NOTTINGHAM, UK. Two games over the weekend saw the Panthers fall short to local rivals on the Saturday and revert immediately to winning ways on the Sunday.
Saturday night was a dead rubber affair, well it was supposed to be but it would seem neither the Panthers nor the Sheffield Steelers got the memo. Both teams have gained qualification to the Challenge Cup quarter final but once the puck had dropped you would have thought all was to play for. It was a tight battle between goalies Miika Wiikman and Tyler Plante. The Steelers would eventually seal the victory with a controversial power-play goal finalising the 2-1 victory. First blood of the season to Sheffield but the sides meet again this Saturday, though another challenge cup game neither team will enter this fray wanting to yield a victory.
The Panthers hosted the Fife Flyers on Sunday in a league match up and one that saw Nottingham rebound from disappointment. By the first intermission the Panthers had taken a commanding 3-1 lead which slowly grew to five with a goal apiece in the final two periods. The Flyers did manage to squeeze the puck into the net in the second, no more scoring from the Scots lead to a 5-2 win for the Panthers. Ollie Betteridge continued his path to a breakout season by notching the Panthers fourth goal with the help of Andy Bombach though it was not all smiles come the third period. Miika Wiikman had to yield the crease to back-up goalie Dan Green after suffering an injury, thankfully it has been assessed as minor and he should return after a couple of rest days.
Casualties are currently standing at two with Geoff Waugh still recovering from his rib injuries with no current date to return and news this week is that Robert Farmer will miss at least 4 weeks more with undisclosed injuries requiring minor surgeries. At the minute the situation looks manageable and once David Ling has clearance to travel Head Coach Corey Neilson will gain more room to manoeuvre.
The Panthers go into this weekend with two tough games with the Steelers at the home on Saturday and a journey to Coventry to battle the Blaze on Sunday. Both match ups tend to be highly physical affairs and due to the nature of the Steelers rivalry it will be unlikely Green will get his first start of the season despite the result of the game being irrelevant. Sheffield also signed Chris Lawrence to a short term deal this week, the former Panther was released by the Blaze recently but will be looking to be a thorn in the Panthers side come Saturday evening. One thought to end with, the Panthers are un-defeated in regulation time in the league competition and that is pretty impressive given the quality of the league this year.
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