Final Score - Solent and Gosport 4 : 10 Oxford

23rd December 2007

Scorers:

Josh Hickman (4+1), Jess Lawrence (3+0), Hamish Martin (2+1), George English (1+0), Joe Foster (0+1), Alex Humm (0+1), Reece Joliffe (0+1) and Brandon Finch (0+1)

Penalties:

None

Shots on Goal:

Charlie Hanley 17

Man of the Match:

Josh Hickman

Spirit of the Match

Megan O'Connor

Also Played:

Max Florey, Kat Lossnitzer and Harry Foster

Final Score - Oxford 0 : 11 Lee Valley Lions

Penalties:

Taylor Simmonds 2 mins, Max Florey 2, Hamish Martin 2, George English 2 + 2 MIN BENCH PEN.

Man of the Match:

Max Florey

Spirit of the Match:

Jess Lawrence

Shots on Goal:

Charlie Hanley 21, Sabina Lossnitzer 18

Watch U18s take on Invicta away.

Watch U18s take on Haringey away.

Final Score - Lee Valley 13 : 3 Oxford

1st December 2007

Scorers:

Jess Lawrence 2+0, Josh Hickman 1+2, George English 0+1

Penalties:

Jess Lawrence 2 mins (tripping)

Netminding:

Sabina Lossnitzer, 26 shots (also MOM)

Also Played:

Max Florey, Brandon Finch, Kat Lossnitzer, Giorgio Angeleri-Rand, Hamish Martin, Dawn Kellond and James Humm (SPIRIT)

Final Score - Oxford 3 : 3 Basingstoke

2nd December 2007

Oxford u16s successfully defended their unbeaten record against Basingstoke yesterday afternoon at Oxpens. In a great game of hockey Basingstoke demonstrated their A league credentials proving to be easily the best team the u16s have faced so far this season.

1st period was frenetic from the drop and Basingstoke immediately sought to impose their physical advantage. Very tight play with both teams playing at pace continued through the period and Oxford had opportunities as Basingstoke picked up a couple of minors. It was towards the end of the second of these powerplays that Oxford, desperately trying to make a breakthrough, probably over committed themselves allowing Basingstoke through to open the scoring. Basingstoke soon picked up a 2+10 (check to the head) and much to Oxfords frustration their Pen Kill team once again held out to go into the break with the advantage.

Oxford seemed to come out for the 2nd period with a greater determination to stand their ground physically. Magic in particular showed great courage as he crunched into lads almost twice his size. Basingstoke again ran into regular penalty during this period and at last Oxford took advantage through Ben assisted by Magic 2mins into the period and again 10mins or so later JoshO scoring a double assisted effort. Basingstoke netted late on to bring the scores level.

Understandably tired and with Hal sitting out the remainder of a minor Oxford conceded seconds into the 3rd. Oxford began to run into penalty trouble of there own but bench and supporters alike nearly took the roof off as JoshO slotted home following some persistent work by Ben short handed. Exuberance soon turned to anxiety as JoshO picked up a tripping call shortly after the restart. We were now deep into nail-biting territory with both teams creating decent chances. When, with 2 minutes to go, Jake was called for hooking and with lots of tired legs on the ice you did start to fear the worst. But they held out at it was quite a relief when Basingstoke picked up their own minor with 23 seconds remaining to see the game finish in a draw.

A number of players benched for this game but either did not ice or got very little ice time. I hope that they understand why, if not, they should speak to the coaches. This, in comparison to most other games this season, was a highly physical game played at great pace. All the players should have seen in Basingstoke the work rate and skating that is required if this group of players is to realise their aspirations. So, if you really want it, turn up early for skills training, 100% in every drill at training, get down to powerskate, ask the coaches which areas you need to improve most in. With around 22 players able to bench, if you don’t play for any other teams or you don’t play roller, just turning up and putting in minimum effort for one hour a week at training is unlikely to be enough to give you the ice time you want.

Scorers:

Oxford: Josh Oliver 2+0, Ben Chandler 1+2, Michael Wakelin 0+2.

Basingstoke: Alex Clarke 2+0, Michael Gorman 1+1, Kyle Mason 0+2.

Penalties:

Oxford: Ryan Bollweg 14 mins (inc misc), Hal Davison 4, Jake Florey 4, Josh Oliver 2.

Basingstoke: Sean Loane 18 mins (inc misc), Ross Hawken 12 (inc misc), Jay Ingoldsby 2, Paul Brooks 2, Stuart Mogg 2.

Netminding:

Oxford: Peter Endicott - 21 saves, 3 goals, total 24.

Basingstoke: Danny Milton - 25 saves, 3 goals, total 28.

Also Played:

Oxford: Lara Wood, Sam Jordan, Mark Third, Matthew Spacksman, Joe Eldridge, Warren Jones, Paige Simmonds, Nevy Baze, Christopher Gill, Roberto Angeleri_Rand, Liam McLaughlin.

Basingstoke: Sam Pering, JamesJones, Ali Miller, Cameron Wynn, Patrick Levy.

Period Scores:

0-1, 2-1, 1-1

Final Score - Oxford 8 : 0 Swindon

1st December 2007

The under 16s re-started their season after a lengthy lay off with a convincing 8-0 victory over a much improved Swindon team. Nevy opened the scoring on a powerplay around the 4 minute mark slotting home after some great work from Josh O. Following this the game was pretty evenly contested although Swindon rarely were allowed within shooting range. Oxford were denied increasing their lead until the 11th minute mainly by the impressive Rachael Pullen in the Swindon net. Even handed goals from Josh O x2 and Ben x1 took Oxford in 4:0 at the break.

The 2nd period saw Oxford playing 3 line hockey throughout until JoshO picked up a somewhat dubious roughing call. The penalty kill team were almost caught out on a few occasions during this period until Ben decided to do a lap of the rink before moving in on the net and just as all us “knowledgeable” supporters were screaming “pass it!!” he deked taking out 2 defenders and slotted home, which just goes to show what us “knowledgeable” supporters know about the game. That was to be the only goal of the period as a bench of 17 players was fully utilised.

The 3rd period saw JoshO score within a minute and Swindon enjoyed probably their best spell of the match forcing 7 saves out of Peter who, not content with another shut-out notched himself an assist on the next goal scored by JoshO also assisted by MoM Ryan. As now seems to be the tradition, JoshO scored the last goal of the match to round off a great scoring match for him personally.

In addition to the scoreline, Oxford only picked up 2mins penalties, a result in itself.
As Nick was busy having his face re-arranged at Telford, thanks to Colin for running the bench, Ken and Mike also and JoshF for turning up and supporting his team. Special congratulations to netminder Sam Jordan who made his “outfield” debut for this season.

Scorers:

Oxford: Josh Oliver 4+1, Ben Chandler 3+2, Nevy Baze 1+0, Peter Endicott 0+1, Hal Davison 0+1, Warren Jones 0+1, Jake Florey 0+1, Ryan Bollweg 0+1.

Penalties:

Oxford: Josh Oliver 2 mins.

Swindon: Adam Young 2 mins, Bench 2.

Netminding:

Oxford: Peter Endicott - 13 saves, total 13.

Swindon: Rachel Pullen - 32 saves, 8 goals, total 40.

Also Played:

Oxford: Lara Wood, Sam Jordan, Mark Third, Matthew Spacksman, Joe Eldridge, Michael Wakelin, Christopher Gill, Roberto Angeleri_rand, Liam McLaughlin.

Swindon: Terry Silvester, Michael Joyce, Jack Backwell, Adam Coakley, Lee Beardsmore, Earl Cooke, Jamie Townsend, Gareth Thomas, Matthew Tregelles, Ryan Martin, Ryan Richards, Ryan Thrower.

Period Scores:

4-0, 1-0, 3-0

Final Score - Oxford 9 : 6 Swindon

25th November 2007

Oxford City Stars entertained local rivals Swindon ENL Wildcats at Oxpens Road with the visitors out to get revenge after the City Stars closely fought win in Wiltshire the previous week. The City Stars welcomed back Alan Green to the line up after four weeks out injured however they were without Mark Krater. Swindon added highly rated youngsters Shannon Taylor and Grant Richardson from the team that had been defeated the previous week.

A large crowd had gathered to watch this derby match and the Oxford supporters were on their feet with just over a minute gone Alan Green fired home from close range to give the home side the lead. Unbelievably twenty seconds later Green had scored his second after Darren Elliott and Sam Broughton had combined to set him up. Former City Star Jamie Thompson in the Swindon goal was having a torrid time and things got even worse for him and his team when Joe Oliver made it three nil to the Stars with only two minutes gone in the game. Swindon were rattled to say the least and the home fans were in full voice as the Stars looked rampant. With six minutes gone the Stars made it 4-0 with a sensational goal from the third line of Knightley, Johnson and Oliver. Knightley took the plaudits for his finish but the whole line combined well to make the goal. This came just a minute after Oxford had a goal disallowed after the referee judged it to have been kicked in. If the Oxford supporters were dreaming of a demolition then the Wildcats were certainly in no mood to oblige and they hit back when a diving Dan Prachar somewhat fortuitously poked the puck under James Skaife to pull one back for the visitors. With two minutes to go and with Darren Elliott in the box for a dubious roughing call after a humdinger of a body check on Swindon’s Nick Gallagher, Jamie Newton finished well on the powerplay with Taylor getting the assist.

Swindon changed their goalie at the start of the period with Ollie Lansdowne replacing the shell shocked Thompson in between the pipes. The City Stars started the second period in much better fashion than they ended the first and Alan Green soon completed his hat trick in style before reeling away and pumping his fists towards the jubilant home support. Forty seconds later it was the turn of former Swindon player Nick Eden to score past his old club after Andy Cox had fed the puck to him out wide and Eden lasered his slapshot in to the bottom corner past the flailing Lansdowne. With the Stars now in a commanding lead they sat back and allowed the visitors time and space to get back in to the game conceding two goals in the space of a minute. First was a powerplay goal from Scott Gough after he latched on to a kind bounce off the boards from a Taylor shot to make no mistake. Ten seconds later Taylor scored himself with Gough turning provider and it seemed the Stars were in for a long night. With the score now at 6-4 the City Stars coach Darryl Morvan called a time out and this proved effective as Alan Green scored his fourth virtually straight after to subdue Swindon’s comeback and give the Stars a three goal cushion.

The third period saw both teams cancel each other out with Oxford having the larger share of possession but Swindon looking dangerous on the break. With ten minutes to go Nick Oliver thought he had sealed the game for Oxford with a well taken effort but Swindon answered straight back through Newton after Oxford’s defence went AWOL. Dean Francis hit Oxford’s ninth to end a frustrating night for him as he had hit the bar and post earlier in the game. Unbelievably a minute later Swindon scored their sixth through James Burnett to set up a tenser finish than any of the home support had wanted. Despite the lapse in concentration Oxford finished the game comfortably however the crowd were on their feet at the end when a hit by Swindon’s Mike Smith after the final buzzer on Oxfords Dean Francis motivated Grant Bailey to smash Smith to the floor and both teams to engage in a melee which seemingly delighted the support of both teams. A comfortable win for Oxford who have now won the last four games between the two teams.

Scorers:

Oxford: Alan Green 4+0, Dean Francis 1+2, Nick Eden 1+1, Joe Oliver 1+1, Nick Oliver 1+1, Patrick Knightley 1+0, Kent Johnson 0+2, Andy Cox 0+2, Sam Broughton 0+2, Darren Elliott 0+2, Will Skaife 0+1, Grant Bailey 0+1.

Swindon: Jamie Newton 2+3, Shannon Taylor 1+5, Scott Gough 1+2, Dan Prachar 1+0, James Burnett 1+0, Stephen Whitfield 0+1.

Penalties:

Oxford: Grant Bailey 14 mins (inc misc), Alan Green 12 (inc misc), Will Skaife 2, Darren Elliott 2.

Swindon: Mike Smith 10 mins (inc misc), Ciaran Long 10 (inc misc), Yousif Abu Saada 4, Shannon Taylor 2, James Burnett 2, David Lovejoy 2.

Netminding:

Oxford: James Skaife - 35 saves, 6 goals, total 41.

Swindon: Jamie Thompson - 10 saves, 4 goals, total 14 (20.00), Ollie Lansdowne - 26 saves, 5 goals, total 31 (40.00).

Also Played:

Oxford: Dave Carr, Jacob Smith, Lee Featherstone, Kevin McGurk (NM - did not ice).

Swindon: Nick Gallagher, Alan Armour, Sam Feeney, Ryan Burgess, Grant Richardson.

Period Scores:

4-2, 3-2, 2-2

Final Score - Oxford 3 : 6 Streatham

25th November 2007

Scorers:

Oxford: Paige Simmonds 1+1, Julie Rosenfeld 1+0, Kat Lossnitzer 1+0, Emma Young 0+1, Lara Wood 0+1.

Streatham: Laura Price 4+1, Tiffany Young 2+3, Francesca Jones 0+1, Camilla Brisley 0+1.

Penalties:

Oxford: Paige Simmonds 2 mins

Streatham: None

Netminding:

Oxford: Natalie Shaw - 20 saves, 6 goals, total 26 (15, 2, 9)

Streatham: Madalaine Durnell - 36 saves, 3 goals, total 39 (10, 15, 14)

Also Played:

Oxford: Jessica Lawrence, Gemma Kellond, Dawn Kellond, Megan O'Connor, Rachel King, Taylor Simmonds.

Streatham: Lily Highgate, Robyn Taylor, Kirsty Lake, Faith Hill, Luanne Loizu, Jennifer Bolton.

Period Scores:

1-5, 1-1, 1-0

Final Score - Oxford 6:5 Swindon

18th November 2007

Oxford travelled to local rivals Swindon in a game that was anticipated to be a close affair by supporters of both teams. The City Stars were still missing Aidy Haigh and Alan Green however Darren Elliott returned to the captains role.

The game started at a frenetic pace and Oxford looked quite nervous in front of the reasonably large crowd watching from above in the Link Centre gallery. After a spell of pressure in the Oxford defensive zone the Stars had a few breakaways but found Thompson the Swindon goalie in good form. With five minutes gone Swindons Alan Armour cleverly dumped the puck in to the Oxford zone and it bounced out kindly to the on rushing Mike Smith who fired past Skaife in the Oxford goal to give Swindon a deserved lead. Five minutes later Oxford had an injury scare as goalie Skaife fell awkwardly on his knee and the game stopped for a few minutes as he received medical attention. Thankfully he was fine to continue and shortly afterwards a long clearance by the Oxford defence found former Solent sniper Kent Johnson who drove wide of the Swindon defence before shooting high past Thompson in the Swindon goal to score from an unlikely angle. With Oxford now enjoying more spells of possession they gradually eased in to their rythym and Dean Francis broke away past a sluggish Swindon defence before turning Thompson inside out and sliding the puck through his legs to make it 2-1 to the City Stars.

The second period started well for Oxford as Swindons discipline seemed to desert them and with the home side hitting penalty trouble it wasn’t long before the visitors extended their lead through Dean Francis again after Sam Broughton and former Swindon forward Grant Bailey had stretched the home sides defence on the double powerplay. Eleven seconds later it was Broughtons turn to hit the back of the net after he tipped in a Nick Eden thunderbolt from the blue line. Despite gaining a three goal cushion the City Stars switched to casual mode and this was not a wise move as the old heads within the Swindon ranks slowly turned the game round in their favour. After Oxfords domination of the first ten minutes of the period it was now the home sides turn to turn on the style. Led from the front by talisman Alan Armour and backed up by former Oxford legends Scott Gough and Dan Prachar, the Wiltshire side took control and pulled a goal back on the powerplay through Burgess with the assist going to Smith. Then with three minutes to go the City Stars pushed the panic button and were all at sea as Armour set up Newton to reduce the deficit further and make the score 4-3 to Oxford and set up a grandstand finale in the third period.

Oxford skated out in the third period without the energetic Andy Cox who had taken a Dan Pracher slapshot in the fore arm in the first period and was unable to continue. With the Stars still a little shell shocked from Swindons comeback in the second period they hit penalty trouble again with careless penalties. Bizarrely though this sent Swindon in to the casual style of play that had been Oxfords undoing in the second and after a fairly uninspiring powerplay the City Stars broke through shorthanded and Dean Francis finished cooly to get his hat trick against his home town team. This riled the Wildcats and Armour was lucky to get away without punishment after a nasty head check to Francis as the Oxford forward chased a loose puck down the boards. With the crowd now in full voice the Oxford team started to look shaky and Swindon (still on the power play) broke up the ice and Armour skated in to the zone with options but chose to go it alone as Skaife flapped at the puck and the Swindon captain finished cooly in to the empty net. The home side now buoyed by Oxford’s indecision were looking dangerous with every minute and the experience of Prachar and Gough began to show as the Stars were clearly rattled in their own zone. Then a moment of madness as Swindon defenceman Adam Andrews reacted badly to a hit from Oxford youngster Joe Oliver and hit Oliver after the whistle before remonstrating with the referee. Oxford had already been assessed a delayed penalty and would have been shorthanded however Andrews continued his debate with the referee and as the referee sent him to the locker room, the former Oxford player hurled his glove back over the plexi glass towards the referee who then gave him yet another misconduct. Unfortunately for Swindon this now meant that they had to kill a 5 minute penalty in addition to the two minutes already given previously. This left them with a tough task to get back in to the game and that was made even tougher after Dave Carr found Grant Bailey down low in the corner on the powerplay and he slid the puck across to Nick Eden who made no mistake against his former club to give Oxford a vital two goal cushion with only seven minutes remaining. Unfortunately for the Stars it was to be a long seven minutes and this proved even more so when straight from a face off Armour strode towards the Oxford net before unleashing a clever snap shot which gave Skaife no chance to set up a tense finish. The Oxford goalie then needed further treatment on his knee as he fell awkwardly. This lost Swindon their momentum and City Stars coach Darryl Morvan made sure it didn’t return after calling a time out and settling the younger Oxford side. The City Stars then effectively killed off the game to give their significant number of travelling fans something to cheer about and make the journey back up the A34 more pleasant.

Scorers:

Oxford: Dean Francis 3+0, Grant Bailey 1+2, Sam Broughton 1+1, Kent Johnston 1+0, Nick Eden 0+2, Dave Carr 0+1.

Swindon: Alan Armour 2+2, Mike Smith 1+1, Ryan Burgess 1+0, Dan Prachar 0+1, Lewis Smith 0+1, Scott Gough 0+1.

Penalties:

Oxford: Mark Krater 8 mins, Jacob Smith 6, Joe Oliver 2, Andy Cox 2, Sam Broughton 2, Dean Francis 2, James Skaife 2, Darren Elliott 2.

Swindon: Adam Andrews 57 mins (inc misc, game & match), Mike Smith 4, Jamie Newton 2, Nick Gallagher 2, Dan Prachar 2, Lewis Smith 2, James Burnett 2, David Lovejoy 2.

Netminding:

Oxford: James Skaife - 52 saves, 5 goals, total 57.

Swindon: Jamie Thompson - 26 saves, 6 goals, total 32 (59.25), Empty Net (0.35).

Also Played:

Oxford: Will Skaife, Patrick Knightley, Nick Oliver, Lee Featherstone, Kevin McGurk (NM - did not ice).

Swindon: Oliver Lansdowne (NM - did not ice), Stephen Whitfield, Yousif Abu Saada, Grant Richardson, Sam Feeney.

Period Scores:

1-2, 2-2, 2-2