SWINDON, UK – What an emotional weekend that was! It was like losing your first tenner on a horse, moving house or childbirth.
Everyone expected things to be tight, but in fact the top four seeds went through – Flames, Phoenix, Steeldogs and Jets, which, according to the play-off seeding arrangement, is exactly as it should be. But it was not without its trauma and more than one occasion when things looked like being turned upside down. And that is how it should be too. But while the seeding format is at least theoretically aimed at the top two best teams meeting in a final, history has shown in numerous sports that the more exciting games are often prior to this conclusion.
Take, for instance, the Jets and Lightning’s weekend.
Saturday – Lightning 7 – Jets 4
Saturday’s leg began a repeat of the previous weekend’s double-header although not as close as the home side pulled away after a few minutes, and while the Jets made a reply minutes later, it was the Lightning that dominated the period and into the middle stint. Then, despite being 4-goals down in a three-minute burst the Jets were suddenly back in it as the Lightning seemed set on throwing away what is normally an unassailable lead. Cunningly, a time-out got them back on track and consolidated their position for the win.
Sunday – Jets 7 – Lightning 3
Jet’s coach Doug Sheppard said, ‘If we are the underdogs, it’s good. If they’re the favourites going into the weekend then they’ve got all the pressure.’ Well, at least he got his wish because Sunday, if you had to put your hand on your heart and your wallet on a winner, with a 3-goal deficit it probably wouldn’t have gone on the Jets, especially going to Milton Keynes. But why not, because in the last three games between these two any home-ice advantage has been decidedly missing and for two periods that was the formula these two apparently wanted to maintain.
Then in the last twenty minutes, by which time everything was equal on aggregate, a great game turned into a cracker. Within 30 seconds the Jets had the lead, and by the forty-forth minute they didn’t. Four minutes after that the Lightning were back on top and the yo-yo tactic was working perfectly. So well, in fact, that into the final minute and it was the Jets who were brushing off their seats in the coach taking them to Coventry. Then up popped Blaz Emersic and converted a penalty shot with a couple of seconds to spare and the show moved into overtime where the Jets clinched it.
(Jets 11 – Lightning 10 on aggregate)
Then there was the Flames and Phantoms.
Saturday – Phantoms 3 – Flames 2
What a scary start for the Flames as Tom Carlon had a goal disallowed in the first minute and a penalty shot was awarded which Flames’ Mark Lee saved going on to save the period after facing 16 shots to Damien King’s 8. Then followed a scary middle period where although the Flames completely reversed the shooting to 7 and 14, they went a goal down. But by half way they had got into their stride and a couple of quick goals meant they ended the period on top, but thanks to King, who pulled off a string of first class saves, the Flames lead might have been greater. Early in the third the Phantoms were back on terms and in an even twenty minutes managed to snap up the winner with just five seconds remaining. Whew!
Sunday – Flames 8 – Phantoms 4
Sunday and the Phantoms pulled another scary start out of the hat with a goal in the first minute, and while the Flames equalised quickly the period ended with them trailing on aggregate by a pair, the second of which came six seconds from the hooter. Whew, again! P2 was a different matter as the Flames’ machine finally clicked into overdrive and banged in three goals in six minutes for them to end the period in the lead. The roll continued after the break but the Phantoms surely have proved what they are capable of and put to rest some of the criticism.
Flames’ coach Paul Dixon said after the games, ‘This team has done some magical things all year in terms of coming back and winning games we seemed out of, but this tops it all.’
(Flames 10 – Phantoms 7 on aggregate)
And now for something completely different…..
Saturday – Wildcats 1 – Phoenix 2
Wildcats started strongly outshooting the visitors but ended the first period a goal down. The Phoenix added a second goal half way through the middle stint with Tom Duggan, for the second time in two weeks against the Wildcats, drew blood from Nicky Watt with a high-stick so took a short-cut home, which gave the Wildcats the chance to recover a goal, which they did. The final period was all action at both ends with both Tom Murdy and Steve Fone being tested, but while losing by the narrowest of margins it was close enough for the Wildcats to feel they must still be in with a chance.
Sunday – Phoenix 4 – Wildcats 0
Such thoughts of overturning a 1-goal deficit couldn’t have lasted long as the Phoenix really didn’t allow the Wildcats much say in the game. Ahead after eight minutes, and not looking back, the Phoenix demonstrated over the weekend the depth of their talent with notably their British players scoring all their goals while the Wildcats’ league-leading players were quiet.
(Phoenix 6 – Wildcats 1 on aggregate
After what must have been the most tranquil passage to the Finals, what better way to end the weekend than with something with a bit of a bite? Or was it a gouge, maiming, or mutilation? I talk, of course, of the Bison and Steeldogs.
Saturday – Bison 1 – Steeldogs 2
In an edgy game the first two goals, one each, came within a minute of each other after seven minutes with the Steeldogs taking the lead before the first period was over. The second was close, and for a few seconds Ashley Calvert and Kurt Reynolds were even closer, and then all this closeness became just too much for some and spilled over in the dying seconds which saw Liam Chong off to hospital for an x-ray following a slash to the wrist from Pavel Gomeniuk, and Chris Wiggins take a walk for flattening Lee Haywood which was deemed a check to the head which had he done it fifty-nine-and-a-half minutes earlier would have cost him the game the penalty was intended to. More surprisingly Ben Bowns grabbed a few minutes after having faced 17 shots to 2 in reply during the final twenty minutes and an extraordinary 56 for one goal overall. Ah, those boys.
Sunday – Steeldogs 2 – Bison 1
What little rascals they are they got to do it all over again while it was all still fresh in their minds.
This time the Steeldogs took the lead again and the Bison pulled them back by the end of the break. The second period proved there was still everything to fight for, so fight for it they did going into the second break with Wiggins and Gomeniuk and, oh, I don’t know, pick a number and dish out some minutes which, in the case of Payette as ‘third man in’ came perilously close to the same situation he found himself in this time last season with a match penalty acquired against the Phoenix which threatened his appearance in a crucial game. But when the dust settled it was the Steeldogs won by 54 to 36, penalty minutes that is, and were on the way to the Final.
On to more gentle matters and the end of season top tens charts posed a couple of intriguing conundrums. Take Wildcats Jonas Hoog, for example. After a first half of the season where he didn’t quite keep the momentum of the previous season going, he came good and, especially in the last weeks, got even gooder ending the campaign as the leading point’s scorer after weeks and weeks of the Steeldogs’ Janis Ozolins occupying the top spot.
But his team mate Aaron Nell is even more interesting in that although racing up the various scoring charts he ended the season as the only Brit with a 2-point per game average. Now bearing in mind he iced only 36 times for the Wildcats, had he completed a full season he would have amassed 112 points, the only Brit in treble figures. In fact, apart from the Flames’ Jozef Kohut the only other player in the league to reach 2 points per game who, had he also played a full season, would have reached 108 points.
Neither Höög nor Ozolins reached the 100-point target, and neither would Ozolins have done so had he played a full 54 times.
It should also be born in mind that reaching 2-points per game for anyone has been harder this year anyway with fewer players having done so, and scoring generally lower, but both Nell and Kohut managed it in this tougher environment and were pretty consistent in doing so.
The next nearest highest scoring Brit, Manchester’s Tony Hand, had he also completed a full season would have totalled a projected 82 points, a long way behind Nell, and Ozolins on a projected 92 would have been a fair chunk away from Kohut as well.
Joe Greener from the Jets is another player who had been steadily improving and had he not run out of season, who knows where he might have ended up. Having always been a top Brit, in this final week he finally joined Flames’ David Longstaff who had been so settled as the leading assist scorer you could have put your mortgage on him for reliability.
Similarly, when you think of reliability it is interesting to consider that had Phoenix’s Hand not lost so much ice time through injury he would, in fact, have topped Greener and Longstaff in assist scoring at the rate he started the season. And what about Curtis Huppe who also lost so much time injured after that amazing season with the Phoenix? Or perhaps Phantoms’ Ondrej Lauko, another late arriver?
But, recognising you can play these number games until you prove the World is flat it is probably time to move on.
The Steeldogs announced the re-signing of Andre Payette for a further two years putting paid to the speculation he was on the move. Payette had said recently he believed his mission in Sheffield was a three year commitment to reach a serious level of challenging for the prizes, and by the looks of things he is well on course.
Another club already thinking of the future is the Tigers where it was announced a ‘trials’ weekend was to be held in May.
Not so happy is Coach Gareth Cox at the Bees who, following his side’s failure to reach the play-offs said, ‘We will be sitting down and having a meeting soon to look at things. The club has to decide what direction they want to go in, and that is the same for me too.’ But all is not gloom because the Bees also announced a 20% increase in crowd size this season and a 5% improvement in season ticket sales which, with the financial situation as it is for everyone, is pretty darn good for the club, EPL and the sport.
As a measure of how tough things have been this season Cox added that the number of points the Bees had accrued would have any other season have been adequate for a play-off place. ‘We won so many more games, had fifteen games go into overtime.’ Exactly, and probably some sort of record but ultimately even with a stronger side, not up to snuff.
A similar view was expressed by Wildcats’ Coach Aldridge who said, ‘There is no doubt the league is getting stronger every year and we have improved on our points total from last season which proves we have had a good year.’ Hmmm. Well, maybe. You could also argue that with the club having a stronger team and with no more success in the league, play-offs or cup this time around had cost more effort and points simply to stand still.
So now we come to the big one next weekend with firstly the Steeldogs facing the Phoenix, and the Flames the Jets. The play-off final is a funny thing and with the atmosphere a vibrant, electric experience. So to think there is more next week. Can’t wait.
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Contact Bill.Collins@prohockeynews.com
