Photography (C) Jo Loat
Final Score : Raiders 5 Bison 4 (After Pen Shots)
Refs : Mr Jarvie & Mr Poulton
Lino’s : Mr Earl & Mr Kowal
After Saturday evenings hard battled, well deserved and finally, a much sought after victory, your GalxC Cooling Services sponsored Bison, travelled to Essex to face the Raiders, in the second game of this back-to-back fixture.
The Bison were still without, the much missed Adam Harding. Hopefully he’ll be back in the line-up soon. Promising youngster Thomas Banner suited up again for the Bison and he played really well. Hopefully, this will become a more permanent thing.
From the drop of the puck, Bison set about getting a fast start and it paid off. Ashley Tait and Zack Milton combined to set Alex Roberts free up ice… Roberts was upended, but he managed to get his shot off, which beat Michael Gray, after just 44 seconds on the clock… Bison continuing their good first period starts of late..
Raiders would pick up the first penalty of the evening, when JJ Pitchley picked up a Roughing call (7.31), but Raiders would kill the penalty. A couple of minutes later and Bison’s Brendan Baird, would take our first penalty, when he was awarded a High-Stick penalty (10.18). Even though we were shorthanded, the Bison would extend their lead. Speedster George Norcliffe picked up the loose puck and skated up ice with Liam Morris, on a two-on-one. Norcliffe flipped over the perfect pass for Liam, to despatch the puck past Gray, for a short handed goal (11.37).
At 14.21, a bit of a controversial moment, that saw Raiders get on the board, but should it have been allowed… a shot came in and the puck caught Alex Mettam on his face cage. The puck dropped and for a split second, the Bison players stopped, expecting a whistle to stop the play. That didn’t come and Brandon Ayliffe nipped in to backhand the puck into the net. Mr Jarvie signalled goal straight away, much to the annoyance of the Bison players/bench. There was a meeting between the two refs, but they still allowed the goal, despite all the protestations from the Bison.
A few minutes later and with the Bison on the attack, the puck caught Raiders nettie on the mask and this time a whistle was instant, which just fired up the Bison bench, to enquire why that not happened a few minutes earlier, as they were both identical incidents.
That was all the action for the 1st period and Bison went into the locker rooms with a 2-1 lead. Both netminders faced 5 shots each.
The 2nd Period started and Bison were again up and at them, creating a couple of early chances…
We would extend the lead, when Alex Roberts broke into the Raiders zone and fired across a hard low pass, which Zack Milton skated onto and guided the puck underneath Gray’s pads to score (26.38).
Raiders then started to turn up the pressure on the Bison, creating good scoring chances, but Mettam was equal to those. Then a poor turnover in our own zone, saw Tommy Huggett pick out Aaron Connolly at the back post and he slotted home the puck (28.36).
Our inability to clear the zone has cost us quite a bit recently.
Aidan Doughty was assessed a Kneeing penalty (35.11) and Raiders would take full advantage of the extra man. Aaron Connolly and Jake Sylvester set up Tom Relf on the point and his slap shot flew past Mettam (36.29) to tie up the scores at 3 apiece.
However, that didn’t deflate the Bison. Another foray forward saw the puck end up on Ashley Tait’s stick and he wristed a pinpoint shot past Gray (38.27). There was a clang of metal and Ash started to celebrate. Mr Jarvie, who was positioned to the left of the goal instantly signalled a goal.
This time it would be Raiders players to question this goal, but it did look like the puck had entered the net and came out again really quickly. Like before the officials had a conflab, but the goal stood.
So at the end of the 2nd period, Bison went in with a slender lead at 3-2. Mettam faced 11 shots, whilst Gray faced 13 shots.
Into the 3rd period we go and with the game so close, as all our games have been against Raiders this season, usually ending up with a one goal margin for the victors…
Jay King picked up a penalty at 47.55, on a Holding the Stick call.
Bison penalty killers would keep out the Raiders chances and return to full strength.
Alex Sampford was then given a Hooking call (51.55), but it was a bit harsh as Sampford had been brought down seconds earlier, but no call was given. This meant another outing for the Bison penalty killers. Again, they did what they had to do, to keep the Raiders out.
Just as Sampford’s penalty was about to finish, Bison captain Elliott Dewey was given a Slashing call (53.55). Soon as the puck dropped, Bison returned to 4 skaters and then with some more stellar defence, Bison returned to full strength.
Into the final 5 minutes and with time running down, it was getting really nervy times in the Bison lines.
Every puck cleared out of our defensive zone, was well received with the few travelling Bison fans…
Now just under 3 mins to go and Raiders were ramping up the pressure. All we had to do, was keep clearing the puck and we would hang on…. but unfortunately a poor clearance attempt was batted down and Brandon Ayliffe (57.34) was on hand again to slot home the puck and tie up the scores at 4-4. Now in the ascendancy, Raiders smelt a possible victory…
Into the final minute and Raiders picked up a late late penalty, when Tom Relf picked up a Tripping call (59.04), giving the Bison a perfect chance to score and seal the victory.
We had a couple of chances, but Gray and his defence would clear the zone.. the last seconds ran down and Bison had earned a hard fought point … but now we would face an extra 5 minutes of sudden death overtime, with an extra point up for grabs. Bison would start the overtime period still on the powerplay, so it would be 4-on-3 for the first 1.06…
The overtime started and Bison set about trying to create the perfect chance, to grab a goal and end the game. Tait, Jones, Roberts and Milton were the first line up. Roberts having the best chance, but the shot was right at Gray, who held on and stopped the play.. allowing a change of personnel for both teams. Raiders managed to see off the penalty and returned to full strength to see out the extra period.
With just under a minute left and Raiders almost got the goal to win, but Bison nettie Alex Mettam pulled off a sensational save to deny Sylvester, who was already celebrating …. the remaining time ran down and now it was the lottery of penalty shots, to decide the destination of the extra point.
Raiders would be up first and it would be Ayliffe to lead off… he skated in, but Mettam made the save.
George Norcliffe was up first for Bison… he tried to deke and go backhand, but just missed the goal.
Sladovsky was up next and he tried a flashy move, that I had seen the previous evening in the NHL. Thankfully, he overcooked it and
Mettam made an easy pad save.
Zack Milton stepped up, but unfortunately his attempt was well saved.
Rio Grinnell-Park was fourth up for Raiders and he skated in and fired hard and low, which squeezed through Mettam’s pads and into the net for a goal.
So, now it was down to Alex Roberts.. he went in at a strange angle, but it worked, because he fired the puck past Gray to tie it up at 1-1.
Jake Sylvester was the fifth skater for Raiders and he made no mistake, going 5-hole in Mettam.
Bison Coach Ashley Tait was last selected penalty taker and he had to score to keep the game alive…. like Roberts, he went in at a wierd angle, but managed to get a backhand shot off, which just beat Gray… not sure if it’s how he planned it, but it went in, that’s all that mattered.
Now it was sudden death in penalty shots. Up for Raiders, captain Aaron Connolly…. he deked and managed to get Mettam to go down, so he could go forehand and roof the puck to score.
Alex Sampford was next for Bison and he skated in, made the deke, but Gray got a piece of it and that was that… Raiders getting the extra point.
Man of the Match :
Raiders : Barndon Ayliffe
Bison : Liam Morris
Stats :
Raiders : Ayliffe 2+0, Connolly 1+1, Relf 1+0, Sylvester 0+3, Barry 0+1, Huggett 0+1.
Nets : Gray 34/4 (88.24%)
Stats :
Bison : Milton 1+1, Roberts 1+1, Tait 1+1, Morris 1+0, Norcliffe 0+1.
Nets : Mettam 34/4 (88.24%)
Shots on Goal : Raiders 34 Bison 34
Penalties (PiMs) : Raiders 4 Bison 10
