Bison 4 Guildford Flames 3
18/9/11
They narrowly lost the league title to Manchester Phoenix last season, but did win the play offs in Coventry. This year, having signed goal a game Canadian, Curtis Huppe, from Manchester (they already have a goal a game Canadian in the deadly Nathan Rempel), Guildford must have been many people’s favourites for the title. However, having lost the first match of a double header challenge against Bison on their own ice the night before by 4-3, they succumbed once again by the same score to a strong Bison team and must be a trifle worried about their season’s high hopes. It’s early days of course.
Player/coach and left hander, Steve Moria, a Canadian colossus himself, has put together a very strong looking roster for this year with a good blend of youth and experience and three new import players, all of whom look likely to make a major impact in the EPL. Moria himself, who is not quite old enough to be the grandfather of his youngest player, looks as fresh as ever and skates like a man half his age. He is years from needing a mobility scooter to get around the ice. His experience and tactical savvy, not to mention his value as a player and coach, make him such a major force in the league.
Enough praise (Steve are you reading this?). To last night’s game…..
No fights, just a bit of harmless jostling on a couple of occasions. It seemed like a bit of an exaggeration to call it “roughing”, but there is no offence called “handbags”. Some bizarre refereeing decisions (what’s new), lots of penalties to Bison (What’s new) including 3 to Bison enforcer, Chris Wiggins, leaving him with a look of incredulity on his face on those 3 occasions.
After a lively start Bison took the lead in the 7th minute. A goal created and scored by Moria and two teenagers with a combined age of less than their coach’s. (Sorry Steve I won’t mention the age issue again – well not for now). It was Jacob Heron who delivered the telling centring pass for Liam Chong to hammer home through the gap between back post and goaltender Lee.
3 minutes later a bizarre incident occurred. Bison scored what they believed was a second goal, only for it to be chalked off for reasons most players and spectators didn’t understand. Returning Bison old boy, Andy Hemmings, ended up on all fours in the net, sliding backwards and taking it off its moorings, just as new import, the left handed Czech, Daniel Volrab, rifled the puck in from the slot over Hemmings’s back. For whatever reason, the referee said “No” and “No” it was.
Guildford came back to level the game only 2 minutes later. With Marcel Petran taking a 2 minute seat for tripping (yes it was rather blatant), the deadly Rempel smashed in a slapshot from the slot assisted by Lundin and Towe.
Bison thought they had restored their lead in the 17th minute. With a delayed penalty called, Bison goaltender Matt Colclough raced to the bench as if pursued by an axe murderer to allow Bison to bring on an extra skater. A goalmouth melee (if you could see exactly what happened you have better eyes than me) ended with goaltender Lee plucking the puck out of the air with his catcher. Was it already over the line? The ref said “No.” One goal apiece the period ended.
Midway through the second Bison nosed in front with a 5 on 3 power play goal. With Dixon already in the box for holding, Towe joined him for slashing (indiscipline or what?) and the Flames were set a task of surviving for 50 seconds 2 men short. They failed. Bison skipper, Nicky Chinn drove a pass to Marcel Petran from behind the goal line. As the puck arrived, the left handed Petran’s stick was high in the air and coming down. The stick hit the ice just behind the puck, bent and restraightened (OK I couldn’t actually see that from Row F), sending the rubber disk flying high over the goaltender’s shoulder. It was a classic goal scoring D-Man’s goal. Petran was signed to replace Mindy Kieras and looks very capable of filling his skates. Not only did he score twice, but he also had a very solid game in defence. We may not miss Mindy as much as we thought.
An ugly equaliser was scored in the 46th minute. I am not that biased – it was ugly but they all count. David Longstaff, who skates without a visor (thought you’d like to know that), prodded in after a goalmouth mellée with assists going to Vletan and Rempel. However, the game remained level for only another 34 seconds. Assisted by Heron (his second assist of the night) and Craig Tribe, Petran stuck to score his second goal. 3-2.
Bison’s win was wrapped up with 5 minutes remaining. A woeful piece of stick handling in mid ice by David Savage allowed the left handed Marek Dubec (all the imports are left handed – had you noticed?) to pick his pocket as cleverly as the Artful Dodger. Dubec raced clear and bore down on the hapless Lee. With some clever deking he wrong footed the goaltender and slid a back hander across the line. 4-2.
Guildford restored a bit of pride with another ugly goal (yes it really was), this time Matt Towe prodding in to make it 4-3, but Bison had only 3 more seconds to survive and survive they did.
Man of the match for Bison was 21 year old goaltender Matt Colclough, stepping up for his first season in the EPL. He looked very solid and confident. It will be a very interesting season with Colclough and Skinns competing for the no.1 netman’s slot. However, the MoM award could have gone to a number of players and it was very encouraging to see the new young players performing impressively. I don’t like to single anyone out, but I will. The pick of the bunch over the season may be Liam Chong.
