EIHL: Ice Chips – Week 25
Tonight (Wednesday) the final game of February is played between Braehead and Sheffield in the Challenge Cup Semi-Final 1st Leg, with both teams striving to make the final and match up against Nottingham.
This obviously means that from then on we are into the final month of the regular season, where all the silverware other than the Play-Off Trophy will be handed out – in short it’s very much the business end of the season now!
It’s been a tremendous 10th Anniversary season in the Elite League for many reasons; such a close and on-going race for the league title, a conference set up that has simply worked out wonderfully well for the sport as a whole and here we are still with so much to play for and so many teams still having ‘big’game’ nights on a regular basis.
Nottingham clearly are now favourites for the league title but remember they still have to play Belfast on the road on the 15th and 16th of March. Two mammoth games which could turn the whole thing on its head if Giants were to win both – right there is the hottest ticket in town!
Who will make the Play-Offs and who will miss out? Answers on a postcard please as we sure as heck don’t know!
That race will most probably run until the final weekend of the regular season and even on that weekend there could well be massive games featuring Braehead v Dundee, Dundee v Edinburgh, Fife v Braehead and Edinburgh v Dundee.
Factor in the incredible position in the Gardiner Conference where just one single point separates top team Braehead from bottom team Dundee and all of the above games are even more important. Look out for some big crowds in Scotland in the next few weeks as almost every game is huge.
This is pressure time for all of the teams, where one loss can be a disaster and a couple of wins can change a season – enjoy it all of you and good luck to your team – whoever they may be.
Okay, it’s been another busy week so let’s look at the action from last Thursday to last night (Tuesday).
We start with Dundee v Belfast and a 2-0 win for the visitors that keeps them right in the hunt for the league title, tucked in just behind Panthers. Garrett Zemlak picked up his fourth shutout from his stay in Belfast, making 23 saves against a hurting Stars side, who is the process lost their fourth straight. Kevin Saurette and Jeff Mason scored the vital goals for Doug Christiansen’s charges.
Friday night and Braehead v Coventry saw Blaze hit back from 3-1 and 4-2 behind to eventually win 5-4 in overtime (only their second ever win in Braehead) with young Brit ‘D’ James Griffin the unlikely match winner. A hat trick for Clan forward Matt Schepke at least helped his side to a point.
The latest Nottingham v Sheffield clash was also on Friday and as played in front of a sold out NIC. Ex Panther Danny Meyers actually had Steelers ahead in the opening minute of the second period but four straight goals from the powerhouse offence of the league leaders put paid to Steelers chances and the 4-2 win took Corey Neilson’s men a big step closer to the league title. A goal of the season contender from Panthers skipper Jordan Fox was the game winner in this one – try catch it if you can as it’s a stunner!
Panthers were on the road to Scotland for a Saturday game in Braehead and were in no mood to ease off in any way as they won 5-0 with a thoroughly professional performance that Clan had no answer to. Bruce Graham scored 2+1 and Craig Kowalski posted 22 saves for shutout number six of a great season for the Panthers cageman.
Belfast v Sheffield saw Giants continue to stay in the title hunt and almost certainly end any Steelers hopes with a 3-1 victory in the Odyssey. Giants built a winning 3-0 lead by the midpoint of the third period and only a 59th minute goal by Tylor Michel stopped Garrett Zemlak picking up his second successive shutout.
Edinburgh kept their great run going as a 4-0 third period burst killed off the Coventry challenge at Murrayfield. Five wins in six now for the surging Capitals and a hat trick for Marcis Zembergs with four assists for skipper Martin Cingel as Blaze were swamped in the end by 6-2.
Finally on Saturday it was a huge conference game in Kirkcaldy and a big win for Flyers as they took the honours over Stingrays 4-2 with Kris Hogg being involved in all four home goals with 2+2. This was a fifth straight home win for the Scots, impressive stuff at such an important time of the season.
Sunday now and a third game in four nights for Belfast as they travelled to play a well rested Cardiff side. Devils skated to a 2-0 lead after only 105 seconds but this Giants team are determined to do all they can to retain their league title and four straight goals saw them ahead and on the way to a 5-3 win. Chad Langlais had a great night with 2+2 with the game winner coming from Noah Clarke in the 48th minute.
Dundee were in home action again and for the fifth straight game lost out – this time it was a Sheffield side who bounced back well from their losses in Nottingham and Belfast to post a 3-1 win with Jeff Legue scoring 2+1.
Fife had the second game of their home double during the weekend and edged a tight one against Coventry by the odd goal in five. A sixth straight home win for Todd Dutiaume’s side with a single third period strike by the player/coach himself proving decisive.
Hull v Braehead in yet another vital game for both teams to finish off Sunday and in this one it was a first period scoring burst that decided the outcome with Stingrays skating to a 3-1 lead. That remained the score until Clan pulled one back late on from Jordan Krestanovich but Jereme Tendler’s strike in the 11th minute stood up as the game winner in the end.
We end this week’s game summaries with the Challenge Cup Semi-Final 2nd leg between Belfast and Nottingham. With Panthers leading 5-1 from the 1st leg this was always going to be a steep mountain for Giants to climb and in the end despite leading three times in the game the home side could not deny the impressive visitors and Pat Galivan’s goal in the 55th minute gave Panthers the lead for the only time and ended up as the game winner. 4-3 on the night to Panthers and 9-4 on aggregate – who can stop them?
Player of the Week to complete our last February update now and we ask a player to skate forward and accept his applause who every single week just goes about his business in a quiet but highly effective manner and rarely lets his game level of performance drop below a very high standard. There are probably a few weeks that this guy could have been named Player of the Week but this is his time and we say well done to defenceman Eric Werner of the Nottingham Panthers.
