Final Score - Milton Keynes Thunder 2 : Oxford Stars 5

Saturday 19th January 2008

Oxford made the short trip to Milton Keynes without power house forward Grant Bailey however they did unveil their new away strip to the visible delight of the small band of travelling supporters.

The Stars started the period in disarray and the Thunder raced down the ice to score within 58 seconds when Tom Roles finished well from a Mahmud pass. The Stars were thunder struck to say the least however they managed to put together some good moves and test Sutton in the Milton Keynes net. It took the Stars 16 minutes to finally grab an equaliser when Lee Featherstone scored past his former team with the assist going to Alan Green on the powerplay. There was then a moment of controversy when the referee and the timekeepers bench seemed to be confused as to what to do with Peter Taylor serving the penalty at the time of the goal, due to the delayed penalty called on Clifford just before the Stars scored. Once this was resolved the Stars resumed their powerplay but were unable to press home their advantage. At the end of the period the Thunder’s player coach Michael Knights skated across to remonstrate with the officials and was promptly given a ten minute misconduct penalty for his efforts.

With the influential Knights sitting in the box the Stars were confident of pressing home the advantage however the Thunder held firm and started to cause some problems for the Oxford defence and goalie James Skaife. They then got their rewards when after Oxford made a hash of clearing their own zone Harrison Goode picked up the puck in the slot and his wrist shot bobbled through Skaifes pads and rolled agonisingly over the line to give the Thunder the lead. This goal seemed to kick start the sluggish Stars in to action and they enjoyed a large spell of possession with Sutton in the MK net having to be at his very best to contain the shots raining in on him. Amazingly the hockey was so flowing in nature there were no whistles and therefore no stoppages for around 5 minutes which was bad news for the Thunder as it left Knights stranded in the box awaiting the whistle for him to return after his 10 minute penalty. With two minutes remaining in the period Alan Green finished a tremendous passing move between Nick Oliver and Will Skaife to grab the equaliser for the City Stars. Milton Keynes were on the ropes and thirty seconds later Oxford took the lead when Dean Francis ripped the puck past Sutton after a trademark Johnson pass.

With the Stars finishing the second period strongest they started the third in similar fashion but found Sutton once again a difficult opponent in the MK goal. With thirteen minutes gone in the third a sharp pass from Stars skipper Darren Elliott found the stick of the on rushing Dean Francis who squeezed between two defenceman and fired the puck in to the top corner of the net to score a goal that would not have looked out of place in a higher league. With the Stars gaining a vital two goal cushion MK seemed to lose some spark and when the Stars scored a fifth through Kent Johnson four minutes from time the result was no longer in doubt. At the end of the game the Stars were cheered off the ice by their supporters and Alan Green took the man of the match award.

Scorers:-

MK: Harrison Goode 1+0, Tom Roles 1+0, Aidan Mahmud 0+1, Paul Jamieson 0+1, Lewis Clifford 0+1.

Oxford: Dean Francis 2+0, Kent Johnson 1+1, Alan Green 1+1, Lee Featherstone 1+1, Darren Elliott 0+2, Nick Oliver 0+1, Joe Edwards 0+1, Will Skaife 0+1.

Penalties:-

MK: Mike Knights 10 mins (misc), Pete Taylor 4, Lewis Clifford 2.

Oxford: Andy Cox 2, Joe Edwards 2.

Netminding:-

MK: Allen Sutton - 25 saves, 5 goals, total 30.

Oxford: James Skaife - 26 saves, 2 goals, total 28.

Period scores:

1-1, 1-2, 0-2

Also played:-

MK: Mark Woolf (NM - did not ice), Paul Gore, Keiron Goody, James Roberts, Josh White, Carl Stevenson, David Coffey, Pavol Hudak, Dan Chaplen.

Oxford: Dave Carr, Nick Eden, Sam Broughton, Patrick Knightley, Joe Oliver, Kevin McGurk (NM - did not ice), Mark Krater, Jacob Smith.