Basingstoke away (30/10/2004)

[JP]

It doesn't look as if i'll be at the Basingstoke game on Saturday, i've been once this season (not too bothered about going again) We've qualified for the Challenge Cup so it's just an EIHL game.

My score prediction:

Bison 2
Blaze 5

Wonder if Payette will drop 'em with Ewasko, bet it's not after 4 seconds if he does

[PW]

I'm not there-am playing for the Chaos vs the MK Rumble that evening....I will pass score updates through to Whiskey so you can all track us.

[Rich]

I aint going to this one. I will be at Highfield Road in the afternoon watching City against Reading and then I have to go to my mums party in the evening. My life wouldn't be worth living if I missed it. I hope to get to some Blaze away games soon though. I went to Basingstoke twice last season but this season I havn't seen Blaze play away at all.

[AverageJoe]

I'm not making the trip down...gotta work Saturday night behind the bar at an.....Elvis night!!

WOW...Can't wait!!!!

[Claret & Blue Army]

I put my name down for this one as I missed last week at the H.O.T. but now have to choose between Cardiff/Newcastle or London for which one to miss

I can see another draw 3-3

[JAC]

i'll be down there on saturday.
Hopefully we will get back to playing some better hockey this weekend rather than the dump and chase employed for significant parts of the games against the steelers.
I'm going to go for a blaze win by 4 goals to 2.

[Claret & Blue Army]

It will be a different kind of difficult against a spoiler team like the Bison.

Hopefully we can sneak 2 points but I'll be happy with another 3 point weekend

[Giguere35]

Ime not very keen on Basingstoke but i will still be going lets hope for two wins this weekend

[dave92]

I am not going to Basingstoke this weekend, But i still hope blaze win :Blaze 4-2 bison

[Claret & Blue Army]

AverageJoe said:

I'm not making the trip down...gotta work Saturday night behind the bar at an.....Elvis night!!

WOW...Can't wait!!!!

Bet you'll end the night All Shook Up ;D

Let's hope the Bison are too

[dave92]

At hteb end of the 2nd period Blaze Are beating Bison 5-1!

5:20-Chris McNamara,Assist : Ashley Tait

8:01-Adam Calder,Assist : Doug Schueller

9:15-Michal Vrabel

23:50-Neal Martin,Assist : Joel Poirier

25:33-Dan Carlson,Assists : Pavol Mihalik, Ashley Tait

Jeff Ewasko-Assists,Shawn Maltby,Owen Walter,32:00

[Rich]

5-2 tonight. Good win. Now we need to complete part two. Vicotry at the Sky Dome against the Devils.

[dave92]

If Cov beat cardiff tonight without it going into OT then Coventry Blaze will go top of the elite league!

[JAC]

Right then last nights game.

1st 5 minutes fairly even Vogel had 1 iffy moment but had gotten away with it, however he looked rather unconfident.
Then a bison turnover straight to Tait just inside the blue line, who unselfishly passed it firmly just to the left hand side of the goal where Mcnamara steamed in to lift the puck over Vogel abd score the 1st at 5.20.
Bison then go on the attack when Schueller gets the puck and fires a superb pass between the 2 defencemen to a streaking Calder, as he crosses the blue line Vogel rashly suddenly starts to charge out of net to poke check the puck away, Calder though calmly pulls the puck to the side and slots the puck into the unguarded net. Time of 2nd goal 8.01.
This was followed by more Blaze pressure as they looked to throw everything at Vogel who is making mistakes a plenty.
Vogel fails to cover the puck and it ends up behind the net from where it is worked along the boards before arriving at Vrabel who unleashes a rocket of a slap shot through traffic and its 3-0 Blaze at 9.15.
At this point Vogel is pulled by Bernard and into net goes Dean Skinns.
Blaze by now are showing total dominance in all aspects of the game and could of had a couple more goals if it hadn't been for some good goaltending from Skinns.
Jody had a couple of good saves to make in the 1st but wasn't overly troubled.

The 2nd period started with the Bison playing with a bit more urgency in their play. However it was the blaze who scored. After some pressure around the Bison net the puck came out to Neal Martin who shot into the top half of the net with Dean Skinns screened to make it 4-0 at 23.50.
This seemed to deflate the Bison as the Blaze played a controlling game.
The 5th Blaze goal came when Calder passed to Mihalik whos missed timed shot went straight to Carlson who shot pass Skinns to make it 5-0 at 25.53.
At this point Blaze took their foot off of the gas.
A hi sticking penalty on Payette meant a Bison powerplay. As the penalty expired a pass from Maltby saw Ewasko alone in front of the net and flip the puck over Jody to put the Bison on the scoreboard at 32.00.
This gave the Bison a bit of impetus and they created a couple of chances that Jody turned away. The period was played out with no further scoring.

The 3rd was played with the Bison applying more pressure but the Blaze holding strong in defence.
Early in the period Martin was going round the boards and Ewasko came in, both players went down and the whistle went. Martin was back up quickly but Ewasko stayed down with an injury for a minute or so(later reported as head and possibly neck injuries) before being helped off the ice whilst being informed he'd been assessed a 2 min penalty for tripping.
Play was mainly in the Blaze end as Bison tried to pull goals back, but they failed to create many quality chances and the Blaze remained calm and controlled.
Then a roughing penalty was called on Carlson and Bison made the Blaze play with a rather fortunate goal from Lukac that was deflected at 48.05. This was the final goal of the game.
Both teams had chances in the final 10 minutes but both netminders stopped all that cam their way and the Blaze collected the 2 points with a comfortable win.

[Claret & Blue Army]

Well put James. We played exceptional for about 25 minutes in total and had the game won without busting a gut