By Anthony Russell
21st-23rd October
It was a one game weekend for the Bison but we need to have a look at the rest of the National Division
Friday
The big one in terms of the early table standings took place right at the start of the weekend as Leeds and Milton Keynes met at Eland Road. Adam Barnes put the Knights 1-0 ahead within sixty seconds with Matt Haywood doubling the lead in the 10th minute. Sean Norris got the Lightning on the board in the second but a second of the night from Haywood made it 3-1 and the hosts never looked back. Zack Brooks made it 4-1 before the end of the middle frame and goals in the third from Keiran Brown and Archie Hazeldine saw Ryan Aldridge’s side cruise to a 6-1 to maintain their unbeaten start.
Saturday
The Lightning had an immediate chance to get back to winning ways as they welcomed Swindon to the Thunderdome. They got a great start as Bobby Chamberlain and Deivids Sarkanis made it 2-0 before a Liam Stewart penalty shot goal extended the advantage to three but a Chris Jones powerplay goal got the Wildcats on the board to end the first. In the second Balint Pakodzi got the visitors to within one but a second of the night from Stewart made it 4-2 as the second ended. However in the third things didn’t go well for the Lightning. First Edgars Bebris scored on the powerplay and then another powerplay opportunity allowed former Lightning captain Russ Cowley to tie the game with just under 10 minutes to go. The game ended up in overtime and after Lewis Christie was called for boarding, the visitors took advantage as Tomasz Malasinski fired past Jordan Hedley to get the Wildcats two points and the Lightning were left to scratch their heads.
It was hockey cats and dogs as Telford visited Bristol. The Pitbulls were ahead early through Owen Sobchak but Jason Silverthorn equalised shortly after. Scott McKenzie put the Tigers ahead and a goal from Bayley Harewood had the league champions ahead 3-1 by the end of the first. Vladimir Luka made it 4-1 in the 25th minute before a second of the night from Harewood made it 5-1 at the second buzzer. The Tigers made it 6-1 early in the third through Finley Howells and that was all she wrote for the Pitbulls on the night.
In Romford, it was a battle for position at the edge of the playoff spots as Raiders and Bees met. Matthieu Gomercic and Josh Martin traded goals but the hosts lead at the first break through Erik Piatak. In the second Brendan Walkom tied the scores before goals from Ashley Jackson and Juha Lindgren saw the scores tied at 3-3 heading into the final 20 minutes. The tie lasted all of 8 seconds into the third thanks to Aaron Connolly and a goal from Brandon Ayliffe made it 5-3 just three minutes into the frame and a Tom Relf goal to make it 6-3 forced the Bees into taking the timeout in the 46th minute. The response came as a guesting Vanya Antonov and Dominik Gabaj pulled the score back to 6-5 with five minutes to go but an empty net goal from Piatak made it 7-5 and kept the points in Essex.
Peterborough and Hull met in the first of their home and away game weekend series and it was Ralfs Circenis who got the Phantoms off and running before Tom Norton and Glenn Billing made it 3-0 before Lee Pollitt got one for the Seahawks.
Circenis got his second of the night early in the second period and Lukas Sladkovsky made it 5-1. Jordan Fisher got a second for Hull before Duncan Speirs made it 6-2 at the second break. Speirs scored his second of the night and though Nathan Salem added a third for the visitors, Leo Markey and another from Speirs finished off the scoring at 9-3.
Sunday
With games in Swindon cancelled, it meant a smaller Sunday schedule.
Having both won on Saturday, Telford and the Raiders went to battle in Telford. The Tigers lead 1-0 at the first intermission through Finley Howells but Ashley Jackson got the Raiders level early in the second. Scott McKenzie put the Tigers back in front but the Raiders went on a run to put the hosts on the back foot. Mattheiu Gomercic, Jake Sylvester and Tommy Huggett made it 4-2 before a shorthanded goal from Gomercic made it 5-2 at the end of the second. A second of the night from Jackson made it 6-2 early in the third but then the Tigers came roaring back. A second of the night from Howells made it 6-3, then Sam Watkins made it 6-4, then Howells’ hattrick goal made it 6-5. The Tigers pulled Brad Day but they couldn’t get an equaliser and it was a massive 4 point weekend for the Raiders.
Hull and Peterborough reconvened at the world’s most versatile arena. Ales Padelek got the visitors on the board first and Scott Robson doubled the lead to round out the first. Buglass and and an unnamed person (thanks to the lack of stats there) made it 4-0 and Joe Gretton made it 5-0 and another from Robson made it 6-0 before the second buzzer. Connor Pollard, and a first senior goal for Archie Salisbury made it an 8-0 final score as the bad times for Hull continued, also losing Curtis Warburton to injury.
Did we get as many goals in Slough between the Bees and the Sheffield Steeldogs? No. No we did not but that’s not an issue. A scoreless first period was broken late in the second by Matt Bissonnette to make it 1-0 to the visitors heading into the final frame. Alex Graham made it 2-0 with time running out but in the last minute with the goalie pulled, Vanya Antonov made it 2-1 with 51 seconds to play. The Bees pulled Goss again but there was no second miracle with 2-1 to Sheffield the final score.
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
