NIHL National Division: Hull resist Milton Keynes fightback

(Image permission: Tony Sargent)

Milton Keynes Lightning Vs Hull Pirates
Planet Ice MK
Saturday, 21st September
NIHL National Division

Score:

Milton Keynes Lightning 4 – 5 Hull Pirates
(1-4, 2-1, 1-0)

Officials:

Referee: Will Hewitt, Oliver Truswell
Lino: Hardy, McPhee

Starting netminders

MK – Jordan Lawday
Hull – Ash Smith

(Image permission: Tony Sargent)

Period 1

The night started in party atmosphere for the Buckinghamshire side with the presentation of a cheque for £13,900 by the supporters club, accepted by team captain Russ Cowley on behalf of the club.

Once the puck dropped, for the first two minutes it was MK making all of the running putting netminder Ash Smith under challenge early on. However, just after the two minute mark, it was Lightning netminder Jordan Lawday that was beaten first when Lee Bonner received a great set up from import Peter Fabus to put Hull 1-0 up at 2:15.

Hull piled on the pressure and this was rewarded with their second goal at 3:28 with Bobby Chamberlain scoring on the rebound after the initial effort was waved off by the referee. Pirates then began hitting penalty trouble at 5:03 with Lee Bonner picking up two minutes for roughing.

Lightning went close a couple of times in the resulting powerplay, but it was Hull that picked up their third goal at 8:42 when, after Bonner and Matty Davies had made the play, Fabus put it away, beating Lawday at close range.

Things boiled over just over halfway through the period and Grant McPherson dropped the gloves with Pirates’ captain, Jordan Fisher.

While McPherson hung in as best he could, Fisher lifted the veteran’s jersey and landed multiple blows before taking McPherson down.

Fisher and McPherson each received 2+2 for roughing, with Fisher getting an additional two for the interference which had triggered the fight in the first place.

Shortly after, the MK power play ended with Cale Tanaka picking up a minor for hooking with nine minutes to go in the period.

The referees continued to be busy a minute later as Lightning’s Rio Grinnell-Park picked up two for charging, while Pirates’ Tom Stubley picked up two for cross-checking in retaliation.

MK again went close, this time the puck running along the goal line, before the game was stopped again for penalties. This time Tanaka sitting two for roughing, and Bonner two for tripping.

At 12:50 Ari Nahri caught the puck on the break following the face-off, charging down the ice went glove side to beat Smith to get the Lightning on the board.

Cowley followed up with another attempt, but on the following play Fabus picked up his second goal of the night, sliding the puck under Jordan Lawday, assisted by Kevin Phillips and Sam Towner.

More penalties followed at 16:02 with Tanaka sitting a minor for high-sticking and Pirates’ Lee Heywood sitting a minor for clipping.

The game seemed to lose some momentum until 19:20, when Pirates player/Coach Jason Hewitt received what would be an expensive minor for tripping.

MK set up their powerplay, however the period ended before they could make anything of it with the score at 1-4 in the visitors favour.

(Image permission: Tony Sargent)

Period 2

The second period saw the Lightning require just 25 seconds before James Griffin converted a pass from Tomas Kana to cut the deficit to two goals.

Hull were again visitors to the penalty box when Josh Gent sat two for slashing at 23:11, and although this gave the Lightning a good period of pressure, it was again the visitors that scored with coach Hewitt pulling Lawday forward before roofing the shot from close range at 28:45.

A little under two minutes later, Cowley and Tanaka sliced through the Hull defence before dropping the puck back to Tomas Kana to send a one time shot from the blue line over Smith’s shoulder to bring the scores back to 3-5.

As the Lightning gained confidence at one end, at the other, Lawday faced a horror show moment as the puck, behind him, wobbled towards the goal line.

Luckily, a Lightning stick got to the puck first, however this was the start of a sustained period of pressure form the vistors who rang the post and forced two more goal mouth scrambles over the next few minutes.

The Pirates had their first clear powerplay opportunity as Griffin sat two for roughing at 37:37, however the Lightning penalty kill held firm and the period ended with the score at 3-5.

(Image permission: Tony Sargent)

Period 3

The third period started with the same intensity that the second period ended, as the Pirates surged forward, Heywood took a puck to the face behind the net as the game continued.

At 41:36, Matty Davies picked up a minor for holding allowing the Lightning to again pick up momentum, going close twice in quick succession, Cowley having his shot snatched out by the pirates netminder and Callay Robertson just going the wrong side of the post.

A further penalty of Hewitt saw the Pirates on the back foot again, this time, Smith found himself in the back of the net, the puck smothered in the crease by another Pirates player.

Moments later Nahri came close for his second but Hull held on.

Lightning’s 4th goal came with just over 10 minutes left as Jordan Stokes fired the puck in, looking like it had ricocheted downwards behind the goal line, as that shot was waved off, Tanaka poked it home to make it a one-goal game at 49:32.

The atmosphere for the final half of the period was utterly electric. Hull had the opportunities to increase the lead again as Grinnell-Park picked up a minor for cross checking at 52:14.

Hull managed one shot off the post however the Lightning PK shut down the powerplay and fired clear at every opportunity.

At 55:33, the Pirates were in penalty trouble again as Hewitt picked up a minor for cross-checking leaving the Pirates on the penalty kill for a large chunk of the remaining game.

Lightning upped the pressure, coming close with 24 seconds remaining before play was stopped for a man in the crease giving Clifford an opportunity to call a time-out.

With the clock winding down Lawday looked to the bench as the puck bounced between the Pirates’ ‘D’ zone and the neutral zone before heading to the bench with 12 seconds remaining.

As Lawday reached the bench, the play was blown dead leading to a centre ice face-off, and although Lightning won the puck, it wasn’t enough to make a play as the clock wound down to zero and a final score of MK Lightning 4 – 5 Hull Pirates.

Man of the match awards went to Ashley Smith for the Pirates and Cale Tanaka for the MK Lightning.

Coaches Words

Jason Hewitt – Hull Pirates

“I think the first and second period we should have been up a couple more, we had a couple of A grade A’s and didn’t take advantage. Overall I’m happy, we had a lot of penalty kills which will get you in trouble, I think early in the season guys are a little antsy still and finding their feet so it’s going to happen, but over all, happy enough.

“I’m not going to lie, it was a little uncomfortable at the end when they pressed, but we did a pretty good job keeping them to the outside, and when it did get in front, guys were sacrificing the body and that’s all you can ask of them in that situation. We got a little beat up, but we got the win so we feel good”.

Lewis Clifford – Milton Keynes Lightning

“I’ve put on record that Hull are the best team in the league, and we’ve just shown that for 40 minutes we can go toe to toe with them, but unfortunately we put ourselves in a position in the first period we couldn’t claw our way back from because we just weren’t mentally prepared to play from the first drop of the puck. W

“We played that team for 120 minutes last weekend so we knew what they would do and what sort of plays they would look for. There were so many positives to take from the second and third period, but it was the first period that killed us”.

Lewis Clifford comments courtesy of James Reeve/MKFM.

Box Scores

Netminders:

Of Note

Bobby Chamberlain leads the Hull Pirates in goals and points with seven goals for 16 points, and penalty minutes with 34 PIMs. This includes pre-season games.

Ari Nahri is the highest goal scorer for MK Lightning with five goals for six points including preseason games.

Impressions

Milton Keynes do not have a bad side as such, and the game on Saturday showed this quite clearly the mix of experience and youth will ensure that they are competitive every night. What let them down was not being ready from the first puck drop. This has cost them 12 goals in the first 20 minutes, averaging two goals per first period, per game.

The Hull Pirates are looking good at this stage to finish at or near the top of the table come the end of the season. As stated before, their biggest vulnerability is giving away penalties which has cost them 8 power play goals against. On Saturday, there were occasions where Pirates should have been on the powerplay but for ill-judged retaliation. Against other teams, this will cost them games.