Final Score - Oxford 13 : Streatham 1

Sunday 17 August 2008

Streatham Redskins turned up at Oxford wanting payback. When the two teams met in Streatham last month they were very short benched owing to 8 of their regular starters being suspended in Cardiff the night before. There was feeling within the Redskins camp after the game that had they had a full team they would not have lost against the Stars that night, so they travelled up from London yesterday with a full team and in a confident mood.

That confidence was knocked out of them within the first 5 minutes though as Stars hammered in three quick goals. The defensive partnership of Shurmer and Eden scored the first two. Shurmers goal came off the back of a quick and slick breakout and some one touch passing from Joe Edwards and Darren Elliott. Shurmer then turned provider as he fed Eden the puck on the wing shorthanded and Eden made no mistake in rifling it home from the blue line. Skipper Elliot scored the Stars 3rd unassisted at 5.18 to effectively seal the game. From then on in it was to be a ridiculously one sided affair with Oxford showcasing their skills and tricks and Streatham unable to mount any form of attack. The Skins were happy for most of the game merely to get the puck out of their own end and content to record shots on Stars keeper Skaife from outside the red line.

Andy Cox broke his two year scoring drought at 10.07 tapping in a rebound from a Richie Hargreaves effort that hit the net behind the goal and popped out in front. Streatham were gifted a powerplay goal at 13.49 as Walsh converted from close range as the Stars were guilty for the only time in the game of not picking up their men. That was the last offensive threat the Redskins had though as the home team scored again at 16.23 as young-star Edwards scored the 1st of his 4 goals assisted by line mates Armour and Elliott on the newly named lined of ‘Dangle Boys’.

The 2nd period started as the last left off, with Stars on the attack from the start and scoring in the 1st minute, this time through veteran Armour who finished off a pretty drop pass from Elliott. That line was again on hand on their next shift at 24.12 as Elliott notched his 2nd of the night after some Brazilian like possession down low from Edwards and Armour, in fact during parts of the game there were shouts of “Ole!.......Ole!” from the Stars fans as pass after pass was completed. The fans were certainly in for a treat as it appeared every time they attacked they would score. Young terrier Sam Broughton was on hand at 33.51 to take the score to 8-1 as his line mates Dean Francis and Jacob Smith worked well to give him the puck in front. This was a true battlers goal, as although the puck was bouncing wildly Broughton managed to put it away whilst on his knees. The usual suspects were at it again for the next two goals in this period as Elliott got his hat-trick unassisted and shorthanded then Edwards closed the period out at with the score 10-1 with his second of the night.

Both teams were heavily penalised at times during the match for what looked to be fairly minor infractions that ref Simon Brown deemed worthy of 10 min misconducts. The game was by no means dirty or even overly physical. However, there were some minor flash points as the line of Richie & Mike Hargreaves along with Grant Bailey physically dominated the Redskins at every opportunity. They are becoming a force and many teams will not look forward to playing against them as they are a line which will take no nonsense. Mike Hargreaves showed his checking ability as he stepped up on the blue line and made a bone crunching hit which left a Redskins player crawling for his bench winded. Both teams could see he was hurt and were calling for the whistle even though Stars were mounting another attack. This lack of stoppage incensed the Skins players and it almost turned very sour as Barry Spours talked himself into the penalty box for 10mins shouting at anyone who looked his way, this resulted in Richie Hargreaves asking the wiley old tough guy Spours to step on the ice, an offer which was declined. Luckily the period ended shortly after and by the restart everyone had calmed down. Joe Edwards took little under two minutes of the restart to chalk up his hat-trick goal as Elliott and Shurmer split the tired and dejected Streatham team apart with their fluid passing moves. Armour sent Edwards off to score his 4th at 44.48. Edwards is enjoying what is quickly becoming a fantastic start to the season, it is difficult to believe he is only in his first full season at senior level.

The 13th and final goal of the night was awarded to Mike Hargreaves after a fortuitous bounce found the back of the net after some good play again by brother Richie. This win will put Oxford firmly up there with the contenders and more importantly help to erase any lingering memories of last weekend’s poor 2-2 draw with Haringey. Unlike at Ally Pally where it seemed nothing would go in, last night Stars had the midas touch. They showed that with determination, team work and a constant belief they can put in classy performances to win the big games. The key to their success this season is going to be making sure it happens in every single shift of every single game they play whether at home or away and regardless of the opponents.

Special guests from FOX FM were at the game last night and their lovely presenter Lucy Jones accepted the honour of standing in amongst the jubilant sweaty Stars team to present them all with Man of the Match. Many of the Stars team this year have chosen to support FOX FM’s ‘HELP AN OXFORDSHIRE CHILD’ charity and it is hoped there will become much closer links between the two organisations in the future.

Oxford Stars next take to the ice in two weeks as they face a top of the table clash in Berkshire against high flying Bracknell Hornets on Saturday 25th and then entertain Cardiff Devils the following night at home in Oxford.