SWINDON, UK – First I have an Ooops to correct. In last week’s Roundup I mentioned Richard Bentham and James Goodman had been signed by the Tigers, but of course they are en-route to the Steeldogs. This rather surprisingly brought to mind that my old grand-pappy used to say: ‘Never interrupt a friend while they are making a mistake unless it is to save their life, you might hurt their feelings. And never interrupt an enemy while they are making a mistake…’
Which moves things nicely on to last weekend and the Flames, who were not at their best having struggled to put down the Bees in a fourteen-goal thriller? Coach Paul Dixon was fairly philosophical when he said of the final session which took five goals to one to beat the Bees at the Hive: ‘It was a night when you were very grateful that ice hockey games are 60 minutes and not 40.’
And on losing at home on penalties to the Lightning the following night he said: ‘Once you get to penalties it’s a bit of a roll of the dice. I thought MK deserved the win every bit as much as us so we take the point and move on.’
But you also have to feel sympathy for Bees’ coach Gareth Cox who is still struggling to shore up his defence. In fact, you might think him edging towards desperation when he said, ‘I’m not worried about what position, we just need someone who will be a good fit for the team.’ Then, while acknowledging the coming double-header against the Tigers will be, ‘the most important weekend of the season, undoubtedly,’ if a plug isn’t found soon his comment, ‘Four points is what we are aiming for,’ is listing towards the optimistic.
Now on to this week’s bit of controversy and I refer of course to Phoenix signing Andrew Sharp. Coach Tony Hand, who has complained several times recently about teams not playing the game and choosing instead the rough route to further their chances said of the Lightning, for instance: ‘You could see it happening. Their guys were leaving the bench and trying to get our guys into trouble. It’s pretty poor, to be honest.’
Anyway, the thing that strikes me as a bit confusing about Sharp’s signing is that while Hand bemoans knuckle-draggers, as they are amusingly referred to, ruining the game, he then specifically employs a player who in his own words has a willingness to fight because lacks ability. To crown the confusion it was claimed to be necessary to reduce, yes reduce, the number of violent encounters, a bit like when politicians say they have to go and bomb civilians to make a country safer. OK, not a bit like that, but a similar mentality.
The refs are going to love this guy, and Phoenix themselves have previously resorted to this strategy but found it ultimately did not suit them. Sharp, in his brief spell in Quebec was averaging six minutes a game in the box, and that’s in a league noted for its acceptance of rough play, so if that averages out the same in the EPL he is heading for an absolute minimum of 200-minutes-plus for the remainder of the season. Can’t see that happening here and more likely the Phoenix will end up with not the player they thought they had.
Also on the warpath was Phantoms’ Tom Jeffery who, having clashed handbags with Bees’ James Galazzi at the weekend, was threatening to do all manner of nasty things to Steeldogs players. In fact to the whole team because he ranted, ‘I am saying to their team as a whole yah, yah, yah-dee-dah….etc.’
However, what actually woke up the Steeldogs camp was not the fear of a broken nail but the signing of Kriss Grundsmanis, the Latvian D-man recently dropped by Elite League Hull. Much talk had also surrounded Andre Payette last week, who still seems headed for the Sheffield side, although nothing has yet materialised.
What did materialise, though, at the Wildcats was the release of Welshman Steve Fisher signed from ENL Cardiff. Coach Aldridge said he had talked to several players about their performance, so when Fisher was dropped he commented, ‘I need to make my team stronger, and someone has to make room for a replacement.’ That replacement will be James Knight, currently working in Canada although with previous experience with the Tigers, and last year having played shortly for the Jets before going on to play longly with the Phantoms where he accrued 53 points.
Talking of points, there was no change in leadership in any of the Top Ten Charts this week. In the EPL Charts Michal Pinc is still the only import in the Penalty Takers Chart while Tony Hand is the lone Brit in the Points Chart and Ollie Bronnimann solo in the Goals Scorers Chart. The Assists Chart, however, is evenly split although dominated by the Flames and Phoenix.
The Brit Charts are also pretty much the same with the Flames the most prolific in appearances flowed by the Phoenix in all except Penalty Takers, which is quite evenly represented.
Saturday’s games and the Phoenix’s wheels were still looking a bit wobbly after last week’s pair of losses against the Bison and especially without Ladislav Harabin. Their opponents, Guildford Flames, despite their own continuing shaky starts which in this case took nearly a whole period to overcome, settled down and got the game winning goal early in the second period. It was then all Flames as they went on to become the first team to score five goals against the league leaders, or former league leaders as they are now.
The Bees defensive leakage continued even at home against Telford and with Peter Jasic back on form at the front. Things were not helped by some second period mayhem which saw all players on the ice involved including netminders and resulted, amongst other penalties, with four game misconducts and goalie Martin Clarkson taking a walk. But the Bees really weren’t in it afterwards and a confident Tigers, buoyed by last week’s defeat of the Wildcats and an impressive five power-play goals, leapt ahead in a game of nearly 200 penalty minutes.
The Jets travelled to Milton Keynes and outplayed the Lightning all round, with 40 shots being received by Alex Mettam to just 25 in reply just about summing it up. But the game ended in controversy when Lightning captain Nick Poole received a blood injury to the head in the final minute from a high stick which was, strangely, not called, but his retaliatory slashing penalty was.
The Steeldogs are going to be over the moon having gone to Peterborough and come away with a point, although the Phantoms won’t be too disappointed because they closed the gap to one point on the Lightning in the EPL league table.
Swindon, without top scoring Jozef Liska and Toivo Suursoo or a just-signed James Knight, were always going to be up against it with a Bison side fresh from a double over the Phoenix, but in fact they not only scored first but it wasn’t until just eight minutes from the end that the Bison clinched it helped by a hat-trick from Viktor Kubenko.
On Sunday the return leg of the Wildcats-Bison double header was another close affair with the Swindon side again scoring first only this time taking a two-goal lead and looking like they just might upset things. Suursoo was back on the bench from a one-game suspension and new man Egidijus Bauba scored his first pair. Even when the Bison did take the lead just after half way through they still didn’t get things their own way and it went right to the wire before they could claim four points from the weekend.
In the second double-header a more settled Bees opened the scoring against the Tigers in a game more evenly contested and without the toys being flung from the pram as in the previous night. On the half hour former Bees’ Ashley Calvert almost single-handedly took on the Bracknell team and scored what turned out to be the game-winner, after which the Tigers took control and are looking much improved with their first four-point weekend.
The Lightning went to Sheffield still minus the injured Barry Hollyhead and were a goal down in under a minute but 3-1 up by the first break. The second saw a goal apiece as the Steeldogs settled but when they pulled the netminder with a minute to go the Lightning scored on the empty net, and on a power-play to boot. And that’s not something you see every day.
The Phoenix were back in the points – just! The Phantoms were able to push the Manchester side and keep the game in the balance right until the final two minutes when Marcus Kristoffersson scored a cracker and Coach Hand called a time-out to settle this side with the spectre of last week’s collapse against the Bison seconds from time looming over his shoulder.
The Jets at home to the Flames looked decidedly shaky and not a patch on their recent clinical form, but then they haven’t faced a team above them in the league since their last encounter with the Flames which they won 4-2 a month ago. Two goals down at the first break, and four at the second was always going to be a big challenge against a team like the Flames, but a six-goal final period with the Jets finding something like recent form made it a shame they didn’t take their tablets sooner.
The big deal of the weekend is the change at the top of the table with the return of the Flames above the Phoenix. But the Jets in third have slipped a point further behind while further down the Wildcats are now in danger of being caught by the Tigers.
So that’s it for another week.
For more EPL stats, facts, news including it all in a mailing list you could do worse than try my website – www.iceman-epl.com
Contact the author Bill Collins@Prohockeynews.com
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