Stars beat league champs in all British show down

Final Score - Oxford 6 : Invicta 3

Sunday 8th March 2009

Oxford Stars continued their winning streak by defeating newly crowned ENL Div 1 Champions Invicta Dynamos 6-3. Although Invicta arrived in Oxford with an under-strength team missing their two highly influential imports through suspension and a three key Brits either sick or rested they are still a well drilled team with many good players and arguably the leagues best netminder Joe White.

Star wasted no time in taking advantage of the situation as Captain Elliott scored assisted by Francis and Mike Hargreaves at 3:48. However, a defensive by Will Skaife led to the Dynamos Lennon levelling at 6:52. Almost straight away a freak bounce led to Joe Edwards finding his scoring touch again on an empty net as White in goal was stranded behind the goal, this time assisted by Cox and Wojciak. The one goal lead was wiped out though as Stars Armour and Eden again failed to clear the zone along the boards and Dynamos brought the score level. The last goal of the period went to the home side as Ace Bailey blasted home from inside the goal crease after a pin point pass from Coach Hargreaves on the veterans line. So far in the game only Oxford had been penalised as Shurmer and Featherstone sat minor penalties. This was reflected in the shot count as Dynamos, although losing, outshot the Stars 14-8.

The 2nd period was goal less until 7 minutes in as eventual man of the match Cox raced in on goal to keep his recent scoring streak going after great play from his linemates Featherstone and particularly Edwards. A penalty shot was then awarded at 38:04 as Mark Krater was hauled down as he skated in on goal. It was Krater who then stepped up to take the penalty shot and calmly deked Joe White out of his skin sending the visiting keeper rolling around before putting the puck away to rapturous applause from the home fans. No penalties were called at all in the middle stanza and Stars bossed the game, controlling the puck with ease and turning the shot count around to outshoot the Mo’s 23-15. The biggest cheer of the night probably went to Stars Richard Wojciak who sent Mo’s Captain Grant Baxter flying with a bone crunching mid-ice hit in this period.

The 3rd period finished 1-1 as Shurmer scored on the powerplay from Francis and Edwards before Invicta grabbed a consolation goal less than 30 seconds before the end. Stars again won the shooting and possession battle this time taking 24 shots to Invicta’s 10. Stars took the opportunity to give more ice to backup netminder McGurk in this period who replaced Skaife at 51:49. This game was billed as a ‘Battle of the Brits’ and Stars home grown talent certainly showed their worth, although they will need to continue this run and cut out the stupid defensive errors before facing Bracknell in the playoffs. Dynamos for their part may be worried about their teams chances while missing their key imports going into tough games themselves in the playoffs and a Cup Final. The only really unsavoury incident happened after Andy Cox had levelled a number of Dynamos players one after another with clean hits. Cox was then attacked late in the game on a face-off leading to Anthony Lennon receiving 16 mins for the incident and Cox sporting a cut lip and smashed helmet.

Stars have only one home game left against Milton Keynes Thunder next weekend at Oxpens Road before the playoffs start. Coach Hargreaves will be keen to continue this latest run of form into those key games against Bracknell and hopefully take the team to the ENL Championships in Coventry next month.