Images (C) Jo Loat
17th-19th March
By Anthony Russell
It was a pretty good weekend for the Herd with 4 points from 6, a superb send off for Sampford and playoff qualification achieved. Let’s look at what else happened across the NIHL National Division.
Friday
As the Bison were in Swindon, the first leg of the NIHL National Cup final saw Peterborough hosts Leeds. Ralfs Circenis gave the Phantoms the lead in the first before the Phantoms cut loose in the second. Joe Gretton made it 2-0 before Lukas Sladkovsky, Tom Norton and Will Weldon all found the net and it was 5-0 by the end of the second. Ales Padelek added another in the third to stun the Knights. 6-0 was the final score to give Peterborough a firm advantage heading into the second leg this coming Friday.
Saturday
The Phantoms had to go again the next night down in Romford against the Raiders. Peterborough lead 2-0 thanks to two goals from Lukas Sladkovsky before Alex Roberts pulled one back. The Raiders tied things up in the second through Blahoslav Novak and Matthieu Gomercic gave the hosts the lead through 40 minutes. However the visitors roared back in the third. Sladkovsky secured his hat trick to tie the game at 3-3 before Nathan Pollard and Tom Norton found the net to make it 5-3. Sladkovsky added a 4th into the empty net before Tom Relf got a late consolation to round out the game at 6-4 to the Phantoms.
The Steeldogs welcomed the Bees to Ice Sheffield but found themselves behind after 20 minutes; Dominik Gabaj and Alex Graham found the net before JJ Pitchley gave the Bees the lead. In the second, two goals from Jason Hewitt put the Steeldogs ahead 3-2 but a second from Gabaj made it 3-3 at the second buzzer. Juha Lindgren made it 4-3 to the Bees early in the third and then the Steeldogs decided they’d had enough. Tom Dermott tied the game at 4-4 before Vlads Vulkanovs gave Greg Wood’s team a lead they would not lose. Alex Graham scored twice before Warren Tait and Lee Haywood also found the net to make it a 9-4 final score.
Leeds looked to rebound from their shock result at home to Swindon. The Wildcats’ record against the Knights this season has been decent and they found themselves 2-0 to the good after a goal in the first from Edgars Bebris and one in the second from Aaron Nell. However it was the hosts in front by the end of the middle frame thanks to Zack Brooks, Matt Haywood and Cole Shudra. In the third, Kieran Brown scored early and then into the empty net late in the third to seal the game for the Knights by a score of 5-2.
The Milton Keynes Lightning played host to Telford knowing they needed to keep winning to stop the Knights getting out of sight. Sam Talbot put MK ahead early and after Scott McKenzie tied the game, Deivids Sarkanis put the hosts back in front. Danny Rose tied the game at 2-2 in the second and a goal from former MK fan favourite Tom Carlon put the Tigers in front with 11.07 to play in the third. However Tim Wallace would tie the game on the powerplay. The game wound its way to overtime but it didn’t take long to finish as Liam Stewart beat Brad Day to give MK the vital extra point.
Sunday
MK travelled to Slough knowing a win against the Bees was a necessity to try and keep the league title race alive. The hosts were 2-0 up within 15 minutes thanks to Juha Lindgren and Will Stead before Deivids Sarkanis got the Lightning on the board. Dominik Gabaj made it 3-1 but Tim Wallace pulled one back before the end of the second. Stuart Mogg made it 4-2 early in the third and whilst Sarkanis scored his second to make it 4-3, Dan Rose scored shortly after to make it 5-3 to the Bees. The Lightning could find no way back and it meant all eyes turned north to see how the Knights would fare.
Meanwhile Bison fans were keeping one eye towards Hull as the Seahawks and Pitbulls clashed. Hull took the lead through Andrej Themar but Bristol raced into the lead thanks to goals from Caly Robertson, Cain Russell and Ed Bradley to make it 3-1 after 20 minutes. Emil Svec found the net late in the second to bring the hosts within one and the game was tied in the third by Owen Bruton. With time running down, Hull delivered the hammerblow. Svec’s second of the night inside the final two minutes was enough to get the win for Matty Davies’ side. With the Bison winning, the result meant that the Pitbulls couldn’t catch the Herd and a playoff spot for the Herd was secured.
Peterborough looked to end their weekend on a high at home against Sheffield. The Phantoms led at the end of the first thanks to Lukas Sladkovsky Will Weldon doubled the lead in the second before Lee Bonner got one back for the Streeldogs. Weldon’s second of the night and a goal from Nathan Pollard in the third however was enough for a 4-1 win and a very good weekend for the Phantoms fans.
In Telford, the Knights knew that if results went their way they they could win the league that night. The Tigers led through Scott McKenzie before Matt Haywood levelled the scores. Vladimir Luka put the Tigers ahead in the second before Haywood’s second of the night made it 2-2. News from Berkshire was filtering through as Kieran Brown put the Knights in front. Haywood got his hat trick early in the third and from there it was a battle of wills. Last season’s champions fought to try and spoil the party but it wasn’t to be. The final buzzer sounded to the cheers of the away fans and a shower of equipment as the Leeds Knights deservedly secured the NIHL National Division title.
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
