Final Score - Oxford 5 : Solihull 2

Sunday 20 January 2008

Oxford entertained the Solihull Barons in front of a decent crowd at Oxpens Road. Stars were missing Grant Bailey from the line up so Kent Johnson continued in his role alongside Darren Elliott and Dean Francis on the first line.

The game started poorly for the home side, and straight from face off the Barons were threatening with an effective dump and chase game involving their top line of Adams, Howarth and Bakalar. The Stars goalie James Skaife was called upon on several occasions to deny the midlanders who seemed determined to avenge the 10-3 defeat inflicted on them on their home ice a few weeks earlier. The first period continued to be scrappy and both sides seemed pleased to be level at 0-0 when the buzzer went for the end.

The second period was much more lively and after only two minutes an awful hit on Oxfprd’s Alan Green from behind by Solihull’s Phil Lee saw the experienced Solihull player earn a 2+10 minute penalty for his troubles. From the resulting powerplay Oxford finally took the lead after an excellent goal from their second line. With Green cycling hard round the back of the Solihull net he passed the puck to Smith in front of the goal who rather than shooting tapped the puck to the side of the goal where Nick Oliver was waiting to pounce and tap home the puck past the diving Solihull goalie. This increased the atmosphere inside the rink and four minutes later the home support were on their feet again when Will Skaife passed to Kent Johnson in front of the net and despite being hit to the floor by a Solihull defenceman he managed to connect with the puck and smash it past Foley in the Solihull net to make it 2-0. At two nil up the Stars were in control, however after failing to clear their own zone, they paid the penalty for some slack marking from a Solihull face off and this left Bakalar free to effectively walk the puck around Skaife to give the visitors hope. Two minutes later though the Stars had the two goal cushion again when Jacob Smith screeched in from the wing to score before wheeling away and punching the air with delight. Then the Stars hit penalty trouble with Knightley’s clumsy hit from behind on a Solihull forward earning him the same punishment as Solihull’s Lee earlier in the period. The second period ended with the Stars leading 3-1.

With Solihull very much in contention the Stars had to put on a good performance in the third and they had to work hard as Solihull started the period strongly and were certainly more physical than the home side. With seven minutes gone the Barons pulled it back to 3-2 through Steven Rowlands after the Stars defence went AWOL. This made the Stars nervous in their play and the home support seemed on edge as Skaife made a couple of good saves to deny an equaliser. Stars coach Morvan then called a time out and it did the trick. With seven minutes left Stars skipper Elliott made it 4-2 and two minutes later Alan Green scored a fifth after Smith and Oliver had combined again.

It was a good win for the Stars against a hard working Solihull side who will have been disappointed to lose. The Stars also wore their new home shirt for the first time so they will be hoping it stays unbeaten for the rest of the season.

Scorers:-

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

Solihull: Erik Bakalar 1+0, Stephen Rowlands 1+0, Andrew Howarth 0+1, Neil Adams 0+1, Richard Taylor 0+1.

Penalties:-

Oxford: Patrick Knightley 14 mins (inc misc), Darren Elliott 12 (inc misc), Andy Cox 2, Nick Oliver 2, Dean Francis 2.

Solihull: Phil Lee 12 mins (inc misc), Neil Adams 2, Lee Winwood 2, Dale White 2, Bench 2.

Netminding:-

Oxford: James Skaife - 33 saves, 2 goals, total 35.

Solihull - Elliot Foley - 32 saves, 4 goals, total 36 (53.30), Dave Roxborough - 4 saves, 1 goal, total 5 (6.30).

Period scores:

0-0, 3-1, 2-1.

Also played:-

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

Solihull: Andrew Ayers, Luis Brindle, Phil Knight, Edward Slater, Rob Perks, Jack Robinson, Connor Hubbuck, Barry Evans, Rob Eley, Richard Slater.