Bison 7 Swindon Wildcats 2
20/22/11
The word “wildcat” conjures up
images of a vicious wild animal with sharp claws and teeth tearing strips of
flesh from the blood soaked carcass of some poor unfortunate prey, ruthlessly
pursued and murdered by driving needle sharp incisor teeth into the hapless
animal’s neck. (Sorry I’m getting carried away). Alas for the Swindon fans who
made the trip, the Wildcats who turned up at Planet Ice tonight were more akin
to fluffy kittens rolling over to have their tummies tickled and meowing for
saucers of milk. Bison showed no mercy, running riot with another 7 goals to
end a goalfest weekend. After Nicky Chinn’s hat-trick at Slough on Saturday
night, Daniel Volrab repeated the feat here tonight. Someone should have called
the RSPCA.
It took only 4 minutes of the
game for Bison to romp into a 2-0 lead. In the third minute Volrab waltzed
around the back of the goal, emerged wide of the back door and flicked home a
back handed shot from close range. Assists went to Tosh Redmond, possessor of
only one front tooth, and the Slovak Cannon, Marcel Petran. Within a minute it
was 2-0. This time savvy Slovak, Viktor Kubenko, bulged the net from a Kurt
Reynolds pass.
On 12 minutes, the scoreboard
clicked onto “Home 3” following some relentless Bison forechecking in the
offensive zone. Swindon were unable to clear their lines. Canadian colossus,
Steve Moria, receiving a pass form Joe Miller, deked in front of goal,
bamboozling the Wildcat netman Murdy, and fired high.
Within a minute it was 4-0. This
time the scorer was Liam Chong. An inch perfect and well timed mid ice pass
from Kubenko, enabled Chong to race clear and lift a back hander high into
Murdy’s net. Red light man behind the goal illuminated his bulb. The Wildcats
were now looking rather tame and highly vulnerable, even when on a power play.
Nicky Chinn had been sent to the miscreants’ compound for tripping and, during
the resultant power play, Kubenko broke clear, fluffed his shot but regained
possession, then passed to the lurking and ever dangerous Petran, whose slap
shot was saved. A short handed goal to make it 5-0 then would have sent the
Wilcats well and truly out of the cat flap. However, they survived the
remaining 7 minutes of the period without conceding and indeed looked a lot
better in the second. They shut out Bison and reduced the arrears a minute
before the end of the period with a slap shot goal from Nicky Watt. Assists
went to the shaven headed Joe Baird (OK I couldn’t actually see that as he had
a helmet on) and one half of the “Bouncing Czech” duo, Michal Pinc (pronounced
pinch not pink). Swindon should have scored 7 minutes earlier than this, but
incredibly failed to capitalise on a 2 on 0. Bearing down on goal, Aaron Nell must have thought “Even my grandmother
could score here.” She would have, but he didn’t. Was he shooting at the moon?
His wild shot was so inaccurate that it didn’t even hit the glass, flying high
into the netting above. Oh dear!
Bison needed another goal to get
their momentum going again and it took only 45 seconds of play in the third to
bag that vital goal. Miller fed Moria, whose cross ice pass set up A-man/D-man,
Sam Oakford, to drive a rising slap shot high into Murdy’s stringbag, Petran
style but without the jazz hands.
Less than a minute later a
delayed penalty for checking from behind was called on Wildcat Sam Bullas.
Bison goaltender, Matt Colclough, skated
at top speed towards the bench as if pursued by an axe murderer with a rabid
hatred of netminders, enabling Bison to bring on an extra skater for a 6 on 5.
They cleverly kept possession of the puck, moving it forward from behind their
own goal line. Daniel Volrab made the one man advantage pay, scoring his second
of the night for 6-1. Assists to Chinn and Harris, who had started the move. Bullas received a 2 + 10.
On 47 minutes an unseemly altercation
of the most unpleasant variety involving Kurt Reynolds and the ever niggly
Nicky Watt (one half of the very unsavoury brothers Watt) occurred. The two fellows
came together in a massive hit which looked 50/50. However, Watt must have made
a disparaging remark to Reynolds, as the normally placid Bison No.7 immediately
dropped one glove with Watt following suit. The Bison crowd rose to its feet
in unison, anticipating a contest without the restrictions of Queensbury
Rules. The two pugilists came together
in a clinch, helmets came off and punches were thrown. Reynolds then threw Watt
to the ground with a rugby “spear tackle” - like a rag doll, so commented one
observer. The contest terminated with some ineffective flailing of arms from
the odious Watt. The referee imposed a 2 + 2 for fighting on each.
Only a minute later another
malodourous incident was witnessed. The admirable Dan Harris, who once again
enjoyed an excellent game in defense for the Bison, was the victim of a cynical
Czech check from Jan Melichar. The young D-man crumpled face down on the ice in
obvious discomfort. The bespectacled youth in Block C swore it was a head check.
The howling man at the end of Row E confidently declared in a most vociferous
fashion that it had been an elbow to Harris’s face. Eventually the game was
stopped and, after a period of recovery, Dan left the ice unassisted. No
penalty was called, leaving the crowd incensed and wondering if the referee
needed a white stick.
Still in the 48th
minute Swindon pulled one back. The Bison defense was caught with trousers down,
giving Swindon a 2 on 1 opportunity. Jonas Hoog buried a top shelf wrist shot
past Colclough and 6-2 it was. Aaron Nell and Jaroslav Cesky, the other half of
the “Bouncing Czechs” duo, received assists.
The final goal of the night came
with 8 minutes remaining and brought with it an element of “whodunit”. It
looked like Steve Moria had smashed in his second of the night. However, Daniel
Volrab was credited with the goal and completion of a hat-trick. We can only
presume that Volrab deflected Moria’s shot past the hapless goaltender. Miller
and Moria were credited with assists. The 7-2 annihilation was complete. The
RSPCA are still waiting for a call.
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