BASINGSTOKE, UK – The two new teams taking part in the John Cleighton-Hills Memorial cup met for the first time on the 17th of April. The match between Solihull Wolves and Cardiff Bay Lightning saw plenty of goals and plenty of rough stuff, with 134 penalty minutes called between the two teams(Solihull: 85 PIM and Cardiff: 49 PIM).
Out of the two newcomers, it was Solihull Wolves who emerged victorious in the match with a score line of 7-1. In its first game Cardiff Bay Lightning had sent a message to the competition that it was not to be taken lightly with a win over the Solent and Gosport Scorpions side, but this time it was the Wolves who were sending a message to the rest of the teams by taking a decisive win over the Cardiff side.
In the other April match on the 25th the defending champions Swindon Panthers met Peterborough Eagles. What was interesting in the match up was that the Eagles were the only team to defeat the Panthers in the 2009 Cup competition. Despite entering the competition in 2009, the Eagles quickly established themselves through an array of talent. However, coming off from a strong start to the season, the Panthers showed that they weren’t going to be pushed around this time. Panthers now stand 2-0-0 after beating the Eagles 6-4 in Swindon. Incidentally, the top ten point scorer slots in the Cup competition are dominated by Swindon players.
Elsewhere in the Cup, Basingstoke Cougars, Chelmsford Nighthawks and Bristol Maddogs got their seasons under way over the May bank holiday weekend.
On 1st of May Basingstoke Cougars travelled to meet Chelmsford Nighthawks, who won the Cup competition in 2008. Tipped as hot favorites for this year, the Nighthawks were playing a double header weekend and hoped to establish a stronghold in the cup and send a message to Swindon that the Nighthawks want their trophy back.
The match between the Cougars and Nighthawks was great entertainment for the Chelmsford faithful. Taking a hold of the match from the first shift, the Nighthawks kept pouring shot after shot to the Cougars net. Pekka Raittila, the Cougars netminder, faced 77 shots in the game and was at times left hanging dry by the Cougars defence. The scoreline was a decisive 14-1 to Chelmsford, with Andy Good netting the only goal for Basingstoke in the third period, while the Nighthawks saw production across all its forward and defensive lines.
The day after, Chelmsford travelled to Bristol to meet the Maddogs. Despite travelling with a considerably shorter bench, the Nighthawks were determined to establish themselves in the running for Cup glory. The game was close, with Nighthawks emerging as winners with a scoreline of 4-2.
“First game of the cup against the Cougars was something we had prepared for and we took control early in the firs period and kept the tempo up,” said Chelmsford Nighthawks forward, Craig Findlow. “The second game against Maddogs, we took a shorter bench and to be honest it could’ve gone either way, but our netminder was a wall and we edged the Maddogs to come away with two wins.”
The other match over the May bank holiday weekend saw a re-match of the Cardiff Lightning and Solihull Wolves match. This time Cardiff visited Solihull in its home rink and rather surprisingly the scoreline was 7-1 to Solihull, same as in the first meeting between the two teams. However, reports say that the match was again high in penalty minutes. At the time of writing the statistics from the match had not been uploaded to the Cup website, so it is difficult to say how many penalties were called in the game.
Thus far, the Cup has offered some interesting results and proves that the anyone can capture the Cup and a play-off spot. As Chelmsford, Swindon and Solihull are the only teams to have won all their games so far, other teams are taking notice and will be working hard to catch up to the top teams as the competition unfolds.
For more information on the competition and match statistics, please visit: http://summercup.drover.ca/
Contact the author janne.virtanen@prohockeynews.com .
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