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
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