Photo (C) Flyfifer Photography
By Anthony Russell
Saturday
Whilst it was a very surreal weekend for the country, hockey carried on. It was the final weekend of the Yorkshire Cup that started things off on Friday night as Leeds hosted Sheffield. Alex Graham put the visitors ahead early in the first before Cole Shudra scored early in the second. The Knights would take the lead through Archie Hazeldine before Jason Hewitt restored parity at 2-2 but the hosts would lead at the second buzzer thanks to a goal from Zach Brooks. Grant Cooper made it 4-2 in the third before Kieron Brown scored a superb “Michigan” lacrosse style goal. A second of the night from Graham made it 5-3 but there was no further comeback for the Dogs. 5-3 was the final score and the Knights had won the Yorkshire Cup and some early bragging rights.
Trophy in the back pocket the Knights had one final game to play on Saturday as they travelled to Hull. Grant Cooper put Leeds ahead with the only goal of the first before the Knights opened things up in the second. Matt Haywood, Kieron Brown and Zach Brooks all found the net to make it 4-0. Cooper added his second and a third to make it 6-0, Adam Barnes made it 7-0 and Brooks’ second of the night made it 8-0 with 4.30 to go. Lee Pollitt would spoil the shutout and get the Seahawks on the board but the game was long since over as a contest.
Elsewhere on Saturday, the Bees welcomed the Raiders to The Hanger. The hosts got out to a good start as Juha Lindgren and Stuart Mogg had the Bees 2-0 ahead inside 17 minutes. The Raiders tied the score by the halfway mark of the game thanks to Blahoslav Novak and Brandon Ayliffe to make it 2-2. In the third it was the visitors who gained the initiative as Aaron Connolly and Tommy Huggett found the net to make it a 4-2. A late goal from Brendan Walkom got the Bees within one to make it 4-3 at the finish.
Telford got their preseason underway away in Swindon and it was a rude awakening for the champions. The visitors had the early advantage as Jack Watkins and Dan Mulcahy had them 2-0 ahead before the unlikely stick of Ollie Stone got the hosts on the boards and the floodgates would open. Tomasz Malasinski would score twice then Loris Taylor, Reed Sayers and Aaron Nell all scored to make it 6-2 after only 20 minutes. Sayers’ second of the night and a goal from Balint Pakodzi made it 8-2 with only 26.23 of the game played. The game was long done being competitive when Colby Tower made it 9-2 with just over 5 minutes to play in what can only be described as a rout.
The Ashes between MK and Peterborough got underway. The Lightning took the lead through Bobby Chamberlain before a Luc Johnson unassisted goal tied the game back up. Mack Stewart would put the hosts back in the lead in the second and the lead would last into the third. With time running down, Lukas Sladkovsky would level the game at 2-2 before Ales Padelek would stun the home fans into silence with a goal at 58:21 to give the Phantoms a 3-2 win in Milton Keynes.
Sunday
The Phantoms and Lightning revisited their rivalry on Sunday. MK took the lead in the first as Zaine McKenzie found the net. The lead was doubled early in the middle frame thanks to Rio Grinnel-Parke bur the two goal lead only held till 6 minutes into the second when Ralfs Circenis scored on the powerplay for the hosts. The Phantoms would tie the game back up through Jarvis Hunt but Liam Stewart would score and make it 3-2 after 40 minutes. An unassisted shorthanded goal from Tyler Nixon made it 4-2 but the Phantoms are the Phantoms. Lukas Sladkovsky got the hosts within one before Austin Mitchell-King tied the game with 97 seconds left in regulation. The game headed for overtime but it would be the second away win of the weeekend as Bobby Chamberlain’s goal secured the 5-4 win for the Lightning in the extra frame.
Telford’s attempt to rebound from their hammering in Swindon the night before didn’t go according to plan. Jack Goodchild scored just 84 seconds into the game and Loris Taylor doubled the lead. The Tigers got on the board early in the second thanks to Bayley Harewood but two goals from Colby Tower made it 4-1 at the end of the second. The Wildcats held their hosts at bay and cruised to a 4-1 win having scored 13 goals in two games.
The Steeldogs and Seahawks met at Ice Sheffield with pride on the line. Declan Jones put Hull ahead but Alex Graham tied the score at 1-1 to have the teams level at the first break. Lee Bonner put the hosts ahead in the middle frame and the lead was increased thanks to Brady Doxey. Alex Kent made it 3-2 before a second of the night from Graham restored the two goal lead heading into the third period. The teams battled it out but neither side could add to their score as the Steeldogs ground out the 4-2 win.
With their games across the weekend being played for the Everyone Active Cup, the 4-3 result in Slough gave the Bees a chance to get back into it despite their short bench they travelled to Romford with. However the Raiders showed no mercy. Adam Laishram, two from Jake Sylvester , Ashley Jackson and Harry Gulliver made it 5-0 at the first break. The second saw the Bees at least get on the board through Brendan Walkom. With time running down in the third, Walkom would add a second of the night and Ryan Webb would add a late goal to give the score in a night a less than lopsided feel at 5-3 but the Raiders held on for the win on the night and the other piece of pre-season silverware.
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
