24th-26th March
By Anthony Russell
Not the best of weekends for the Herd last time our but if you’re going to lose, lose to the best I suppose. It’s time though for our round-up of the rest of the NIHL National Division action.
Friday
If any team could overcome a 6-0 first leg deficit, it would be the Leeds Knights and with the news that both regular Peterborough netminders were injured, the Phantoms drafted in double winning netminder Calum Hepburn from Solway Sharks of NIHL 1 North. Cole Shudra made it 1-0 in the first and goals from Jake Witskowski and Adam Barnes in the second made it 3-0 on the night. Lukas Sladkovsky scored an important goal for the Phantoms but a second from Shudra made it 4-1 on the night, 7-4 on aggregate. It was excellent management from the visitors in the third but Leeds kept pressing. Matt Haywood made it 5-1 on the night and a late goal from Kieran Brown with 23 seconds to play made it 6-1 on the night to have Leeds within one. However one small error killed the game as Austin Mitchell-King fired into the empty net to make it 8-6 on aggregate and the Peterborough Phantoms were NIHL National Cup winners. We send our congratulations to Slava Kouilkov, Will Weldon and the team.
Saturday
There was a price to pay for Peterborough the next night as they visited Sheffield. The Phantoms had an injury list as long as your arm and with Hepburn back with Solway and the promising Tyler de la Bertouche with the Phantoms 2 side for their playoffs, 18 year old Joe Nolan got his first senior start. Jason Hewitt and Jasper Foster traded goals before the Steeldogs lit up the scoreboard. Lee Bonner, Tom Palmer, Matt Bissonnette and a second from Hewitt made it 5-1 at the end of the first. Bonner’s second and the hattrick goal from Hewitt made it 7-1 before Glenn Billing got one back for Peterborough. Peterborough won the third period, Jordan Buesa’s goal was answered by Lukas Sladkovsky, Joe Gretton and Brad Bowering but Vlads Vulkanovs had the last word to make it 9-5 and ease the points into the host’s back pocket.
The Battle of the South West needed to be won by the Bristol Pitbulls as they visited Swindon to have any chance of making the playoffs. The Wildcats had the early advantage as Chris Jones and Tomasz Malasinski made it 2-0 which was answered by Caly Robertson. The Pitbulls broke out in the second as two goals from Ed Bradley and a goal from Mason Lipsey turned the game. Swindon tied the game through Colby Tower and Russ Cowley but Ben Solder’s goal made it 5-4. However the Pitbulls’ playoff dream was ended as the Wildcats went to town in the final frame. Malasinski, Reed Sayers, another from Tower and an empty net goal from Aaron Nell saw Swindon turn the South West red with the 8-5 win.
Telford and the Raiders met in Shropshire and traded goals in the first. Jacob Ranson and Alex Roberts’ goals bookended strikes from Scott McKenzie and Lucas Price. McKenzie’s second and a goal from Finley Howells gave the Tigers the lead in the second but the Raiders tied it in the third through Jake Sylvester and a late goal from Harry Gulliver. In overtime, the Raiders would steal the extra point thanks to Alex Roberts but the result elsewhere was enough to see Telford into the post season.
Milton Keynes welcomed the Bees to the Thunderdome after a loss to Dominik Gabaj’s side the week before had helped Leeds win the title. Adam Rosbottom and Deivids Sarkanis scored one apiece in the first but a goal late in the second from Will Stead made it 2-1 to the Bees after 40 minutes. Jack Hopkins made it 2-2 and whilst Brendan Walkom put the Bees back in front, a goal inside the last period from Tim Wallace sent the game to overtime at 3-3. In the extra frame, the Lightning got a measure of revenge as Bobby Chamberlain found the net to send the home fans home happy.
Sunday
The Lightning then headed to Hull on Sunday night and had a first period lead as Bobby Chamberlain and Deivids Sarkanis’ goals edged out the goal from Sam Towner. In the second James Griffin and a second from Sarkanis made it 4-1 with 20 minutes to goal and when Sam Talbot made it 5-1 early in the third. The Seahawks staged a mini comeback as Finley Ulrick and Alex Kent found the net to make it 5-3 but the Lightning held on to take the two points.
The Bees welcomed Bristol in the battle of the bottom three. Dominik Gabaj scored the only goal in the first and Brendan Walkom doubled the lead in the second to make it 2-0 at the second buzzer. However in the third, Nic Coric scored twice in the space of a minute to tie the game at 2-2 and the two sides needed extra hockey to separate them. It would be the newly re-signed Gabaj who would bring the home crowd to their feet as his OT winner send the Pitbulls back down the M4 with just the one point.
It was also a close game in Essex between the Raiders and the Steeldogs. The hosts led after the first period as Tjay Anderson and Matthieu Gomercic made it 2-0. Vlads Vulkanovs scored the lone goal of the second to get Sheffield on the board and he would tie the game early in the third. Vulkanovs then fed Warren Tait to give the visitors the lead but Brandon Ayliffe found the net to make it 3-3. This game too needed overtime and Harry Gulliver would be the hero as he fired past Dmitri Zimozdra for the 4-3 win.
Peterborough finished off their weekend at home to Telford but were behind early as Finley Howells and Vladimir Luka had the Tigers 2-0 up inside 7 minutes The Phantoms would turd the game as Sladkovsky scored either side of the first break and a goal from Tom Norton in the 31st minute made it 3-2 to the visitors. Sladkovsky’s hat trick goal and a goal from Ralfs Circenis made it 5-2. The Tigers came close as Luka’s second and a goal from Jake Price made it 5-4 with 6.47 to play but the Phantoms held out to take some points from the weekend along with a trophy.
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
