Lee Valley Lions

Haringey Greyhounds

Goals

Penalties

Lee Valley Lions

Haringey Greyhounds

Additional Comments:

After the previous night’s fortunate win against Chelmsford Warriors the Lions were looking for a 4-point weekend, having been unable to beat their North London rivals the previous two seasons. Just a couple of minutes into the game Scott Beeson fired a blistering shot that hammered into the left of the net but rebounded out. Lions fans thought a valid goal had been scored but the goal judge thought otherwise and play continued.

Nick Alley then took advantage of a powerplay situation by taking the puck down the ice and passing a perfect scoring opportunity to Scott Pollak. Sadly Pollak’s timing was out and the shot didn’t materialise.

Haringey were then on a powerplay as James Hatfull sat out 2-mins for Interference and 2-mins for Boarding. Hatfull had been goaded by several Haringey players but he kept his cool.

Haringey’s first goal of the game hit the metal of the bar and bounced out, allowing the home team to take the lead. Just seconds later a second goal came, thanks to a fumble in front of the net. Haringey’s third goal of the period was a sloppy affair but nonetheless, it meant they were now 3-0 up.

Lee Valley decided to call a time-out at this early stage of the game and stepped up a gear when the Greyhounds’ Joe Webb was penalised for Tripping. The Lions made several close-range attempts on the Haringey goal before Michael Jacobs’ effort came good.

The second period saw an improvement in the Lions’ form. Michael Ranby brought a jumping puck under control and passed it to Michael Jacobs, who hit an immensely powerful shot from just inside the blue line to sail past netminder Alec Field and into the back of the net.

Haringey’s fourth goal was a lucky affair scored on the powerplay. Lions’ netminder George Alley made the stop but the puck managed to drift and ended up in the net behind him. Lee Valley were quick to hit back, however, as Michael Ranby stretched to reach a pass, took the puck up the ice and deftly passed to Michael Jacobs who neatly scored his hat-trick.

Lions were now within one goal of Haringey. Stas Prokofiev was unlucky not to score, so Scott Beeson stepped in and hit in the equaliser from long range. Some great play from Nick Alley saw him take the puck all the way from one end of the ice to the other, overpowering two defenders on his way. Alley passed to Scott Beeson but the shot came to nothing. Alley’s brother George then faced heavy pressure in the Lee Valley goal with a couple of shots hitting the post.

The final period had a few hair-raising moments as George Alley slid to lay on the puck but missed. It was pure luck that the puck missed the empty net and fans sighed in relief. Nick Alley defended the net while his brother got to his feet and disaster was averted. Sadly it wasn’t long before Haringey put in their fifth and sixth goals, scored by Michal Loksa and Brett Candon respectively. A seventh goal came at 50:18, courtesy of Scott Cannam.

As the clock counted down the last two minutes of the game Lee Valley pulled netminder George Alley to allow a sixth outfield player onto the ice in an attempt to pull goals back. The strategy didn’t pay off as, despite being short-handed, Calum Mathieson easily shot the puck into the empty net, leaving the final score 8-4 to Haringey.

Linesmen were Tottman and Kollar.