Phoenix deny Flames the Treble in Play-off Final

The Guildford Flames were denied the chance of securing the Grand Slam treble as they lost 5-2 to the Manchester Phoenix in the English Premier League Play-off Final on Sunday at the Skydome Arena, Coventry.

The Phoenix were in fine form and had the killer edge right from the off. Their potent powerplay was put to the test in the first half of the opening period and Captain  Luke Boothroyd gave the Phoenix the lead when the Flames were handed a ‘two many men’ bench minor penalty at 08:56. The Phoenix had a further powerplay opportunity just two minutes later however were unable to take advantage and so the first period ended at 1-0.

Luke Boothroyd celebrates the opening goal with his Phoenix team mates. Photo bty David Steadman.

At 26:37 the Phoenix doubled their lead, when James Archer found the back of the net. Holding the advantage the Phoenix upped the pressure and despite going short-handed after Richard Bentham was called for tripping, Michael Psurny was able to extend the Phoenix’s lead to three at 16:06. The Flames were unable to find a way back into the game and the second period ended at 3-0.

Nathan Rempel sparked life back into the Flames just 40 seconds into the final stanza with a well placed strike beating Stephen Fone. But a further short-handed marker by player/coach Tony Hand 47:09 killed off any hopes of a comeback by the Double Champions.

Nathan Rempel bagged an early comeback goal in the third. Photo by David Steadman.

The Phoenix added a fifth with just over 10 minutes remaining to put the game out of reach. Psurny earning his second of the evening to make it 5-1. A late consolation goal just over a minute later by Branislav Kvetan did littel to dampen the heart broken Flames as they came ever so close to the treble for a second year running.

Psurny and the Phoenix celebrate the 5th goal of the game. Photo by David Steadman.

 The Play-off title will come as to great relief to the Phoenix and Coach Hand, having been runners up a year earlier, and struggling for consistency or form druring the regular season. The Play-off crown is one that has eluded the Phoenix since dropping to the EPL; having only won the League title in only their second season in 2010-11, despite reaching the final four in the previous three seasons.

The Flames will feel a little dis-heartened having lost out on the acclaimed treble for the second year running. However two out of a possible three trophies is not something to be sniffed at, especially as they retained the same titles they had worked hard to claim a year ago.

The season is now officially over and now begins the summer in which every coach will look at every avenue available, to strengthen and develop their team ready for the 2013-14 season in September.

A final congratulations must go out to the Manchester Phoenix on winning the Play-off Final!!!

EPL Play-off Semi-final Scores

The first game of the day featured the EPL League and Cup (Double) Champions the Guildford Flames, who took on the Milton Keynes Lightning. Always thrilling encounters, today was no different as the Flames came from behind in the third to take victory in dramatic fashion.

Despite taking an early powerplay, the Flames could not capitalise and it was the Lightning who found themselves in front when Captain Adam Carr fired past Mark Lee to give the Lightning a one goal lead in the first period. However the Flames were able to re-group and took advantage of the additional man as Nathan Rempel fired them back into contention with the equalising goal just over a minute later. Neither team could find the net for the remainder of the period as the scores remained level after 20 minutes.

A sole marker in the middle stanza saw the Lightning take the lead once again in the game with Michael Farn’s 27th minute strike. A tense final period was in store and when David Longstaff levelled the scores in the opening two minutes of the final session the Flames were once again back into contention.

Despite their chances neither team could find the go ahead goal, but with just under three minutes remaining in the period, Rempel was able to break the deadlock and put the Flames ahead with his second of the evening. Even after pulling netminder Stephen Wall for the extra skater the Lightning were unable to level the game and so the Flames secured their place in Sunday’s final; to keep up their hopes of securing the EPL Grand-slam.

In the second match of the evening, it was a first for the Basingstoke Bison who were visiting the Skydome Arena for the first time since dropping to the EPL in 2009. Despite being short benched the Herd were fired up for the occasion and player/coach Doug Sheppard was leading his men in search of the club’s first silverware in 13 years. Having lead the Slough Jets to victory over the Manchester Phoenix a year ago he was well placed to deal with the pressure the play-off finals weekend can sometimes throw at teams. Tony Hand was looking to end the season on a high after failing to match up to both the Bison and Flames during the regular season.

Despite their early chances, including a powerplay opportunity, the first goal swung in favour of the Phoenix as James Neil’s shot beat Stevie Lyle to make it 1-0 to Manchester. Just over three minutes later and the Herd were back in the game as Greg Owen levelled the scores. With the Phoenix killing off another powerplay chance in the final stages of the period, it was to no avail as Sheppard fired the Bison into the lead before the close of the period.

With the second period underway, netminder Stephen Fone was a rock at the back for Phoenix, stopping a huge chance for Joe Greener to extend the lead further. Moments later and the Phoenix were back into the game, with Hand finding the net. With both teams running into penalty trouble neither were able to find the upper hand in the middle phase of play. Fone once again kept the Phoenix in the game with a big stop on a one-on-one break against Joe Miller before Lyle repeated the action at the other end of the rink against Michal Psurny. With the period drawing to a close the Phoenix were able to find the go ahead goal with Flaten’s powerplay strike beating Lyle.

With momentum swinging in favour of the Phoenix, it appeared that the Bison had got an early equaliser in the second period only for Jaroslav Cesky’s shot to be wiped off and no goal given. In a sign of frustration Cesky slashed his stick across the glass at the goal judge and earned himself a misconduct penalty. Moments later and the equalising goal did come when Greg Chambers found the bet in the 43rd minute; leaving it all to play for.

It appeared it was a session of tic-tac-toe on the score board. Just over a minute after Chambers levelled the scores Psurny grabbed his second of the game to put the Phoenix back in front. A further minute on and the scores were once again level with over 10 minutes remaining. A period of 5-on-3 was gifted to the Bison but they couldn’t take advantage to take the lead once more. With the game drawing to a conclusion overtime was needed to find a difference between the two evenly matched sides.

With the extra five minutes unable to find a winner, the dreaded penalty shots were called upon. First up were the Phoenix and Psurny who bagged his hat-trick marker to put the Phoenix ahead.

Next up was Cesky for the Bison, who made no mistake in making up for his earlier disallowed goal, firing past Fone to level the scores. Captain Luke Boothroyd was next but his effort just missed. Joe Rand put the Bison ahead with his well taken penalty and it was all down to Miller to win it for the Bison; but his shot missed extending the tension further.

McKenzie stepped up for the Phoenix and his shot got the better of Lyle as he levelled the scores at two a-piece. James Archer was next up for the Phoenix who fired them straight into the play-off final with a well worked penalty shot. Sheppard was next for the Bison but his missed shot ensured the Phoenix would make the final for a second year in a row.

EPL Semi-final Contenders Confirmed

Last weekend saw four quarter final match-ups take place on Saturday and Sunday and after 480 minutes and a few seconds of tense hockey action, the contenders for the EPL semi-finals have been decided.

The Guildford Flames took their 4-1 advantage from Saturday and extended it further for an 11-3 aggregate score against the Peterborough Phantoms.

The Basingstoke Bison secured their place at the finals weekend in Coventry for the first time since they dropped to the EPL with an overtime winner on Sunday against the Swindon Wildcats.

The Manchester Phoenix overturned a one goal deficit on Saturday to beat the Bracknell Bees 7-2 on Sunday to secure their place for the fourth year running.

The Slough Jets come back from 4-2 down on Saturday to force the game into overtime but Milton Keynes’ overtime strike fired them into the final 4.

Here is a game-by-game summary of the quarter finals.

Guildford Flames [11] v [3] Peterborough Phantoms
The Double-double champions went into the quarter final the favourites to progress to Coventry. Having secured the EPL Cup and league titles in the weeks preceding the fixture the team was full of confidence, whilst the Phantoms would be hoping for an upset as in 2011. On Saturday the Flames travelled to Peterborough for the first game and after a feisty affair took a comfortable 4-1 advantage into their home leg on Sunday; with a brace of goals from Curtis Huppe and individual efforts from Rick Plant and Paul Dixon.

On Sunday there was a vibrant atmosphere at the Spectrum, with the Kids go free offer packing the rafters to capacity. Despite early chances the first goal did not come until the 13th minute. Damien King seeing the better of Dean Holland’s wrap around attempt; however the rebound fell straight back to Holland who fired the puck from an acute angle past the post. The Phantoms struck back quickly as Maris Ziedins found the net to equal the scores; however the Flames advantage was re-stored before the end of the period with Nathan Rempel finding the net to make it 2-1.

A pair of goals from Curtis Huppe and Branislav Kvetan in the second period stretched the Flames lead to three going into the final period.

The Phantoms job of a comeback was made even harder early in the third period when Ben Campbell found the net. With the game entering the final 10 minutes Jez Lundin comfortably put the Flames five goals in front with a blueline strike. Minutes later and James Ferrara was able to grab a consolation goal for the Phantoms only for Huppe to add his second of the evening with just over a minute remaining in the game. A game very much subdued than the previous night was brought to life in the dying seconds as Scott Greenfield and Greg Pick dropped the gloves to round up the final period.

A 7-2 victory on the night secured a 11-3 aggregate win for the champions who will be keeping their fingers crossed they can secure the grand slam they were so close to winning last season.

Basingstoke Bison [5] v [4] Swindon Wildcats (after overtime)
The Bison went into the quarter final short benched through injuries and with two of their junior players on international duty in Estonia; but they were hoping for some luck. Having never reached the finals weekend in their three previous seasons, the pressure was on player/coach Doug Sheppard who led the Slough Jets to the Play-off crown in 2011-12.

A very tight opening game at the Link Centre saw both teams’ level terms after 60 minutes. The Bison opened the scoring through Joe Greener but the Wildcats responded in the second period with Aaron Nell grabbing the first of his hat-trick. By the mid-way point of the game ex-Wildcat Jaroslav Cesky’s pair extended the Bison’s lead to two. But Nell added a second before the period was over. A final strike in the final 5 minutes earned Nell a well-earned hat-trick and set up an epic battle in Sunday’s game back at the Basingstoke Arena.

There was not much two split the two sides as the opening period got underway, but Joe Rand put the Bison ahead at 14:51. It took some time but the Wildcats were able to respond and Sam Bullas brought the game level once again at 22:23. Neither side could find the go ahead go with both netminders on top form and with the game drawing to an end it was clear that overtime or penalties would have to settle this tie.

With the Wildcats penalised for too many men just before the final buzzer the extra period was 4-on-3 in favour of the Bison. Taking full advantage straight away Cesky wound up a slap shot from the point only to be denied by the post. However the puck bounced across the crease to a waiting Greener who fired home to seal the victory for the Bison and secure their place in Coventry.

Manchester Phoenix [10] v [6] Bracknell Bees
With both teams enjoying a strong end to the regular season it was always going to be hard to pick a winner from this quarter final. With a comeback win against the Sheffield Steeldogs in the final game of the season the Bees secured 6th place and had made the play-off quarter finals for the first time since 2009-10.

On Saturday the Phoenix made their way to the Hive for the first leg; however it was not to go their way and the homeside took the opening victory 4-3 with goals from Shaun Thompson x2, Scott Spearing, and Grant Rounding. It was, as they would say, a proper play-off encounter and a very close game right to the final buzzer.

On Sunday the Phoenix were back in their own barn and hoping to give the home fans something to cheer about. Unlike the previous night the Phoenix took a first period lead which they would not give up for the remainder of the game. With the Bees hitting penalty trouble early in the encounter goals from Flaten and Psurny gave the Phoenix the aggregate lead at 5-4.

The homeside started the second period as the first ended and extended their lead further when James Archer set up Robert Schnabel for the game winning goal in the 26th minute. With the game at 4-on-4 following an altercation between Spearing and Pozivil, Andy McKinney made it 4-0 on the night just before the mid-way point.

Going into the third and final period the Phoenix held a 3-0 aggregate lead over the Bees. However hopes of a sparks of a comeback were made when Oliver Bronniman found the net at 42:01. But a second goal by Schnabel killed of any hopes of a Bees comeback. Lukas Smital did grab the Bees a consolation goal on the powerplay, but their inability to keep out the penalty box lead to their downfall as Boothroyd made it 6-2 with less than 10 minutes to play. With the game drawing to an end the Phoenix were able to grab a final marker at 57:04 with McKinney grabbing his second of the game.

Milton Keynes Lightning [5] v [4] Slough Jets (after overtime)
Neither team could be seen as the favourites going into the weekend, but the Lightning took the advantage in Slough on Saturday. The Jets opened the scoring through Ciaran Long but ex-Jet Blaz Emersic was on hand to grab an equaliser for the Lightning before the end of the opening period.

The Lightning seemed to be firing on all cylinders for the second period and peppered Greg Rockman with 21 shots in the Jets goal however only a single marker found the net as Kamil Tvrdek scored on the powerplay giving the visitors a one goal lead heading into the third period.

The Jets seemed to overturn their own performance and dominated for much of the final period, but it was the Lightning to get on the board first as Chris Wiggins netted their third at 50:11. Just over a minute later and Nicky Chinn scored on the powerplay to extend the Lightning’s lead to three with less than 8 minutes remaining. But the Jets kept up the pressure and Dan Davies kept the deficit to just two scoring at 54:14.

On Sunday and back in MK the Lightning only had to hold the two goal lead and bag a couple of early goals to extend their advantage but it was Slough that were calling the shots. The Jets took an early lead in the opening two minutes to make it 4-3 on aggregate score. Before the period was up, Blaz Emersic was called for checking from behind and ejected from the game.

It was the Jets that were having the better of the chances and they levelled the game at 28:47 with Long grabbing his second of the weekend with a powerplay strike. Both teams were able to hold on for the final 30 minutes and neither could grab a go ahead goal, forcing the tie into overtime. With the 5 minute overtime period underway it was Captain Adam Carr that was able to fire the Lightning into the semi-finals with a well-placed strike past Rockman.

On Saturday the semi-finals kick off at the Skydome Arena in Coventry. The first game will see the double champions Guildford take on the MK Lightning at 3pm before the Bison and Phoenix go toe-to-toe at 7pm.

EPL 2012-13 season draws to a close.

The English Premier League (EPL) 2012-13 regular season campaign came to a close on Sunday, following the final games for eight of the teams. With the league title already decided by Guildford, there was not much to play for, except the final play-off positions for two of teams. The Bracknell Bees and Swindon Wildcats were separated by just two points going into their final matches.

The final weekend was split over three days, with the final instalment of the War of the Roses, between the Manchester Phoenix and Sheffield Steeldogs kicking off proceedings on Friday night.
The Phoenix got the better start of the team sides, as Tom Duggan hit twice in the opening period and followed up with his hat-trick strike early in the second. With Bari McKenzie adding a fourth the Phoenix took command of the game after 40 minutes.

Just 48 seconds into the final period and Edgar Bebris pulled one back for the Steeldogs. Joachim Flaten restored the four goal lead minutes later only for Andrew Hirst to pull another back in the 45th minute. Duggan added a fourth to his tally just 30 seconds later as the Phoenix looked to kill off the Steeldogs, but the Dogs had other ideas and came steam rolling back barking aloud. Hirst got his second of the game. Despite losing Ben Morgan to a match penalty for slashing the Steeldogs did not give up their attempts for a comeback and two shorthanded goals with just 63 seconds remaining set up a nail biting finish. Bebris add his hat-trick marker to level the scores and send the game into overtime.

Composure was restored during the extra period and Duggan fired the Phoenix to a dramatic victory, with his fifth of the night.

On Saturday only six teams were in action for their final weekend. The Bracknell Bees made the trip north to face the surprisingly in form Telford Tigers, as they looked to push Swindon for that 6th spot.

However as with many teams in recent months, the Tigers were too strong an opposition on home ice and sent the Bees packing on the wrong side of a 5-2 score-line.

The second team battling for that 6th spot in the league was Swindon Wildcats, who welcomed the League and Cup champions to the Link Centre for their final home game of the season. With Guildford resting a number of their key players for the final weekend, it looked like it could be a walk over for the Cats, however 29 saves by back-up netminder and ex-Wildcat himself; James Hadfield, helped secure a 5-3 win for the Flames, which would result in a final day battle between the Bees and Wildcats for 6th place.

The only other match-up for the night was the Milton Keynes Lightning and Slough Jets. Always a close encounter between the two sides, it proved so again as the Jets bounced back for their mid-week defeat in the cup to win 3-1.

To Sunday and the final day of the regular season for eight teams; with the Lightning and Peterborough Phantoms earning a night off ahead of next weekend’s play-off quarter finals.

The Manchester Phoenix hosted the team of the moment, the Telford Tigers, looking to secure their final four point weekend of the season. Once again the Phoenix raced to an early lead and by the third period were 4-1 up on their Shropshire rivals. However a three goal haul in 39 seconds pulled the Tigers back level with just minutes to spare. The Phoenix nightmare continued as they lost the lead in the 58th minute and the Tigers held on to end their season with a four point weekend.

The Basingstoke Bison hosted the Swindon Wildcats for their final home fixture, with both teams looking to end the season on a high, however it was the homeside that were celebrating after 60minutes. A hat-trick from Player/Coach Doug Sheppard and an EPL first goal for youngster Cameron Wynn, the Bison raced to a 6-3 victory, cementing the Wildcats to 7th place in the league standings.

The Bracknell Bees welcomed the Sheffield Steeldogs to the Hive knowing that a win could see them snatch 6th place in the standings. The Dogs pushed the Bees all the way, but eventually the homeside took the win they needed to jump above the Wildcats.

The final match of the weekend was a repeat of the mid-week Cup Final clash between the Flames and Slough Jets. The Flames were 5-0 in the head-to-head standings against the Jets for the season; as the visitors looked to make it 5-1 and deal out some revenge from losing the cup. As the previous night the Flames were resting some of their regular top line players ahead of next week’s play-off quarter finals, as did the Jets with Dan Milton taking the place of Greg Rockman in the Jets net. Mark Lee started the encounter for the opening period but was replaced by James Hadfield for the remainder of the game.

The Flames opened the scoring with Neil Liddard’s strike finding the net in the opening minutes. However the Jets struck back with two goals of their own, firstly Pavel Gomeniuk levelled the scores 22 seconds after Liddiard’s strike. Then Daniel Rose put the visitors ahead in the 15th minute. Branislav Kvetan got the only marker of the second period on the powerplay following Mindy Kieras being called for slashing; which saw the two sides enter the final period on level terms.

Frantisek Bakrlik put the Jets ahead once more in the 47th minute, but two quick responses from Dean Holland and Nathan Rempel saw the homeside take the lead with just under 10 minutes remaining. The goals kept coming however and Michael Wales pulled the Jets level once more in the 53rd minute, before Gomeniuk bagged his second of the night to put the Jets ahead, seeing the game end 5-4 in favour of the visitors.

So after 54 games, it comes down to one final weekend for the play-off quarter finals, before the final four teams head to Coventry. Who will be there, well make sure you come back and see who makes it and who doesn’t.

Guildford Flames secure the Double Double!

Last night the Guildford Flames became the only franchise in the English Premier League, to ever secure back-to-back double championship honours; with the league title and EPL Cup. Having secured their second consecutive EPL League title a few days earlier, everything was set for a tense encounter between the Flames and Slough Jets in the second leg of the Cup Final. Holding a two goal margin over their rivals, the Flames were hotly tipped to retain the Cup for another year; and with the Spectrum full with 2012 Slough and Guildford fans a 5-3 score on the night sealed the deal for the men from Surrey.

With Nathan Rempel called for an early charging penalty in the 2nd minute, the Jets got their first opportunity of the game, however it was the Flames that were the more dominant side during their penalty kill period. A clearing puck from the Flames’ zone sent David Longstaff on a breakaway, only to be brought down by Mindy Kieras after crossing the blueline. To everyone’s amazement however referee Dave Cloutman saw no issue with the challenge and no penalty was called.
It was the homeside who were first on the board at 09:40. David Savage carried the puck into the zone and shot at Greg Rockman. With the Slough netminder unable to control the puck a scramble ensued in front of net and Savage was able to poke home the puck to give the Flames a 1-0 lead.

The Jets were back in the game a few minutes later as Frantisek Bakrlik made a great move to beat Mark Lee for an unassisted strike to level the game at 1-1 at 12:19. The Flames continued their dominant style of play and just before the period buzzer the they were back in front as David Longstaff found the net from a tight angle at 17:45; giving the homeside a 2-1 lead going into the second period.

The Jets came out in attacking style in the middle stanza and were creating numerous opportunities, however to no avail. A mid-ice steal saw Longstaff skate into the Jets zone down the right side. Milos Melicherik rushed into the zone from the left and was unmarked at the back door as a cross ice pass from the Captain was coolly flicked past Rockman giving the Flames a 3-1 lead for the only marker of the period.

With a huge mountain to climb the Jets came out once again on the attack, however an early period tripping penalty for Darius Pliskauskas put them on the back foot; but the Flames could not capitalise on the advantage.
With the clock ticking down, all seemed lost for the Jets, but with two goals in three minutes they were right back in the game.

A fine strike by Kieras found the gap in Lee’s defences and the game edged closer at 3-2. Just under three minutes later and Dan Scott pulled the visitors level with 6 minutes to play. Just past the 5 minute mark, Jets coach Slava Koulikov called a timeout to formulate their strategy for the final minutes of the game.

With the game entering the final minute of play, Rockman raced to the bench for the extra skater, only for Milos to steal the puck in the Flames zone as he reached the bench. Firing the puck down ice it slid into the open net with ting of the back bar. With 40 seconds left to play and the Jets winning the centre ice face off, they proceeded into the zone and again Rockman raced to the bench. Again the puck was stole on the Flames’ blueline by Curtis Huppe. Rushing up ice towards the empty net, he fired the puck from his stick as he took a tumble to the ice. With the two empty net goals the game was sealed up and with seconds remaining no chance of a Jets come back. The game on the night ended 5-3 giving the Flames a 9-5 aggregate score across both legs of the final.

Summary

This wasn’t really a stand out game. An epic tale that demonstrates the true skill and talent in the EPL. However it was a tight encounter and both teams seemed up for it on the night. However the physiological advantage the Flames held over the Jets with a two goal margin did start to show through and desperation seemed to be strife amongst the Jets contingent. The Flames did show a good forecheck throughout the game and any attack was broken down well, except for a small lapse in concentration during the middle of the final period which saw the Jets grab two quick goals to equalise the game. However any hope of a dramatic comeback didn’t seem forthcoming and the hesitant nature of the decision to pull Rockman is probably want counted towards the two empty net goals.

A word on our opponents

Firstly, the Jets come in and played the usual style hockey they usually demonstrate. They did seem a bit thin at the back and in some ways did surely missed the presence of Adam Greener at the back. Rockman, as shown a few times this season, had a shocker of a game and would surely like the first two goals back which seemed to float straight through his five-hole. Big questions will need to be asked by the coach during the summer as to whether Rockman is brought back for another season at the Hangar.

Wales. Well Wales was his usual chirpy self. The player you either love, or love to hate. However the biggest agitator on the night seemed to be Ciaran Long. The numerous digs at Brani, Milos, and Holland had me wondering whether a beating was due at some point in the game. It didn’t come however and he lived to fight another day, Sunday perhaps.

One thing I will say is that whether you like the style of game he plays, Wales was very gracious in defeat and showed a higher level of maturity than what we are sometimes witness to, to stay on the ice with the team whilst the Flames collected their Cup showed the kind of sportsmanlike behaviour that is sometimes amiss. The fans also did the Jets proud and kept up the noise throughout the game and unlike their fellow fans from Basingstoke, despite how late the evening was, stayed to see the presentations and celebrations.

3 Stars of the Game

So Savage was awarded the man-of-the match award, however at About the Ice we prefer to do things a little more American style and pick the 3 stars of the game.

Well of course he was going to feature; David Savage. Savage has once again upped his game this season and will surely have EIHL bosses a calling. Not only great defensively, with the numerous poke checks to break down any attack, he was also showing good movement going forward and on quite a few occasions danced through their defence and into their zone.

Milos – The team just seem to play at another level when Milos is on the ice. The move with Longstaff for the third goal was just sublime and shows why he should be back in a more permanent basis next season. I don’t think I saw him lose a single face-off throughout the game and this is what is needed from your only natural centre on the team.

Any number of players could have been picked for the third star but I am going for Holland. He never gave up throughout and really made his presence on every shift known. Throwing big hits and taking a few himself, he is a work horse and will keep going until it is time to retreat to the bench.

Guildford Flames crowned the 2012-13 EPL League Champions

The Guildford Flames were crowned the 2012-13 English Premier League (EPL) League Champions on Saturday, despite a 2-1 overtime loss to the Sheffield Steeldogs, to secure their second successive title. The back-to-back capture of the EPL league crown is the first in the club’s history, thanks to the sole point secured in Sheffield.

In a tight encounter, the goal deadlock was not broken until the middle period, when in the 28th minute Steve Duncombe fired the homeside into the lead. However the advantage was wiped out as Player/Coach Paul Dixon equalled the scores shortly before the end of the period to set up a tense third period.

With neither team able to find a break through the game was dead locked at 1-apiece and the game was forced into overtime. However it did not take long for the Steeldogs to find the winner through Lee Haywood. The victory was also in no small part thanks to their closest rivals, the Basingstoke Bison, falling on the wrong side of a 3-2 score at home against the Milton Keynes Lightning.

Like the Nottingham Panthers in the Elite Ice Hockey League, the Flames secured the title with league games remaining and a comfortable margin over their closest rivals in the league standings.

The following evening the Flames celebrated their success with a homecoming 5-4 shoot-out victory against the Swindon Wildcats; coming from two goals behind to force overtime and the shoot-out.
We will do a full summary of the Flames’ league success following the completion of the final league fixtures this coming weekend, to see how they overcame an early season scare to catch and pull clear of the Basingstoke Bison.

Paul Dixon holds the League Trophy aloft for a second year in a row.

Powerplays and the art of scoring.

A small section of fans have commented on the effectiveness of the Flames’ powerplay after Sunday’s 7-1 win against the MK Lightning. The tactic used by the Flames on the majority of the powerplay opportunities was to hold possession of the puck in the offensive zone, cycling between the blueline and forwards on the goal line and switching between sides via the back channel behind the net.

The Flames’ number one powerplay unit appears, following Sunday’s game; to be Longstaff, Huppe, Dixon, Kohut and Kvetan. However Savage and Rempel were also mixed with this core of players on Sunday. The tactic seems to be one that possession in the offensive zone will lead to chances; however fans seemed to disagree and the constant “shoot, shoot” being shouted from the stands from frustrated fans, due to the lack of shots on the netminder.

Now every team will have a different approach to the powerplay when they have a man advantage and different coaches will see a different view to what is effective. From what has been seen this season the Bison’s tactic is to screen the netminder with one or two players and feed the puck to a sniper such as Greg Chambers or a forward with a decent and accurate shot like Greg Owen in the slot or on the blueline. The Bees crash the net and try to rush into the zone and get the puck in close quarters with the netminder and when that doesn’t work they fire shots from every angle and every corner.

Despite having six chances on Sunday the Lightning seemed to struggle putting an offensive threat together when on the man advantage and were pinned to the edge of the zone with no ideas for making their chances count; however that could be more to do with their mind-set, after seeing 7 goals in 8 minutes kill of their hope of victory.

Now with the Flames, the possession card is the one Dixon plays, and to good effect. Two big shooters are pinned on the blueline (Dixon/Kvetan/Savage and Huppe) whilst the others rotate. Longstaff with his great sticking handling is usually camped behind the net (to much criticism) looking for the passing lanes to open and to add some confusion in to the mix you’ll get Kohut/Rempel cycle round and collect the puck from Longstaff, carry it to the boards and then pass back. We’ll also have one player in front of the netminder causing havoc and looking for the rebound shots. Kvetan and Lundin have been used to great effect in doing this and also Sharp, at certain times.

So with this tactic you can understand why there is much uproar from the fans for the lack of shooting. Longstaff has an ability to hold the puck and doesn’t give up possession very easily. This is effective when you are biding your time looking for a clean pass in front either to a player rushing in on net (Rempel is fantastic at this) or to the blueline where usually a one-time slap shot is fired in on net. Some people will say that the better chance of scoring and “USING” the powerplay would be to pepper the netminder with shots. However we have seen on numerous occasions that when our forwards just fire shots on net for the sake of it the opposing team are usually quick at clearing the zone or rush on the counter attack; Slough and Telford are teams that are very effective at this.

When the opposing team clear the zone it means more time is wasted in collecting the puck and getting back in the zone and setting up the structure and finding the space. If they start to camp on the blueline it is difficult to work through the zone and find the space needed to set up the shooting players.

With the counter attack option; it results in our defenceman being out of position and having to rush back to provide cover for Lee or like against Slough results in a 2 on 0 break-away; however Lee was up to the task on that occasion. It can also mean that defenceman make brash decisions when chasing down the forwards and can lead to us conceding a penalty. In an ideal world we know that if you place a shot on the netminder and continue to do so; at some stage one of those shots is going to find its way past and into the back of the net.

Having taken a look at the stats from the current season in regards to our powerplay and penalty kill form we see a stark contrast between the two. From 52 games, including pre-season challenge games and cup games, we have had 175 powerplay opportunities. More worryingly however is that we have given up 238 powerplay opportunities to the opposing team. However we have scored on 41 of our powerplays and only conceded 33 goals whilst on the penalty kill.

In a break down it works out as following;

Home Games:
22/95 PP
16/114 PK

Away Games:
19/80 PP
17/124 PK
Overall: 41/175 PP and 33/238 PK

In those 52 games so far we have scored 224 goals, so taking away the powerplay goals leaves us with 183 goals for. If you looked at the goals scored for all teams, and only used the Flames even strength goals (183) we would come second to the Phoenix who currently have 189 and would be followed up by the Wildcats who have 182. Therefore I would say there is nothing wrong with our powerplay and the goals that result from the man advantage are just giving us that added edge over the rest of the league. I think the higher importance for the Flames is the penalty killing units. If we are giving the opposition 63 extra chances than we ourselves are being gifted then it says a lot about our penalty taking and the way we deal with that. At times this season we have looked to be of more threat when we have been a man down than when we have been at even strength.

Now unfortunately the stats for the other 9 teams is not readily available in terms of powerplay opportunities and powerplay goals, to see how effective they are being, however I would guess in terms of percentages across the league on goals scored from powerplay opportunities we would be in the top 3 or top 5 at least.

Therefore a note to all the fans that seem to feel the need to constantly shout SHOOOOOT for the whole two minutes whilst on a powerplay; sit back and watch what we are actually doing so you can learn why we choose the tactic we do.

Ben Campbell ruled out for 4-6 weeks

On Saturday evening the Guildford Flames travelled to the steel city looking to capture a vital win and 2 points against the Sheffield Steeldogs. Despite leaving winners following a 5-3 scoreline, the team left with more pressing issues; most notably how serious is the injury to Ben Campbell. For those that don’t know, Ben took a puck to the face during the game. Although initial thoughts were it was not that bad, it has transpired that a broken jaw and metal plate plus screws has been required to help the healing process, which could see the 25 year old right winger sidelined for up to 6 weeks.

That could mean that the earliest Ben could return to the line-up, should recovery go according to plan, is the weekend of 16/17th March. That is a total of 11 games including the return leg of the EPL cup semi-final in Manchester and also include vital games against the Phoenix in the league and current table toppers Basingstoke; in addition to games against Slough and Milton Keynes.

We wont lie and it would be hard to do so, but this will be a big dent in the Flames’ offensive challenge; with Ben being arguably one of the best players this season, stepping up to the pressure of being on the first line and delivering time and time again. Ben has been a breathe of fresh air this season in a relevatively un-changed squad that won the double last season, and his deadly pace has been the crypnonite of many opposing defences.

We must have faith in Dixon to fill the gaps and tide the team over until the return of Ben to action, hopefully sooner rather than later. We will try and keep you update with how his recovery is coming along; however you can follow Ben on Twitter at @benny4848.

Get well son Ben!!!!!

A strange case of deja vu

It was a strange sense of deja vu on Wednesday evening when the Guildford Flames returned to Telford to face the Tigers for the second time in four days; as they rompted to a 4-1 victory with the same score line that they had come away with on the Sunday previous.

Neither team were able to get on the score sheet in a fairly uneventful opening period;  the only action coming from a 2 minute penalty on Dean Holland for use of illegal equipment; however the Flames were able to kill off the subsequent period with just 4 men.

The game finally got into gear in the second period as player/coach Paul Dixon opened the scoring in the 23rd minute from David Longstaff and Andrew Hemmings.

Player/Coach Paul Dixon opened the scoring for the Flames as they beat the Tigers 4-1.

Just past the mid-way point of the game the Flames doubled their lead with the game winning goal; as Curtis Huppe found the net from Hemmings; to take the two goal advantage into the final period.

The Tigers appeared more fired up coming out for the third period and were able to reduce the lead to one in the 46th minute when Jaroslav Kruzik found a way past Mark Lee. However it was not enough to inspire a courageous comeback from the Tigers and Nathan Rempel’s strike in the 56th minute killed the game off for sure and for good measure Jez Lundin added a fourth marker with just over a minute left of the game.

It was an interesting result to come away with. The Tigers have always played a clever home game and their work rate is second to none as they attempt to wear down teams over the duration of the game; however they are lacking the sparkle of finishing in front of net and will need a proven goal scorer to join the team if they have any hope of kicking away the slump they find themselves in. It is even more interesting that the score-line was the same on both nights; especially when the Milton Keynes Lightning destroyed the Tigers 9-0 last Saturday. It surprised me that the Flames were held to a 4-1 result in both games. It says one of three things; 1) either the Tigers played a more strategic game against the Flames and were able to prevent the Flames fire power from coming through. 2) that Ryan is actually an awesome netminder and had better nights on Sunday and Wednesday as opposed to Saturday when in MK. or 3) that the Flames did just enough to see the result through and did not want to take chances which could see them on the back foot and chasing a result. Either way credit has to be given to the Tigers for what they are doing at the moment and that the guys still go and play with their hearts on their sleeves in the hope of a good result.

It was an interesting game from another perspective in that only 4 minutes of penalties (all against the Flames) was called all game. This shows that the teams are able to play with a professionalism and respect for each other and that they do not blow up at the slightest infraction; unlike teams like Slough, Milton Keynes and Sheffield.

The victory sees the Flames take maximum points from their busy schedule and more important jump back to second in the league standings just 3 points behind the high-flying Basingstoke Bison. This weekend sees the Flames in double away action, firstly against the Lightning on Saturday and then the Peterborough Phantoms on Sunday.

Week 9 Round up

Wednesday 7 November

Milton Keynes Lightning (3) vs (2) Slough Jets

 

Saturday 10 November

Swindon Wildcats (4) vs (2) Telford Tigers

Slough Jets (2) vs (0) Milton Keynes Lightning

Basingstoke Bison (3) vs (1) Guildford Flames

Sheffield Steeldogs (6) vs (3) Bracknell Bees

Manchester Phoenix (7) vs (5) Peterborough Phantoms

 

Sunday 11 November

Guildford Flames (3) vs (2) Basingstoke Bison

Bracknell Bees (4) vs (5) Slough Jets

Telford Tigers (4) vs (1) Manchester Phoenix

Sheffield Steeldogs (2) vs (3) Milton Keynes Lightning (ST)

Peterborough Phantoms (4) vs (3) Swindon Wildcats OT