ENL Blaze extend unbeaton home record to five game

28/02/2010

Coventry ENL Blaze 4 Blackburn Hawks 2

Blaze came into this game comfortably in 4^th place and in line for a playoff spot, however 2 points would be useful to cement their chances and see off the challenge of chasing teams.   Blaze would also be keen to continue their unbeaten home run in 2010. Anyone who witnessed the events at the previous encounter between these clubs earlier in the month would be entitled to expect some fireworks and they were not to be disappointed.  The settling of a few scores coupled with possibly the worst refereeing display ever seen at the Skydome resulted in two periods of fast aggressive hockey and a 3^rd period pantomime.

Right from the drop Blaze went on the attack and were unlucky not to go ahead early in the second minute as Jack Watkins rang a backhand shot off the outside of Dan Brittle’s post.  The next Blaze attack saw Ricky Bryniarski shoot just wide after some good set up work by his linemates.  At the Blaze end it took until the fourth minute for Blaze netminder to be brought into action with a shot from Anthony Kinder.  There was obviously some animosity left over from the previous game and in the first five minutes there had been several big hits and checks several of which may have been ‘stretching the spirit of the rules’ a little but these were ignored by the referee.  The violence boiled over in the 6^th minute as a coming together at the Blackburn end saw the Hawks’ Oliver Lomax take umbrage at Gareth Owen.  Initially Owen ignored the taunts of the Blackburn player but eventually responded; that was the point at which Lomax began to regret his impetuousness as the veteran Blaze player gave him a comprehensive boxing lesson!  Both players went to the box on roughing calls.  Blaze gained the extra skater on 6.28 but only managed two on target efforts during the two minutes of powerplay both from the stick of Josh Bruce and both dealt with efficiently by Dan Brittle.  The penalty session also saw a marked increase in hard physical contacts both on and off the puck but the referee seemed either not to see or chose to ignore them!  Once the teams were back to even strength it was the Hawks on the attack as they pressed the Blaze back into their own zone, Nicholls having to keep alert as he kept out shots from Lance Derbyshire and Aaron Davies.  Blaze had a lucky escape in the middle of the period as a Davies effort crept between Nicholls and his right hand post and stopped dead on the goal line, there followed a frantic few seconds before the Blaze netminder managed to get it covered and safe.  A bout of handbags between the Blaze’s Tom Pease and Hawks’ Aaron Davies saw the teams skating 4 on 4 for a while with the only worthwhile effort coming from a Ryan Selwood slapshot that was caught effortlessly by Brittle. Both teams were still taking liberties with each other on and off the puck but the referee just seemed to call random events much to the frustration of both benches and the spectators.  A brief penalty kill for the Blaze at the end of the 15^th minute could have seen the Blaze fall behind, first Nicholls did well to adjust himself to fend off a shot that took a large deflection off a skate and a few seconds later they had another lucky escape as Nicholls could only take the sting off a Richard Bentham shot and had to rely on Blaze ‘D’ man Aiden Mahmud to scoop the puck to safety before it crossed the line.  Once the teams were back to level numbers it was the Blaze who had a brief session of superiority as Selwood. Mahmud, Pease and Bruce all pulled saves out of the Blackburn goalie. However it was the Hawks who lit the lamps first at 17.47 as Richard Hughes picked up a loose puck on his own blue line and set off up the ice. He shrugged of the attentions of two Blaze players before firing the puck high into the roof of the net from 3 metres out.  Blaze continued to press from the restart but the best effort they managed was a Tom Pease shot in the final minute that was parried away by Brittle.

The second period followed the pattern of the first with both teams putting in some punishing hits many of which would have probably warranted a whistle from another referee.  Blaze were determined to get back into the game and in the opening minute Rikki Bryniarski and Jack Watkins pulled saves out of Brittle.  It took just 70 seconds of the period for Blaze to get back on level terms.  Some good work on the boards by Watkins saw him push the puck into the path of Gareth Owen; the Blaze forward faked a shot to draw the keeper out of position before ‘wristing’ the puck home from a quickly narrowing angle.  The goal spurred the Blaze on to bigger efforts and over the next few minutes Ian Hunt, Kieran Papps and Joe Nicholls all had chances; unfortunately their accuracy deserting them and the shots flying wide of the mark.  A tripping call at 28.03 on the Hawks’ Jared Owen gave the Blaze an extra man and they took full advantage as Ricky Bryniarski shoved the puck home from close range at 29.55 following a lot of Blaze pressure.  Blaze saw off a Gareth Owen penalty in the 32^nd minute only allowing the visitors two chances, a Lomax shot that bounced off Nicholls pads and a blue line effort from Bentham that flew over the crossbar. The teams were just back to even strength when the Blaze increased their lead, Owen came out of the box and picked up the puck on the Hawks’ blue line, he quickly raced to the edge of the face off circle before unleashing a shot that gave Brittle no chance.  Hawks were not dead however and in just over a minute they had pulled a goal back on a powerplay as an Aaron Davies’ shot penetrated the five hole of the Blaze netminder and found the net at 34.45. A few seconds later and everyone was bemused as the Hawks’ Richard Hughes was sent to the box for a trip on the Blaze netminder despite the fact that he had not been anywhere near at the time and it was a Blaze defender who had collided with the keeper!  Blaze went back on the attack but Dan Brittle kept the score unchanged as he saved from Tom Pease and Gareth Owen before the interval buzzer sent both teams back to their locker rooms. 

Up until now the game had been evenly poised, both teams having their chances and the result hanging in the balance. However the third period was to be one of the most bizarre ever seen at the Skydome as the referee, whose control up till now had been pretty shaky was to lose it altogether, allowed the game to descend into farce.

Blaze gained a brief 2 man advantage early in the third and used it to extend their lead.  Shots were raining in on the Hawks’ net and Brittle was throwing himself in every direction to keep them out. His luck ran out at 43.31 as Josh Bruce found the twine at the third attempt from a couple of metres out.  Blaze were gaining the upper hand now and Brittle did well to keep out an Aidan Mahmud shot.  Even when they lost the services of Joe Nicholls for two minutes the Blaze were still managing to dominate proceedings.  Everyone in the rink thought the Blaze had scored their fifth on 48.53 as Rikki Bryniarski hammered a rebound from a Rhys McWilliams shot into the net, cue a massive protest, including pushing the net over, from the Hawks’ netminder as he claimed that the original shot had hit his face cage.  After several minutes of heated ‘discussion’ the goal was ruled out and Brittle was awarded a 2+10 for delay of game.  This was to be the spark that finally ignited the player’s frustrations.  An unpunished incident in the corner saw Hawks’ Captain Hughes protesting too loudly and earning himself a 10 minute misconduct at 51.52.  His cause was taken up by his team mates Oliver Lomax and Chris Arnone.  Play was then held up for several minutes as players went into and out of the penalty box like they were on elastic.  Lomax and Arnone finally getting their marching orders, however by now the referee seemed to have forgotten the original penalty and Hughes continued to play!  By this time both teams seemed to have lost interest in the game as a contest and were really only playing on to run the clock down.   At 55.35 another missed call by the referee brought Hughes back to the ref’s attention, it must have been at this point that the official realised that Hughes was still in the game and not in the box and so awarded a second 10 minute which saw the Hawks’ player go for an early shower.  The upshot of all this confusion was a 5 minute powerplay for the Blaze but they were unable to increase their lead before the buzzer brought an end to proceedings.  Any applause for the teams was drowned out by the protestations of the crowd to the referee for spoiling what should have been an exciting final period.

Man of the match awards went to Rikki Bryniarski for the Blaze and Aaron Davies for the Hawks.

Stats:

Blaze

Gareth Owen 2+0

Ricky Bryniarski 1+0

Josh Bruce 1+0

Tom Pease 0+3

Rhys McWilliams 0+1

Jack Watkins 0+1

Josh Nicholls 60 mins 2/28  93%

PiMs 20

Hawks

Richard Hughes 1+0

Aaron Davies 1+0

Lance Derbyshire 0+1

Matthew Viney 0+1

Dan Brittle 60 mins 4/41  90%

PiMs 147

Match report Carl Smith

Image Dave Martin