Final Score : Invicta Dynamics 2 - 4 Oxford City Midnight Stars

January 5th 2008

Oxford made the long journey to Invicta hoping to extend their winning streak to six games on the trot.

The first period started abysmally for the Stars, with the first Invicta goal scored 54 seconds into the match. A bizarre goal by all accounts, with two pucks on the ice and the sole ref not seemingly sure whether both or any puck actually went into the net off an Invicta stick. After a brief conflab with the goal judge, he decided a goal had been scored - much to the dismay of the Oxford team. The spare puck taken from the ice, Oxford rallied round, and Lauren Summers scored an Oxford equaliser at 2.16, assisted by Anna Evans. This was the end of the scoring for the first period with Oxford finding the physical play by the Invicta team and lack of calls from the ref difficult to deal with.

Oxford picked up in the second period and started skating around the Invicta players and making some good team plays. A nice goal from an offensive face-off at 18.42 (scored by Louise Thompson, assisted by Karen Davenport) gave Oxford the lead and this was consolidated at 23.55 as Amy Hadden tapped in a Michelle James pass from behind the net. Invicta finally took a couple of well deserved penalties opening the period up and allowing Oxford to skate with more freedom. Sarah Poulter, playing her first game for Oxford this season, scored a fourth Oxford goal unassisted at 25.01. The period ended 4-1 to Oxford, with the Stars finally beginning to prove that they can actually play the game….

Another turn for the worse in the third period! Whether Oxford decided that 4 goals were enough or perhaps that Invicta needed to be let back into the game to give them a sporting chance, who knows, but Oxford struggled for a good 10 minutes and then sat back and allowed Invicta to score at 42.14. This left the score sitting at 4-2 with a few minutes to play. The ref (finally!) called a checking penalty on Invicta at 43.16 to give Oxford the much needed man advantage. However, unable to use this, Invicta started to launch a good attack, and at 43.20, Amy Hadden was penalised for interference for pulling down an Invicta player to prevent the shot on goal. This left the sides playing 4 on 4 for the last 1 minute 30.

The game ended 4-2 to Oxford. Not Oxford’s finest hour, but a 6th straight win nonetheless.

Scoring:

Oxford: Sarah Poulter 1+0(2), Amy Hadden 1+0(2), Michelle James 0+1, Anna Evans 0+1, Karen Davenport 0+1, Lauren Summers 1+0, Louise Thompson 1+0.

Invicta: Kate Hancock 2+0, Heidi Korff 0+1, Amanda Grout 0+1(2), Jenny Vik 0+0(2).

Shots on Goal:

Oxford (Bev Kellond): 17

Invicta (K Thompson) 32