Post by Newham on Sept 20, 2004 0:06:06 GMT 1
After a surprisingly hard-fought draw at home to London the previous night, Nottingham were on the lookout for their first 2 points of the season against EIHL opposition. Coventry went down to FBNL side Bracknell the night before and were looking to restore some face.
The game started in physical fashion. Coventry have something of a reputation so far for goonish behaviour and with their big goon Payette missing out due to the fact that he recieved a massive 5+10+match+game penalty in their defeat against Bracknell, the other players in the team were looking to step up into the main goon slot. From the start, it was obvious that Coventry were going to be pretty much exactly the same style of team that had served them so well last season. They're quick and powerful and look very dangerous on the break. They might not win the league this year, but they will certainly have some say as to who does. With the game being played in a tight state, the Panthers took the lead. Craighead found himself behind the goal on a powerplay and fed it in front for new signing Marek Ivan to slot home his first goal for the club on the second attempt. Later in the period, Ashley Tait delivered a sickening check to the back of Panthers defender Magdosko's head and into the boards but incredulously, Kirkham decided to only give him a 2+10 penalty for checking from behind. In my book, CFB has always resulted in a game misconduct penalty, but obviously Kirkham knows best... The period ended with both sides creating good chances but failing to make the most of them. Curtis Cruickshank in the Panthers goal was performing minor miracles to keep them in the lead whilst Lehman was rarely called into action by the Panthers 'only shoot if you're certain' policy.
With news of Sheffields imminent defeat filtering through to the crowd, the second period started with both crowds feeling rather happy about themselves. Pity the game didnt reflect this. The second period was scrappy, slow and it rarely flowed. Far too many stoppages were being made, far too penalties were being called and the puck was flying into the crowd more than you can say 'the high and mighty Coventry blaze sponsored by every business in the surrounding area'. Whilst we're on the subject of the crowd, the 'Block 2 Posse', much bigged-up by the Blaze fans were confusing. All they did was stand up. They had a drum but never seemed to bang it and rarely joined in the chants...Ah well, hockey fans are a strange bunch. During the second, the Panthers had the rare luxury of 150 seconds of 5 on 3 powerplay, during which they managed to rack up a grand total of 0 shots. Now, i may not know absolutely everything about hockey, but i can tell that when you have 2 and a half minutes of 2 man advanatage, 0 shots indicates that something is wrong. We've adopted a 'softly, softly' approach and only shoot when there is a perfect chance of scoring. Anyway, the highlight of the second period was Mark Cadotte of the Panthers breaking away one-on-one and falling arse-over-tartwith the goal at his mercy...Mark Cadotte was disappointing in my eyes tonight, he looked like someone making his professional debut, minutes after being introduced to the concept of skating...On the bright side, Panthers have seemed to find a brilliant netminder at long, long last. Curtis Cruickshank was brilliant, literally standing on his head at one point making countless saves. If it wasnt for him, the game would have been over at the end of the second. When the buzzer sounded to indicate the end of the second, the score was still 1-0 to Panthers and our minds were straying towards thoughts of a shut-out....How wrong we were
As in the London game the night before, Panthers let their lead slip within minutes of the 3rd restarting. With Panthers again surrendering possession on the powerplay, Coventry broke and on the one-on-one, finally fired it past Cruickshank into the top corner. 1-1 and Coventry with the upper hand. 2 minutes later, the emphasis was with the Blaze even more, a Coventry forward found himself with far far too much room in front of Cruickshanks goal and simply slotted it into the corner to turn the game completely on its head ala 24 hours earlier at the NIC. Fortunately for the Panthers fans, they didnt leave it until 59:48 to equalise this time. Lehman was trying to be far too clever behind his goal and Cadotte capitalised. He was about to slot it home when Lehman threw his stick at Cadotte and Kirkham rightly called a penalty shot. Cadotte picked himself up to confidently slot it home. Bar a few dodgy minutes with Panthers picking up yet another needless penalty with 60 seconds remaining, the game finished with both sides going at 50%, not risking the point. At the end of normal time, it finished 2-2 and Panthers were looking at OT for the second succecutive night.
Unfortunately, Mr Craighead decided he didnt care what was at stake and subsequently lost us the game. After being hit very cleanly by a Coventry defender (i apologise for the lack of names, but i have no game notes to go from so cannot remember the Coventry scorers or checkers) and for the following minute or so, he had nothing on his mind but revenge. His 'revenge' came when he skated full-pelt from one side of the ice to another and checked him down. Kirkham rightly called a charging penalty and Coventry scored from the resulting powerplay. Final score 3-2 Coventry AOT.
Well, on the positive side, Ivan, Cruickshank and Carlsson played exceptionally well and Panthers certainly look like we are fully capable of becoming an excellent side. Also, i have seen Cardiff, London and Coventry now and not one of them fill me with any real fear. Craighead, Tvrdon and Cadotte continue to disappoint and we are taking far, far, far too many stupid penalties. It will cost us games like it did tonight and i fear that it may cost us more than just one point on more than one occasion in the future.
Overall, it wasnt too bad. We may have been a little disappointing, but im not going to dwell on it too much. We came here to get a point, and a point is what we got.
Im looking forward to next Saturday......
Match report from face-off forums. (http://www.face-off.co.uk)
The game started in physical fashion. Coventry have something of a reputation so far for goonish behaviour and with their big goon Payette missing out due to the fact that he recieved a massive 5+10+match+game penalty in their defeat against Bracknell, the other players in the team were looking to step up into the main goon slot. From the start, it was obvious that Coventry were going to be pretty much exactly the same style of team that had served them so well last season. They're quick and powerful and look very dangerous on the break. They might not win the league this year, but they will certainly have some say as to who does. With the game being played in a tight state, the Panthers took the lead. Craighead found himself behind the goal on a powerplay and fed it in front for new signing Marek Ivan to slot home his first goal for the club on the second attempt. Later in the period, Ashley Tait delivered a sickening check to the back of Panthers defender Magdosko's head and into the boards but incredulously, Kirkham decided to only give him a 2+10 penalty for checking from behind. In my book, CFB has always resulted in a game misconduct penalty, but obviously Kirkham knows best... The period ended with both sides creating good chances but failing to make the most of them. Curtis Cruickshank in the Panthers goal was performing minor miracles to keep them in the lead whilst Lehman was rarely called into action by the Panthers 'only shoot if you're certain' policy.
With news of Sheffields imminent defeat filtering through to the crowd, the second period started with both crowds feeling rather happy about themselves. Pity the game didnt reflect this. The second period was scrappy, slow and it rarely flowed. Far too many stoppages were being made, far too penalties were being called and the puck was flying into the crowd more than you can say 'the high and mighty Coventry blaze sponsored by every business in the surrounding area'. Whilst we're on the subject of the crowd, the 'Block 2 Posse', much bigged-up by the Blaze fans were confusing. All they did was stand up. They had a drum but never seemed to bang it and rarely joined in the chants...Ah well, hockey fans are a strange bunch. During the second, the Panthers had the rare luxury of 150 seconds of 5 on 3 powerplay, during which they managed to rack up a grand total of 0 shots. Now, i may not know absolutely everything about hockey, but i can tell that when you have 2 and a half minutes of 2 man advanatage, 0 shots indicates that something is wrong. We've adopted a 'softly, softly' approach and only shoot when there is a perfect chance of scoring. Anyway, the highlight of the second period was Mark Cadotte of the Panthers breaking away one-on-one and falling arse-over-tartwith the goal at his mercy...Mark Cadotte was disappointing in my eyes tonight, he looked like someone making his professional debut, minutes after being introduced to the concept of skating...On the bright side, Panthers have seemed to find a brilliant netminder at long, long last. Curtis Cruickshank was brilliant, literally standing on his head at one point making countless saves. If it wasnt for him, the game would have been over at the end of the second. When the buzzer sounded to indicate the end of the second, the score was still 1-0 to Panthers and our minds were straying towards thoughts of a shut-out....How wrong we were
As in the London game the night before, Panthers let their lead slip within minutes of the 3rd restarting. With Panthers again surrendering possession on the powerplay, Coventry broke and on the one-on-one, finally fired it past Cruickshank into the top corner. 1-1 and Coventry with the upper hand. 2 minutes later, the emphasis was with the Blaze even more, a Coventry forward found himself with far far too much room in front of Cruickshanks goal and simply slotted it into the corner to turn the game completely on its head ala 24 hours earlier at the NIC. Fortunately for the Panthers fans, they didnt leave it until 59:48 to equalise this time. Lehman was trying to be far too clever behind his goal and Cadotte capitalised. He was about to slot it home when Lehman threw his stick at Cadotte and Kirkham rightly called a penalty shot. Cadotte picked himself up to confidently slot it home. Bar a few dodgy minutes with Panthers picking up yet another needless penalty with 60 seconds remaining, the game finished with both sides going at 50%, not risking the point. At the end of normal time, it finished 2-2 and Panthers were looking at OT for the second succecutive night.
Unfortunately, Mr Craighead decided he didnt care what was at stake and subsequently lost us the game. After being hit very cleanly by a Coventry defender (i apologise for the lack of names, but i have no game notes to go from so cannot remember the Coventry scorers or checkers) and for the following minute or so, he had nothing on his mind but revenge. His 'revenge' came when he skated full-pelt from one side of the ice to another and checked him down. Kirkham rightly called a charging penalty and Coventry scored from the resulting powerplay. Final score 3-2 Coventry AOT.
Well, on the positive side, Ivan, Cruickshank and Carlsson played exceptionally well and Panthers certainly look like we are fully capable of becoming an excellent side. Also, i have seen Cardiff, London and Coventry now and not one of them fill me with any real fear. Craighead, Tvrdon and Cadotte continue to disappoint and we are taking far, far, far too many stupid penalties. It will cost us games like it did tonight and i fear that it may cost us more than just one point on more than one occasion in the future.
Overall, it wasnt too bad. We may have been a little disappointing, but im not going to dwell on it too much. We came here to get a point, and a point is what we got.
Im looking forward to next Saturday......
Match report from face-off forums. (http://www.face-off.co.uk)
