Vectis Tigers 21/09/08

Lee Valley Lions -v- Vectis Tigers 21/09/08

Lose 4-17 (Away)

Lee Valley Lions

Vectis Tigers

07
08
09
12
15
17
22
25
26
31
37
49
Ashlee Cave
Joe Berry
Nick Alley (A)
Ashley Curtin
Gennadi Yufit
Stas Prokofiev
James Hatfull (A)
Michael Ranby (C)
Michael Jacobs
Ruslanas Jegovoras
George Alley
Andrew Boot
03
04
07
09
10
12
18
21
22
32
35
68
73
77
81
91
94
Rowan Salter
Dave Webb
Kent Johnson
Adam Rich
Ricky Attrill
Nial Bound
Scott Carter
Joe Osborne (A)
Steve Gosset (A)
Tony Blaze
Elliot Foley (G)
Michael Palin (C)
Chris Randall
Alex Murray
Jamie Lee
Aaron Taylor
Daniel Giden

 

Goals

Penalties

Lions
Tigers
Lions
Tigers
Period 1:
1
7
2
2
Period 2:
0
6
4
10
Period 3:
3
4
2
6
MATCH TOTALS:
4
17
8
18

 

Shots on Goal
Lee Valley Lions(shots on Alley/Boot)
Vectis Tigers(shots on Taylor/Foley)
Period 1:
4 (on Alley)/9 (on Boot)
13 (on Taylor)
Period 2:
19 (on Boot)
10 (on Taylor)
Period 3:
21 (on Boot)
18 (on Foley)
MATCH TOTALS:
53
41

 

Lee Valley Lions

Vectis Tigers

Highest Scorer in Match:
Ashley Curtin (2+0)/Joe Berry (1+1)
Michael Palin (4+1)/Kent Johnson (4+1)/Dave Webb (1+4)
Man of the Match Winner:
James Hatfull
Tony Blaze

Additional Comments:

Icing only two lines, Lee Valley were always going to be under pressure against a  Vectis Tigers team that had 17 skaters and were hungry for points, having had their first two victories cancelled due to icing an ineligible player through suspension carried over from last season.

When guys are skating every other shift, legs get tired and concentration is hard to maintain. This obviously gets exacerbated as the game progresses, and can lead to errors as the speed of the decision-making progress is so fast. We had problems getting the puck out of our zone, which has been a consistent problem in our games so far, and passes were going astray, especially in the second and third periods.

The game very quickly got away from the Lions, as before there were four minutes on the clock, we were 4–0 down and Andrew Boot was called in to replace George Alley in goal. The first period ended 7–1 as Lee Valley struggled to contain a fast-flowing Vectis team, eager to make up for their lost points. The single Lions’ goal was scored by Michael Jacobs from Stas Prokofiev.

The second period was much of the same as the Vectis goal tally increased to 13. The Lions did have opportunities, but the tiredness factor was playing a heavy role, as it was normally a lone forward having to shoot from just inside the blue line, which the Tigers goalie easily had covered. At the other end, the Lions’ goalie was often faced with two Vectis forwards and tired defence trying to get back.

The Tigers changed goalies for the third period and the Lions made more of an impression, Joe Berry scoring one, and Ashley Curtin two goals. The home team put four more past Andrew Boot to make the final score 17–4. Late on in the game, James Hatfull was on the receiving end of a crunching check into the boards behind the Lions’ goal, which was deemed to be a fair hit but he took a while to get back up. He rejoined the action, not realising he was hurt until the blood coming from a cut above his eye flowed down into his visor and onto his jersey. He was patched up and played the rest of the game in a new jersey.

Although this was a really heavy defeat, the Lions’ guys never gave up trying, albeit on heavy legs. Effort-wise, it would be hard to criticise any individuals; sure, passes went astray, both netminders should have stopped some of the goals, but the pressure was relentless and you can’t expect any more from icing two lines.

Referee was Meekison and Linesmen were Boot & Hogarth.

Thanks to Tony Boot for writing this match report.