Additional Comments:

Lee Valley Lions’ short-bench woes continued in their last home game of 2008/09, losing to the bottom-placed team they’d beaten in all previous clashes this season. After trouncing Slough 16-1 in January’s home encounter it certainly appeared as if the Lions fully expected to do the same again and so they got a bit of a shock to find themselves being outplayed from the start.

Chris Rost began the damage with a classic break-out goal scored at 09:44. Lee Valley were lucky not to have gone behind sooner, having allowed the Hawks several break-away opportunities that either went astray or were stopped by netminder Andrew Boot.

Nick Alley evened things up at 14:49 with a sturdy slapshot goal that was assisted by Michael Ranby and Ashlee Cave as the William Sanderson in the Hawks’ net was partly screened. Having scored, Alley soon found himself having to defend alone and despite his best efforts, Chris Rost was able to score again at 15:58, shooting straight into the corner of the net.

The first period was both unimpressive and uninspired. Too much time was spent flinging the puck around the boards and seriously underestimating the opposition. The second period saw Lee Valley putting in more effort but still fought to keep up with Slough’s predominantly young squad.

The session began with a good attempt to score by Michael Ranby. William Sanderson was feeling the heat in the Slough net but his luck held out, despite a number of shots being fired his way in relatively quick succession. He slipped up at 30:00 when he thought he’d saved a shot from Stas Prokofiev but actually handed the Lions’ their second goal.

It took Slough until 36:09 to edge into the lead once more, Chris Rost scoring his natural hat-trick with a well-crafted goal, this time assisted by Tom Weare. Determined not to let Slough get the upper hand, Lee Valley hit back just seconds later, netminder error allowing Ashley Curtin to score, assists going to Stas Prokofiev and Gennadi Yufit.

It was near the end of the second period that the Lions disadvantaged themselves with yet another “too many men on the ice” penalty. This was a frequent occurrence during the season and considering there were two coaches on the bench, it really should not have kept happening.

With the game tied at 3-3 there was everything to play for in the final period. Sadly it became marred by more of the unsporting and intimidating behaviour demonstrated by Slough in their previous visit to the Den. It started at 45:59, when Slough’s coach (ex-Lion Brian Biddulph) had to stop Joe Weare and Archie Hutchinson from antagonising an off-ice volunteer from their position in the penalty box.

Weare, already having served 2-mins for roughing, was soon engaging in more, this time against Lions’ Joe Berry. Both players received 2+2 for roughing and this time Weare, seemingly unable to cope with any kind of upset, asked the referee to quieten children in the crowd. Fortunately his request was ignored by referee Hewett.

Shortly after Weare and Berry were released from the box, their places in the sin bin were taken by Chris Rost and Michael Ranby. Ranby received 2-mins for hooking, but Rost – despite having shone up to this point – was another Slough player unable to control his aggression. When asked to sit down by another female off-ice official, he made an unprovoked insulting and personal remark against her. He then went on to threaten the volunteer manning the penalty box, again, because he’d been politely asked to sit down. Rost was punished with an automatic game misconduct, but for bearing the brunt of verbal abuse the female off-ice official was served a 10-mins penalty for daring to disapprove, yet she’d not resorted to name-calling, shouting or swearing. Absolutely farcical.

In between and after all this carry-on, Slough scored four goals and the Lions sank without a trace, scoring only one at 57:19, Ashley Curtin hitting the rebound from a Nick Alley slapshot that bounced off of Sanderson’s pads.

All in all, this was an extremely disappointing and frustrating game to watch. Both teams had small squads and too often the Lions were left floundering as Hawks’ players flew past them. Slough played well and deserved their win but it is just a shame that some of their players conduct themselves so very poorly.

Referee was Hewett, Linesmen were both named Stephenson.