EIHL week 2 round-up
The Rapid Solicitors Elite Ice Hockey League is getting right into the swing of things now with some eight games to report on since the last round-up.
Only Braehead Clan have yet to join the party, with the fans there chomping at the bit prior to their season debut on the 24th of the month.
However, the other clubs have now all seen action at least once in either league or Challenge Cup, with Sheffield setting the very early pace in the league and Nottingham skating to a fast start in their Challenge Cup group.
The action started last Wednesday night when Panthers inflicted an Elite League era worst ever loss on the Coventry Blaze in their Challenge Cup group B clash. It finished 10-1 with Scott Champagne helping himself to a haul of 3+2 on the night. Blaze were simply blown away and it must have been a real shock to the system of Paul Thompson’s rebuilt roster.
Friday night saw an interesting encounter between Belfast and Hull in league play and it was the Giants who bounced back from their opening day home loss against Sheffield to post a 5-3 win. The home side had led 5-1 early in the third led by Brock McBride with 1+2 period only for Stingrays to finish the stronger but fall short in the end.
Next night Giants made the difficult trip to Wales to face off against Cardiff Devils and showed their qualities to come back from a 3-1 opening period deficit to take the game past the sixty minute mark and then win it in the shootout thanks to Benoit Doucet in the fourth round.
Coventry had to respond quickly to their shocker in Nottingham but had to face the long trip to be first footers in Kirkcaldy as Fife Flyers made their Elite League debut. Blaze struck early to take the fired up home crowd right out of the game and added a second goal in the opening period before denying Flyers much in the way of clear scoring opportunities.
Goaltender Peter Hirsch will have few easier nights and posted a 12 shot shutout. For Flyers it was an indication of how tough this new adventure is going to be.
The other game of Saturday night saw Sheffield take the points 4-1 over Dundee Stars in what was quite a chippy encounter. Steelers had the game won when leading 4-0 after two periods, with Neil Clark counting twice and it was only in the 55th minute that John DeCaro saw his shutout hopes ended by Stars player/coach Dan Ceman.
Sunday saw the return game between Coventry and Fife and this was a real eye-opener for the Scots as they were battered into submission by a Blaze side in no mood to take things lightly.
Peter Hirsch posted yet another shutout – this time making only 14 saves as young Brit Robert Farmer scored a hat trick.
Edinburgh Capitals opened their season at home against Nottingham still short of numbers and lost player/coach Richard Hartman to injury early on – not a recipe for success against a fast skating panthers, who took the points comfortably 5-1 .
The final match of the weekend saw Hull take on Sheffield and an entertaining encounter was nicely poised at 3-2 Steelers after two periods. Only a scoring burst from the visitors where they netted three times inside the final ten minutes took them clear of the home side. Neil Clark continued his fine start to the season with another brace, while Jason Silverthorn scored both goals for Stingrays.
Milestones
David Clarke of Nottingham recorded his 400th all-time Elite League point.
Jeff League of Sheffield recorded his 300th all-time Elite League point.
David-Alexandre Beauregard of Nottingham netted his 100th all-time Elite League goal.
Player of the week
This week goes to Peter Hirsch who helped his side bounce back at the weekend after a best to be forgotten defeat to Nottingham last Wednesday. He may only have faced 24 shots in total over the double weekend wins against Fife but a back to back shut out will help restore pride to both him and the team.
Round-up courtesy of Ronnie Nichol and Jim Lydon
