Match Report | 27th March 2008 » Romford Raiders 2-6 Sheffield Scimitars

Face Off: 5.15pm, Saturday 22nd March 2008

22.3.08

The Sheffield Scimitars opened their Play-off campaign with a tough road game down in Romford, knowing that the Raiders had an enviable unbroken home winning record extending back to November 25th.

The Scimitars at last had two injured players returning to the fray, with Robert Dowd and Steve Duncombe icing after missing several games each, but were still playing with only three imports as although Pasi Raitanen iced he did not play. They were also missing the usual four U18's who were in Estonia on GB duty.

The first period was fast-paced with the teams initially evenly matched. An early tripping penalty on Sheffield threw up the first problem of the match as the clock stopped working for nearly a full minute, with penalties not shown on the board for the rest of the game. The Scimitars took the lead with a superb short-handed goal at 5.47 after some slick passing between Dowd, Morgan and the incoming Wallace who fired past Lee. Romford equalised on the PP with an excellent high deflection through a screen at 9.00 by Wallis. The Scimitars gradually started to dominate putting several shots on goal, but the period ended 1-1.

Romford took the lead for the first time shortly after the start of the second period on another screened shot after passing the puck in front of goal and in at 20.16 by Valko. Two minutes later the Scimitars equalised after Robert Farmer delayed shooting as he skated across the front of the net before back-handing the puck in at 22.16. Both keepers were called into action several times as play went end to end before some good play by Slamiar and Moberg round Romford's net resulted in a goal by Ollie Barron at 27.06. Moberg scored the 4th goal over Lee's shoulder whilst Romford were killing a penalty for a boarding minor on Morgan. Pinnington was given a 2 minute tripping penalty after Morgan was sent crashing to the ice as they both went towards the boards, but a high-stick on Goodman went un-penalised despite a cut to the face. Shortly after Williams was given a penalty for elbows allowing Barron to claim his second on the PP and the Scimitars their 5th goal after a good pass from Slamiar. An excellent period for the Scimitars with Slamiar the architect on 3 of the goals.

Romford piled on the pressure at the start of the third but despite several shots on goal, they could not score. Slamiar then picked up the puck on the blue line and danced in front of Lee before putting the puck through his legs at 43.19. Dowd was taken into the boards shortly after with no penalty given but he did not return to the game. Sharp decided to drop the gloves with Goodman, who he had just punched in the back of the head, but having already picked up a facial injury from the high stick, Goodman did not respond. Sharp received a 2+10 at 51.16, followed by Williams at 54.54 on a 2+10 for kneeing. The DJ was then ejected for inappropriate behaviour after which the game degenerated though the Scimitars were still trying to play hockey.

After some coins had been thrown at the Scimitars bench and onto the ice, the referee abandoned the game at 58.54 as it was unsafe to continue. Any announcement as to the reason was impossible with no DJ and therefore no MOM's were awarded. The huge disparity in penalty minutes, 72 minutes for Romford compared to Sheffield's 6 minutes, occurred in the final 4 minutes of the game and marred the fact that the Scimitars played some superb hockey and thoroughly deserved the 6-2 win, a game won by the end of the second.

Match Details
Period Scores
Romford 1/1/0 = 2
Sheffield 1/4/1 = 6
Penalty Mins
Romford 6/6/60 = 72
Sheffield 6/0/ 0 = 6
SOG
Lee 14/17/11 = 42/6
Jones 4?/5?/ 3?=12/2 ?
Scoring Details
Romford: Valko 1+1, Wallis 1+0, Timms, Taylor & Bochna 0+1.
Sheffield: Barron 2+0, Slamiar 1+3, Moberg 1+1, Wallace & Farmer 1+0,
Duncombe, Woolhouse, Goodman, Morgan, Brittle & Dowd 0+1
No MOM's for either team due to abandonment of game.
Referee: D. Smith. Linesmen: Y. Solosjovs & D. Leitch
Attendance: Not recorded

Next Match Report: Sheffield Scimitars 5-3 Guildford Flames
27th March 2008
Previous Match Report: Sheffield Scimitars 9-4 Wightlink Raiders
27th March 2008

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