Telford Tigers rounded off a gruelling run of three games in five days with a dramatic 4-3 win over Guildford Flames on Sunday night.
Victory at Telford Ice Rink followed away wins in Sheffield and Swindon, as the Tigers retained their eight-point lead at the top of the EPL.
Match photo courtesy of Steve Brodie
And with the Shropshire men having a shorthanded squad for all three games, head coach Tom Watkins was proud of their efforts on Sunday.
He said: “The guys have played a lot of minutes over the last week, with having the midweek game, and of course it’s been tough.
“But I said to them after the game that I love their character and strength of mind. They’re never beaten, no matter what happens.
“They’ve been totally professional. The last twenty minutes weren’t great, but the most important thing is we got the two points and we did it in overtime.
“I think over the last six to eight weeks, the struggles we’ve been through have made us stronger as a group.
“The adversity has really helped the team on the ice.”
Telford got off to the best possible start on Sunday night, with Corey McEwen scoring after just seven minutes of the first period.
Defenceman Sam Zajac fought with Guildford’s Andy McKinney on 13 minutes, as tempers threatened to boil over.
Captain Jason Silverthorn added to the hosts’ lead at the start of the second session, before scoring Telford’s third on 27 minutes.
But that strike appeared to spur Guildford into action, with their first of the night coming from McKinney on the stroke of the period break.
Andrew Hemmings struck again for the Flames on 45 minutes, before they equalised through Ben Campbell just moments later.
That goal sent the game into overtime, and it was Telford who secured the points with a golden goal from Milan Kolena.
Watkins added: “It was disappointing to give up that goal before the end of the second, but I said to the boys afterwards that we still won the period.
“I felt for two periods tonight we were the best team on the ice without any shadow of a doubt.
“The guys were as good as they can be in the second, and probably should have put the game beyond reach then.
“We were dead on our feet in the third period and didn’t get the puck in front of the net enough or perhaps make those clean plays.”
Telford Tigers are back in action next weekend, when they host Hull Pirates on Saturday night (6pm), before travelling to face Peterborough Phantoms the next day.
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