Lee Valley Lions

Peterborough Islanders

Goals

Penalties

Lee Valley Lions

Additional Comments:

Three months previously the Lions had held the Peterborough Islanders to a draw on their home ice in an encounter that was high in both shots on goal and penalty minutes. On this occasion, however, the Lions limped up to Peterborough with a squad of only 11 skaters and 2 netminders. The Islanders, on the other hand, boasted a full squad of 22. Lee Valley were without point-scorers Romanas Fedotovas, Ben Williams, Paul O’Neill, Andy Watt and Michael Jacobs so those who did play knew they faced an uphill battle from the start.

Kristian Simo opened the scoring for the home side at 06:11 with a short-handed goal that was assisted by Stuart Dane. Simo struck again three minutes later, this time with a powerplay effort as Andrzej Maslak sat out 2-mins for hooking. Lee Valley held up well, however, and it wasn’t until 18:48 that David Micheli scored the first of his hat-trick goals. Another powerplay shot, the assists this time went to Clint Herring and Ross Mackintosh.

The Lions were struggling both with keeping possession of the puck and a patchy defence. This continued into the second period as the Islanders’ might became more apparent and no fewer than 5 goals sailed past Stefan Nubert and into the back of the net. The sixth goal in particular stood out for being both short-handed and scored on a mini breakaway.

Facing 16 shots in the first period and 19 in the second Lions’ coach Serge Smolenko decided that Stefan Nubert had taken enough of a pounding and opted to rest him in favour of Glen Jackson for the final period. Jackson had been out of action through injury since December so to return to the ice in a game where the Lions were already 8-0 down was somewhat daunting.

Jackson’s luck was no better than Nubert’s and he faced a barrage of 27 shots in 20 minutes. Even when three or more Lions were assisting in front of the net Peterborough shots still found their way through on five occasions.

At 34:15 there was a little respite in the form of fisticuffs entertainment from James Hatfull and Peterborough’s multi-tattooed Stuart Coleman. Hatfull wasted no time in showing Coleman who was boss as helmets were ripped off and the punches flowed. Once officials split the sparring duo they were both sent off with match penalties for fighting. Entering the sin bin at the same time were Lions’ Scott Beeson with 2-mins for hooking and the Islanders’ Jesse Hammill, who received 2+2+10 for spearing.

Play eventually resumed and just when it looked like Islanders’ netminder Kerry Herring was set to achieve a shut-out Andrzej Maslak broke away from the pack to score Lions’ only goal of the match, assists going to Mark Swaine and Stas Prokofiev. The goal formed only the briefest moments of cheer for the Lions on what was a very bleak night. The squad put in maximum effort from start to finish but were sadly overpowered in all areas of the game by much stronger opponents.

Referee was Dodsworth, Linesmen were Lalonde and Hewitt.