LONDON, UK – The ghosts of Play-Off’s past returned to haunt the competition in a weekend that stunned the NIHL into heartbreak and frustration.
The week had started with positivity as Michael Farn and Doug Sheppard were named league player and coach of the year respectively. The All-Star teams were also revealed with Jordan Lawday, Renny Marr, Michael Farn, Dan Scott, Jan Bendik, Tom Norton, Tomas Karpov, Shaun Thompson, Aaron Connolly, Juraj Huska, Aaron Nell and Nathan Salem all making the cut. You can read the full article HERE https://prohockeynews.com/nihl-britton-conference-awards-2017-18/
The scene was set for an exciting weekend of semi-final Play-Off action with both Romford and Swindon expecting near capacity crowds for the 1st leg ties…
Raiders push Bison all the way but fall short
A jam packed Romford rink was buzzing for the visit of the league champions and not just because of the noise coming from inside the attending 482 Days media mogul’s hand bag. For the first two periods the Raiders pushed the Bison all the way with an energetic hard-nosed display straight out of the old Rom Valley Way playbook.
However the third period saw the Bison go up through the gears and finally regain their composure after the boisterous opening 40 minutes. Doug Sheppard’s side sealed a 7-4 win thanks to a brace from the ever threatening Roman Malinik and lone efforts from Tomas Karpov, Josh Smith, Grant Rounding, Dan Davies and Aaron Connolly. For the Raiders Olegs Lascenko scored two, to add to goals from JJ Pitchey and Marek Nahlik.
The game was soured by a late injury to Pitchley who was caught cutting across the blue line by Dan Scott and was subsequently stretchered/slid off the ice. Scott was handed a match penalty for his troubles and later apologised for the unintentional clip on the Raiders man via Twitter. Pitchley replied with a phrase not heard in many a year with a ‘No sweat’ and was thankfully back on his feet at the 2nd leg on Sunday, albeit on crutches.
The second leg of the tie was always going to be tough for the Raiders but with Pitchley, Ollie Baldock and Huska all out injured it really was a mountain to climb for Sean Easton’s men.
They kept it to 0-0 in the opening period but a brace from Josh Smith and a late Paul Petts effort sent the Bison through with a 3-0 win and ended a relatively successful season for the Raiders. Dean Skinns enjoyed the shut out for the Bison.
Wildcats spooked by admin error
Long-time readers will remember the Play-Offs in 2015 when the all-conquering Chelmsford Chieftains beat rivals London Raiders in the quarter final stage, only to be disqualified the next day after it was noticed they’d added a young prospect to the squad who hadn’t played enough eligible games.
Sadly, Swindon seemingly weren’t aware of the league rules or forgot about them as they forfeited their first leg game against Peterborough 5-0 thanks to exactly the same issue that had eliminated the Chieftains. https://prohockeynews.com/chelmsford-disqualified-from-nihl-play-offs/
What made this situation worse, was the fact that not only did the Cats win the actual game 4-2, but that their fans had snapped up more tickets for the Finals weekend at Coventry than any other club. It was an administrative howler that could only be rectified with a 6 goal win in Peterborough in the second leg.
The Phantoms were missing star forwards Owen Griffiths and Darius Pliskauskas but still took an early 2-0 lead through Will Wheldon and Ales Padelek. The psychologically scarred Cats battled back to a 3-2 lead thanks to a brace from Sam Bullas and a lone goal by Chris Jones, only to see all-star Nathan Salem tie up the game again for the Phantoms.
The Cats had been a Pro Hockey News hot tip to win this tie and they poured petrol on the fire by easing ahead through a hat trick from Aaron Nell to put them within touching distance of an epic aggregate win against the odds. They couldn’t however find the final goals to beat Euan King and Salem got his second with an empty netter to make it 6-4 to Swindon on the night but 9-6 on aggregate in favour of the Phantoms.
The Phantoms progressed to the final in the worst circumstances possible where they will now face the Bison over two legs next weekend. To their credit the Wildcats held their hands up in a statement to the fans following the game. http://www.swindonwildcats.com/news/1480/club-statement-25-03-18.html#.Wrf-ci7wbIV
It was a scenario no one would have wanted to see (the forfeit, not the Phantoms in the final), from the players and fans, to the league management, but it’s not the first time it’s happened and not even the first time this season we’ve seen games forfeit 5-0. We all live and learn…… again.
Saturday 24 March 2018
London Raiders 4 Basingstoke Bison 7
Swindon Wildcats 4 Peterborough Phantoms 2 (Amended to 5-0 Phantoms)
Sunday 25 March 2018
Basingstoke Bison 3 London Raiders 0 (Bison qualify)
Peterborough Phantoms 4 Swindon Wildcats 6 (Phantoms qualify)
Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com
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