Final Score - Oxford 4 : 3 Coventry

6th January 2008

Oxford City Stars entertained the Coventry ENL Blaze in front of a decent crowd at the Oxpens rink. Mark Krater returned to the line up after missing the previous nights defeat to Cardiff.

Oxford coach Darryl Morvan shuffled his pack ahead of the clash to face a team that had walloped the City Stars 7-1 at the end of 2007. Former Solent sniper Kent Johnson joined Darren Elliott and Dean Francis on the first line and Jacob Smith was promoted up to the 2nd line to play on the wing alongside Alan Green and Grant Bailey.

The switches seemed to be working with the Stars flying at Blaze from the minute the puck dropped with Francis and Elliott both following up hits on the Coventry defencemen. A good spell of pressure followed with the Stars playing with intensity that had been lacking in recent weeks. Despite this good start the home side found themselves 1-0 down after Coventry youngster Joe Henry snuck in at the back post to convert a powerplay goal for the Blaze. Despite this setback the Stars continued to pressure the well drilled Coventry side at every turn but were finding it difficult to get a clear chance against Dan Shea in the Coventry goal. Finally the Stars got an opportunity on a delayed penalty (Papps for holding) and the home side made no mistake with flamboyant skipper Darren Elliott finishing in to the top corner from a Dean Francis pass. To their credit Coventry kept going and were showing signs of why they had beaten Oxford so comfortably only weeks before. Wilcox and Pease looked assured in defence for the visitors and Henry and Todd were looking lively up front and Oxford had to breathe a sigh of relief when a shot from Tom Ledgard cannoned off the corner of the crossbar and to safety. The Coventry players were not amused as they believed the puck had bounced out of the back of the net but to be fair to the referee he was well up with play and did not need to rely on the goal judge. It was clear that the Stars had to keep up the level of intensity or Coventry would run riot. Just when the Stars seemed unable to make further headway, the tall striding Alan Green span around the top of the circle inside the Coventry zone and unleashed a slap shot along the ice that beat the goalie and nestled in the back of the net with only ten seconds remaining in the period.

After such an eventful first period the second was never going to follow suit however it was not without incident. With only 6 minutes gone Coventry’s defenceman Chris Wilcox was given a ten minute personal misconduct and 3 minutes later Oxford’s third line stole the show with Joe Oliver cycling hard around the back of the net and making space for pint sized Sam Broughton to finish coolly. Oxford now had a two goal advantage but as their supporters are aware they never like to do things the easy way and when Joe Henry scored his second for Coventry when left all alone in front of the net it was game on for the third period.

Oxford came out for the third knowing that the first goal would be vital. Unfortunately they were short handed virtually as soon as the period started causing audible groans from Stars players and fans alike. With Coventry camped in the Oxford end they managed to lose possession and Lee Featherstone passed the puck to Elliott on the boards who spotted the flying figure of Dean Francis and picked him out with a precision pass to allow Francis a one on one with Shea in the Coventry goal, and the Oxford forward drilled the puck home to give Oxford that vital two goal cushion. Four minutes later the dogged Coventry team scored again through Scott Murray to set up a rousing finale. Oxford managed to hold out for the remaining ten minutes but the story did not end there. With Coventry pulling their goalie for the last ten seconds to give them an extra man on the ice, they lost the face off and Oxford cleared the zone. With Alan Green rushing for the puck he managed to get a back handed shot away before the buzzer but as he skated past the empty net, Coventry defenceman Pease pushed him into the goal. Unfortunately for Pease he didn’t see Grant Bailey skating towards him and with Bailey clearly upset the two dropped gloves and both teams waded in for a mass brawl that would have been at home in a western movie. Naturally the crowd were quite excited by this point but after all the fuss had died down both teams shook hands with the exception of Coventry goalie Dan Shea who stormed off the ice after hitting at least two Stars players from behind with his blocker whilst they were fighting other players.

Oxford celebrated what had been a hard fought victory against a Coventry team who really are emerging as one of the strong teams in the league under the guidance of former Elite league player Joel Poirier

Scorers:

Oxford: Dean Francis 1+1, Darren Elliott 1+1, Sam Broughton 1+0, Alan Green 1+0, Joe Oliver 0+1, Mark Krater 0+1, Lee Featherstone 0+1.

Coventry: Joe Henry 2+0, Scott Murray 1+0, Kieran Papps 0+1, Stuart Clayton 0+1, Aram Todd 0+1.

Penalties:

Oxford: Grant Bailey 31 mins (inc Match), Will Skaife 27 (inc Match), Jacob Smith 25 (inc Match), Andy Cox 4, Alan Green 4, Dave Carr 2, Sam Broughton 2.

Coventry: Tom Pease 54 mins (inc 2 Match), Stuart Clayton 50 (inc 2 Match), Dan Shea 50 (inc 2 Match), Chris Wilcox 10 (inc misc), Scott Murray 4, Matt Halford 4, Joe Henry 2, Ollie Nabbs 2, Bench 2.

Netminding:

Oxford: James Skaife - 31 saves, 3 goals, total 34.

Coventry: Dan Shea - 26 saves, 4 goals, total 30 (59.14).

Period scores:

2-1, 1-1, 1-1

Also played:

Oxford: Nick Eden, Kent Johnson, Nick Oliver, Joe Edwards, Patrick Knightley, david Tyler (NM - did not ice).

Coventry: Hayden Laverick (NM - did not ice), Ryan Selwood, Tom Ledgard, Ian Hunt, Luke Curtis, Scott Mulholland, Tom Hooper, Daniel Burgess.