LONDON, UK – With the league season done, attention turned to the Autumn Cup Final and the Quarter Final stage of the Play-Offs.
Photo by Ryan Ainscow
Instead of a preview piece on the Play-Offs by PHN our correspondent spoke with the Banners on The Wall podcast and you can see if the predictions were correct by listening HERE
On Friday night the Swindon Wildcats ended their trophy drought with a 7-3 aggregate win over the Basingstoke Bison, thanks to a 4-2 win at the Link Centre. Sam Bullas, Jan Kostal, Aaron Nell and Edgars Bebris got the goals for the hosts, with Hallam Wilson and Kurt Reynolds on target for the Bison.
“I have got to give a lot of credit to the boys. They worked extremely hard and the first period was one of our best this year,” said player-coach Nell in the post-match interview with the Swindon Advertiser.
“I’m delighted for the players and the fans. It was hugely important that we didn’t sit back on the lead that we had from the first leg last Friday. In the first period you could see from our intensity that we were going to win the game on the night.”
The Peterborough Phantoms announced that not only would Darius Pliskauskas be missing through injury in the upcoming weekend fixtures, but defenceman Greg Pick would be retiring at the end of the season.
“This is a decision I didn’t make lightly, and was one of the hardest I have ever had to make” said Pick, who is joining the police force. “Hockey and the Phantoms have been one of the biggest parts of my life, and it is extremely difficult to walk away.”
“My new career is a great opportunity for me and I will invest everything into it, like I would like to think I have done with my hockey career. I have had some great times with this club and my fondest hockey memories are with the Phantoms. Winning and losing aside it is a great club to be part of.”
With Cardiff Fire the only team not to qualify for the Quarter Final stage of the NIHL Britton Conference Play-Offs, attention turned to the season finale and the potential for it to be disrupted by forecasted snow.
To their credit 482 days summed up the thoughts of everyone when they tweeted that the Beast from the East 2 should simply ‘F*ck off’. Reports later suggested that their head of media was stood out in a dressing gown on Friday evening with a blow torch aimed towards the night sky, whilst league manager Richard Carpenter drove along various ‘A’ roads in the South of England hurling handfuls of grit out of the window.
Weekend action round-up
Photo by David Trevallion
Bison show their class as Mo’s season ends
After a 10-1 thumping in Hampshire last weekend in the league, the Invicta Dynamos hoped to put in a better display against a Bison side reeling from defeat in the Autumn Cup final 24 hours earlier.
Unfortunately for the committed band of Mo’s fans making the journey west, the result was only slightly improved as the Bison marched to a 6-0 win thanks to a brace from Tomas Karpov and lone goals from Ryan Sutton, Roman Malinik, Kurt Reynolds and Stuart Mogg.
Dean Skinns earned a nine shot shut out in a relatively easy night between the pipes for the Bison. Banners on The Wall website published a game summary HERE
The second leg was always going to be an impossible battle for the Mo’s, even with home advantage, and they went down 7-1 with Steve Osman scoring late on to finally give the Mo’s fans a goal to cheer. A brace each from the returning Grant Rounding and Tomas Karpov added to goals from Dan Scott, Roman Malinik and Josh Smith to seal a convincing aggregate win.
Photo by Fusional
Swindon too strong for battling Streatham
Streatham knew that their form against the Wildcats during the regular season wasn’t great and the team had been hoping to avoid the Wiltshire side via a higher seeding in the league standings.
The first leg in Streatham was arguably the RedHawks best chance of grabbing a win, but despite holding their own for much of the game, the hosts went down to an Aaron Nell brace and a two goal deficit.
The return leg in Swindon survived the snowfall thanks to more morning shovelling by the Cats players and their helpers. The game sparked into life in the second period as a brace from Ryan Webb put the RedHawks in touching distance after Jordan Kelsall had opened the scoring for the Wildcats.
Three unanswered goals that all came either side of the second period break sent Swindon through with Aaron Nell, Sam Bullas and Chris Jones all on target.
Phantoms avoid the Thunder storm to progress
The rivalry between MK and Peterborough has always been fierce even if the Phantoms are normally used to playing the now Elite League Lightning. The first leg ended in a 4-1 win for Peterborough on home ice with James Ferrara, Ales Padelek, Nathan Salem and Owen Griffiths all on target. For MK, Grant McPherson scored the consolation to give them a little hope in the return game.
The second leg in Milton Keynes started as it would continue with the Phantoms scoring in the opening three minutes through testimonial man James Ferrara. A brace from Ales Padelek and further goals from Scott Robson, Nathan Salem, James White and Leigh Jamieson gave the Phantoms a 7-2 win on the night with Grant McPherson and Michael Stratford on target for the Thunder.
Ferrara and Robson also ended up in a scrap with McPherson and Tom Carlon to give the supporters something else to talk about.
Photo by Kev Slyfield
Raiders edge Bees to continue charge
The seeding’s placed the Raiders ahead of the Bees and made them favourites despite the Bees status as a former EPL team. The first leg took place in Bracknell against the backdrop of a parting shot from Bees suspended import Frantisek Bakrlik in the local press in which he branded the league ‘soft’.
The opening game turned into an 11 goal thriller with the Raiders edging the game 6-5 despite being outshot 46 to 23 over sixty minutes. Raiders’ goals came thanks to a brace each from import duo Marek Nahlik and Juraj Huska and lone efforts from Jake Sylvester and JJ Pitchley. The Bees goals came from Callum Best, Josh Martin, Shaun Thompson, George Norcliffe and Danny Ingolsby.
The second leg was set up to be a stormer in front of another near capacity crowd in Romford and the Bees almost turned party poopers as goals from James Galazzi and Josh Martin levelled things up on aggregate in the second period. The Raiders weren’t to be beaten however and roared back with a brace from Jake Sylvester and a lone effort from Marek Nahlik to add to Matty Turner’s earlier effort.
The result means that the Raiders are the only original NIHL side to progress to the semi-finals and guarantees them another near full house to add to the coffers.
For Streatham, Bracknell, Invicta and Milton Keynes it means an extended summer break, but for the four teams remaining in the Britton Conference it’s a semi on all-round. Swindon will take on Peterborough over two legs next weekend, while London will face Basingstoke. Who will make the final and in turn the final four weekend in Coventry? All bets are off.
Results
Friday 16 March 2018
Swindon Wildcats 4 Basingstoke Bison 2 (Swindon win the Autumn Cup)
Saturday 17 March 2018
Basingstoke Bison 6 Invicta Dynamos 0
Peterborough Phantoms 4 MK Thunder 1
Bracknell Bees 5 London Raiders 6
Streatham IHC 0 Swindon Wildcats 2
Sunday 18 March 2018
Invicta Dynamos 1 Basingstoke Bison 7 (Bison qualify)
MK Thunder 2 Peterborough Phantoms 7 (Phantoms qualify)
London Raiders 4 Bracknell Bees 2 (Raiders qualify)
Swindon Wildcats 4 Streatham IHC 2 (Wildcats qualify)
Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.