Spring Cup Week 4 Match Reports - Fri and Sat
By Lauryn Fuller
Fri Mar-05 Raiders v Bees
This weekend’s hockey fixtures began on Friday evening in Romford, where the Raiders hosted the Bracknell Bee’s.
The Bees were the first to open up the scoring through Ivan Antonov. The Raider responded with a powerplay goal from Zach Sullivan, to see both teams end the first period tied.
Like rapid fire, the Bee’s managed to fined there second, third and fourth goals of the game in the second period, putting the Raiders on the back burner. Joshua Smith with a powerplay goal, followed by Antonov completing his hattrick. The Raiders finished the period with a powerplay goal, again from Sullivan, to close back in on the Bee’s.
Juha Lindgren pushed the Bee’s lead to 5-2 half way through the final period. The Raiders found two quick goals from Callum Wells and Captain Arron Connolly to close the score line to just one goal.
With net minder Ethan James pulled for an extra attacker for the Raiders, they were throwing everything at the Bee’s defence to try and squeeze in one more goal. Unfortunately, Bracknell’s defence stood strong and denied the Bee’s any scoring opportunities and saw out the remaining minutes of the final period.
With the final buzzer ringing, the Bees could celebrate their first win of the Spring Cup. This Impressive away performance put the Bracknell Bee’s in a good position going into back-to-back games against the Sheffield Steeldogs.
The Raiders came close in the final period to tie the game but couldn’t find the end product, leaving them sitting at the bottom of the Spring Cup table. With this being there only fixture this weekend, they will be preparing to face the Bee’s once again next Friday in the reverse fixture.
Sat Mar-06 Swindon v Telford
Saturday’s fixtures began in Swindon with the Wildcats hosting the Telford Tigers in the first of their two fixtures over the weekend.
The Tigers were the first on the board with Ross Venus finding the net after a brilliant piece of play from his line mates. They quickly extended their lead further with goals from Kieran Brown and Finley Howells to put the Tigers into a comfortable 3-0 lead.
Another goal for the Tigers came towards the end of the first period, this time from Scott McKenzie. The Wildcats were able to find a response with 6 seconds left in the period, as Tom Rutkis lit up the light.
The Tigers once again showed their dominance in the second period. They scored their fifth goal of the game through a powerplay within minutes of the period starting. Another powerplay goal was score shortly after and once again extended the tigers lead even more out of reach of the Wildcats. The final blow of the second period was the Tigers scoring their seventh goal of the game and surely putting any points out of reach from the Wildcats.
With the third period underway, the Tigers had all but sealed this victory. Balint Pakozdi found Swindon a powerplay goal. The Tigers once again showed some amazing puck skills and line plays in the final minutes of the period. Two penalties for the Wildcats saw the Tigers go on two powerplays, where they scored their 8th and 9th goals comfortably ending an incredible display of skills from Telford.
The Wildcats found themselves at the end of a 9-2 lose, in which they were just not at the same level as the Telford team that turned up. Both teams get to do it all over again on Sunday, the Wildcats will be hoping to keep the score line much tighter in the reverse fixture.
Sat Mar-06 Sheffield v Bees
The second face off of the weekend saw the Sheffield Steeldogs host the Bracknell Bees for the first of their Spring Cup meetings.
The Steeldogs got off the mark very swiftly in the first period. Within the first few minutes Nathan Salem was able to find the net. Jason Hewitt doubled the Dogs’ lead, before Ben Lake extended it further. At the end of the first period the Bee’s found themselves 3-0 down.
The second period started with the Steeldogs finding their fourth of the game, with a powerplay goal from Salem. This was followed very quickly with the hosts fifth and sixth powerplay goals, outing them 6-0 up against the Bee’s, who were struggling to not give away penalties that then resulted in more goals. Alex graham with his second of the game all but sealed the win for the Steeldogs at the end of the second.
The Bee’s had the final period to try and cut the deficit and score some goals. However, the Steeldogs remained sturdy in defence and squashed all the chances the Bee’s produces. They comfortably saw out the remaining minutes of the game to secure their 7-0 victory.
Jordan Lawday and Miles Finney split the net minding duties for the Steeldogs and succeeded in getting a shutout.
These two teams will face each other on Sunday, where the Bee’s will defiantly want to improve on their performance.