Bison 4 Guildford Flames 3
31/3/12
Bison player/coach Steve Moria,
the Canadian Colossus, has had his critics this season, but last night with a Man of the Match
performance and the winning goal scored from a penalty shot he showed the
doubting Thomases that there is life in the old dog yet. He led his team to yet
another home ice victory over the EPL champions – that’s 3 out of 3 or, better
still, 4 out of 4 this season if you include a pre-season challenge win.
However, despite outshooting the
Flames by 40 to 20, Bison had to work hard for their narrow victory. The 1st
period was the same old story. Bison with 13 shot to the Flames’ 9 still
managed to go in at the first buzzer trailing by 2-0. The 1st goal after
11 minutes had a touch of fortune about it. A lucky break saw Rick Plant pick
up the puck. There was nothing lucky about what he then did with the rubber
disc. A pass of pin point accuracy across the goaltender found Josef Kohut at
the back door with a simple but firm tap in to execute. 35 seconds later Kohut
found himself confined to a stretch of solitary for slashing. Only a minute
later David Savage and Liam Chong joined Kohut behind bars for coincidental
minors for interference. Within 10 seconds of Kohut being granted his liberty
Jez Lundin and Rick Plant combined to send Curtis Huppe clear of the Bison
defense. He flew in on Stephen Wall faster than a Spitfire chasing an Me109,
deked and beat the hapless goaltender off his backhand. 0-2 the period ended.
Bison enjoyed an excellent 2nd
period, pouring in twice as many shots as the Flames and being rewarded with
two goals, alas then allowing the Flames to retake the lead within a little
more than a minute of their equaliser. Bouncing Czech, Daniel Volrab, opened
the Bison scoring account in the 24th minute. A shot from Craig
Tribe was saved by Mark Lee in the Flames net, but the puck broke again to
Tribe who passed to the admirable Joe Miller. The Welsh Wizzard’s centring pass
was hammered home by Volrab from the slot. It took only a minute and a half for
Bison to level the game up at 2 apiece. Viktor Kubenko’s shot was saved by Lee,
who was unable to freeze the puck, which then moved through Reynolds and Moria.
It eventually ended up on the stick of Liam Chong, who stabbed it in. The
action between the Kubenko shot and the Chong score was all a bit of a blur to
me and I was hoping for a succinct account from the Bearded Rabble Rouser of
Block A in the interval as the goal was scored at his end. Much to my chagrin
the Rabble Rouser admitted that his attention had been distracted by the
Diminutive Enforcer at the crucial moment and he could provide no further details.
The response from Guildford was
instantaneous. Whilst still uncorking the champagne to celebrate the equalising
goal, the Bison faithful were dismayed to see a Matt Towe shot from an acute angle sneak in somehow. Assists were given to Savage and Liddiard.
The Gooner in the Penguins shirt commented that the good work done to get back
on level terms seemed to have been wasted. And indeed it had been. 2-3 it was.
Before a further minute of play
had taken place the ever dangerous Canadian goal-a-game man, Nathan Rempel,
showed himself to be dangerous in another way. In fact as dangerous as a
partially sighted pensioner behind the wheel of a Santa Pod drag racer. He was
called for a head check. Referee Dave Cloutman, the Colonel Sanders lookalike,
sent Rempel down the steps for a 2 + 10 penalty. A minute later Guildford could
so easily have scored a short handed goal. Kohut was in on Wall and about to
shoot when scythed down from behind by Marcel Petran. For some reason Mr.
Cloutman thought that the misdemeanour was worthy of only a 2 minute minor and,
much to the astonishment of the man in the Charlestown Chiefs shirt, the
Bespectacled Youth, the Gooner in the Penguins shirt and many others I am sure,
gave no penalty shot. The Howling Man must also have thought that it was a let
off as he remained uncharacteristically silent.
As the 2nd reached its
conclusion another act of x-rated violence erupted. This time it was Scott
Greenfield who high sticked (should that be high stuck?) into the face of Dan
Harris. The young D-man crumpled face down onto the ice and, as he recovered,
he thumped the ice in frustration, realising that one of his front teeth had
been knocked out, as confirmed in the interval by GI Joe and later by the
Bespectacled Youth who made Dan grin during the high 5 skate past at the end of
the game. Mr. Harris is now able to flash a “hockey smile”, Tosh Redmond and
Alex Ovechkin style. The Howling Man at the end of Row E suddenly sprang into
action and let his views be known to all. Alas his utterings were somewhat
incoherent and the only words I caught were “dressing room”. His sentiments
were, however, crystal clear and Mr. Cloutman agreed. Into the slammer went
Greenfield, but for only 2 minutes as no blood had been shed during Dan’s dental
surgery. He was followed shortly after by Neil Liddiard for “delay of game”. Alas
Bison could not take advantage of the 5 on 3 and then the 5 on 4. The best
effort came from Joe Miller, whose powerfully rifled shot was brilliantly
plucked out of the air by Mark Lee.
6 minutes into the 3rd
and Bison were called for “too many men on the ice”. This was indicated by Mr.
Cloutman holding up a load of fingers and thumbs. I couldn’t see the exact
number, but it was certainly more than 5. The Gooner maintained that a Bison
player had been obstructed while trying to leave the ice. On two occasions during
the resultant power play Bison so nearly scored a short handed goal. First
Miller found Moria whose high shot disappeared into Lee’s catcher. Then Miller nicked
the puck on the blue line, bore in on Lee unchallenged and loosed off a shot
which beat the goaltender but not the post. The familiar PING! sound was heard
as the puck cannoned away.
Shortly after the Guildford net
moved off its moorings yet again. Not that I wish to infer anything untoward but
Mr. Lee’s net does seem to do this quite often. Everyone could see it, but the referee
didn’t stop the game. The Howling man shouted “Net off moorings” several times,
the volume increasing with each delivery until finally Colonel Sanders popped
it back on without stopping the game.
Bison continued to threaten and
got their reward with just under 5 minutes remaining. A superb diagonal cross
ice pass from Kurt Reynolds from the point to the Flames’ blueline (pass of the
season maybe) picked out Joe Miller, who killed the puck and skated forward.
Viktor Kubenko crashed the net and Lee, doubtless expecting a centring pass to
the threatening Slovak, left a gap big enough for Miller to fire through. On
came the goal light. It was all square at 3-3. Volrab picked up the second assist
and now both he and Miller with a goal and an assist needed only a fight for a
Gordie Howe hat trick. They could have fought each other to achieve this I
suppose, but thankfully declined to do so.
The final buzzer sounded and the
game moved into overtime, Bison dominating. With the clock ticking down to 15
seconds remaining Marcel Petran broke clear, but was forced behind the goal
line before he could shoot. He did, however, retain possession of the puck and
with Lee floundering on the ice like a beached whale and Bison crashing the net
all it needed was a pass out and a saucer shot and the game was Bison’s.
Suddenly the Flames net moved mysteriously off its moorings as if by magic,
although I didn’t see Paul Daniels on the ice. This time it was not Mark Lee,
but Jez Lundin who was the perpetrator of this cynical move. A penalty shot was
awarded and Steve Moria was to take it. As he circled like a vulture preparing
to take the puck off the centre spot the Desperate Dan lookalike in the
Bronnimann shirt (if you’ve never read the Beano you’ll have to Google Image
Desperate Dan) signalled his doubt that Mo was going to score to the
Bespectacled Youth. The Bison player/coach took the puck forward and we all
wondered whether it was to be a clever deke or a shot from distance. It turned
out to be the latter. Mo picked his spot and beat Lee high, catcher side, with
an unstoppable wrist shot. Had it not been for the net the puck could have
flown all the way to Canada. The Bison crowd erupted Vesuvius style. Bison had
done for the all conquering Flames once again.
