Stars Bowled Over But Secure a Place in the Playoffs

Final Score - Invicta 11 : Oxford 2

Sunday 22nd February 2009

Oxford travelled to Invicta Dynamos to face the champions elect yesterday. Missing key defencemen Cox and Featherstone but boosted by the return of big blueliner Shurmer from injury.

The Dynamo began brightly and camped in the Oxford zone James Skaife forced into action early padding numerous shots away. Highly impressive import Milan Kostolny scored the first of his four at 04.01. Mo's lead was doubled at 07.34 as Kostolny scored again unmarked high in the slot. Stars then went on the attack as skipper Elliott just shot wide after a neat pass from Will Skaife. Stars Wojciak then saw his point drive gloved down by Invicta keeper White while Richie Hargreaves fired straight at the netminder from the right hash marks. The first period ended 2-0 with Stars still well in the hunt.

Stars were to fall foul of penalties yet again as first Coach Hargreaves was called for slashing to begin the second period. Elliot had a chance on the shorthanded but fired straight at the keeper. Kostolny hit the pipes before Smith scored at 22.34 when a pass from Invicta's other import Melichercik found him at point blank range. Kostolny then scored his hat trick goal at 25.05 to give the home side a 4-0 lead. The Stars finally got on the board at 29.36 when Alan Armour's shorthanded clearance up ice caused indecisiveness in keeper White who started to come to collect, stopped and then restarted but he was beaten to the puck by Darren Elliot who rounded him and fired into the open net. The Stars fans could be forgiven for thinking that there was a fight back on when Richard Wojciak scored after Joe Edwards had hit the blue line at speed, flown behind the cage, avoided a huge check from an Invicta players and found Wojciak all in the blink of an eye. It wasn’t to be for the Stars however as ill discipline hit them hard late in the period. Wojciak was called for Hooking, Charging and Roughing at 35.50, which gifted the Mo's a four minute powerplay opportunity. They needed just 5 seconds to score the first and the score was taken to 6-2 before the penalties expired. Shurmer was next in the box when he was called for hooking and again the Mo's powerplay was deadly accurate. Oxford thought they had scored as the puck was in the net as time expired in the period, hard to tell whether it beat the buzzer or not, Grant Bailey adamant that it did, referee Adam Hames disagreeing and disallowing the tally.

With the score at 7-2 the final period started badly for the visiting Oxford side. Invicta scoring after only 1 min of the period opening. They then scored again for 9-2 and James Skaife was replaced to give him a well deserved break as McGurk was chucked in at the deep end. McGurk himself then made a number of great saves within the first minute of being on. Grant Bailey shot into the Invicta keepers chest before Dean Francis and Richie Hargreaves both had shots themselves but were unable to find a way past. Invicta then replaced their own keeper just before Kostolny completed his scoring with his 4th of the night. Stars scored their 3rd at 53.02 as Armour fed Nick Eden on the blueline to rocket an unstoppable shot past the keeper. It was 11-3 at 56.47 when Invicta scored their final goal. Stars were last to score at 57.03 Grant Bailey won the face off and was set up by Shurmer to score from the hash marks with a great shot.

The Oxford City Stars are a solid third place in the league and even after this defeat other results went their way and they have qualified for the end of season playoffs. However, they are better than they showed in Invicta and will need to step up their game if they want to progress to the final in Coventry.

Stars play Haringey Greyhounds away next Sunday before finishing the league campaign with homes games against Invicta and then Milton Keynes.