Final Score - Coventry 7 : 1 Oxford

22nd December 2007

Oxford made the trip to Coventry hoping to continue their strong league form against the ENL Blaze. The City Stars welcomed back Dave Carr and Grant Bailey to the line up but were missing Nick Eden and Andy Cox.

The game started with both teams battling hard but not showing much quality. Oxford looking slightly more dangerous but not directly threatening Fone in the Coventry goal. It took nearly thirteen minutes for anything of note to happen when Lee Featherstone’s mid ice hit on Coventry forward Joe Henry was deemed to be an elbowing offence by the referee who seemed to call the penalty based on the ‘oooohs’ of the crowd. Thirty seconds later a nasty slash by a Coventry forward on Oxford goalie James Skaife saw Jacob Smith push the offending player out of the crease only to be assessed a roughing minor by the eagle eyed official. Suprisingly the slash was not deemed worthy of a penalty and with a 5 on 3 powerplay, Papps found Henry all alone in front of the net and he finished top shelf to give Coventry the lead. At 1-0 down at the end of the first the Stars were confident of turning the game around.

Yet again both teams were slow out of the starting blocks and it took ten minutes before anything really happened. Unfortunately for Oxford it was Papps scoring for Coventry after good work from Henry. Four minutes later it was three nil after a speculative shot by Nabbs hit Skaifes blocker and looped over his own head to drop in to the Oxford goal. It seemed that Coventry now had the midas touch and they looked like scoring every time they attacked whereas Oxford looked subdued to say the least. Oxford’s luck ran out completely before the end of the period when Lee Featherstone limped off with a dead leg.

At three nil down many were expecting the Stars to come out flying but in fairness the home side had found their stride and confidence. With thirty seconds gone Coventry scored through former Milton Keynes forward Aram Todd and it was effectively game over. Three minutes later Henry skated down the wing and hit a shot from virtually the goal line that crept inside Skaifes pads at the near post to round off a miserable night for the Stars goalie. Back up goalie Kevin McGurk replaced him and was called in to action virtually straight away pulling off a stunning leg pad save from a shot across goal. The Stars then gained possesion and Dave Carr played the puck wide to rookie Joe Edwards who slid the puck to Kent Johnson in front of goal and the former Solent sniper played a neat backhanded shot through the goalies legs to give Oxford a consolation goal. If Oxford thought their luck had changed then they were in for a shock as Henry coasted round the back of the net to score a wrap around goal and seal his hat trick. Coventry made it 7-1 with only 6 minutes remaining through Ledgard to round off a miserable evening for the Stars. Whilst the Stars were no where near as bad as the 7-1 scoreline suggests they were certainly subdued and struggled to deal with Coventry’s wide ice.