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.

Flames Subside as Jets are Turned On

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Sunday 15 January 2012 at Spectrum, Guildford
Result	Guildford Flames 3 Slough Jets 4
Competition	English Premier League
Hopping	This is venue #3 on my new Rinkhopping list, after MK and Slough.
This match in one sentence
A turnround in the third period gave Slough a great victory in an anti-climax of a game for Guildford.
So what?
Flames lead MK Lightning by three points, who lead Jets & Manchester Phoenix by one.  Phoenix have played one game more.
Something random
I am pleased to confirm that the Guildford zamboni goes in a clockwise pattern (see previous posts for my Northern Hemisphere theory).  The Spectrum is a well-appointed arena, part of a large leisure complex in which people can follow both healthy and unhealthy pursuits.
The drama unfolds
After their 6-5 road win at MK Lightning the day before, the Guildford faithful were hoping for a home win to increase the gap at the top of the table.  Indeed, when they started well and took an early lead through Greg Chambers on a powerplay, all was well with the world.  1-0 My scene-setting clips, while I was getting used to the camera movement and angles needed from my perspex position, show the other powerplays of the period, one for each side but neither converted into a goal. Almost nine minutes into the second period Doug Sheppard equalised.  1-1 The lead lasted only ninety seconds, before Andrew Hemmings restored the Flames’ advantage, and then Branislav Kvetan scored a powerplay goal (caught in my fourth clip) to give a two-goal margin at the end of the second.  It has to be said that things were looking all hunky-dory for Flames at that point.  Jets had had a reasonable amount of territory without looking particularly dangerous, and neither the game nor the arena had the passion and intensity of the game I was at yesterday.  1-3 I don’t know the technicalities of this sport well enough to explain what happened in the third.  There were no penalties for a start.  Joe Greener scored after three minutes or so, and then Adam Calder and Adam Greener scored in quick succession to give Slough the lead for the first time.  3-4 We all anticipated a vigorous Flames response, with over seven minutes left, but as my final clip shows, Slough managed to keep the puck up at the other end for a large proportion of those final minutes and the inevitability of an away win gradually settled over Surrey.  No roughing, interference, cross-checking, slashing or weeing in an opponent's Powerade.  Shocking.  Other polluted energy drinks are available.  Final score 3-4
What Next?
Another change of direction on Thursday evening with a new sporting tangent for the blog!  I hope you are all shivering with anticipation.

Jets Roaring On

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Saturday 17 December 2011 at The Hangar, Slough
Result	Slough Jets 9 Manchester Phoenix 0
Competition	English Ice Hockey Premier League
Hopping	#2 on my new rinkhopping list, and here because it fitted in well with my Middlesex League game earlier in the day.  As with football, I will be posting from any new venue that I attend for the first time.
This match in one sentence
Slough always had more attacking threat but the one-goal first period held no hint of the six-goal demolition to come in the second.
So what?
Slough stay second behind Guildford and Manchester are fifth in a congested mid-table.  Slough and Guildford still have to play each other four times this season so the competition is still open.
The drama unfolds
Slough took the lead just over three minutes in.  There was no clue of what was to come, except that Manchester’s failure to score (see clip) when two Slough players were in the sin bin hinted at their lack of firepower up front.  Both teams seemed to be affected today by injuries and international calls (and perhaps suspensions for all I know). This game is fast … and I utterly failed to get any usable footage from the second period, when Slough rattled in six goals in fairly quick succession to render the game meaningless as a contest.  It was impressive stuff, and embarrassing for the visitors (who were well-supported by the way). This is not meant to be a highlights site though, so we must content ourselves with an “atmosphere” clip from the third.  I suspect Slough gave some ice time to their squad members and the focus became whether netminder Gregg Rockman would keep a clean sheet.  He did, despite 35 shots from the visitors (most of them in the third, I think).
A snippet from the programme
From the Jets’ perspective, that 5-4 reverse at MK Lightning last week, which I now realise was doubling up as a cup qualification game. “MK lost Gracic to a 5+game check from behind penalty after a hit on Joe Greener.  Defending his brother, Adam Greener was awarded a match penalty for cross-checking and a 10+game penalty for abuse of an official.  Slough called their timeout at 58:58 and despite playing 56 seconds with an extra attacker and empty net it was the home team who hung on for the points to split the weekend results.”  (Jets had beaten Lightning at home the day before.)
What I learned today
There are lots of other reasons for 2-minute penalties that I had not seen before … and that there can be 10-minute penalties for misconduct.  I am still not totally sure what the Slough player had done to deserve this at a restart – it appeared to be something like looking at the stripey man in a sarcastic manner.  It was certainly very tame compared with the other carnage that seems to happen as a matter of routine.  No doubt I will gradually learn these things in the month ahead. Adam Greener, the angriest man on ice for the Jets when I saw them last weekend in a spectacular 5-4 defeat at MK Lightning, was absent today. (The Jets had come back to 4-4 from 4-0 down only to lose to a late goal in a superb game.) However, all else pales into insignificance compared with the news that the Slough Zamboni also goes clockwise, so my Northern Hemisphere Coriolis Force Zamboni Influence Theory is holding up with 2 from 2.  Disappointingly, it was not a Dave at the wheel, so that one is gone.  Nevertheless, a trip to Australia will be necessary at some point to check this out.
What Next?
I must start some fixture research to decide my Boxing Day double footy hop.  I don’t know of any evening fixture that would allow a treble, so please let me know if you know different!