Coventry Blaze Ice Hockey Club

After spending last season pushing each other for the ENL North Division 1 crown, both the Blaze and the Lions headed into the game needing victory in their battles against relegation. The Blaze line up was short of a few bodies notably D Men Ashton Jennion and Tom Pease. The Lions’ roster included Marcus Maynard and Danny Rose who have both dressed for the Nottingham Panthers and Nick Wyatt who has iced in a Blaze uniform.

Despite having the opening chance of the game through Gareth Owen, it was the Lions who were first on the scoreboard within the opening minute. From seemingly nowhere Gareth Flaherty skated into the offensive zone and fired straight pass Goss low down. Play continued at a frantic pace and the Blaze were soon back on level terms. A neat move from Jake Larkin saw him calmly lift the puck over Griffiths in the Lions’ net for his first ENL goal. Philip Pollok was the next to try his luck but on this occasion he failed with his blue line slap shot. At the Blaze end the Lions were finding scoring chances harder to come by as Adam Goss was forced to deflect the puck into the netting behind the goal to deny former Blaze D Man Nick Wyatt. The game continued at speed with the Blaze enjoying the majority of possession. When Josh Nicklin forced Griffiths into a spill the support was forthcoming from an unexpected source... James Pease! However the Blaze veteran was unable to light the lamps. With just under 3 minutes remaining of the period the Blaze took the lead. Connor Hubbuck continued his scoring streak when his screamer from the edge of the faceoff circle left the Lions’ nettie merely a spectator. With the clock counting down Griffiths was pressed into action again to turn Rhys McWilliams’ slap shot past the post. So after a disastrous start the Blaze regained their composure to take a slender advantage into the second session.

In the opening minute of the second the Blaze rode their luck as a spill from Goss in the Blaze goal saw him down on the ice and unable to recover. However the Lion’s attack were unable to make it count. The Blaze extended their lead in the 21st minute. James Pease fired straight at Griffiths and leading marksmen this season, Rikki Bryniarski, was on hand to convert the rebound. Despite struggling to generate much offense the Lions were back in the game at 24.01. The exact details of how the puck crossed the line remain slightly hazy but it appears Christy Johnson-Brown took everyone by surprise including himself when an intended pass from the boards went straight into the top corner of the goal. James Pease continued to make his presence felt when he forced a glove save from the Lions’ backstop. Play came to a temporary halt when a Tom Ledgard slapshot hit Rhys McWilliams in front of goal and the Blaze skipper headed to the bench in considerable pain. The Blaze continued to grab the ‘Lion’s’ share of the play and they restored their 2 goal advantage shortly after the midway point of the game with a Gareth Owen blast that dislodged the water bottle from the top of the Lions’ net. The first penalty of the game, a double minor for James Pease, saw the home side on the defensive but they stubbornly refused to concede and even had a good chance for Rikki Bryniarski that just failed to come off. The Lions were soon enjoying more powerplay time when a monster hit from Rhys McWilliams was deemed illegal by ref. Goodwin and received an elbows minor. The period concluded with chances from both sides but there was to be no change to the score. So another period win for the Blaze saw them skate into the final session looking to wrap up victory

A huge check on Lions’ Danny Rose by Ian Pound failed to thwart the Lions’ offence as Goss was pressed into service to deny the usually reliable Joe Wightman. Connor Hubbuck was looking to increase his own tally and put the game to bed but Griffiths’ pads denied him. Shortly after the 46 minute mark the game came to a temporary halt as a check from Nick Wyatt dislodge a pane of plexi glass behind the Blaze goal. When play resumed the pipework denied Lions’ player Ben Wood. A scrappy period of play followed was only halted when Jay McFadyen fired straight into Griffiths’ glove with an effort which was probably going wide of the goal anyway. At the home end Adam Goss was forced to shut the door to prevent Gareth O’Flaherty squeezing the puck in at the near post. Michael Steventon couldn’t increase the lead when he fired straight into the pads of the Lions’ backstop. Any chance the Lions had of getting back into the game were dashed when Nicklin fed Connor Hubbuck and he has his second goal of the game- much to the author of this report’s delight. After more than 57 minutes of an empty visitors’ penalty box, a Jonny Bell slash became their only penalty. Despite being a man down Gareth O’Flaherty had a chance only to put his shot high, an accuracy problem that had inflicted the Lions all period and saw them only have 4 shots on target in the 20 minutes. The game ended with the Blaze on the offensive but there was to be no addition to the scoring and they took a deserved 5-2 victory

When it came to deciding the "Hungary Horse at the Mount Pleasant" man of the match recipients there were 2 very worthy candidates. Connor Hubbuck with a 3 point haul including a brace of goals and Jake Larkin who netted his first ENL goal and enjoyed extended ice time. After much deliberation from the media gallery crew Hubbuck was given the verdict. For the Lions, Christy Johnson-Brown, the scorer of their slightly bizarre goal took home their beverages.

Stats:

Blaze

Connor Hubbuck 2+1
Rikki Bryniarski 1+0
Jake Larkin 1+0
Gareth Owen 1+0
Phillip Pollok 0+2
Kieran Papps 0 + 1
Josh Nicklin 0+1
James Pease 0+1

Adam Goss 6+9+4 = 2/19 = 89%

PiMs 6

Lions

Christy Brown 1+0
Gareth O’Flaherty 1+0
Jonathan Bell 0+1
Daniel Rose 0+1

Richard Griffiths 14+14+11 = 5 /39 = 87%

PiMs 2

Ref Dave Goodwin
Lines Matthew Carrington/Philip Mulcahy

For Dave Martin's photos from this game http://possibly.smugmug.com/CoventryENLBlaze2011-12/ENL-Blaze-v-Nottingham-21-1-12/21173889_FgG6kf#!i=1684885436&k=dV4gwTX
and for Scott Wiggins photos http://www.scottwiggins.co.uk/ENLBlaze2011-2012/ENL-Blaze-v-Lions-210112/21127478_SRBkrm#!i=1680593915&k=HD6GtJ2

For Scorched Ice TV's game highlights http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Olf-ng9FbcM&list=UUsT2sHIlnACc8mhqFJOZh7g&index=1&feature=plcp

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

21/01/12 - ENL Blaze 5 Nottingham Lions 2

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