Match Report | 13th October 2007 » Sheffield Scimitars 5-0 Romford Raiders

Face Off: 7.15pm, Saturday 6th October 2007

Saturday night's visitors, the Romford Raiders, have struggled to find their form so far this season, with just one win from six league games, and able to score just seven goals last weekend in reply to the eighteen scored against them.

The scoring opened at 2.57, with Dowd stealing the puck in the neutral zone and dancing through the Raiders' defence to shoot. Wallace was perfectly positioned to hammer home the rebound.

Lloyd Gibson showed the crowd he deserved his new place on the second line by battling repeatedly for the puck in the corners before delivering the puck to Slamiar from behind the goal-line for a shot on goal. Unfortunately this chance was one of a number of missed opportunities throughout the game.

The Scimitars had their first powerplay of the game when Adam Copland picked up a two minute holding penalty for pinning Moberg to the boards and up-ending him onto the ice. Patrik Moberg shrugged off a number of heavy hits, and he continued to read the play, bursting into life whenever the puck came near.

The Scimitars' first line of Wallace, Dowd, and Butterworth cut repeatedly through the Romford defence, testing Brabon with shot after shot, and Steve Duncombe blasted a shot on target after getting the puck straight from a face off.

Romford import Joel Petkoff picked up a slashing penalty at 14.45, and the Scimitars first line set up camp in the offensive zone, before a quick line change left Lloyd Gibson in position to smash home a back post rebound from Goodman, goal timed at 16.31. Gibson had another chance in the same position a few seconds after the restart, but couldn't finish.

Scimitars had a close escape thirteen seconds from the end of the period, with Petkoff flying past Shudra to collect a long pass. With no chance of catching up, the veteran D-man hooked the Raider, instantly prompting referee Wardell to raise his arm for a penalty. Petkoff skated on towards goal, but Shudra continued to impede him, forcing him off target before going into the penalty box.

A further penalty on Dowd early in the second period left Scimitars defending a five on three penalty kill, but good defensive work and goaltending saw the Scims able to break out, firstly after a great poke check and breakaway by industrious defenceman James Goodman.

The Sheffield third line showed commitment and energy both on offence and defence, with Jonno timing a stretch on the ice well to foil a cross goal pass. The Scimitars soon started to dominate the Raiders zone again, with Moberg and Slamiar involving all five skaters in passing around the zone before a full power shot from Steve Duncombe hit Brabon square in the facemask. At the halfway point of the game, Brabon had been by far the busier of the two netminders, and his night got worse soon after when Robert Dowd stopped the puck on the back of his stick just outside the crease and shot it under Brabon's leg pad at 33.21

Penalty minutes piled up at 36.52, with Ollie Barron standing up for himself after being high-sticked by Kaminskas, and after a few seconds of pushing and shoving, the gloves were dropped, with the Lithuanian import, no stranger to the penalty box, soon dumped flat on his back by the Steel city youngster. Barron got an extra two minutes of penalties, eight minutes compared to six, leaving the Scimitars to successfully kill a two minute penalty. They did this in style, with Duncombe hitting a one-timer just wide of an open net after Brabon was drawn to the wrong side.

The Scimitars scored a powerplay goal at 49.51 from Moberg, beating the Raiders defence with fluid, skilful skating to lift the puck past a helpless Brabon into the roof of the net. When Moberg scored his second of the night less than a minute later, walking the puck up to the net and drawing the goalie aside before backhanding the puck under his leg pad.

Mike Brabon was replaced in goal by nineteen year old Stockport born backup Graeme Bird, and things looked to be improving slightly for Romford when the puck found the back of the Sheffield net, but the "goal" was disallowed due to a blatant hand pass. Romford picked up several more penalties before the end of the game, starting with hooking penalty for Shaun Wallis, followed by a slashing minor for Kaminskas, who knocked both stick and glove from the hands of Patrik Moberg. Raiders managed a short-handed attack through Grant Taylor, but nothing Pasi Raitanen couldn't handle on his way to his first shut-out of the season.

The final desperate Romford play of the game was a heavy check from behind on Dowd, who had the puck in front of the goal, by Shaun Wallis, who was punished for his clumsy tackle by a two plus ten penalty.

The game finished with the Scimitars winning 5-0, with MOM awards going to hardworking players from both sides, Stephen Wallace for the Scimitars (although both Moberg and Raitanen could have made strong arguments for the award too), and Andrej Sporina for the Raiders.

Peter Slamiar also received an award, the Player of the Month award voted for by supporters of the club.

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