, ‘ Guildford have guys in their line-up who are in a different level of experience to us. It’s going to be a good test for us.’ But at least they will be reunited with Captain Tomas Janak who returns from his suspension for attempting to send Wildcats’ Jozef Liska into orbit from behind.
 
Mind you, at least the Wildcats still have a rink to play in for another week. The industrial dispute between council workers at the Link Centre ice rink and the local authority continues with the threat of escalation from Unison, the union involved. Although some leisure sessions had been cancelled the Wildcats game against the Lightning was unaffected. The Lightning, last year’s league leaders, will be looking for revenge for having been dumped out of the play-offs by eighth placed Wildcats.
 
Meanwhile, Coach Moria at the Bison was singing the praises of his British forward Chris Wiggins whose hat-trick last Saturday helped seal the fate of the Tigers. ‘It was a great achievement,’ he said, ‘and well deserved.’ Wiggins himself, in acknowledging the sport is a team effort said, ‘I have to say a lot of credit should go to my line-mates Hemmer (Andy Hemmings) and Tosh (Tony Redmond). They set me up.’  
   
At Sheffield, British D-man Simon Offord who has been troubled since last season by injury quit the Steeldogs for ENL Sutton where it is hoped he can regain peak fitness. Coach Matt Darlow said he had every confidence in Offord and was sure he would return but in the meantime called on the services of Adam Radmall who spent five seasons with the Lightning before joining ENL Nottingham Lions this season.
 
So, on to Saturday again –
 
Phoenix at Bracknell in the first of a two-leg weekend and the Manchester side leaped to a four-nil lead before the first break including a short-handed goal and, while barely looking over their shoulder, Curtis Huppe joined the hat-trick club and Steve Fone would have had a shut-out had not Greg Randall fired one past him in the last minute.
 
In Sheffield the visiting Phantoms were repelled mainly by the efforts Ben Bowns in the Steeldogs’ goal with only Canadian Jeff Glowa managing to breach that defence and allowing the Phantoms to grab the two points and the shut-out in what was the first league game of the season to end in a single goal being scored.
 
In what is always a bit of a heart-breaker for the home fans, the Bison went down to the Jets in a penalty shoot-out 3-2. But what the heck, if you aren’t good enough to win on your own ice in the sixty allotted minutes plus overtime, then penalties are as good as way as any to produce a result. If you have to have one and not a draw, of course.
 
It took the Flames just thirty seconds to stamp their mark on the visiting Tigers, and less than six minutes later they were three goals up. But in the second half of the first period the Tigers got their act together and in scoring two goals through Scott McKenzie and the un-suspended Marek Hornak looked like they might be back in it. But the Flames dispelled such thoughts early in the second and went on to win clearly in command producing a ratio of shots-on-goal almost two to one and a pair of goals each for Nathan Rempel, Martin Masa and Ben Campbell.
 
In a closely contested game despite the Wildcats being an import short with Jozef Liska injured, the Lightning took the lead in the dying seconds of the first period. A second followed half way through the middle period which was immediately neutralised by a sharp reply from Swindon Captain Lee Richardson. A deflection put it beyond Swindon’s reach ten minutes from time with the Lightning showing that while not up to last year’s blistering standard they will fight tooth and nail to end the season in third place.
 
Nothing much changed as a result of Saturday’s numbers, so it was on to Sunday to see what that could produce.
 
First off and the Bees travelled to Manchester for the second leg of the Phoenix weekend where, basically, things carried on from where they left off. Inside two minutes the Bees were down a pair and by the half hour Kristoffersson and Greg Wood both had a hat-trick on their CV and the Bees a goal disallowed. Then, straight after the second break Phoenix netminder Steve Fone faced Bee’s forward Jaroslav Cesky who let fly a slapshot and ended up on the deck covered in blood with what looked like a bleeding ear. In came rookie goalie Bobby Brown, who please Coach Hand well enough, and off went Fone for stitches. How the missile got passed Fone’s protection only a ballistic expert will know and rumour has it he is being measured for a reinforced, customised wheelie bin for next week.   
 
Lightning-Flames
Unlike last night this time Barry Hollyhead started in goal for the Lightning adding fuel to the fire as to which Lightning goalie should be number one. Certainly Mettam has the better figures but he does appear to allow a high number of rebounds, which of course isn’t recorded, and the fact he faces shots less frequently than any other netminder in the league and, as some claim, only faces weaker teams such as last night’s Wildcats, you have to wonder if it isn’t the defence that is bumping up his status. However, against the Flames’ visiting Ben Campbell was the first on the board on a power play and when Nathan Rempel made it 3-1 with a short-handed goal going in to the second break it was hard to see how the Flames could be beaten. Oddly, though, they were outshot by a hard-working Lightning by 24 on Hollyhead to 33 on Miroslav Hala.
 
The Wildcats’ dismal away record continued with another big defeat making it five on the trot and thirty-two goals against and just ten in favour. The game was pretty much over in less than two periods by which time the Phantoms had a five-goal lead and while Coach Aldridge acknowledges the problem, what isn’t so clear is how it can be corrected without a serious change somewhere.
 
The rematch between the Jets and Bison continued in a similar vein to the previous night with close in-fighting and goals at a premium with the first, coming from the Jets, after ten minutes and the Bison equaliser not until the final period with Ondrej Lauko grabbing the winner minutes later. But, although the Bison came away from the weekend’s encounter with the lion’s share of the points, just, these clashes are the sort of thing finals are made of. Or should be.
 
 
The Tigers had stated the Steeldogs game was a ‘must-win’ fixture but nevertheless went a goal down in the second minute. But, they recovered quickly and Hornak took them into the lead with Tomas Janak extending it seconds later on the half hour and McKenzie widening the gap to three goals a few minutes after that. What happened then I can only guess because Steeldogs called a time out and re-emerged to add a goal and, in the final stint, four more unanswered.’ While the Tigers outshot their opponents I can only imagine Coach Matt Darlow slipped something into the Steeldogs’ sandwiches during the break.  
 
So, what did all this weekend bring us? Hat-tricks, blood, drugs, heartache, tension and controversy – a normal EPL weekend then? Oh yes, and the Phantoms climbing above the Lightning in the table, but no change at top. Now all we need is the Rock and Roll, but lucky for us there is always next week.
 
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Contact the author Bill.Collins@Prohockeynews.com