The Nighthawks are flying high

BASINGSTOKE, UK – The Chelmsford Nighthawks have continued to dominate the John Cleighton Hills Memorial Cup. The team is still undefeated in the cup competition, though their latest victories have not come in such a dominant fashion as they had in the start of the season. After beating the Swindon Panthers in a decisive 10-1 rout, the Nighthawks beat Basingstoke Cougars 7-4 in Basingstoke, in what was described as a very competitive and physical match. The Nighthawks also took two points from the Solent and Gosport Scorpions’ side in a 4-2 win. A good result from Scorpions side, who were down to 5 skaters for most of the game. The Nighthawks will next face off against Peterborough Eagles away on the 20th of June.   
 
Swindon Panthers are still hot on the Nighthawks heels. Having played two games less than the Nighthawks, it looks like the cup winners will be decided in the final meeting of the two teams at the end of July. The Panthers did return back to form after narrowly winning its previous few matches.
 
The Panthers, like Nighthawks, have been strong in finishing their games with decisive score lines. In their latest match, the Panther’s defeated Solent and Gosport Scorpions 11-3. The Panthers will next see action on the 20th of June when they play Basingstoke Cougars in Basingstoke.
 
Peterborough Eagles have got their claws on the third place in the league and seem poised to go all the way to the play-offs. In the meeting between the Eagles and the Solihull Wolves, Eagles emerged as the victors after a goalmouth scramble that lead to Eagles narrowly winning the game 7-5. Prior to this, the Wolves had been in control of the game.
 
Solent and Gosport Scorpions continue their strong play and currently hold on to the last play off position, though the competition behind the Scorpions is opening up and many teams are breathing down the Scorpions’ stinger. Scorpions most notably won against the Solihull Wolves at Gosport to grow the gap to its closest rival. Losses to Chelmsford and Swindon, might have hurt Scorpions on the scoreboard but they maintain a comfortable lead in the standings over their closest rivals, the Wolves. Scorpions are sure to look to return to winning ways when the Lightning visit Gosport.
 
Solihull Wolves have been enjoying a short break from action in the Cup competition. The last game they played was against the Eagles, a match it narrowly lost 7-5 after the goalmouth scramble. The Wolves are still strong in the picture for a play off finish for the season.
 
Bristol Mad Dogs are also raring to go. After a slow start to the season with a couple of narrow losses, the Mad Dogs opened their winning ways over Basingstoke Cougars in overtime. The game finished 4-3 in favour of the Mad Dogs. This seemed to have wake up the Mad Dogs as it has since won both their games against the Cardiff Lightning.
 
The Lightning, still only on one win for the season, have fought spirited games but always come out on the wrong side of the score. After two losses against Mad Dogs the team is looking to record a few wins in its up and coming games, most notably Basingstoke this weekend.
 
Which brings us to the final team in the roundup, Basingstoke. After a slow start to the season and with some heavy defeats, the Cougars are showing signs of waking up. After narrowly losing out to the Mad Dogs in Bristol, the Cougars put up a fight against Chelmsford and ended up losing 7-4. Despite the losses the scorelines are certainly more favorable than at the start of the season. Cougars also recorded their first win of the season over Bristol Mad Dogs in the return leg, skating away with a 5-1 victory. The Mad Dogs were unfortunate to play Basingstoke on the same day as England started its football world cup campaign, which affected the number of available players.
The top of the table seems like a two team fight between Chelmsford and Swindon, but from there the competition is still wide open and no-team has secured its play off spot as yet.
The other notable news from the Cup is that this writer is expected to return to the ice very soon after a few weeks off with injury.
 
As the summer months heat up, the best place to cool down is to visit your local ice rink and catch your local rec team in action.
 
For more information please visit: http://summercup.drover.ca/
 
Contact the authore: Janne.virtanen@prohockeynews.com