‘Cats exit playoffs early

It was playoff hockey time at the Link Centre in Swindon on Saturday night, as the seventh seed Wildcats entertained the second seed Manchester Phoenix. A decent crowd was packed in to the Link Centre to witness the first leg of the EPL playoff quarterfinal.

The Wildcats won the opening face-off and started the game in a great manner. With two minutes gone, an exquisite pass from Nicky Watt found an open Jaroslav Cesky in front of net who forced a great save from Phoenix goaltender Steve Fone.

After more pressure from the Wildcats, the Phoenix had a chance to get themselves into the game after Nicky Watt was given a minor penalty for holding with just over four minutes on the clock. However, the short-handed unit of Swindon looked as if they were the ones on the powerplay, forcing two more awesome saves from Fone in the Manchester net.

Youngster Ciaran Long went close for the Phoenix with five minutes left in the first frame, showing some slick stick handling to get through on goal, but Thomas Murdy in the Swindon net stood strong to keep the scores level. After a period of playing some great hockey and applying a lot of pressure, the ‘Cats would have felt hard done by to go into the locker rooms one goal down. Slava Koulikov fired a low shot past Murdy with 30 seconds left in the first to take a lead against the run of play. James Neil and Juraj Faith grabbed the assists for the Phoenix.

Playing a very useful Manchester outfit, it was crucial for the ‘Cats to start the second period strong and not fall behind by two goals. They did the complete opposite as they turned the puck over numerous amounts of times, forcing pressure upon themselves. With 5 minutes gone in the second, the Phoenix made their pressure tell as Stephen Wallace skilfully backhanded the puck over Murdy’s shoulder and into the top corner of the net.

Despite their team behind two goals down, the Swindon faithful remained loud and optimistic. With 12 minutes gone, Swindon were presented with a golden opportunity to get back into the game as Tom Duggan was given a match penalty for drawing blood from the face of Nicky Watt with a high-stick. This meant a five-minute powerplay for the ‘Cats and they pretty much had to score if they wanted to remain in the playoffs. They did just that as Jaroslav Cesky put the puck home after a scramble in front of the Manchester net. Despite some late pressure from the Phoenix, Swindon held out until the break and went to changing rooms down by a goal with a period of hockey to play.

After an awesome two periods of hockey, the game was nicely poised going into the final frame in Swindon this season. Luke Boothroyd forced a couple of good saves from Murdy early in the third, but the ‘Cats got straight back to work and pressed hard for an equalising goal. Aaron Nell, the Great Britain forward, went close on two occasions with five minutes gone in the third, but couldn’t find a way past the sublime Steve Fone in goal for Manchester.

With seven minutes to play, Swindon had a great chance to tie the game at two. Aaron Nell skated free on a short-handed breakaway and Jonas Hoog, the EPL ‘s top points scorer with 92, had a stab at the rebound but was denied once again.

The last five minutes of the game consisted of ‘Cats pressure, more ‘Cats pressure and a bit more ‘Cats pressure. It seemed as the more they tried, the more amount of bricks were added to the Wall in front of the Phoenix net. Fone produced his third double save, this time on Jaroslav Cesky with four minutes to go, and then his fourth double save a minute later from Hoog and Richardson.

Somehow, the Phoenix absorbed everything the Wildcats threw at them to take the win by two goals to one. Understandably, Steve Fone grabbed the man of the match award for Manchester, and Thomas Murdy, the Cats goalie, grabbed the man of the match for Swindon. It was a thrilling end to an enjoyable season of hockey at the Link Centre in Swindon.

Last night, both teams headed to Manchester to play the second and final leg of the playoff quarterfinal. It was always going to be a tough ask for the Wildcats to come from a goal down and beat the Phoenix on their home ice. The Cats fell by 4 goals to nil, and were just simply beaten by the better team. Goals from Stephen Wallace, Tom Duggan and James Archer (2), helped the Phoenix book their ticket to Coventry for the playoff semi-finals/final weekend.

It has been a pretty decent season for the Swindon Wildcats. Acquiring Great Britain star Aaron Nell from Coventry mid-season was the turning point for them. If he had played all season, they would have been up in the top four somewhere, especially as himself and Swedish star Jonas Hoog produced a formidable partnership going forward.