Two wins out of three for Flames

Photograph of Guildford Flames netminder Dean Skinns in action against the Slough Jets courtsey of Alan Bone.

 

A pair of come from behind wins in Bracknell and Sheffield had the Guildford Flames ice hockey club riding a 5 game winning run, but the streak came to an abrupt halt on Sunday night when their Cup semi final opponents, Slough Jets, delivered a 4-1 defeat on Spectrum ice.

 

The quest for sole ownership of the 2^nd league table spot was reflected in the visit by the Jets and the visitors wasted little time establishing their desire for that table position as Blaz Emersic put his team in front just over 5 minutes in, setting the stage for their 4-1 win.  At 11:04 Emersic added another to double the early lead and he completed the natural hattrick to put them up by 3 just 16 minutes into the contest, giving his side a strangle hold on the game at the 1^st break.  A scoreless middle frame held the Jets in control but Spectrum’s team worked to wrestle it back when Paul Dixon netted at 43:40 on 1 of 14 shots against just 2 Jets shots in the final session, but hopes for a comeback reflecting the one of 24 hours earlier would be quickly dashed as the Jets answered that goal on the powerplay at 49:31 through Peter Poljacek to take another 3 goal lead that would eventually see the game out.

 

On Saturday night the Flames took part in yet another dramatic momentum swinging, high scoring outing with a nail biting finish.  The Sheffield Scimitars opened a 6-3 lead after 40 minutes before the Flames replied with 3 3^rd period strikes to force an extra session, and eventually penalty shots where Spectrum’s tenants prevailed to take home a 7-6 win.  The visiting Flames opened the scoring early with a Rick Plant goal just 44 seconds after the start.  James Archer replied shortly after that to even the score before Mark Stewart gave the home side a 2-1 lead in the 7^th minute.  The Scimitars opened a 2 goal margin at 17:52 with another Stewart strike before Gary Clarke pulled it back to 1 in the period’s final minute.  Martin Masa tied the score at 3 just beyond the 26 minute mark, but 3 consecutive Scimitars goals in the ensuing moments of the middle session gave them command of the game and what looked like an insurmountable advantage with only 1 period to play.  Archer made it 4-3 at 28:09, Lee Haywood converted a powerplay exactly 4 minutes later and Peter Slamiar opened a 3 goal gap at 36:39.  In the final period, the comeback was on.  It commenced with a Nathan Rempel goal at 45:59.  Plant pulled his side to within a shot with a shorthanded goal at 51:27.  In a Déjà vu moment, Lukas Smital, for the 2^nd consecutive game, bagged the tying strike; scoring this time a minute earlier, sending the game to extra time with a goal at 55:42.  No scoring in the overtime set up penalties, where the Scimitars missed on 3 occasions, while Martin Masa had success scoring the winner with 1 of the Flames 2 shots to secure the extra point. 

 

On the Thursday prior, a trip to Bracknell highlighted the Flames schedule and Spectrum’s team had to put in a bit of overtime before a Martin Masa goal secured a 4-3 win over the Bees.  Gary Clarke opened the scoring on the powerplay in the 17^th minute, but the Bees immediately replied with a Jaroslav Cesky goal, also on the powerplay, to keep things even at the first break despite a 21-7 Flames shot advantage during the session.  The territorial advantage paid off early the 2^nd when Nathan Rempel put the visitors up by a goal just past the 24 minute mark. Greg Martyn had an answer for that one, though, at 34:17 when he pulled his team level once again before the final period.  Nicky Watt gave the Bees their first lead of the night at 41:34 on a powerplay and it then took until the 57^th minute for the Flames to level thanks to Lukas Smital who converted during a major penalty assessed to Bees Andrius Kaminskas inside the final 5 minutes.  The Flames opened the overtime period on the powerplay, but failed to make good on the man advantage, waiting for the even strength Masa strike to close the deal 62:12. 

 

Flames Head Coach Paul Dixon reflected on the recent results:

 

“The most disappointing part about the Sunday game against Slough was the fact that it was Slough.  They are our cup semi final opponents this week, visiting us again on Thursday for leg 1 of the elimination round of the 2 game aggregate event, and the last thing you ever want to do is to give your opponent is an injection of confidence just ahead of crucial games of that nature.  Unfortunately, a poor first period on our behalf against them put is in that very position and we will really need to come out hard early Thursday night to make sure we do something to pull some of the momentum back in our favour.  We have an excellent record against them this season and a win on Sunday would have made it that much more difficult for them mentally ahead of the cup.  The good news is that we did play better in the 2^nd and 3^rd of that game and with the two wins ahead of that in Sheffield and Bracknell, both of them character testing evenings as far as late comebacks go, we are generally opening the cup semi in a good frame of mind and there is no reason in the world why we cannot get ourselves in a position where a spot in the final is ours for the taking.”

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