SWINDON, UK – This week’s glance at the Top Tens Chart changes shows Steeldogs’ Janis Ozolins has removed Adam Calder from the top of the EPL goal-scoring chart, while Lightning’s Adam Carr, the top Brit, replaces Wildcats’ Nicky Watt. The top D-men Chart is now headed by Phantoms’ Chris Allen who unseats Steeldogs’ Andre Payette.
Bison’s Chris Wiggins heads all PIM charts replacing Payette and Thomas Jeffery in the EPL and Brit chart respectively. The only other change is the addition of Flames’ Mark Lee making it a tri of netminders with two shut-outs apiece.
Last week produced several pieces of news that for different reasons had a certain follow-me attraction to them.
The most worrying was the accident to Phoenix’s Slovakian D-man Ladislav Harabin who sustained a facial injury in the game against the Flames. First reports from eye-witnesses said he had been hit in the mouth by a puck, although later the club and press referred to an ‘accidental high stick’ and suchlike. Either way I don’t suppose it makes much difference to Harabin himself, unless he gets some sort of a discount on medical treatment, as he was taken to hospital anyway and treated for a badly split lip and two missing teeth.
It may be remembered that last February he received an accidental slash injury to his arm from a skate which required surgery and put him out of the game, which was on top of a knee injury which he had been carrying strapped and for which Coach Hand eventually told him to rest. So some really rotten luck for this exceptional player who made last year’s EPL All-star team. While we are in this reflective mood it will also be remembered the Phoenix lost their other import D-man Jaroslav Spelda last month with an ankle infection who is still out.
So, clearly a few problems for the Phoenix which were compounded by a rampaging Guildford Flames on Wednesday who completely blew them out of the water. In fact, in the first five minutes in what must be a record goal-scoring spell as the home side started whacking them in on the first minute of play and three minutes later were 4-0 up. In what must also be the fastest time-out ever, too, the Phoenix paused for reflection and actually made a courageous fight back.
Coach Hand later said, ‘We paid for a slow start, but I cannot fault the lads’ efforts.’ He went on to say that if the Phoenix were to stand a reasonable chance of retaining their title then everyone had to contribute. ‘For us to do well,’ he said, ‘goals have to come from everywhere.’ And while obviously he meant from his third line and not just the likes of himself, Martin Cingel and Juraj Faith, after the Flames game you can’t help feeling he might accept a nudge or two of divine intervention as well.
Or could the answer lie in a comment Flames’ coach Paul Dixon made when said he had observed, ‘a worrying pattern developing in terms of our ability to get the good game only after we have let ourselves down.’ If true and sustained, a look at the fixture list could prove interesting.
Somewhere else with a worrying trend, that of losing, came to a halt Wednesday evening in Basingstoke. The Bison had re-signed Slovakian Viktor Kubenko who quit the club at the end of last season to play in his homeland. Coach Steve Moria said he had kept in touch and the forward had said he had intended to spend the summer there, but the time was now ready for a move. So, paperwork sorted and tickets booked and the player was on his old home ice for the mid-week clash with the Wildcats. Moria said, ‘This is a massive boost for us as we know what he is capable of.’ Well, last season it was eighty-four points for a start.
And what comeback it was. With barely a period gone the visitors were two goals up and Moria must have been wondering about the plane fair from Bratislava. Then just after the half-way mark Kubenko celebrated his return with a hat-trick and grabbed the monkey off the Bison back and flung it into oblivion. Meanwhile the Wildcats were left wondering why they had only managed eleven shots on goal and, as coach Ryan Aldridge said, ‘You aren’t going to win hockey games with eleven shots.’
While on the subject of retuning Slovakians, the rumoured return of Ondrej Lauko, who also quit the Bison in the spring for his homeland, was also substantiated, but this time to the Phantoms. Lauko, with a respectable 78 points for the Bison last time out, has to serve out his notice and will not being able to play for his new club until at least early December when the Phantoms will be playing, as luck would have it, the Wildcats!
The six week wait, however, has created a bit of a furore in that many feel a struggling Phantoms cannot afford to wait that long to do something about their lowly table position. The club made moves towards Jiri Hanzal, recently released by the Tigers, as a temporary replacement but it was not to be. Rumours exploded and while many claimed to know what was happening the Elite League’s Edinburgh Capitals signed him up.
Phantoms’ coach Chris Allen rather stoically said, ‘But to be honest, I am not overly bothered as I think we have the players to manage.’
Hmmm. Sounds like famous last words if ever there were any which brings to mind two people. One is probably better left unmentioned until after the weekend, but more immediately is the controversial ex-Phantoms’ D-man James Morgan. OK, so maybe not quite what the doctored ordered but he is not playing at the moment and does like his little spurt forward. Some would say not at any price and others at the right price a fair stop-gap. Maybe the weekend might have some bearing.
While we are in a controversial mood we might as well bring in assistant coach Lukas Smital in Bracknell. Last Saturday when the Bees played the Phoenix there was a little upset minutes from the end. One side says Phoenix’s Harabin kneed Martin Masa with what could have had frightful consequences and when he fell to the ice Brad Watchorn leapt to the Czech’s defence and stomped all over Harabin thereby attracting a bag full of penalties for his trouble. But, then there are others who say someone said, ‘Is that Old Spice you’re wearing?’
Now when I say controversial I am referring to the fact Smital said, Watchorn was right to punch Harabin because, ‘We will take being played against physically, but as soon as someone does something like that it is unacceptable.’ Does the fact punching a man on the ground unable to defend himself not sound equally as damaging? It sounds remarkably like vigilante behaviour, and an attempt at overriding the responsibilities if the officials. So was it really a serious suggestion that EPL officials might like to take a look into the matter and look more kindly on Watchorn and less on Harabin? Oh no, if that isn’t controversial enough then surely how anyone could suggest Old Spice really is hitting below the belt and needs to be investigated.
But Smital wasn’t finished because while saying he felt his side needed to relax a bit to relieve pressure on players who are now facing a bit of a slump, he justified it with, ‘When I played in Guildford if we lost one game we hit the panic button…if we lost two games it was the end of the world.’
But I much prefer the comment made by Tigers’ coach Tom Watkins who said after the weekend, ‘We are going to get the rub of the green, and I really think that one night we are going to hump somebody.’ Nothing equivocal about that, then.
What was clear was the Jets released British D-man John Connolly to make way for Sam Waller, who requested release from the Bees. A couple of days later Connolly turned up in Manchester as temporary cover for their injury problems, while the Steeldogs let Thomas Jeffery go by mutual consent due to work commitments.
So how did the weekend shape up with plenty more interesting clashes? Saturday saw the Bison, with their new man now well and truly back ‘home,’ host the Phoenix with two of their imports still out. Here was a game you wouldn’t want to put more than a shilling or two on. In the event the ‘old masters’ Hand and Moria both exchanged goals and things were all still even going into the final period. So although the Bison didn’t really have an answer in the third, they were a tad unlucky and all credit to the Phoenix for shrugging off their injuries woes.
Now hands up all those who thought the Phantoms travelling to the Lightning’s den were going to get their, er, hacienda floor wiped clean? And here we should remind ourselves of Coach Allen’s famous last w…., um, comment. But, eat my words and call my hat a pudding, not only did his side open the scoring after a couple of minutes through James Spurr, but added to it shortly after. Although the Lightning managed to get shots on goal, they looked almost mesmerised and didn’t get a reply in until the start of the third, after Grant McPherson and Richard Bentham had a slight misunderstanding about childcare costs.
In Swindon the Wildcats hosted the Bees for the third time recently and carried on pretty much where they left off with plenty of end-to-end close combat separated only by a Nicky Watt goal until fourteen minutes from the end. Then ex-Wildcats Matt Foord put the Bees level but were quickly punished for a goal mouth fumble which was built on until Peter Jasik gave the Bees hope, but in fact ended in another one-goal-in-it game.
The Tigers, who have been known to cause an upset, venturing into Slough with the Jets in form had to be a game to attract the curious. And on the night things were going nicely for half an hour with only a home goal to separate the two. Then the Tigers got a puncture and in the space of seven minutes found themselves at the side of the road with their breakdown recovery expired and four goals sticking in a tyre. However, a goal seconds from the end of the second period by Joe Henry wasn’t so much a consolation as an inspiration as he slapped on a patch and the glue took hold as he added another minutes later. But, had it not been for Tom Carlon popping in his hat-trick with a minute to spare for the first British one of its kind this season, the Tigers might have come even closer.
Sheffield at home to the Flames was another game with lots of potential, and it certainly lived up to that. For two periods no quarter was asked for or given and it was early in the third Lloyd Gibson broke the deadlock for the home side. Then followed four minutes in which goals were exchanged and with shots almost equal the score stayed in the same predicament and it was into overtime we go. But even that could not separate the pair but penalties from Chris Sykes and Andre Payette did.
Sunday and the second leg of the weekend double-header between the Flames and Steeldogs, unusually also in Sheffield, was a return bout with the Steeldogs first with points on the board but the Flames first with blood on the ice through an injured David Savage, who left the game later. The hockey, though, was a cracking pace and at the end of the second period with another pause to remove blood, it was even at 2-each. In the third, as the Flames took control, the game became something of a combat zone as the Steeldogs tried to hang on and in the process collected a staggering 91 penalty minutes and saw Ben Morgan collect a game, set and match award.
What a difference a day and change of venue makes as the Bison visited Manchester with John Connolly making his home debut for second game of their double-header. The home side fell behind in the first period and around the end of the second saw Ryan Johnson depart for an accidental high-stick call and Bison’s Moria score short-handed. Ten minutes later another short-handed goal, this time from Kubenko, was like rubbing salt into the wounded Phoenix
Having already beaten the Tigers by the biggest margin in the league to date, the visiting Wildcats must have been expecting good things from this clash although it took them over a period to make their mark. But the Tigers were having none of it and Joe Henry evened it up within minutes and when the Wildcats regained the lead in the third Marek Hornak sent it into overtime and then penalties where the Tigers wrapped it up showing that despite the previous hammering, the Swindon side are now vulnerable.
All eyes must have been on the Lightning after their dismal Saturday evening to see whether their winning bubble had really burst. Well, at two goals down after ten minutes and 4-1 at the half-way mark, you decide. Two goals within thirty seconds from Grant McPherson and Blaz Emersic looked like a bit of a revival, but with less than three minutes to go it was too little too late and the Lightning ended their weekend in a surprisingly different way to seven days ago. The Bees, however, ended their weekend with a loosing streak put to bed.
The Phantoms must have felt on a roll having dispensed with the table-toppers the night before and on home ice too. So, when they took the lead after a minute against the visiting Jets they must have thought they really could make do with the squad they had. Even with Calder evening it up five minutes later it was still even on the quarter-hour but his second, a hair’s breadth from the first bell, made it 4-2 Jets. The middle slot opened in the same vein with a brace from Maris Ziedins within a minute, and then all of a sudden the home side ran out of steam. The Jets, with no consideration for their feelings, rode all over their flower bed with six unanswered goals completing the highest scoring game of the season so far.
So, after a weekend which saw the Phantoms experience both a giant-killing success and the season’s worst defeat, on the face of it you might think it is currently a yes-and-no situation; but the tendency must be towards ‘no’.
I return to Coach Allen’s confident words of being able to cope until Lauko arrives and now mention the second character brought to mind because he now seems rather apt. It was my old grand-pappy who recalled the popular and competent General John Sedgwick of the Union army who, at the skirmish near the Spotsylvania court house in the US Civil War, pointing to Confederate snipers said, ‘They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distaaaaaah!’
So where did all this mix and match leave us after the weekend? Well, no doubt about who is ruling the roost now because clearly it is the Jets while the Flames have moved up into second and the Lightning dropped to forth. The Phantoms returned to the foot of the table, and we await next weekend for more of the same unpredictability.
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Contact Bill.Collins@prohockeynews.com
