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Rink round-up

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This round-up of the past week's action kicks off in London on Wednesday, with the Racers hosting last-placers Edinburgh Capitals. Trevor Baker opened London's account in the first period, with Scott Wray making it 2-0 towards the end of the first period. Jeff Marshall put Edinburgh on the board early in the second before Troy Smith added to London's tally. Scott Wray found the net for his second of the night, putting the Racers up 4-1 just before the halfway point of the game. But the Capitals refused to roll over, and started a come-back that Alvin Stardust would be proud of. Michael Kiesman, Dino Bauba and Neil Stevenson-Moore all found the net to bring the game to level pegging at four goals apiece. Mark Gouett put the cake in the bread bin to give London the edge, and Trevor Baker netted his second of the night to give the Racers a 6-4 lead in the third only for Dino Bauba to net again and bring the game back to 6-5. Despite pressure from the Capitals, London stood fast and the equaliser was kept out, the game finishing 6-5 and London taking the points with a narrow victory.

There was also Wednesday night action in Newcastle, when the Vipers played host to Basingstoke Bison. The Bison started with Dan Green between the pipes following the sudden departure of Jayme Platt, who left to play with Danbury in the UHL, leaving the number one netminder spot open. Green's performance in the net wasn't enough to earn his team a win, but it was enough for him to pick up the Man Of The Match award. Vipers player-coach Rob Wilson opened the scoring on the powerplay in the seventh minute, and Jonathan Weaver extended the Vipers' lead going into the first interval. Markers from Paul Ferone and Matus Petricko brought the scoreline to 4-0 by the second interval, and Shaun Johnson made it 5-0 halfway through the third. Shawn Maltby broke the duck with a consolation goal late in the period, the match ending with a decisive 5-1 victory for the Newcastle team.

Basingstoke Coach Mark Bernard, an ex-netminder for Manchester Storm in the B&H Cup winning 99-00 side, has announced that he himself will fill the roster spot left by the departure of Jayme Platt. Coach Bernard sees the move as a logical step to aid his team, whilst also voicing his disappointment in Platt's decision. "With the sudden departure of Jayme Platt we have an area that needed to be addressed right away and I have the experience so I'm going to step in and help out," says Coach Bernard. "We have a great group and we just need a couple of pieces to bring it all together, am I one of those pieces I don't know but I will do my best to make sure I am. I'm still looking for a goaltender but during the next few weeks I'm going to work my butt off and if I feel I can do the job along with Dan Green I'll stay on and put the funds into another area."

The result of putting the funds into another area has already paid off, with the Bison announcing on Friday that they had agreed verbal terms with British forward Greg Owen. "Greg and I have agreed on everything verbally and he will be signing the contract on Wednesday when he reports to training for the first time," announced Coach Bernard. "Greg is an excellent forward that hopefully will add some scoring punch up front and I'm very excited to be adding him at this time."

Thursday night's hockey action took place in Belfast, with the Giants hosting Cardiff Devils. Louis Goulet opened the scoring for the Devils in the first period, giving Cardiff the lead going into the first interval. But a concerted and concentrated effort from Belfast in the second period saw them put three goals past Peter Aubrey, who was returning to the Devils' net after being sidelined through injury. Colin Shields was the first to score for Belfast, finding the net in the twenty fourth minute, and this was followed up by a brace from Giants' player-coach Ed Courtenay, who scored in the twenty sixth and twenty ninth minute to give Belfast a 3-1 lead going into the second interval. Ed Patterson brought the Devils back within one with five minutes remaining on the clock, but the Giants' defence held fast to keep out Cardiff and take the points, the game ending 3-2 to Belfast.

Devils Coach Ed Patterson was philosophical about the loss. "We had a good first and a good third period but it was a horrible second with some bad breakdowns which gave goals away," said Patterson. "Three breakdowns changed the momentum of the game. The guys came out hard in the first and we gave a lot better effort in the third but we're not going to get on suicide watch, we know where we made mistakes, we just don't want them to become a habit. We know where we went wrong, we didn't move our feet or play our kind of defensive hockey but there's no point yelling or screaming."

Cardiff fared better on Saturday night when they were at home to London Racers, despite being 0-2 down just after the start of the second period. London hardman Jeremy Cornish found the net on the powerplay in the first period, and ex-Devil Nathan Rempel put the Racers up by two at 21.31. Cardiff started the fight-back and found the net less than a minute later through Jonathan Phillips. Phil Hill tied the game two minutes later, and Brad Voth opened a lead for the Devils just before the halfway point. Vezio Sacratini gave the Devils a two goal lead just before the second interval, the scoreline reading 4-2. Kirk DeWaele and Jeff Burgoyne both netted in the third period to put the score at 6-2, giving Cardiff a convincing win. Jason Norrie took and early trip to the Racers' locker room with an ejection for misconduct five minutes from time.

Basingstoke Bison were at home to Sheffield Steelers on Saturday night in an eleven goal thriller. Greg Chambers put Basingstoke in the lead early in the first period only for Mark Dutiame to tie up the game three minutes later. Jim Shepherd restored the Bison lead going into the first interval, but a powerplay marker from Kent Simpson re-tied the game early in the second. Edijs Brahmanis put the Bison back ahead before Simpson once again tied the game. Michael Wales and Greg Chambers put the Bison two goals to the good, both on the penalty kill, putting Basingstoke at 5-3. In the final six minutes of the game Sheffield found the net three times through Ron Shudra, Andrew Luciuk and Jonas Lennartsson to give the Steelers a 5-6 victory.

Belfast entertained Edinburgh in a surprisingly tight game, considering that it was top place versus bottom place at the home of the league leaders. Mike Minard in the Giants' net registered a 24 shot shut-out, with Marc Levers netting the only goal of the game in the second period to give Belfast the 1-0 win.

It was a much tighter affair in Nottingham, with the Panthers hosting Coventry Blaze. Shaun Sutter netted for Nottingham in the eleventh minute, with Brandin Cote extending the lead late in the second period. Barrie Moore found the net twice in a minute early in the third period to put Coventry right back in the game, and with no further goals coming in regulation time, the game went to OT. Pavel Mihalik squeaked the puck into the Nottingham net to give Coventry the win, the scoreline ending 2-3 after overtime.

Nottingham's fortunes were better on Sunday when hosted Basingstoke Bison, with Stefan Sjogren and Brandin Cote giving the home team a two goal lead in the first period. Joe Cardarelli extended the lead to 3-0 late in the second period, only for Jerry Galway to open Basingstoke's account with thirty seconds remaining in the period. Cardarelli restored the lead early in the third, and a marker from Edijs Brahmanis halfway through the third period brought the scoreline to 4-2 where it remained, Nottingham taking the points. Bison player-coach Mark Bernard faced 46 shots in the Basingstoke net.

Edinburgh Capitals entertained Newcastle Vipers on Sunday evening, and conceded an opener from David Longstaff in the first period. Paul Ferone made it 0-2 just after the halfway point of the game, only for Travis Lisabeth to open the Edinburgh scoring a minute later. Matt Beveridge restored the two goal lead just before the interval. A second Paul Ferone goal gave way to markers from Jonathan Weaver and Simon Leach, putting the scoreline at 1-6 and the game out of reach of the Capitals, with the Vipers taking the points.

There was another six-one stuffing handed out on Sunday, this one in Coventry with the Blaze hosting Cardiff Devils in a bad-tempered affair. Evan Cheverie started the ball rolling in the tenth minute, and Barrie Moore made it two nil three minutes later on a slidin attack that saw Moore put the puck and the netminder into the back of the net. Joel Poirier made it three nil in the fifteenth minute before the fists started flying, with Brad Voth picking up a match penalty after Tom Watkins was in collision with Cardiff netminder Peter Aubrey, and Voth jumped into the ensuing altercation. Cheverie and Poirer added their second goals in the second period to bring the scoreline to 5-0 heading into the second interval. Neal Martin made it 6-0 in the third before Vezio Sacratini grabbed a consolation marker late in the third, the game ending 6-1.

London's Sunday fixture against Sheffield Steelers went from bad to worse, when after conceding three goals a section of plexiglass was shattered, and with no replacement glass available the match was abandoned. The scorers for Sheffield were Ron Shudra, Kent Simpson and Andrew Luciuk.

by Richard Allan