Final Score - Oxford 8 : 1 Isle of Wight

20th October 2007

Back at home this week and boasting almost a full bench, the u16s scored an emphatic win over IoW u16s on Saturday. The tone of the game was set after just 25secs by Ben who added to his impressive season’s goal tally. Ben added another one 3mins later aided by Lara. At this stage it was pretty much one-way traffic, with IoW defending almost constantly and the IoW netminder pulling off some fine saves. Around the 10min mark Oxford picked up the first penalty of the game, but, as so often this season Josh O manufactured some space to score short-handed before adding another before the break.

The start of the second period found Ben sitting out the remainder of a misconduct call and he was joined shortly after the start by Jake and Hal on minors, leaving a lot of work for the remaining D men to get through, which they did admirably. With those penalties over, normal service was resumed which eventually saw Warren slot home a rebound after a terrific break out by Nevy. Ben, now restored to the ice, carried on where he’d left off by adding two more before the break.

The last period found tired legs and senior players picking up penalties on both sides leading to a somewhat untidy period. IoW were eventually rewarded for their efforts, by scoring, as time and space became more available. Despite this Oxford had really bossed the period and it was well worked move by Magic which gave Josh O the opportunity to slot home a deserved final goal of the day.

For me, as a spectator, not a coach, this looked the best all-round team performance of the season. Whichever line was on the ice, Oxford always looked the most accomplished side.

Congratulations to rookie Liam McLaughlin on making his debut and once again to Peter on another assured performance in goal. Peter isn't one to "blow his own trumpet", so I'll do it for him, have a look at his stats on the EIHA website. Good luck to all at Streatham next weekend, I shall be thinking of you as I sip an ice cold Mythos.

Scorers:

Ben Chandler 4+0, Josh Oliver 3+1, Warren Jones 1+0, Lara Wood 0+1, Nevy Baze 0+1, Michael Wakelin 0+1.

Netminding:

Peter Endicott 11 shots 1 goal

Penalties:

Ben Chandler 14 inc misc, Hal Davison 12 inc misc, Jake Florey 4, Warren Jones 2, Michael Wakelin 2.

Also Played:

Matthew Spacksman, Joe Eldridge, Paige Simmonds (MoM), Chris Gill, Rob Rand, Sam Arnold, Liam McLaughlin (spirit), Ryan Bollweg.