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Overtime penalty shot dashes Flames
For a 5th consecutive year, the Guildford Flames ice hockey club travelled home from the Coventry playoff finals weekend without a trophy in hand. A penalty shot goal by Slough Jets forward Blaz Emersic 1:52 into overtime doused the Flames hopes for their first ever EPL post season crown; instead offering the playoff championship to the Berkshire outfit for the 2nd time in 3 seasons. There was no scoring until the 25th minute when the Jets finally cracked the nut thank to Emersic who put his team up by 1 with his first of the night. The Coventry crowd had to wait until early in the final period before a Flames goal would knot the score. On a powerplay, Milos Melicherik pulled Spectrum’s club even at 40:49; a tie scoreline that would hold up through regulation before the converted penalty shot sealed the win.
This season’s cup champions advanced to the main event 24 hours earlier with a semi final 5-2 win over Swindon Wildcats. An opening goal by Nathan Rempel in the 1st period and a pair by Gary Clarke in the 2nd put Spectrum’s team up by a 3 goal margin on their way to the win that secured a place at the table in Sunday’s championship match against Slough Jets. Rempel sparked the offence at 6:58 with the only goal of the stanza. Clarke netted a pair just over 2 minutes apart in the 35th and 37th minutes to establish the solid margin ahead of the final period. The Wildcats hit back early in the last frame, though, with a brace by Aaron Nell at 42:27 and then another shortly thereafter to suddenly cut the lead to 1. Rempel re-stored some breathing room 43 seconds after that before a Rick Plant goal at 52:58 relieved the pressure entirely and removed doubt about the first finalist for Sunday’s game.
Disappointed Flames head coach Paul Dixon reflected on the defeat:
“I doubt I am shocking anyone when I say that it is difficult to lose when you are so close under any circumstances but to have the game decided by a penalty shot is just that much more difficult to accept. Mark (Flames netminder Mark Lee) did everything he possibly could have to make the save, he aggressively challenged and he cut down the net very well, but Blaz made a perfect shot off the bar and in, so there is not a lot you can do when that happens except live with it an move on. As far as the game as a whole went, they were on us for about the first 12 minutes, but we sort of weathered that attack and then after that we played very well, we outshot them by 20 shots and had chance after chance to take the game well before overtime. Simply put, from a goal scoring standpoint it was just not our night and they took a win. They had a great season and they are deserving winners of a trophy to show for what they have accomplished as a team. We are very disappointed to have come out on the short end, but we congratulate the Jets at the same time for a great final game and for their playoff title. We will take a look at our squad now and see what things we can do to over the summer to be that bit better next season and we will start those preparations immediately for achieving our objectives in 2010-2011.”
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-3 |
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4-5 |
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1-4 |
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4-4 |
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| 11th March 2006 19:00 | ||
2-4 |
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5-8 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-1 |
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4-1 |
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5-2 |
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3-7 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
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- Campbell and Flames agree terms
- Flames re-sign David Savage
- Longstaff stays with Flames
- Flames re-sign Curtis Huppe
- Towe departs Flames
