Final Score - Lee Valley 1 : 8 Oxford

23rd September 2007

The u16s travelled to Lee Valley minus a number of influential players, so this game, I felt, was always going to be the biggest challenge so far for the team. Certainly for the better part of the 1st and 3rd periods it proved to be so.

Lee Valley matched Oxford all the way in the early stages with both netminders pulling out some great stops until Ben tipped in a Jake F point slapshot. At the re-start Lee Valley picked up an interference penalty leading to a barrage of attacking play from Oxford. To their credit LV held out until the last second of the penalty before Ben found a bit of space on the left and picked his spot with a sweet slapshot.

The second period saw Ben complete a great hatrick and then go on to add 2 more (one shorthanded). This period also saw Magic (MoM, again!) adding a cracking individual effort. The 4-0 period score could have broken the resolve of a tiring LV team, however.....

The third period returned to a more even contest. Although Oxford had the upper hand LV never gave up. It took an elbowing penalty to allow Oxford a powerplay from which Ben took advantage to finish off a great scoring match for him personally. LV rallied as Oxford once again ran in to penalty trouble towards the end, and LV were rewarded with a powerplay goal of their own, a screamer that Ryan could do little to stop. That goal denied Ryan a richly deserved shut out, one save, diving at the feet of a number of hard skating attackers was particularly brave and memorable. The scoring was finished off by Josh O, again while shorthanded.

A pleasing result as a number of players raised their games in the absence of their team mates. Special thanks to Sam Arnold for playing up from the u14s and fully justifying his call.