Steeldogs Show They Can Bite As Well As Bark

Bison 2 Sheffield Steeldogs 3

26/12/12

The last time the Dogs came to town they came with a snarl and a bark and went away with a whine and a whimper. Their dreadful indiscipline cost them the game that time with a staggering total of 58 penalty minutes including three 10 misconducts. This time they attracted only 2 minors, although the myopic officials failed to call a number of misdemeanours much to the chagrin of the Bison crowd. In particular both Lumberjack Joe Rand and Greg “Chubbs” Chambers were high sticked in the face without a call for either. According to GI Dave, Chubbs had to “have his eyeball glued back in”. You see I’m not the only one who is capable of exaggeration. However, the Dogs can return to their kennel happy that they were worthy winners. 

It was Bison who took the lead midway through the 1^st period shortly after the Dogs had hit the post. Put in by Zach Sullivan, Jaroslav Cesky, the Bouncing Czech and James “No Nickname” Smith found themselves in on goal in a 2 on 1. It was the classic old dog/young pup combination (Jaro is almost but not quite old enough to be James’s dad). The geriatric forward, well relatively speaking anyay, drew the Dogs netman, James Flavell, and then rifled a pass to the back door. A gaping hole presented itself to just out of nappies James. “Even my granny couldn’t miss this,” he must have thought. Maybe Granny Smith wouldn’t have, but nor did James. His snap shot hit the net and he had recorded his first Bison goal. Well done James.

Pantomime villain André Payette was entertaining the crowd with his comic antics as usual - cheap shots, off the puck stuff and all. Alas the man can barely skate these days and, after one particular short shift where he did barely more than just move around slowly for a bit with the grace and poise of a sack of potatoes, the Bespectacled Youth shouted at him as he left the ice “Come off, Payette. You’ve done enough.” The Man with 3 Ear Rings was a trifle more charitable, saying, “Come on. He’s done 10 seconds on the ice”. The Man in the Charlestown Chiefs Shirt shouted “Give the man some oxygen.”

Bison maintained their lead for the rest of the period, but were clearly not firing on all cylinders and a couple of delay of game penalties late in the period did for them. The first was called on Alex Symonds and the second on Tosh Redmond, although the latter call attracted much debate on the ice, which is hardly surprising as the puck appeared to be deflected over the glass rather than lobbed directly over as with the Symmo effort. Suffice it to say that Bison survived 22 seconds of 5 on 3 and reached the first break with their lead intact. However, before the 5 on 4 had run its course at the beginning of the second the Dogs had levelled it. Pavel Gomeniuk fired in a massive slap shot from the slot, which was deflected past Stonewall Stevie Lyle by Lloyd Gibson. Ben Morgan with the second assist.

Shortly after it was the Dogs who found themselves in a 2 on 1, but a brilliant piece of defending from Kurt “The Knife” Reynolds saved the day as he got his stick to the centring pass which would surely have left Lyle facing a point blank shot with a wide open back door. 

Re-enter the pantomime villain. Oh no he didn’t. Oh yes he did. His first Tommy Cooper style trick gone wrong was a check into the boards which missed completely, resulting in him checking himself, and then, shortly after, he was on the receiving end of a massive check from Tosh Redmond and, with the wild cheers of approval of the Bison faithful ringing in his ears,  he crashed to the ice like……..a sack of potatoes. He got to his skates and raced for the bench as rapidly as he could manage, not with the speed of a thoroughbred racehorse, but certainly with the style of a drayman’s cart horse. In his way was Kurt “The Knife”. Payette attempted one of his usual tricks, namely to bump into him accidentally on purpose, but Kurt saw him coming and side stepped him. Payette’s momentum took him clean out through the bench door and halfway back to the locker room before he could stop. It was pure theatre.

The Dogs ended the period as they had started – with a goal. Cuddly Joe Greener may not have been the Messiah, but he was a very naughty boy. “You have hooked your opponent,” said the referee. Into the Sapphire Cleaning penalty box he went, thankful that the place of incarceration for his misdemeanour was not Wormwood Scrubs. The Dogs took a 2-1 lead on the resultant power play. Once again a long range Gomeniuk slap shot from the point was Bison’s undoing. The puck flew in low off the post past Lyle, catcher side. Greg Wood assisted.

Bison continued to stutter in the 3^rd at a time when they should have been throwing the kitchen sink at the Dogs’ goal. By the end of the period they had managed only 6 shots on Flavell for the period. It became so frustrating that when Stevie Lyle raced out of his goal to fire the puck back into the attack, a frustrated spectator in Block C urged, “Go on, Stevie. SHOOT!” He didn’t. In the interval Mystic Jo had predicted a 5-2 victory for Bison. The Man with 3 Ear Rings insisted she was always right. However, the 4 goals required to achieve this score showed no sign of materialising. Even worse for the Bison faithful they had the cup of victory snatched from their lips, Tantalus style, with a late equaliser negated by an even later winner.

That levelling score was made by Shoeless Joe Miller with less than 4 minutes remaining. Set up by the Bouncing Czech, Jarolslav Cesky, Greg “Chubbs” Chambers fired in a shot which went wide of the goal. Flavell must have thought “danger over” as he heard the familiar sound of puck against board. But his confidence proved woefully misplaced, as the puck entered his peripheral vision and rebounded straight to Shoeless Joe in front of goal. Joe made no mistake. At 2-2 and with the pendulum now swinging their way so late in the game, surely Bison had it within their power to go on and snatch a win despite a lack lustre performance? Alas no. Coach Payette immediately called a time out and whatever he said worked for with 2 minutes remaining Edgars Bebris rifled in a wrist shot from the point for 3-2 Dogs. Stonewall Stevie Lyle may have expressed his disappointment with a torrent of Billingsgate language delivered from inside his mask. Thankfully, if this did occur, it was not audible. The goal was the last straw for Bison. Despite a desperate final two minutes and a pulled goaltender for the last minute they couldn’t find a way back. Ben Morgan and Stonewall Stevie Lyle were men of the match.

Bison will be disappointed with their performance as they struggled to get going throughout the game. Too much turkey and Christmas pud? I don’t know about them, but I certainly did. Is there anything positive for the Bison faithful to take away from the game? Well yes I would say there is. We are very fortunate to be playing in a competitive league where anyone can beat anyone. This certainly was a night when the form book and league positions counted for nothing. Who would want to see their team win or even lose 15-0 every week? Not me for sure.