SWINDON, UK – After panging, along with many others, the stratospheric penalty count of Andre Payette, not because he is a hard player because that comes with the game, but because you don’t win games sat in the penalty box talking to no one, the guy gets a penalty-free weekend – interesting. And what makes this more remarkable is the two teams that were not subjected to his wrath were ones you might expect a degree of tactical intimidation to have paid off, for instance, the Tigers where Coach Watkins has openly admitted his players are still learning the physical ropes.
Anyway, Payette still rules the EPL Top Ten Penalty Chart and while now instead of just wondering where, when and how the next wad of minutes are coming from, as up to this point coming from they undoubtedly were, we now also have to contend with if in fact coming they are, so all very exciting and, as they say, any publicity it better than none so in that sense good for the sport.
What’s more, for some reason all this reminded me of a story my old grand-pappy told me about when his faithful old Great Dane died. He said he was going to replace it with a young snappy Doberman guard dog and was given the replacement by a gypsy he befriended at a travelling country fair who assured him the dog was already house trained – but it won’t let him into the house!
However, there was praise for Payette following Sunday’s defeat by the Steeldogs in Peterborough where the Phantoms called his leadership ‘inspirational’, adding netminder Ben Bowns was ‘impressive’ and the Sheffield side ‘indebted’ to him for his contribution to their defeat.
Elsewhere in the Top Ten Charts Alex Mettam returned to the top netminders’ spot for the Lightning, while Steeldogs’ Ben Bowns jumped up a space.
In the EPL Points Scoring Average Chart unsurprisingly Jets’ Adam Calder and Wildcats’ Jonas Hoog moved a touch higher.
There was more good news from the Jets who say they had a season’s record crowd for their game against the Bees, which is great to hear and quite an accomplishment when everyone is more than ever having to watch their wallets. And in the bigger picture, good for the EPL and the sport.
There was yet more good news with the announcement Tom Watkins at the Tigers and Bowns had been selected for the 34-man squad to play against the Netherlands in the warm-up to the World Championships in Kiev in April. Although Watkins is no stranger to the GB side which will ultimately be reduced to 23, nevertheless it is still an achievement for any player in the EPL, and especially at the wrong end of the league.
Not so good was the game ban on Jeff Glowa which was slapped on the Phantoms’ player for accidentally poking Stuart Brittle in the nose with his stick in the Steeldogs game and drawing blood. Coach Cruickshank called the penalty ‘ridiculous’ and rightly so. I mean, can you imagine this happening in what is one of the most dangerous sports in the world if say Lewis Hamilton accidentally dinked another car causing the driving to bump his nose (OK, I know that is unlikely with their helmets, but the idea is what matters)? Do you suppose he would get a race ban? Dear, of dear, what pointless, petty stupidity the EPL imposes that serves no purpose and doesn’t act as a deterrent to potential INTENDED acts of violence.
It’s enough to make you want to pull the eyebrows off the cat! Instead, consider the mid-week games, and the first saw the Steeldogs go ahead against the visiting Bison thanks to Edgars Bebris, with Lloyd Gibson adding a second and a third. The Bison clawed their way back into the game with Mindy Kieras drawing things level, only to lose it again and then veteran Steve Moria restoring the balance. With less than a minute to go Ciaran Long, who seems to be having a decent scoring spell at the moment, snatched what really was a bit of a lucky winner with his second to make it 5-4 much to the relief of the Basingstoke side.
Putting up yet another spirited display the Tigers took the lead against the Lightning who then dug in and went three-one up with Michael Wales managing to collect ten minutes for abuse on the way. The Tigers added a second early in third and a third with ten minutes to go, but the Lightning still had the advantage and hung on to claim the win – just.
How many teams go to Manchester and come away with a smile? Three actually, so the way things are at the moment with the Jets on a roll and Manchester still worried about championship points it was always on the cards as a game of epic proportions. And not a bad encounter it was too. Although it was the Phoenix that took an early lead it didn’t last, and the visitors’ lead through Ryan Watt also didn’t last either, so just the sort of thing championship games are made of. The second continued in the same manner, but the third belonged to the Jets who edged ahead with Aaron Connolly filling the empty net with three seconds to go for only the forth defeat for the Phoenix on home ice.
There was good news and bad news at the Phoenix. The weekend has seen Tom Duggan go out with a shoulder injury against the Wildcats and indications are his absence is likely to be at least a few weeks, so I bet his fingers are tightly crossed for a return come play-off time. But the good news was Ladislav Harabin returned following his awful slash injury. Coach Hand commented: ‘I said it was up to him. He said he would give it a go and it was like he had never been gone.’
And now for some bad news, at least if you are a Bees fan. The Bracknell side became the first casualty of the play-off cull with their loss to the Tigers at the weekend with just not enough points now available for them to make a recovery.
And with the Steeldogs losing to Basingstoke and the Tigers then losing to the Lightning, the differential in the red zone remained the same, with the clock ticking. But too quickly for Coach Watkins at the Tigers who said, ‘We may be out of the play-offs, buy we can still pick up points.’
Not with veteran forward Daniel McKriel, though, who having come out of ‘retirement’ this season bid farewell to his old team having decided to join another by marrying and so hung up his skates. Watkins, however, was rightly chuffed and fighting to the end with the Tigers who have achieved a tremendous amount in their first year, added his players, ‘should be reminding me how good they are and what they can do for our team. I’m looking for a positive attitude.’
Also with a positive attitude was Coach Aldridge with the Wildcats who remarked his boys were laughing and bonding in a manner he had not come across at Swindon since GM Steve Nell donned flippers and a nappy and did his Donald Duck impression. And rightly so having given the Phoenix a run for their money the previous weekend. ‘We set out to shut down Manchester’s top line and I think that’s the first time not one of those guys scored a point.’ A rare achievement indeed, but it also showed the Phoenix had a few lesser but adequate mortals they could throw into the breach and get the job done.
However, be that as it may the Wildcats were undeterred and went to Basingstoke Saturday evening and took it out on the Bison. First they hit the post and although the puck sneaked under Dean Skinns, it was no goal. Add to that the home side scoring first and Skinns plucking everything from the air with some superb saves, and at two-up Chris Wiggins decking Matt Foord, who went off for a while, it was Jozef Liska who brought the Wildcats back in on a delayed penalty goal. Fifteen minutes from time the Bison were still a comfortable 3-1 up but then hero Jan Melichar grabbed two, Joe Baird got the equaliser and Melichar wrapped it up as the tenth player in the penalty shoot-out.
This, of course, did nothing for the Bison as they head for the second leg of the EPL Cup Final and although struck by injury problems it meant their home-losing run reached five games. And where do they play the Jets Wednesday?
Also mid-week the Flames went to Bracknell and although the Bees are out of the play-off running the Guildford side probably knew they were not in for an easy ride, but at two-up maybe they relaxed a tad because nearing the end of the second period Peter Jasik slammed two in and it was game-on! The Flames clicked up a gear, but so did the Bees and with less than two minutes to go they found themselves on an equal footing at five apiece but with Nathan Rempel snatching the decider.
The Jets didn’t get things all their own way when they played host to the Phantoms, although what an excellent game it was with barely fifteen minutes gone and already 2-2. The Phantoms even pulled away in the second period, but Doug Sheppard claimed the go-ahead goal a minute from the end, and the Jets took control in the third. The Phantoms weren’t done, though, and Lelenas, proving again what a dumb move it was to have sacked him, chalked up a hat-trick to make it a one-goal game with less than three to go. Adam Calder, who else, with his second of the evening ended it four seconds from time, and the Jets go marching on.
Meanwhile, those rascals in Manchester really are a tease as they trifled with the tension and allowed the Lightning to take the lead through Wales after just forty seconds. Even when the visitors took the lead and lost it for the third time, and Marcus Kristoffersson completed his hat-trick on the half-way mark giving the home side the lead for the first time, it was still not clear which way the game would go because the Lightning went ahead again. The final period was far more stable after Tony Hand equalised seconds after the start, and Joe Miller got the winner with minutes to spare.
Sunday, and what a fitting farewell present from Daniel MacKriel who with two goals which for a few moments gave the Tigers hope at 6-1 down as they crashed to the Jets. Although it was sadly a one-sided affair, it was out of character for the Tigers’ recent form and, as Coach Watkins said, ‘hopefully this is just a blip.’ Let’s not forget at 10-4 it was still four goals to Telford’ credit against the in-form Jets which is no worse than the likes of the Bison and Phoenix recently.
On a more hopeful note, especially after the previous night’s win, the Wildcats started off strongly in Guildford and found themselves ahead thanks to James Knight half way through the first period. But it wasn’t to last and three minutes later the Flames were on an even footing from which they pulled away fairly comfortably to a 6-1 win with almost a two-to-one shot ratio and just an interlude half way through the final period for Jez Lundin and Ejidijus Bauba to get to know each other better.
Not stopping long enough to get to know anyone better were the Phantoms who raced away from the visiting Bees and were three up by the first break. James Spurr made it four on the half hour and there followed a frenetic ten minutes during which the Bees pulled two back through Alex Barker and new-face Danny Hughes, Then, a Jaroslav Cesky penalty shot was saved by Damien King, and the Phantoms started to pull away again though Lelenas. Spurr chalked up his hat-trick minutes from time but by then it was over finally ending 9-3.
In Milton Keynes the Bison found a new lease of life and took the lead after two minutes and never looked back pausing only long enough for the penalty box door to be mended which forced an early first break. On the half way mark the Lightning joined in the game and made it two ten minutes later but the Bison were in control and ran it out 6-3 making their recent iffy form look like a thing of the past.
Talking of the past I bumped into a guy I was at school with the other day in my local, the Frog and Bunting, whom I hadn’t seen for more years than I care to remember. We called him Rapid Roger, not because he excelled at sprinting, or football or anything like that but because he had the brain of a squirrel who’d misplaced his nuts. For example, he only caught a punchline twenty minutes after everyone else, so you know the sort of person. I bought him a drink because he was looking a bit down and when I asked what the matter was he said he had received a letter from his wife’s solicitor that morning suggesting a divorce. ‘Oh dear,’ I said, sympathetically, ‘what did you make of that?’ He looked at me in that vacant way he has as though I’d asked him something tricky, then replied, ‘I settled for an aeroplane.’
Roger wants to take over my writing in the closed season so I can go sit in the sun, and while I am not convinced it is a good idea for the example just mentioned, he is, unfortunately, built like a hippo with the temper that has a random play button and the IQ of a turnip. So maybe he has a point.
However, that just leaves one week to go and theoretically the championship is still undecided, but although it would have to be a pretty unusual set of circumstances for the Phoenix to bung this baby out the window, the Jets cannot now touch the Flames so the places look decided.
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Contact the author Bill.Collins@Prohockeynews.com
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