Bison 2 Milton Keynes Lightning 3
1/2/14
Last night saw a
well deserved road win for a short benched Milton Keynes Lightning with a resolute and
disciplined performance. Allowing Bison little space, they were called for only
2 penalties in the entire game and took their chances well.
The game opened
in lively fashion. Bison, playing at high tempo, tested MK goaltender Stephen
Wall on several occasions and looked as if they were going to carry on where
they left off against the Flames (see previous report). However, Wall proved to
be a brick wall not an unstable wall like those of Jericho and the early storm
was weathered. In fact, it was MK who grabbed the lead midway through the 1st.
Captain Blaz Emersic, whose former clubs include the Rio Grande Killer Bees and
the Utah Grizzlies (great names), worked the puck behind the net. Try as they
might the Bison players were unable to dispossess him as he twisted and turned,
wriggled and jiggled hither and thither, this way then that until finally he
picked out a pass from behind the goal line into the slot where Christie
lurked. Was it Agatha Christie? No it was Lewis Christie and there was no
mystery about what he was going to do. He snapped the puck past Dean Skinns for
1-0 Lightning.
On 26 minutes MK
doubled their lead with as slick a goal as you are ever likely to see.
Stanislav Lascek broke down the left, evaded the covering D man’s challenge and
squared the puck to Adam Carr who had raced forward with no-one to challenge
him. The Bison D were caught on the break and on the hop, without so much as a
by your leave and it was as if Carr had been accompanied by a Medieval bubonic
plague bell ringer chanting “Unclean, unclean” because no-one came near him. But
there was no such bellringer and Carr’s finish was as clean as clean could be.
He rifled in a top shelf wrist shot past Skinns glove side. Further assist to
Leigh Jamieson. 2-0 Lightning.
The MK net had a
habit of moving off its moorings. The hand (or rather skate) of Wall was the suspected
cause by the Bison backers. On the 3rd occasion the crowd became
ugly, particularly on the fringes of Blocks B and C where the Howling Man and
the crinkly Haired Lady reside. They both blazed away at Wally and also the
referee for failing to make a delay of the game call. His words of disagreement
were delivered like a stream of lead slugs fired from the barrel of a Thompson
sub-machine gun. She went off like a 12 gauge and gave it both barrels. You
could say they were just as noisy and almost as deadly.
Coach Sheppard
must have been inwardly doing his nut. In a nutshell, the Lightning D was
proving a hard nut to crack. Any nutcase could see that. Was there a nuts and
bolts solution or was Maple Leaf Doug going to need a sledgehammer to crack a
nut? Well actually no. All he needed was Tomas “Grandmaster” Karpov. With the
clock ticking towards the 37 minute mark Bison finally expunged any shut out
hopes Wally may have had. Put in by Kurt “The Knife” Reynolds and the Outlaw
Muzzy Wales, Karpov evaded the Lightning D as he moved forward with the balance
of a tight rope walker, the dexterity of a juggler, the authority of a lion
tamer and the daring of a trapeze artist. From wide right he fired in a shot
which Wally saved. However, much to the hapless goaltender’s chagrin, the puck
rebounded straight back to Karpov who fired in a second shot. Wally saved
again, but sent another rebound straight back to the Bison forward. This time
he was out of position and an inviting gap had appeared between him and post
for Karps to slide in the puck on the forehand. It was 1-2.
Bison now had the
momentum and piled forward with new vigour. Could they snatch an equaliser
before the period’s end? MK needed to take the sting out of situation and,
credit to them, they didn’t crumble like a cake with insufficiently mixed
ingredients and baked on too high a temperature (Cake Lady can tell you more
about that). They stood firm, weathered the storm and even drew a penalty, the
first of the game, as the period ended. Cuddly Joe Greener was called for
charging. He didn’t like the decision, but his appeal fell on deaf ears and Joe had to start the 3rd
period in the box.
With Joe banged
up MK took full advantage and romped into a 3-1 lead with 41 seconds of the
penalty remaining. Fed by Janne Jokila, Lukas Zatopek fired in a wrist shot
from the point. Skinns saved but the rebound went straight to Grant McPherson
who popped it in and it was 3-1 Lightning. The goal caused the Bison faithful
to adopt feelings of wretchedness and woebegoneness (that is actually a real
word you know).
Bison had
harboured high hopes of getting back on level terms, but the goal had cruelly
snatched away the cup of hope and it was back to an uphill struggle. MK were
playing a tight game, allowing Bison so little space in sharp contrast to the
Flames in the previous game where the spaces were so wide open that Bison
rattled in 8. The miserly way which the Lightning denied space would have
impressed Scrooge. Another aspect of their game which was to prove telling was
their discipline It was not until the 48th minutes that they were finally
called for a penalty. The whistle blew and up went 6 Thompson fingers (well to
be pedantically accurate 4 fingers and 2 thumbs). “Too many men on the ice,” said
he. “MK take a 2 minute bench minor.” Could Bison take advantage? Alas for
their suffering fans, they could not. In fact, the best chance of the power
play fell to Stanislav Lascek, who nearly bagged a shortie. On the break he was
in on Skinns, but Skinns was not skinned and saved brilliantly.
Before the
penalty had expired, Wall had an uncomfortable moment when a Greener slap shot
from the blue line went through his 5-hole but hit his leg and deflected wide
with no-one on hand to stuff it in.
2 minutes later
MK were called for another penalty. Michael Farn tripped Lumberjack Joe Rand as
he worked the puck behind the goal line. Joe got back on his feet and carried
on whereupon Farn tripped him again. The whistle had blown and Mr. Thompson’s
arm was raised aloft. The Man in the Charlestown Chiefs shirt stuck his arms in
the air with a 2 fingered Winston Churchill style victory salute on each hand
“2 + 2. A penalty for each trip,” he optimistically requested. But that was
never going to happen and off to the dungeon that is the Sapphire Cleaning
penalty box went Farn for merely a 2 minute stretch.
Although they
couldn’t take advantage of the power play, 40 seconds after Farn’s period of custody
expired they made it a one goal game. Set up by Maple Leaf Doug Sheppard and
Zach “Sully” Sullivan, Aaron “Billy” Connolly fired in a shot which deflected
off Wall’s glove, over his shoulder and in. Still facing to the front, the
first the hapless goaltender must have become aware that puck was in was when
he heard the spontaneous and spirited reaction from the Bison backers which
could be described as not only tremendous and tumultuous, but also prodigious
and preposterous, outrageous and obstreperous. Back to only a goal in it with 5
minutes remaining. Could Bison snatch another to level the game? Well no as it
proved. As the seconds ticked away MK stood their ground, stood toe to toe with
Bison and stood tall. Even with Deano pulled from the net and 6 on 5 for the
last minute they could not find a way though the resolute Lightning D. In fact
it was MK who had the best chance in the closing stages, but a characteristic
poke check by Zach “Sully” Sullivan took the puck away from the marauding MK
forward with the empty net gaping as wide as the Grand Canyon. The buzzer
sounded and in that instant Bison thoughts of winning the game has become a
distant memory, a pipe dream, an unfulfilled fantasy, a not to be, a never was.
Footnote : Now the real reason Bison lost. I have
previously mentioned the routines of Rabbits Foot Joe Baird, the most superstitious man in the EPL, one of which is
being last on the ice at the beginning of every period. Well last night was
Muzzy Wales’s 500th game and he was last on the ice instead of Joe
to skate through the guard of honour. Joe’s routine was broken. ‘Nuff said.
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