After Guildford's surprise win at home to Cardiff and Milton Keynes doing the same to Belfast in week one, we wondered if there would any more shocks in week two. Here's your round-up of the Elite action in the second edition of "The Elite Week That Was".
Guildford travelled to Nottingham for the first time this season and came away with a point as they lost 3-2 in overtime. After a goalless first twenty John Dunbar had given them a surprise lead but goals Alexander Mokshantsev and Brett Perlini had the Panthers ahead at the end of the second. Kruise Reddick got the only goal of the third and that was enough for overtime; where it was won Panthers way at 61:07 thanks to a strike from Mr Meerkat himself - Robert Farmer for the uneducated.
Another Elite League game saw Coventry Blaze shut out the Manchester Storm in the Shelter, with 5-0 being the final score. Marc Olivier-Vallerand helped himself to a brace whilst captain Jordan Pietrus had one goal and three assists on a good night for Danny Stewart's team. Ross Venus and former Steeler Luke Ferrara chipped in with the other goals, and we can only think how unhappy Finner must have been in that locker room at the end. Hairdryer treatment maybe?
Milton Keynes won their second game in the EIHL as they defeated Braehead Clan 3-1 at home. The highly rated Lewis Hook and the veteran that is Ashley Tait had them two goals ahead after twenty and although Jacob Doty and Guillaume Doucet exchanged goals in the second that was it as regards the lighting of the lamp. Lightning captain Kevin King received a match penalty for kneeing in third but Pete Russell's men did the job.
The other two Saturday games were in the Challenge Cup. Dundee Stars and hosts Belfast Giants shared eleven goals in their game at the SSE with the hosts coming out on top, 7-4. Sebastian Sylvestre scored twice for Adam Keefe's men where special teams proved the big difference: Giants scoring three times on a man advantage to Stars' one. Stars had four different scorers but a first period where they shipped three ultimately cost them. Liam Heelis had a two goal night as Fife Flyers beat the Edinburgh Capitals 5-2 in the Auld Barn; the home side scoring three times in as many minutes early in the final period to put this game away.
Onto Sunday and Cardiff completed a nice four point weekend for themselves when they overcame Nottingham Panthers 4-1 at Ice Arena Wales. It had been a scoreless first period but three second period strikes had the Devils in control, the Meerkat pulled one back early in the third but Paul Crowder's first Devils goal secured two points for Andrew Lord's men. Also enjoying a four point haul were Coventry as they defeated the visiting Clan 4-1 in the Sky Dome. Ferrara and Vallerand gave them a 2-0 opening period, and although Adam Brace pulled one back for Braehead in the second, third period strikes from Pietrus and Ryan Dingle ensured the home side would be the ones smiling at the end.
Manchester bounced back from their Saturday night shut out with a 6-2 win over Milton Keynes in the Shelter. After Ryan Trenz and Denny Kearney had shared goals in the opening period, Carl Hudson gave the Lightning the lead at 27:45. Then Storm started to rumble with the Beca-Bissonnette-Hammond line being influential as each of them scored one of the five unanswered goals that followed; Beca's being a short handed strike. Linden Springer and Ciaran Long also found the twine; and we bet Finner was more happier than he was on Saturday at the end.
To conclude the week, we also had two more Challenge Cup games on the Sunday. Belfast went to Edinburgh and came out on top by the odd goal in eleven. Sylvestre scored twice again for the Giants but it was a 5-1 second period which really did the damage on the Capitals; Mike D'Orazio's powerplay strike with just over five minutes left made it 6-5 but Edinburgh were left rueing that horrible second twenty. Dundee were four goals to the good after just 6:15 played in their home game against Fife, Jimmy Jensen scoring twice. Although Heelis pulled one back for the Flyers, Riley Stadel made it a 5-1 opening period lead for Omar Pacha's men. Jensen completed his treble as Stars led 7-2 after forty, yet the home team were left to sweat a bit for the points as Flyers netted three times in the final period but they couldn't get any closer and it ended 7-5 to the Stars.
Join us next week for another look back..
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