Lee Valley Lions

Cardiff ENL Devils

Goals

Penalties

Lee Valley Lions

Cardiff ENL Devils

Additional Comments:

Facing the unbeaten league leaders, Lions’ fans were hoping their team would fight bravely but I don’t think anyone felt we stood a chance to of toppling the opposition. How wrong we were. We may not have won in the end, but we deserved to. The Lions were a force to be reckoned with right from the start and for the first time this season there was no let-up.

It took the Cardiff ENIHL Devils until 12:42 to score against bottom-of-the-table Lions. The powerplay goal was scored by Dan Clarkson, assisted by Steve Fisher. The Lions missed a prime opportunity to score just a few seconds later, the Devils swiftly manoevring the puck back down the ice and past Stefan Nubert to score their second at 14:42.

Lee Valley made several valiant attempts on the Cardiff goal, putting together some effective passes and skating hard. None of the Lions could get past netminder Ross Piggott in the first twenty minutes, although a shot from Romanas Fedotovas came very close.

At 19:30 fisticuffs broke out between the Lions’ Kwabina Oppong-Addai and Michael Price of the Devils and both were heavily punished for the encounter by referee Joy Tottman. Oppong-Addai received 2-mins for Cross Checking, 2+2 for Roughing and 10-mins Misconduct while Price was dealt 2+2 for Roughing and 10-mins Misconduct.

A fantastic shot by Scott Beeson got the Lions on the scoreboard at 24:26, the assist going to Dan Sampson. Lions’ fans were further uplifted when Nick Braithwaite scored his first goal of the season less than two minutes later to level the score at 2-2.

The Lions soon took advantage of an unsettled Cardiff, an unassisted goal from Captain Chris Goddard putting his team in the lead at 33:44. It was inevitable that the Devils would bounce back and their weak equaliser came at 36:21, scored by Michael Price.

A scramble in front of the net in the last minute of the second period caused the referee to seek confirmation from the goal judge that the net was off its moorings. This had been obvious to everyone watching in the clock end and the Lions breathed a sigh of relief as the goal was disallowed. The dying seconds saw Stefan Nubert see off a superb attempt on goal by Gil Lamarche and Lee Valley headed back to the dressing room with the satisfaction of having won the period 3-1.

The Lions began the final period on a powerplay but a breakaway opportunity was foiled by the opposition. David James promptly slapped the Devils’ fourth goal into the back of the net short-handed at 40:58. Next on the score sheet at 46:24 was Stephen Deacon, furthering Cardiff’s lead to 5-3.

Lee Valley didn’t let this destroy their intensity or desire to win. Romanas Fedotovas hit back with his first goal for the club less than half a minute later at 46:51, assisted by Kwabina Oppong-Addai. Nick Braithwaite then scored his second of the night unassisted at 49:08 and the Lions were once again evenly matched 5-5 with the invincible Cardiff team.

Lee Valley continued to attack the Cardiff goal and Stefan Nubert continued to make some agile saves in the Lions’ net, but just when the Lions though they were going to walk away with their first points of the season disaster struck. Paul O’Neill received 2-mins in the sin bin for slashing and the Devils’ Dan Bowers got past Nubert to score their sixth goal.

With just 13 seconds left on the clock Cardiff were awarded a penalty shot against the Lions. This came to nothing, but the Lions were still left without their first win of the season. The standard of play from everyone on the team was excellent and the result invariably got other clubs talking.

Referee was Tottman, Linesmen were Hogarth and someone else (can’t remember).