10th-12th March
By Anthony Russell
A split weekend but points on the board nevertheless for the Bison. It’s time to look at how the rest of the NIHL National Division fared.
Friday
It was a Yorkshire derby in Leeds as the Seahawks flew into town. The Knights got off to their customary good start as Cole Shudra and Matt Haywood had the hosts 2-0 ahead by the end o the first. Sam Towner got the visitors on the board before the game became the Mac Howlett show. Goals in the second and third saw the Woking born forward score a natural hat trick and the Knights take a 5-1 lead. Hull might be out of the playoff race but refused to go without a fight as a goal from Andrej Themar and two goals from Emil Svec clawed the Seahawks back into the game, the score at 5-4 with just under 9 minutes to play. However Leeds held on and Haywood fired into the empty net for 6-4 and another two points for Ryan Aldridge’s men.
Saturday
Hull went looking for redemption the following night against the Raiders but got off to a bad start, Jake Sylvester finding the net for the visitors but Emil Svec tied the game at 1-1. In the second, the Seahawks had to come from behind again as Alex Roberts found the net but this time Andrej Themar provided the answer to make it 2-2 after 40 minutes. However in the third, Matty Davies’ side found a way as goals from Sam Towner and Nathan Salem helped them secure a 4-2 win.
Meanwhile Leeds faced a long trip down to Swindon for the latest leg of the Nell-Classico. The fans were treated to a fantastic back and forth battle,albeit a scoreless first period. The deadlock was finally broken in the second as Cole Shudra found the back of the net. In the third, the hosts would tie it up on the powerplay as Russ Cowley got the all important touch to beat Sam Gospel. The game went all the way to the shootout where the usually potent Knights were denied on all their shots whereas Balint Pakodzi and Colby Tower found the net for the Wildcats to take the win, their second over Leeds this season.
The latest iteration of the Puppy Bowl saw Sheffield visit Bristol and the Steeldogs had a brilliant start, running out to a 3-0 lead courtesy of Lee Bonner, Matt Bissonette and Oli Turner. Bristol struck back in the second thanks to two goals from Nic Coric. Jason Hewitt scored to make it 4-2 but a Mason Lipsey goal made it 4-3 with 20 minutes to play. Coric’s hat trick goal tied the game at 4-4 with 7.42 to play but two late goals from Bissonnette to complete his hat trick sent Sheffield back home with a 6-4 win and the two points.
It was derby day in MK on Saturday as Peterborough were in town. Sam Talbot gave the Lightning the lead before Lukas Sladkovsky tied the scores before the end of the first. Bobby Chamberlain scored 48 seconds into the second to give MK back the lead but a second from Sladkovsky tied the score at 2-2 shortly after. The Phantoms struck late in the second as Glenn Billing and Ralfs Circenis both found the net to make it 4-2 at the second buzzer. Ed Knaggs pulled one back with about 13 minutes to go. Peterborough did their best to hold on and with time running down got close but with MK on the powerplay, Talbot found the net with 5.4 seconds left to send the crowd wild and the game to overtime. However the crowd would be quietened quickly as Alex Padelek netted the overtime winner to give the Phantoms the extra point.
Sunday
MK dusted themselves down from the OT loss and headed north to Sheffield to take on the Steeldogs. The teams played out a scoreless first and whilst Bobby Chamberlain’s early goal was a good start to the second, goals from Lee Bonner, Alex Graham and Jason Hewitt made it 3-1. Liam Stewart pulled it back to 3-2 but a second from Graham and a goal from Jordan Buesa made it 5-2 to Greg Wood’s side by the end of the second. Buesa added a second in the third period with time running down to give Sheffield the 6-2 win and dent MK’s title hopes.
Meanwhile Leeds headed down to Slough to take on the Bees. The Knights were 3-0 up inside 5 minutes thanks to Keiran Brown, Tom Barry and Mac Howlett whilst Dominik Gabaj got the hosts into the game to make it 3-1 by the end of the first. A scoreless second yielded a solid performance from the Bees who got themselves within one in the third thanks to Will Stead. The hosts pressed to spring a surprise but couldn’t find the killer blow as Matt Haywood’s empty netter sealed the deal at 4-2 for the Knights and give them 5 points from 6 across the weekend.
The Raiders welcomed Swindon to Romford and the first saw the teams trade goals; Colby Tower’s two goals answered by Brandon Ayliffe then Aaron Connolly. The Raiders took the lead on the powerplay in the second through Alex Roberts and another powerplay goal from Matthieu Gomercic in the third made it 4-2 which was enough to give Sean Easton’s side the win.
In Peterborough, the Phantoms fell behind early to a Morgan Clarke-Pizzo goal but had the lead back by the end of the first thanks to Duncan Speirs and Ales Padelek. Jasper Foster made it 3-1 in the second but the Pitbulls drew level thanks to Elliot Lewis and Nic Coric. However the hosts got the lead back before the end of the middle frame thanks to Jarvis Hunt finding the net. The Pitbulls pressed and pressed for another equaliser but Hunt’s second of the night found the empty net to make it 5-3, give the Phantoms a 4 point weekend and the Pitbulls a 0 point one which helped the Bison out in the playoff race.
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
