Coventry Blaze Ice Hockey Club

Encouraged by a big crowd inside the Skydome Arena, the teams played out a fast and energetic opening five minutes with numerous clean hits delivered to set the tone. Peter Hirsch dealt comfortably with Nottingham’s early scoring attempts, while Coventry’s Peter Nylander was denied a home debut goal by a good stick save from Craig Kowalski. Robert Lachowicz fired just wide and Stephen Lee tested Hirsch from the point as the visitors dictated the pace, but it was Coventry who led thanks to a tenth minute powerplay goal – working the puck low around the net after little success at the blue-line and finding Owen Fussey on the doorstep to scoop his shot over Kowalski. During a spell of 4-on-4 Greg Owen surged down the centre and saw his effort only parried by Kowalski before a Panthers attack caused panic around the net and Hirsch needing to recover his position well to deny Rhett Gordon.

The ever-dangerous Nottingham powerplay nearly produced an equalizer as Hirsch made two big stops from Corey Neilson’s blasts, while Peter Nylander came inches from a shorthander as he broke against a lone defenceman and shaved the outside of the post. Another powerplay for the Panthers had seen David Clarke miss badly on a good scoring chance before David Beauregard drove to the net from the right corner and showed big strength and persistence to force the puck past Hirsch. 18 seconds later the game was flipped on its head as Nottingham netted again, with Brock Wilson’s shot from the left point being beautifully redirected past Hirsch on the doorstep by Marc Levers.

End of Period 1: Blaze 1 Panthers 2

Period 2

The testing shots on the nets came quickly after the restart with top corner bound wristers from Benedict and Guthrie both being turned away by the opposition keepers. Coventry then came inches away from an equalizer when Jonathan Weaver fired just wide and Peter Nylander smacked the post on the rebound off the backboards. During a powerplay Coventry nearly conspired to put the puck in their own net after Sami Ryhanen walked around Hirsch, while the Dane fielded and stopped two more great efforts from the Panthers. Back at even strength Hirsch made another great low save from Rhett Gordon, with Nottingham blocking on the line during a delayed penalty as Fussey and Farmer nearly worked the puck in. Coventry wasted a great chance to tie the game when they failed to score during 1.39 of 5-on-3 powerplay, with Kowalski falling on Wood’s low drive and then getting his pads onto two scuffed Greg Owen shots.

End of Period 2: Blaze 1 Panthers 2

Period 3

The next goal was always going to be huge and Nottingham grabbed it 1.45 into the final period, with Matthew Myers allowed to step across the blue-line and ping a low shot in off the post to give Coventry a mountain to climb. Blaze attempted to get the goal back as Fussey and McLean both sent long efforts to the net but found netminder Craig Kowalski a man on the top of his game, before a great double stop by the K-Wall from Russ Cowley and then Fussey on the rebound also preserved the two goal lead. With twelve minutes remaining came the game’s flash point as Marc Levers tripped Russ Cowley into his own net and a niggly exchange ensued between the two and keeper Peter Hirsch. With Levers and Cowley exchanging blows Hirsch saw the red mist descend and whacked Levers to the ice with a punch to the head, sparking another bout between Robert Farmer and Brock Wilson and the crowd onto its feet. When the heat died down, Hirsch was ejected to be replaced in the pipes by Brandon Stones, whose first job was to face a five minute Panthers powerplay.

Stones was solid and made some good saves during the spell but was beaten once as Jordan Fox easily finished a squared pass across the crease to extend Nottingham’s lead to three. The game was up as a contest and the Panthers and their fans revelled in notching up two more markers before the final buzzer. The first was one Stones would certainly want back as David Clarke beat him through the five-hole, while the second with just 19 seconds on the clock was a deflected effort from the point by Corey Neilson which compounded Blaze’s misery.

Match Stats

Referee: Hicks
Lines: Young and O’Halloran

Period Scores: 1-2/0-0/0-4 = 1-6
Shots On Goal: 8-12/8-14/8-14 = 24-40
Penalty Minutes: 6-4/6-4/32-9 = 44-17

Coventry: Owen Fussey 1+0, Shea Guthrie 0+1, Matic Kralj 0+1
Net: Peter Hirsch to 48.01 - 28/3 (89.3%) and Brandon Stones from 48.01 – 12/3 (75%)

Nottingham: Corey Neilson 1+1, David Beauregard 1+0, David Clarke 1+0, Jordan Fox 1+0, Marc Levers 1+0, Matthew Myers 1+0, Rhett Gordon 0+3, Robert Lachowicz 0+2, Sami Ryhanen 0+2, Matt Francis 0+1, Stephen Lee 0+1, Guillaume Lepine 0+1, Brock Wilson 0+1
Net: Craig Kowalski to 57.00 - 23/1 (95.7%) and Dan Green from 57.00 – 1/0 (100%)

Man of the Match:
Coventry: #15 James Griffin
Nottingham: #12 Rhett Gordon

08.19 NOT PEN #25 Brock Wilson 2 mins for Cross Checking
09.45 COV GOAL 1-0 #23 Owen Fussey (#83 Matic Kralj, #11 Shea Guthrie) (PPG)
10.01 NOT PEN #44 Jordan Fox 2 mins for Boarding
10.55 COV PEN #76 Peter Nylander 2 mins for Hooking
14.05 COV PEN #11 Shea Guthrie 2 mins for Interference
17.04 COV PEN #24 Mike McLean 2 mins for Cross Checking
18.59 NOT GOAL 1-1 #9 David Beauregard (#77 Corey Neilson, #21 Sami Ryhanen) (PPG)
19.17 NOT GOAL 1-2 #16 Marc Levers (#12 Rhett Gordon, #25 Brock Wilson)

21.51 COV PEN #83 Matic Kralj 2 mins for Hooking
25.20 COV PEN #9 Greg Owen 2 mins for High Sticks
29.45 NOT PEN #28 Guillaume Lepine 2 mins for Tripping
30.07 NOT PEN #8 Matthew Myers 2 mins for Hooking
35.13 COV PEN #17 Russell Cowley 2 mins for Tripping

41.45 NOT GOAL 1-3 #8 Matthew Myers (#12 Rhett Gordon, #7 Robert Lachowicz)
45.57 NOT PEN #45 Stephen Lee 2 mins for Interference
48.01 COV PEN #10 Robert Farmer 5 mins for Fighting
48.01 COV PEN #17 Russell Cowley 2 mins for Roughing
48.01 COV PEN #84 Peter Hirsch 5 mins + Game Misconduct (20 mins) for High Sticks
48.01 NOT PEN #16 Marc Levers 2 mins for Roughing
48.01 NOT PEN #25 Brock Wilson 5 mins for Fighting
50.37 NOT GOAL 1-4 #44 Jordan Fox (#28 Guillaume Lepine, #7 Robert Lachowicz) (PPG)
56.35 NOT GOAL 1-5 #5 David Clarke (#17 Matt Francis, #21 Sami Ryhanen)
59.41 NOT GOAL 1-6 #77 Corey Neilson (#12 Rhett Gordon, #45 Stephen Lee)

Attendance: 2,731

Position	Block	Total
1st	Block 12	121
	Block 4	80
	Blocks 1 & 2	78
	Block 11	74
	Block 14	68
	Block 3	67
	Blocks 5	57
	Block 6 & 7	47
	Blocks 9 & 10	39
=	Block 15 & NE	39
	Block 13	34

Reports

29/1/12 - Coventry Blaze 1 Nottingham Panthers 6

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