Heat and Flames Visible in Guildford

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Sunday 11 November 2012 at the University of Surrey Sports Park followed by the Spectrum Leisure Centre
Results	Surrey Heat 81 Leicester Riders 74 Guildford Flames 3 Basingstoke Bison 2
Competitions	The BBL (top tier basketball) The English Premier League (second tier ice hockey)
Hopping	Number 13 on the courthopping list, and a second visit to an arena already on the rinkhopping list.  My first hoops/hockey daily double.
Pre-match preparation
Leicester Riders are leading the BBL and unbeaten in all competitions.  Surrey Heat are unbeaten at home, so someone’s record has to give today.  The decision to add the ice hockey was impulsive – no prep other than the teams had played each other yesterday at Basingstoke and Bison won 3-1 to stay at the top of the table.
These matches in one sentence each
A very good, solid performance from Heat to hand a first defeat to Riders built on a points/rebounds double from Frank Holmes. Flames came from behind twice and scored a last minute powerplay winner to delight the home crowd.
So what?
If Heat can win their game in hand, they will join Riders and Newcastle Eagles with 8-1 winning records.
The drama unfolds
Heat settled the quicker on their home court and a three by Albert Margai opened up a seven-point gap at 13-6 midway through the first quarter.  Riders’ coach Rob Paternostro took less than three minutes to become Mr Angry on the sidelines and he was to spend much of the afternoon prowling back and forth to the officials.  My scene-setter clip comes from late in the period as Riders close the gap to three points with just over a minute to go.  Heat are in black, Riders in red.  They got one more score before the buzzer and Andrew Sullivan was leading all scorers with 9pts.  24-23 at the end of the 1st quarter Peter Semek continued his good defensive work for Heat, impressing with his rebound count, but Heat got into foul-count trouble in the second quarter.  Riders’ Yorick Williams rolled back the years with a D-to-D break to give them the lead for the first time at 27-28.  This clip is from midway through the second quarter and takes the score from 28-28 to 35-32. Frank Holmes of Heat was definitely fired-up as two scores in quick succession opened a 43-34 gap and prompted a timeout call from Paternostro.  This time, Riders were in foul trouble but a two from Sullivan on the buzzer meant that the gap was only two points at the halfway mark.  46-44 at the end of the 2nd quarter The third period was lower-scoring as Riders took control.  The clip ends with them leading 55-57, and they stretched this to four points by the end of the quarter.  Sullivan (18) and Frank Holmes (14) continued to lead the scoring charts.  57-61 at the end of the third quarter Frank Holmes got the first points of the final period and the next clip is part of the home side’s turnaround.  Julius Joseph got five consecutive points to tie the game at 64-64.  Paternostro was not a happy bunny.  At the end of the clip we have a score of 73-67 with just over 3 minutes to play. Frank Holmes then contributed another timely score as Heat then shut the Riders out of the next 24s on the shot clock and the clip has them holding the gap to 79-74 with seven seconds to play. Although Riders used deliberate fouls to try to get control of the clock, Heat kept their composure from the free-throw line and although the last two from Caylin Raftopoulos bobbled teasingly on the hoop they both dropped in to seal the home win.  Frank Holmes finished with 22 points and Sullivan and Zaire Taylor on 20.  Final score 81-74 A brief car journey took me to the Spectrum where Guildford Flames were hosting table-toppers Basingstoke Bison.  Bison took the lead through Joe Rand and Flames' Curtis Huppe equalised, and the first period finished level at 1-1.  Bison took the lead again in the second with a Doug Sheppard strike, but Flames levelled in the third with Huppe's second score of the game.  Here is the turning point in the last two minutes, as Flames converted a powerplay to take the lead for the first time with 27 seconds left  Jez Lundin is the scorer of the vital goal.  Bison took off their netminder but Flames held on for the win.  Final score 3-2
The programmes
Proof that I folded the Heat programme, which is actually an A3 poster.  Shocking.
Something random
The Guildford zamboni is still going round clockwise, but you knew that.
Hopping for Moorfields Update
Nothing to report – these fixtures don’t count towards the totals.
What Next?
In one word – dunno.  Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter for any revelations.

Bison Come Back

Bison in white

 

Simultaneous penalties are a chance to get-to-know one's opponent a bit better

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Sunday 29 January at the Basingstoke Arena
Result	Basingstoke Bisons 4 Slough Jets 4 Bisons win in a shootout
Competition	English Ice Hockey Premier League
Hopping	#4 on the rinkhopping list
This match in one sentence
Bisons went behind four times, equalised four times, and got a win from the shootout.
So what?
A four-point weekend and a mid-table position for Bison after an excellent away win at Milton Keynes on Saturday.  Jets take three which is enough to edge them up a place in the league table this week, to second.
Something random
I am so pleased to report that the Bison Zamboni goes clockwise and so my northern hemisphere theory is holding up.   There was also a sighting of a two-legged skating Bison in jeans with a bucket of pucks.  This kind of thing happens all the time in the world of ice hockey.  However, a four-legged skating pantomime Bison would be really impressive and I hope they can work on this before my next visit.
The drama unfolds
I am gradually getting to grips with this sport although some of the reasons for the stoppages and penalties elude me as yet.  I do know that if one player is off the ice because of a penalty, and there are 5 skaters v 4 (excluding netminders) for two minutes, this is called a powerplay.  If there is a score, then the penalised team is restored to full strength.  My first clip caught an example of this, the game’s first goal as Jets took the lead.  0-1 The pass is from Doug Sheppard, and the scorer is Darius Pliskauskas with just over 7 minutes gone.  Nicky Chinn was the Bison in the sinbin, for “icing”, whatever that is.  The match was pretty even – with 7m49 left in the period Slough netminder Gregg Rockman made a great stop from a one-on-one break, Chinn took a different penalty (for hooking) and then there was a flashpoint behind the net that sent one player from each side for two minutes of quiet contemplation.  Ryan Watt (Jets) and Tony Redmond (Bison) were the guilty slashing parties, with the former getting two further minutes for the initial trip.  The equaliser came from the powerplay with less than 3m to go in the period.  Joe Miller scored from an acute angle and the score was deserved on the balance of play.  There was time for Chinn to fit in his third penalty of the evening and he used his two minutes to stick pins into a model of the referee.  At least that’s what I assume.  1-1 at the end of the first period Ryan Watt put Jets back into the lead after a minute of the second period, assisted by Dan Davies.  1-2 With the clock showing 15m42s left of the period, Plinkauskas was the next person to create a powerplay opportunity for the other side.  The call was cross-checking, but I couldn’t distinguish it myself from tripping, hooking or pontificating.  I suppose these officials know what they are doing.  Within seconds the scores were level.  It has been credited to Daniel Volrab but it was an unusual goal in that his shot was deflected up and over the netminder in a gentle loop before dropping behind the line.  2-2 Three minutes later Bison lost the puck in … right midfield, midrink, midcourt, whatever … and Watt sped away with it and passed to Pliskauskas, who finished neatly with a powerful shot across netminder Stephen Wall.  2-3 After two minutes of 4-on-4 (slashing again, I am told) Bison equalised.  Even I could appreciate the timing and pace of Viktor Kubenko’s pass inside the defence to Tony Redmond who duly finished.  Six minutes to go in the period.  3-3 Here’s a clip, which opens with Rockman’s third save in quick succession as Bison pressed, and ends with 1m20s on the clock.  3-3 at the end of the second period At some point after the end-of-period buzzer, another penalty was called against each side.  Roughing and high sticks respectively.  Pliskaskas got out in time to assist Watt to give Jets the lead yet again with 14m28s to go.  3-4 With six minutes left, and seconds after I had stopped filming, Marcel Petran smacked in a shot from distance for the fourth equaliser of the night.  4-4 Here is some third period action in two clips.  The period ended with Bison on the attack, frequent restarts, and Dan Davies bizarrely getting a penalty with five seconds left that would give Bison a powerplay for the start of overtime.  4-4 at the end of the third period As it happens, Jets saw that powerplay out easily enough.  Here’s a clip from the 5 minutes of overtime.  Bison had the better of the territorial stats but no-one could find a goal.  4-4 at the end of overtime I accidentally pressed stop so my coverage of the shootout is split across two clips.  Bison win on penalties
Man-of-the-Match
People that know about these things gave the honours to Kurt Reynolds (Bison) and Ryan Watt (Jets).
A snippet from the programme
From The Newcomers Guide to Ice Hockey (Thank you!) “The puck must enter the attack zone (beyond the blue line) ahead of any of the attacking players.  It’s really as simple as that.” I watched an entire game without realising there was any kind of rule of this type at all, so that’s progress for me.
What Next?
Watch @GrahamYapp on Twitter for any announcements.