Image (c) Jo Loat
10th/11th/12th March
The Bison’s winning run came to an end but a one point weekend is better than a zero point one. Meanwhile, let’s look at the rest of the National Division.
Friday
It was a Yorkshire Battle at Elland Road as the Knights hosted the Steeldogs. Leeds took an early lead through Kieran Brown but Jon Kirk tied things up midway through the first. The second was scoreless but the Knights edged in front through Adam Barnes but again the visitors came back as Jason Hewitt tied the game with 4.16 to play and Kirk would deliver the hammer blow, firing past Sam Gospel to make it 3-2. The Knights couldn’t find a way back in the remaining three minutes and the Steeldogs hotfooted it back to Sheffield with the points.
Saturday
With Leeds slipping up, the others at the top of the table needed to make a mark. In Peterborough, Rory Herrman got the Telford Tigers ahead first but goals from Joe Gretton and Ales Padelek had the Phantoms 2-1 up after 20 minutes. The Tigers would take the lead in the second though as Herrman tied the game at 2-2 before Finley Howells made it 3-2 in the 37th minute. Padelek would restore parity in the third making it 3-3 but Herrman’s hattrick goal made it 4-3 before he got his 4th of the night into the empty net to give Telford a 5-3 win.
Meanwhile in MK, the Lightning and the Hull Seahawks went to battle. Ed Knaggs had the lone goal of the first and whilst Emil Svec tied the scores at 1-1 early in the second, goals from Mac Stewart and Sam Talbot made it 3-1 to the Lightning head into the third. Bottom of the division or not, the Seahawks are determined to not be walked over and forced the game to overtime as James Archer and a second of the night from Svec inside the last two minutes sent the game to the extras. Overtime couldn’t separate them and the shootout would go to sudden death. Liam Stewart would score and Svec would miss to keep the extra point at the Thunderdome and send MK top of the league.
After their win in Leeds, the Steeldogs were home at Ice Sheffield against the Raiders. Honours were even at the end of the first thanks as Vlads Vulkanovs and Matthieu Gomercic traded goals. It was then equal at the end of the second as Lee Bonner and Blahoslav Novak both found the net. Vulkanovs would add a second to put the hosts in front bit a goal from Sean Barry with 18 seconds to play meant each side got a point. In the shootout, Gomercic would prove to be the deciding factor as his goal was the winner and the extra point headed down the M1 to Essex.
The Pitbulls and Bees met in Bristol in a big battle for the last playoff spots. The Bees took the early advantage thanks to goals from Dom Gabaj and Will Stead making it 2-0 after 20 minutes. However the Pitbulls raced back in the second as goals from Bayley Harewood, Caly Robertson, Nic Coric and Mason Lipsey made it 4-1 inside the first 8 minutes of the frame. However the Bees scored late in the second through Juha Lindgren and a goal early in the third from Stead made it 4-4. Robertson’s second of the night made it 5-4 but Josh Smith tied the game with 7.15 to play and both teams battled it out towards the end o the third. In the overtime, it was a new face, of sorts, that decided the game. Max Birbraer, back on the ice after a two year gap, would fire home on his Pitbulls debut to send the home fans into raptures.
Sunday
On Sunday in Shropshire, the Steeldogs were the visitors to Telford. The first twenty minutes were scoreless before all hell broke loose in the second. The teams traded goals back and forth with Alex Graham and Jack Brammer netting for Sheffield and Lucas Price and Finley Howells scoring for the Tigers. However as the second wound down, the Tigers pulled away as Howells, Rory Herrman and Vladimir Luka all scored to make it 5-2 by the end of the middle frame. The Steeldogs got one back in the third through Matt Bissonnette but a late strike from Herrman made it 6-3 and the Tigers had an important four point weekend.
After winning in Basingstoke, Swindon did not get a good start at home against Milton Keynes. The Lightning had themselves 3-0 up at the end of the first thanks to Sean Norris, Mac Stewart and Deivids Sarkanis. Colby Tower got the Cats on the board in the second and whilst Norris added his second of the night to make it 4-1, two goals from Arron Nell had the hosts within one heading into the third. The third was a see-saw battle but the visitors had the final word as Sam Talbot fired into the empty net to end the game at 5-3.
The Bees had an equally bad start at home as Austin Mitchell-King and Will Weldon put the Peterborough Phantoms 2-0 up in Slough. Jack Goodchild got the hosts on the board in the second before Corey McEwen restored the two goal lead. Juha Lindgren would score late in the third to make it 3-2 with 3.46 to play but the Phantoms held the Bees at bay to take the win.
Meanwhile it wasn’t as close in Romford. It was initially between the Raiders and Leeds Knights, Matt Haywood’s goal the only thing separating the teams at the first buzzer but the Knights ran rampant from there. Haywood had completed his hattrick by the half hour mark and two goals from Kieran Brown made it 5-0 at the 40 minute mark. In the third, Cole Shudra, Jake Witkowski and Mac Howlett got the score to 8-0 before Brown’s hattrick goal made it 9-0 to round out the night.
Anthony Russell is the writer of Banners On The Wall (http://bannersonthewall.wordpress.com) which has covered the Bison and British hockey for the last 11 years. He hosts the BOTW What’s Current Stream, the NIHL’s live show for news and views, Wednesday night at 8pm at Twitter.com/BannersOTW
