LONDON, UK – Following last weekend’s games during which Wildcats’ Jonus Hoog and Jets’ Adam Calder bagged hat-tricks. Steeldogs Andre Payette began breeding penalty points in his back yard and very successful he was to with a pair of ‘tens’ against the Flames which took him to the top of the Penalty-Takers Chart.
Oddly, top netminders Moro Hala of the Flames and Alex Mettam of the Phoenix turned out to have the same save rate percentage so share the number one spot. In another coincidence Phoenix’s Kristoffersson and Curtis Huppe, apart from penalty minutes, have identical games, goals, assists and points numbers.
Mid-week and the Phantoms entertained the Lightning, although I don’t suppose the visitors felt it a very entertaining hour as they threw everything at the Phantoms and the superb Steve Wall even managed to deflect the kitchen sink and thereby extended the Lightning’s losing run to four games. Coach Cruickshank commented: I think we spent fifty of the sixty minutes in our own defensive zone, but, hey, we will take the points, especially against the Lightning.’
Also looking to take points again was fans’ own Darius Lelenas who having served a two-game ban for attacking Phoenix’s James Archer with an elbow, was welcomed back to the fold. ‘We are pleased to have him back,’ observed Phantom’s owner Phil Wing who previously had let it be known the club were considering taking their own action against the Lithuanian.
In a similar vein the Flames and Jets clashed in the second leg of their EPL Cup semi-final with Guildford facing the mammoth task of overcoming a four-goal deficit. But they set to it and flung thirteen shots on Greg Rockman in the first period to a measly three in reply and were rewarded with very little for their efforts. However the remainder of the game made up for it with nine goals, and although there were odd moments when you thought the Flames might just do it, they did get the win in the end but were out of the competition 12-9 on aggregate.
Despite the loss the Jets’ Coach Russell had remarked they seemed to be peaking at the crucial point of the season having already extended their best home winning run to ten games, which is the best in the EPL this season, and in doing so sent the Lightning into a bit of a tailspin and their worst losing run to date extended to four games by the Phantoms who are now dangerously close to overhauling them.
The coming weekend, then, was going to be crucial to Milton Keynes who faced a double-header against the Wildcats and while they announced they have a fully fit team, which includes five imports to choose from and a coach spending more time on the bench, the situation is not so rosy in the Wildcats camp where the team has been decimated in recent weeks and fielding just twelve players excluding netminders. Understandably Coach Aldridge said he was more concerned with performance rather than results in the remaining weeks. ‘I want all my guys to be showing up so that we can take that into the play-offs,’ he said.
Not so concerned was Coach Curtis Cruickshank, who really has done a marvellous job at the Phantoms in his first year, who said, ‘So far I am pleased with the way we are building towards the play-offs, and I am very happy with where we are at.’ Phantoms’ forward Shaun Yardley must also be happy as he reaches his four hundredth appearance for the club this weekend having started his run in 2002.
Another first-year coach is at the Steeldogs of course, who face the Phoenix. Since their last encounter during which Andrew Sharp dispensed what has been referred to as the ‘sucker punch’ to Payette. Needless to say eyes will be on the rematch although to be fair to Sharp he hasn’t had the opportunity to enter the realms of high penalty-takers yet, so you have to admit this game offers great potential.
Another player in hat-trick mode was David Longstaff at the Flames who met the Jets for the second time in a week. Not quite able to match Henry and his hair-trigger reaction, Adam Calder put the Jets on the board in nineteen seconds. Then followed end-to-end stuff which saw the Flames go ahead for the first time minutes before the end of the second period only to be brought back in check by an early third period goal from Darius Pliskauskas. It wasn’t until the final minutes that the Flames stamped their authority with Jez Lundin ending it with an empty net goal in the dying seconds.
Another early goal through Janis Ozolins saw the Steeldogs go into the lead in Bracknell, but in a bad-tempered game which even saw both netminders involved in altercations the Bees managed to gain the lead by the end of the period. Michal Pinc and Peter Jasic opened up the gap around the half way mark, but then the Steeldogs fight-back went up a gear and with minutes to go it was still looking like anyone’s game. In the end the Bees held it 6-5 yet strangely it was more of a glove throwing convention than the warm, cuddly tête-à-tête you would expect from these two sides.
In Swindon the Wildcats’ short bench really did haunt them. With just twelve players on the ice plus netminders it was always going to be an uphill struggle against a full Lightning squad in the enviable position of being able to rest the likes of Blas Emersic. And the discrepancy showed with the Lightning on the board after two minutes and ending it around half way. With some scrappy moments it all ended in a bit of a blood bath when Monir Kalgoum caught a stick to the mouth and Jan Melichar was kicked into touch for it, all ensuring the Wildcats’ roster problem deepened.
And deepened they did. On Sunday and now minus Melichar the Wildcats were sadly out of their depth with the return leg of the double-header in Milton Keynes. For the first sixteen minutes the Lightning didn’t look too worried, and when Jozef Liska pulled one back there was a glimmer of hope it wouldn’t be a rout. But with a bench so depleted it really was just a matter of time, and that time came just after half distance when the goals started mounting up. Coach Aldridge had said he wasn’t concerned about results at the moment so much as performance so he should get some solace in the fact amazingly they outshout their rivals.
As you would expect Sunday produced a little bit of sabre rattling because the Steeldogs faced Manchester in what might not be the final round of the Payette-Sharp affair if the playoff pairings work out right, or maybe that should be wrong.
In Peterborough Adam Calder once again was on the board early for the Jets with two goals against the Phantoms in what was not the most exciting game this weekend. Just after the half hour it was two-each and that was how it stayed until five minutes from time when Doug Sheppard got the Jet’s winner. It was a workmanlike performance from the Jets which gave them the two points.
Last but not least the Bison went to Guildford and their tail must have risen from between their legs as for half an hour they had twice been in the lead. But then Lucas Smital with two goals in a minute gave the hosts the lead for the first time. However, Chris Wiggins returned the compliment and all of a sudden the Bison were back in the lead and three minutes to go when Andrej Lauko doubled it made it a 2-goal lead. The Flames kept their composure, though, and with tremendous pressure with Smital claiming his hat-trick they forced the overtime and got the win. Talk about the eleventh-hour.
After Saturday’s games the Flames cut the Phoenix lead by two and just as the Tigers creep closer to the Bees, they get a win and keep the goal difference but draw closer to the Steeldogs. The Bison extended their worst home-losing record to three games, and after Sunday’s games had slipped back a point into the clutches of the Lightning who edged away from the Phantoms below them.
The only other movement was by the Tigers who, with a magnificent four-point weekend are now just a point away from the Bees and tantalisingly within grasp of the final play-off place.
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Contact the author Bill.Collins@Prohockeynews.com
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