SWINDON, UK – So, the final week has arrived, and it hardly seems possible yet another season has ended. But what a season!
The week started with the news from the GB camp that Steeldogs’ netminder Ben Bowns and the Flames’ David Longstaff had made it through the training camp to the final squad to play in the World Championships Div1A games next week. GB Coach Tony Hand said, ‘We are taking another very competitive squad and there is great confidence.’
Another exciting step forward for British hockey came with the news Wildcats’ assistant coach Pete Russell had been appointed to lead the coaching staff of the new Okanagan Hockey Academy in Swindon. This facility is not just about training kids to play better hockey. Oh no, it is much more. Russell will be joined by other Wildcats’ team members Aaron Nell, Ryan Watt and Jan Melichar.
On shakier ground heading into the future came the rumours. Well, it is now open season for such things. One that has persisted in recent weeks concerned the future of Bison head coach Steve Moria who at 51 was said to be heading back to Canada, to Bracknell or overseeing the move in Cardiff to the spectacular new sporting facilities there which will include the ENL and EIHL Devils. It was even said he might stay in Basingstoke as a bench coach but Planet Ice MD John Neville put paid to that with the statement that the club could only afford a player-coach adding, curiously,‘ I felt that we needed to go in a different direction with the coaching staff moving forward.’ I say curiously because how exactly is a player-coach a ‘different direction.’ Presumably in non-corporate English for us ordinary fans he simply mean a different player-coach.
And that is what they will be getting if we believe the concomitant rumour that Jets’ Doug Sheppard will be replacing him and taking British forward Greg Owen, currently with the Coventry Blaze, with him who is no stranger to Basingstoke having played there in their Elite League days. Also rumoured to be leaving the Jets is Adam Calder who some say has bought a bus ticket to Milton Keynes.
However, Moria, it turned out was appointed Director of Hockey for the Cardiff club, where he first played in 1988 and remains something of a cult figure. Moria said of his release, ‘I can understand the decision.’ Adding, ‘Being at Basingstoke has been exciting.’
Meanwhile Chris Allen at the Phantoms made it clear he would be more than happy to return to the club, even if it meant giving up the coaching side. ‘I want to be in a Phantoms jersey next season,’ he said, going on to explain he had been approached by a couple of other clubs and while Peterborough was his first choice, the clock was ticking, so to speak.
Allen added that should he be retained he felt there was little need to change much in the roster although, wait for it, an old style ‘enforcer’ was necessary. Oh dear. Do we have to go back to that nonsense? Let’s make this clear, Allen says he would want a player he can afford to lose to the penalty box but who will keep the other sides in line and not take liberties, yah-de-dah. We have heard all this before and it doesn’t work in the EPL, and if you need someone to stand up and be counted then go and buy yourself a Watt boy or similar who at least can skate a bit and score the odd point or two.
It would be impossible to go down this line without at least a passing reference to Andrew Sharp, probably the only old style enforcer in the league, who was employed for exactly the same reasons this season by the Flames, and the year before with the Phoenix. While the Manchester side conceded it was impossible to justify the financial outlay on a player just to sit in the box, this year with the Flames Sharp has had somewhat muted campaign. But the proof of the pudding, and all that, will come if and when the Flames re-sign him as a policeman, and even if they have the budget to do so it is hard to see how the Phantoms will be able to fork out for the same arrangement.
But the highlight of the week was undoubtedly in Coventry where apart from the games another positive leap was made for the EPL with the announcement of record ticket sales. And, as the week crept on, the bartering and exchanging of tickets began which while bad news for those who couldn’t make it, shows despite the economy the sport is looking as healthy as it could be. Even the English Ice Hockey Association chairman Ken Taggart was moved to comment, ‘it is a phenomenal effort by all the teams in the EPL, and shows that our league captivates the imagination of EPL hockey fans.’
So on to the matches themselves and Phoenix coach Hand summed it up perfectly when he said of the 1-game contests, ‘once you are in there, the form book goes lout the window.’
Play-Off Semi Final 1 – Jets 3 – Flames 2
And first out the window were the Flames who had an awful start as netminder Mark Lee was stretchered off in the first minute with an ankle injury following a collision. But, on the other leg, a marvellous opportunity for James Hadfield to have to step into his shoes, and he did so superbly. Remember, it was only a few weeks ago Hadfield stepped in for Lee in the Cup Final against the Steeldogs, so while he may not have clocked up the minutes this season, when called on to perform in the important matches he has done so with aplomb.
The Flames were first on the scoreboard thanks to Jozef Kohut after nine minutes, and second there four minutes later through Jez Lundin. On the half-hour Jets’ Ryan Watt started to turn the tide and early in the final period Aaron Connolly scored the equaliser with Watt grabbing his second with four minutes to go. And if that wasn’t bad enough Lundin collapsed on the bench at the end and was taken to hospital with a ruptured spleen as the Flames said goodbye to the treble.
Play-Off Semi Final 2 – Steeldogs 5 – Phoenix 6 after penalties
It was probably inevitable there would be some theatrics and the odd smidgeon of physical play in this game, and that’s how it started. In fact, that is how it carried on as well. Lloyd Gibson put the Steeldogs into the lead after eight minutes, but two minutes later Steve Wallace equalised on a power-play. Then followed a more serious incident which saw Ashley Calvert clock Ladislav Harabin with a high stick, and the ref punt Calvert into the box for the rest of the game. Before the period was finished the Phoenix had two more goals through James Archer and Martin Cingel. The middle stint started with Harabin back on the ice, but so was the skirmishing. Just before half-way Edgars Bebris pulled one back for the Steeldogs but Ciaran Long returned the 2-goal lead for the Phoenix minutes later.
In the third Archer added his second and it was looking like curtains for the Steeldogs until, in a five minute burst, Andre Payette and Ben Morgan with a pair made it all level just in time for the overtime period. From then on it could have gone either way, but it didn’t and it was left to the penalty shoot-out to split the difference which in the end went to the Phoenix.
Either of the two semi-finals would have been worthy of a final for different reasons. First you had the forth-placed Jets taking on the league leaders, who were also favourites, and in the second game the sheer brute force and energy from once side trying to end the season with even more success than they have already achieved, and the other desperate for at least one trophy. Play-Off Final – Jets 4 – Phoenix 1
A tentative start, as you might expect, until Adam Greener was sent on his way for 2+10 for a check to the head. After fifteen minutes Jet’s Adam Calder started things rolling with Doug Sheppard making it two just thirty-seconds later, both on power-plays. Before the period ended Ciaran Long brought the Phoenix back to within one goal, and that held things in a kind of stalemate for twenty minutes when Darius Pliskauskas upset matters with a Jet’s third just before the break, and upset things even further with his second a minute into the final period. With almost a period to go the Phoenix kept the Jets in check, but didn’t have enough fuel left in the tank to do much more, leaving the Jets to pick up their third play-off trophy in five years.
So there you have it, another play-off done and dusted and for once I unable to say lots more next week. Can’t wait.
Bwaaaa!
For more EPL facts and figures, stats news and more take a look at www.iceman-epl.com
Contact Bill.Collins@prohockeynews.com
For more EPL facts and figures, stats news and more take a look at www.iceman-epl.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.