Jets Crash at Planet Ice

Bison 5 Slough Jets 4 (shoot out)

29/1/12

A dramatic shoot out victory at the end of an entertaining game secured a 4 point weekend for Bison. On Saturday night they romped to a 5-1 road win against the Milton Keynes Lightning. Last night the game against the high flying Slough Jets was closer and the margin much narrower, but by the end of the evening there were 2 more points for Bison to stuff into the sack and that was all that mattered.

The 1^st period ended honours even. The Jets had taken the lead with a power play goal on 7 minutes. With Bison reduced to 4 for an icing infringement and Nicky Chinn banged up, the Jets took full advantage. Lethal Lithuanian, Darius Pliskauskas collected a poorly directed pass from Doug Sheppard in the neutral zone, turned towards goal, skated forward, slicing through the Bison defense, deked and beat Stephen Wall with a top shelf wrist shot. It was a truly spectacular goal – a blur of superb footwork and dazzling stick handling. When Darius can no longer play hockey, he may well wish to pursue a new career as a conjurer or tap dancer or, better still, a tap dancing conjurer.

Bison drew level with a power play goal of their own on 17 minutes. With Ryan Watt behind bars, Sam Oakford sent in an off target slap shot from the point and the puck was bundled in. The goal was initially credited to Liam Chong. “I thought it was Miller who scored,” confidently declared the genial Brummie in the Kieras shirt and he was absolutely right. His eyes rarely deceive him. The score was later reassigned to Miller with assists to Volrab and Oakford.

With 2 minutes of the 1^st period remaining Nicky Chinn had his collar felt by the referee, Mr Szuchs. It was to be the Bison skipper’s third 2 minute stretch of the period and it seemed that he was spending more time in incarceration than Ronnie Biggs had spent in Wandsworth Prison. The Howling Man on the end of Row E let his views be known in his usual manner. Such was the swell of objection from the Bison blocks that it is doubtful whether Mr. Szuchs became aware of the Howling Man’s considered opinion.

The Jets retook the lead a minute into the 2^nd period. Ryan Watt found himself in on Wall and 5-holed the hapless netman with a powerful wrist shot from close in. However, it took Bison only 3 minutes to level it up at 2-2 with their second power play goal of the night, Pliskauskas having been sent to the slammer for a cross check. This one was an unassisted goal and had a touch of slapstick comedy about it. Bouncing Czech, Daniel Volrab’s shot was deflected high into the air. Gregg Rockman, in the Slough goal seemed not to know where it had gone - to infinity and beyond he might have thought. But it hadn’t. Down it came, obeying Sir Isaac Newtons’s theory of gravity (just like a falling apple really), and ended up in the net via Rockman’s back. How embarrassing for the poor fellow.

Into the 3rd period and Pliskauskas bagged his second of the game with a wonderful goal to restore the Jets’ lead on 27 minutes. A 2 on 1 lightning break saw Nicky Watt feed the goal a game Lithuanian at the back door. He hammered an unstoppable shot high into the net between Wall and post. Bison came back to level the scores for the third time in the match with a spectacular goal of their own. Savvy Slovak, Viktor Kubenko, carried the puck around the back of the goal with his characteristic one handed stick handling technique, emerged and skated to the boards close to the blue line still with the puck. As he looked for a play he became aware of a rapid movement in his peripheral vision. Was it the 6.30 express to Waterloo? No. It was flame haired Jock, Tony Redmond, hammering forward over the blue line. Kubo delivered a cross ice pass with the accuracy of an Agincourt archer’s arrow and Tosh rifled in an unstoppable one timer, top shelf. Nicky Chinn picked up the second assist.

Into the 3^rd period they went with Bison trying hard to get their noses in front for the first time in the game. However, it was the Jets who retook the lead once again, this time with Ryan Watt’s second. Always a favourite villain at Planet Ice, he showed he is more than just an agitator with an admirable goal. He foxed both defenseman and goaltender with some dazzling stick handling and sent a vicious wrist shot high into the net for 3-4.

With the clock ticking down and Bison beginning to have the look of defeat to the “gloom and doom” merchants in the crowd, such pessimism was shown to be both preposterous and outrageous. In stepped Slovak Cannon, Marcel Petran. In the previous Bison v Jets game he had hammered in a truly spectacular hat-trick of slap shots. He was about to fire in another such goal. The explosive blueliner killed a pass from Canadian Colossus, Steve Moria, then raised his stick high in a massive backlift. The stick then came sweeping down in a big arc, hitting the ice just behind the puck. The stick instantly bent and restraightened (O.K. I couldn’t actually see that from Row F) and propelled the puck like an exocet missile high into the Slough net past a hapless Rockman, who saw what was coming but couldn’t do anything about it. Up went the jazz hands.

There was no more scoring in regulation time, but with 6 seconds remaining, Dan Davies spooned the puck over the glass and attracted a 2 minute delay of game penalty, which meant that the Jets would have to play nearly 2 minutes of the ensuing overtime a man short. They survived the 4 on 3 and indeed nearly won the game shortly after Davies’ liberation with a 3 on 1 breakaway, the end shot from Pliskauskas hitting the post.

And so into a shootout. Ollie Bronnimann was up first for Bison and scored top shelf. Dan Davies restored equilibrium with a low shot. Steve Moria then beat Rockman with another top shelfer. The deadly Pliskauskas was the Jets’ second shooter. He failed to find the net with Wall producing a good save. Joe Miller then fired wide, leaving Ryan Watt needing to score to keep the Jets’ chances alive. He skated forward at breakneck speed, but got too close to Wall, who shot out his stick like a frog with a long sticky tongue going for a fly and poke checked the puck to safety.

Rejoicing of the most vociferous kind burst forth from the ecstatic Bison crowd, who threatened to take the roof off the building. After some bad home ice defeats in recent weeks to contrast with their current run of 7 road wins on the trot, it was good for the Bison faithful to witness their team coming out on top in a pulsating game. Ryan Watt and Kurt Reynolds picked up Man of the Match awards.