EPL Roundup Week 20

SWINDON, UK – Now, as if the Tigers weren’t up against it enough as it is, here we are in week 20 and they have suffered some severe injury problems. Scott McKenzie was taken to hospital with a suspected broken collar bone which, fortunately, turned out not to be the case and is expected to be back in a couple of weeks. Then there was an unsuspecting Ashley Stanton who was checked to the head by Bison’s Chris Wiggins who was still carrying his stick, and then jumped all over him. If you watch the replay a few times it brings back memories of the Andrew Sharp’s hit on Andre Payette where, to be fair to the Canadian, at least he dropped his stick before impact, and for which received a more severe penalty. This is on top of Joe Henry with his broken knee and Tom Carlon with a ligament injury to the wrist.
 
Talking of the Bison, Andy Hemmings quit the club by ‘mutual consent’ and was rumoured to by en-rote to the Flames who have injury problems of their own with the long-term side-lining of Rob Lamey who was carried from the ice at the end of November. Bison, too, have enough to worry about in the health department with Sam Oakford, Ciaran Long, Tony Redmond and Daniel Lackey all still out.
 
The following day, with less than a week to the signing deadline, the situation became interesting. The Jets and Flames had both added players, and the Lightning had captured Blaz Emersic, and the Phoenix said they were happy with their squad, so it was looking like the Bison was in the market for an eleventh-hour addition. Coach Moria didn’t seem too bothered when he said Sam Oakford and Tony Redmond were expected back soon, and beating the Phoenix twice was, ‘a great team performance and probably our best win of the season so far.’ But it wasn’t to Basingstoke that Hemmings went, but to the Flames where Coach Dixon said it restored the forward roster with Lamey being out. Dixon complained some of his team ‘have lost their confidence’ explaining the Flames tendency to go a goal down early on after which, ‘You see their heads drop, and it’s an uphill struggle from there.’
 
The highlight, or lowlight, I suppose, of the week was the surprise announcement the Steeldogs and Coach Matt Darlow were parting company. Although praising the Steeldogs for their hard work, Darlow said he accepted full responsibility for the team having ‘only performed sporadically’ despite recent changes, which he said was ‘unacceptable.’ Earlier, somewhat controversially, Darlow said he felt one of the most consistent things of the season was the ‘inconsistency of officiating standards’ which, at times he felt made it hard to know what was going on particularly when a mis-non call had a game-changing influence. While this might be his parting legacy, it is still a good point.
 
Following Darlow out the door went Arran Strawson, who requested a release to allow him more time with his family and work commitments, while the following day, Andre Payette, brought into the side in November by Darlow, took over the reigns for what is likely a continued bumpy ride. Darlow later said he had been told the players had been approached and had requested a change of coach, so ‘it was no longer feasible that I stayed,’ he said.
 
At the Phantoms coach Curtis Cruickshank sacked British forward Joe Miller in what was referred to as ‘mutual consent’ but later transpired to be a row. Cruickshank explained he felt the disagreement would cause unrest in the locker room and stated, ‘There are things that are simply not acceptable no matter who the player.’ Miller was devastated and called it a ‘betrayal’ after what he felt was loyal service and during which time he had accepted two pay cuts.
 
However, Miller was immediately rumoured to be on his way to the Phoenix and sure enough days later was on their books. Owner Neil Morris explained the surprise signing was because the Sharp absence was ‘making us light.’ Sharp himself continued to have problems and while it was hoped he would return to the ice this week, it turned out things were not as rosy and the Phoenix said he was likely to be out at least another two to three weeks.
 
Also departing the Phantoms was D-man James Morgan who said he wanted to concentrate on his other commitments, but he was quickly followed by the incoming Matty Davies who had days before been released by the Elite League Hull Stingrays to where yet another Steeldogs player, Andrew Hirst, was reported in the Hull press to have been signed. The Steeldogs said they knew nothing of Hirst having been training with the Hull side or his signing, but wished him well anyway. Coach Cruickshank, however, sounded elated with the Davies signing and declared, ‘He is a fantastic player with an incredible ability, and will be a real asset to us.’ Cruickshank also confirmed he was on the lookout for a new D-man, but he will have to be quick with the signing deadline upon us.
 
On to Saturday and the Phantoms seem to be emerging from their recent troubles without too much trauma and grabbed a point in Swindon in overtime where for the first half hour things looked pretty equal. Jozef Liska was back in the points to open the scoring for the home team, but new-signing Matty Davies, an ex-Wildcat himself, equalised on his debut. Just into the third period Ryan Aldridge continued his recent steady scoring run to make it 3-3, which is how it stayed until Ziedins ended it for the Phantoms seconds into the extra time.  
 
In a closely fought encounter in Basingstoke the home side took the lead three times only to see league leaders Phoenix come straight back at them. Joe Miller must have been over the moon to claim the first one on his debut, but it was the final minutes where things reached a crescendo. Ladislav Harabin scored a controversial equaliser for three each, then Ben Davis put the Bison ahead again picking up a rebound off Steve Fone. Tony Hand then drew things level again with a deflection off Steve Moria’s stick sending it all into overtime where the Phoenix wrapped it up.
 
Andre Payette must be fairly happy with the start to his tenure as head coach of the Steeldogs with a 3-0 shut-out of the Tigers, although a more stringent test is to follow Sunday with a visit to Peterborough and a rejuvenated Phantoms.
 
 
Not so rejuvenated were the Bees who minus Nicky Watt and captain Terry Miles visited the Jets who steadily applied the pressure and the goals. But late in the second period Dangerous Brothers Cesky, Pinc and Jasik threatened something of a comeback edging the score back to 5-2, and looked like carrying it into the third, but a strong Jets’ team resisted and ran out comfortable winners 5-3 making it a six game winning run at home.
 
In Milton Keynes the Lightning leapt into the lead after six minutes through Gary Clark hoping to extend their home winning run to eight games only to be reined in then finding themselves a goal down around halfway through the period. Neil Liddiard and Michael Wales were presented with a wodge of penalty minutes for a misunderstanding over parentage, and after an exchange of goals the Flames were in the lead again before the half hour. Michael Farn invited Mirolslav Hala to dance, and promptly got ten mins for his trouble, then Martin Masa got to walk for an accidental high-stick which clocked the Lightning captain, Adam Carr. While Plant and Towalski kept the Lightning in touch, it wasn’t enough and the Flames ran out 6-3 winners.   
 
Sunday in Manchester saw the Phoenix put on their most impressive display for a while, and against high-flying Slough Jets. Although the visitors kicked off the scoring in the first period with only seconds gone, the second period was all Kristoffersson who clocked up a hat-trick in ten minutes. Miller got his second of the weekend for his new club near the end of the period and that, really, was it.
 
Meanwhile, the Flames, who could really have done without the Phoenix result charged all over the Bison in revenge for their beating of a week ago, and were three up by the first break with all the Bison had to show for their work was Skien picking up a barrel load of misconduct minutes. But the Bison came back in the early minutes of the second period with two goals, although Smital’s reply half way through turned out to be the game winning goal, and the Flames ran out comfortable winners.
 
Has the Bees honeymoon with success finally come to an end after two bad weekends? In Milton Keynes they probably think so as they took just six minutes in the first period to establish their dominance with Lightning players almost queuing up to take shots. Then it all kicked off at the start of the second with Pinc and MacPhearson kicked out, Cesky given 10 minutes, Spearing and, oh you know the sort of thing. But at least Grant Rounding scored his first goal for the Bees as they went down 3-7.
 
Luckily for the Phantoms Canadian Chris Allen was back from a long absence which helped mitigate their growing injury problem, later acerbated when Tomas Jeffery was taken to hospital with a suspected broken arm. However, in a close game against the Steeldogs where Ben Bowns demonstrated some heroic acrobatics to keep the game tight it was Janis Ozolins who opened the scoring and fan-favourite Darius Lelenas who scored both Phantoms’ equalisers. In the resulting overtime it was that man Ozolins who sealed it for the Steeldogs giving them their first four-point weekend and a good start for new head coach Andre Payette.  
 
With injuries a serious problem for the Tigers now, the loss of Ashley Calvert in the first period with a suspected broken rib did them no favours, and with the Wildcats at full strength it was always going to be a battle and a prayer. But the Tigers braved things out allowing just a single goal before the first break, but by the half-way mark it was a rout with the best thing for the Tigers being Nathan Salem grabbing his first goal for the club. The 11-2 result was the Tigers’ worst of the season, and the Wildcats’ best.
 
Nothing changed at the top of the table but at the bottom the Steeldogs have crept above the Bees and into the play-off zone. Lightning, Bison and the Jets all have what looks like close games next weekend, and it will be interesting to see what the Wildcats can make of the Steeldogs.
Can’t wait!
 
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Contact the author  Bill.Collins@Prohockeynews.com